Fiery
by Nikki Duncan

The one way they don’t rub each other wrong is in each other’s arms.

Carmen Smith’s artist’s eye saw inspiration wherever she glanced as soon as she set foot on the cobbled streets of Whispering Cove, and among the inspiration she’s found the slower pace she always hoped for.

But as warm as her new life is, she harbors a secret dream to find a man who sees her as an equal and who loves her for who she is, rather than out of charity. The man she’s been partnered with to re-design the town square gets her fired up—but not in a way she expected.

Ryan Alden gave up his military career to help his father with the family business. He’s accepted his place in Whispering Cove, but still feels like an outsider at times. When he meets the bombshell babe with a vintage flare who challenges him like no other, he glimpses the life he has always longed for—but not in a way he anticipated.

From the get-go, they clash like oil and watercolor. And a relationship that looked good on paper might not be the right composition at all...

Nikki Duncan's Bio

Nikki Duncan, jokingly known to some as Naughty Nikki, juggles her time between writing, multiple jobs, household duties, and family. Of all the things on her To Do List, Nikki neglects the household chores most frequently. Then again, who doesn't want to ignore laundry and dishes?

Before turning to writing, Nikki passed her spare time with a hundred or so romance books a year. While the reading has tapered off a bit, her love of books and reading is stronger than ever. She now spends large chunks of time indulging in her love of creating stories that will hopefully offer people the peace that, regardless of whatever is wrong with their life, hope and faith in something better can always be found between the covers of a book.

In an attempt to strengthen her writing and story-telling techniques, Nikki dissects published books to see how published authors accomplish things. She has taken classes to bone up on grammar and punctuation, and though she's always been a strong speller she's eternally grateful for spell check in Word. When she has extra time (ha-ha) she reads craft books, searches the web for writing tips and secrets, and picks the brains of other writers willing to share what they've learned. As if that's not enough, she inhales workshops on CD that even remotely pertain to her writing or future goals.

It may be seen as overconfidence, but Nikki never wondered IF she would be published. For her, it was a matter of WHEN, because the only way to succeed is to keep pushing forward and getting better.