UPDATE: The winner is…Katherine Horvath!
*~*~*

I hate running up to a deadline and losing sleep over whether I’ll get to “The End” of a book on time, but it happens more often than I’d like. I finished yesterday! Not today, so I actually had a day to spare. That’s only because I looked at today’s forecast and saw a bunch of rain and thunderstorms heading our way, and I was worried about there being a power outage in the middle of my run to the finish line! There’s nothing like adrenaline to fuel the race to the finish. 🙂

Anyway, I made it. The book is locked in. If you pre-order the bitch, er, book, you’ll have it sometime late Monday night.

I love my bounty hunters in Dead Horse, Montana. I’m not sure, but Malcolm may be the last unless I miss my cast of characters so much that I have to revisit them. That could definitely happen. For sure, we’ll see them now and then popping in to help out at the new MBH office in West Yellowstone. I like my MONTANA bounty hunters but after Yellowstone…? I may have to rebrand and set up an office in Wyoming or Texas or somewhere else I can build myself a crazy little town like Dead Horse. It’s been a ride. The one bright spot is that I do have my We Are Dead Horse, MT series to satisfy my need to see more of Nadine (my crotchety waitress in the Dead Man Walk-in Diner).

You can “meet” the hero, Malcolm, here.  It’s a fun excerpt at the opening of the story. Below, I’ve included an excerpt that showcases my heroine, who’s also a bounty hunter. The book talks about the new office in Yellowstone that they’re getting ready to open. You also get hints about who might be hired to join them. Their first hire is someone who’s appeared in a couple of the Dead Horse stories.

Malcolm

MONTANA BOUNTY HUNTERS: DEAD HORSE, MT
Authentic Men… Real Adventures…

Two fiercely independent bounty hunters, newly hired by the Montana Bounty Hunters, must learn to trust each other’s abilities as they work together to bring in a dangerous skip.

Former SEAL Malcolm Winslow was looking for a change. He’s been bounty hunting on his own since leaving the teams and has missed the camaraderie of fellow warriors, so he accepts a job with the Montana Bounty Hunters. His first hunt takes a turn when the MBH team discovers that another lone hunter has found their target first. Not wanting to infringe, they stand by just in case their competition needs help.

Darleen Crockett has things well in hand. Sure, she’s alone, without a weapon (because where would she hide it in her skimpy outfit?), and the skip she’s determined to take down is one mean MF, but Darleen likes to ride that dangerous edge between victory and disaster. She’s an admitted adrenaline junkie.

When her skip attacks, she has things well in hand but is suddenly rescued by a rugged, tattooed man who makes her heart pitter-patter. What’s up with that? She’s quickly recruited by Malcolm’s agency and finds herself on the biggest hunt of her career. Denying her attraction to her temporary new partner isn’t possible when they spend so many hours alone, but what she doesn’t expect is finding something more with the equally footloose and independent Malcolm. Things get thorny between them when Malcolm can’t seem to get past the fact she’s a woman to trust that she can handle herself.

When the agency prepares to track an old adversary preparing to flee justice, Malcolm and Darleen are quickly folded into the team heading to Lander, Wyoming, to find their dangerous skip.

Pre-order your copy here!

 

Excerpt from Malcolm…

Our heroine, Darleen, is inside an isolated cabin with her target, his girlfriend, and the skip’s best friend, waiting for the right moment to take Cameron Kitchens into custody. She saw someone peek into the window and suspects another hunter is trying to scoop (steal) her skip…

“Where you goin’?” Cam growled.

“Too much beer,” she said, rubbing her belly. “Thought I’d use your bathroom.”

He grunted but sat back in his chair, his glare moving to Paulie.

