It’s finally here! Marielle’s Marshal is now available from Samhain Publishing.

I wanted to say thank you to my editor and friend, Sasha Knight, who not only contracted the story but did a smashing editing job (as she always does). I luvs ya doll.

Now onto the fun stuff!! I’m really excited to be part of the last four Midsummer Night’s Steam stories (I believe they’ll be packaged in anthologies for next summer in print) with Lila Dubois, Amanda Young and Maggie Casper (who I teamed up with on another story two years ago). Esteemed company to be sure. I hope y’all give all the MNS stories a try – it’s improved, ah, morale around the world.

I know I teased y’all Wednesday with the excerpt, so I’ll post just a wee bit more to whet your appetites.

Excerpt #2

“Dammit,” he cursed in her ear. “What the hell is wrong with you? Are you loco?”

Marielle struggled against his weight while the sound of the rifle shot echoed around them.

“You bitch,” the bandit shouted. “You broke my fucking rifle and cut up my hand.”

The horse’s hooves danced around them, coming dangerously close to their heads. The cowboy wrapped his arms around her and rolled under the carriage. More curses rained down as she struggled against the dust currently coating her face, nose and mouth. She could hardly get a breath in under the weight of the man on top of her. Marielle could feel every nook and cranny of his body too, even through her petticoats. He’d been blessed by his Maker for certain. Normally she would have enjoyed being so close to him, but in this situation it only served to fuel her anger.

“Get off me.”

“I’m trying to save your ass, lady. Just shut up and give that fool another minute to decide to ride on out with what he took.” His voice had a raspy quality to it that grated on her nerves.

“As if you care. You didn’t do anything but hand over your money.”

“I wasn’t expecting to be pushing up daisies for twenty dollars. Were you?”

It wasn’t the twenty dollars. It was the agony, the sweat, the tears and the blood she’d put into saving every damn penny so she’d have enough to leave Texas and get to San Francisco. This cowboy had no idea what Marielle would do to keep what she’d earned.

“You know he’s going to try to kill you now.”

“I don’t care. At least I’ll die fighting.” She meant every word of it too.

A clanging sound preceded the bandit yelling, “Hiyah!” The sound of eight horses thundering into the desert made her stomach clench. That left one horse, and the angry bandit who sat atop it.

“Shit. Now look what you done. He ran off the horses,” the cowboy groused in her ear. Gone was the handsome flirting stranger and in his place was an annoyed man.

“I didn’t do anything but try to stop him. More than what you did.”

“Look, lady, I’ve been robbed plenty of times. Nobody ever ran off the horses before you. I thought fancy-dressed ladies were supposed to be polite, not shrews.”

Marielle ground her teeth together to stop the angry response from jumping out and biting him. If she had a nickel for every man who assumed how she was supposed to act, she’d be a millionaire by now.

“Now you’re good and stuck. All of ya. You can thank the nice lady for that.” The bandit laughed. “I hope you bake like taters in this heat.”

The sound of galloping hooves faded away. Still the cowboy didn’t move. The longer he lay on top of her, the better he felt, the harder he felt. Her body’s response made her angrier.

“I think he’s gone. Do you think you could get off me now?”

****

Now go forth and get hot and steamy! Keep commenting – I’m giving away the necklace and earring set in the morning!!

Today’s Thursday Thirteen post is all about me or rather my new release tomorrow, Marielle’s Marshal.

Thirteen Reason to Read Marielle’s Marshal

1. It’s a hot, sexy story.

2. It has a cowboy in it. Yeehaw!

3. It’s a short story so you can read it in one sitting.

4. It’s only $2.50, and on sale for a week at $2.25!

5. It’s got a kick-ass heroine in it.

6. It’s the only historical in the Midsummer Night’s Steam collection.

7. It’s funny, too.

8. It’s got lots of sex in it.

9. You must have the complete set of MNS stories, right?

10. It’s a good opportunity to read something of mine if you’ve never tried me out. (That also sounds kinda kinky.)

11. If you’ve done me before (woot!) then you know you’ll like it!

12. It’ll lift your spirits and perhaps something else, if you’re in the mood.

13. Did I mention the cowboy?

Remember, keep commenting to win the necklace and earrings set!

When I first heard about the Midsummer Night’s Steam collection, I thought, hey that sounds like something I’d like to read. Short stories (around 12-15K each so they’re not too short) with a hot, steamy content and lots of sexy characters.

Then I decided to submit a story and voila! Mine was chosen as the only historical in the 24 stories. *preen*

Marielle’s Marshal is set in 1850 Arizona in the desert. Here is yon blurb:

Marielle Bloom never expected to be the victim of a stagecoach robbery stranded in the desert in the middle of summer with a sexy marshal who sets her body on fire with one look from his steely eyes.

Marshal Ramsey Whitfield doesn’t know what to make of the outspoken teacher, but he does know she feels perfect in his arms. As they trek together across the barren landscape, searching for civilization, they discover that their desire for each other is hotter than the desert sand.

