The Hitchhiker

This will be all pretty with excerpts and whatnot… in the relaunch of the book section coming soon! Meanwhile, you can get excerpts and samples from these fine retailers:

Barnes and Noble

Amazon

Smashwords

AllRomance

 

Buy the audio version for hands-free reading!

Kissing him is better than nothing.

Young widow Vanessa Bingham is ready to stop mourning. She misses the intimacy and tenderness of a man’s touch. It’s obvious her old friend Derek Lane wants her, so why does her first attempt at seduction cause him to flee?

Kissing her is a dream come true.

Derek has been in love with Vanessa forever. His feelings have kept him from having a serious relationship—or a casual one—with any other woman. So when she finally turns to him, he doesn’t want to settle for being friends with benefits. But Vanessa is a hard woman to resist for long…

Someone doesn’t want them kissing at all.

Just as things with Derek begin heating up, disturbing photos start to arrive at Vanessa’s door. Someone is watching her every move: someone she may know. Terrified by the stalker’s very real threats, Vanessa soon realizes that Derek may be just the hero she needs after all.

I kissed him because he was better than nothing.

Derek froze for a moment and I thought I’d made a mistake. I felt better when he rested his hand on my hair, even if it had all the weight of a butterfly’s wing.

“Do you mean it, Van?” he asked.

I couldn’t look at him. “Of course I do,” I whispered into his neck.

He put his arms around me. I rested my head against his chest and listened to his heart thump at a rate that contrasted with his calm embrace. With one finger I doodled on his shirt pocket.

“That’s interesting,” I said.

“What’s that?”

“You’ve got quite a pectoral muscle here.”

“I should think so,” he said drily. “I lift a lot of heavy things.” He worked as a research librarian at the college, but a few years back he’d bought a little land where he grew hay for two elderly horses. I’d tried to lift a bale of hay once, and the attempt almost yanked my arms from their sockets. I’d noticed a few months ago that farm chores had put some serious muscles on this quiet, gentle man.

“I see.” I put my hand on his arm. “Derek, I’m going to buy you short-sleeve shirts for your birthday.”

“Why?”

“Long-sleeve shirts rolled to the elbow are not showing off your arms.” I had my fingers on an incredible biceps.

He laughed. “I can’t wear short sleeves to work. Too cold in the winter, and the air conditioning at the library makes it way too cold in summer.”

“You’re too practical.”

“Probably.”

This time he kissed me. He was still tentative, but his lips were soft and warm. His unexpected strength warmed my response. I let my lips open a little wider and wrapped my arms around his neck. He tightened his embrace but made no effort to speed up our kiss.

I pressed against him and moaned softly. His breathing picked up. Finally I felt his tongue against mine, hesitant and slow. I ran my fingers into his thick brown hair and pulled him closer.

That convinced him I was serious, I guess. His lips grew firmer, and his tongue explored mine with more sureness. When he nibbled gently on my bottom lip, I jumped in surprise and pleasure. He smiled and went back to kissing me. I let my hands wander down his powerful arms, hidden in the loose oxford shirt.

He broke it off just as I was getting into a groove. “What’s wrong, Der?”

“Nothing. Just remembered…need to stop by the farm supply store, get a thing,” he muttered. He went to the front door where he’d left his coat. I followed, wondering if I should stop him. He looked at me, agony on his face. He took one step toward me.

When I held out my arms, he fled.

 


Her Heart's Divide

Buy now!

The audio version, for… er, “hands free” reading… is now available!

The first review I ever got, from one of my own personal favorite review sites, The Erotic Reader: “What was meant to be a quick glance-through to decide if I wanted to read this book ended up being a reading binge I couldn’t stop.” Seven out of nine hearts!

Romantic Times: “This story is true fantasy fulfillment.” Four stars!

Another review, this one from Romance Junkies: “If you are looking for a romance with supernatural flare HER HEART’S DIVIDE should be on your must get list. Kathleen Dienne does a stellar job… It is a book you’ll easily want to map out an afternoon for as it is too hard to put down once you start.” 4.5 out of 5 ribbons!

From Romance Novel News: “Kathleen Dienne weaves a tale about the fulfillment of one woman’s erotic fantasies that is filled with delicious sexual tension… This was an easy and fun read – and I will definitely be checking out any future works from Ms. Dienne.”

