Emerald Nights

Book excerpt: A legendary adventurer seeking fame and treasure in 1880's Peru. A headstrong California beauty who'll do anything to protect her father, a professor determined to find the lost Incan city of Vilcapampa. If the jungle doesn't kill them, will love stand a chance? The lady has just met her match. He wasn't her type of man. And yet . . . "We're probably making a big mistake," he said roughly, and she nodded. "Very likely." "Are you sure this is what you want?" She drew in a deep, trembling breath. "More than anything." His reaction took her by surprise. He pulled her to him, his mouth crashing down on hers with bruising force, invading her with his tongue as he backed her toward the bed. It almost hurt, but she tasted his urgency, and heat and desire rose in her as sharp and strong. He shoved a hand through her hair, loosened the pins and let them scatter atop the mattress and onto the floor, raked his fingers through the loose braids to free it around her shoulders, splayed his fingers over her back, tugged at laces that held her jabot around her neck. He tossed it aside, unbuttoned her blouse and peeled it down her arms, freed her mouth for a moment to regard the Flynt Waist beneath with less than enthusiastic scrutiny. Heart hammering, she helped him untie the laces and stood silently when he slid it off her. . . . Virginia Brown has written more than fifty historical and contemporary romance novels. Many of her books have been nominated for Romantic Times' Reviewer's Choice Award, Career Achievement Award for Love and Laughter, and Career Achievement Award for Adventure. She is also the author of the bestselling Dixie Diva mystery series and the acclaimed mainstream Southern drama/mystery, Dark River Road, which won the national Epic e-Book Award in 2013 for Best Mainstream.