DEADLY SECRETS By Lacey Roberts

  DEADLY SECRETS

By Lacey Roberts

Blurb: Take one hot, sexy cop add a beautiful Forensic Pathologist and you have one heck of a steamy love affair. BUT, who is threatening their lives? Whose life is really at risk? AND, why has a young man been murdered and what the hell do snakes have to do with it all?    

Excerpt: Flynn pushed through the glass doors into the Forensics Centre. A young woman at the front desk glanced up. He grinned as she licked her lips and gave him the once over. He was used to this from women but still hadn't figured out why they responded this way. Without vanity he knew his looks were better than average, but nothing special. Women obviously thought different.

"Can I help you?" she purred.

"I'm looking for where Doc Reid is performing an autopsy." He flashed his credentials.

"Room two, sir."

He nodded, thanked her and strode down the corridor. He stopped at a door where a plaque proclaimed it led to 'Examination Room 2'.

Flynn entered the airlock space and donned a pair of white coveralls, mask and white
paper cap. He then stepped into the examination room. It smelled of antiseptic, unidentifiable chemicals and death. Not his favourite place to be.

Lily was bent over the corpse. She appeared deep in thought and he cleared his throat
to make his presence known. She straightened and glanced up. "Detective, come in."

He moved closer. "Anything yet?"

"I'm really baffled and wondering whether your crack about vampires is very far from the mark."

Flynn raised his eyebrows.

"The two puncture marks in the neck had some sort of fluid in them that prevented the
blood from clotting. Poison of some sort but my initial tests don't recognize it. I've sent it to the lab for urgent analysis."

"That would explain the huge amount of blood loss."

"Yes it would, especially as no major veins or arteries were severed in the area. The
other puzzle is the puncture marks on his scrotum. The surrounding tissue is blistered, badly bruised and necrotic."

Lily lifted the sac and pointed out two large puncture marks under the balls. They were
identical to the holes in his neck. The skin was swollen, wrinkled and black.

"Christ, what did that?" Flynn's balls reacted to the gruesome sight by trying to climb up inside him.

"I don't know for sure but my guess is a snake."

Flynn's puzzled look questioned her sanity.
"A snake?  We don't have snakes that leave bloody great holes like those."

"I know, which is why I'm baffled. It doesn't add up. The aligned puncture holes, the
poison which prevented the blood from clotting, and the tattoo on his chest."

"Tattoo?"

"Yes. Look closely. It's a cobra tattooed on his chest."

Flynn dropped his head to study the ink on the victim's chest. "I'll be, it is a cobra. I
assumed it was some sort of tribal thing when I first noticed it."

"You need to get close to see the snake head, but once you do it is very clear."

"Snake worship, doc?"

Lily held her hands up, palms out. "We don't have things like that here. Snake worship
only happens in Africa as far as I know, and we certainly don't have cobras."

"Give me some answers. All you've done so far is tell me what it isn't. Tell me what it is."

"I don't know. I've never seen it before. I'm going to need more time to figure this out.
I'm sorry but I have told you all I know at this point."

"Dinner?"

"Excuse me?"

"I asked if you would have dinner with me."

Lily glanced around the room as if expecting something.

"If you're too busy I understand."

"No, no. It's just I have a policy of not getting involved with colleagues."

"Jeez doc, I'm not asking you to marry me. I only want to have dinner with you."

Lily reconsidered. "Of course. Give me twenty minutes and I'll join you."

"Meet you out front?"

"Yes please."

"I have a couple of calls to make. I'll be waiting." With that, Flynn left the room.

Bio: Lacey Roberts is the pen name I chose when I began writing Erotic Romance.

I grew up in Sydney but now live in sunny Queensland where I spend my days walking my dogs, reading and writing. Married for almost 41 years, my husband and I also enjoy a great deal of travel.

My plans for the immediate future include travel to the US to meet some of my author friends.

I hope you enjoy my latest release which is set in Canberra, Australia – the Nation's Capital. This story is purely fictional but there are numerous real places and facts covered. I could not have made it as realistic without the advice of the A.C.T. Police Media Centre and the Forensic Medical Centre at Sydney University. I am grateful to both.

Buy Links: Deadly Secrets

Author Links: Website Blog Amazon Author Page Facebook 

 # Erotic Romance # Mystery #Australian  

ALL NEW: Author Chat Friday with Alysha Ellis

I did promise on Twitter that there would be a new feature, and so here it is! Myself and three other authors will be doing regular, rotating posts of a Friday now about anything that crosses our mind. You can leave a comment if there is a particular topic you would like one of us to talk about, or just to comment on the topic under discussion. We don't bite. Hard ;)
So, to kick off this new feature on The Naughty Pages, I'd like to welcome, for the first time, fellow aussie author Alysha Ellis! 


Sex and the Fountain of Youth

I have a black and white photo of my great-grandmother. Her hair is pulled back in a tight bun; she has round, wire-framed glasses and a grim expression on her face. Her cotton dress ends at an unflattering point just below her knees. Her black, lace-up low-heeled shoes are the very definition of sensible. She was just thirty and she looks old.

