A little over a year ago I thought I’d never write anything again after Changing Tracks and the Dominion Falls Series. It was everything, I was exhausted and had almost given up hope of ever being published.  Trying to come up with a new world and new characters seemed an impossible dream.

Then I met this great group of people through a random act of Dumb F***ing Luck…and a crit group was born.  After a couple of weeks of being around these amazing, inspiring women I started to get story ideas.

One of them started out small. A traveling Wild West show.  Perhaps a Native American in that show, a young woman.

But not just any young woman.

I knew I wanted her to be a survivor. Quiet strength and power underneath years of another life. After some research, and some more research, Masked Hearts was born.

Now, it’s finally available!!

So pick up a copy and get to know Minnie and Roy. The first characters to dare show up after Jane and Cole had taken over my brain.  I really came to love them a lot – and I hope you do too.

*~*

Oh, and my Big Announcement:

Masked Hearts was originally going to be ebook only.  BUT, after edits, and author notes, etc…it has made the cut and will go to print in six months!!

| Sweet Cravings Publishing |

Blurb:

Minnie Woodward lives a lie. After barely surviving the Bear River Massacre she’s lived in the white world of her guardian Mister Rawlins, her life debt keeping her tied there. The last thing she needs is Roy’s attempts to gain her favor. Her fate’s sealed. She’s never believed in hope, and not even Roy can make her start.

Roy Ornum saves Minnie every night in the traveling Wild West show. The job he took to break his gambling habit brought him a new addiction – her. He knows she doesn’t want to be rescued, but maybe he does. She’s the key to a past he lost, one he wants to find again.

As the two grow closer old wounds are reopened and their burgeoning trust is shattered. When lives hang in the balance of their choices they’ll need to work together. Otherwise everything will be lost before hope can be found.

Excerpt:

Carl flipped the tomahawk one more time. He balanced the handle in his hand before a grin lit up his face. Before anyone could stop him he let out a yell and threw the tomahawk right toward Minnie.

“Minnie.” Roy couldn’t stop the call of warning. His heart stopped short and fell into his stomach. The moment the thump and metallic ring of impact hit his ears a relieved sigh brought him to his knees.

The tomahawk stuck firm in the side of the wagon, inches behind her head. His relief lasted only moments before he realized her wrath focused on him alone. The two braves had disappeared.

Minnie braced her hand against the wagon and yanked out the tomahawk. With it clutched in her hand she stormed toward him. “You think this is funny? This is why you asked those two to teach you?”

“No!” Roy scrambled to his feet. He might have protested more, but she had the top of the blade pressed against his chin.

“I don’t like stupid pranks.”

“Neither do I. I didn’t throw it. Promise.” He clasped his hand over hers. Surprisingly it only took a small bit of pressure to lower it. “They run off.”

“Max didn’t.” She yanked the blade free to point at the old Indian lying against the wagon wheel.

“Max is trying to sleep,” Max’s gravelly voice grunted. After he lifted his hat to glare at them he rolled to the side.

Her finger jabbed into his chest, bringing his attention right back to her flashing brown eyes. The fire she directed at him might have cowed another man. For him it brought back memories of sunshine. It also lit a blaze under her touch that spread like wildfire. “You leave me alone.”

“No.” Roy grinned at how fast her anger melted across her features. It would be suicide to yank her close and kiss her, though at the moment he wasn’t sure if he cared. He leaned closer. “I have been trying to get you to talk to me every day for the past year. I think you’re running out of excuses not to.”

“Don’t bet on it.”

“I don’t bet anymore.” He caught her finger when she jabbed at him again. The moment her hand opened to pull free he flattened it to his chest.

She tugged against his hold. “I do well not speaking to anyone. You’re the only one that seems to have an issue with it. Even the Mister prefers me silent.”

“You don’t want me talking to the braves. You won’t talk to me. I suppose you just want me to be silent too?” He held onto her hand a moment longer before setting it free. “Why do you hate them so much?”

“They’re weak.”

“That so?”

“They stay.” Her chin lifted. Like a lifeline she held the tomahawk in a white-knuckled grip. “They say they owe the Mister more, but they don’t. They choose this. Weak little men.”

“How does that make them weak?” Roy furrowed his brow.

“They prefer this disgusting display to life on the reservation. They are afraid to live on a reservation. They are afraid to try to escape and go be free out on the land that was once ours—because there are so many of you white men to catch or kill them.”

“You stay.”

“I have no choice.” Her jaw worked. A glimmer of a tear shimmered at the corner of her eye before a rapid blink carried it away.

“And Max?”

“There’s a price on his head, and he’s old. He has no choice.”

“And me?”

“You don’t matter.” She tossed aside the tomahawk, and then turned to leave. “You’re one of them.”