Leslie T: You are going to see a lot of responses related to a recent read <g>, hero? Definitely Rhys Mason, "By Design" by Madeline Hunter. Who could resist a man who is not only sexy as all get out but who also has soul. This is the kind of man you dreamabout marrying the best of both worlds. As far as heroine's go I like them to be bold and sassy, not pushovers. I love the heroine in Catherine Spangler's Shadower for example. Most romantic couple in a series, oh definitely Jamie and Claire from Outlander.

Shelly R: Hero: Roarke. Yeah, he's over the top, totally fantasy, but
he happens to be a great fantasy. Always there when you need him,
respecting and admiring your work and abilities, dangerous but totally
devoted, intelligent, witty, wealthy, sexy..... Oh yeah, and wounded
so he really needs to be healed by love.

Bishop's Daemon. He's a lot like Roarke. Plus he's got those 1700
years of experience as a sex slave<g>.

Heroine: I'm not a heroine person. Most I can take or leave. I like heroines to be strong. It's nice if they're smart too (that includes common sense). The one that stands out in my mind isn't necessarily romantic or sexy, but she is strong and smart: Jessica from Lord of Scoundrels.

Donna: Wolf MacKenzie from Linda Howard's MacKenzie's Mountain.

Dee: Jamie from Outlander, love Maggie in The Cat's Fancy.

Gil: That's a really, really hard question. I don't have one from paranormal,
but my favorite couple is probably Sophie and Charles from Heyer's The
Grand Sophie, or Venetia and Damorer from Venetia. Paranormal.. lord, I'd
have to say the Captain and Lucy Muir from the Ghost and Mrs. Muir
(film).

Ashley: Hawk/Mary MacKenzie's Mt/Linda Howard.

Cy: rather than say a specific hero, I will tell you the "type" that goes on
keeper shelf. I like it when the H/H have an extra connection... Like in
Sheild's Lady [Glass/Krentz] and in CRYSTAL PROPHESY [Tarantino] they share a mental link.

I also like "you & me against ..." when the love/like is there and the
conflict is in the odds against them rather than having them fighting each
other until the last chapter.

Leslie T: Hero, Jamie Fraser or give me a Carpathian male any day of the week.

Donna: Wolf MacKenzie again

Dee: Any Linda Howard hero! SIGH!

Gil: Jacque and Sahara from Cajun Hot, Dreams Unlimtied. They aren't paranormal, but they are hot.

Ashley: Jacques Dark Desire/Christine Feehan

Leslie T: By Design <g>. Oh and Terri Brisbin's A Matter of Time made me cry.

Donna: Texas Destiny by Lorraine Heath

Dee: Dove's Way, Linda Francis Lee (although Galen Foley's the Duke is a close second)

Gil: Joey Hill's Make Her Dreams Come True, though it is NOT a paranormal. It was sexy and tender and romantic and kinky all at the same time. If it
must be a paranormal--then Andrew Greeley's Angel Fire.

Ashley: Kiss and Tell/Cherry Adair.

Leslie T: Well I generally don't read erotica so, I'll stick to my answers about shifters. "Dark Desire" by Chris Feehan had some marvelous sexual tension as did "Once a Wolf" by Susan Krinard, "By an Eldritch Sea" by Carolee Joy, I could go on and on.

Donna: Devil's Bride by Stephanie Laurens.

Dee: Kill and Tell, Linda Howard (or Dream Man)

Gil: Cajun Hot.

Ashley: Cajun Hot/Nina Black or Love Slave/Emma Holly.

Leslie T: HMM a scene in By Design where the hero and heroine are sitting on opposite ends of a bench in his garden. She's sculpting pottery, he's working in stone. They haven't connected sexually due to a terrible experience she's had, but the author gives the reader the feeling of a deeper sort of connection shared by the pair. I loved it. There are quite a few in the Outlander series I could site as well. Oh and the scene in Barb Sheridan's "Bittersweet Surrender" When Star finds Jason sobbing over the grave of his best friend, a man he was forced to execute.

Shelly R: That would be Miles letter of apology to Ekaterin in A Civil Campaign. It bring me to tears whenever I read it.

Donna: near the end of Simple Jess by Pamela Morsi where Jess and Althea are finally getting together.

Dee: The love scene in the Shadowy Horses...it's a fade to black, but it's beautiful.

Gil: ANY scene in Make Her Dreams Come True.

Ashley: Mine to Take/Dara Joy, when they conceive the child

Leslie T: Let's see. In a standard type contemporary romance, well recently while doing several of Evelyn Rogers' books for review, I read her launch title for Perfect Heroes, "Golden Man", there were some scenes in there that curled my toes <g> The hero was the President of the United States, a bachelor and squeaky clean, trying to conduct a romance away from the watchful eyes of the public. The potential for being caught out, added to the tension.

