Guest blogger Christina Phillips and Michelle Diener compare scenes (with giveaways!)

First off, we have the winners for last Thursday’s giveaway with Gabi Stevens and myself. Gabi has very generously offered a book as well, so we have three winners! They are, thanks to the magic that is random.org:

Liz
Cate S
Donna S

We’ll be in touch for your addresses!

I’m thrilled to have good friend Christina Phillips guest blogging with me today. Christina is one of the few of my writer friends I get to see regularly, although, as we both agreed over lunch last Friday, not regularly enough! Today we’ll discuss scenes where our heroine first admitted their deep attraction to the hero.

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Thank you, Michelle, for having me back on Magical Musings to guest blog with you! I was intrigued when Michelle suggested we take scenes from our books and chat a little about what went through our minds and what we were trying to achieve while doing it. I decided on a scene in CAPTIVE, the second in my ancient historical romance series and to give some background perspective on the conflicts between the hero and heroine, here is the blurb:

She is a prisoner of her sworn enemy – and her own desire…

    Having lost her faith when Roman invaders destroyed life as she knew it, Morwyn took a vow of celibacy to spite her goddess. But before she can join up with the rebels, she’s captured by a Gaul mercenary whose animal charms and chiseled body will test her conviction… and make it harder to kill him.

    Bren, pledged to the true Briton king, has spent three years undercover in the Roman Legion. So when his own unit attacks and brutalizes a fiery Celtic beauty, he saves her the only way he can – by claiming her as his prisoner. But unlike his men, Bren would never take the woman by force, no matter how obviously she burns for his touch.

    As they near Roman headquarters, Morwyn resolves to honor her vow of celibacy – but if the Gaul were to ravage her, could she be blamed for enjoying his body? With just a hint of seduction, sooner or later the Gaul will succumb to his exquisite captive…  

The scene I’ve taken from CAPTIVE takes places after Morwyn witnesses Bren doing something that shakes the foundation of her beliefs. Up until now she’s tried to convince herself that she is with him purely for strategic ends; but if that was the case she would have left him during the night when he failed to return to her. Instead she goes out searching for him and discovers him reeking of ale, yet it has affected only his body—not his mind.

CAPTIVE ~ Excerpt

She didn’t pretend to misunderstand. “I missed you.” Her voice was soft but it rasped through the rancid air and he recoiled, as if she had physically punched his face. She flattened her free hand against his chest. Against his heart. “I thought you’d left me.”

His lips twisted into a mockery of a smile. “I should.” But his hand covered hers, pressing her more securely against his heart. Belying his words.

For a moment she lost herself in the beauty of his eyes. Eyes that, unguarded, showed shadows of secrets so horrific that madness glinted. But they were still the most mesmeric eyes she had ever seen.

Perhaps he had ensnared her by some ancient magic of his forefathers. But she knew the truth. Whatever it was she felt for him originated from her own heart.

Although this scene is from Morwyn’s point of view, I also wanted to show how Bren felt when Morwyn finds him when he’s at rock bottom. Instead of words of scorn, she is gentle, as if his wretched state doesn’t matter to her. And his actions show his true feelings, more than his words ever can.

It’s at this point, when Bren is no possible threat to her, when she could leave him or kill him, that Morwyn finally faces the truth. She can delude herself that he has captivated her by magic or she can accept that, against everything she has ever believed in, she has fallen, irrevocably, for her enemy.

“If you left me”—she leaned closer to whisper, in case a malevolent god lingered and overheard her treacherous confession—“I’d hunt you down, Gaul. I wouldn’t let you escape me so easily.”

Although Morwyn turned her back on her gods and professes she no longer believes in them, in this moment where she’s speaking from her heart her upbringing comes to the fore. She wants Bren to know how much he has come to mean to her, but can’t help but worry that her gods will punish her betrayal. It also reinforces Morwyn’s character—she’s not the type of woman to sit back and let life pass her by. If she wants something or believes in something she has no hesitation is going out there and fighting for it.

His calloused palms clenched, crushing her fingers against his chest. “You should leave, Morwyn. Find traders from your village and go home with them.”

“And yet I choose to stay.” The words echoed around the room, her confession, her betrayal. She should go to Caratacus, but she intended to stay. She should kill her enemy, but she would sooner kill herself.

