In case you missed it, I have a cover for Cavelli's Lost Heir! I'm very excited about this cover. I loved my first cover — who couldn't love those abs on that guy, hmm? — but this one is even more special to me.

Cavelli's Lost Heir was my first entry into the Instant Seduction competition last year. Except it wasn't called that, nor was the plot anything like what it turned out to be in the finished book. (The Spanish Magnate's Revenge, renamed Spanish Magnate, Red-Hot Revenge, was my second entry — in the first competition, you could enter more than once; now, that's not the case.)

I loved my Prince Nico, but the heroine was less formed than she needed to be. Essentially, it was a forced marriage plot — but the reasoning for it was far more plot heavy than what it eventually ended up being. In the book due out in January (December in the UK), the story now centers on a past relationship and the secret child that was the result of that relationship.

Oh how I loved writing this book! I was worried about it since it was my second, yet I felt like I'd learned so much through my two revisions on the first book that I plowed through with a greater confidence. It's still a few months until the book hits the shelves, but I'm so excited about it. I think it's a good story and I can't wait to share it with you.

Here's a little snippet. I hope you enjoy.

A knock on the door brought his head up. “Enter.”

“The Prefect of Police has sent a messenger, Your Highness,” his assistant said.

“I will see him,” Nico replied.

A moment later, a uniformed man appeared and bowed deeply. “Your Serene Highness, the Prefect sends his greetings.”

Nico stamped down on his impatience as the man recited the ritual greetings and wishes for his health and happiness. “What is the message?” he asked, somewhat irritably, once the formalities had been observed.

Though it was indeed the Crown Prince’s duty to oversee the police force, it was more a symbolic role than anything else. That the Prefect was actually communicating with him about something filled him with an uncharacteristic sense of foreboding.

Ridiculous. It was merely the awareness of his loss of freedom that pinched at the back of his mind and made him feel uneasy.

The man reached into his inner pocked and pulled out an envelope. “The Prefect has tasked me with informing you that we have recovered some of the ancient statues taken from the museum. And to give you this, Your Highness.”

Nico held out his hand. The man stood at attention while Nico ripped into the envelope.

He expected the sheet of paper inside, but it was the photograph of a woman and child that caught Nico’s attention first. Their faces filled the frame as if someone had stood very close to snap the picture. He recognized the woman almost instantly – the wheat blonde hair, the green eyes, and the smattering of freckles across her nose – and felt a momentary pang of regret their liaison had not lasted longer. His gaze skimmed to the child.

Sudden fury corroded his insides. It was not possible. He had never been that careless. He would never do to a child what had been done to him. He would never father a baby and walk away. It had to be a trick, a stunt to embarrass him on the eve of his engagement, a ploy to get money. There was no way this child was his.

His mind reeled. He’d spent only a short time with her, had made love to her only once – much to his regret. Wouldn’t he have remembered if something had gone wrong? Of course he would – but the child had the distinct look of a Cavelli. Nico couldn’t tear his gaze away from eyes that were a mirror to his own as he unfolded the paper. Finally, he succeeded in wrenching his attention to the Prefect’s scrawled words.

Nico dropped the paper and shoved back from the desk. “You will take me to the prison. Now.”

You can pre-order the North American release at Amazon.com and the UK release at Amazon.co.uk.