Object of Desire

By Portia Da Costa

See him, want him… love him?

Doctor Nathaniel Gowen is a hunk, and when he puts his godlike body through a series of graceful Tai Chi moves outside in their communal garden, Sylvia Bradford can't help but desire him. He's everything she's ever wanted in a man.

There's just one problem though. She's never spoken to him beyond saying 'hello' and she's having difficulty coming up with an opening gambit.

But while Sylvia's busy working out how to make the first move, and get to know the gorgeous academic, Doctor Gowen himself comes knocking at her door. Does he really want to borrow a cup of sugar? Or is it something quite different, and a lot hotter, that he's after?

Object of Desire is a quick, hot read of about 7000 words, coupled with an 800 excerpt of the novel Lessons and Lovers

Object of Desire was previously published by Total-e-Bound.

 

• Language: English
• Publisher: Portia Da Costa
• Release date: Nov 12, 2013
• ISBN: 9781497770249

Portia Da Costa

Portia Da Costa is a British author who has lived and worked in West Yorkshire, in the north of England, all her life. She began her writing career almost by mistake, when she was asked to write a story for an artist friend to illustrate. A librarian at the time, and a voracious reader since childhood, Portia had never considered becoming an author, but not one to shun a challenge, she took up her pen and wrote her first-ever piece of fiction, a melodramatic tale of the doomed romance between a mortal woman and an unusually handsome and nondecrepit zombie. The story was rubbish, of course, but Portia enjoyed the creative process so much that she resolved to learn how to write properly. After a number of years writing purely for pleasure, Portia's first published story appeared in 1991, and was about a sexy ghost this time. Since then, she's gone on to write well over a hundred stories for magazines and anthologies, and she's also produced almost thirty novels across a variety of genres. Although she's written gentler tales in her time, she's known best of all for her sizzling-hot erotic romances, and her steamy contemporary Suite Seventeen, won the 2007 Romance B(u)y the Book Best Contemporary Erotic Romance Award. Chance of a Lifetime, a November 2008 SPICE Brief, was Portia's first-ever work for Harlequin Books and represents the fulfillment of a long-cherished dream. Her very first attempts at writing for publication were category-length semisweet romances targeted at Mills & Boon. None of these early efforts was successful, but Portia's deep yearning to write for the world's best-known romance publisher has never waned. Portia is a now full-time author and lives in a small, typically Yorkshire town with her husband of many, many years, and also the three beautiful cats they both adore. When she's not writing, she likes to read, just generally chill out and watch television. A lot of television. She also loves to spend time online with cyber friends at her favorite writers' message boards and on social networking sites like Facebook and Twitter. Among her other interests are art, fashion and popular science, and she also shares her husband's passion for the military history of World War Two. Portia loves to hear from her readers via her email: [e-mail]

Book preview

Table of Contents

Chapter One

Chapter Two

Chapter Three

Chapter Four

Chapter Five

Thank You!

About Portia

Self Published by Portia Da Costa

Mainstream Erotic Romance by Portia Da Costa

Lessons and Lovers – Excerpt

Chapter One

Look at him! Look at him! Isn’t he just glorious?

Lurking behind my curtain, I stare down into the communal garden below, feasting my eyes on the sight of my new upstairs neighbor as he glides like a dark ghost through his slow Tai Chi ritual. He’s tall. He’s built. Like a god clad all in black… and yet he’s so light in the way he moves that he almost seems to float above the tiny patch of lawn.

His name is Nathaniel Gowen, and he’s just exactly what I need (i.e., he’s a big, beautiful, intelligent, grown-up man). He’s the perfect antidote to Danny, my most recent ex, whose slavish devotion to his PlayStation, Manchester United, and his latest ringtone, had been quite endearing at first but had quickly degenerated to downright infantile.

Gilded by the lowering evening sunlight, Nathaniel Gowen’s movements down in the garden are stylized and hypnotic. His feet are bare with long toes that flex against the grass, and every now and again he closes his eyes as if he’s in ecstasy. I don’t know how old he is, but he’s older than I am, I guess. Forty, perhaps? But he’s in his prime and super-fit in every sense.

The building’s rumor mill says he’s actually Doctor Gowen, a military historian, lecturer, and analyst. But there’s a presence about that imposing six feet plus physique of his that says he could well have been a serving soldier before he hit the books.

My stomach quivers and I crumple a fold of curtain in my sweaty fist. The pressure shoots a tiny niggle of discomfort through my wrist, but I ignore it. I’m too busy picturing Nathaniel Gowen as SAS, or a Marine, or some other Special Forces operative. Totally hardcore and ruthless. Unrelenting in his determination and driven by a sort of steely single-mindedness never goes away… He might be a Tai Chi practicing academic these days, but somewhere in the heart of him, he’s still a deadly human warrior.

Even as I ogle him, he pauses, balanced on one leg without the slightest sign of effort, and cocks his head to one side. I retreat a step, full of the impression that he’s listening to my thoughts.

But why would he be?

He’s barely even noticed me around the building as far as I