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.
Sounds like a happily ever after to me! Congrats, Leigh!
ReplyDeleteCongratulations on your new release. What can we look forward to next?
ReplyDeleteI 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...
ReplyDeleteWhat a great read, and congratulations on the conclusion of a wonderful series.
I love cowboy stories.
ReplyDeleteNatalie's Mama
Duh, forgot my email:
ReplyDeletelovesthemets@yahoo.com
And cowboys are sexy, hardworking and love those jeans.
Hi Leigh. Your book sounds great. I think that the good manners, work ethic and kind heart makes a cowboy the quintessential romance hero.
ReplyDeleteCrystal816[at]hotmail[dot]com
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.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the giveaway. would love to win and read this book
christinebails at yahoo dot com
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.
ReplyDeleteThanks 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 :)
ReplyDeleteDanielle
Cowboys have a nice body and are always so real!
ReplyDeleteTeresa.bautista@me.com
CONGRATS on your release, Leigh!
ReplyDeleteCowboys 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
Thanks to everyone who commented! Our winners are
ReplyDeleteCrystalGB
and
Anonymous (Teresa)
I'll be emailing you both shortly.
Danielle