Heart of Steel
by Meljean Brook

Named one of Publishers Weekly’s “Best Books of 2010,” The Iron Duke introduced the gritty, alluring adventure of the Iron Seas. Now, Meljean Brook returns to the world where nanotech fuses with Victorian sensibilities — and steam.

As the mercenary captain of the Lady Corsair, Yasmeen has learned to keep her heart as cold as steel, her only loyalty bound to her ship and her crew. So when a man who once tried to seize her airship returns from the dead, Yasmeen will be damned if she gives him another opportunity to take control.

Treasure-hunter Archimedes Fox isn’t interested in the Lady Corsair — he wants her coldhearted captain and the valuable da Vinci sketch she stole from him. To reclaim it, Archimedes is determined to seduce the stubborn woman who once tossed him to a ravenous pack of zombies, but she’s no easy conquest.

When da Vinci’s sketch attracts a dangerous amount of attention, Yasmeen and Archimedes journey to Horde-occupied Morocco — and straight into their enemy’s hands. But as they fight to save themselves and a city on the brink of rebellion, the greatest peril Yasmeen faces is from the man who seeks to melt her icy heart...

Meljean Brook's Bio

Meljean Brook thought herself a superhero growing up -- a superhero princess. After her dreams of flying were brought to a crashing halt when she jumped off one too many sofas with a towel tied around her neck, she turned to safer pursuits: reading and writing about superheroes, princesses, and romance. She read her first romance at the tender age of eight -- Carole Mortimer's Only Lover, Harlequin Presents #502. Thighs surged, hearts flipped, the men were larger than life and the women more beautiful than princesses, and Meljean was hooked. She consumed thousands of romances over the following two decades, first filching them from her grandmother's library and reading them under her bedcovers, then proudly carrying them with her wherever she went. At the same time, in her notebooks and later her computers, she wrote romances by emulating her favorite authors' styles -- but it wasn't until she wrote romantic fan fiction about two superheroes that she finally found her own voice. Meljean writes sensual paranormal romance -- she likes it sexy, emotional, and just a little weird. Currently, she is writing a novella for Berkley, and finishing her novel Tempting Hugh. She lives in the Pacific Northwest with her husband and their young daughter.