UPDATE: The winners are…Reina Torres and Elysian Fields!
*~*~*
I spend a lot of time working on this website, so it only seems fair I should expect everyone to love it as much as I do, in all its nooks and crannies. For the most part, it’s up to date—except for the “For Readers: Free Stuff” page, since I haven’t been making trading cards or updated my bookmarks in forever. But the books…? Do you know I have a sh*t-ton of stories? No? Well, in the interest of acquainting some of you with what’s on my site, I’m holding a scavenger hunt!
Now, this is important. YOU CANNOT POST ANSWERS TO MY QUESTIONS IN THE COMMENTS. If you do, you’ve done the work and shared the answers with everyone else, and what’s the point? You don’t want competition for the prize do you? NO! Send your answers to me PRIVATELY at Delilah@delilahdevlin.com!
Scavenger Hunt
Here are the questions…
What stories are currently up for pre-order on my Upcoming Books page?
At the very bottom of the Upcoming Books page is a list, without cover pictures, of titles I’m thinking about/working on. Which interest you?
Which series on my By Series page would you like to see more of?
Which series on my By Series page has the best set of covers?
Tell me which story on my Short Stories page you’d most like to read. (You might get a surprise!)
And the prize? How about a download of your choice from among my recent releases?! But, hey, everyone wins, right (see #5!)?
Series: Romancing the Seas Book 1 Genre: Contemporary Romance, Erotic Romance, Romantic Comedy, Holiday Romance Publisher: Boroughs Publishing Publication Date: September 11, 2018
When Piper’s job sends her undercover to spy on Jack – the beyond sexy hook-up she can’t stop thinking about – she is forced to decide if her job is more important than her happiness.
HAPPINESS HAS A PRICE
Captain Jack Spencer owns and runs a whale watching company, Ahoy, Matey. When his business takes off, a jealous rival wants him and his company gone. Jack has no idea the delectable Piper Goldhirsch is tasked with scuttling everything he’s worked for – he’s too caught up in their magnetic attraction and her web of lies.
Piper Goldhirsch, head reporter for the tabloid TV show Business Buster, is all work and no play. When she and the all too tempting Jack Spencer have a one-night stand that turns out to be the greatest sex of her life, she is haunted by the powerful magic between them. Sent undercover to expose his whale watching business, she is torn between her assignment and the first man she has ever wanted. With her happiness on the line, Piper has only one choice.
She lifted her bare foot. He held her ankle with more delicacy than she’d expected from such a big man. As he slid the flat back onto her foot, his thumb grazed the indent near her anklebone. She shivered at the sensation. This close, the ocean blue of his eyes shone with intensity as he watched her. What did he look like beneath the costume and makeup? She’d noticed his sexy, crooked smile and the roguish way the corner of his mouth lifted up, as if he knew something she didn’t. His fingers wrapped around the back of her ankle, then stopped. She met his hungry eyes and nudged her leg forward into his hand. His fingers slid up an inch further, moving in a slow, barely there caress.
“I realize it’s none of my business,” he said. “But earlier, out in the ballroom…I don’t know what your friends said or did to make you upset, but if I can help at all, I’d like to.”
“I’m okay. Just shaking something off.” She took a sip from the wine bottle as she watched him. She moved her foot closer to his chest urging his hand closer to her calf. His long fingers stroked her flesh.
She closed her eyes. “Mmm, that feels nice. Don’t worry about what they said. You got a name, pirate?”
“Jack.”
His tone was serious. She looked back down at him and smirked. Two could play that game.
“Oh, of course. You’re Captain Jack, and I’m Little Red Riding Hood. C’mere.” He stood and met her eye to eye. At five feet nine, she often had a vantage point in height in the workplace, which served her well when she wanted to be intimidating, but he had well over four inches on her, easy. His big, muscular frame towered over her. She took another sip of wine and walked her fingers up the buttons of his waistcoat. “Can I level with you, Captain Jack?”
“Yes.”
She pushed aside the question of why she felt so at ease with him when all she’d wanted was to be alone and smoothed her palm over his white pirate shirt, his strong pectoral muscles firm beneath her fingers. When she next spoke, her voice broke as she remembered why she’d sought solace in the first place; she’d gotten a man and his whole family deported.
“See, I’ve had a hell of a hard year. I’ve pushed myself and made magic happen in ways I didn’t think I’d ever be able to, but that magic comes at a price, and I’m not okay with it. Every single day, people want a piece of me. And on normal days, I can handle it. But right now, all I want to do, since you’re here,” she moved closer, her lips inches from his, “and I’m here, is to forget it all and make some magic of our own I can hold onto, even if it’s just this little moment.”
