The truth—the blue-hair minx didn’t know any better.
Camryn folded her arms across her chest in a silent dare for Kaya to laugh again. Just wait until Kaya found a mate. Camryn would make popcorn, sit back and observe the show.
“It’s not funny,” Camryn said. “I can’t leave the room without him panicking, and if one of the twins starts to cry, he loses every scrap of color. Quick, let’s go to the refreshment shop on the corner of the square before he changes his mind about letting me go out for a few cycle marks.”
A flymo zapped overhead, the snub-nose utility vehicle with its chubby, gray rounded body was popular with the locals for shifting cargo and people around the city. It darted around the square and landed out of sight, somewhere on First Upper Street. The pilot knew better than to fly over the public no-fly area, currently full of the locals promenading under the shady trees. At night those trees sparkled with tiny lights. More restaurants and market stalls sprang up and impromptu entertainers thrilled the evening spectators, bringing the square to vibrant life.
Camryn fell into step with Jannike Hondros, Kaya Ignatius and Gweneth Swithin, all of whom arrived on the planet of Viros with Camryn and Ry on their ship the Indefatigable. Somehow, the planet inhabited by mainly black leopard shifters, had become home.
Jannike, a tall statuesque blonde from the planet of Manx Two, had settled into her position as the mate of both the king of Viros, Lynx Leandros, and his best friend, Shiloh Tetsu. Gweneth, a half-feline with long straight black hair and laughing green eyes, had found a mate in Shiloh’s older brother, Ellard. And Kaya…well, according to Kaya, she kept busy conducting mate auditions. Her mantra—fun, fun, fun with a side of hot sex.
Kaya held open the door, and they filed into the cool and rustic depths of an estaminet—a small cafe to any Earthling. The Royal didn’t attract the wealthy since the owner subscribed to the plain furnishings and no-frills school. Instead, he placed his energies into the food and beverage part of his business. A winning combination. Most feline ladies didn’t patronize this estaminet, preferring the one farther along the square with outdoor dining. A place they could see and be seen.
Camryn and her friends enjoyed this one because the other customers didn’t point and gossip. Here they could have relative privacy and be themselves instead of the mates of important felines.
“You complain about Ry.” Jannike rubbed her swollen belly and sank onto a straight-back chair with a groan. “Try being the queen of Viros with two mates, then you might have something to whine about. Lynx and Shiloh insist on me having a security guard.”
Camryn gave her a royal salute, one finger extended with no regard to Jannike’s royal status. “I’m still shocked Ry let me leave the castle for refreshments. He’s hovered like a bad mood since the twins’ birth.” And something else was going on with Ry. Not that she intended to confess their lack of bedroom rumbles to her friends.
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Excerpt – My Scarlet Woman
Middlemarch Shifters, book 1
“Please stop staring at me.” Emily Scarlet grimaced at Maggie, her sister-in-law and best friend. She scanned the faces in the line leading to the marquee, concentrating on the male ones before turning back to Maggie. “I checked my makeup in my compact mirror five minutes ago. I know I haven’t colored outside the lines so quit with the bulging eyes. It’s not attractive. Don’t you want to catch a man?”
Emily’s hips swayed in time to the catchy beat of the song the band played and mentally checked off the faces while eagerness built. No. No. Possibly…
“I can’t help it. You look so different.” Maggie’s expression radiated confusion as she checked out Emily’s radically changed appearance.
Emily knew she looked different. Better. Her reflection in the bedroom mirror this evening still had the power to surprise her. The sexy, layered haircut and the new golden highlights that shot her from mousy to head-turning. The figure-hugging red dress that ended mid-thigh and showcased her recent weight loss. The strappy black heels that made her legs appear long and toned. The blue contact lenses to correct her shortsightedness, and the breasts that the incredible bra she wore pushed up and out to greater prominence.
Maggie’s brow crinkled in distress. “You’re not the Emily Scarlet I know. I don’t think Michael—”
“Michael is dead.”
Pain darkened her sister-in-law’s face. “It’s been six months. Don’t you think you should take more time before you make changes?”
Emily bit back the cutting reply that leapt to the tip of her tongue. Michael had cheated. He’d lied. The morning of the car accident, he’d had told her he intended to leave her for his secretary. Boring little Emily didn’t compare favorably with the glamorous Tessa. Too frumpy. Too predictable for Michael’s taste. He hadn’t even given her a chance!
Impotent anger grew as she replayed the painful scene. She gripped her black clutch bag so tightly the box of condoms inside buckled beneath the pressure and the cellophane wrapping gave a telltale crackle. She relaxed her grasp and inhaled, trying to push away the ugly past.
Bottom line. He hadn’t loved her.
