Delicious Tease Day #29: Erica Ridley

Today, I'm pleased to bring you a brand new author, Erica Ridley. I haven't met Erica yet (something I hope to remedy at RWA nationals this year) but via e-mail she is just delightful! And her book is terrific. Leave a comment for her below and be entered to win a copy ofToo Wicked to Kiss.

Blurb:

HIS TOUCH HOLDS HER CAPTIVE...From the ravens circling its spires to the gargoyles adorning its roof,Blackberry Manor looms ominously over its rambling grounds. And behind itsdoors, amid the flickering shadows and secret passageways, danger lies in wait.

TO HIS EVERY DARK DESIRE...Evangeline Pemberton has been invited to a party at the sprawling estate ofreclusive Gavin Lioncroft, who is rumored to have murdered his parents.Initially, Gavin's towering presence and brusque manner instill fear inEvangeline...until his rakish features and seductive attentions profoundly arouse her. But when a guest is murdered, Evangeline is torn. Could the man to whom she is so powerfully drawn, also be a ruthless killer?

Excerpt:

“Lost again, my little lamb?” came Mr. Lioncroft’s low, droll voice.

Evangeline shivered. From somewhere in the black, a chair scraped across the floor, followed by slow, relentless footfalls. Evangeline edged backward into the relative comfort of the vacant hallway. He caught her before she had a chance to run. Once again, she was up against a wall, her spine to the wainscoting. This time, however, she was not pinned by the wrists but rather by the heat in his gaze. Glowing and darkening with each flicker of candlelight, his eyes focused on hers, without moving, without blinking.

By the time Evangeline realized Mr. Lioncroft was very, very angry, it was too late. His palms were flattened to the wall above each of her shoulders, his feet planted on either side of hers, trapping her in place.“I didn’t mean to startle you,” she stammered, helplessly staring back at him as she gulped for scraps of air.

He smiled. Darkly. Wolfishly. Alarmingly. But he said nothing.“I—I’ll just head back to my chambers now, then.” She meant the words to be decisive and firm, but they sounded fearful and tentative even to her own ears.

“Will you?” he asked, his face dipping closer to hers, his intent clear.“When the night is just getting interesting?”

Evangeline pressed her lips together and the back of her head against theunyielding wall.“Don’t kiss me in anger,” she whispered.

“In anger?” Mr. Lioncroft repeated softly, lowering his head until hisbreath coasted across her cheek. Her nerves prickled, as if she could feel that moist heat tickling against every inch of her flesh. He smiled again.“But I’m quite pleased by your presence. I’m hoping your kisses will make me forget my anger.”

Evangeline’s mouth gaped. She clapped her jaw closed before he had a chance to sweep his tongue inside her mouth. His smile widened, as if he’d correctly interpreted her action and found it amusing. . . but not the least bit daunting.

Even worse, a restless, burning ache spreading from her belly to her heated limbs made a small part of her wish he would quit teasing and start kissing. As if reading her mind, he leaned even closer, until his hips tilted at hers and the tips of her breasts rubbed against the bleached linen of his shirt.

The borrowed book fell from her fingers to the floor. If Mr. Lioncroft noticed, he gave no sign. Instead, he coasted his open mouth just above her flushed cheek, his breathsteaming against the curve of her cheekbone, the dip below her earlobe, thelength of her exposed neck. Her traitorous body writhed between the hard wall and the even harder man before her.

A sudden urge to force his lips upon her thrummed in her veins, but her dimming sense of self-preservation cautioned her to flee while she was still able.As the warm air from his lips traced the same heated path across the other side of her upturned face, she let out a slow, shuddering breath.

She would not flee. She could not. She wanted his skin touching hers perhaps even more than he did. Finally, his mouth returned to its original position, a mere finger’sbreadth from hers.Evangeline’s lips parted involuntarily, but she kept them parted on purpose.Victory flashed in his eyes. A rakish grin transformed him from darkly mysterious recluse to triumphant seducer.

She blushed at the sudden,frustrated moan she hadn’t meant to make. He had won. He knew he had won. But still he didn’t kiss her. Her pulse pounded in her ears. “Please.”

“Please what?” he asked, his breath spiced with wicked promise. “Please go away?”

“Please kiss me.”

Wow! I love me a hot kissing scene and that one certainly fits the bill ;) So, for today's quesiton of the day, how about-- What's your favorite kissing scene from a movie? One that ramps up the sexual tension so high you're almost sweating? Remember to comment for a chance to win Too Wicked to Kiss.