His chest rose and fell as he scanned her. Clarity and kindness were evident in his eyes beneath the desire, and she knew she could have a little fun with him. She noticed that his palms clenched the more she rubbed against him. She smirked, grabbed the lapels of his waistcoat, and crashed her lips onto his.
THE WOMAN WAS unreal. Her thick, pouty lips moved against his, and no sooner had she kissed him full on the mouth than he seized her around her wasp-sized waist and laid claim. She was the sexiest woman he’d ever seen, and her curves were soft and perfect in his hands. His tongue sought entrance to her mouth, and she met him eagerly. She tasted like strawberries and wine, and he groaned as his fingers slipped into her curls. It had been forever since he’d kissed a woman. She scored full check marks in every category, and then some.
Chances were she merely wanted a nice make-out session, but his body already demanded more. He wrapped his arms around her, spanned his hand against her back, and traveled down to the curve of her delectable ass. She shivered against him; the movement went straight to his hardened cock. He nipped her lower lip as he squeezed her bottom.
“Oh, you are one big firecracker, aren’t you? Tell me your name.”
She wrapped her ankle around the back of his calf as she hauled him in close. “No names,” she breathed.
He kissed her and moaned when she rubbed her core against him through their clothes. All right, he’d play along. For now. But he would take the lead.
About Roxanne D. Howard
Roxanne D. Howard writes sizzling erotic romance with Boroughs Publishing Group and The Wild Rose Press. She is a U.S. Army veteran, and a Columbia College alumni. She loves to read poetry, classical literature, and Stephen King. Also, she is an avid Star Wars fan, musical theater nut, and marine biology geek. Roxanne resides in the western U.S., and when she’s not writing, she enjoys spending quality time with her husband, children, and furry companions. Roxanne loves to hear from her readers, and encourages you to contact her via her website and social media.
Yes, I’m still writing like my hair’s on fire, but I had to pop in to post something! I think it’s been 3 or 4 years since I missed a blog date. Now, it’s a habit/compulsion. Since I don’t want to think too hard about anything except the story I have to finish this week, I’m going to let you exercise your brain matter! Here’s all you have to do to win your choice of one of my recent releases…
See the picture? I saw it on one of my frequent visits to the stock photo sites. I downloaded it with no particular purpose in mind. I’m thinking I want to do a series of shorter witchy stories. Something fun. But beyond that, I have no other ideas. So, I’m putting this pic out there for you to think about. You can offer a simple one-sentence idea or paint an entire paragraph of a story. Have fun with it. I won’t be judging your idea!!! Now, go!
Leave a comment for a chance to win a $10 Amazon Gift Certificate
“New company creates hackproof proprietary software…”
“DHS warns companies targeted on dark web”
“Hacker exploits Netgear router to nab US military drone files”
“Chinese group engaging in cyber espionage against US companies, report says”
“FBI warns hackers are targeting internet routers”
Software by Design creates new hackproof security software By Joe Mallory The Electronic Blog
In a world where suddenly nothing on a computer is safe, Liam Benedict, the wunderkind of proprietary software, is setting the world on fire with his ability to design software that will work only for one program on one system. It’s a boon for both corporations and Benedict, because the software is broken apart and reconfigured each time a client begins a new project.
Benedict says it also can protect financial information at banks, financial management firms, any entity where privacy and secrecy are more important than anything else. He has a team of trained, trustworthy experts who write code and create programs that are virtually impenetrable.
His explosion of success has come to the attention of Arroyo, a multinational conglomerate run by billionaire Taylor Cantrell and her husband, Noah. They were recently here in Tampa to seal the deal to make SBD a part of Arroyo. This reporter tried to arrange an interview with them but was told everything goes through their public relations department on San Antonio, Texas.
We did, however, learn that the company is moving to larger, more secure quarters even as you read this. There is also a rumor that Benedict’s newest client is a defense contractor who may or may not be designing a super secret project for the Department of Defense.
I’ll be doing my best to keep you updated.
Out and About Tampa Bay The blog that tells it all
Is there a romance brewing or is the tech world’s newest wunderkind in some kind of trouble? High profile, much-in-demand criminal defense attorney Sydney Alfiore was spotted having drinks with Liam Benedict, owner of Software By Design. Benedict is much in demand because of his firm’s ability to design software that is project specific. Defense contractors are lining up to hire him. Rumor has it he has a new client who needs the best firewall in the world for a super hush-hush project.
Alfiore, meanwhile, is smack in the middle of a very high profile murder trial, where it’s said her client may be on the verge of convicted. Don’t believe it. Alfiore always pulls a rabbit out of the hat at the last minute. The media has been covering the trial on a daily basis and every television station wants five minutes of her time.
So how did these two people find the time to meet for a drink? And look very cozy doing it?
Stay tuned for further details.
