Cowboys are Always Worth the Ride #newromance

 

Cowboys are Always Worth the Ride

I write western romance. There's something about the downhome guys who make their living with animals and the land. I thought I'd share an excerpt from an interview I did a couple of years ago about why Cowboys appeal to me...

Cowboy romances. We all know why those are hot, but how did you get into writing them?

As luck would have it, a wonderful author friend asked me to be a part of a cowboy box set. D’Ann Lindun writes some amazing Contemporary Western Romances and I was excited (and a little nervous) about being in a set with her and writing a story she would enjoy. While writing my first cowboy story, I shared my story with her and received feedback.

 

Luckily for me, I have some amazing old friends who actually worked as cowboys during their summer vacations. They were an inspiration for my cowboys! And another ear to bounce ideas off of.

 

Once I finished my first cowboy story, more hunky guys came out of the woodwork demanding their stories. Since then, I’ve written five books in my Cowboys of Whisper, Colorado series and have more planned.

 

As you’re an expert in cowboys, what’s the single most important trait a prospective cowboy needs to develop?

Manners. The nice-fitting Wranglers, the strong work ethic, and sexy body are all important but a real cowboy knows how to treat a lady and his mama. They go out of their way to help others and care for all animals. They hold doors open, say please and thank you, and tip their hats at everyone. After all, who wouldn’t love a man who treats them like a queen?

 

What if a cowboy can’t last 8 seconds...can he still be in one of your ebooks?

I can take this question two ways! *wink* Eight seconds clearly isn’t enough time for any of my heroes. They love to take their time with their women.

 

But seriously, I love writing books about characters who are flawed. I have recovering alcoholics, disabled bull riders and men hiding the truth…No one is without a flaw. Sharing those type of heroes who find a happily ever after shows readers how I believe in a happily ever after for everyone.

 

If you had a twin sister, what character from your ebooks would you want her to marry and why?

You do know that if I pick a favorite, the rest of the heroes are going to be jealous! I am the oldest of five girls and while none of us are twins, I’d be happy if my sisters married any of the guys in my books. They are wonderful men who love their women and who go above and beyond to make them happy.

 

Not to mention, since they are fiction, they are all very good looking and even when they make a mistake, they set about to fix it. Some of them are even great cooks and all of them last longer than 8 seconds!

 

What’s your favorite country song to two-step to?

It’s like asking me which child is my favorite! While it’s not a great song to two-step to, my new favorite song to blast is My Church. It is a perfect song to roll the windows down and sing at the top of my lungs.

 

Besides the heart wrenching cowboy romances, what other types of ebooks do you write?

I write small town romances. My series, The Wilder Sisters, takes place in Amherst, Ohio, a small town along the Lake Erie coast and my hometown. My other series, The Pigg Brothers (Pigg Detective Agency) also features a small town outside of Columbus, Ohio and has a nod to the fairy tale- The Three Little Pigs.

 

In addition to my many romances, I have a few cookbooks which I’m a part of. These feature some of my wonderful family recipes. As you can see, family is important to me and I love being able to share some of my own family history with readers.

 

Finally, I have a non-fiction book, Musings of a Madcap Mind. It contains poetry, essays on life and again some family recipes. One of my favorite pieces in this book is my letter to my father about how I’m not only like my mother but also like him. I read it to him on his 65^th birthday with tears in my eyes.

 

Now that you have heard a little about my love of Cowboys, you can check them out on my website and on all Major retailers. I've included my Amazon page link!

Amazon Link: https://www.amazon.com/stores/Melissa-Keir/author/B0078TCJX2

Until next month- Keep Reading,

Melissa Keir

www.melissakeir.com

Sweet Mail-Order Bride Western Romance - A Permanent Woman by Kaye Spencer

My novelette, A Permanent Woman, is a quick-read, western romance about a man and woman who come together through a mail-order bride advertisement in a magazine called the Matrimony Courier.