Now you know I had fun with this one, right? I love me some sassy, straight-talking chicks and an alpha male who has no idea how to handle her. *cackles with glee* Seriously though, it was a fun story and hopefully it wil make you laugh and squirm.

Let’s move to the contest!! I’m going to have three blog posts about Marielle’s Marshal today, tomorrow and Friday (release day!!). Everyone that posts a comment gets entered to win a gorgeous necklace and earring set I bought in the Caribbean – it’s silver with gold accents – the chain is shaped like miniature horseshoes. Trust me y’all, it’s really pretty.

Below please find a sneak peek excerpt for ya. Tomorrow I’ll do my TT about why you should get Marielle’s Marshal.

Excerpt:

“If you don’t know how to use that thing, you’d better put it down, sugar.”

The pistol shook in Marielle’s hands. The unfamiliar weight threatened to drag her arms down, but her determination kept it upright and pointed at the man in front of her.

“I will not let you rob this stagecoach. Turn that pony around and ride on out before I put a hole in you that you didn’t have yesterday.” She was proud of the fact that her voice didn’t break. God knows her heart beat fast enough to make her ears hurt.

The masked man on the huge sorrel leaned on his saddle horn and turned his head toward her. She couldn’t make out much information about him, other than the fact that he was big and his clothes hadn’t been washed in a dog’s year. Fortunately the wind blew toward him or the stench might have forced her to surrender.

“You’re a sassy little thing,” he drawled. “You know there’s no way in hell I ain’t robbing this stage so just drop that peashooter and play nice.”

The cowboy she’d initiated a flirtation with in the coach stood next to her. It had been enough to make her warm just looking at his smiling face. He had even smelled nice, a rarity in the West. When the robber stopped the coach, he’d been sleeping, or at least dozing. Marielle had been enjoying the view when all hell broke loose, and he had sat there like a bump on a log.

The cowboy leaned in close. “I think he’s right, ma’am. You’d do best to just give him the pistol. Don’t know why you took it from me anyway.”

“Because you did nothing, you coward. He shot that poor driver and made Mrs. Philpot cry and now he wants to take my bag. I absolutely refuse to hand over my things.” This time her voice did shake—with fury. “I’ve worked too hard over the last seven years to surrender so easily.” She narrowed her eyes at the bandit. “What have you done besides kill people and steal their belongings? You’re obviously not a Christian man, and maybe neither was your mama. Does she know what you’re doing?”

The longer she talked, the angrier she got.

“Shut up,” the cowboy hissed.

“I will not.” Marielle kept her aim straight and true at the lone bandit. “You get your sorry hide out of here with what you’ve already taken, but I refuse to give you one damn cent.”

“Oooh, you cuss too? I might have to take you with me.” He cocked his rifle in a blur of movement and pointed it at the unconscious Mrs. Philpot lying on the dusty road in her purple traveling dress. The older woman had fainted dead away when the bandit reached into her corset for her valuables. “Your choice, sugar, you put down that gun or the old hag gets it.”

Marielle pursed her lips together and sighed long and hard. The bastard. “I’ll take my chances.” She pulled the hammer back on the pistol. “You decide to take yours. Maybe I’ll shoot you before you can shoot her.”

The air around them grew heavy and time seemed to slow to a crawl. Marielle kept her gaze trained on his trigger finger. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw a bead of sweat snaking down his temple. She hoped it was from anxiety and not the warm June weather.

“Ma’am,” the cowboy whispered.

It was all the distraction the bandit needed. She knew he was going to shoot so she fired off a shot just as his finger squeezed on the trigger. Her shot hit the barrel of the rifle. His went wild and slammed into the stagecoach next to her head. The cowboy grabbed her and threw her to the ground as the bandit’s horse reared and screamed.

****

Whatcha think? Want to read more?

Did y’all miss me? I know you liked the piccies – weren’t they cute? I have waded through my e-mail, the laundry and am scared of what my mailbox at home will look like today when I get home, but I’m here!!!

I’m back in the saddle, so to speak.

Today’s blog post is about a brand new newsletter I’m a part of called The Samhellion. Here’s a bit more about it courtesy of the one and only J.C. Wilder.

Come one, come all – join the reader list for the most amazing
newsletterever created, THE SAMHELLION – a newsletter created entirely by Samhain Publishing Authors.

Each vitamin packed issue will contain articles about, life, liberty and the pursuit of cheesecake! (otherwise known as articles on writing, health, fitness, cooking, book reviews, book previews, exclusive excerpts and a wide range of other topics along with short fiction stories from your favorite authors!) Just reading this newsletter is guaranteed to decrease your bad
cholesterol and you’ll lose ten pounds with the first issue!

Oh, and we’ll have contests, lots of contests.

And speaking of contests, when you sign up, you stand a very good chance of winning a book (either download or paperback) from one of your favorite authors.

The Editors

So what are y’all waiting for? Sign up today!

Tomorrow’s post will be about my new release on Friday, Marielle’s Marshal.

Monday’s eye candy for your viewing pleasure.

I’ll be back tomorrow!!