Guest Post with Author Cate Masters

Today I would like to welcome author Cate Masters to RFTC. Cate has stopped by to chat about her newest release, Cursed and has stopped by to chat. Please give Cate a warm welcome.

Cate Masters loves romance with a dash of magic and mayhem! Multipublished in contemporary to historical, sweet to erotic, fantasy/dark fantasy to speculative, she sometimes mashes genres. Reviewers have described her stories as “so compelling, I did not want to put it down,” and “such romantic tales that really touch your soul.”

When not spending time with her family, she can be found in her lair, concocting a magical brew of contemporary, historical, and fantasy/paranormal stories with her cat Chairman Maiow and dog Lily as company.

Places to find Cate:

| Site | Facebook | Twitter | 

Geeky heroine seeks alpha male

Heroine - statuesque, blonde, into reading, the arts, and light rock music. I love my work as a genetic scientist but I also like to play with fire. Literally.

Looking for intelligent, caring, cultured alpha male for long gondola rides, interesting enough to show me the Venetian sites but also open to a walk on the wild side.

Men whose definition of risk only applies to their financial portfolios need not apply. I'm looking for the real thing.

Contact Melina Weaver at 555-5555.

Doesn't it always seem like the two people you'd never put together as a couple also make the best couples? And once you look a little deeper, beyond the surface, then you get it. Oh riiiight. He's perfect for her because he's exactly what she said she wanted - intelligent, caring, cultured - definitely an alpha male. And off-the-charts sexy. With a touch of something extra…

Yes, she's a bit of a geek. Spends waaay too many long hours at the lab. Her work with the hormone oxytocin is a little hard to follow, especially when she explains it (she could talk about it all night, and passionately, too, but you'd understand none of it). You might as well read an article in a scientific journal about how this so-called “love drug” affects each person differently. When given to mothers, they can become more nurturing. When given to someone with a criminal bent, it twists that bent into something like the crude knives convicts sometimes make in prison.

Melina understands what a danger this presents, but can't seem to make her employer understand. But she doesn't combat her stress and frustration with meditative practices. Instead, she takes up fire dancing. (She wasn't kidding in the ad when she said she likes to play with fire - literally! lol)

No problem. Alpha males are great at handling fiery women. *grins*

Ten days of freedom. That's all Fate had allotted me each year. In the streets of Venice, I could walk among them. Mingle. Belong.

During Carnevale, they had no idea who I was. What I was.

For ten days, it didn't matter.

Until I met her.

Bruno diCesare lives alone by necessity, not choice. An experiment performed by Leonardo da Vinci, who believed having a dual DNA would grant a person immortality, used magic to render Bruno a chimera - the head of a lion, body of a dragon. The only time he can mingle with people is during Carnevale, ten glorious days of masked anonymity, frivolity and intimacy.

Melina Weaver learned fire dancing to enliven her dull existence. A scientist, her long hours at the lab leave no time for a social life. For ten days at Carnevale, she can pretend to be someone else. Someone sexy and daring, who lives on the edge.

Once she meets Bruno, her wish comes true, but everything goes terribly wrong. Beneath Bruno's costume lurks an alpha male, but is he dangerous? Worse, can she return to an employer who sells her research to the military to make an army of efficient killers? Her only hope may lie with the man she's just met and never seen.

Purchase: | Amazon | Barnes & Noble | All Romance |

     

Light danced in his dark eyes. “I must admit, your fire dancing fascinated me. What made you choose such a dangerous skill to master?”

“The thrill of the challenge, I suppose.” It balanced the rest of her mundane life, to a degree. Mastering each new level gave her a sense of achievement, where work couldn't.

Something flashed through his dark eyes. “Mistakes must be very painful.”

“I practiced a long time before I worked up the nerve to actually light the wands. I found the fire great incentive to focus, however.” God, her grin must be goofy, the way he stared. Such gorgeous eyes, such a deep brown they almost appeared black. He probably had rugged features, if his large hands provided any indication. Too bad he wore gloves, another barrier between them.

“Yes,” he said, “I imagine so.”

“What about you? What other magic do you know?” Oh please, can you get any more ridiculous? It sounded like a line from a bad chick flick.

The crinkle around his eyes was the only evidence of his smile, but enough to charm her.

“Lifetimes of studying the dark arts have provided me with many tricks.”

“Lifetimes?” she blurted.

He stiffened in her arms. “Pardon?”

She watched him carefully. “You said `lifetimes'. Plural.” And what the hell did he mean by `dark arts'?

Rigidity masked the grace of his movements. “I'm sure you're mistaken.” He stared over her head as they whirled to the song's rhythm.

Mistaken my ass. How very strange. More strange that the question upset him. He'd clammed up, and his muscles were so tense, she expected him to bolt. Better to drop it. For now. “Must have been a slip of the tongue.”

“Yes.” Relief sounded in his tone, though guarded.

This man had something to hide. How intriguing.

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