BESTSELLING AND AWARD WINNING AUTHOR OF WESTERN ROMANCE!
Caroline Clemmons writes historical and contemporary genre fiction. Historical romances, contemporary romantic suspense, mysteries, and paranormals are among her current works. Learn more about her at https//www.carolineclemmons.com
Showing posts with label HOME SWEET TEXAS HOME. Show all posts
Showing posts with label HOME SWEET TEXAS HOME. Show all posts
Thanks to all those who helped launch GABE KINCAID on Sunday. What a great party we had. Cyberchampagne sand cyberchocolate served to all. Thanks for helping send Gabe on his way.
If you haven't yet purchased your copy, please accept my invitation to do so. Here are the links Amazon Barnes and Noble and Kobo. It's also supposed to be up at the iBookstore and iTunes. And please, please, please leave a review after you read the book. Reviews are so important to authors.
If you've never participated in a Facebook Launch Party, you're missing some fun and prizes. Other authors drop by, and we have a ball discussing various aspects of writing. You know authors--if we're not writing, we're thinking and talking about writing. ☺ We can't help ourselves.
Bestie Geri Foster and I planned this past launch together and called it Bad Boys and Cowboys. Okay, technically Gabe Kincaid is not a cowboy; he's a lawyer in the Old West. Technically, A. J. Roddio is not a bad boy, he's an agent for Falcon Securities who helps Falcon's main secretary, Zoe Ross, save the day. We write fiction, okay?
Now, I'm off to my critique meeting to discuss the book on which I'm currently at work, BACK TO MY TEXAS HOME, book 2 of the sweet contemporary Texas Home series. Book one is HOME SWEET TEXAS HOME.
Cinderella stories still
exist, and characters still find their fairy tale ending. HOME SWEET TEXAS HOME, Texas Home series book one, is a modern day Cinderella story with a happily-ever-after ending that (I hope)
will leave you sighing and wishing for the next in the series. Two more books
in the series will be released this summer, unless life plays dirty tricks on
me—again.
I’ve just recovered my rights to this book. When an author recovers rights to a book, the rights don't include the cover, which was produced by the previous publisher. I love the new cover
created by Ramona Lockwood. She's also doing the covers for the next two in the Texas Home series, FINDING MY TEXAS HOME and BACK TO MY TEXAS HOME.
HOME, SWEET TEXAS HOME is a
sweet contemporary set in West Texas near where I grew up. My uncle and cousins
were farmers who also sometimes raised cattle. Can’t keep all your eggs in one
basket, right? My husband had several uncles who were ranchers and farmers, and
some of his cousins still farm. Both Hero and I grew up in Lubbock, called “the
Hub of the Plains” by their Chamber of Commerce.
A cotton field near Lubbock, Texas On Highway 84
To raise money to build their
new house, my father-in-law raised cotton on a field at the edge of town and my
husband had to help. Hero remembers clearing hundreds of tumbleweeds from the
land and burning them. Needless to say, he hates tumbleweeds. After several
years, the family had saved enough cash to buy a lot and build on it, with my
father-in-law as contractor and doing some of the work himself. Once they’d
saved enough to build the house, that was the end of their cotton farming. My
husband was grateful. I suspect his father was even more so.
Not threatening singly, but tumbleweeds tend to collect on fencelines and in fields.
When Hero came in dirty and
tired from working in the field, his mom would tell him that if he didn’t go to
college, he’d be doing work like that forever. He didn’t know what his degree
would be in, but he knew then that he was going to college so he’d never have
to farm again.
He went from college to work in Dallas. But later we moved to a
rural acreage for over 20 years so he could raise peaches and vegetables in
addition to his rocket scientist job. Life does play funny tricks on us, doesn’t
it? We sold our acreage and home last summer and moved to our current snug home
in a Fort Worth suburb.
Hero just can’t get farming
out of his blood, though, and has a nice garden at the back of our current property. We have a
lovely yard with lots of large trees. We’ve placed roses in the areas where
there’s enough sun. But I digress.
About the time my future
husband was burning tumbleweeds and “chopping cotton,” as hoeing weeds is
called, my family moved to Lubbock so Dad could buy cotton. We had spent three years in small rural areas where my dad managed a cotton gin.