There was no chance of a life together, and yet she’d do everything in her power to find a way.

I also wanted to show that Morwyn knows exactly what she is doing at this point and she is aware of the probable consequences of her actions. She doesn’t believe there will be a wonderful resolution to their relationship. They are enemies and always will be. Her duty lies with the Briton king, Caratacus, and by willingly staying with Bren she is turning her back on everything she has fought for up to this point.

I hope you enjoyed my insights into what went through my mind as I was writing this scene!

Christina Phillips

https://www.facebook.com/christinaphillips.author

https://twitter.com/#!/christinaPh

Thank you, Christina! I’m going to take a scene from the short story I included in the charity anthology for the Breast Cancer Research Foundation, BREAKING OUT. The emotion in mine is a little more low key, compared to Christina’s, because it is from a short story, and there hasn’t been the time to develop a deeper feeling between the characters. As an explanation, Giles, who appears in this scene as well, who is not the hero, can read people’s minds.

The quick blurb for the story is: Imprisoned in a secret facility, powerful telekinetic Kelli Barrack and two other ‘special’ inmates grab a chance to escape, only to confront their worst nightmares on the outside.

BREAKING OUT EXCERPT

Nate stood shoulder to shoulder with her as they searched the big reception desk, and she inhaled his scent, plain soap and man, and forced herself not to shiver with anticipation.
He pulled open a drawer and lifted out a knife, one of those promotional things with a company logo on the hilt. He flipped the blade, pressed it against the skin of his thumb and slipped it into his pocket.
She tried not to stare at his hands.
How long had it been since she’d been touched by someone who didn’t want to hurt her?

The reader at this point is aware that Kel is attracted to Nate, and he to her, but this is the first time her attraction to him is more than just a physical response. I’m mentioning the elephant in the room here, having Kel verbalize, even if just in her head, what’s happening. Forcing the characters into a spotlight where they can’t hide.

He brushed against her and she shifted, so torn, so compelled, she made herself crouch down and pull out the bottom drawer on her side of the desk.
“It’s like imprinting,” Giles said, hauling himself up into a sitting position. “If I’d been the one to find you, you’d want to do that to me, too.”
His words forced a startled laugh from her, even though her cheeks burned. “You comparing me to a wild animal, Scarecrow, dear?”

Here, I’m confronting another elephant in the room. Kel’s been locked away for three years. At the back of her mind, and I’m guessing at the back of the reader’s mind, everyone is thinking, ‘Could it just be that she’s finally found some nice guys, and she’s just so love-starved, she’s latched on to one of them?’ Giles was a risk I took from the beginning. Having someone who can read minds without effort is definitely hard to pull off, writing-wise. He could become extremely irritating, both to the other characters, and to the reader. But somehow, I found he was just delightful, and just what the story needed. He’s a genuinely nice guy, and by his pointing out to Kel her deepest fear, that her attraction is actually desperation, and making a joke about it, she realizes that it isn’t. That her attraction is real. Giles can see the road her mind is travelling on, and by forcing the issue, he helps her see her fears are unfounded.

Giles waggled his eyebrows at her, and she laughed again, with no reservations, until she caught Nate’s gaze, and the laughter died in her throat. She stood, holding tight to the edge of the desk.
“Want to let me in on the joke?” His eyes were so hot, so intense, her mouth went dry.
“I think you can work it out.” Her voice came out lower than usual, husky. She saw his nostrils flare. A hunter catching the scent.

The gauntlet is thrown down. She reveals to Nate what she and Giles are joking about, her attraction to him, in a roundabout way, yes, but still, she’s telling him what he thinks he heard, he did hear. And that’s all the green light Nate really needs.

We hope you enjoyed this little peek into our minds as we were writing.

And we have another three book giveaway today. Two copies of ENTANGLED (which is an ebook only!) and a copy of either CAPTURED or FORBIDDEN by Christina Phillips (ebook or papberback). All you have to do to enter is comment and tell us which book or movie had the best first love scene in your opinion.

UPDATE: The winners are as follows, selected by random.org: Stacie D, you’re in luck, you win a copy of CAPTIVE by Christina Phillips. Liz, it’s your lucky week . You and Amel win a copy of ENTANGLED. I’ll be in touch for your details!