Okay, I am really excited about this one! :party

Even though I got a sneak peek a couple weeks ago, I haven’t been able to share the cover of my June Harlequin Desire, HER LITTLE SECRET, HIS HIDDEN HEIR until…

right…

now…

And here’s the blurb from the back:

Lies and Lullabies

Face to face with his ex-wife again, millionaire Marcus Keller received more than just a jolt of deep attraction—he discovered he was a daddy. Vanessa had been pregnant when they divorced, bore him a son, and kept it a secret. It was a betrayal he wasn’t sure he could forgive.

There was no way he could walk away from his child…his heir. The wealthy businessman would do his best to be civil to the lovely bakery owner, who was one tough cookie in her own right. But would it only be business between them, or would Marcus indulge his own secret agenda to make this woman his again…once and for all.

Billionaires & Babies: Powerful men–wrapped around their babies’ little fingers.

Whoo-hoo! :dancing   Isn’t it GORGEOUS?!

Yes, this is the same cover that I earlier complained about because the hero looked so freaking young.  But Harlequin, being the stand up publisher that they are, went back & worked some artistic magic to make him look a bit more mature.  I know he still looks young-ish, but trust me when I say that compared to the original, this is much, much better, & the guy looks much, much more like my wonderfully sexy hero.

And how cute is that baby?  I can practically hear him giggling already, & just want to just grab him up & snuffle raspberries all over his sweet widdle bewwy! :love

As you can see, HER LITTLE SECRET, HIS HIDDEN HEIR is part of Desire’s ongoing “Billionaires and Babies” promotion.  Don’t confuse this with a continuity or mini-series, though.  That’s simply a special stamp they put on stories that are about secret babies, surprise daddies, etc.  This is most definitely a one-author stand-alone book by Yours Truly. :gotcha

You might also notice the tiny change in the upper left-hand corner from “Silhouette” to “Harlequin.”  That’s the switch I mentioned earlier here at WIPs and Chains, where Harlequin Enterprises is bringing all of their category lines—some of which used to be Silhouette (i.e. Silhouette Desire, Silhouette Special Edition, etc.)—under the Harlequin umbrella.  So now all of those lines you were used to calling Silhouette will now be called Harlequin.  (I know—I’m having a heck of a time getting used to it, too! :question )

But now that we’ve got official artwork, that means you can officially Pre-Order.  Yippee! :dancing   So here are the pre-order links:

Pre-order from Amazon.com

Pre-order from Barnes & Noble.com

Pre-order from Borders.com

Pre-order from Books-a-Million

Pre-order from Indiebound

Pre-order from Book Depository

And please start spreading the word to anyone you know who also loves a great passionate & emotional romance! :cantputdown   In addition to being available for pre-order right this minute, HER LITTLE SECRET, HIS HIDDEN HEIR will be available the first week of June 2011!

I can’t wait! :happyjoy

P.S. I’m also over at the Brava Authors blog today, asking for reader input on “interviewing a vampire.”  :surrprisse   So now is your chance to ask all those burning—but not by blistering sunlight!—questions you’ve always wanted to ask someone of the fanged persuasion…if you dare. :dracuulla

Please help me in welcoming Harlequin (formerly Silhouette) Romantic Suspense author LINDA CONRAD to The Dungeon!

Bestselling author Linda Conrad writes for Harlequin-Silhouette Books. Her novels have been translated into sixteen languages and are sold in over twenty-two countries.

Linda’s sensual characters and passionate stories have brought her numerous awards and raves. Over the years her workshops for RWA chapters and conferences have helped many writers learn new skills and techniques.

Growing up in south Florida, Linda made up stories and read everything she could get her hands on. After college, she taught first grade in Miami and tried to give the children as much love for the written word as she’d always felt. When her own true-life hero came along and whisked her away to five cities in seven years, Linda became a sales assistant, a quality control supervisor, a ninety-unit apartment manager and finally a stockbroker and Certified Financial Planner in the Rio Grande Valley of Texas.

When her mother suffered a disabling stroke, Linda moved to southern California to be close. “Mom couldn’t focus well enough to read anymore. So I began reading to her,” Linda recalls. “Eventually, my sister and I started making up stories to keep her entertained. Mom remembered my high school writing attempts. Before her death, she asked me to stick with story telling.”

Today Linda is back in south Florida, living with her husband by the sea and telling the stories in her heart.

So let’s put Linda on The Rack & get started…

What is your favorite color? Red

Favorite song? Too hard to pick one….  Love old rock like Fleetwood Mac and new country like Sugarland.