Historical Romance, oh the graveyard love scene in Tracy Grant's "Shadows of the Heart".

Shelly R: That would be Miles letter of apology to Ekaterin in A Civil Campaign. It bring me to tears whenever I read it.

Leslie T: The step back from Christina Dodd's "A Well Favored Gentleman" -- boy is he (Ian Fairchild in water just below the waist)!

Shelly R: I favor Lynn Saunders' covers, as well as Franco Accornero's. I like
the Saunders covers because they reflect romantic schools of art, the
pre-Raphaelites and the Impressionists. Accornero's are well-executed
works of art that are sexy without being lurid.

Dee: I love Su Krinard's Wolf covers, and also the cover of It Happened
One Night (Leslie La Foy) And one of the new Gothics from Dorchester has a
really hot cover.

Ashley: Blood and Kisses/Angela Knight, when he takes his first payment.

Cy: HELP! the water one/he is barely up to his
bottom in water and all the rest cleaned up nicely [BEG] *yep that would be "A Well Favored Gentleman".

Leslie T: The step back from "By Design" it is remiscent of the pottery scene in ghost. I referred back to it frequently during the reading (Okay I referred back to the Dodd as well <g>)

Donna: Warrior's Woman by Johanna Lindsey.

Leslie T: Very simply, to be loved deeply by the one you love with all your heart. To find your soulmate. It doesn't get better than that.

Shelly R: You mean book? Probably Anne Bishop's Black Jewels trilogy. You mean personal fantasy? Probably Anne Bishop's hero Daemon, with an
invisible ring, gold of course.

Donna: Just to meet someone who will accept me and love me for me.

Karen M:

Gil: Other than spending time alone with my husband---being carried off into the desert by Sean Connery in The Wind and the Lion, fanged by Frank
Langella's Dracula, or ending up in a harem in which I am the only
inmate, with Antonio Banderas as the sultan....Or a Scottish castle with
Liam Neeson in a kilt (sigh; that man is so under-rated as an actor and
so few women even know who he is--he's Hollywood's best kept secret sex
symbol). Actually I write mine down.. and once I have the site up, I'll
post a few bits...

Leslie T: I had just met my future husband, though of course I didn't know it yet.. He'd asked me on a first date. I was working, he was a poor grad student. First he sent me roses and a poem that he wrote, signed your secret admirer (I still have it). Then he took me to the most expensive restaurant in town and told me to order anything I wanted. I was so impressed that I ordered lobster, then I noticed that the poor guy had ordered chowder for himself, and realized that he really couldn't afford it. I felt awful but was so touched that he wanted to impress me so badly.

A few dates later he informed me that he and his cousin were taking a camping trip out west for a month and that he didn't want me to sit around all by myself while he was gone. That had me worried but, several days after they left I got a call from Vegas saying that he missed me, was coming home early, and to forget about going out while he was gone. Needless to say he's a keeper!

Gil: Being proposed to at the stroke of midnight on New Year's Eve.. after a
gourmet picnic, watching several romantic sexy films, drinking champagne
and eating strawberries with whipped cream.

Cy: Hubby & I were fighting. I was working 3-11 p.m. and he worked 6a.m.-6p.m. We had a blow-up that I could see no working out and spent almost 2 days expecting more fighting or end of marriage [he'd be sleeping when I got home]. On 3rd day I came home to dark house, when I turned on the light the record player came on instead [he changed plugs]... Playing Frankie Valie..."let's hang on to what we've got... we've got alot of love between us" Well, I started crying right there, and obviously we've hung on. We have been married 28 years in September.

Leslie T: Watching the sun set over the ocean in a tropical paradise before settling back in the room for some serious romancing. Falling asleep in each others' arms.

Shelly R: The dh dressed as Daemon.... (just kidding!!!). An evening alone
with the dh, talking and snuggling.

Donna: Just a quiet evening at home, and he would be holding me on his lap.

Dee: Being with my husband.

Gil: Getting all dressed up, going to a wonderful restaurant where my husband and I will dine slowly and lavishly, then off to dimly lit club...and
then home to a warm bedroom, with candles, champagne and chocolates for a midnight snack.. and NO ONE to call and bother us for 3 days. Did I
mention the square marble tub you have to climb up 3 steps to get into?

Actually for my 50th birthday, he achieved most of it--we went a nice
hotel in Tokyo, dressed up, dined lavishly--and he gave me a set of
Tahitian black pearls as a gift! The room didn't have the tub, but who
cared?

I'll settle for dinner out and no phones ringing!

Ashley: At home, a hot bath, dinner cooked for me, my fav movie, and my dh.

Cy: It would have to start the day before... so I wouldn't be too tired! That's
why they call them romantic vacations!