Widower Simon Driscoll lost his only son and daughter-in-law, with whom he was estranged, in a cholera epidemic. He receives a letter as next of kin granting him custody of his three grandchildren, whom he has never met. The children are in an orphanage, and he cannot take custody unless he shows up with a wife and the documentation to prove the marriage is legal. He has 90 days before he loses his grandchildren, and a month has already passed. Desperate men take desperate measures…

Reputation tarnished and professional career compromised, Tessa Morris wants to start a new life—somewhere, anywhere, as long as that place is far away from here. The problem is, where? Other than attending a university, she’s never lived anywhere else. As the community’s latest pariah, the life and career she’s built in her hometown is finished. At 42, her future seems grim at best. When she happens upon a recent edition of the Matrimony Courier, she finds herself intrigued by one of the advertisements for a wife. That she doesn’t meet any of the qualifications doesn’t bother her in the least, because desperate women take desperate measures…

Excerpt

“Excuse me. Mr. Perlman directed me here. I’m responding to an advertisement in the Matrimony Courier. Are you Simon Driscoll?”

Simon closed his eyes, fortifying himself to face another woman with a façade of interest. “Yes, I’m Simon Driscoll. Your name?”

“Tessa Morris.”

He opened his eyes, frowning as he mentally ticked off the names on the list. Still gazing out the window, he asked, “Did you send a letter under a different name? I don’t recall a Mrs. Morris.”

“Miss. Miss Morris. I’ve never been married and, no, I didn’t send a letter. In fact, I came across your advertisement but five days ago.”

Simon turned. “I’m sorry, but the deadline—” The words died on his lips. Ben was in the doorway, pointing to the woman and nodding.

“Mr. Driscoll, is something wrong?” She followed Simon’s stare and looked over her shoulder right as Ben stepped out of the doorway.

His insides went topsy-turvy. Ben had a way with people. He couldn’t leave him to talk to this woman alone.

No letter of introduction. He didn’t know anything about her, and he sure as hell didn’t know what to say.

“You’re quite pale, Mr. Driscoll. I think you should sit.”

He cut her a sidelong glance. She was close enough that he could feel her body heat, and the scent of her perfume made him a little lightheaded. When she took hold of his hand, the soft warmth of her touch made his heart leap into his throat. She led him to a chair and, situating herself beside him, positioned hers so their knees touched. His breath hitched, and he scooted his chair, which prompted her to move her chair even closer. He was too old for parlor games, and she seemed determined to make him uncomfortable with her casual familiarity. The other women had kept a safe, proper distance across the table barricade.

She filled a glass with water from the pitcher at hand and gave it to him. “Here, drink this. You’ll feel better.”

Dumbly, he accepted the water, but she didn’t let go when he wrapped his big hand around the glass, trapping her fingers under his. It gave him a start, and he released his grasp like he’d been burned. That’s when he looked at her. Really looked.

Damn.

****

 A Permanent Woman is available for $0.99.  Kindle

 

See you next time,
Kaye Spencer
www.kayespencer.com

 

Western Romance – Gambling with Love by Kaye Spencer – Excerpt #westernromance #snsd

 

Gambling with Love 

When beautiful lady gambler Lainie Conrad’s husband, Seaton, is murdered, she sets out for revenge. Lainie is certain that cardsharp Rutherford Tolliver is guilty, but she has to find a way to prove it—and when she does, she’s not about to let her own little ol’ arrest get in the way!

U.S. Deputy Marshal Nick Foster catches up with her, determined to get to the bottom of why she walked out on him months earlier. There’s a high bounty on Lainie’s head for a murder she didn’t commit, so Nick has no choice but to arrest her for her own protection—and to keep his heart safe, as well.

But Lainie has bought in to a high stakes poker tournament in Denver, Colorado, and nothing will keep her from facing the scheming Tolliver across the poker table in a final showdown that pits skill against skill and trickery against vengeance. She escapes from Nick once more and runs to Denver. She must keep her vow to her murdered husband, for only then will she be free to find love again.

