Blog Tour: Secrets for Seducing a Royal Bodyguard by Vanessa Kelly (Exclusive Excerpt + Giveaway)

Happy New Year, everyone and Welcome to Vanessa Kelly who is currently on tour for her book, Secrets for Seducing a Royal Bodyguard, the first book in her Royal Renegades series.

Vanessa is giving away one (1) ARC of CONFESSIONS OF A ROYAL BRIDEGROOM, book two of The Renegade Royals series, and one (1) copy of HIS MISTLETOE BRIDE per the total number of stops. (US/Ca only) Enter via Rafflecopter below.

Vanessa is also hosting a giveaway on her website for a reproduction of the original art for SECRETS FOR SEDUCING A ROYAL BODYGUARD, and original sketches of the heroines from LOST IN A ROYAL KISS (#0.5) and SECRETS for SEDUCING a ROYAL BODYGUARD (#1).

Link to contest on Vanessa’s website:  http://www.vanessakellyauthor.com/contest/

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About the book:

Secrets for Seducing a Royal Bodyguard by Vanessa Kelly
Genre: Regency-set historical romance
Tone: witty, sexy, emotional
Heat Level: hot
Elements/Tags: historical romance, royalty, Georgian era
Publisher: Kensington Zebra
Publishing Date: January 7, 2013
Series: The Renegade Royals, #1
Format: digital
Words: 432 pages

Back Cover:

IN MATTERS OF DESIRE, HE’S THE PERFECT TEACHER ...
Accomplished spy Aden St. George prefers to stay away from the frivolous ton, especially after the way his mother was used by the Prince Regent. But his latest mission compels him to guard unconventional, vibrant Lady Vivien Shaw. Rescuing her from kidnappers was easy. Resisting her beauty is not. Duty demands he keep an eye on her -- and naturally, his lips soon follow. For someone who views entanglements as a weakness, this is pure, delicious folly ...

Though grateful for Aden’s help, Vivien has secrets she must keep hidden. Yet with her abductors still at large, she needs Aden’s protection almost as much as she craves his touch ...

Exclusive Excerpt:

When they came to a branching intersection he stopped, hugging the wall as he listened while grasping her even more securely against his chest.  She grumbled something under her breath which he ignored.  They were almost out.  The fools who had snatched her had failed to avail themselves of the opportunity offered by the extensive network of tunnels.  They could have stashed their captive in the deepest recesses of the smugglers’ lair, making it hard to find her and harder to get her out.  Instead, they’d dumped her in an easily accessible room in one of the first tunnels off the main corridor, topping off their stupidity by leaving her inadequately guarded.  Those mistakes told Aden a great deal about her captors.  He prayed their ineptitude would hold true for the rest of the night.

Not that he couldn’t handle whatever problems arose.  Dominic had wanted to send more men, but Aden had vetoed the idea.  Time had not been on their side, and he preferred to work alone in any event.  This type of mission suited his skills and temperament perfectly—in and out quickly using whatever amount of lethal force was required.

He glanced down at the bundle of femininity in his arms.  If he had to kill someone else, he surely did not want a hysterical woman complicating matters.  Not that Lady Vivien seemed predisposed to hysterics, but she was likely in shock and a good agent never took chances.

Or shouldn’t, as he’d been so recently and harshly reminded.

Resting against the wall, vaguely aware of Lady Vivien’s soft, rose-petal scent, Aden thought about his options.  After a moment, he ducked his head to find her ear, blowing aside the fine strands of golden hair that had snagged in the collar of his coat.  She jerked in his arms then looked at him, blue eyes wide and startled.

“Are you certain you can walk?” he murmured.

She blew out a relieved breath and nodded.  For some reason, it annoyed him that she was so intent on freeing herself from his grasp.  He felt better with the girl secure in his arms.  Obviously she didn’t feel the same way, and it did make sense to have his hands free, knives at the ready, when they reached the entrance to the tunnels.  So far all had gone according to plan, which was usually the best evidence that matters were about to blow up in his face.

He eased her down until her feet touched the floor, the top of her head barely level with his chin.  When she inhaled sharply, he glanced down at her feet and quietly cursed.  They’d taken away her shoes and now she stood on the cold, dirt-packed floor in stocking-clad feet.

When he slid an arm around her waist to lift her again, she slapped a hand on his chest to stop him.

“It’s fine,” she whispered.  “I can still walk.”  A wry little smile shaped the corners of her pretty mouth.  “Besides, my feet are so cold I can hardly feel a thing.”

Slightly bemused by her stoic attitude, he raised his brows.  She simply shrugged.  Aden cast an assessing glance at the tunnel floor.  Though dirty and assuredly cold, it seemed relatively free of debris.  The exit was close, and they should make it with little trouble if no one had yet discovered the dead guard in the bushes.

That, however, was a big if.

More information about the book:
Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/17802740-secrets-for-seducing-a-royal-bodyguard?ac=1

Buy Links:
Amazon: http://amzn.to/1ee58Gp
Barnes & Noble: http://bit.ly/1eH7m5J
iTunes: http://bit.ly/K8DkKy
Kobo: http://bit.ly/1ijIdi0
BAM: http://bit.ly/1ijIcKY

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About the author:

Vanessa Kelly is an award-winning author who was named by Booklist, the review journal of the American Library Association, as one of the "New Stars of Historical Romance." Her sensual, Regency-set historical romances have been nominated for awards in a number of contests, and her second book, Sex and The Single Earl, won the prestigious Maggie Medallion for Best Historical Romance. Vanessa's next series, The Renegade Royals, is due to hit the shelves in November with an introductory novella, Lost in a Royal Kiss. Book One in the series, Secrets For Seducing a Royal Bodyguard, will release in January, 2014, and Confessions of a Royal Bridegroom will be out in April, 2014.

When not dreaming of plots for her next Regency historical novel, Vanessa also writes USA Today Bestselling contemporary romance with her husband under the pen name of V.K. Sykes.  She's also a member of Rock*It Reads, a group of bestselling traditional authors who are self-publishing, and of The Jaunty Quills. 

website:  http://www.vanessakellyauthor.com
blog: http: //www.vanessakellyauthor.com/vanessa-blog/
facebook: https://www.facebook.com/vanessakellyauthor
Twitter:  https://twitter.com/VanessaKellyAut
goodreads:  https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/2728107.Vanessa_Kelly

Pinterest: http://www.pinterest.com/vanessakellyaut/
Jaunty Quills:  http://jauntyquills.com/

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Vanessa is giving away one (1) ARC of CONFESSIONS OF A ROYAL BRIDEGROOM, book two of The Renegade Royals series, and one (1) copy of HIS MISTLETOE BRIDE per the total number of stops. (US/Ca only)

Enter via Rafflecopter below. Please see Terms & Conditions on the Rafflecopter widget.

a Rafflecopter giveaway


Vanessa is also hosting a giveaway on her website for a reproduction of the original art for SECRETS FOR SEDUCING A ROYAL BODYGUARD, and original sketches of the heroines from LOST IN A ROYAL KISS (#0.5) and SECRETS for SEDUCING a ROYAL BODYGUARD (#1).

Link to contest on Vanessa’s website:  http://www.vanessakellyauthor.com/contest/

To visit Vanessa's other stops, click here.

There is also a Facebook event on January 7 to celebrate the release of the book: click here for more details.