More amazing news

It seems like 2014 is the year for Incredibly Exciting Events, and I have one more item to add to the agenda ...

Yesterday I received a call from Mills & Boon offering me a contract for my next book .... and the one after that too!

I'd spent the last few days with half an eye on my inbox after sending through a revised manuscript to the editor at Mills & Boon, but I was actually feeling pretty relaxed about it. After going through several rounds of feedback and revisions I was really happy with  my story, knew that the editors were enthusiastic, and that I couldn't have worked harder on it. So when I received an email from my editor asking if I was free for a phone call, I was quietly confident.

I tried to stay calm, reminded myself of the questions I'd want to ask about contracts and deadlines and schedules -- if the news was good -- and waited for the phone to ring. But as soon as the words 'two-book deal' were mentioned all pretence at cool flew out the window! I pretty much gushed for the rest of the call -- but at least had the presence of mind to put a bottle of champagne in the fridge!

I'm (obviously!) absolutely overjoyed at this news, and can't wait to share Will and Maya's story with you all. Publication's scheduled for September 2014 and I'll keep you posted with everything that happens between now and then. In the meantime, I owe an enormous THANK YOU to Alexia Adams, my long-suffering critique partner, and Flo Nicoll, editor extraordinaire at Mills and Boon, both of whom saw the potential in Will and Maya's story, and helped me pull it into shape. And to my family and friends who read drafts and delivered tea, food, mince pies and wine when I was bashing away at the laptop -- THANK YOU!

Now I guess it's time to get back to my notebooks and keep scribbling!

Ellie
x

The Warehouse Part 3 FREE STORY

Have you been wondering what happened to those poor chaps we left handcuffed together in a warehouse? Read on for Part 3 of The Warehouse ... (or catch up with Part 1 and Part 2)

The Warehouse

Part 3

'Help or ... not help,' she wondered out loud. Just then she heard the screech of tyres as the car took a corner too fast.

'I'm going to go out on a limb and say "Not help."’

‘Right, well then, let’s…’ She pushed back against him and shuffled her feet beneath her. ‘Stand on three. One. Two…’ On three they stood, still back to back, and the cuffs pulled up her wrists. It was bad enough that she was handcuffed to her ex. That he was a good foot taller than her added another dimension to her pain.

‘We could try and run,’ he offered, hesitantly.

‘We could. We’d fall flat on our faces and likely be killed. But we could try.’

He snorted. ‘Right. And sarcasm’s got a much better chance of getting us out of here.’

The tyres screeched again, closer this time, and the heavy thrum of the engine told her they didn’t have time to waste.

‘We could hide,’ she suggested.

‘I don’t know about you but I can’t see a thing. We’ve got no idea where we could hide, what they’ll be able to see when they get here.’

‘Then we’ve got no choice. We have to face them.’

She kept her voice steady and hard as she said the words, as she acknowledged the truth of them, her heart sped slightly, and she felt a prickle of adrenaline under her skin. Behind her, his fingers twisted until they were touching hers, and she resisted the temptation to take comfort from that. She couldn’t go there, not again. If she could only get through this by relying on him, then she wasn’t sure that she wanted to.

He’d proved before that she couldn’t trust him; that the support and comfort he was offering now could – and likely would – be whipped away in an instant. The second it got hard, or scary, or awkward he’d be gone.

Again.