She crossed the kitchen to the bedroom and beyond it to the bathroom. Once inside, she turned on the faucet to mask the sound of her sliding up the small window. Then she climbed on the toilet and went headfirst out of the window, breaking her fall with her hands. When she stood and shook leaves from her hair, she found herself staring into the dark, curious eyes of none other than Chase Kudrow. She’d have known him anywhere because she’d laughed herself silly at his and Cowboy’s antics whenever she’d had time to catch their cable TV show.

She groaned softly as he raised a single eyebrow.

“Our little hunter snuck out the window,” he whispered, no doubt signaling to the bearded man she’d seen in the window.

She leaned close to speak into his earpiece. “I snuck out because some knucklehead let himself be seen. I came out here to tell you guys to back off.”

Chase chuckled softly. “We’re just here in case you need us. Cameron Kitchens has a short temper and hard fists.”

“You think I can’t handle him?”

Chase looked her up and down. “Just where are you hiding your piece, sweetheart?”

“I’m heading to my car to get it now,” she said. “I’ll stash it close by.”

Chase bent, pushed up the leg of his jeans, then slid a small handgun from a holster he had strapped to his ankle. “You don’t have time now. How long do you think you have before he gets curious about why it’s taking you so long to pee?” Chase froze, tilted his head, and his eyes narrowed. “Malcolm says Kitchens just headed to the bedroom. You’re about to be busted.” His eyebrows rose. “You want our help?”

She grimaced. “Have your Malcolm go through the front door after you boost me back inside.”

He gave her a nod. “You hear that, Malcolm?” he said as he bent and cupped his hands together. When she stepped onto his laced fingers, he lifted her easily to the windowsill, and she climbed back inside, turned off the water, and stuffed the gun into the waistband of her shorts at her back.

When she swung open the door, Cam rushed her, one hand going to her throat and the other gripping her hip. “Why the hell are you really here?”

She wrinkled her nose and stretched her neck. “Let go, and I’ll tell you, asshole.”

Beyond the bathroom, a loud crash sounded from the living room, and heavy footsteps thudded inside. The cavalry had arrived, and none too soon. Still, she wasn’t going to let them get her skip. She might have to share the bounty, but Cameron Kitchens was hers.

With his hand tightening on her throat, her vision was narrowing. She reached behind her for the weapon tucked into her waistband, then shoved the nozzle against his side.

He froze for a moment, and his eyes narrowed to terrifying slits like he was pondering whether he could outlast her or whether she’d have the guts to pull the trigger.

But the pounding through the living room was getting louder and closer. He snarled, released her throat and hip, and raised his hands a second before a large, bearded man, Malcolm, she assumed, threw an arm around his neck and torso and dragged him into the bedroom.

She tried to tell him she already had it handled, but her throat wasn’t cooperating. She couldn’t get out more than a croak. So, she waved her handgun, or rather Chase’s, just so he’d know she hadn’t been defenseless.

Malcolm shook his head and took Cameron to the ground with a heavy whomp that shook the floorboards. Then he drove a fist into the man’s side. “You don’t choke ladies.”

“She ain’t a fucking lady,” Cam said, his voice tight and little breathless.

Darleen had to admit that seeing the big guy with his knee on Cameron’s ass after he’d flipped him to get his wrists into cuffs was a satisfying sight.

Contest

Comment for a chance to win a $5 Amazon gift card. Let me know if you’ve read any of my Montana Bounty Hunter stories, and whether you’d like to read more stories set in West Yellowstone, Montana!

UPDATE: The winner is…Mary McCoy!
*~*~*

I’m wrapping up work today on Malcolm! So, this will be a quick post. I have to do a final read-through, format it, and upload the story to Amazon. And then I can take tomorrow off! Guess what I’ll be doing? Yes! Playing with my Gelli plates with my daughter. Can’t wait! But work first!

