#BookBlast The Rebel Cowboy's Quadruplets by @Tina_Leonard

This post is part of a virtual book tour organized by Goddess Fish Promotions. Tina will be awarding a $25 Amazon GC to TWO randomly drawn commenters during the tour. Click on the tour banner to see the other stops on the tour. Remember, the more stops you visit and comment, the better your chances to win.

REBEL WITH A CAUSE?

Justin Morant can't believe he answered an online dating ad! Turns out, beautiful Mackenzie Hawthorne is looking for a ranch foreman, not a husband. Good thing, because marriage isn't in the injured bull rider's future. Justin is happy to take up the cause of saving the Hanging H ranch—and then there's the bonus of playing stand-in father to the sexy single mom's four angelic newborns.

Mackenzie doesn't know what miracle brought Justin to Bridesmaids Creek, Texas, but she'd be a fool to fall for the hunky cowboy who wears his rebel status like a badge of honor. Justin's a natural with her daughters and a whiz at ranching…yet one day she knows he's going to gallop off into the sunset. Unless, of course, the marriage-minded townspeople get their hands on him!

Now enjoy an excerpt:

Justin slept off and on, dozing in the room with the babies. It was weird how much he found himself enjoying taking care of them. As a man who’d never been interested in having children—not one bit—he was surprised by how Mackenzie’s four little daughters tugged on his heartstrings.

He hated the idea of leaving them—all of them. And, somehow, he even hated the idea of Frog staying behind to take his place. Or any of the three men Ty was bringing on to replace him, for that matter.

The only reason he was leaving with Ty was because Ty had brought him here in the first place. He owed it to him out of a sense of brotherhood. Ty wouldn’t ask him if he didn’t need him. Mackenzie didn’t really need him—not like Ty did.

He needed to talk to Ty a bit more, dig into the mission to settle the questions in his mind. But the thing that unsettled his mind the most was how much he hated the idea of three men he didn’t know all that well roaming around the Hanging H and falling for Mackenzie and the girls.

Just as he was beginning to fall for them.

Whether he liked it or not, that was the truth. Justin closed his eyes as he rocked in the chair. The tiny night-light sent a soft glow over the room. An occasional baby snuffle or sigh reached him, the sound somehow comforting and not intimidating at all, not the way he’d thought it would be. During his wilder, crazier rodeo days, the idea of a family had been distinctly unappealing.

Mackenzie was recently divorced. No doubt the last thing she wanted was another man in her life. He couldn’t blame her if that was the way she felt.

At dawn, when Betty Harper appeared in the nursery, Justin felt strangely rested. He smiled at Jade’s mother. “Good morning.”

“Go get some rest. I’ll take over from here. Mackenzie said the babies didn’t even move last night.”

He felt like he hadn’t, either. In fact, he couldn’t remember the last time he’d felt so relaxed. “I thought I was awake all night. I didn’t even realize Mackenzie came in the nursery.”

Betty smiled. “I checked on you at five. Everybody was sound asleep, which is a first for the girls. They probably feel comforted with a man’s presence around. Babies do that sometimes. You have a nice deep voice with is probably soothing to them.”

She disappeared from the room. Justin rose and stretched. Haven peered up at him from her blanket, and he had the uncanny notion that she was watching him. Did babies see anything at this tender age?

“Hello, little one,” he said, approaching her crib. Gently he picked her up, held her close. “Good morning to you, too.”

He kissed the top of her head, breathed in the sweet baby freshness of her skin, the scent of baby powder.

“Hi,” Mackenzie said, her voice soft.

He turned and saw she was wide-awake and looking refreshed. “You’re up bright and early.”

“I got a lot more sleep than I have since before I became pregnant.” She came to take Haven from him, and he smelled an entirely different smell: strawberry shampoo, delicate floral soap, sexy woman.

His heart did one of those funny flip-flops he’d gotten used to feeling around her.

“Thanks for watching them last night.” She gazed up at him. “I think I slept so well because I knew you were standing guard.”

Oh, boy. There went the heart. “It was no problem. Part of the job.”

“Not part of the job I hired you to do.” She looked at him funny.

He backed up a step when he realized he was staring at her pink, glossy lips. “It’s the job Frog and Fellows are applying for.”

“That’s Ty’s bright idea. And by now, you know Ty can be a bit of a squirrel.” She smiled. “Babysitting isn’t part of your job description. But thank you.”

Warmth expanded in his chest at her smile. He wondered if he’d ever met a woman he was so blindingly attracted to—and decided in a hurry that was a terrible thought to have about his boss. Definitely a dead end. There was no way on this planet he had any business being attracted to her.

