"Dear God, it's you!" he exclaimed.

And it was. The very woman who had disrupted his thoughts all day long was seated there on the dusty floor, a book open on her lap. She was wearing a drab gown, the color of dead moss. Still, her fawn colored hair was not tucked under a cap, but pulled up stylishly on her head. She looked prim and proper and untouchable. And with every fiber of his being he wanted to touch her.

Flustered, she slammed her book shut and sent a dust cloud into the air around her head. Another sneeze, and she struggled with her skirts as she scrambled to her feet. He chuckled at the delightful sight of one perfect ankle, but reached out a hand to help her. She did not take it.

"What are you doing here?" she asked quickly, glancing around, probably for a way to escape.

"I think I should ask you the same thing. Am I interrupting your reading hour?"

"No, I just—" she noticed the clock on the mantle. "Oh no! I had no idea it was so late!"

"Don't worry. I'll see that you don't get into any trouble."

"Oh, I doubt that," she replied. Smart girl.

That’s an excerpt from my recent Regency historical, MISTRESS BY MISTAKE. My heroine has found a book that she truly can’t quite seem to put down. (Trust me; we wouldn’t either, if we stumbled upon this little volume in our dashing host’s library.)

I love getting lost in a good book, don’t you? Especially when there’s a chance that, in my distraction, I might be found out by a smoldering-eyed lord with a penchant for seduction. Yeah, that’s my kind of reading hour!

And it’s a darn good way to keep warm as winter swings into full force here in the states. Brrr, as I type this my fingers are creaking with cold. The wind keeps knocking out my satellite connection for the internet. The dogs stand at the door with their little legs crossed saying, “No way! We are not going out in this.”

So, with my thermostat plunging and my busy schedule crowded from dawn ‘til dusk, what’s a quick little scene I can read that will get the blood flowing and pump up the heat index? Tell me about your favorite steamy read for a blustery day like today and you might be a lucky winner in our Christmas Contest!
--Susan Gee Heino