Fire and Desire » (Reprint)

Brenda is a die-hard romantic who married her childhood sweetheart 30 years ago and still proudly wears the "going steady" ring he gave her when she was 15. Because she began believing very early in the power of love and romance, she can't help but write stories with happy endings. She is an award-winning bestselling author of more than 10 romance novels and looks forward to increasing that number. She and her husband live in the city where they were born, Jacksonville, Fla., and have two sons in college. She has a B.S. in business administration and presently works in management for a major insurance company.

Coming home from work and sitting down to her computer to weave love stories is the highlight of her day. She and her husband spend time together traveling to discover those romantic places she could use as settings in her books.

Brenda would love to hear from her readers.

Two years ago, geologist Corinthians Avery had brazenly sneaked into a hotel room to seduce Dex Madaris, head of Madaris Explorations and the longtime object of her affection. But the man who emerged from the shower to find Corinthians clad in next to nothing was handsome foreman Trevor Grant. When a smug Trevor informed her that Dex was not only absent from the trip, but at home happily married, Corinthians was mortified.

Now, stuck in South America on a business trip with Trevor, Corinthians tries to avoid him at all costs. If only his broad shoulders and wickedly sexy smile didn't send her senses into flames. Their hotel falls under terrorist attack, and Corinthians has no choice but to place her trust in Trevor. As the two make a daring escape into the war-torn streets, fear for their lives suddenly turns to feverish desire, as they both give in to the hottest danger of all. What neither of them realizes is that one sultry night of passion under the luminous Latin skies will change their lives forever….

Publishers Weekly

An oil research summit in Rio de Janeiro leads to romantic adventure for renowned geologist Corinthians Avery and Trevor Grant, the head foreman of Madaris Explorations. A tense relationship, which began at a business meeting two years before, is complicated when Corinthians, attempting to seduce a colleague by secretly entering his hotel room half naked, inadvertently reveals herself to Trevor instead. A terrorist takeover of their hotel forces the notoriously contentious African-American pair to take cover in the jungles of South America, where Trevor's survival skills and fluency in Portuguese, honed from 15 years in a Marine Force Reconnaissance unit, come in handy. Jackson (One Special Moment) turns up the heat in the already steamy surroundings as Trevor and Corinthians put their differences aside and respond to their mutual attraction, revealing a passion for each other hidden by years of anger. The duo's rescue and return to U.S. soil is only the beginning of Jackson's special brand of intrigue: now Trevor must save Corinthians from a Middle Easterner who lusts after her and has made arrangements for her abduction to his country. (July) Copyright 1999 Cahners Business Information.