Emily fixed a smile on her mouth. She didn’t want to argue with Maggie or blurt out the truth about Michael in a burst of temper—not after keeping quiet and protecting the family’s illusions. They had loved Michael, and she refused to hurt the people she cared for even if their son and brother was a dirty, cheating scumbag. She’d suffered enough for them already.
After mentally jerking herself back to the present, she spied a tall, dark-haired man standing with a group just inside the flower-bedecked marquee. Her gaze strolled the length of his body, coming to rest on a very touchable butt. She sighed in appreciation and wished he’d turn around so she could check the whole package. He remained standing with his arse pointing in her direction. Delectable.
She put him on her list and glanced back at Maggie. “Coming to Middlemarch is about having fun.”
The line moved forward and Emily tugged two tickets from the depths of her clutch bag then draped the long strap over her shoulder.
“It’s all about sex,” Maggie snapped. “They have a shortage of women in Middlemarch. I’ve read the papers. This isn’t a dance. It’s a meat market.”
“Yeah, great, isn’t it?” Emily chuckled, attracting the attention of the same group of men she’d just ogled. She winked at them and turned back to Maggie. “You didn’t have to come with me. I told you I was happy to come on my own. I promised to turn into a pumpkin at midnight, catch the train back to Dunedin and stumble into a taxi at the other end, tired and danced out like a good Cinderella. But you insisted on coming. The least you can do is enjoy yourself. Come on, you know you love to dance.”
“I don’t know you in this mood. You’ve changed.”
Laughing, she gave Maggie a quick, reassuring hug. “I’m just the same. And tonight we’ll dance the night away with some cute country boys before heading back to the big, bad city. Okay?”
She handed over their tickets to the elderly woman sitting behind the wooden desk at the entrance to the marquee, offering her a bright smile. Maggie was right. She had changed. She wasn’t the same doormat Michael had walked over and discarded. No longer the little homemaker. The drudge.
This Scarlet woman planned on having a little fun.
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About Shelley
Shelley lives in New Zealand with her husband and a cheeky Jack Russell/mystery breed puppy.
Typical New Zealanders, Shelley and her husband left home for their big OE soon after they married (translation of New Zealand speak – big overseas experience). A twelve month adventure lengthened to six years of roaming the world. Enduring memories include being almost sat on by a mountain gorilla in Rwanda, lazing on white sandy beaches in India, whale watching in Alaska, searching for leprechauns in Ireland, and dealing with ghosts in an English pub.
While travel is still
a big attraction, these days Shelley is most likely found in front of her computer following another love – that of writing stories of romance and adventure. Other interests include watching rugby (strictly for research purposes), cycling, baking bread and curling up with a good book.
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Other Works by Shelley
Contemporary
Playing to Win
Spies, Lies and Sapphires
Stranger Things Happen
Wild Child
Cat Burglar in Training
One Night of Misbehavior
Blindside
Fringe Benefits
Lovers at Last
Ain’t Misbehaving
Love and Friendship series
The Bottom Line
Past Regrets
Farmer Wants a Wife
Clare Chronicles
Part-Time Lovers
Enemy Lovers
Fancy Free series
Fancy Free
Christmas is Coming
Feeling the Buzz
Military Men
Innocent Next Door
Soldiers with Benefits
Safeguarding Sorrel
Paranormal
Sea of Change
Flight of Dragons
Price of Love
Wicked Alphas, Wildest Nights
Naughty, Nice and Paranormal
Middlemarch Shifters
My Scarlet Woman
Coming Soon
My Younger Lover
My Peeping Tom
Sci-fi/Futuristic
Interplanetary Love
Middlemarch Capture
Snared by Saber
Favored by Felix
Lost with Leo
House of the Cat series
Sampled & Seduced
Captured & Seduced
Claimed & Seduced
Merry & Seduced
Stranded & Seduced
Seized & Seduced
Hunted & Seduced
Festive & Seduced
Alien Encounter series
Janaya
Hinekiri
Alexandre
Gay Romance
Eye on the Ball
Lone Wolf
Seeking Kokopelli
No Defense
Best Man
Last Wish
Historical
Mistress of Merrivale
The Spurned Viscountess
Unforgettable
Evening Tryst
Copyright Page
Hunted & Seduced
Copyright © 2015 Shelley Munro
ISBN: 978-0-473-34437-5
This book is a work of fiction. The names, characters, places, and incidents are products of the writer’s imagination or have been used fictitiously and are not to be construed as real. Any resemblance to persons, living or dead, actual events, locales or organizations is entirely coincidental.
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, scanned, or distributed in any manner whatsoever without the prior written permission from the author except in the case of brief quotation embodied in critical articles and reviews.
Shelley Munro
Hunted & Seduced Page 27