WYOMING WIFE?—a conversation with Jace and Samantha

Harlequin has reissued fifteen of my backlist titles in ebook. Today I'm talking with Jace Tremayne and Samantha Burkett about WYOMING WIFE, a Silhouette Desire originally released in print November 1997 and currently available in ebook.

Hello Samantha and Jace. Welcome to my blog.

Jace:  Thanks for inviting us.

Samantha:  It's nice to be here.

You raise cattle in Wyoming, Jace, on a ranch that has been in your family for several generations. Samantha, you were an efficiency expert working for a consulting firm in Los Angeles. That seems about as opposite as you can get. How in the world did the two of you meet?

Jace:  I was up in my helicopter checking the outlying areas of my ranch for damages and problems following the first wave of an early season snowstorm. The second wave was closing in on me and I had just made a wide turn to head back to the house and barn before the winds forced me down and I became stranded. That's when I spotted this car on a back road stuck in a snowdrift.

Samantha:  Never in my life had I been so startled, frightened, and cold all at the same time. All of a sudden, from out of nowhere, this helicopter landed on the road. The pilot ran over to me, threw me over his shoulder, then carried me back to his helicopter without saying a word. There I was…strapped into the seat with not even a door between me and the wild blue yonder, no winter coat and the icy cold wind cutting through my silk pants suit, and no idea where he was taking me.

What was someone from Los Angeles, inappropriately dressed for the place and weather, doing on a back country road stuck in the snow?

Jace:  LOL. That was my exact question once we got back to the ranch house.

Samantha:  Well…(embarrassed chuckle) it was definitely not one of my finer moments. I had flown from Los Angeles to Denver to surprise my fiancé. It turned out that I was the one surprised when…uh…well, I caught him in bed with another woman. Needless to say, I was devastated over the betrayal. I started driving without any thought about where I was going and ended up lost and stuck in a snowdrift.

It sounds as if you were truly a fish out of water, so to speak. A big city girl living in Los Angeles with a corporate job who dresses in silk pantsuits suddenly on a cattle ranch in Wyoming in the middle of a blizzard. What in the world could the two of you possibly have found in common?

Samantha:  We obviously had nothing in common, yet I still had this undeniable attraction to him. Not just his rugged good looks, either. I had never met anyone like him. Straight forward, confident, not feeling a need to impress others. He was comfortable and content with his life and his place in the order of things. Something I had never felt.

Jace:  (took her hand) Probably why you chose the career you did…a drive to be perfect in an imperfect world, to seek perfection in spite of the fact that no one is perfect.

So, while you were stranded together, how did you work out your differences?

Jace:  My live-in housekeeper/cook was away visiting her daughter. Her son is my ranch foreman. I had lost…my wife died…well, Samantha did her best to help out but it immediately became obvious that anything more difficult than putting something in a microwave was out of her realm of expertise. I showed her how to gather eggs, thinking it was a simple task anyone could handle, but it turned out that she was afraid of the chickens.

Samantha:  LOL It was truly an eye-opening lesson for someone who thought she could accomplish anything by simply studying the problem and finding the most efficient solution.

What happened? Was there a specific incident for each of you? A moment in time when two people who seemingly had nothing in common realized that each was the person the other had been searching for? The one you wanted to spend the rest of my life with?

Jace:  A single moment?

Samantha:  A specific incident?

Jace/Samantha:  No, nothing like that.

LOL…well you both seem to agree on that. So what happened?

Jace:  It's all in the book.

Samantha:  Exactly.

Thank you, Jace and Samantha, for joining me today.

***

WYOMING WIFE?, a Silhouette Desire by Shawna Delacorte reissued in ebook format. Available at http://ebooks.eharlequin.com/ (do search for author name Shawna Delacorte). Also available from Amazon for Kindle and Barnes & Noble for Nook.

Check my website for additional excerpts.  http://www.shawnadelacorte.com/

Blurb:

SNOWBOUND WITH A WYOMING COWBOY

Samantha Burkett knew microwave meals, rush-hour gridlock and men in three-piece suits. But an ill-fated trip to Wyoming in the midst of a blizzard set her reality on its ear….