The ghosts of the past are no match for The Lady of the Cards when her future is at stake. She can’t afford to lose when she’s GAMBLING WITH LOVE…

EXCERPT

April 10, 1883
Pine Tree Buttes, Wyoming Territory

Lainie looked up when the outer door opened, hoping it was Nick despite the terse words she’d last spoken, but what she heard was Rutherford Tolliver’s smooth-as-silk voice asking the jailer if he could have a few minutes alone with her.

“I’ll see if she’s up for visitors. Wait here.” Layton appeared in the doorway, averting his eyes. “Miss Lainie? Are you decent? There’s a man here who says he knows you. He wants to talk to you.”

Ford would gloat that she was behind bars, but she wasn’t going to give him the satisfaction of being turned away. Fortifying herself to face Ford, she said, “Thank you, Layton. Please show him in.” Prisoner or not, she would receive Rutherford Tolliver as befitted a lady of her upbringing.

Lainie continued the Patience game spread on her table, purposely ignoring Ford, although able to observe him peripherally. The familiar hollow emptiness, the cold loathing she harbored toward him, knotted in her stomach.

Ford watched her for a minute or more before he spoke. “I remember the first time I saw you. It was Madrid. I followed you to Venice, so I could meet you in person. You were the most stunningly beautiful and fascinating woman I’d ever seen. You still are. Age cannot wither her, nor custom stale her infinite variety. Other women cloy the appetites they feed, but she makes hungry where most she satisfies.” Ford fell quiet again. “You’re even more beautiful behind bars, if that’s possible. There’s something sensual and appealing about a captive woman. She’s trapped. Vulnerable. Totally at a man’s mercy.” He studied the unlit cigar he held between his fingers. “Helpless.”

Lainie sensed more than saw his dark, predatory gaze upon her. Continuing with her card game, she let the seconds tick off. Satisfied she was in control, and her voice was steady, she raised her head, and met his lusting scrutiny and smirking confidence straight on with her own self-assured smile.

“I am no more helpless than Cleopatra. Making assumptions without a basis upon which to draw will lead to your ruin.”

He clipped one end of the cigar, clamped the uncut end between his lips, then struck a match, and held the flame to the end as he puffed. When the end glowed to his liking, he said, “Too bad you’re going to miss the game.”

Years of gambling had taught her to conceal her emotions, mask her thoughts, and present an impassive exterior. Even so, it took all of her fortitude to access those skills right then. The hate she harbored for Rutherford Tolliver swirled inside her like thick gray tendrils of phantom smoke, wrapping around her heart and choking her with remembered pain and loss.

She’d sacrificed so much since Seaton’s death; she feared she couldn’t maintain the physical and emotional vigilance needed to keep her vendetta alive much longer. She wanted her life back. She was so close now, but one misstep, her world, her hopes and dreams, would crash around her. Determination pushed her courage past the sick churning in her stomach. This was a game she would not lose—not the one she now played with Tolliver nor the one in Denver. Gathering the cards into a neat stack, Lainie left her little table and faced the demon that lived in her nightmares.

“Even if I do miss the tournament, there will be other games.” She lied. This was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, the game of the century, and they both knew it.

He drew on the cigar, exhaling sweet blue smoke that hung in the still air. “Not like this one. Thirty hours of straight poker. Thirty players by special invitation. Thirty thousand-dollar entry fee. And one winner.”

He took a step closer, his gaze boring into her with the intent to intimidate in his gloating that she was behind bars, and he wasn’t. She wanted to look away, but she forced herself to meet him stare for stare, grateful that the sinister gleam in his eyes wasn’t the last thing Seaton had seen before he died.

“What do you want, Ford? Surely, you’re here for more than the puerile pleasure of seeing me in jail.”

He lowered his voice. “I know what happened in Charlotte. I can guarantee a verdict of not guilty to the Saunderson murder. I can get you out of this mess, Lainie. I was in that poker game, remember? All you need to do is throw-in with me.”

Gambling with Love is available on Amazon - Digital | Print | KindleUnlimited

Until we meet again,

Kaye Spencer
www.kayespencer.com