Although we didn't know Hero or his family at the time, my dad chose our house at the same edge of town as where my husband lived. We were so
pleased to have our own new home. Dad had built houses when we lived in
California when I was small, but the house he was building for us always ended
up sold because he and mother couldn’t turn down a tidy profit.
Anyway, we were
happy to finally own one similar—though not nearly as well built—to those Dad had built in California. Our first
year in Lubbock, cotton plants came up in our flowerbeds because the housing
development was carved from a cotton farm.
You can see that a book about
that area might be close to my heart. Here’s the HOME SWEET TEXAS HOME blurb:
Courtney Madison has battled poverty her entire twenty-five years but is determined to
make a safe and happy home for her teenaged brother after the recent death of
their mom. Her mom’s illness left Courtney with a mountain of hospital bills,
her formerly sweet brother Jimmy is now cutting class and hanging with a rough
crowd, and she’s just learned she’s being downsized in two weeks. Hanging on by
the threads of a fraying rope, she learns she’s inherited two million dollars
from a kind elderly man she befriended when he was in the hospital across the
hall from her mom. She thinks her inheritance in West Texas is the answer to
all her prayers--but Courtney learns that while money improves her life, it
doesn’t guarantee happiness. This modern Cinderella encounters problems even a
fairy godmother couldn’t imagine.
Rancher/entrepeneur
Derek Corrigan has incredible
instincts for flourishing in the business world. With women, not so much. In
fact, his friends bemoan he’s King Midas where money is concerned, but his
judgment of women is pathetic--evidenced by his late wife and now the
flamboyant woman he’s been escorting of late. As far as Derek is concerned, all
he wants is to be a good dad to his children Warren, aged 8, and Meg, aged 5.
Derek suspects the worst of his new neighbor and vows to fight his attraction
for her. The only way he can protect his children and himself is to keep his
private life very private. Besides, he knows what women do to him--they always
leave and take chunks of his heart with them. He's been there, done that, had
the vaccination and is cured. Isn't he?
HOME, SWEET TEXAS HOME
excerpt:
Set
up: Derek surprised both he and Courtney when he asked her to the Winter
Madness Ball held at the local county club.
They joined the others circling the room and Derek
pulled her into his arms. He looked down at her while they twirled to a waltz.
His beautiful cobalt eyes held passion and tenderness. She sighed and rested
her head on his shoulder.
His arm tightened, snuggling her to him. His lips
brushed her hair and she thought he murmured her name. Contentment washed over
her, sending her encounter with Janelle far away.
A samba followed. He put both hands on
her hips and she rested her hands on his shoulders. They moved as one to the
rhythmic beats. Erotic fantasies invaded her mind. Tropical isles, sun drenched
beaches, surf gliding gently over their entwined bodies.
In the middle of the next number, a
fox trot, Derek guided her to the edge of the ballroom floor and out into the
lobby. Gently, he pulled her into a shadowy corner before he pressed his lips
to hers. For Courtney, they were alone in the universe.
He pulled her closer and she melted at
his touch. She slipped her hands inside his jacket and wound both arms around
him to knead his back, oblivious to anyone else in the world.
As he slowly raised his head, she felt
herself pulled into those deep blue eyes.
Her senses reeled from his kiss and
she struggled to maintain at least a shred of her sanity. “You’re a prominent
person here, and this is a public area.”
“You’re right, but I couldn’t wait a
second longer to kiss you.” He pulled her head to his chest. “Let me hold you a
few moments longer.”
With his arms gently caressing her,
she rested against his chest. When at last she raised her head to meet his
gaze, he exhaled in resignation and brushed his lips across hers. “I know, I
know. We should rejoin the others.”
HOME, SWEET TEXAS HOME is
available in print and e-book from Amazon and in e-book from other online
stores. I hope you’ll give it a read and let me know what you think.
This post is late going up because my computer attacked
itself. Actually, a virus attacked, and it took a while for my sweet Hero to
evict the evil virus. Usually, I schedule a post days ahead. Wouldn’t you know
the time I’m down to the wire, the computer gets sick? I simply cannot
understand why people think it’s fun to attach a virus to some unsuspecting
person’s email. Good heavens, people, get a life!