Jace Tremayne had literally swooped down from the big sky to save her life. The rugged, tautly muscled rancher hadn't taken no for an answer, flinging her over his shoulder and flying her by copter to his remote ranch to wait out the worst of the storm. But close quarters with this irresistible cowboy showed Samantha how truly different their worlds were. And how completely Jace rocked hers….

But could she ever be content as this man's Wyoming wife?

Inside front cover excerpt:

"You do know that you'll have to stay here overnight, don't you? Maybe even longer."

Anxiety flitted around inside Samantha's stomach. It looked as if it would be just the two of them in the house.

"You seem to be uncomfortable," Jace added. "Let me assure you that you're perfectly safe—"

"Oh, no…it's not that."

Samantha stared at the flames in the fireplace. Exactly what was her problem? She had been totally unprepared for any of the things that had occurred since she left Los Angeles. And the biggest surprise of all was the way Jace Tremayne made her pulse race. It was inappropriate, very confusing…and very real. It was also totally absurd. He was a cowboy, a rugged outdoorsman—not at all the type of man who would fit in her world.

And a cattle ranch in Wyoming was certainly no place for her….

-----------------

Text Copyright © 1997 by SKDennison, Inc.  Cover Art Copyright © 1997 by Harlequin Enterprises Limited. Permission to reproduce text granted by Harlequin Books S.A. Cover art used by arrangement with Harlequin Enterprises Limited. All rights reserved. ® and ™ are trademarks owned by Harlequin Enterprises Limited or its affiliated companies, used under license.

WHO'S BEEN SLEEPING IN MY BED?—an interview with Reece and Brandi

Harlequin has reissued 15 of my backlist titles in ebook. Today Reece Covington and Brandi Doyle are my guests to talk with us about WHO'S BEEN SLEEPING IN MY BED?, a mystery from Harlequin Intrigue originally released in print in March 2007 and currently available in ebook.

Greetings, Reece and Brandi. Thanks for stopping by today.

Reece:  Thanks, Shawna. We're pleased to be here. What would you like to know?

Right to business…LOL…okay.  My first question is for Brandi. You were being stalked, you had no idea why or by whom, and when you reported it to the police they basically dismissed you? They didn't offer you any help at all?

Brandi:  That's right. I guess intellectually I understood their position. I couldn't supply them with a name or a reason or even any specific details. But emotionally, their attitude left me frustrated, angry…very and frightened. It was as if they were telling me when I turned up dead they would try to work it into their schedule but until then tough luck lady.

And then you were kidnapped from your own garage, escaped your abductor, and were able to find shelter from a storm in an empty cabin in the woods. And that's when Reece entered the picture?

Reece:  Yes. As luck would have it…or perhaps fate would be a more accurate word…it was my cabin. It was one of the few occupied cabins at the lake in the off season. I'd been living there, actually hiding away from society in general, since my release from prison.

You were in prison for two years?

Reece:  (clenches jaw into a hard line while frowning) Yes, two very long years on trumped up charges and false testimony from a police officer. That got me two years in prison and the loss of the private investigator's license. But, as a former P.I. I was certainly in a position to help Brandi. That is, once she finally calmed down, stopped fighting me, and realized I wasn't going to hurt her. Then she told me how and why she found it necessary to break into my cabin while I was buying supplies.

Brandi:  I think fate is truly the right word. What are the odds of the cabin belonging to a detective, the very person I needed at a time when I truly needed help. It didn't take long for us to discover that the policeman who framed Reece was the same person who had abducted me.

Isn't that quite a coincidence?

Reece:  Not when you have all the facts and know the details.

If this policeman was someone that you had a long-standing feud with then that action, even though both morally wrong and definitely illegal, of framing you for a crime had a motive. But why Brandi? What could she possibly have to do with anything or anyone connected with these people?