Favorite movie? Another hard one to pin down—I’m a smaltz kind of gal, so love movies like Love Actually.

And of course, favorite book? Yikes, one? Impossible!   But I would have to say I love being taken away, and I love a great laugh. So if forced to only one, I would say any of Janet Evanovitch’s “Stephanie Plum” books.

What was the first book in your chosen genre that you remember reading, or that made you want to write the same? Merline Lovelace’s Perfect Double

What do you think of Heidi?  She’s great, right? Absolutely!

How did you get started writing? I had stopped working to care for my widowed mother who’d suffered a disabling stroke. For my whole life, she had been the voracious reader—always with a book in hand. Then suddenly she couldn’t read anymore. She even had a hard time concentrating on audio books. So we started making up stories for entertainment. Right before she passed away, she reminded me that I had loved making up stories in high school and she asked me to go back to that. I had to try.

Tell us a little bit about your first (or most memorable, if you prefer) sale. I had finished a couple of unpublished books and was discouraged. Then I saw an article in the Romance Writers Report about how the editors of the Silhouette Desire line were looking for new authors. I went out and read a few (dozens) because I didn’t think that line matched my voice. But a couple of months later, I had a proposal ready for one and pitched it at a RWA national conference. Several months later, after a lot of requested revisions, they bought that book and I was off and running!

Fill in the blank—If you like [blank], you’ll love LINDA CONRAD! Cindy Gerard or Suzanne Brockmann

Which of your books would you like to pimp today? Tell us about it and why we’ll love every word. Hmm. Pimping? Well, ok. Here goes:

My latest novel is SECRET AGENT SHEIK from Harlequin Romantic Suspense line. It’s a little different for me: more James Bond style than I usually write. It’s the third book in my four-book “Desert Sons” series and is the story of Tarik Kadir (the third of the Kadir brothers).

Here’s the back of the book blurb:

Jass O’Reilly doesn’t trust ex-agent Tarik Kadir. A Bedouin from an ancient tribe, the dark and brooding Tarik isn’t who the lovely CIA agent wants by her side as she tracks down rogue nuclear weapons. Besides, the mysterious sheik is just too handsome for an agent—the passion burning in his eyes a little too hot.

Tarik knows Jass doesn’t want him by her side as they delve deeper into the sultry Rio nightlife. Well, tough. But before the Carnivale is over, he will have to question everything he thought he knew about the mission, his job and his family. His own heart, he just might find, is the traitor.

SECRET AGENT SHEIK is a fast and fun adventure that takes place in a sexy setting!

If your plane crashed in the Andes, would you convince the other survivors to eat Heidi first or last? Eeew! Never! She’s too sweet. Let ’em eat cake.  (Note from Heidi:  Oh, we like that answer.  So much. :Pretty )

If you could write anything—whether in the same genre/sub-genre as you’re writing now or another—what would it be? A psychological and paranormal thriller.

What are you currently working on? Writing a new series of my own for Harlequin’s Romantic Suspense line. The working title of my new series is “Chance, Texas” and it’s a lot of fun writing cowboys and suspense. I’m also working on one of the books in Harlequin’s Romantic Suspense line’s continuity due out next year. Actually, the hero of my story is also a rancher. Guess I’m doomed to write cowboys this year. LOL  (Further intrusive note from Heidi & Mistress Heidi:  Around here, our motto is:  “Save a horse, ride a cowboy!” so you will not hear any complains from us. :yougogirl )

LIGHTNING-FAST LASHES:

Leather or lace? Leather

Devil or angel? Devil

Angel food or devil’s food? Angel food

Hemlock or arsenic? Arsenic

Blood, sweat, or tears? All of the above

Cowgirl or missionary? (Hey, get your mind out of the gutter. I was simply asking what you wanted to be when you were growing up. :-p) Actually, I wanted to be the Queen of the Jungle or Tarzan (only tougher) and swing through the trees!

Thank you so much, Linda—your latest release sounds fabulous!

You can learn more about Linda & all of her books by visiting LindaConrad.com, & Linda has also very generously offered to give away an autographed copy of SECRET AGENT SHEIK to one of today’s lucky Dungeon bloggers.

To be entered in the drawing, simply ask a question or leave a comment for Linda during her visit today. (U.S. residents only, please.) A winner will be chosen & announced on March 27th during our regular “Happy Sunday” post.  So be sure to stop back to see if you’ve won! (Otherwise, I’m keeping the prize for myself, I swear. :angel )

Good luck & happy chatting!