Riley Murphy's Blog

COMING SOON! YAY!
Riley Murphy

So excited! Still working out tweaks with the cover, but check this out. There's a link to a short book video at the end if you're interested in seeing the just the highlights...skip to it.

A BRUSH WITH IRON

This is Willa and Iron's story!

When espionage specialist Orson Doom (Iron) is tasked to deliver an up and coming artist with her crate full of paintings to Utah for a gallery opening, he expects a little trouble.

The woman is wealthy, smart, and being groomed to be a pedestrian asset in his line of work. So when he finds out that she has higher clearance, better access to back channels and an uncanny ability to make a stoic guy like him smile, he immediately identifies her as the trouble.


Willa Fae Wallace is in desperate need of a change. Due to an unforeseeable stroke of rotten luck, she needs to leverage her most recent invitation into basically becoming a domestic tattletale on naughty foreign entities, into a way out of her ethical conundrum. Finally, the perfect escape is in reach right when Mr. Doom shows up.

He’s short on words, long on dead-eye stares, and completely melt-worthy to look at when she’s forced to challenge him in order to throw him off course. She can’t let him get close. If he did, he’d learn the awful truth. The only thing she has to hide is the one item he needs to close his biggest career case with a global bang.

(excerpt)

She sighed.


It didn’t matter, she supposed, because she still felt like rewarding him for the move. “Oh, alright. I’ll give you back your three count. What do you want to know?”


“The name of your highest contact and that will be the only question I ask you. Formally stated?” He leaned forward and spoke as he looked into her eyes, “Willa, who is your highest level of contact at The Agency?”


“John.”


He narrowed his gaze and spoke through his teeth, almost pleasantly. “There are four of them above my head.”


She spoke through her teeth, replying. “So?”


He sat back. “The guy’s a prick with a limp.”


She laughed. “You really are a cheater, cheater, pumpkin eater.”


“I’m required to have a certain flexibility.”


She straightened, her smile still lingering because he was…so, crush worthy. “Me too. Ask me for his last name and we’ll do another shot.”


“I’m surprised there aren’t two women in your collection of paintings.”


“Why? I’d still be the one kneeling.”


Was his eye ticking now too?


He leaned forward, without his hands on the table. “You are a verbal rapist and I’m beginning to feel violated.”


This time she chuckled, long and slow, before she whispered back, “You set the rules. You pushed the game. You have the advantage. In a court of law, Iron, who do you think would win? Violated?” She shook her head, still smiling. “That only happens when the clothes come off and here you are in your armor. Shall I pour while you ask?”

(End of excerpt)

https://www.authorrileymurphy.com/pos...

I will be posting the release date with the official cover soon. Very excited as I have a whole pile of new work to share.

Can't wait. I've been busy. You?

As always, thanks for stopping by!
Riley

Do you know?
I’ve said before that romance every day starts in the morning and ends when you go to bed.
In terms of a story, it starts with the first line and never really ends. Why? If you’ve done your job as an author correctly, the reader and even the author will be in love with those characters that carry you through to either imagining their happily ever after, or the friends they traveled the pages with getting their own stories. But what makes romance a romance?
*I’m eyeing you*
You got any ideas?
It’s not just about a lover-like relationship. Remember when I said some of the best romances in history were the new ones between countries, the people, their leaders or animals getting along? Remember the Pandas in the eighties? No? They introduced the American one to the Japanese and a whole era of Panda love was born.
The union brought in a connection we hadn’t had before.
So, what I think it is – don’t laugh – I think it’s energy. Plain and simple. The thrill, the newness, the exhilaration of looking forward not back. The smiles and laughs. Oh, there’s work and serious stuff too, but what keeps the unshakable buoyancy of a romance afloat is the ‘happy’.
Sometimes you need to anchor that flight or sail with some sad, but for the most part I’d be confident believing that the sad has no way to get in when the happy creates a good barrier of energy to keep it out.
Probably why I romance the day right when I get up. I have no expectations, but I’m always happy to greet the morning, rain or shine.
*Leans in to whisper*
Rainy days are my fav. It’s a good day to write. Well...and, the car gets washed, I don’t have to water the plants, and those solicitors knocking at my door are nonexistent.
You see?
What’s not to fall in love with?
What’s your definition of romance? Strictly a couple or do you broaden your horizons with a concept that was never meant to be defined by two lovebirds?
As always, thanks for stopping by!
Riley

 

So, there we were at the store looking for living room furniture for the condo, when…

*Looks right at you*

I hear the word “No.”

So, you have to imagine I did a double take. A triple take, and then I was checking my purse for a thermometer, because surely my husband did not countermand my design choose.

Yeah, this never happens. Not on account of me being the designer guru or anything. I tend to think it has to do with him not giving a rat’s butt about the décor.

As long as it’s functional, comfortable and something he can wear in. He likes to make his preferred seats his, you know?

So, where was I going with this? Well, I’ll tell you. I figured I’d give him the benefit of the doubt and see what happened. Here’s the conversation.

This is me, after I get over my shock and decide to roll with the upper-cut. “No? What, don’t you like the color? We can change that.” Not that I planned to, or anything, I just wanted to feel him out.

“I don’t know. I don’t like it.”

Kinda broad, but okay. We moved along, and I see another couch set. A small sectional. “What about this one?”

He affected a face and sighed. “No.”

When we made the rounds of the store and he’d literally said no to everything I pointed out, I threw up my hands in mock defeat. “We’re reached the end of the road, buddy. This is where we came in and you didn’t like anything.”

To which his eyes lit up when he said, “I liked a couple of things.”

There’s me. *Blink, blink*

Then I looked around at a loss. “Um…where?”