Brandi:  That was our biggest stumbling block. Nothing about it made any sense, but it was very real.

Reece:  The more we dug into anything and everything that seemed suspicious, the deeper we sank into confusion. Being followed, threatened and even shot at quickly followed. Evidence disappeared. Unraveling the why became a major stumbling block, but we finally came across the one clue that connected the dots. We then knew the why, but were a long way from having all the details and evidence—all that pesky little stuff referred to as proof. And at that time we were both being stalked and our lives were in danger. And then there was the FBI…

The FBI? Why…how did they get involved?

Reece:  We had everyone after us including the D.A.'s office and the FBI.

It seems that they should have been help rather than someone you were avoiding. Why were you they trying to track you down and why didn't you want them to find you?

Brandi:  (grins) I believe all that is in the book.

Reece:  (grabs hold on Brandi's hand) Yep—it's all in the book.

Ah, yes. I know where this is going. You're about to tell me to read the book.

Brandi:  Right you are!

Sounds like an excellent idea. Thanks for being with us today.

***

WHO'S BEEN SLEEPING IN MY BED?, a Harlequin Intrigue mystery romantic/suspense by Shawna Delacorte reissued in ebook format. Available at http://ebooks.eharlequin.com/ (do search for author name Shawna Delacorte). Also available from Amazon for Kindle and Barnes & Noble for Nook as well as other ebook retailers.

Blurb:

WHO WAS THE BEAUTY IN HIS BED?

After a long day, the last thing private eye Reece Covington expected to find was a beautiful stranger hiding out in his remote mountain cabin. And when she awoke and told him she was in danger, Reece had an immediate and intense need to protect her. Who was this woman who'd turned his world upside down?

Local law enforcement claimed there was little evidence supporting the danger Brandi Doyle reported she was in. Luckily, Reece quickly discovered the stalker Brandi was running from was the same man Reece was running to…for vengeance. But would their intimate connection only give an elusive criminal more ammunition for murder?

Inside front cover excerpt:

Everything seemed to be in order, except for the woman asleep in his cabin. Reece took in everything about the stranger—the wet clothes clinging to her body, the tousled, short blond hair and a beautiful face that even in sleep was in obvious turmoil. He felt a definite tug on his reality, a strange combination of lust and concern.

Should he wake her and demand to know what she was doing in his cabin? He spotted her purse on the end table. As he reached for it she stirred, then jerked to attention.

Her eyes went wide with fright as her gaze landed on him.

Her voice was anything but firm as she eased her way out of the chair. She moved behind it in an obvious attempt to put a barricade between them. "Who…who are you?"

"Well, Goldilocks…this is my cabin, and I want to know why you've been sleeping in my bed."

---------------------

Text Copyright © 2007 by SKDennison, Inc.  Cover Art Copyright © 2007 by Harlequin Enterprises Limited. Permission to reproduce text granted by Harlequin Books S.A. Cover art used by arrangement with Harlequin Enterprises Limited. All rights reserved. ® and ™ are trademarks owned by Harlequin Enterprises Limited or its affiliated companies, used under license.

THE TYCOON'S SON—an interview with Vicki and Wyatt

Harlequin has reissued 15 of my backlist titles in ebook. Today Vicki Bingham and Wyatt Edwards are my guests for a conversation about THE TYCOON'S SON, a Silhouette Desire originally released in print July 1998 and currently available in ebook.

Hello Vicki and Wyatt.  Thank you for making time in your schedule to be here today.

Vicki:  Our pleasure, Shawna.  Thank you for inviting us.

As I understand it, the two of you dated back when you lived in Sea Cliff then you both ended up leaving town and going your separate ways.  Wyatt, I'd like to address my first question to you.  What prompted your decision to move back to Sea Cliff after having been away for fifteen years?