Many of you know that, for the most part, I grew up in West
Texas in and near Lubbock. My family moved there from Southern California when
I was seven. The area is an arid, oftentimes dusty place, but a good place to
live. My family were blue collar and lived on the wrong side of the tracks. All
my friends were from similar households, so I had no clue we were poor. Why
would I? My parents made certain I had everything I needed and most of the
things I wanted. And after all, we gave to the Salvation Army to help the poor.
Yes, I was naïve, but happy.
Lubbock, Texas known as The Hub of the Plains
Growing up in West Texas imprints that locale into your
blood. It’s called “the Land of the Tall Sky” and carries with it a certain
freedom. When I lived in Florida, for instance, I always felt the sky was too
close to the ground. Silly perhaps, but I am not the only one who has had this
experience.
In the Land Of The Tall Sky, you can see miles and miles of nothing but miles and miles
Another thing I like about the area around Lubbock is that
you can see miles and miles. Unless you are in a ravine or canyon, like
Yellowhouse Canyon, the land is flat with few trees. When I talked with my
editor in NY about being able to see a mile away, she doubted me. But it’s
true. We were discussing my heroine in HOME SWEET TEXAS HOME and her being able
to see the home of a friend.
One thing I don't like about West Texas is a sand or dust storm. Yikes! For asthmatics like my family, you can't get your breath. It's as if grit has replaced all the oxygen. There's a dust storm in HOME SWEET TEXAS HOME and in THE MOST UNSUITABLE COURTSHIP. They happen, and they are chokers.
HOME SWEET TEXAS HOME rights have reverted to me now and it
has a new cover. My Hero is currently uploading it to Amazon. Ramona Lockwood,
of Covers by Ramona, designed the new cover. No, there are no mountains in the
Lubbock area. There is a playa in the
book, though. I love the colors of this cover.
Here's the blurb:
Courtney
Madison has battled poverty her
entire twenty-five years but is determined to make a safe and happy home for
her teenaged brother after the recent death of their mom. Her mom’s illness
left Courtney with a mountain of hospital bills, her formerly sweet brother
Jimmy is now cutting class and hanging with a rough crowd, and she’s just
learned she’s being downsized in two weeks. Hanging on by the threads of a
fraying rope, she learns she’s inherited two million dollars from a kind
elderly man she befriended when he was in the hospital across the hall from her
mom. She thinks her inheritance in West Texas is the answer to all her
prayers--but Courtney learns that while money improves her life, it doesn’t
guarantee happiness. This modern Cinderella encounters problems even a fairy
godmother couldn’t imagine.
Rancher/entrepreneur Derek
Corrigan has incredible instincts for flourishing in the business world.
With women, not so much. In fact, his friends bemoan he’s King Midas where
money is concerned, but his judgment of women is pathetic--evidenced by his
late wife and now the flamboyant woman he’s been escorting of late. As far as
Derek is concerned, all he wants is to be a good dad to his children Warren,
aged 8, and Meg, aged 5. Derek suspects the worst of his new neighbor and vows
to fight his attraction for her. The only way he can protect his children and
himself is to keep his private life very private. Besides, he knows what women
do to him--they always leave and take chunks of his heart with them. He's been
there, done that, had the vaccination and is cured. Isn't he?
This is the first of three books planned for the Texas Home
series. In HOME SWEET TEXAS HOME, Derek Corrigan has been searching for his
sister and mother for years. In the second book, FINDING MY TEXAS HOME, Derek
Corrigan’s sister finds him—and meets Derek’s best friend, Rusty McCullough. The
third book is RETURN TO MY TEXAS HOME and features Rusty’s sister Elaine
McCullough and the return of her high school secret crush, Chance Stewart.
HOME SWEET TEXAS HOME will be available for purchase from
Amazon in a couple of days. If you haven’t read it, please give this sweet
contemporary romance a try.
Most of us grew up hearing fairy tales, and many romance books are those same tales retold. HOME SWEET TEXAS HOME is a modern day Cinderella story with a happily-ever-after ending that (I hope) will leave you sighing and wishing for the next in the Sweet Springs series. Those next two books in the series will be released in 2014
Welcome to the Fairy Tale Giveaway Hop sponsored by IAmAReaderNotAWriter, The Book Rat, and A Backwards Story. To celebrate the blog hop, I'm giving away two print copies US or e-books International of HOME SWEET TEXAS HOME, a sweet modern Cinderella with the requisite fairy tale ending that come after problems even a fairy godmother never dreamed.