God love him. Seriously, I mean he walked to the left and slapped a hand down on a coffee table that was too big. Did I mention that we were looking for light beachy tones and this was almost black? No? Well, yes it was. Bless his little heart. He said, “I like this one.”

Then he marched past me going left. “I like this couch.”

*Leans in to whisper* It was a couch and half. It even had an XL on the sales tag. So, in terms of it fitting into our small condo? Yeah, no.

“I think this is a good design.” He walked to an end table that I thought was a bistro table of some kind, until I realized it was meant to go with humungous couch. Only it was in a teal color instead of a sand color.

“And I think these are interesting.”

I looked at the lamps he was pointing to and I didn’t know what to say. Speechless never happens to me, so I tried to find a positive here. One little—nope, couldn’t do it. “Are they supposed to be animals or is that a cactus?”

It was hard to tell. They were free-form something or other. Coulda been a giraffe or the cactus I mentioned. Hell, they could have been stylized brown waves that were supposed to be forever parked on one’s end table to remind a person, or possibly your guests, not to pollute the oceans.

Bottom line? They weren’t going to be parked in my house.

I tried my best to sugarcoat my displeasure. “I’m sure if we were doing a brown theme, or even a beige one – as those two shades go together, the lamps would work. But with beachy shades…?”

“Wet sand is brown.”

Yeah, and so is a wet blanket. I guess I was being one because, for the life of me, I just couldn’t get excited about the yellow couch that was the size of the condo, end tables that could double a bar-tops and lamps that looked better suited to go to a wood carver for his next project than to win prized positions on my end tables.

Meh, it wasn’t until we got back into the car without buying anything that it hit me. I never bring him furniture shopping with me. What the hell was I thinking?

Clearly, I hadn’t been…

Anyone else have a husband story?

As always, thanks for stopping by!

Riley

 

 

 

 

This is going to be awesome!

I’m going to be a sponsor of this event and it’s going to be fun! Easy & did I mention prizes? I will follow up with details in three days. Mahawaaaa! Can’t wait!

Thanks for stopping by,

Riley

Just click on this link/picture to go to True Story Blog to read a very romantic and sexy letter that Payden wrote to his girl, Bernie, on Valentine’s Day. There’s also a very funny – and kinda smexxy- scene with a contest to win some $$. Go play, it will be fun. I promise! Be sure to say hello to me there because I’m going to be doing a giveaway on Valentine’s for everyone that comments here and over there. So…two great chances to win some loot.

 

Okay, have a look at these precious Honey laundry finds.

*I shall pause here to reflect*

For those of you who are new to Honey’s laundry “specialness”, let me fill you in.

The man is a collector. Don’t ask me why. To this day, I still have fond memories of us sitting together around the campfire when we were younger, drinking beer and shooting the breeze with our friends – while I’d watch him peel his brew labels off, and stuff the paper bits in his pocket.

*Side-eyes you*

Always thought this was because he didn’t like to litter. But, well, as you can see, the man collects these work-related smalls. A screw, or nail, or…?

Yeah, I don’t want to spoil the challenge, so let me ask you this. After examining the group of items in this latest treasure trove of laundry findings, what item doesn’t belong?

Come on, look harder. You have to see what I see.

*Points right at you* Exactly! The bobby-pin. *frowns and drums fingers* Now, what do you suppose the man was using that for? Picking locks? I hope not. It’s not part of his job description. But, then, neither is collecting these little bits-and-bobs I’m stuck pulling out of the dryer on laundry day.

Those annoying clink, clink, clink, clink sounds as the dryer turns? They drive me nuts…and, funny enough, they give me nuts, and bolts, and—you get the picture.

Available On Amazon

This story is the second book in my Mate Quest series. Payden is a true romantic at heart.

 

First, here’s another teaser of Stolen Treasure! I love these guys! Bernie, at first blush, may seem like an innocent, but she’s got some tricks up her sleeve. Poor Payden, it takes him a while to figure out he may be in over his head. Heh.

This one will be released on the 23rd of this month! Then it’s onto Raging Fire. Already the hero and heroine of that story have captured me.

Oh, and did I mention that I’m currently working on contemporary romance too? Remember Naomi and Master X? It’s their story. That should be out in March.

*Looks right at you*

I’ve got a lot of catching up to do after the arsenic poisoning debacle. Fortunately, I’m feeling much better and my most recent tests indicate as much, so it’s all good. Yay!

Now onto a slice of Riley’s life…

The first thing I’m going to share—that cracked me up, was a Honey story. *waves hand at you and rolls eyes* Yeah, I know, no surprise there, but stay with me. This made me laugh.

There I am the other night, sitting next to the guy as he’s going on about something. *Shrug* Could have been a documentary thing, or, it could have been a work thing. Point is, I wasn’t paying the least bit of attention, so when he looked at me as though I was supposed to respond, I blinked and then deflected.

Instead of giving him a reply I didn’t have, I asked, “Hey, did you get the mail? My test results might be in the pile.”

I really didn’t expect them to be in there, it was too soon, but Honey is anxious about this kind of stuff, so my devious plan worked. He forgot about me giving him the answer I didn’t have, and got up. “No, I’ll go check the box now.”

*Insert me twirling my handlebar mustache here* I SO love it when a plan comes together.

Stolen Treasure is book 2 in my Mate Quest series.

This is a reverse amnesia story.

To avert a catastrophic and world-altering event, he must pull a fast one on his mated soul when she wakes up after being in a car wreck.

Instead of helping her remember the single past life she hasn’t forgotten, he convinces her of a steamy married reality with him that they never had.

 

This is Payden and Bernadette’s story.

I guess I should mention that this hero can sneak into his heroine’s dreams. Good thing, since he needs to seduce her, before she finds out what he did….because, you know, the reason might not be enough to outweigh the deed. *Bites bent knuckle, and cringes* I sure hope he’s charming enough…