Hot Reads...The Bounty Hunter

Contemporary Erotic Romance

AQP Bestseller!
Also a Fictionwise Erotica and Overall Bestseller!
2004 All About Murder Bloody Dagger Award nominee for best Adventure/Suspense!
2004 Sizzler Award Finalist for Best Romantic Suspense!

When a sleazy con-man steals Lucy Hart's last dollar and leaves her handcuffed, stark naked, in the shower, she figures life's thrown her about all the curves it can dish out. That is until a bounty hunter named Rider comes to her rescue. Well...sort of. He thinks she's in cahoots with the thief, so he frees her from her rather revealing position, only to snap the cuffs on her again and drag her off into the night! Lucy's not sure who the real bad boy is...the con or the sexy-as-sin man who keeps her cuffed and blindfolded. But there's no doubt about it--the temperature's rising and she's in for the ride of her life.

Buy it now!

Release date:  June 2003
AQP Heat Level: 2 (Sex scenes are explicit, frequent, and contain graphic language)
Length: Novella (27k words)
Price (electronic):  $5.00
Price (paperback):  $12.50 (This is for the HEAT paperback, which includes The Bodyguard and The Bounty Hunter)
ISBN (electronic):  1-59279-104-2
ISBN (paperback in HEAT anthology):  1-59279-888-8
Available in ebook formats at:  Amber Quill Press, Fictionwise
Available in paperback at:  Amber Quill Press, www.Amazon.com , www.Borders.com , www.Waldenbooks.com

Excerpt...

"Señor Sanchez! Help me!" Lucy yelled. She raised her leg and banged on the tile wall with her foot. When that brought no immediate response from her next door neighbor, she jumped up and down in the tub, pounding as hard as she could...until her breasts jarred painfully on a landing and one of the nipple clamps became slightly dislodged. "Yow!" Good God almighty, its new position hurt like a hot razor blade digging into her.

Okay, that did it. Desperate fury welled inside her like a forest fire out of control. "You wake up right now, Mr. Sanchez!" she shrieked. "Right this instant! I’m a woman in dire straights! El woman-o in dire straight-os, you hear?"

A low-pitched, masculine chuckle from what could be no farther away than just a few feet brought her tirade to an abrupt stop.

Her pulse pounded wildly and she had the sudden urge to cover herself once again. But a quick yank at the handcuffs attached to the shower rod, along with dull throbbing pain in her shoulders, reminded her that like it or not, she was fully exposed. "Who’s there?" she breathed.

No answer.

"I know I heard someone! Who’s there?"

Nothing.

Damn this blindfold. She twitched her nose, trying to raise the bandana a smidgen, but it was no use.

"Mr. Sanchez," she probed cautiously. "Is that you? I—I was robbed and the man who took my money left me locked in here. Bad man...bad, um, hombre. He stole my money...um...dollar-os and locked me up and I can’t see you, obviously, but I’ve been waiting and waiting for you to hear me. So if you could unlock me...unlock-o Lucy-o...that would be very..." Her voice tapered off. For God’s sake, was he even there? Maybe it’d been her imagination that she’d heard something.

No. A little tingle of goose bumps spread over her skin again, but this time it had absolutely nothing to do with the cold. That soft, low laughter, so rawly male it could give a girl wet dreams, was not her imagination. But then, point in fact, that was also not Mr. Sanchez’s wheezing laugh.

Oh, crap. "Who’s there?" she demanded. She was pretty sure her body was blushing, but now was no time for modesty. "Gort, is that you? Have you come back to gloat?"

But the soft chuckle hadn’t been Gort’s nasally donkey bray either.

"You tell me right now who’s there! This isn’t a game, and it’s not a free peep show either. I’m a woman in danger here."

"Yeah, that’s right," said a low, deep voice, thick with dry humor. "You’re a woman-o in dire straight-os, as I recall. Señor Sanchez’s ancestors would no doubt be delighted at the way you’ve butchered their language, but I’m sure that’s no concern to you, is it?"

"Well, actually, right now, no! Clearly I have other things on my mind. And if you’re a gentleman at all, first you’ll get these damned handcuffs and blindfold off me, then you’ll explain to me just who you are and what the hell you’re doing in my apartment."

"Who said I was a gentleman?"

She could downright feel the heat of the stranger’s stare on her, and while a part of her wanted to crawl under a rock, another part of her experienced a perverse sense of pleasure at the sensation. When Gort and his dumb pal had been eyeballing her, she’d felt revolted, dirty. But the warm, rumbly tone of this guy’s voice sent little electric shock waves through the room.

"Look, mister, this isn’t funny. You figure out a way to get me out of this mess right now or I’m going to call the cops."