HOME, SWEET TEXAS HOME is a sweet contemporary set in West Texas near where I grew up. My uncle and cousins were farmers who also sometimes raised cattle. Can’t keep all your eggs in one basket, right? My husband had several uncles who were ranchers and farmers, and some of his cousins still farm. Although we live in a rural area now, both Hero and I grew up in the “big city” of Lubbock.
Cowboy in a fall roundup on a West Texas ranch
To raise money to build their new house, my father-in-law raised cotton on a field at the edge of town and my husband had to help. Hero remembers clearing hundreds of tumbleweeds from the land and burning them. Needless to say, he hates tumbleweeds! After several years, the family had saved enough cash to buy a lot and build on it, with my father-in-law as contractor and doing some of the work himself. Once they’d saved enough to build, that was the end of their cotton farming. My husband was truly grateful. When he came in dirty and tired from working in the field, his mom would tell him that if he didn’t go to college, he’d be doing work like that forever. He didn’t know what his degree would be in, but he knew then that he was going to college so he’d never have to farm again. He did, and now years later, here we are living on a small acreage so he can raise fruit trees and a vegetables in a large garden. Life certainly plays tricks on us, doesn’t it?
Tumbleweed rolling with the wind
Here’s a video about tumbleweeds even my husband can’t hate.
About the time my future husband was burning tumbleweeds and “chopping cotton” (as hoeing weeds is called), my family moved to Lubbock so Dad could buy cotton. My dad picked out our house at the same edge of town as where my future husband lived. (Thank you, Dad!) We were so pleased to have our own new home. Dad had built houses when we lived in California when I was small, but the house he was building for us always ended up sold because he and mother couldn’t turn down a tidy profit. Anyway, we were happy to finally own one similar--though not nearly as well built--to those he had built in California. Our first year in Lubbock, cotton plants came up in our flowerbeds because the housing development was carved from a cotton farm.
West Texas cotton field ready to harvest
You can see that a book about that area might be close to my heart. I hope you'll let me share the story with you.
HOME SWEET TEXAS HOME Blurb
Courtney Madison has battled poverty her entire twenty-five years but is determined to make a safe and happy home for her teen-aged brother after the recent death of their mom. Her mom’s illness left Courtney with a mountain of hospital bills, her formerly sweet brother Jimmy is now cutting class and hanging with a rough crowd, and she’s just learned she’s being downsized in two weeks. Hanging on by the threads of a fraying rope, she learns she’s inherited two million dollars from a kind elderly man she befriended when he was in the hospital across the hall from her mom. She thinks her inheritance in West Texas is the answer to all her prayers--but Courtney learns that while money improves her life, it doesn’t guarantee happiness. This modern Cinderella encounters problems even a fairy godmother couldn’t imagine.
Rancher/entrepreneur Derek Corrigan has incredible instincts for flourishing in the business world. With women, not so much. In fact, his friends bemoan he’s King Midas where money is concerned, but his judgment of women is pathetic--evidenced by his late wife and now the flamboyant woman he’s been escorting of late. As far as Derek is concerned, all he wants is to be a good dad to his children Warren, aged 8, and Meg, aged 5. Derek suspects the worst of his new neighbor and vows to fight his attraction for her. The only way he can protect his children and himself is to keep his private life very private. Besides, he knows what women do to him--they always leave and take chunks of his heart with them. He's been there, done that, had the vaccination and is cured. Isn't he?
Here’s an excerpt from this modern day Cinderella story. The set up is that hero Derek Corrigan arranged for his best friend Rusty to be heroine Courtney Madison’s date for a neighborhood potluck the previous Friday. Derek would have asked Courtney himself, but he’d already made a date with an old friend, Janelle, before he learned of the party. Things didn’t go well at the social event, and now it’s Monday morning.
