I know you'll get a kick out of her post and her futuristic romance Desire Disguised.
Welcome Lynn!
*****
There’s Always Food Somewhere
By Lynn Rae
I grew up in a family of cooks and
didn’t realize it until I grew up and moved out into the world to discover
there were lots of people who didn’t know how to cook, and even (gasp!) didn’t
care about food. As a child, we had an enormous garden, canned most of our
produce, and got fresh eggs from a neighbor, so the current popularity of
‘eating local’ makes me nostalgic. I still grow fresh vegetables in my backyard
raised beds, subscribe to a CSA (community supported agriculture) delivery, and
cook from scratch every day. It’s no wonder that food, and the production of it,
seems to pop up in every book I’ve written.
In my current book, Desire Disguised,
food is one of the ways my two main characters take care of each other. First,
my hero makes sure the heroine and her brother get a meal as they recuperate after
crash-landing on his planet. Once she’s settled, the heroine prepares him a
meal as a thank-you for all his help. Due to her life on the run she’s never
been able to go to school or hold down a job and she feels she has few useful
skills other than cooking. My hero arranges for her to find work in the
settlement’s kitchen and she’s thrilled at the opportunity to learn from
trained chefs. She’s never been able to form attachments to others because of
the risk of betrayal, but cooking for the hero becomes a way for her to
communicate with him and develop confidence in herself.
In my world, cooking a meal shows you
care and I believe that holds true even on a future planet in another galaxy.
Desire Disguised
Love Under a New Star Book 2
By Lynn Rae
Liquid Silver Books
5 January 2015
ISBN/ASIN: B00RTLZIXW
Blurb:
Cara Belasco has
been on the run from assassins since childhood. Living in the shadows with her
younger brother and one elderly guardian, her luck nearly runs out when the
smuggler’s ship carrying them crashes into a soggy jungle planet.
Ben Zashi, the
stalwart head of security who rescued her from the wreckage, is very curious
about her cover story, and Cara has to fend off his inquires as well as her
escalating attraction for him. Will the secrets she’s been hiding come between
them, or can Cara allow herself to find passion with the one man who longs to
protect her?
Buy Links:
Excerpt:
Cara followed at a jog, or tried to
for a few paces until a broad chest appeared in her line of sight, blocking her
view of the doorway. Ben Zashi. She’d forgotten about him for a few minutes,
which was a first during her time on Gamaliel. He held up both hands and tilted
his head, his eyebrow quirked in an inquiring fashion.
“What? Move, I need to go—”
“Actually it would be better if you
waited.” He directed her to stand by his door and she did, too shocked by his
interference to protest. He walked into their suite of rooms, and she heard his
low voice, too indistinct to make out any words. Mat replied a few times and Ben
returned, closing the door behind him.
“What are you doing? I need to get
in there and—”
“No, you need to get in here unless you want everyone in the
building to hear this,” Ben commanded, and a flicker of something close to fear
wrapped in a thrill fluttered in her chest.
He jerked his chin at the door
behind her, and she turned and entered his rooms. She’d never been inside. The
layout seemed to mirror their suite, but she was too unsettled to take notice
of more than a piano and a blue sofa. Whirling around as soon as she heard the
door close, she found she was face to face with an unsmiling man.
“Give yourself a minute, Cara.”
She shook her head. “No, let me out
of here. I need to talk with him.” She’d just found Mat, and this man was going
to keep her from him. Unacceptable.
She tried to dodge around him, but
he was too quick, flinging out an arm to block one side of the hall, and then
the other when she tried it again. Her frustration built up in her chest, and
she found it hard to take a deep breath. Ben’s dark eyes never left hers as he
talked.
“Listen. You’re upset. He’s upset.
Take a breather before you see him. He’s safe in there, and he’s not going
anywhere tonight.”
“How do you know that? He just
disappeared—”
“No, he went to a new friend’s house
and thought he’d have time to get back here before you returned. The school
routine is new for him, and he just forgot to check his datpad. Cara, listen,
he’s just being a kid, don’t be so hard on him—”
The anger popped in her head in a
burst of red light, and all the years of fear, the stress that never let up
fueled her rage as she lifted her hands fully intending to shove at Ben’s broad
chest with all her might. “You don’t know what you’re talking about. I have to
be hard on him or he’ll—we’ll die.”
Her strength failed her as soon as
she touched him, and her arms gave out before she could actually push. Ben
pulled her in as she fell against him. “Nobody died.”
“But we will,” Cara muttered into
his chest as his arms wrapped tightly around her. She wasn’t going to be able
to do this on her own. Two men had already died protecting them, and Soren was
nearly dead. That left her, a naïve woman with no experience or skills.
“Not on my watch.”
“I can’t do this.” Cara shivered
into the comfortable warmth of Ben and tried to talk herself into some courage.
She had to do it, there was no one else. But she’d already lost Mat once in the
few days she’d been responsible.
Something moving against her hair
distracted her. Ben’s grip on her loosened, and with an unexpected ache, she
realized he was going to let her go. She didn’t want that, not yet, so she slid
her hands around his arms and held on. He said something low she couldn’t make
out, and he touched her hair again. The soft and mysterious strokes were
mesmerizing. She could hear his heart beating and the steady thump made her
feel sleepy, a strange reaction after so much heightened emotion.
Ben moved one of his hands to her
cheek and tilted her head to peer at her. She stared into his eyes and wanted
to fall into unconsciousness, to just let all of it go for the rest of the day.
A respite from her tattered life was all she wanted.
Ben frowned, looked at her mouth,
and said, “Blast it.” Then, he kissed her.
Author Bio:
Lynn Rae makes her home in land-locked central Ohio after
time spent in the former Great Black Swamp, beside the Ohio River, and along
the Miami and Erie Canal. With professional experience in fields ranging
from contract archaeology to librarianship along with making donuts and
teaching museum studies, Lynn enjoys incorporating her quirky sense of humor
and real-life adventures into her writing (except the naughty bits). She writes sci-fi, contemporary, and
historical romances. You can find her posting frequently on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/lynnraewrites or
at her webpage http://www.lynnraewrites.com/
Thanks for hosting me, Rosanna. Just a food FYI, tonight's dinner was Thai chicken meatballs in a red curry coconut sauce!
ReplyDeleteThanks for joining me, Lynn, Sounds delicious!!
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