“The lamplight spilled around him like water in a ship’s wake, streaming past an impregnable hull. The Slavic sharpness of high cheekbones; a canny crease between tawny brows; hard jaw glittering with the gold dust of day’s-end stubble; and a mouth whose firm press suggested ruthlessness…and sensuality.

But God—his eyes. That Nordic gaze fized her, unwavering, piercing blue as winter ice. Alexis wondered how many men had looked their last into those cold eyes, then told herself to get it together. Still, she could barely contain the shiver that whispered through her.

His lips tightened in a humorless smile. “I’m Captain First Rank Victor Tarasovich Kostenko. I’m told you’ve been looking for me.”

That’s how we meet the hero of my debut romantic suspense, The Russian Seduction, winner of the Golden Pen and the launch book for my Foreign Affairs series with River Valley Publishing. Victor quickly stakes his claim as the nemesis of my heroine, rising-star American diplomat Alexis Castle. He may be Russian (with Ukrainian roots), an unconventional choice for a romance hero, but Victor is hardly your average Ivan. Until recently, he was a submarine captain with a maverick image, the golden boy of the Russian fleet. Now he’s lost his command for an act of treason he didn’t commit. And it’s rumored he’ll do anything to get back in his government’s good graces.

Are you wondering why I chose a Russian hero? In my other life, I’m a diplomat who’s lived in Russia, where I specialize in weapons of mass destruction issues. In the line of duty, I’ve been trapped in an elevator in a nuclear power plant and stalked the corridors of facilities churning out nerve agent and other apocalyptic weapons. In this capacity, I meet many of the world’s most dangerous men. A renegade Russian submarine captain like Victor Kostenko definitely qualifies!

Look at it this way. International intrigue demands a super-smart alpha hero with a hidden agenda, an agent who operates with considerable flair. I like to think five years spent watching and working the Russian political and diplomatic scene, living in the edgy cosmopolitan world of modern-day Moscow where The Russian Seduction takes place, gave me the insider’s knowledge to write a Russian hero who’s been hard-wired by tough circumstances, like a bomb on a hairpin trigger.

My smart, sexy, uber-competitive hero—an ex-Olympic athlete with an intelligence background—makes the perfect foil for my ambitious, buttoned-tight, by-the-book American heroine. Here’s hoping you’ll agree! If you’d like to check out the rest of the scene where Alexis and Victor first meet, you can take a peek here: https://www.allromanceebooks.com/prod...

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