HOME, SWEET TEXAS HOME Excerpt
After wrestling with himself all weekend, Derek had come to apologize to Courtney. The two of them
had to keep working together for the better part of year. Somehow she’d found out he’d set her up with
Rusty and misunderstood. She left a message with Rosa that she’d arranged for the repair of his truck
and that Jimmy would be working off the cost of repairs. Didn’t even ask to speak to him.
He figured she was still mad, but he didn’t see why. What was so all-fired wrong with setting her
up with a nice guy like Rusty? He’d just tried to help her get acquainted. Where’s the crime
in that?
At church yesterday, she’d evaded him or looked right through him. That wasn’t even Christian. And just when he was getting used to having her to talk to. Of course, for Rusty she’d been all sugar and cream. Derek smiled in spite of himself. She’d made Janelle spitting mad with that little imitation act. He’d never seen anyone get the best of Janelle, but Courtney had. Everyone got it, and laughed. Except Janelle.
Oh, no. Janelle didn’t laugh at herself. She’d sulked the rest of the evening. He vowed never, but never, to ask Janelle anywhere again.
In Courtney’s house the next day, Derek grabbed a cup of coffee as he passed through the kitchen. Courtney was in the living room consulting with two painters. He stopped dead in his tracks. What the hell did she need with painters? Hadn’t this house been plenty good enough for Maggie and for Sam just as it was? Sure it had, and plenty good enough for him too. Why did Courtney have to go changing things?
When she saw him standing in the kitchen doorway, she paused. “Joe and Juan helped me get our trucks to Buddy’s garage. Buddy will call you when yours is repaired.” She stared, eyebrow lifted. “Did we have an appointment about something else today?"
An appointment? In his own house? He kept forgetting it wasn’t his house anymore. The house wasn’t Sam’s either. A pang of sorrow stabbed his heart and sliced downward. This had been his place with Sam and Maggie—the place they’d built especially for him. That was then; this was now. The whole place was hers and she could make any changes she chose. He had no say in anything she did with the house and farm. Instead, he was now the interloper in her house.
He exhaled. “No, but I’d like a word with you when you have a minute. I’ll just wait in Sam’s, um, your study.”
Ten minutes later she came in and he’d swear the room’s temperature dropped twenty degrees. She closed the door softly behind her. Man, but he had the distinct feeling she’d have preferred to slam it—and hard.
The second the door clicked shut, she launched into him. “Derek Corrigan, I realize you think I’m an incompetent social pariah. However, do not ever, ever take it upon yourself to find dates for me. No matter how nice the man might be. Do I make myself clear?”
Her quick breaths recalled the way she’d looked with only the sheet covering her breasts. Admiring her fire, he wished she wouldn’t direct it at him. Oh, hell. How had she found out about that? Rusty never would have told her.
He threw up his arms. “I thought it would be nice for you to have an escort since you don’t know anyone here yet. Okay? What’s so wrong with that?”
“For your information, I had a date the weekend before the party.”
He froze, and blood drained from his body. Who had she been out with? He’d bet it was that creep Lance Thompson. Damn the man. “I was only trying to help.”
She shook a finger in his face. “You should have asked me first. Do you have any idea how humiliated I was to learn Rusty didn’t ask me on his own? I had to hear from Janelle that I was a charity case.”
Damn, damn, damn. His fingers clenched and he wanted to punch the wall. He should have guessed Janelle was the culprit.
Courtney turned and paced. “And to think I fell for that fake visit to Rusty’s where he just happened to have fresh coffee and a cake from his mother. Oh, brother, I guess you both got a laugh out of that.”
“No, we did not laugh. Hey, you needed to meet him, right? And once he met you he said he would have asked you anyway, so what's the difference?”
When she opened her mouth and stepped toward him, he tried again before she could launch another attack. “Look, Janelle shouldn’t have told you, but you shouldn’t have made her cry, either.”
“Humph.” Courtney narrowed her eyes. “Puhleeze, me make that woman cry? Give me a break. That woman hasn’t cried since she got her first training bra.” She paced the office as if she were being paid by the step.
Man, Courtney had one smart mouth on her when her anger took over. “She cried because you called her a piranha after she tried so hard to make you feel welcome to the community.”
She stopped pacing again. “Your girlfriend certainly made no effort to welcome me. In fact, she did everything within her power to make me feel unwanted.”
