I have had a love affair with American History, especially America’s “Old West” nearly all my life, probably because I grew up on TV westerns like Gunsmoke and old western movies starring Clint Eastwood and John Wayne. But I truly believe there is a part of me who, in another life, lived in the west, either as an Indian or a pioneer woman. My top five reasons for loving the West would be: The magnificent landscapes The phenomenal growth of our frontier The rugged pioneers The fact that men set their own laws, sometimes “on the spot” The respect and admiration most men of the West had for the pioneer women who dared to join them in a savage land And a sixth. . . complete strangers often ended up marrying out of need and loneliness, which is what my book is about. Excerpt: August 1869 Kate ducked into the tall grass as soon as she heard men’s voices. She slowly crawled to get close enough to listen, then parted the dense, yellow blades to see five rough-looking men gathered around a lonely, half-dead cottonwood tree. One of the men raised up in his stirrups and flung a rope over…

Hello Wonderful Readers, If you are familiar with any of my books, you likely know me as an author of historical romance novels set in Regency England. I absolutely love the period for its upper-class decadence, the covert sensuality that runs beneath all the stiff and proper manners, and the gritty London Underworld which stands in striking opposition to the glittering ballrooms of high society. Although I fully intend to write more stories set in Regency England and perhaps other periods of British history as well, I decided to go in a different direction for a little while. In my next series publishing with Sourcebooks Casablanca, I am exploring a New World…the American Wild West! My Runaway Brides series follows three brides (go figure😊) who escape unwanted fates in an elite Boston society to find adventure, independence, and freedom in America’s wild western territories of the 1880s. I know, it’s quite a jump from Regency England, but I am so excited about these books! I’ve realized through writing my first two romance series that although each story is different and every character has their own unique backstory and an individual way of being in the world, I definitely have a…

What do those two words mean, anyway? Strong, stalwart, dependable, intelligent, good in a fight. Oh, and definitely an alpha male – at least to a romance author! In fact, it sounds like an good list of things I’d want to find in a hero, doesn’t it? But when politicians talk about citizen-soldiers, they’re usually speaking about citizens who are about to leave their day jobs and go off to serve their country, probably to fight. That’s an extremely noble calling and I honor anyone who has done it. But hasn’t any such citizen-soldier also been changed – even hardened or scarred – by what he’s seen and done while he served his country? What interests me, as an author, is what happens when that citizen-soldier comes home and becomes more of a citizen than a soldier. I want to know how his military skills and personality blends into his peacetime world – for example, how he takes the strength and discipline he gained in the military into the civilian world, how his loved ones temper his cynicism, how he learns to sleep quietly at night again. It’s reassuring to know than an ex-soldier can still grab a gun and…