City Nights series, #27
Kemberlee Shortland
Length: Novella
Genre: Erotic Romance
Price: $3.99 (99c/99p through 24 October)
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Hannah Maguire and Sudesh Kumar had been lovers in Dublin City, both studying for their degrees in similar areas of Archaeology. What she had treated as a college romance, Hannah realized, as he was leaving Dublin for the job of a lifetime back home in India, was she had lost her heart to him.
Now, five years later, Hannah is working as an archivist in the National Museum in Dublin when she's invited to the National Museum of India in New Delhi to inspect a new and rare artefact found on an archaeological dig.
The last person she expects to see when she enters the museum is Sudesh. She didn’t know where he was, or even if he was still in India, but soon learns he's the one who made the discovery, and had been the one encouraging the museum to invite her onto the project.
On meeting, everything they'd shared washes over Hannah—all of the love and passion, and a heart so broken, she still hadn't recovered. To make things more difficult, it's Deepavali/Diwali and Sudesh has promises to make it a memorable experience.
Will this one night really be one to remember, or will it send Hannah into a tailspin she might not recover from this time?
• • •
New Delhi, India
“Hannah?”
Startled, I spun at the sound of my name and stumbled into his arms, my feet coming out from under me, and the dupatta falling off my head.
As much as I hadn’t expected to see Sudesh while I was in New Delhi, it hadn’t really occurred to me that if I did, it would be in the museum. It was an illogical thought. He was as much an archaeologist as I was.
My flesh came alive as I slid against him, and every ounce of familiarity crashed over me, his familiar scent washing over me in a tidal wave. My heart pounded in my throat, cutting off my air. I was sure I looked as startled as he did.
The weight of my body in his arms compounded our closeness, as he stumbled to keep us both from falling to the floor. A few inches more, and I’d be supine with him on top of me. The thought made that place between my thighs thrum to life.
I’d always loved the way he pronounced my name. His soft accent made the old-fashioned name I never liked sound sensual and beautiful. Even now, after so long, the one simple word was like a punch in the gut that brought up all the feelings I thought I’d cried out of me.
“Sudesh.”
Even to me, his name sounded like a sensual caress on my lips. I clung to him, praying he’d opt for the floor, even as he pulled me up to stand before him.
“Namaste,” he greeted.
He didn’t release me but embraced me with tender familiarity. He cupped my cheek in one hand and kissed me. I felt his fingers at my nape as his palm seared its imprint on my face. I gasped against his mouth.
His kiss was too short to be passionate, but also too long to be casual. But it was just long enough to muddle my thoughts. I tasted the Masala tea on his lips, and this morning’s dream flashed before me. The short stubble around his mouth heightened the electricity building inside me.
I fisted the fabric across his back and felt the muscle mass there I hadn’t remembered from our time together in Dublin. I knew every inch of his body. His time working dig sites had obviously filled him out, and I was curious to see him as he was now.
I didn’t push him away—I couldn’t—but I had to fight my instincts to pull him closer. He’d left me heartbroken, but damn it, I suddenly didn’t care.
But as quickly as he’d kissed me, it was over. It was Sudesh who finally ended the kiss though he didn’t take his arms from around me.
His dark eyes, framed with black lashes, darted over me as if searching for something.
I couldn’t look away. Through all of my mixed emotions, I wanted to see all of him too, and compare the man he was now to the man I’d previously known.
His black hair was a little shaggier than I remembered. It fell around his face as if he’d only finger-combed it before searching me out.
The stubble around his mouth was also something new. The short whiskers surrounding his perfectly shaped full lips told me he hadn’t just missed a couple days shaving, but his style.
At college, Sudesh presented himself as a clean-shaven young man with a short hair cut. On the outside, very businesslike. He wasn’t my type of man so reluctantly agreed to go out with him but quickly realized never to judge someone by their looks. It was in the bedroom that his inner tiger emerged. Now, that tiger was very much in evidence. And I liked it.
• • •
Kemberlee Shortland is a native Northern Californian who grew up in Carmel, a community founded by artists and writers, including John Steinbeck, George Sterling, and Jack London. Over the years, Kemberlee has worked with several Carmel notables, including Doris Day, Kim Novak, and Joan Fontaine. It was in 1997, she left the employ of Clint Eastwood to live in Ireland for six months. It was during this time she met the man she would marry, and permanently relocated to live in Ireland. While always writing since a very young age, Kemberlee earned her keep for fifteen years as one of Ireland's foremost travel consultants, and also wrote travel articles about Ireland. In 2005, she saw her first romance sell, and to date, she has thirteen published titles to her name, including the best-selling Irish Pride Series. Her most recent release is Murder in Mornington, is the first book in a new cosy Irish mystery series, set in the community Kemberlee and her family now call home. Kemberlee enjoys hearing from her readers, and promises to reply to every message. Please feel free to visit her on her website or social media sites.Find Kemberlee Online:
Website - http://www.kemberlee.com
Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/AuthorKemberleeShortland
Twitter - http://www.twitter.com/kemberlee
Amazon - http://www.amazon.com/author/kemberleeshortland
Tirgearr Publighing - http://www.tirgearrpublishing.com/authors/Shortland_Kemberlee
