In THE CLAIMING OF THE SHREW, Catarina Neves begged Benedict Draven to marry her years before. She was desperate to escape an arranged marriage, and the brave English soldier seemed her only choice. Now Catarina is in London to ask for an annulment, but Benedict isn’t so sure he wants to give her up… “Senhor. You have come, as you promised.” “I’m a man of my word.” He moved forward, entering the parlor. “You have met my sister?” He looked back at Ines for a moment, but it was Catarina who held his gaze. The younger sister said something in Portuguese. He knew a bit of the language, but he wasn’t paying enough attention to translate. Then the younger sister exited to the bed chamber and he and Catarina were alone. They looked at each other for a long time. Finally, Catarina said, “I will ring for tea.” “There’s no need.” “I know your customs. It is appropriate to serve a caller tea.” “I’m your husband. I think we can dispense with the social customs.” Her dark eyes flashed fire before she quickly lowered her lashes. There was the temper he knew so well. She was attempting to control it…

Hello, I’m Diane Alberts (though I also write as Jen McLaughlin) and I’m here today because I had a new book come out this week called An Accidental Date with a Billionaire. It’s the first in a new series of standalone books, and in case you didn’t guess it by the title, the heroine accidentally bids on the wrong bachelor after promising her best friend that she will “save” her brother from being bought by a woman he doesn’t know. The problem is, Sam has never actually met her best friend’s brother, and instead of saving him she accidentally ends up with a very expensive date with Taylor (our hot, wealthy hero). One of the things I enjoy most about writing and reading romance is the moment when the hero or heroine knows—they just know—that there’s something about the hero/heroine that is…different. They might not fully understand what that is, or what that means, but instinctively they can sense that there is something about him/her that is going to threaten the chaos/organization/normalcy of their lives as they know it. Maybe it’s the first kiss, maybe it’s when their eyes first lock across the room, or maybe it’s after the first…