“I’m going to get some coffee. You want a cup?”

“No, thank you. You go on.”

He nodded and turned to leave.

Turned back around, met her gaze. Started to say that sitting up with her daughters hadn’t been work; he hadn’t done it because of Frog and Friends. He’d done it because he’d wanted to. Wanted to make her happy, help her out.

But it was a bad idea to make such a confession. No purpose to it at all, and he didn’t do anything unless he knew the purpose.

Shutting his stupid yap tight before it could say weird, mushy things, he left.
Where to Buy: Amazon
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USA Today Bestselling and award-winning author Tina Leonard has sold over 2.6 million copies of her titles. She has made the USA Today Bestseller, Waldenbooks, Bookscan, and Ingrambook lists, and has written and contracted seventy-one books and special projects. Her work has been published by Harlequin, Samhain Publishing, Robinson Scarlet, and most recently Random House Loveswept contracted for a single title trilogy project, Hell’s Outlaws. Leonard was chosen to be among the first authors published for Robinson’s Scarlet line, writing four single title novels for that imprint. Not long after, she sold on proposal to Harlequin American, where she has since written several popular series, most notably the Cowboys By The Dozen, Morgan Men, and Callahan Cowboys series. Her newest single title project, HOTTER THAN TEXAS, was published in March 2013. Leonard is known for her fun sense of humor, endearing communities, snappy dialogue, and memorable characters.

Join Tina at www.tinaleonard.com
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Paisley Kirkpatrick and her latest Paradise Pines release: Forever After

At last all three of the Benjamin sisters have a book of their own. Released early, Forever After hits the ground at a full run. The youngest sister, Marinda, is left to clean up the mess her two sisters fled from. Life is tough, but she manages what fate tosses at her until she meets the magnetic doctor, Ethan Braddock. Is he the man she's been waiting for? Nothing but the forever-after kind of love will be good enough for her.

Abandoned by her sisters and with her father in jail, Marinda becomes responsible for the care of her ailing mother the best way possible -- working for an unscrupulous man with the power to crush her.  Forced to spy on a decent man, Marinda's honesty saves her virtue and revenge restores her self-respect.

Miranda knew her life had sunk as low as it could go, when she'd become nothing more than a poker chip to the evilest man alive. Who knew becoming the prize in a losing poker hand would be just what her life needed.

When Ethan Braddock discovers his brother's poker pot cleaning his private office, he jumps to the right conclusion -- she's there to spy for his nemesis. Ethan can't help but find her irresistible. In spite of what his heart tells him, his brain reserves judgment on her character. Until he unravels the mystery of her connection to Danforth, trust is the one thing he can't allow himself. For that, she'll have to prove herself.

Where to Buy: Amazon

Desert Breeze

Angela Smith @angelaswriter and her new release Burn on the Western Slope #blast

During my senior year in high school, I was dubbed most likely to write a novel because I always had my nose stuck in a book.   I would hide my romance novels under my history book until my teacher called me out on it.  Writing has been my dream ever since my mother read Brer Rabbit to my sister and me so often that we were able to recite it back to each other before actually learning to read.  I love reading about the adventure of love, and getting involved in the legal field developed my love of suspense. I believe love is a mystery that most people have trouble resolving.  While I don’t expect we’ll ever solve that mystery, I love to read and write about characters who work to solve their love’s mystery.  See more about me at my website www.loveisamystery.com or tweet me!

Angela will be awarding one of three prizes: a car mirror hanger or key chain (a seashell as a tie-in to her book), an mp3 album by Pretty Little Blisters, a $10 Amazon gift card, to three randomly drawn commenters during the tour.

Blurb:

On the ski slopes of Montana, deception turns deadly and seduction becomes more hypnotic than jewels.

Reagan McKinney is on a mission to discover more about a deceased uncle who mysteriously left her a sizable inheritance, a condo in the mountains, and a stash of stolen jewels.  With both her graphic design career and her love life in shambles, the opportunity to begin a new life couldn’t have come at a better time.  When she becomes involved with the sexy FBI agent next door, she finds her struggle is not only to keep her heart intact, but her life.

         

Grief stricken after an undercover investigation ends in the tragic death of his partner, FBI Agent Garret Chambers goes home to find solace in the arms of his mountain home.  That is, until his boss assigns him to investigate the spirited brunette staying in the condo next door.  He is assigned to investigate Reagan’s involvement with a large jewel fencing organization, but his investigation becomes comprised when his attraction to her heats up.  Will his discovery destroy everything he has come to love, including Reagan?

