Today's Outlaw Hearts Teaser

He closed his eyes and stretched out beside her, kissing her hair. “I’m no good, Randy. There’s no future with a man like me.”

She ran a hand inside his shirt and leaned closer to kiss his chest. “We don’t know that, yet. And you are good, Jake.”

He wrapped his fingers into her hair and rolled on top of her. “If I was really good, I would never have let things go this far with you. You mean too much to me, and if you stay with me you’re going to suffer, Randy. You’ll always be running, always wondering when someone might find out who I am and come gunning for me. Life is hell with me, believe me –“

She touched his lips again. “Tell me you can take me to Nevada now and just leave me there and ride off without me. Can you do that, Jake?” His only reply was to meet her mouth in a savage kiss.

Available June 2, 2015

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United by chance, bound by fate, consumed by passion.

Miranda Hayes has lost everything-her family, her husband, her home. Orphaned and then widowed, desperate to find a safe haven, she sets out to cross a savage land alone...until chance brings her face-to-face with notorious gunslinger Jake Harkner.

Hunted by the law and haunted by a brutal past, Jake has spent a lifetime fighting for everything he has. He's never known a moment's kindness...until fate brings him to the one woman willing to reach past his harsh exterior to the man inside. He would die for her. He would kill for her. He will do whatever it takes to keep her his.

Spanning the dazzling West with its blazing deserts and booming gold towns, Jake and Miranda must struggle to endure every hardship that threatens to tear them apart. But the love of an outlaw comes with a price...and even their passion may not burn bright enough to conquer the coming darkness.

Historical Research

Anyone who writes about history must, of course, do plenty of research. I am very particular about getting my facts straight because doing so brings much more realism to my stories. I have at times even brought real historical characters into my books, as with a young George Washington in INTO THE WILDERNESS. Some people might dread the research. NOT ME! I enjoy reading for research more than general reading, and always, whatever I am researching not only helps me with facts I need for the book I am working on; but it also leads me to a wealth of new ideas. So the research only helps me find plot for future books.

Most of my hundreds of research books come from the University of Nebraska and the University of Oklahoma, where you can find information on just about anything and everything you’d ever want to know about America’s “Old West” and Native Americans. And I do use books most of the time, not the internet. I know exactly which book to turn to for whatever I am working on. And every book has been read, highlighted, underlined, dog-eared – you name it. The Time/Life books on the Old West are fantastic, as is ANYTHING by Alan Eckert. He takes history and beautifully brings it to life.

I couldn’t begin to name all my favorite reference books. There are too many. I will say, though, that for a chronological history of our Native Americans, you can’t beat BURY MY HEART AT WOUNDED KNEE by Dee Brown. My own paperback copy is falling to pieces, but I have a hard cover copy that Mr. Brown signed for me at a western writers’ conference. I truly treasure that book!

Born To Write

I am sitting here thinking about the fact that I have written 60 books over the past 30 years. That’s an average of two books a year, and I have no memory of when or how I did that. Each book takes about six months to write, some less, some more. That does not include the edits and re-writes that come back once the book is finished and sent in, so it’s a constant procedure of writing, reading, editing, writing, reading, editing, writing …

I have written a minimum of SIX MILLION words, based on 60 books at 100,000 words. However, most of my books ranged closer to 120,000 words, so I’d better up that to a total of SEVEN MILLION, TWO HUNDRED THOUSAND words. And again, that’s just first drafts. And it doesn’t count all the blogs and magazine articles and proposals I have written over the years. And of course there is the research, probably thousands of hours of research. I have hundreds of research books in my personal library, and I have read pretty much every one of them. They are all filled with highlights, underlining, hand-written notes and dog-eared pages. I don’t remember when I did all that either.