I have a ton of books that I’ve published over the years. You may be most familiar with my bounty hunters and the few Brotherhood Protectors stories I’ve written. I have several series you could binge on if you like, but I also have a ton of standalone stories. Here’s one of them. I kinda wrote myself into this story…

Bad Moon Rising

On a whim, romance author DiDi Devereaux decides to travel to remote Louisiana bayou country to take possession of a house she inherited from a reclusive relative. But before she reaches her destination, she drives her car into a ditch to avoid a large animal that leaps into her path. Rescue comes in the form of a sexy sheriff, whose gruff demeanor seems to hide a feral attraction. As DiDi settles into her new home she finds herself torn between her attraction to the sheriff and the raw, handsome bad boy whose offer to help her renovate her home is a little too convenient and tempting.

Nothing in Bayou Noir is what it seems. When strange things begin to happen, her natural curiosity leads her into danger…

Note: This is a standalone story. No cliff-hangers. Just lovely, shapeshifting Cajuns in the bayou…

Read an excerpt here!

Contest

Yes, it’s a panther-shifter story! And it was so fun to write. Read the excerpt; you won’t be sorry! The heroine is me—if I was younger and beautiful and if panther-shifters actually existed… LOL

For a chance to win a $5 Amazon gift card, let me know whether you still love shifters. I haven’t written one in a while, but I’ve been looking for something that feels fresh. Tell me what you’d love to see!

UPDATE: The winner is…Colleen C!
*~*~*

I’m getting close to “The End” of Malcolm! Good thing, too. It releases next Tuesday! Since the story is on my mind constantly—I kind of live it in an alternate reality in my head—today’s Word Search puzzle is filled with random elements of the story.

Enjoy the puzzle and the excerpt from the story below! And if you leave a comment, you’ll be entered to win a $5 Amazon gift card!

Excerpt from Malcolm…

Malcolm Winslow knew he stood out in this crowd. How could he not? With his longish, uncombed hair, thick beard, and the tattoos displayed by the rolled-up sleeves of his plaid shirt, not to mention the fact he was armed and wore a Kevlar vest, he drew every eye the second he entered the fancy barn that was lit up like the Fourth of July.

Those closest to the open doors were the first to fall silent. Hands touched shoulders and then pointed toward him as he resolutely made his way toward the trellis constructed between horse stalls on either side of the wide space and strung with white lights and roses, where a couple in their wedding finery stood before a preacher.

A groomsman tapped the groom on the shoulder, and he tore his gaze away from his stunning bride to glance down the aisle Malcolm strode down.

The groom’s eyes widened, and he turned to his bride, dug something from his pocket, and then said, “Candy, here are my keys—run!”

The groom slapped keys on her palm, straightened his shoulders, and stepped in Malcolm’s path.

Malcolm gave a single shake of his head, smacked away the groom’s raised fists, then bent to ram his shoulder into the other man’s chest.

The groom flew backward as Malcolm picked up his pace and ran toward the smaller back door of the barn through which the bride had just escaped.

Outside in the dusky gloom, he caught a glimpse of bright white as the bride, Candy Bodine, almost Carmichael, climbed a corral fence. He was surprised at the number of people standing on either side of the door outside this end of the barn but didn’t have time to figure out why they were there because Candy had just jumped down from the fence to the other side, snagging her long train on a nail. She ran forward, but her train held fast, springing her backward and onto her butt on the dirt.

She rolled, tangling herself in petticoats and torn train, and got to her knees. She stared back at him as he jogged toward the fence, planted a hand on the cedar fencepost, and sailed sideways over the top. Yeah, his feet skidded a bit in horse poop when his boots hit the ground, but the bride wasn’t so pristine now either, kind of like her rap sheet.

This time, she’d failed to appear before the judge for a drunk driving/failure to yield at a stop sign/fleeing the scene set of charges. And if Malcolm had anything to say about it, she was not heading to the private airport where Daddy had a plane waiting to fly her to some resort vacation in the Caribbean. As soon as Malcolm snicked the cuffs on her wrists, she’d be spending what should’ve been the first night of her honeymoon inside the detention center in Bozeman.

No amount of crocodile tears was going to dissuade him from his purpose.