Times have changed. Not only do we live longer…but we enjoy ourselves while we do it. Mature women refuse to go silently into that good night. We grasp life with both hands and enjoy the hell out of it.

We dress however we want. No thick, beige stockings and conservative lace-ups for us. Check out the boots I just bought. Age inappropriate? You bet. And I’m wearing those suckers anyway. Why? Because I can!

And you know what else women feel free to do now? Admit that, hell yeah, we’re interested in sex. Reading about it, talking about it, looking at pics of hot guys, or gals or any combination thereof.

The Fifty Shades of Grey phenomenon, no matter what you actually thought of the book, brought women’s interest in matters sexual out into the open. I have had people who always knew I wrote erotic romance but thought it best not to mention it, who now are happy to ask me if I write stories like that?

The simplest reply is “Yes.”

Whatever you think of E.L. James’ book, she’s done all of us erotic readers and writers a favour. She is making erotica acceptable. I’ve seen women in their seventies buying the book, young women buying it for their mothers, older women buying it for their friends.

I don’t know if my great-grandmother would have wanted to read it. Maybe like so many women of her time her natural inclinations were suppressed and disguised to the point they didn’t know they existed, but I’m glad I live in a time where sexuality and sensuality are celebrated. I love the idea of women
exploring their wants and needs and doing it openly and proudly.

My most recent release, Downunder Heat explores this idea.

The main character, Kitty, is a divorced woman whose daughter has grown up and left home. For the first time Kitty is free to do what she wants with her life, and she sets off from the UK for a working holiday in Australia. She meets Zakk, and what follows is a sizzling affair with a younger man whose energy and enthusiasm takes Kitty on the kind of sexual adventure she’d only dreamed of.

“What brought you to Australia?” Zakk asked, his voice pitched low, velvety and smooth.

Ignoring the tingles skittering up and down her spine, Kitty replied, “My daughter moved out to go to university, so I took the opportunity to escape.” She winced. Great move. Mention that she had a child at university just in case he hadn’t already noticed how much older than him she was.

“Interesting word—escape,” he said. “You ran a long way from home.”

“I always wanted to see Australia. I watched Neighbours and I—”

His shout of laughter cut her off. “I hope you weren’t expecting all of Australia to be like that,” he said. “People are as ordinary here as they are in the UK.”

Yeah, right. And Zakk was just your ordinary, everyday, run-of-the-mill, movie star- handsome, lifesaving hero who spent his weekends volunteering at the beach. The kind you bumped into on every dull, grey street corner in rainy, wintery Britain.

“Kitty, if you look at me like that, I’m going to have to…” He leant forward and brushed a kiss across her lips.

Kitty’s mouth opened on a soft, “Oh…”

“Oh, yes,” he echoed, and he slipped his arms around her and pulled her closer. His mouth settled over hers, shaping and holding, his tongue sliding along the seam, seeking entrance.

He tasted warm, like coffee and salt and something new and exciting. Something sensual and musky and Zakk. Her heartbeat sped up, zinging her blood around her body, lighting little flames that fizzed and sparked into life. She lifted her arms and cupped the back of Zakk’s head, the silken caress of his dark hair against her palms erotic and enticing.

He slid his hands down her back, gripped her hips and pulled her forward to the edge of the chair. Kitty tensed as reality crashed back in. Hers were the hips of a mature, slightly plump woman, not the long, lean shanks of an Australian beach babe. Almost as if he thought the same thing, Zakk broke off the kiss and pulled back. Her face began to flame, not with passion but with embarrassment, as Kitty waited for the brush-off.

Zakk opened his mouth and Kitty braced herself.

“I want you, Kitty. Come to bed with me.”

What he’d said was so different from what she’d expected it took a moment for it to sink in. “Me. You want me? But I’m—”

“Gorgeous. Your skin is so soft, so English, and you… Kitty, you’re so…” He ran his hands through his hair. “Am I allowed to say feminine? Sweet? Definitely gorgeous? I don’t want to be politically incorrect and say the wrong thing.”

He’d called her sweet and gorgeous and he was afraid she might object? He was mistaken, or he’d had far more to drink than he realised and she really
ought to set him straight, but before she could say anything he leaned in
for another kiss and any attempt at rational argument disappeared. She let
herself fall into him. Reason, prudence, caution fell with her.

Downunder Heat at Amazon or All Romance eBooks

Check out my blog A Slice of Tart for free reads

Facebook Alysha Ellis



Well, I definitely look forward to seeing more of Alysha! Promos will only be on Mondays now (making an exception with these first posts so you can get to know the authors a little more), and these Author Chat Fridays will be about whatever topic grabs the attention of these other lovely ladies or myself, or even what a reader might write in and ask about. So feel free to leave some love and maybe some suggestions for future topics. I look forward to seeing you next week. As yet, who is on next week is undecided as this is a new idea, but we're working on sorting out the rest of the roster. Whoever it is, I can assure you, it will be quite a Chat! Until then, don't forget to leave a comment!