Can’t Stand the Heat
by Peggy Jaeger
GENRE: Contemporary Romance
BLURB:
With three successful TV series under her belt, including her cousin Kandy’s, executive producer Stacy Peters is ready to helm her own show. But to make that happen, she has to do her network boss one favor first—spend two months on a ranch in Montana wrangling the notoriously difficult director of Beef Battles. Apparently, he eats producers for breakfast. Yet all Stacy can think when she meets the lean, rugged man is how hungry he makes her . . .
Dominic Stamp—Nikko to his very few friends—has had enough interference from TV newbies. And when Stacy climbs out of the car in Montana, he’s not convinced she’s even old enough to drive, much less produce his show. But he can’t deny that the long-legged blonde with the stubborn will and the dazzling smile whets his appetite. And as Stacy proves her talent with the crew and the budget alike, Nikko vows to prove to her that love is on the menu for both of them . . .
Excerpt:
When Dan Roth caught her eye and grinned widely behind his costar’s back, Stacy lowered her head and bit down on the inside of her lip. If she hadn’t been looking down she would have noticed Nikko stop. But she hadn’t been looking where she was going and, subsequently, barreled right into him.
She would have ricocheted back and fallen from connecting with the solid wall of his chest as she hit if he hadn’t thrust his hands forward and grabbed her upper arms to prevent it.
Like a blast from a stun gun—quick, sharp and penetrating—she felt the heat of his touch burn through her blouse and sear straight through her skin.
Numbed, she dropped her tablet, her hands incapable of holding onto it. They splayed, open palmed, and sought purchase by grasping his elbows and clutching.
“Steady,” he commanded.
Stacy felt anything but. Words wouldn’t form correctly in her mind. All logical, rational thought had flown the moment the warmth of his hands seeped through the fabric of her blouse. It was as if she’d walked into an oven, the temperature set to broil.
His long fingers squeezed once, twice, then tugged her in closer.
Stacy couldn’t decide which was more intense: the heat in his eyes or the natural warmth radiating from his body.
“I’m—I’m sorry. I didn’t…I wasn’t…I—Sorry.” She tried to pull from his grasp, but he wouldn’t let go.
As earlier when she’d caught him staring at her, she once again felt the mesmerizing pull of his gaze and was powerless to look away.
And for some inexplicable reason found she didn’t want to.
The little shards of amber floating among the cognac color of his irises were lighter and brighter than she remembered. They looked like a wolf’s eyes, and, just like a wolf, their stare was predatory, alpha, and hypnotic.
“Nikko? We’ll all set to start up again,” Todd called from the doorway of the production trailer.
Without looking away from her, he called back, “Be right in.” He still hadn’t let go of her arms.
From deep down, as deep as she could reach, Stacy grappled for calm. She watched him watch her while she took a solid, full breath in, then relaxed it out.
“I’m sorry,” she said when she trusted her voice wouldn’t betray her again. “I wasn’t paying attention to where I was going.”
She shifted back, away from him, but he kept his hands around her.
This close she could read the exhaustion floating in his eyes and his determination to ignore it.
This close she could see the fine, subtle lines fanning out from the corners of his eyes as he narrowed them at her.
This close she could reach out and smooth the corrugations grooving down from his mouth to his rock solid jaw. That she wanted to do just that, to offer him any comfort she could, to soothe the pain he tried so valiantly to keep hidden, stunned her beyond all thought.
Nikko Stamp was not a man who would ever tolerate being comforted or coddled.
Why, then, did she think it was exactly what he needed?
Interview with Peggy Jaeger
Any weird things you do when you’re alone?
When I’m writing (which I do in my office, alone!) I speak my dialogue out loud in the character’s voice. Sometimes I will even use the Text-to-voice command to hear it played back to me so I can check for inflections and flow. Once, I lost track of the time and my husband came home without me knowing it. He swore I had at least three people in my office, talking.
What is your favorite quote and why?
From Eleanor Roosevelt: “You must do the things you think you cannot do.”
Mrs. Roosevelt was inherently a very shy woman. She never wanted to be a public person, give speeches, or host foreign dignitaries. She simply wanted to be a wife and mother. But when her husband ran for and then won public office, she was forced into a public life she had little desire for. When she became her husband’s “legs,” substituting for him at various events because of his paralysis and illness, she came up with this quote, and forced herself to do what she feared the most: public speaking. I love her for her courage and this quote has helped me dance on stage for a community fundraiser, and has helped me with my terror of public speaking.