Excerpt:

“Wait,” he said, settling his hand over hers. He didn’t know what he would say to keep her here, didn’t know if he should kiss her again. Had he insulted her in some way? “Do you have a boyfriend back home?” he asked. A stupid question at a time like this, but he had to know. For Buchanan, who would call sometime tonight, and for himself.

Silence stretched among them. He fought to soften his breathing, but his heart only pounded harder as he tried to convince himself she was not his to possess.

When she looked at him, dead in the eye, she didn’t flicker. The strength she’d shown on the mountain today, pushing herself when most women would have cried and complained, and the snappy comeback with Tanner made Garret realize she was the kind of woman who could stand up to a man like Javier Mass. The type of woman Javier—or Nelson, either one—would prize. Garret’s world capsized.

Shaking her hand from his, she said, “Shouldn’t you have asked me that before you kissed me?”

Where to Buy: www.crimsonromance.com

Amazon

Friday Guest: Denise Eagan and The Wild Half @DLEagan

Today my guest is Denise Eagan with her new release,The Wild Half. This is the follow-up to her previous books, The Wild One and Wicked Woman. You can find Denise at her website, her blog, on Twitter, or drop her an email!

1. At any given time do you work on only one story at a time and maybe plot out the next one or are there many ideas racing around your head?

Many stories, always racing.  I used to try to only work only one at a time.  However, in the last couple of years I’ve started to jump around.  I think this is because some of my books are now interlinking, so switching characters doesn’t jolt as much, and the time periods and settings don’t jolt either.  Or it’s because my kids are older, so I’m not getting pulled every which way anymore. 

2. Is there a genre you haven't written in but would like to? Or wish you could write in? 

 

I made one attempt, over 20 years ago, to write a contemporary series romance.  I thought it would be easy and I could just dash it off.  Wow, was I ever wrong.  No dashing, not easy. But I did love writing it.  After that I tried historical and really, really liked it.  The research fascinates me, and I find that it’s easier for me to sink into a different world when writing.   Lately, though, I’ve had a couple of ideas for a contemporary romance, and one for one that is more of a serial killer story with a strong romantic element.  I’m not sure that that one would have a happy ever after ending for the hero and heroine.  We’ll see.  It’s at least a couple years off, regardless.

 I’ve also had ideas for stories that might actually be better as--can’t believe I’m saying this!--screenplays.  Because breaking into romance writing isn’t harder enough, right?  Sadly, the difficulty doesn’t stop the ideas from being there, so I might have to write them no matter how daunting the challenge, and how miniscule the possibility of financial return.  Sometimes characters and plot and story are all there, and you don’t have a choice but to write it.  It haunts you until you get it on paper.  Happily I’ve only felt a slight nagging sense of--we’ll call it duty--towards these stories, but sometimes things build until the nagging is a yelling.  We’ll just have to see.  

3. Do you add an element of romantic suspense in your stories? (can be skipped for this interview)

Absolutely.  I could not possibly write a romance without suspense.  I’m always telling my husband and friends “no dead body, no romance.”  And if you’ve got a body, there’s always some kind of mystery surrounding it, and thus the suspense.  I grew up reading Mary Stewart, Phyllis Whitney and Victoria Holt.  To me romance novels are always linked to some kind of danger.   

That said, though, the dead body in my books is sometimes in the past, and the characters have to deal with what happened before the book starts. Sometimes there’s only the threat of a dead body.  And sometimes several people die during the course of the story.  It depends. 

4. Say you have unlimited funds: What kind of writing office/cottage would you create for yourself?

Ooooo, I’d have a cottage.  On the ocean.  With a balcony or patio overlooking the ocean, where I would sit every morning and drink my coffee and eat chocolate pastries while dreaming up all sorts of wonderful plots.  With murders.  I love the paradox of dark death against the quiet, peaceful setting of the ocean.   Let me see, what else. . . A big, roll top desk, which I would probably never use because I write in a comfy chair with my laptop literally in my lap.  But I want the roll top desk anyway.  It’s writer ambiance.  Obviously I would also have a big comfy chair that will fit my laptop and a big comfy sofa in case I get sick of the chair.  A coffee pot.  A small fridge for cheese (to go with crackers for snacks—in my fantasy world none of this is fattening).  And somewhere nearby a Jacuzzi for when the words don’t come, because sometimes water inspires me. 

5. If you could turn your novel into a TV show, which novel or series would you do? Where would it be set? Network TV (ABC, NBC, CBS), Cable (AMC, BBC, Lifetime) or Premium Cable (HBO, Showtime, Starz)?

