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GUEST LAUNCH PARTY + GIVEAWAY: Heart of a Texan by Leigh Greenwood



 Please give a warm Casablanca welcome to Leigh Greenwood, bestselling author of the Knight Riders Series, which is coming to a close with his November release, Heart of a Texan!

I can remember when I was writing my first series, The Seven Brides, I was worried that I might not live to finish the series. Well, I’ve managed to make it to the end of a third series, The Night Riders! I guess I have to be thankful for good genes. I haven’t always depended on clean living.  Well, I didn’t do really bad things, but some were a little grey around the edges. My kids will tell you I’m much too boring to do anything really interesting.

This series posed its own set of problems. First, I had to convince the original editor that I could write a series were the connecting element was a very nasty villain and the driving force revenge.  Not a very romantic sounding idea, but she finally came around. Then the series got interrupted after three books because distributors decided they wouldn’t buy books that were part of a series. A short while later, after I’d written two books called The Independent Bride, and The Reluctant Bride – (clearly no connection there!) distributors changed their minds and started buying series again (these books have always sold because readers love series), so I wrote the next two books only to have my publisher go out of business. Fortunately, one of the Dorchester editors, Leah Hultenschmidt, had moved to Sourcebooks Casablanca, and she bought the last two books. Finally, the series has come to an end, and I can breathe a sigh of relief. So let’s lift an imaginary glass of champagne and give a toast to a series that refused to give up!

Here is a brief excerpt which I hope will take you want to read the whole book:

A light breeze provided a refreshing contrast to the heat of the day.  The sun had set, but it would be light for about another hour.  Swallows darted through the air in their erratic flight to catch insects.  Roberta suspected some of the airborne predators were bats.  She didn’t like bats, but they were certainly more welcome than the man driving an approaching buckboard.  She recognized Nate’s foreman long before he reached the house.  If Nate was said to be built along the lines of a greyhound, then Russ McCoy was modeled after a bulldog.  There wasn’t a man in three counties with shoulders that wide or a neck so thick.

“What do you want?” she asked when Russ brought the buckboard to a stop.

“I’ve come to take Nate home.”

“What took you so long?”

“I didn’t know he was here.  Hell, I didn’t even know he had come back until Gill Pender told me his wife had taken some beef broth to you for him.”

“If you know that much, you know the doctor said he can’t be moved.”

Russ had gotten down from the buckboard and come up to the porch.  He was probably an inch or two shorter that Nate, but his bulk made him look bigger.  It was said half the men in Slender Creek stayed out of his way, but Roberta wasn’t intimidated.  She was too tired.

“Taking him home can’t be half as dangerous as leaving him here with no one but you to look after him.  Hell, I wouldn’t put it past you to poison him.  If I thought you could hit the broad side of a barn, I’d swear you were the one who shot him.”

“If I had, it would have been no more than he deserved for being one of the cowards who murdered my father.”

“Nate thought your father was a fool for rebuilding that dam – I heard him say that to your father’s face – but he would never be part of what happened last night.  I don’t know how he came to be here.  He’s been off hunting Laveau diViere.”

“If your boss is so anxious to kill diViere that he goes looking for him, why should he hesitate to shoot a farmer who’s using water he thinks of as his own?”

“DiViere is a traitor.  Your father was just a fool.”  Russ didn’t appear to care that it was considered uncivil to criticize a dead man, especially to his daughter.

“The doctor will tell you when you can take your boss home.  I’ll do everything I can to make sure he survives his stay here.  After that, I intended to see every man involved in the attack hangs.”

“They were masked.  How can you know who they were?”

“I’ll find out.”  She didn’t know how, but she didn’t intend to give up until she did.

“I’m not leaving until I see the boss.”

“He’s sleeping.”

“How can I know that without seeing for myself?”

Roberta wasn’t sure she could summon the energy to get to her feet, but somehow she managed.  “Okay, one look.  Then I want you out of my house and off my land.”

An agitated voice was heard from inside the house.  “Russ, get your butt in here before that woman kills me.”
© Leigh Greenwood, 2012          

Another Thank You to Leigh Greenwood for visiting with us today, and celebrating the launch of Heart of a Texan. To enter to win one of two copies of Heart of a Texan, tell us in the comments what you think makes Cowboys a quintessential romance hero! US and Canada only, please leave an email address so we can contact you easily! Winners will be chose on Tuesday, November 13.

HEART OF A TEXAN BY LEIGH GREENWOOD B IN STORES NOVEMBER 2012
“A breathtaking Western romance.” —Romance Reviews on Texas Pride

In The Wrong Place...
Roberta didn't mean to hurt anyone. But the night the masked bandits raided her ranch, it was hard to tell friend from foe. She didn't know Nate Dolan was only trying to help when she shot him in the chest. And when he offers to help her catch the culprits, she only feels guiltier. The absolute least she can do is nurse the rugged cowboy back to health...

With All The Right Moves…
Nate has been on the vengeance trail so long, he nearly forgot what a real home looked like. And Roberta is mighty fine incentive to stay put for a while C even if she has a stubborn streak as wide as the great state of Texas. She might be convinced she's healing the wound in his chest, but neither of them known she's also soothing the hurt in his heart.

“Entertaining high-stakes adventure.” —Booklist on Texas Pride

ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Leigh Greenwood is the author of the popular Seven Brides, Cowboy, and Night Riders series. The proud father of three grown children, Leigh resides in Charlotte, NC.  He never intended to be a writer, but found it hard to ignore the people in his head, and the only way to get them out was to write. Visit www.leigh-greenwood.com.   

Comments

  1. Sounds like a happily ever after to me! Congrats, Leigh!

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  2. Congratulations on your new release. What can we look forward to next?

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  3. I want to pull up a rocking chair on Roberta's front porch and listen to the fun when she and Nate go at it. Arguing, I mean. When they go at each other arguing...

    What a great read, and congratulations on the conclusion of a wonderful series.

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  4. I love cowboy stories.
    Natalie's Mama

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  5. Duh, forgot my email:
    lovesthemets@yahoo.com

    And cowboys are sexy, hardworking and love those jeans.

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  6. Hi Leigh. Your book sounds great. I think that the good manners, work ethic and kind heart makes a cowboy the quintessential romance hero.
    Crystal816[at]hotmail[dot]com

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  7. Great excerpt. This book sounds good. This is also a new author for me and always looking for new authors to check out. I love cowboy stories. I think they are great because they are so courteous, sexy, and always looking to help someone out.
    Thanks for the giveaway. would love to win and read this book
    christinebails at yahoo dot com

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  8. Congratulations on your newest release. Cowboys have that old time gallantry and yet they're exciting and with all that hard work, great bodies lol.

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  9. Thanks for commenting everyone! Leigh is a bit busy today, so I did want to answer Carolyn Brown's question: Leigh has a new western historical series coming from Sourcebooks in the Fall of 2013! More info to come soon :)

    Danielle

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  10. Cowboys have a nice body and are always so real!



    Teresa.bautista@me.com

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  11. CONGRATS on your release, Leigh!

    Cowboys are a quintessential romance hero because they are hard-working, rough around the edges (in a good way), and charming:) Their manners are a major plus too!

    yadkny@hotmail.com

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  12. Thanks to everyone who commented! Our winners are

    CrystalGB
    and
    Anonymous (Teresa)

    I'll be emailing you both shortly.

    Danielle

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