A Visit with Alexandra Benedict

Lonely and overcome with grief after a painful loss in his past, Adam Westmore walks the ocean’s edge in solitude.

Forced to marry a depraved foreign prince, a desperate Evelyn Waye believes she has no choice but to throw herself from the jagged cliffs into the crashing surf below.

When Adam sees the enchanting woman in terrible danger, he rescues her from death and brings her back to his humble cottage. Hesitant to reveal his true identity as a distinguished lord, he nonetheless offers to protect her. And she needs protection, for the prince will find her—and harm her.

Evelyn wants to trust the handsome stranger who saved her life, but her cursed beauty has made her suspicious of all men . . . even one whose kindness disarms her, whose gentle touch inspires passion within her.

Soon Adam and Evelyn are consumed by desire . . . a dangerous desire that puts their very lives in peril.

Expectancy

I’m turning the big 3-0 on Friday. Funny how that number just sneaked up on me. There were so many things I wanted to do before the age of thirty. Did I accomplish my goals? Well, we’ll just have to crack open the time capsule to find out.

You see, a week ago I attended my high school reunion. It was a casual affair; old friends getting together at a restaurant. And then out came the folded sheets of paper, stained with age. The time capsule! Some of us squealed with delight to see it again. Some of us scratched our heads, wondering: the what? But everyone had a good laugh in the end, as we perused the predications we had made about ourselves as teenagers.

Here’s how my predication looked:

I’d be married to a professor who rides a motorcycle at night.

Er … I’m still working on that one.

I’d be working as a high school teacher.

Boy, was I waaaay off on that one.

I’d have a dog for a pet.

Which perplexes me, since I’m afraid of dogs.

And I’d be riding a motorcycle.

To match my future hubby’s, of course.

I’d be living in a castle.

Because I just love the thought of dusting over a hundred rooms and having an electric bill in the six figure range (on a high school teacher’s salary, no less!).

Life has a way of zigzagging and not turning out the way you expected; it happened to me.

Writing fiction was not the career choice I had envisioned for myself all those years ago, however it is the only occupation I can imagine having now.
The characters in my upcoming book TOO DANGEROUS TO DESIRE (Avon Books, August 2008 ) believe they are destined to lead solitary and joyless lives. Both characters are about to discover life has a way of zigzagging and not turning out the way one expected.

What do you expect out of life? Do you have it? Are you happy you didn’t get it (like me!)?

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