Double Deception
No one could tell who was telling the truth…
For Liam Benedict, the merging of Software by Design into the Arroyo mega-conglomerate is a dream come true—until someone on his staff screws with critical software and puts the company and its future in grave jeopardy. Suddenly life is not so euphoric for Liam. His contract with a defense contractor is in jeopardy, he doesn’t know who to trust on his staff and there is a distinct possibility a foreign power is behind the whole thing.
When forensic data analyst Eric Braun discovers who it is and how they did it, he is killed before he can tell Liam who the mole is. Framed by the killer, Liam is arrested for murder. It will take the combined resources of beautiful criminal defense attorney Sydney Alfiore, the woman he, loves, and the huge Arroyo Corporation to solve the riddle, but can they do it in time?
UPDATE: The winners are…Colleen, Elysian, and Buttons! *~*~*
The Night Fall series was one of my first. I still love it, and I try to add to the series every now and then, because I can’t let that world go. I wrote the first story in 2003 or 2004, and I added Big Bad Wolf last year. I’ve had fun writing them. The stories are filled with danger, plenty of sexy encounters, and humor. One of the funniest, I think, is Frannie and The Private Dick. The title came first, and the adventure spun out from there…
For a chance to win your choice from among the Night Fall stories,
answer me this…
Is there a paranormal show on TV that you adore, past or present?
Click on the covers to learn more!
Frannie and The Private Dick
Bent on catching her cheating fiancé in the act, Frannie Valentine got sidetracked by a little thing like dying. When she awakens, Frannie learns her pampered life will never be the same, so she turns to the man responsible for her undeadness and demands he take on the responsibility of giving her a little job training—in the PI biz.
Niall Keegan never intended to make himself a mate, but Frannie’s string of minor disasters, which ended with her dying in his arms, took the decision right out of his hands. While the mating part isn’t bad, making the disaster-prone Frannie a PI may just be the death of him.
Francesca Valentine had died and gone to hell. No other explanation made sense. She swam back to awareness through a molasses-thick void to find herself suddenly spat out from a dark womb into a cold, hollow space. Blind, and so still she knew she didn’t breathe, her mind turned over like a sluggish engine before revving into high gear.
Quickly, she assessed what she knew. She lay on a hard surface, covered with a scratchy square of thin fabric, unable to move a muscle. A low whine, like that of an air-conditioner, came from the opposite side of the space. Harsh light shone from above, warming her face, but hurting her closed eyes. So, she probably wasn’t blind after all. But she was definitely dead. Stone-cold. Her chest wasn’t moving in and out, but she didn’t feel starved for air.
She knew who she was and what had killed her, but hadn’t a clue what new fix she’d landed herself in. From nearby came the scrape of footsteps and a tentative humming, then…
“Bee-ooot-ee-foll Dreeeeamer, wake unto me…”
She was in hell all right. A demented spirit hovered over her, emitting an off-key warbling that set Frannie’s teeth on edge. By the rusty sound of the grating voice, her tormentor must be an ancient female, and the she-devil was trying to remove the skin from her face in slow, abrasive circles with…apricot-scented facial scrub? Frannie’d had a chemical peel the week before. The last thing she needed was a dime store product applied to her professionally maintained skin. Read the rest of this entry »
UPDATE: The winners are…Kris, Colleen, Tamara, Katherine, Misty Dawn, and Buttons!
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I have tons of series! I know it’s possible you might have missed one. Texas Cowboys is a sexy one, filled with those alpha-male, Texas men—six stories, so far! All are interconnected, so you get to see the characters you’ve met along the way. And they are available in print editions!
For a chance to win your choice from among the Texas Cowboys stories, answer me this…
Have you read any of the Texas Cowboys or Lone Star Lovers stories? Which series would you like to see more of?
Click on covers to learn more!
Soldier Boy
Just home from war, Mac McDonough is in a world of hurt only a woman can cure. Suki’s jealous stalker doesn’t stand a chance…
Fresh from war, “Mac” McDonough wants just two things: whiskey to drown the pain in his damaged leg and a woman. But one look into Suki Reese’s haunted eyes, and he knows she needs the kind of muscle only an ex-soldier can provide.
Mac’s brooding gaze and hard body leave Suki Reece breathless and disturbed. The rugged ex-soldier won’t listen to a word she says until Suki distracts him with a sexy striptease. That gets his attention. Suki may have gotten the upper hand, but Mac is going to be on top.
Mac McDonough’s body ached with the need to sink into soft, wet woman.
An escape, no matter how brief, from the constant, throbbing in his shattered leg.
Like an answer to his prayer, a familiar SUV crawled up the rough gravel road. His body tightened. Tara Toomey had offered the last time she paid him a visit, for old time’s sake, but he’d turned her down because he’d still had just enough pride and just enough affection for his old friend not to want to use her like that.
