Author Spotlight: Linda Howard – Ben Lewis (reduex)

Holly says: Way back when, Rowena used to do a “Hero of the Week” series to spotlight her favorite heroes, but she stopped doing it (it’s a lot of work!). I was trolling through some old posts, though, and found the spotlight she did for Ben Lewis. Since we’re spotlighting Linda Howard this month, I thought I’d repost this.

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Have you ever crushed on a guy who oozes sex appeal, even when he’s not at his best? How much do you love a guy who can look so utterly sexy right after rolling out of bed in the morning? You know, the guys that stretch up in bed, and scratches their tummy while yawning, a big loud like yawn that totally makes your toes curl? You can’t figure out why his messy hair that’s matted to his head and his scruffy face and whiskers that scratch your face when you get close turns you on, all you know that it does…and you like it.

That’s exactly how I picture Ben Lewis from Linda Howard’s Heart of Fire to be, rough around the edges and sloppy but still Oh.So.Sexy.

He’s the kind of guy that will crack jokes to ease the tension in a room, the kind of guy that will flirt his way into your heart without trying, he just is and women fall for him, at every turn. But all joking aside, you know that this man is not a man to mess with, there’s an intensity about him that draws women to him, like a moth to a flame. I mean check out his description:

…where a lone man lazed as if half asleep, an open bottle of whiskey in front of him. Even from beneath those half-lowered lids she could see intensity gleaming in his eyes. As they approached, he shoved out a chair with his foot and gave Jillian a look that had about as much in common with the looks from the men at the bar as a shark had in common with a trout. The men at the bar might have speculated, but they kept their thoughts to themselves. This man, in his mind, already had her stripped, spread-eagled, and penetrated, and didn’t care if she knew it.

He oozes sex appeal, an appeal that not anyone can get away with, he’s confident, more than that, he’s arrogant and doesn’t give a damn. He knows that if one woman won’t take him, another one will…but if you capture his attention, nothing or no one is going to get in his way because he’s got his eye on the prize, and this guy always wins.

Ben Lewis is a pleasant mixture of a fun loving guy who doesn’t give a flying flip about what you want or what you need, because he’s looking out for his number one and the mysterious guy with shady secrets and a dangerous past. He’s intense and thorough and hot damn the man is the biggest horn dog in the world and he don’t give a hootin’ heck who knows it. He’s actually proud of that fact. He makes no effort to hide who he is, what you see is what you get and you really can’t ask for more than that, because you know it will always be an adventure with Ben around.

With a guy like this you would think that you could trust him, but you can’t. The guy is a sneaky bastard but that doesn’t take away from the fact that he’s one sexy ass sneak. He’s the kind of guy you’d have to hide the silver from because he’ll grin wide for you while he’s robbing you blind, see how sexy he is? LOL.

Some of my favorite scenes are:

Sometimes, such as when he’d massaged her sore back, he could actually be considerate.

…Considerate my foot, Jillian thought five minutes later. Diabolical was more like it. She couldn’t take her eyes off of him and he knew it.

He stripped down to the skin with an utter lack of modesty that told her he was accustomed to being naked with a woman. Why would any woman in her right mind want him to wear clothes anyway? He was tall and lean and superbly muscled, and his buttocks were so round and taut that her hands instinctively curled into fists in an effort to resist patting them. He had the shoulders of a stevesdore and the legs of an athlete, long and powerful. She had never enjoyed looking at a man more.

He stepped under the waterfall and let the water splash over him while he tiled his head back and shook his hair. Sunlight dappled on the flexing muscles of that marvelously strong body, and the water droplets spraying through the air glittered like diamonds. His genitals hung heavily between his thighs and he was so perfectly, utterly male that her chest constricted, making it difficult for her to breathe.

Then he looked straight at her, the blue of his eyes so intense that she could see it even across the forty feet that separated them. He stepped forward a little, so that the main force of the water was hitting his back, he was right on the edge of the rock shelf above the pool of water. He was totally exposed to her, without the stream of water to blur the powerful lines of his body. As he stared at her, his shaft began to stir, to grow thick and long, to rise fiercely toward his belly.

Damn him, she thought feverishly. A more graphic demonstration of desire wasn’t possible. Nothing was so seductive as knowing that you’re wanted, and he knew it. The potent reaction of his body to simply looking at her did ten times more damage to her resistance than any of his slick, playfully profane cajoling, or even those bone melting kisses.

…She dragged her gaze back up and met his, bright and expectant. Oh, yes, he knew exactly what he was doing to her. The man was so diabolical that she had another almost irresistible urge to throw rocks at him.

Humming, he finished his bath and even scrubbed his clothes, taking his time about it. Jillian’s hands tightened on the shotgun that lay across her lap and she forced herself to scan the path that led back up to the camp.

…”You aren’t a very good guard,” he charged, a smile lurking around his mouth. “You spent more time looking at me than at the surroundings.”

“Well you were doing everything but waving a flag at me to attract my attention, she replied. “I didn’t want to disappoint you.”

“A flag wasn’t what I was waving,” he pointed out. “Now, if you said flagpole, I’d have to agree, but—,“

…he gave the area a thorough survey before leaning down to kiss her. ”Okay, it’s your turn.”

Her mouth throbbed from even that light touch, “Do you swear you’ll stay here and keep guard?”

His blue eyes turned cool. “This is something I take seriously, sweetcakes.”

…Ben settled back and got comfortable, ready to enjoy the show, though he gave the area another intense survey before returning his attention to Jillian. His heart began pounding heavily at the prospect of seeing her naked.

…Ben watched the blur of her body in an agony of anticipation. Turn, he kept thinking, as if he could bend her to his will with his thoughts. Turn. He wanted to see her; he needed to see her. Not that he didn’t enjoy looking at her ass, what he could see of it, through the water, but he wanted more. He wanted to see her breasts, to have an image of reality to replace his fevered imagination.

His hands were sweating, and he wiped them off on his pants. His chest was heaving with the harshness of his breathing. Damn this perverse little witch, she wasn’t showing him anything. Didn’t she know how much he needed to see her?

Holy hot damn, this guy is something else, sorry that was a bit long but I just absolutely love this scene, I love how Jillian stole Ben’s thunder and I just love how everything is between these two, he bites she bites back and he grins…love it when a guy grins…Ben Lewis is one of the most sexiest guys ever written and by the length of this post, can you tell how much I love him? Hehe.

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