With Tempting Gabe, my readers met Gabe Hawke. He was one of Belle Jordan and Colt Collins friends invited to Victoria and Colt’s wedding from the House of Morgan series. Gabe’s family was targeted and someone tried to assassinate his family. So Gabe called the other former Marine friends from the unit, James Clancy, Conner Udine, and Harrison Hughes to help him protech his family.

James Clancy gets assigned to protect Scarlett Hawke. He’s told she’s spoiled, opinionated, a shop-a-holic with no common sense. He’s going to help because Gabe is one of his best friends and the day of the explosion in the desert meant depending on each other was all anyone of them could do to survive. So he leaves running the company he inherited to babysit this princess.

However when he meets Scarlett, she’s nothing like what her brother said an she wants nothing to do with billionaires.

Scarlett Hawke has never been able to prove her worth to her family. She studied chemistry in college. She’s started her own organic makeup company that’s really taking off and she refuses to take a dime of her father’s oil money to help her succeed. She’s also not interested in her brother’s computer company. Her makeup company is her own. So she’s going to a resort conference with other makeup executives, determined to find her next level of funding. However her familial reputation preceeds her and to prove she’s stable, she needs a husband, fast. The second she meets James Clancy, in his wrinkled t-shirt and jeans, she thinks he’s perfect for a temporary husband. However she has no idea he’s a billionaire and if she finds out, she’ll hate him, fast.

This story was just so much fun to write. Scarlett was one of those characters who just fills the pages without struggle because she’s extraverted and just fun. And familial relationships often remember what we were like when we were 16 instead of the adults we grow up to be. So her struggle was just fun. This book comes out in 2 weeks so I hope everyone enjoys!

Tempting James

Scarlett doesn’t want a billionaire. James refuses to mention he’s one. He’s there to protect her, not fall for her.

She’s on the run. He’s a distraction. They’re begging for trouble.

James Clancy made a promise, and he intends to keep it. But protecting his former Marine buddy’s sister proves to be more than he bargained for. He’s already been burned once. He’s not about to let that happen again.

The last thing Scarlett Hawke needs is a babysitter. What she needs is a husband, and a way out. When she meets James, she knows he oh-so-wrong for her, but resisting him might be the hardest thing she’s ever had to do… until she discovers who he really is and just how dangerous that can be.

Will Scarlett let love happen or will it only make her complicated life worse? Can she trust her heart to a man who was supposed to hate her?

While this story is a standalone novel that belongs to the Hawke Family Fortune, there are mentions of the Marshall Family Saga, the House of Morgan, the upcoming Brothers in Revenge novels, and even Princes of Avce characters and storylines are all intertwined in the same world.

Get your copy here!

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The Pit and the Passion: Murder at the Ghost Hotel is my new mystery romance, set in Sarasota on the Gulf Coast of Florida. As John Ringling saw when he first arrived at the turn of the 20^th century, it is a paradise.

“A beam of red light shot through her window. Sunset already? She got up, fixed herself a drink, and took it to the balcony. She watched as the sun sank into the gulf, long, needle-like pincers of light stretching out as though it wanted to hook the horizon and hang on for dear life. Like Kilroy, whatever was pulling it from below won the battle and the sun dipped, leaving its signature green spot as a token of affection for the world.”

This is what it’s like to live on the Gulf Coast of Florida. By day the sky is the deep blue of Paul Newman’s eyes; at close of day it’s flooded with a full palette of reds, oranges, pinks and purples. I have a lot of pictures of my granddaughter—I have even more pictures of sunsets in Sarasota!

Here’s the story of The Pit & the Passion:

At midnight, in the darkness of a deserted hotel, comes a scream and a splash. Eighty-five years later, workmen uncover a skeleton in an old elevator shaft. Who is it, and how did it get there? To find out, Charity Snow, ace reporter for the Longboat Key Planet, teams up with Rancor Bass, best-selling author. A college ring they find at the dig site may prove to be their best clue.

Although his arrogance nearly exceeds his talent, Charity soon discovers a warm heart beating under Rancor’s handsome exterior. While dealing with a drop-dead gorgeous editor who may or may not be a villain, a publisher with a dark secret, and an irascible forensic specialist, Charity and Rancor unearth an unexpected link to the most famous circus family in the world.

The Pit and the Passion: Murder at the Ghost Hotel
The Wild Rose Press, January 22, 2018 (Crimson Rose)
Mystery, Humorous/Romantic Comedy
Rating: PG13
418 p.; 97370 words

Excerpt (PG): The Man on the Beach

The Milky Way spread a swath of cream overhead. One small cloud trundled across the sky. Behind it peeped a gibbous moon. The beach was wide here, sweeping south in a twelve-mile-long arc but ending only a few yards north of her at a severely eroded cliff.