Probably a premium channel, maybe Lifetime though, just because of the nature of the content.  There’s a lot of explicit sex in the book, and it needs to be there.  It’s very important to the character and plot development.  If you take it out like you would have to on network TV, you’d lose half of what the book’s about.  See the problem is that when I started this book many years ago, I didn’t know there were rules to writing romance novels.  I wrote what came to me and I didn’t hold back on the plot or, by extension, the writing.  There’s some pretty dark elements to this book.  I won’t say more than that, because I’m afraid I’ve ruin it for new readers. 

6. Finally, tell us about your latest release!

So. . .okay, it’s set in Colorado 1876.  It starts at a ranch, and the hero, Rick, is a cowboy, and the foreman of the ranch.  That makes it a Western, and I did read a lot of Louis L’Amour to help me with the “feeling” of the West at this time.  On the other hand, I read a lot of psychology too, because a lot of the plot surrounds the emotional and psychological difficulties of the heroine, Lilah.  In that respect, and the fact that there are bad guys and secrets, the book is also Romantic Suspense.  Basically, it’s Western Romantic Suspense.  There isn’t any category for that.  Did I mention that I kind of ignored the rules when writing this book?

Here’s the blurb:

Lilah Martin is a hunted woman who has roamed the West for three years, staying one step ahead of men who are trying to kill her. Fear is her only friend; staying alive is her only goal. Then she lands a job at the Bar M, a prosperous and well-protected ranch in Colorado, where she finds friendship, sanctuary and a life that is almost normal. Or so it seems until she falls prey to the wildly seductive and dangerously inquisitive Rick Winchester.

A former outlaw, Rick has spent five years searching for distraction from guilt over his wife’s death. He finally finds it in the simmering sexual attraction between Lilah and him, and the dark intrigue surrounding her. But the more he delves into her secrets, the more of a mystery she becomes, until, frightened, she flees the Bar M.  Determined not to lose this woman, Rick races after her, catapulting them into a clash of wills, which can only end in the discovery of a deadly secret locked away in Lilah’s mind.  A secret that could make them both rich.  Or get them both killed.

And here’s an excerpt.  At this point, Rick is in full pursuit of Lilah, determined to establish a hot, no-holds-barred, brief and uncomplicated affair with her. Lilah is just as determined to avoid it.  Both are about to lose, Lilah to seduction, Rick to the concept of “uncomplicated.” It’s Sunday, Lilah’s escaped the ranch and she thought  Rick, for a quiet picnic by herself.  He, however, has followed her.

Lilah grabbed her book and dropped it in the basket.  Afterwards she stood and, catching Rick’s eyes, tugged a little on the blanket, silently requesting he move.  Shrugging, he stood and watched her fold the blanket.  She tossed it over the basket and without a word, turned and walked to the stream.

He followed her.  She stopped.  “What are you doing?” she demanded.

“Joining you,” he said, smiling down at her.  “As your self-appointed guardian it’s my duty to escort you back to the house.  Women roaming the woods are fair game for love-starved cowboys, too.”

She scowled.  “Something I imagine you have intimate knowledge of.”

Rick chuckled.  “Why, I reckon I’ve been love-starved once or twice.  How else would I know that—”

“I need protection,” Lilah finished.  “You don’t think I believe all this balderdash do you?”

Grinning, he shook his head.  “Nah.  You’re too smart for that.”

“Then why say it?”

“To make you angry.  You know Lilah, there are only three times I’ve seen the ice in your eyes melt.  When you smile, which is just about never.  And when you’re angry.  Then they flash emerald green and the corners tip up, ever so slightly.  Beautiful.”

Quite suddenly it was difficult to breathe.  “And the third time?”

He lifted an eyebrow.  “Third time?”

“You said there were three times.  What is the third occasion?”

His eyes twinkled, and he gave her a mischievous grin.  “Oh, darlin’, I think you know already,” he drawled, lowering his voice so that it hummed along her nerves.

When he touched her.  A shudder shook her body as his eyes grew even hotter and his grin widened to a sinfully seductive smile, promising pleasures beyond her comprehension.  She tore her gaze away.  She must leave—run.

“Stay, Lilah,” Rick coaxed wickedly. “You know you don’t want to spend a pretty day like this locked in your room.”

Her heart jumped.

She’d return to her room, wait half an hour—

“I’ll be watching the house, you know, in case you should leave.”  He paused and leaned toward her.  “And I can be very, very patient.”  He made the word sound passionate, desirable.  “Of course,” he continued, straightening, “you could whistle for that demon horse of yours. You’d be long gone before I could mount up and follow you.”

“I could.”  And never learn about patience.

The shadow of victory darkened his eyes.  “But you won’t, because that would be cowardly.  After all, what is there to fear?”

Where to buy:
Amazon
Barnes and Noble