MEET THE CHARACTERS - ALICE PRICE

Mary Alice Price, heroine of
HIGH STAKES BRIDE

What better post for Labor Day than that of a woman who has labored selflessly for many years? Pictured above (purchased from iStock and Maritja Savic/Serpentina) Mary Alice Price, heroine of HIGH STAKES BRIDE. Yes, I know she's not a real woman except in my head, but she's one of my favorite characters ever. She's sort of klutzy, doesn't realize how pretty and talented she is, but is loyal and steadfast and compassionate.

Alice is a beautiful young woman of her twenties who has been isolated on her stepfather's North Central Texas ranch for over twenty years. Only once during that time has she been off the ranch, and that was twelve years earlier when she and her stepfather took her mom to the doctor. They learned her poor mother had consumption, were told how to care for her, and went home. When her mother was in her last stages of life, Alice's stepfather learned he had stomach cancer.

Alice had spent years nursing her mother, keeping house and cooking for her mother, stepfather, and two stepbrothers. After her mother's passing, Alice remained at the ranch nursing her stepfather. Not that she minded caring for her family, but her stepbrothers grew harder to control as her stepfather weakened. He was able to conceal exactly how frail he'd become from his worthless sons, but Alice heard them promise her to a horrid man in exchange for a high stakes poker gambling debt, payable when their father died.

Her stepfather heard, too, and helped Alice plot her escape.But when a woman has spent her life on one small ranch in the wooded hills of the Palo Pinto Mountains, how can she navigate her way to freedom? In Alice's case, one disaster after another plagues her. That is, until she throws in with Zach Stone. He's a straight talker and a straight shooter. Fate finally dealt her four aces. Life is never that simple, though, is it?

HIGH STAKES BRIDE will be available for purchase in print and e-book in a couple of weeks. I'll let you know when it's available.

Thanks for stopping by!