Taste of Kiwi: Blog of Author Shelley Munro

A big welcome to author Helen Hardt who is my guest today. She’s talking about her new release Outlaw’s Angel, which is set in the American west. I must admit I’ve rediscovered a love of books with this setting after watching the DVDs of Deadwood and visiting the town. Over to Helen!

Shelley, thank you so much for having me at your blog today!

My newest release is an American western historical novella, The Outlaw’s Angel, which is one of four featured novellas in an anthology called Lawmen and Outlaws. It released at The Wild Rose Press on June 5. One thing that makes this release special is that it’s my first non-erotic romance release. But don’t worry, I still packed in plenty of heat! Whether I’m writing erotic or not, I write to the steamy side.

Blurb:
The last thing bounty hunter Bobby Morgan expects after a stay in a small Dakota town is to wake up in a dirty jail cell accused of a crime he didn’t commit. When a preacher’s beautiful daughter provides a means for escape, he takes it. On the run with his feisty hostage, Bobby swears to her he means her no harm.

Naomi Blackburn wants nothing more than to go home to her ma and pa. But her handsome outlaw captor ignites a passion in her that’s both frightening and exciting. Can two decidedly different souls come together? Or will misfortunes and Bobby’s own doubts keep them apart?

The idea for this story began when The Wild Rose Press’s Cactus Rose Line put out a call for submissions for the anthology. I love American western historicals, particularly those set on the Dakota prairie, due, no doubt, to my childhood fascination with Laura Ingalls Wilder. This particular story stemmed from another novella I was working on last year (which, ironically, still isn’t quite finished, LOL.) I had recently discovered that the father of my heroine was a former bounty hunter, and that intrigued me. Hmm, maybe there’s a story there. My bounty hunter hero quickly became an outlaw accused of a crime he didn’t commit, and my heroine’s mother from the other story became the beautiful preacher’s daughter he kidnaps to escape the small town where he’s imprisoned. Voila! The premise for an outlaw story.

Again, due to my childhood fascination with the works of Laura Ingalls Wilder, I didn’t need to do a whole lot of research. When I was young, I devoured all the Little House books, as well as anything I could find on Wilder and her life and times, so I already knew much about that time period. I did need to look into The Railroad Act, The Homestead Act and a few other small details, but that was about it. Though I enjoy research, I kind of have a love/hate relationship with it. It takes away from my writing time ;). So when I can, I choose settings I already have knowledge of. It’s easier that way.

Thanks again for having me, Shelley! Here’s a quick excerpt from The Outlaw’s Angel:

Naomi woke to the sun rising against a pinkened sky. She stretched, and discovered new twinges in her already aching body. Where was Bobby? She smiled when she discovered he’d rolled up his shirt and placed it under her head.

But if his shirt was here…

She warmed. He’d haunted her dreams through the night. She’d awoken several times, drenched in sweat, images of their bodies entwined plaguing her, to find him still sleeping soundly. He was older than she, and more experienced. To him, she was no doubt just another woman of many. Clearly, he’d had no problem sleeping.

She sat up and brought his shirt to her nose, inhaling his now familiar aroma. Would she ever be able to get enough of it?

“Stop,” she said aloud, and tossed the shirt to the ground. She was behaving like a loose woman. She’d been raised better.

Naomi stood and brushed the now dried dirt from her dress.

And beheld a dazzling sight.

Bobby stood in the creek, his back to her, cleansing himself in the cool water. He was too far away for her to see much, and though she knew it a bad idea, her feet, seemingly disengaged from her brain, propelled her forward.

When she’d walked a few hundred feet, she plopped on her fanny and appraised his male beauty with wide eyes. His hair was wet and clung to his thick neck. His golden back rippled with muscles, from the breadth of his strong shoulders to the leanness of his narrow hips. The smooth slopes of his buttocks shone with wetness. Two perfect globes. Her heart quickened, and she lowered her eyes, only to raise them again, unable to look away. His legs were long and powerful, covered with fine brown hair, and when he squatted to rinse his face, the sinewy lines in his calves bulged.

As she considered averting her eyes, he stood tall and turned around, his eyes widening at the sight of her.

Brown hair, the same color as his head, scattered across his golden chest. Two copper nipples poked through, and she had the strangest urge to touch them. She gazed downward, to his flat belly, his navel, and the line of hair that ended where the male part of him hung loosely within a nest of chestnut curls.

It drew her eyes like a magnet.

Helen Hardt is an attorney and stay-at-home mom turned award-winning romance author and freelance editor. She met her real-life hero in law school, and they live in Colorado with their two teenage sons. Helen writes contemporary, historical, paranormal, and erotic romance, and is currently contracted with The Wild Rose Press and Ellora’s Cave. Her non-writing interests include Harley rides with her husband, attending her sons’ sports and music performances, traveling, and Taekwondo (she’s a blackbelt.) Visit Helen at www.helenhardt.com and www.helensheroes.blogspot.com.

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