I had this little story sitting in a file for the longest time. It was part of a series of novelettes written for Harlequin’s Nocturne Bites. I got the rights back, so I sat it in a folder for when I had time to revise it to make it a standalone story. I finally found the time! It’s just 16,000 words, so equal to three of my short stories. Currently, it’s FREE in Kindle Unlimited, and sometime today, the price will be reduced to only $0.99 for a few days because I’d love for you to read it. It’s a sexy time-travel. For those of you who loved Xena and Wonder Woman, here’s a tale for you!

Unbound by the Amazon

A pair of Army soldiers travels back in time to retrieve a powerful ancient artifact of alien origin from the queen of the Amazons…

Army Lieutenant Farideh Kalani expected her time-traveling assignment to ancient Scythia to retrieve an ancient artifact would be difficult, but gaining the trust of Amazon warriors and their legendary ruler, Queen Hippolyta, is easy compared to being partnered with Sergeant First Class Caleb MacAvoy. The soldier is too smug and sexy for her peace of mind. Posing as a warrior seeking a place among the royal guard and her devoted personal servant, the pair succumb to their attraction just as they discover another seeks the treasure they’ve sworn to find.

Get your copy here!

Open Contests

1. Gabbi Grey: When One Story is Not Enough (Contest) — This is the last day to enter! Win an Amazon gift card!
2. Word Search: Favorite Pets (Contest) — This is the last day to enter! Win an Amazon gift card!
3. Cover Reveal — Anyone like ancient Scythia? Plus, books you can pre-order now! (Contest) — This is the last day to enter! Win a FREE book!
4. Saturday Puzzle Contest — Random Bohemian Pirate Couple — This one ends soon! Win an Amazon gift card!
5. Gabbi Grey: Sometimes Letting Go is Really Hard (Contest) — Win an Amazon gift card!
6. Let’s have some fun! Tell me a story… (Contest) — Win an Amazon gift card!
7. Memory Game — Match the Covers! (Contest) — Win an Amazon gift card!
8. Anna Taylor Sweringen/Michal Scott: Josephine St. Pierre Ruffin – Pioneering Publisher, Suffragist and Women’s Club Founder (Contest) — Win an Amazon gift card!
9. Saturday Puzzle-Contest: What world is inside your fantasy book? — Win an Amazon gift card!

UPDATE: The winners are…Sharon, Jennifer Beyer, and Beth!
*~*~*

Today’s another celebration of an obscure (weird) holiday. I do love those. Every day we wake up is a cause for celebration, right? 🙂

Anyway, I read that this one started somewhere around 2004 and may have been inaugurated by author Donita K. Paul to celebrate the release of her book DragonSpell. If so, thank you, Donita!

We do love our dragons. If you love dragons, of course, you should check out my friend N.J. Walters’ The Blood of the Drakon series. They are excellent stories!

I’ve written a couple of dragons as well. You can win a FREE copy of your choice of one of these stories by telling me about your favorite dragons in books or movies! I’ll choose 3 Winners!

Click on the covers to read more about these stories.

UPDATE: The winner is…Diane Sallans!
*~*~*

December

 

1. I continued to work on Malcolm (Book #10 of Montana Bounty Hunters: Dead Horse, MT).
2. I completed 5 editing projects for other authors in December.
3. I didn’t write a lot in December, between the craft fair and getting ready for the holiday/having kids underfoot, but I don’t care. It was a fun month!

Health-related:

1. I have been concentrating on drinking more water, plus, I added drinking water mixed with a tablespoon of apple cider vinegar twice a day to improve my liver health. It’s weird, but after the first couple of times of drinking it while wrinkling my nose, I actually like it.
2. I’ve managed to keep my blood pressure down to 135-155, despite the holiday excesses.