From Everybody Needs a Little Romance: “Although this is a novella, the characters are well developed and very easy to like. I was drawn into their world and was left wanting more. The story is well paced for the length and has a nice sexy ending. I would definitely buy more from this author.”

Night Owl Reviews chimes in with a wonderful comment, and four out of five stars: “Beginning with one of the freshest, sexiest opening paragraphs I’ve read to date, Her Heart’s Divide lends a unique, unanticipated twist to the husband-and-his-best-friend fantasy…”

And just to prove that different reviewers can have different experiences, Night Owl Reviews also gave me a fantastic five out of five star review! “With a clever twist at the end, I found myself wanting more, more, and more!!!”

Have you reviewed this novella? Drop me a line at kathleendienne@gmail.com and let me know!

Cover copy:

Lila was a faithful, loyal wife.

Ryan was her sexy, loving husband.

And so was Jack…?

Jack, however, was her boss, not her husband—why was he claiming her as his own? Lila had been passionately happy with Ryan for more than seven years. Yes, there’d been a moment when she’d first been attracted to Jack, but then she’d met his best friend, Ryan. They’d fallen in love and married. Jack claimed that in his world, their attraction had led to the altar.

And now she was caught between two men—two husbands—in the wildest situation Lila could ever have imagined. But what she wasn’t imagining were the two men touching her, pleasing her, caressing her…

Excerpt:

I heard the driveway gravel crunching beneath the tires of his pickup truck, so I “accidentally” sprayed myself with the hose. It was an irresistible impulse. It was my day off and I’d been washing my car. My husband and I had been working a lot of overtime lately, with no time for recreation or even chores. And I knew how much he loved seeing me in a wet T-shirt.

The water was cold, and my nipples rose into hard little peaks. The truck’s engine turned off, and I heard him striding closer. I pulled off my ponytail elastic and shook my long, dark hair into what I hoped would look like an auto-show model’s mane. The metal of the car was warm in the midsummer sun, so I turned around and leaned back against the trunk, displaying myself for him. Then I froze.

“My god, you’re a sight for sore eyes,” said Jack. His blue eyes sparkled in his tired face as he looked me up and down. “I had a terrible day and fell asleep at the wheel on my way home. I nearly wrecked the truck. But you always make everything all right, Lila.”

He pulled me into a tight embrace despite my wet shirt and leaned down to kiss my neck. He slipped his hand in between our bodies to tweak my stiff nipple. “I love you, sweet girl. You’re the nicest wife a man could ask for,” he whispered.

I couldn’t speak. I couldn’t move. The love seemed genuine and his physical reaction was undeniable. The only trouble was that Jack wasn’t my husband. He was my boss. And in my entire life before this afternoon, I’d never so much as kissed the man.

Longer excerpts can be found here and here. Enjoy!

 

Of course, authors get twice as much if you order from the publisher :) But now that I have a Kindle… I would totally buy it from Amazon. I’m one click lazy ;)


Launched November 25, 2010:

Just One Bite, Volume 2 – featuring Ghost Beside Me

My short story (3K words) was a contest finalist in the All Romance Ebooks “Just One Bite” contest. All 32 stories are being distributed through All Romance in one of three free anthologies. (Mine is in the hetero erotic romance anthology – the other volumes are sweet romance, and M/M.)

“Ghost Beside Me” is a sort of prequel to Her Heart’s Divide, briefly featuring Allison on her wedding day. Her college roommate, Tricia, is a skeptic and a city slicker, but on this cool country evening, she might learn to see things a little differently…

Download it now for free!


Launched February 4, 2011:

Get The Motor Running

Launched! Now available from Etopia Press.

This short story (only 4600 words) is on sale for 99 cents. Here’s the pitch that sold the story:

What’s summer without a little summer romance down by the beach? Unfortunately, Kendra’s car dies the minute she arrives in Ocean City, and love is the last thing on her mind. No money, no parents to save her, and now no car. On top of all that, there’s no job if she doesn’t have a car.

Her luck may be changing. The first person she meets is a mechanic, and when they’re together, problems have a way of blowing away in the salty summer breeze. This is the beginning of something beautiful.

 

            




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