Not a soul stirred on the sand, except for a couple of willets picking their way along the edge of the water. She turned and headed toward the cliff.

Someone had left a beach chair out. She sat and watched the waves, listening to the chittering of the sandpipers and the putt-putt of a trawler far out. She assumed the rustle behind her was a ghost crab and kept quiet, hoping to catch a glimpse of it. She loved the way they would stop, half in and half out of their holes, their eyestalks waving. They’re so sure they’re invisible.

Charity?”

She jumped straight up, knocking the chair backward.

“What th—?” Her heart pounding, she turned. At that moment, the cloud shrouded the moon, and in the sudden darkness she could only make out a form.

“Who…who’s there?”

“It’s me. Rancor. Rancor Bass.”

She held out a hand and encountered a broad chest, lightly furred. She pulled it back quickly. “Are you…are you…”

He snickered. “Naked? As a matter of fact, yes.”

She backed up. A splash told her that her brand-new sandals were likely ruined. She vaulted out of the water and landed between two bare arms.

“Easy there, Charity. I hardly know you.”

“Stop it, Mr. Bass. And let me go. If I were you I’d drop that conceited tone. I wouldn’t be caught dead in your arms.”

His voice came low, laughter licking at its edges. “You don’t feel dead to me. In fact”—she tensed at the touch of a finger on the inside of her elbow—“you feel very much alive. And quite…fresh. Call me Rancor.”

“Rancor Bass, you leave me alone.” She tried to walk around the shadow, but an arm snaked out and caught her. She opened her mouth to scream and found two lips smothering hers. She stood quite still, fear and…something else…oh my God, desire?…taking over her senses.

He let her go. “Couldn’t resist. Wanted to see if those defensive walls could be breached.” He sat down in the chair. The moon came out from behind the cloud and cast a pale glow on his hair. “You’re a tough cookie, Charity.”

She wanted to deny it, to tell him how vulnerable she could be, but knew that would be very stupid. She wanted to kiss him again but knew that would be even more stupid. So she settled for a grunt and walked away.

He didn’t follow, and as she reached the dunes, she felt an unexpected twinge of disappointment. Could this man be the one? Nah. Still, preoccupied by this novel notion, she decided to skip the police station and go straight home. As she turned into her condominium parking lot, the obvious question finally occurred to her. What the hell is Rancor Bass doing naked on the beach in the middle of the night?

Buy Links:
Wild Rose Press: https://catalog.thewildrosepress.com/all-titles/5533-the-pit-and-the-passion-murder-at-the-ghost-hotel.html
Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Pit-Passion-Murder-Ghost-Hotel-ebook/dp/B078JY8RLY
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Google: https://play.google.com/store/books/details/M_S_Spencer_The_Pit_and_the_Passion_Murder_at_the?id=F-tGDwAAQBAJ

About the Author

Although M. S. Spencer has lived or traveled in five of the seven continents, the last thirty years were spent mostly in Washington, D.C. as a librarian, Congressional staff assistant, speechwriter, editor, birdwatcher, policy wonk, non-profit director, and parent. After many years in academia, she worked for the U.S. Senate, the U.S. Department of the Interior, in several library systems, both public and academic, and at the Torpedo Factory Art Center.

Ms. Spencer has published eleven romantic suspense novels, and has two more in utero. She has two fabulous grown children and an incredible granddaughter. She divides her time between the Gulf Coast of Florida and a tiny village in Maine.

Find her events and news at RomanceBooks4Us:
https://www.romancebooks4us.com/M.S._Spencer.html

and Moonlight and Mystery:
https://www.moonlightandmystery.com/

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Check out my sister’s latest, exciting release! ~ DD

Montana Ranger’s Wedding Vow

Hot Delta Force Cowboy and sexy female Army Ranger plan a wedding to trap a saboteur

Dallas Hayes muscled her way through Army Ranger training only to be considered a curse on her all-male unit in an operation in Syria. When half the team is killed, she’s left Injured, losing the lower portion of her leg and is medically discharged from the life she loved in the Army. A fight with her physical therapist at Walter Reed lands her at the Brighter Days Rehab Ranch in Montana with an offer to join the Brotherhood Protectors.

Retired Delta Force soldier, Vince “Viper” Van Cleave, did his time in the Army but hasn’t managed to fit into the civilian world. What can an expert sniper do with his life when not shooting at enemy combatants? A widower, his first assignment is to masquerade as the groom of a former Army Ranger female and stage a wedding to smoke out a wedding saboteur. Together, they make a formidable team that might just make it to the altar intact.

Amazon | Amazon UK | Nook | iBooks | Kobo | GooglePlay | Print

Get your copy now!

