Blue-Eyed Devil by Lisa Kleypas is following in Sugar Daddy‘s footsteps and stomping onto the New York Times List at #14.

Once – again – at 14 – just like Sugar Daddy… something most authors would die to get to say ;). But not Lisa.  Blue-Eyed Devil, even though it is more of a Romance than Sugar Daddy, is hitting most of the lists (like bookscan and the like) as a ‘mainstream’ title.

So what does that really mean to us readers? Not really a damn thing. Other than we get to say “Woot! You go Lisa, we knew you would do it” ;). And hon when you sober up after the champagne binge… We sooo need to set a date for the duckieclub!

Until then…. here have an excerpt *g*

     MEET THE BLUE-EYED DEVIL   His name is Hardy Cates. He’s a self-made millionaire who comes from the wrong side of the tracks. He’s made enemies in the rough-and-tumble ride to the top of Houston’s oil industry. He’s got hot blood in his veins. And vengeance on his mind.

     MEET THE HEIRESS   She’s Haven Travis. Despite her family’s money, she refuses to set out on the path they’ve chosen for her. But when Haven marries a man her family disapproves of, her life is set on a new and dangerous course. Two years later, Haven comes home, determined to guard her heart. And Hardy Cates, a family enemy, is the last person she needs darkening her door or setting her soul on fire.

     WATCH THE SPARKS FLY. . . .   Filled with Lisa Kleypas’s trademark sensuality, filled with characters you love to hate and men you love to love, Blue-Eyed Devil will hold you captive in its storytelling power as the destiny of two people unfolds with every magical word.

E – X – C – E – R – P – T 

I’d made it about halfway through the room when I felt Hardy come up behind me, his touch on my arm. I stiffened and turned to face him.

“Go back to Vanessa,” I told him. “If she thinks I’ve taken you away from her, I’ll be cleaning the office bathroom for the next week.”

“I wasn’t with her, I was having a drink. Was I supposed to wait alone in the corner while you were trying to make up your mind about me?”

“Not in the corner, no.” I glared at him. “But you could have at least waited five minutes before finding a replacement.”

“She wasn’t a replacement. I was waiting for you. And it took you a hell of a lot longer than five minutes to decide if you wanted to dance with me. I’m not going to take that shit from you or your family, Haven.”

“After the way you’ve behaved in the past, what do you expect? Flowers and a parade? They have every right to distrust your motives.”

“What about you? What do you think my motives are?”

“I don’t think you want me to answer that in front of all these people.”

“Then we’ll go somewhere private,” he said through clenched teeth. “Because I’m going to have an answer, by God.”

“Fine.” My mind went blank, frozen in white panic, as I felt him take my wrist. The last time I’d been handled by an angry man, I’d ended up at the hospital. But his grip, firm as it was, was not hurtful. I forced myself to relax and go along with him as he steered me through the crowd.

A female singer was crooning “Summertime,” the dark, moody melody weaving around us like smoke.

I was in a daze as we made our way out the room, past the crush in the lobby. We reached a set of doors, but we were forced to stop as someone stepped in our way. Gage. His eyes flashed as he glanced over both of us, missing no detail, including the way Hardy was gripping my wrist.

“Do you need me?” Gage asked me quietly.

Hardy looked like he was ready to commit murder. “She’s fine,” he said.

My brother paid no attention to that, only kept his gaze on me. I felt a wave of gratitude for him, understanding how difficult it was for him to let me go off with a man he despised. But Gage knew it was my choice. He was there to offer help only if I wanted it.

“It’s okay,” I said to him. “I don’t need anything.”

My brother nodded, although it was obvious he was struggling not to interfere. As we left him, he looked as if he were watching me walk off with Lucifer himself. I knew Gage was afraid for me. He didn’t trust Hardy Cates.

Neither did I, come to think of it.

Hardy pulled me past the set of doors, and around a corner, working deeper into the building until we finally stopped in some kind of maintenance stairwell, which smelled of concrete and metal and musty dankness. It was quiet except for a dripping sound, and the broken rhythms of our breathing. A light from somewhere above shed uncertain fluorescence over us.

Hardy faced me, looking huge and dark against a background of concrete. “Now,” he said brusquely, “Tell me what you wouldn’t say back there.”

I let him have it. “I think if I were anyone but a Travis, you wouldn’t give me the time of day. I think you want to show my brother Gage that if he got Liberty, you’re going to get back at him by sleeping with his sister. I think you have more hidden agendas than you can admit even to yourself. I think—”

I stopped with a gasp as he grabbed me. A wild feeling pumped through me, a mixture of fear and anger and, unbelievably, arousal.

“Wrong,” he bit out, his accent heavy and charred with scorn. “I’m not that complicated, Haven. The truth is, I’ve wanted you ever since I met you in that damned wine cellar. Because I got a bigger charge out of that five minutes than I have with any woman before or since. No secret plot against your family, Haven. No hidden agendas. Plain and simple, I’m just interested in screwing your brains out.”

My face was stiff with offended bewilderment. Before I could string a few coherent syllables together, Hardy kissed me. I pushed at him, and his mouth lifted, and he muttered something that sounded obscene, but I couldn’t quite hear it over the rampaging pulse in my ears.

He took my head in both his hands, fingers shaping around my skull. His lips found mine again. The taste and heat of him were unbearably sweet as his tongue sank into my mouth. The pleasure of it went screaming through me, hunger striking against equal hunger, creating fire. I opened to him, shaking so hard I could barely stand. His arm went around me, shielding my back from the cold press of concrete, the other hand running down the front of my body. I kissed him back, licking into his mouth the way he was doing with mine. I was feeling too much, losing control.

His mouth broke from mine, roughly searching the side of my neck. The rasp of his shaven jaw sent bolts of delight down to my stomach. I heard him mutter something to the effect that after going to a fancy college I should at least be smart enough to know when a man wanted to go to bed with me. Except that he said it a lot more crudely.

“I’m not a gentleman,” he went on, gripping my body, his breath hot on my skin. “I can’t get you into bed with fancy words or nice manners. All I can tell you is that I want you more than I’ve ever wanted a woman. I’d break any law to have you. If you’d gone with me that night we met, I would have taken you to Galveston and kept you there for a week. And I’d have made sure you never wanted to leave.”

© Lisa Kleypas. All rights reserved