Welcome Award-winning romance writer, Paty Jager...

I am thrilled and honored to be hosting my online friend and author, Paty Jager for the next couple of days - Paty's stories are fabulously exciting and emotional. I've read her work for a long time now and never once been disappointed. Her life surrounded by horses and land also gives me cause for envy--not that I envy the work that's undoubtedly involved! Great to have you here, Paty - enjoy... :)

Jungle Steam

By

Paty Jager

Making a reader feel like they are in a jungle when they read Secrets of a Mayan Moon, took hours of research. I’ve only lived or visited mountains, desert, and arctic rain forest so getting a feel for the Guatemalan jungle sent me scurrying for books and online information on jungles. I also sent out feelers to others who had visited Central America, gathering their reactions and thoughts on the area.

Heat, the moisture or damp feeling, the mosquitoes were all elements that seemed to be vivid in the memories for visitors. A setting isn’t just the sticky feeling or the buzz of mosquitoes. It’s also the cry of the howler monkey at daybreak and dusk; a deep roar that tingles the hair on the back of your neck. Rain pouring down, swirling around your  feet, and silencing all other sounds.

There is another kind of jungle steam in Secrets of a Mayan Moon. The chemistry between the hero and heroine. Doctor Isabella Mumphrey may have a genius IQ but she’s lacking on social skills; particularly when it comes to men. And she learns quickly that everything she needs to know doesn’t come from books.

DEA agent and jaguar tagger, Augustino Constantine is out for revenge. When he finds himself escorting an intelligent yet vulnerable young woman into a drug trafficking ring, he gets more involved than he planned.

Clandestine meetings in the jungle, where their sweaty bodies are pressed together under a mosquito net, shows their respective jobs may be getting just as tangled as their relationship. The humid jungle air has nothing on the torrid blood rushing through their veins as they discover each holds the key to the others safety.

Secrets of a Mayan Moon is the first book in the Isabella Mumphrey Adventures.

Blurb:

Child prodigy and now Doctor of Anthropology, Isabella Mumphrey, is about to lose her job at the university. In the world of publish or perish, her mentor’s request for her assistance on a dig is just the opportunity she’s been seeking. If she can decipher an ancient stone table—and she can—she’ll keep her department. She heads to Guatemala, but drug trafficking bad guys, artifact thieves, and her infatuation for her handsome guide wreak havoc on her scholarly intentions.

DEA agent Tino Kosta, is out to avenge the deaths of his family. He’s deep undercover as a jaguar tracker and sometimes jungle guide, but the appearance of a beautiful, brainy anthropologist heats his Latin blood taking him on a dangerous detour that could leave them both casualties of the jungle.

Excerpt:

Isabella climbed out of the boat, keeping as much distance between her and Tino as possible. He’d humiliated her, and she couldn’t get away from him. They were stuck together tonight and all of tomorrow until he delivered her to the dig. His taunting her with a kiss and then drawing away as if she were some vile creature hurt as deeply as the things Darrell Rutley had said to her face in grad school.

She walked into the forest, hunting for a place to have a few moments to herself.

“Do not go far,” Tino called in his seductive Latin accent.

She cursed her reaction to his voice, raised a hand acknowledging his order, and tromped deeper into the trees. The murmur of the river faded away in the steady drone of mosquitoes. She slapped at the leaves on the plants and wandered deeper. Rustling in the underbrush shot her heart into her throat. Jaguars were nocturnal weren’t they? A small, furry, pig-like animal trotted across her path, followed by five smaller versions.

She giggled at her jumpy nerves and the animals’ comical parade as she watched the last one disappear through the greenery. The waning light enlarged the shadows. Reluctance played war with her logical self. She should return to the boat before darkness descended and she couldn’t find her way back. But her pride, something she usually didn’t consider, wouldn’t let her face Tino.

Not yet.

It was stupid to believe he wanted to kiss her. Tino was handsome, virile, and so unlike any of the men she’d met during her college days or professionally. Exactly the type who toy with women like me. His chivalry and her attraction to him made her feel attractive, something she rarely experienced. But the way he brushed her off after he’d initiated the kiss... He’d only proved he could kiss her and not that he wanted her. She mentally slapped herself at her stupidity and virginal cravings.

The walk hadn’t settled her anger. Reliving the event only escalated her rage.

How could one be a genius yet stupid about life lessons?

She pulled out what she now considered her knife and hacked at the plants along the way. With each swing she lopped off something of Tino’s. Blue penetrating eyes. Devastating smile. A hand, so good at soothing her. The other hand. Her smile grew, and her frustration turned to the healthy exhaustion of an extensive taekwondo class.

Isabella wiped a sleeve across her sweaty brow and heaved a sigh of contentment. The vigorous exercise worked wonders on her disposition.

A fierce roar vibrated through the trees.

Secrets of a Mayan Moon is available at Kindle, Nook, and Smashwords

Award winning author Paty Jager is a member of national and local writing organizations. She not only writes the western lifestyle she lives it. With fourteen books and a short story published, she is venturing into the new world of self-publishing ebooks.  Her contemporary Western, Perfectly Good Nanny won the 2008 Eppie for Best Contemporary Romance, Spirit of the Mountain, a historical paranormal set among the Nez Perce, placed 1st in the paranormal category of the Lories Best Published Book Contest, and Spirit of the Lake was a finalist in the Gayle Wilson Award of Excellence.

You can learn more about Paty at her blog; www.patyjager.blogspot.com  her website; http://www.patyjager.net or on Facebook; https://www.facebook.com/#!/paty.jager and twitter;  @patyjag.

Great post, Paty! So thrilled to have you with us for the next couple of days - okay, over to you guys! Comments??