"Uh-huh. And just how exactly do you plan to do that? You think they can hear you through the drainpipes? Besides, you wouldn’t dare call them because you don’t want them to haul you in."

"Why would they haul me in? I haven’t done anything wrong! I’m the victim here, as you can damn well see."

"Wild red curls, bare-assed naked, tits out to kingdom come, blindfolded and handcuffed in the bathroom? Looks like a hooker turning a kinky trick to me."

"A hook—? I am not a hooker! I’m an innocent victim. I was robbed."

"Mm-hmm, that’s what they all say."

"It’s true! My name is Lucy Hart. I’m a waitress at the Last Chance Diner. I’m a completely respectable person. I pay my bills. I...I...I have a library card!"

"Sure, whatever you say, honey."

"I am not your honey. Now get me free, you hear me? Or I’ll scream. I swear I will. And Mr. Sanchez will come over with his shotgun and he’ll blow a hole right through you. You’ll end up with only one testicle, or maybe none. Then you’ll be sorry you didn’t help me—you’ll be sorry you were a rude, ogling cretin instead of a nice, helpful gentleman."

"I told you—" His voice moved closer. "—I never claimed to be a gentleman."

She felt a tug at her breast that sent a weird pleasure/pain sensation through her. But then, with a soft snap, one of the nipple clamps was pulled free.

"Ouch, damn it! That hurts," she cried. But when a warm, callused finger smoothed across the tip of her engorged nipple, an entirely different sensation coursed through her. It was like boiling magma shooting through her, starting in her aching breast, and spreading all the way to her womanly core. Her body jolted in response. "Stop that!" she gasped. "How dare you touch me."

"Oh, I dare," he rumbled. "If you don’t want it touched, you shouldn’t put it on display."

Reviews...

5 daggers!!  ---All About Murder

Trussed up like a turkey the day before Thanksgiving, Lucy Hart was desperate for rescue. Handcuffed to the shower, naked and blindfolded...Lucy didn't have many options. It was apparent the toad that had broken into her apartment and humiliatingly attacked her wasn't coming back anytime soon. But the husky-voiced stranger who found her was no Knight in Shining Armor. For one thing, he was reluctant to believe her innocence. For another, he flatly refused to remove her blindfold and handcuffs. And lastly, his touch turned her on like nothing she'd ever encountered before.

His name was Rider. He was a bounty hunter. And he had a tendency to put his hands on her. Warm, big hands. Very, very talented hands. All too soon, Lucy finds herself a willing captive, surrendering to Rider's mastery. But who was Rider really? The answer is surprisingly sweet.

BOUNTY HUNTER is an erotic read from Amber Quill's new erotic line. As such, the sparks start right off but M. L. Rhodes doesn't let us forget the transcending power of love. Emotionally fulfilling, sexually sizzling, BOUNTY HUNTER is a fantastic read!"

--- Brenda Thatcher, www.allaboutmurder.com

"Lucy Hart is robbed, handcuffed, blindfolded, and abandoned stark-naked in her shower by a co-worker who turns out to be a con man, and is found that way by a bounty hunter known as "Rider". Lucy's fiesty temper and sassy mouth amuse Rider, and her nude lush body arouses him, making it impossible for him to resist teasing her sexually, inspite of the criminal he believes her to be. Then Rider frees her from her embarrassing ordeal but snaps the handcuffs back on her, returns her towel, and drags her off with him, in search of the man he is in pursuit of. Lucy rebels as his captive for a time, but soon she is unable to resist her body's cravings for the mysterious man, and his seductive touch, which is enhanced by the still unremoved blindfold. She is in for the ride of her life!

M.L. Rhodes once again captivates me with another fantastic story. The entire scene when Rider finds Lucy bound in her shower is very titillating and the sexual tension between hero and heroine builds from that point on then explodes after a very sexy "chocolate" scene that I will never forget. And the plot twist is amazing! The Bounty Hunter is one of the best e-books I have ever read....it is a keeper, most definitely. "

---a Lizzy Benway review

"THE BOUNTY HUNTER is a fantastically written romantica that will leave the reader breathless. Secrets and surprises pepper this short story making it one intense book. Rider and Lucy are strong characters who let their presence be known from the start. The sexual tension oozes from the pages, and the sex is hot enough to set off the fire alarm!"

---Jordan Moon, Word on Romance

"...witty dialogue and interesting characters.  Lucy is a feisty, strong female with a smart mouth that gets her into more trouble than she can deal with.  She won me over on the first page.  The other characters in the book are equally entertaining.  Even though Lucy is initially kidnapped, the author makes it clear that she is very attracted to the stranger.  All of the sex scenes are consensual and the handcuffs and blindfold only add to the heat between the main characters.  The Bounty Hunter is definitely a worthy read!

---Laci Grey, Just Erotic Romance Review Newsletter