Former Army Ranger, Daniel “Dagger” Renfrew, has been a lot of things—an Army Ranger, a Seattle beat cop, a PI, and now, a bounty hunter, which, so far, suits him just fine. In his job, he doesn’t look for easy takedowns. He likes lying in mud or snow with his binoculars trained on a window, hoping for a glimpse of the dirtbag whose mugshot he carries in his hip pocket. If they’re badasses—all the better. Dagger prefers when assholes try to run, because then he has an excuse to mix it up, get physical, and blow off steam in an all-out brawl—when the situation warrants, of course. One morning when he’s working his side gig, repossessing cars, he discovers the car he’s taking belongs to his old high school sweetheart, and there’s nothing like sweet revenge…

Lacey Jones is furious when she finds a very large, scary dude trying to steal her car. It’s the last straw. She’s lost her job and is about to lose her apartment, so there’s no way in hell she’s letting him take her damn car! When she discovers its Dagger, her old beau, she jumps into the car with him. When she learns how he makes a living, she’s curious…and then determined to become a bounty hunter herself. How hard can it be?

If you want more stories featuring Montana Bounty Hunters,
check out these titles…

Big Sky SEAL
Head Over SEAL
Reaper

The winner of the free download is Donna Kenny!

*~*~*

The first installment in the Triplehorn trilogy arrived today! If you love stories about brothers, who also happen to be cowboys, this series is for you! All three brothers reunite with women from their pasts—the ones that got away. Plus, you won’t have to wait long to read the next two stories!

And if you have time, tell a friend about this story and, maybe, write a review. Readers trust other readers to let them know whether they should take a chance on a their next book boyfriend…

Enjoy! ~DD

Laying Down the Law

The Triplehorn Brand, #1

A teller implicated in a bank robbery seeks sanctuary from small-town sweetheart she left behind—who happens to be the new sheriff in town.

A lifetime ago, Zuri Prescott kicked the dirt off her boots and fled her small-time, small town, but lived to regret choosing a glam city life over her high school sweetheart. When she’s framed for a bank robbery, she flees to her home town, seeking refuge with her old flame while she figures out her next steps—only to discover he’s the last man she can confide in.

Sheriff Colt Triplehorn knows trouble when he sees it, especially when it’s one familiar naked trespasser, caught between an angry bull and her underwear. Sure she’s up to her usual no good, he grants her sanctuary at his ranch where he can keep an eye on her while he purges her from his system once and for all. When he realizes she’s involved with a robbery, he has to make a career-compromising choice between following the letter of the law and his heart…

Get your copy here!

Here’s what’s coming next…

In Too Deep
The Triplehorn Brand, Book #2
Coming March 20th!

Some things never change. And some things change everything…

Gabe Triplehorn can think of no better getaway from his heavy responsibilities at the ranch than to go back to a time and place where he didn’t have a care in the world. When there was just a campground, a river, and a girl. When he gets to Red Hawk Landing, the campground and the river are still there. He just never expected the girl would still be there, too. Only now she runs the place.

Lena Twohig can think of no better place to raise her young son than the family-owned campground that holds so many memories. Especially, the romance with Gabe that lit up one long-ago summer like a wild electrical storm. Now he’s back with a ranch-hardened body she knows she shouldn’t want so badly.
No amount of lies, or the years that have passed, can tame this tidal wave of passion.

Pre-order your copy here!

A Long Hot Summer
The Triplehorn Brand, Book #3
Coming April 3rd!

When two lonely hearts collide, age becomes just a number…

Sarah Colby’s marriage was over long ago, but she’s never shed the scars her abusive husband left behind. One shameful indiscretion, an affair with a younger man one long-ago summer haunts her.

Tommy Triplehorn is happy his brothers have settled down and started families of their own, but he’s feeling a little smothered by all that domesticity. Carousing and drinking no longer provide him any thrills, and he thinks he knows the reason why. He’s waited long enough for Sarah Colby to get over being ashamed of their past. He’s old enough to know what he wants, and he wants her.

Pre-order your copy here!

Contest

Win your choice of one of my recent releases (not Laying Down the Law!)!
All you have to do is tell me what you want me to write next!

I’m an author. I sure hope this doesn’t happen to me!
Without Warning! (Vigilance #2)
Now up for preorder!
Releases March 20!

Leave me a comment for a chance to win a digital copy of Book #1, Hide and Seek.

“The agents of Vigilance return to protect another high-profile target and capture hearts in the process. The stakes are somewhat higher when the history between the bodyguard and client dates back to high school. Clearing the air of past misunderstandings is almost as important as keeping the client safe. This is a fast-paced page-turner that makes for a quick and entertaining read.”– RT Book Reviews, 4 Stars

When you don’t know how the story will end . . .

