Excerpt of LORD OF LIES She pivoted in place and strode toward Dell as he stood leaning against the back of the sofa, his ankles crossed in front of him in a deceptively casual stance. His muscles tensed when she stopped all too close for his peace of mind to stare at him with her sharp, fixed gaze. “I need to be certain she is not still in some sort of trouble. I must be assured she is safe.” Instinct urged him to refuse. One thing he had learned was that when people spied on loved ones, they often discovered things they were better off not knowing. Still, there were only a couple of things he would never agree to do regardless of the profit. Outright murder was one. Harming a child was the other. Beyond those two rules, he was willing to do anything as long as it paid right. He had spied, stolen, threat­ened vile consequences to get what he needed, and infiltrated gangs and crime rings. He had used physical force to make a point and to save his own hide, and had occasionally been forced to do things he was not particularly proud of. But it…

Excerpt from THE OUTLAW Arizona Territory, Spring 1883 Amanda Porterfield gazed out the window of her bedroom at the endless landscape where cattle grazed and wildflowers were in full bloom and where she had spent the entire twenty years of her life so far. Even with all this natural beauty surrounding her, she was quite sure she would go stark raving mad unless something exciting happened to break the sheer monotony of her days here on the ranch. Practically everyone else in her family had found love or at least adventure, but here she sat with no prospects—either romantic, adventurous, or preferably both—in sight. She heard her mother and the family’s housekeeper, Juanita, talking as they sat in the courtyard and she decided to join them.  “I think I’ll go into town,” she announced after pouring herself a cup of coffee and flopping into a high-backed chair. “That’s a good idea,” her mother replied, setting aside her mending. “I’ll come with you.” Amanda swallowed a sigh. The point had been for her to be off on her own. If adventure did not find her, then perhaps she needed to go seeking it. But with her mother along for the ride,…