Wyatt:  That's a good question, but I'm not sure I have a good answer…at least not one that made a lot of sense at the time.  Ten years before I returned, my father died and left me control of his business empire headquartered in San Francisco.  Prior to that I'd been working primarily with the corporation's international holdings.  For the ten years I was at the corporate offices I had a restlessness pulling at me.  I wanted to recapture the past, a time when things seemed much simpler.  In retrospect, I now realize that I looking for the contentment I had when Vicki and I were dating.  So I had the old family home renovated and decided to make that my primary residence and work from there with the intention of going into the corporate offices in San Francisco only a few days a month.

What about you, Vicki?  Why did you return to Sea Cliff after having been away for fifteen years?

Vicki:  My father owned the local country store…groceries in front and the post office in back.  When he died a couple of months earlier, I returned to Sea Cliff to run the store. I was a bit at loose ends since my husband had also recently died and there was just my son and me.  When I learned that Wyatt was returning, I didn't know what to think or do.  I wanted to stay as far removed from him as I could. My memory was of the Edwards' family who lived in the big house on top of the hill like royalty in their castle looking down on their realm. The last thing I wanted was to bring up the past, to dredge up what might have been before he walked on me.

He walked out on you?

Wyatt:  And for fifteen years I had believed she was the one who walked out on me…left town as a means of leaving me.

That sounds like nothing more than a misunderstanding.  Couldn't the two of you have straightened it out with a simple conversation?

Vicki:  Unfortunately simple is something it wasn't.  My priority wasn't in straightening out the past, it was in protecting my son from the present and future because of the past.  The past was the last thing I wanted to dredge up.

Protect your son from what?

Vicki:  He was 14, a difficult age at best. I wanted to protect him from what I believed would be an emotionally devastating situation for him.

Wyatt:  I kept pushing Vicki.  (he reached over and took her hand)  I wanted answers, I had to know why she walked out on me.  The truth finally came out and we were able to talk about it.

What truth did you discover?

Vicki:  I didn't walk out on him. I thought it was the other way around.  Bottom line, it was more than one truth that finally found the light of day.  (flashes a teasing grin)  But I can't tell you about what they were.

Wyatt:  You'll have to read—

LOL  I know…you don't need to tell me.  I have to read the book.  Thank you Vicki and Wyatt for stopping by.

***

THE TYCOON'S SON, a Silhouette Desire by Shawna Delacorte reissued in ebook format.  Available at http://ebooks.eharlequin.com/ (do search for author name).  Also available from Amazon for Kindle and Barnes & Noble for Nook.

Blurb:

HER FIFTEEN-YEAR-OLD SECRET

Years melted away the moment Vicki Bingham gazed into piercing blue eyes and took in the very gorgeous—very grown-up—version of the boy she'd once loved. The rich boy who had deserted her after a magical night of exploring caresses and explosive kisses. The millionaire who was father to her teenage son…and hadn't a clue.

Or did he?

Because Wyatt Edwards had taken an uncanny interest in young Richie, and an even more unsettling interest in Vicki herself, the moment he'd return to town. He seemed to want answers—and it was clear he wanted Vicki. But all that would surely change once this tycoon discovered the truth….

Inside front cover excerpt:

"Here's to what has been and what is yet to be."

His words settled over her like a soft caress. He wrapped her in his embrace and snuggled back into the corner of the couch, pulling her with him.

"It's been a long time, Vicki. I've often wondered what happened to you, what you were doing…whether or not you were happy."

It was not what she had been expecting and she was not sure how to respond. "I was wondering the same thing about you."

Any further thoughts were put on hold when he claimed her mouth with all the passion he had been carrying inside him for the past fifteen years.

A soft moan escaped her lips. Things had gone too far. She could not stop what was happening even if she wanted to. If it was to be that they had only this one night together, then she wanted it to be enough to last her a lifetime.

--------------------

Text Copyright © 1998 by SKDennison, Inc.  Cover Art Copyright © 1998 by Harlequin Enterprises Limited. Permission to reproduce text granted by Harlequin Books S.A. Cover art used by arrangement with Harlequin Enterprises Limited. All rights reserved. ® and ™ are trademarks owned by Harlequin Enterprises Limited or its affiliated companies, used under license.