Today, she wouldn’t make it past the door. The thought of her blonde flyaway curls wrapped around his dick made his heart thud with anticipation.
As she slowly made her way up the winding, rutted road, Mac McDonough closed his eyes, turned his face into the gusting, humid air, and inhaled the fresh scent of the coming rain—a fierce reminder of just how far he’d come.
Over seven thousand miles and another lifetime.
The cabin nestled high on a ridge overlooking hills covered with live oak and cedar seemed as far removed from his version of reality as the face of Mars.
Sure, the ground was a bed of sand and rock, but the sand was grittier, the grains larger than the wheat flour a Hummer could kick up into the air, leaving a trail that could be tracked for miles across the desert floor.
The air was almost as hot but filled with so much moisture it felt thick as he dragged it deep into his lungs.
Mac curled his fingers around the porch rail and leaned into it, savoring the solitude he’d needed to heal his soul that no amount of therapy or medicine could compare with.
Only thing missing from the picture was another case of whiskey to help him sink into a stupor to ease the pain-filled tension in his body and shut out the memories that haunted his dreams.
And a woman. Not that he was willing to leave the cabin to go on the prowl for one, but the longer he remained in his self-imposed isolation, the more urgent became the need. Any woman would do—so long as she didn’t want to talk or be wooed. He hadn’t the time or the heart left for either. Read the rest of this entry »
Leave a comment for a chance to win a $10 Amazon Gift Certificate!
A Deadly Business
There is nothing quite so deadly as the business of revenge…
Just ask me. I know, because one of the most terrifying men in the world wants me dead for revenge.
My name is Marissa Hayes. I was recruited by the CIA because I had what they wanted—a degree from Wharton School of Finance and experience in complicated money transactions. Under the name of Lauren Chapman I spent three years playing a role in one of London’s top money managers. My target? One of their clients, a man named Stefan Maes whose money came from providing illegal arms to terrorists, funding cartels and raping Third World countries of their resources.
I was close to sealing the deal for the CIA, giving them enough information to take Maes down and freeze almost all of his money, when my cover was blown. That’s a damn scary thing, because when people like Maes get hold of you, death is the most pleasant thing that can happen to you. Lucky for me, my handler had an escape method already planned. He whisked me out of London through back alleys and down seedy streets until I was safe on a boat and then a plane.
Safe!
What a joke!
I thought I was safe when the relocated me to a sleepy little Southern town on the west coast of Florida—Arrowhead Bay. Nothing much happens there, although it does get a lot of tourists. I changed my hair, my makeup, my style of clothing…My name is now Marissa Hayes and I run an art gallery. A far cry from being a spy for the Central Intelligence Agency.
I was sure I was safe and secure in Arrowhead Bay. After all, it is the home of the international security agency, Vigilance, whose agents are all former Special Ops of one kind or another. And then there is Justin Kelly, one of their top agents, who has been teaching me defensive boxing while we dance around a sizzling sexual attraction. He’d defend me with his life, although of course, who could find me? Right?
But Maes’ right hand man, who hated the fact that I rebuffed all his sexual advances, blew my cover with his boss. Now Maes, who had lost a huge chunk of his empire, was out for blood. He wanted my head on a stick and my other body parts scattered to the winds.
Of course, nothing is for certain, and when two of Maes’ agents find me in Arrowhead Bay, I know it won’t be long before Maes himself arrives. Time to get the hell out of dodge, at least until the danger has passed. Vigilance has sent me off to a private Caribbean island, with a bonus—Justin as my bodyguard.
As I write this I am sitting in a private villa at Rosewood on Princessa Key, a luxury resort on a private island, where Justin and I finally gave in to our feelings for each other. But right now Justin is on the phone with Vigilance, where he has received frightening news. Maes has disappeared.
I keep telling myself he can’t find me here. Right?
Right?
A Deadly Business
Her life in beautiful Arrowhead Bay seems like paradise. But for former CIA operative Marissa Hayes, it’s a deep cover she’s forced to live under after daring to take down a powerful enemy with strong terrorist ties. Out of necessity, she keeps her emotions as guarded as her life, even as she finds herself drawn to Justin Kelly, the most arousing man she’s ever met. But when Marissa must find a new place to hide, the able-bodied Vigilance agent is the first man she turns to . . .
Justin can’t get close to Marissa, if he hopes to keep her alive. Which only makes sharing a villa with her at a remote island resort all the more challenging. The passion rising between them is exquisite—and excruciating. Even more so when terrorists infiltrate the island, putting Marissa in the crosshairs. Now Justin will do anything to protect the woman he cares about more deeply than he dares to admit. . . .