Happiness-related: 

1. I finished some last items for the Christmas craft fair and participated in early December. It was so much fun!
2. Here are some examples of things I completed before the fair. And yes, I painted tags for potholder sets. 🙂

January

For work-related, I plan:

1. To complete writing Malcolm, my next Montana Bounty Hunters book and publish it!
2. To begin work on What Happens in Bozeman, my next We are Dead Horse, MT, book!
3. To complete 4 editing projects in January!

For health related, I plan:

1. To start back on my Weight Watchers diet, because it’s time to get serious!
2. To continue to reduce salt, processed food, and incorporate foods good for blood pressure (spinach, broccoli, bananas) and my liver (apple cider vinegar, flax seeds, sunflower seeds).
3. To pay attention to my daily steps, trips up and down the stairs, and to incorporate some chair exercises and more walking.
4. To do more housework because my art room isn’t finished! Cleaning is exercise, too.

For happiness-related, I plan: 

1. To participate in the Gel Print January challenge where I’ll be making painted pages for collaging—at least one every day!
2. To assume the presidency of the local art guild, much as I don’t want to, but someone’s got to keep the organization going!

Contest

Comment on anything you’ve read in this post. Tell me what you’re doing to make yourself happier and healthier, or tell me what you plan to read in January…
Like I said, comment on anything for a chance to win a $5 Amazon gift card!

UPDATE: The winners are…Misty Dawn, Jean White, and BN!
*~*~*

We authors have our favorites. It’s not like your love for your children where you have to love them equally (or should!). It has to do with the characters you wish you could meet in real life and the experience of writing the story. If a hero can make me laugh and swoon then I’m hooked.

So, here comes Knox Ramsey. Just the name stayed in my head for the longest time. His story was supposed to be the first in the We Are Dead Horse series, but he was still percolating, still being an A-hole in the back of my brain, so I skipped to Cash Whitaker who wants to run the town. Cold Hard Cash was certainly a blast to write. His sudden, logical desire for a wife sparked a challenge in his PA, Lila Hanson, and as soon as her sister Nah-Nahs dug in to help her, it was all over for poor Cash. Knox and Carleen played in the background of that story, with Carleen’s antics, trying to get Knox’s attention, providing a lot of humor.

But then it was finally time to give Knox the thing he didn’t know he needed. Oh yes, he wanted Carleen, but for many reasons he thought he could never have her. It was up to clever Carleen to show him how wrong he was—and Carleen doesn’t have a shy bone in her body. As it turns out, neither does Knox.

So, from the list of stories I wrote this year, here’s my favorite, Hard Knox.

Hard Knox

After relentlessly pursuing the biggest badass around and failing, Dead Horse, Montana’s wild child offers him an irresistible proposition—one night of passion, one and done, and she’ll walk away forever…

Dead Horse, Montana’s wild child, Carleen Crossley, knows what she wants—or rather—who. She’s spent years chasing after Knox Ramsey, the biggest badass in Dead Horse, MT. However, she’s resigned herself to the fact that her methods of gaining his affection aren’t reaping any rewards. Yes, her antics keep the townsfolk amused, and Knox definitely knows she’s alive, but she has yet to break through his cold, hard heart to claim her man.

For Knox, Carleen is impossible to ignore. She’s everywhere he is. The sexy vixen has made him uncomfortably aware that she’s his for the taking, and Lord knows he’s tempted. However, he knows he’s not the man for her. He’s his father’s son with his father’s temper, and he won’t succumb to Carleen’s charms because she deserves better than him.

In one moment of frustration over his refusal to really see her and everything she’s offering, Carleen proposes a deal Knox finds impossible to resist. One night of passion—one and done—and she’ll never bother him again.

When she keeps her promise afterward, Knox’s pursuit begins because once was not enough.

Contest

For a chance to win your choice of one of my Dead Horse, MT, stories—hunters or townsfolk—let me know in the comments if you’ve read any of my Dead Horse stories and what you might like to see me write more of in the future.  I’ll choose 3 winners!