I just love sharing behind-the-scenes tidbits about my new releases.  Sometimes the writing goes pretty smoothly, so I don’t always have deleted scenes to post, but I can usually come up with a few fun factoids related to the creation of my books.

When it comes to ON THE VERGE OF I DO, did you know…

…I used pictures of actress Anne Hathaway as my inspiration for Kara Kincaid & pictures of Patrick Dempsey (dressed in Versace :howyoudoin ) as my inspiration for Eli Houghton.  I also sent photos of the two to Harlequin when it came time to design the cover.  How do you think they did?

…I feel like I practiced for writing ON THE VERGE OF I DO by working on my previous tso Harlequin Desires, INHERITING HIS SECRET CHRISTMAS BABY & HER LITTLE SECRET, HIS HIDDEN HEIR.

Why?

Because Kara (I DO) & Hailey (XMAS BABY) are both event planners—an occupation provided to me by Harlequin for both because both titles are part of an ongoing continuity series.

And because…fresh out of the over from HIDDEN HEIR, I apparently couldn’t stop myself from making Kara a bit of a whiz in the kitchen, just like Vanessa (of HIDDEN HEIR) was.

And on a lesser scale, both Trevor (XMAS BABY) & Eli (I DO) used a bit of bribery to get their respective heroines to stick around & help them plan big events at their multi-million-dollar resorts. :happysun

…for the first time—ever, I think—I didn’t show or mention the hero & heroine using protection during sex without needing it for a future pregnancy or pregnancy scare plot point.  It just didn’t feel right within the scene & to make it an issue, so I skipped it & hoped readers would simply assume they were practicing safe sex.  Because, of course, they did. :patrick

…to get into a Southern frame of mind, I watched a lot of Designing Women & The Golden Girls.  Neither is actually set in South Carolina, I realize, but they still have super-strong Southern overtones, don’t you think?  And sometimes all you really need is a bit of that accent in your head to firmly ground you in the “y’all come back now, hear?” disposition. :cool

…during Season 6 of Project Runway (which was running new while I was working on ON THE VERGE OF I DO) I rooted for Carol Hannah almost exclusively because she was from Charleston, South Carolina.  Well, okay, I also thought she was quite talented, but the Charleston thing put her over the top.

So what do you think—did you notice some of those pieces of trivia in the book?  And can you think of anything else in ON THE VERGE OF I DO that I might have sneaked in with a little bit of a story behind it? :scratchhead

Of course, if you haven’t picked up your copy yet, you know what you need to do… :adevil2

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A very special Happy Hunk Day today, because this also happens to be my Darling Dwayne‘s birthday!

As the picture says—Happy Birthday, Darlin’! :howyoudoin

So let’s spend a little time staring at my darlin’s hot & sexy bod, shall we?

Well, that should hold me over for a while. :hotstuff   How about you?

We all knew this was coming…the day A BABY IN THE BILLIONAIRE’S BOARDROOM gets retitled. :nowait

For the record, I like A BABY IN THE BILLIONAIRE’S BOARDROOM.  It’s a perfectly respectable title for a Harlequin Desire.  Especially one that’s about a baby. And a billionaire.  And a baby in a billionaire’s boardroom. :howyoudoin

But I’ve known for a while now that Desire’s titles are moving a little bit away from the “millionaire” & “billionaire” type.  Not to mention that it might be a bit repetitive to have “Billionaire” in the title of a book that will also have the “Billionaires and Babies” mini-series flash on the cover. :scratchhead

So when Editor C asked me to start thinking of new titles for the story, I wasn’t surprised.  I was, however, a tiny bit stumped.  Even though I’d expected to need a new title & had actually been trying to think of new ones all while I was writing the book, darned if I could think of anything suitable.

When the pressure was turned up, though, I put on my Thinking Cap, dug out my thesaurus, & really started trying to come up with something terrific.

The easy part was making a list of words & themes I could play with.  This story, thank goodness, has a little bit of everything…

Revenge … a secret baby … mistaken identities … a socialite … a billionaire … jewelry design … diamonds/gems/jewels/jewelry … surprise fatherhood … riches to rags & back to riches …

Too much, maybe, to land on anything solid.

Editor C sent me some of his ideas:

Much More than Business
Boardroom Baby Maneuvers
The Boardroom Baby Chase
From Bedroom to Boardroom
A Bedroom, a Boardroom, a Baby
Here Comes the Baby
Boardroom Baby

And I sent some of mine back:

A Baby in the Boardroom / A Baby in His Boardroom (just drop the “Billionaire” :))
The CEO’s Secret Heir (hey, you said I could try to use it again someday & it totally suits the story! :))
Accidentally in Love
His Favorite Mistake
Daddy by Design / His by Design
Diamonds and Deception
His Sparkling Temptation
The Socialite’s Secret / Secrets of a Surprise Socialite / The Secret Socialite
Sins of Omission
Sins and Secrets
Sins of His Past
Secrets and Lies / Secrets, Lies, & Lullabies (I kinda like the second one :))
In the Enemy’s Bed / In the Enemy’s Arms
Sleeping with the Enemy
Seducing the Enemy
Bed of Lies
Regarding Henry
From Rags to Revenge
Blame it on the Baby
His Crowning Jewel
All That Glitters
Winner Take All
A Conflict of Interest

So what do you think?  Do you have any favorites? :cheer

And can you guess which one Editor C & I decided to use? :patrick

(NOTE:  I’ll do a Big Reveal & share the final title next week. Be sure to check back so you can’t accuse me of being a total tease. :devil )