Tuesday, March 18, 2014

Teaser Tuesday - Teton Sunset


Here's today's sample:

Glancing up and over his shoulder, she stood behind him. His eyes widened, and his breath caught in his throat. She’d removed not only his shirt that she’d worn all this time, but also her own. Mercifully, she clutched one of the articles to her chest. Lucas tore his eyes away from her exposed shoulders and slender arms. He gritted his teeth and forced his eyes back to the fire. This woman had a way of igniting a man’s body without even realizing it. It was doubtful that he’d be cold for much longer. His insides were ready to boil over after just one glimpse of her exposed skin.
She squatted down beside him, and held one hand to the fire, the other over her chest. Lucas turned his head toward her. He couldn’t stop from staring. Her nude back was exposed fully to his view, and his eyes followed the water droplets that ran down her spine from her wet hair, and disappeared along the gap at her waist between her skin and britches.
“When are you gonna stop gawking at me, Lucas?” She shot him an annoyed look. “If I have to sit here in the nude to warm up quicker, then that’s what I’ll do, but I’d appreciate it if you’d look away. And please, keep your lecherous thoughts to yourself.”
Lucas raised his eyes to hers, and met her challenging stare. His lips twitched in the corners, and slowly rose. If she only knew what sort of lecherous thoughts were going through his mind. 

Tuesday, March 11, 2014

Teaser Tuesday - Teton Sunset


He picked up a rock and hurled it through the air. He cursed her name again, then laughed out loud. He really had underestimated her. Rather than anger, a sudden surge of desire swept through him. She was a remarkable woman, and if nothing else, Lucas would enjoy a good chase. If she thought that taking his clothes and horse would keep him from going after her, she was sorely mistaken. All he had to do now was find her before Black Sparrow got to her.
 There would be hell to pay when he caught up with her. He smiled. He could think of a dozen ways he would make the little spitfire pay for running off on him. All of them ended with her wrapped in his arms, soft and compliant.
The sound of an arrow whirring through the air was followed quickly by a loud thud. Lucas stopped in his tracks. His head turned in time to see the shaft of an arrow lodge deeply in the trunk of a tree not five feet from him. He swore loudly. Before he had time to react, six warriors darted from the bushes and surrounded him. Each one of them pointed strung arrows at his chest. Damn! Thinking about that infuriating woman had made him careless again.
One man stepped forward, and laughed heartily. The other warriors quickly joined in. Lucas clenched his jaw. Black Sparrow.

Thursday, March 6, 2014

I'm a Sucker for Lawmen, by Paty Jager





Peggy, Thank you for exchanging blogs with me today. I’m excited to be in an 
anthology with so many talented authors.

When the subject was brought up, by the western romance authors on the Amazon forum started by an avid western reader, that we should make an anthology, I was ready to hop on board. Any time so many talented writers put together a sampling of their work is has to turn out as a win/win. Readers get great reads in one book and 
authors can cross promote.

The only catch—I couldn’t think of what to write. Then the very same avid reader who brought us together on the forum tossed out one of her monthly challenges to write a paragraph or more using five words. Marshal, Preacher, School Teacher, 
Undertaker, and Baker.

I was in the middle of two other projects but the more I thought about those words the opening for my short story, Bluffing the Marshal, came to me:

Nellie Preston stood at the top of the family cellar gnawing her bottom lip. What would Pa do when he discovered she had the preacher, school teacher, undertaker, and baker tied up in the cellar? Even more important—she hoped kidnapping the men would not only clear her brother’s name but show the handsome marshal she had the grit to be married to a lawman.
By-the-book Marshal Barkley should be charging down the road any minute. By now word would have spread she’d taken the missing men.
Her sour stomach rivaled the guilt eating away at her good sense. This had been a brash move to get the marshal out of town, but her brother’s life and her future depended on his arrival. She’d made the four men as comfortable as possible in the cellar. She’d even explained why they were here, but they hadn’t taken kindly to being kidnapped by Marcus Preston’s sister.
Dust plumed into the air a mile down the road to town. Nellie squinted, staring at the dust, hoping the marshal came alone. He’d be harder to convince if he brought a posse and his deputy. They’d say she was just like her brother—a no-good-killer.
She picked up the rifle leaning against the cellar door and prayed her parents and the younger kids didn’t come home early from visiting their grandparents two counties over. She wanted Marcus out of jail and things back to normal by the time Pa came home. Marcus was her twin, and she loved him dearly, but he did tend to get in fixes that most young men knew better to stay away from.
Pa always said of the two; she had the brains and Marcus had the muscle.
Some of her agitation fled when she spotted one horse and rider running hell bent up their lane. Marshal Tate Barkley had come by himself.
She smiled. He probably figured he didn’t need a posse to bring in one young woman.
Nellie cocked the gun and waited.


~*~


I have several books that have lawmen in them. The first book of my Halsey Series, Marshal in Petticoats has an accident prone young woman who is made marshal and the second book in the series, Outlaw in Petticoats has the two main characters ending up in law enforcement by the end of the book. All five of the Halsey Series books are available in an ebook box set.
You can read about or purchase the Halsey Brothers Series box set at:
Windtree Press             Kindle                    Nook              Kobo     


With sixteen published books, four novellas, and two anthologies, award-winning author, Paty Jager is never at a loss for story ideas and characters in her head. Her rural life in central and eastern Oregon, and interests in local history and the world around her, keeps the mystery and romance ideas flowing. She not only writes the western lifestyle, she lives it. 
You can learn more about Paty at her blog; www.patyjager.blogspot.com  her website; http://www.patyjager.net or on Facebook; https://www.facebook.com/#!/paty.jager and twitter;  @patyjag.


Tuesday, March 4, 2014

Teaser Tuesday and Cover Reveal - Teton Sunset

Inching closer to a completion date for Teton Sunset....personal stuff and involvement in a Western Romance Anthology of short stories (which will be released on March 15, 2014 and includes my short story Yellowstone Proposal - set between Teton Splendor and Teton Sunset and blends this series with the Yellowstone Romance Series) have delayed the release of Teton Sunset. I want to thank my readers for their continued patience. 

Along with today's teaser, I'm posting the beautiful cover for the book for the first time on the blog.






The look of deep longing and admiration in Lucas’ eyes wouldn’t leave her mind. No one had ever looked at her like that. No one had ever spoken such words of admiration to her. She swallowed the lump in her throat. Her skin tingled everywhere, as if Lucas had touched her with his appreciative stare.
You can’t have feelings for him. He’s nothing but an overbearing lout. He’s toying with your mind to make you compliant.
She glanced toward the water’s edge again. She gasped, and her eyes widened.
“What do you think you’re doing?” she called in outrage. Lucas stood at the lakeshore, pulling his shirt over his head. He reached for the ties at his waist to loosen his britches.
“I need a bath as much as you do,” he answered. “Besides. I think it’s only right, since I saw you in the nude, that I’d return the favor.” He flashed her a wide grin.
“Don’t you dare come near me again, Lucas Walker.” Her voice echoed in a shrill tone across the lake. His laughter followed.
“You’re welcome to watch,” he said loudly, and slid his britches past his hips.
She whipped around, and paddled into deeper water. The temperature dropped suddenly, and she changed direction back toward shore, keeping a swath of dense willows in her sights. It was time to end her bath if Lucas thought he was going to join her. The nerve of that arrogant, overbearing man!
She reached the shore, and ducked through the dense foliage, just as a loud splash reached her ears.
“Enjoy your bath, Walker,” she mumbled under her breath. She smiled slowly at a sudden thought. She might still get the chance to escape after all.