After years of hard work honing his craft, Blake Edwards is now an international bestselling author. But one thing he never imagined was that his fictional world would become all too real. When a stalker turns Blake’s latest book tour into a treacherous and nearly deadly trap, it’s time for Blake to hire protection. But the body assigned to keep an eye on him is someone he never wants out of his sight . . .
As a bodyguard for Vigilance, the private security agency in Blake’s hometown of Arrowhead Bay, Samantha Quenel has found the perfect outlet for her military experience. But her latest client is also a former high school flame, which might explain her willingness to protect Blake at all costs—even if that means staying in the same room with him, on the same bed, under the same torrid sheets . . .

***check out this picture of where Blake Morgan lives in Tampa, Florida.

Excerpt:

Blake Morgan parked his car behind Slater’s Books and took a minute to gather himself together. Another note had shown up today, this one under his windshield wiper when he retrieved his car in the parking garage at the hotel. No one would have paid any attention to someone leave a note under his windshield. Why would they? He wondered, though, how whoever this was had known the car was his? It was a rental.

Crap.

Three weeks. That’s how long ago this started. In the beginning he’d thought it was a joke. Or maybe even a case of mistaken identity. But after it happened so many times he got the message someone was definitely on his case. And he had no idea who or why? Was it his sudden celebrity? He’d heard war stories about obsessed fans stalking authors, but usually they left love notes.

After slogging in the trenches with his first three books, he’d finally hit the best seller lists with Number Four and Number Five. This one, Deep Cover, had been in the Top Ten for five straight weeks. Apparently someone was determined not to let him enjoy it. Today’s incident was another in a long string that rattled his cage, despite his best efforts to ignore them.

It started with one note, sent to him in the mail. One sentence on a plain sheet of paper, typed on someone’s computer

I know what you did.

He had no idea who it was from. The postmark was Boston, but he was pretty sure none of the people he knew in that city would be sending him a message like this. He had a lot of readers from that area but he never gave out his address to them.

I know what you did.

What he did? What in hell had he done? He couldn’t think of anything so terrible someone would attack him this way.

That note was the beginning. In the past three weeks he found notes left every place for him. When he checked in at one of his hotels they had one waiting for him that had been left there at the front desk for him in an envelope. No, no one could remember who left it. In a restaurant he went to the rest room and when he came back there was a note at his place setting. And of course no one had noticed anyone leaving it. Then came two emails. When he tried to reply to them they bounced back.

This week he twice received a text on his cell phone. On his publisher’s advice he had two cell phone, one for business and one for personal. This came in on the personal one.  How the fuck had anyone gotten that number? But again, when he tried to reply to see who this was came back undeliverable.

They all carried the same message:  I know what you did.

He wasn’t a man easily intimidated but too many incidents in such a short time could sure make a person uneasy. Who the hell was doing this to him and why? Sure, he’d made his share of mistakes in life. Pissed some people off. But he didn’t think anything he’d done was bad enough to provoke this kind of stuff. And he realized someone was going to a lot of trouble to find out his schedule so they could do this.

He picked up the crumpled piece of paper he’d stuck in the console cup holder earlier, smoothed it out and looked at it again. None of the notes were hand written. They were either printed with marking pen or typed on a computer like this one.

I know what you did.

*~*~*

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Thank you, Delilah Devlin, for inviting me to celebrate the release of SAM’S SURRENDER, the fourth book in my Hearts & Heroes series.

I loved writing the stories in this series because I got to include places I’d been or wanted to go in my work. In Wyatt’s War, the setting was San Antonio, Texas and the beautiful River Walk. In Mack’s Witness, I took the brothers to Ireland for Wyatt’s wedding. In Ronin’s Return, I took Ronin to Venice, one of my favorite cities in the world! It was beautiful and magical.

In Sam’s Surrender, Sam picked the Greek Island of Santorini as his vacation spot. I’d been to San Antonio, Ireland and Venice, but I have not been to Santorini. It’s on my bucket list!

I love to travel and I’m working my way across the world one country at a time. It’s hard for me to believe there are people who have never left their home town or state. The world is full of beautiful and interesting places and people. I want to see them all! I hope you give Sam’s Surrender a chance and visit Santorini vicariously if not for real!

Sam’s Surrender

Amazon | Kobo | Nook | GooglePlay | iBooks 

When the stress of the job pushes Sam Magnus to take greater risks than is called for as a helicopter pilot with the US Army 160th Night Stalkers, his commander insists he extend his leave for much-needed R&R. With no clue how to chill, he relies on a dart thrown at a map to determine where he should spend his unwanted vacation. The Greek island of Santorini it is! Used to non-stop action, the thought of lolling in the sun for two weeks makes him want to hurt someone. Until he interferes with an attempted kidnapping of one hot babe his first night on the island.

Stranded on Santorini, abandoned by the wealthy couple who hired her, former au pair, Kinsey Phillips, has enough going wrong with being broke and homeless, she doesn’t need to add an attempted kidnapping to her list of troubles. An Army helicopter pilot swoops in to rescue her, and thus begins a whole new set of troubles.