Who is your favorite author and why?
Hands down, Nora Roberts/JD Robb. From the very first book of Nora Roberts’ I ever picked up – Irish Thoroughbred, I was hooked. She has an uncanny way of being able to convey in the least amount of words possible, the greatest of emotions, feelings, and thoughts. The banter in her JD Robb books between Eve Dallas and Delia Peabody reads like a master class in dialogue writing. Every single character has a distinct and individual voice, so much so, dialogue tags are superfluous.
What, in your opinion, are the most important elements of good writing?
Well, for me, dialogue is key – both the internal and the external dialogues. How a writer has a character speak to himself in his mind is as important to the story as how she speaks verbally.
Momentum is another factor that is important and so lacking in many stories. Life isn’t stagnant and linear, and neither should writing be. Your life moves, so your writing should as well, hopefully in a positive direction, forward.
It goes without saying (but I will, anyway!) that good grammar, spelling, sentence structure, and punctuation matter. I’ve read one too many misplaced modifiers lately that have driven me to toss the book aside, unwilling to finish it.
Having said that, the most important element for me is my writing voice. I’ve said that Nora Roberts/JD Robb is my favorite author. Well, I can pick up a book and know immediately if it is one of hers without every seeing the jacket cover. Nora’s voice is as distinctive on the page as it is when you hear her speak. I hope my writing is the same, and I strive for that.
Where did you get the idea for this book?
CAN’T STAND THE HEAT is the third book in my Will Cook For Love Series, and when I wrote book 1, Cooking with Kandy, Kandy’s cousin Stacy Peters was one of my favorite characters, so I knew I had to give her a good love story and try to find her an HEA all her own with a man who would love her to no end. Especially since she thinks everlasting love is something she’s never going to find.
In book three, Stacy has come into her own as a television producer and feels she is ready to head her own show. The programming cheif of the network agrees, but asks for a favor first. Since Stacy is known network-wide for her calm and professional demeanor, he asks her to executive produce a food competition, directed by a man for whom the word calm could never be used as a description. Sending Stacy out to Montana and away from her beloved NYC gave me a chance to explore how she handles life and work on her own without her family around her. Love that!
AUTHOR Bio and Links:
Peggy Jaeger is a contemporary romance writer who writes about strong women, the families who support them, and the men who can’t live without them.
Family and food play huge roles in Peggy’s stories because she believes there is nothing that holds a family structure together like sharing a meal…or two…or ten. Dotted with humor and characters that are as real as they are loving, Peggy brings all topics of daily life into her stories: life, death, sibling rivalry, illness and the desire for everyone to find their own happily ever after. Growing up the only child of divorced parents she longed for sisters, brothers and a family that vowed to stick together no matter what came their way. Through her books, she has created the families she wanted as that lonely child.
Tying into her love of families, her children's book, THE KINDNESS TALES, was illustrated by her artist mother-in-law.
Peggy holds a master's degree in Nursing Administration and first found publication with several articles she authored on Alzheimer's Disease during her time running an Alzheimer's in-patient care unit during the 1990s.
In 2013, she placed first in two categories in the Dixie Kane Memorial Contest: Single Title Contemporary Romance and Short/Long Contemporary Romance.
In 2017 she came in 3rd in the New England Reader's Choice contest for A KISS UNDER THE CHRISTMAS LIGHTS and was a finalist in the 2017 STILETTO contest for the same title.
A lifelong and avid romance reader and writer, she is a member of RWA and her local New Hampshire RWA Chapter.
Website/Blog ~ Twitter ~ Amazon ~ Facebook
Giveaway:
$50 Amazon or Barnes and Noble GC
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9 comments:
Thank you so much for hosting me today and for introducing me to your readers and followers!
Thanks for hosting!
I enjoyed getting to know your book; congrats on the tour, I hope it is a fun one for you, and thanks for the chance to win :)
I'm looking forward to checking this one out, thanks for sharing! :)
Lisa - thanks so much for stopping by today. Glad you are enjoying the tour! another week and half to go.
Victoria - if you do I hope you enjoy reading it as much as I did writing it. Thanks for stopping by today
I'm intrigued!
--Trix
A great interview thank you.
I am really enjoying following this tour, thank you for all the great blog posts and excerpts!
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