A few years back, after writing five or six romantic comedies, I was itching to write something with more spice, something with a dark and brooding hero, maybe even a mistaken identity or two. Being a little-old-lady-type driver in real life, I also wanted to rip loose and write some wild car chase scenes. Ideas starting flowing–what if the heroine has always lived a predictable, boring, ho-hum life and suddenly finds herself escaping in a pricey, hot Ferrari while dressed in a risqu頯utfit. Sure, sounds great, but why is she dressed like this? Hmmm, what if she squeezed into a corset and heels to surprise her fianc酷ho she found in the arms of another woman! Okay, so heroine, desperate to make a grand escape from the horrific situation, ends up stealing Mr. Two-Timing’s speed-demon Ferrari and commences on a road trip that will change her life?

And so was born Joyride, my first Harlequin Temptation (the category line of Harlequin books that is ending this year). Joyride came out exactly three years ago in February 2002 and had a wonderful cover (with that hot Ferrari nestled behind the hero and heroine on the cover):

Joyride had the dark, brooding hero, the mistaken-identity heroine (who pretended to be her saucy, boxing-ring model cousin), but interestingly enough, who got the most fan mail? The muscled, tender-hearted neighbor, the professional wrestler known as The Phantom, who kept baking brownies for the heroine to try and win her heart. The Phantom, a man with the body of The Hulk and heart of ET. Readers and book reviewers kept asking when The Phantom would get his own story.

Let me see if I can conjure a photo of what I envisioned The Phantom looked like.

Imagine those truffles to be brownies, and we’re getting close.

He’s also a professional wrestler, accustomed to be pummeled and slammed:

Fearless, dramatic, pandering to screaming crowds:

To sum him up, all bulk and roar–on stage, that is. But he’s not really bad. It’s all show because inside, he’s the biggest pussycat who ever walked the planet. Loves to cook, would rather snuggle on a couch with his honey and watch TV than spend a flashy night out on the town. Heck, the guy doesn’t even cuss. Much.

In other words, he’s about the sweetest man you’ve ever met.

Fast forward a few years.

I’d written more books, but I couldn’t stop thinking about The Phantom (real name: Nigel Durand). What’s he doing? Did he ever find true love, the one thing he yearned for and could never find? No doubt he’s still baking those mouth-watering, killer brownies because the man’s a kitchen god.

I decided he’s now retired from the ring living–quite well, thank you–on his earnings, enjoying coaching kids at a local school, probably volunteering with Big Brothers and Big Sisters. But his life still feels empty because he’s never found The One. Not that he hasn’t dated, but truth be told, he often feels used by women who want a hunky piece of arm candy instead of a man who’s willing to love and baby them for the rest of their days. It’s starting to dawn on him that maybe he shouldn’t sit by the phone so much, that maybe he’s too available, too needy?too good.

Maybe he needs to be a bad boy, hmmm? After all, that’s what women really want, right?

And so was born Nigel’s story: Building a Bad Boy (March ‘05 Temptation Heat):

Time to introduce our book’s heroine, Kimberly Logan, who runs her own dating agency in Las Vegas and has a specially formulated six-step program to help turn Nigel into the type of bad boy women love. She tells him that once he’s found true love, he can open up his heart and let his chosen woman see all the good inside his “pretend” bad. Best of both worlds, right?

But business-minded Kimberly surprises herself when she falls for her own creation. Worse, she questions what she’s done after she realizes the man who’s stolen her heart is the man buried underneath the image she’s created. Is it too late to get back the brownie-baking guy who wears his heart on his over-developed bicep?

Excerpt:

Step 2. Act Like a Bad Boy

Later that evening, Kimberly sat at the bar, sipping a diet cola, watching the front door. She’d told Nigel to meet her here at seven p.m. so they could start step 2, act like a bad boy, and here it was seven-twenty and still no sign of him.

Of course, she’d gotten here only five minutes ago herself, but that was different. She was a one-woman corporation with responsibilities and meetings. Although, if she were perfectly honest with herself, she was developing some bad time-management habits. She used to occasionally run late in the mornings, but now she was late for almost every appointment. A few years ago, she stayed on top of everything, juggling multiple responsibilities and never dropping one.

But these days?

She swirled the straw in her drink, thinking how the swirling ice cubes were like her life. Chunks of responsibilities, clattering against each other, going in circles. And she was jumping from cube to cube, trying to keep her balance, keep it all together.

“You want anything else?”

She looked up at the Tom-Cruise-looking bartender, reeking of testosterone and youth. Once upon a time, she’d fallen hard for that flavor of sultry, dark come-on. That’s why she was so good at coaching men in the bad-boy department because she had ample first-hand experience.

“No thank you.”

He cocked an eyebrow, his mouth sliding in a half grin. “Alone?”

Stud Boy, test-drive it on someone else. “Temporarily.”

“Aren’t we all.”

He turned, nodded to a customer flagging him down. “Need anything, let me know.” He gave her a knowing wink.

Do I have “Gone Without Sex Too Long” tattooed on my forehead? She reached in her jacket pocket and extracted the half-eaten candy bar she’d been noshing on all day and took a bite.

A noise spread through the room. A light, suction-like sound.

She turned, dropping the bar into her pocket, realizing the sound was actually a series of gasps from clusters of women who were staring at the front door.
Kimberly followed their line of vision and froze.

There, filling the door way, was a man bigger than life. Hercules in jeans and leather. He stood, taking his sweet time to scan the room, seemingly unaware that all eyes were on him.

“Nicky,” Kimberly murmured under her breath, a spiral of heat curling within her. She dragged her gaze back up the jeans, over the tight baby-blue T-shirt she’d picked out because it matched the color his eyes, and the black leather jacket that masked him with a dark sensuality.

Damn, she knew how to dress a bad boy.

She quickly checked out the room, noticing how every woman had “pick me” written on her face.

Huffing in a lung-bursting prideful breath, Kimberly turned back in time to see Nigel waving energetically at her, a kid-like grin spreading the width of his face. With a gleeful burst of energy, he made a beeline for her, which was the first time she noticed he walked a bit pigeon-toed.

Bye-bye bad boy.

Releasing a sigh, Kimberly waved him over. I definitely accomplished step one, look like a bad boy, but I have my work cut out for me with step two, act like one.

Congratulations to the following giveaway winners:

- The winner of a copy of BUILDING A BAD BOY, the box of chocolates, and a BUILDING A BAD BOY toolkit is Buddy (Robyn L.)!

- The Top 3 brownie recipes are:

#1: Kahlua Mudslide Brownies from TeresaH, now called “Nigel’s Killer Brownies.”
#2: Chocolate Cheesecake Brownies from AngieT
#3: Hunky Brownies from kaisquared

In addition to having her recipe named “Nigel’s Killer Brownies,” TeresaH won a copy of BUILDING A BAD BOY and a box of chocolates. The runners up also won a copy of BUILDING A BAD BOY.