Hell, how had he come to be defending Janelle? “She’s not my anything. We...um, she’s just gone through a rough divorce.” He suddenly remembered that this was Janelle’s third divorce, but Courtney didn’t need to know that. “Neither of us wants to remarry. She likes to have a presentable escort when a twosome is called for—“
“Please spare me.” She held up a hand. “I’m not interested in the sordid details of your sexual liaisons.”
“They’re not sex…” He swallowed hard. “Not liaisons of any kind, just two people going out with no strings attached. Okay?”
Courtney faced him and jammed fists on her hips. “If you believe that woman is not interested in marriage, and to you, then what I heard was right.”
Anger raced through him. How he hated gossip. He’d been hurt too deeply by rumors, first as a child about his parents’ lifestyle and poverty, and later by his wife’s escapades. No, he’d never speak a word of gossip himself. How he’d like to shut Courtney up now by kissing her senseless instead of waging this stupid argument.
“Oh yeah?” He took a deep breath and glared. “What did you hear?”
She stepped toward him and leaned into his face. “That where making money is concerned, you’re King Midas, but where women are concerned, you really are dumb as dirt.”
“Who says?” He clamped his jaw tight. Damned if he’d apologize now. He’d bet Elaine made that wisecrack. She’d been mad at him ever since grade school when he’d called her a chipmunk. “Was it Elaine?”
“Everyone who knows you says it.” She stamped her foot. “Do you hear me? Everyone!”
“Yeah, well at least Janelle is nicer than that creep Lance Thompson. I suppose you plan to keep seeing him?” He didn’t trust that man and couldn’t understand why she didn’t see through Lance’s fake so-called charm.
“As a matter of fact, I am. He’s an interesting date.”
The ring of the telephone forestalled her next comment. She gave him another of her molten glares before she picked up the receiver. “Hello.” She staggered backward to a chair. Her eyes widened as color drained from her face. “I’ll be there right away.”
He stepped forward. “What’s happened? Who’s hurt?”
With shaking hands, she leaped up and grabbed her purse and keys. “Jimmy’s been in a fight at school.”
Purchase Information
HOME, SWEET TEXAS HOME is available in print and e-book from The Wild Rose Press at www.thewildrosepress.com/caroline-clemmons-m-638.html and at Amazon, Barnes and Noble, and other online stores. I hope you’ll give it a read and let me know what you think.
And if you're interested in winning a free copy of HOME SWEET TEXAS HOME, please remember to
leave your email.
When I was a girl aged from about 11 to 13, going to spend a week with my aunt and uncle who lived south of Lubbock was a vacation. My parents would take me to my uncle’s house on a Sunday, and my uncle would bring me home later in the week. My cousins were older than I was, but I was a daydreamer and made up my own adventures and wasn’t lonely. To me, my aunt and uncle were wealthy. I realize now that they were comfortably well off, but not wealthy.
West Texas Cotton Field near Lubbock Vacations spot?
Actually, my uncle was a cotton farmer, and lucky enough to have irrigation for his crops. I loved "helping" him check the irrigation. He had an old Jeep and riding in it was fun. He was very tolerant. Since his and my mom's dad died when my mom was six, he was sort of like her substitute dad. He was twelve years older than she was, and she was the youngest sibling and probably pampered and spoiled.
Happy memories inspired me to write HOME, SWEET TEXAS HOME in a fictional area near where my aunt and uncle had lived. HOME, SWEET TEXAS HOME, is a sweet contemporary romance and is a twist on Cinderella. Here’s the blurb:
Courtney Madison
Courtney Madison has battled poverty her entire twenty-five years but is determined to make a safe and happy home for her teenaged brother after the recent death of their mom. Her mom’s illness left Courtney with a mountain of hospital bills, her formerly sweet brother Jimmy is now cutting class and hanging with a rough crowd, and she’s just learned she’s being downsized in two weeks. Hanging on by the threads of a fraying rope, she learns she’s inherited two million dollars from a kind elderly man she befriended when he was in the hospital across the hall from her mom. She thinks her inheritance in West Texas is the answer to all her prayers--but Courtney learns that while money improves her life, it doesn’t guarantee happiness. This modern Cinderella encounters problems even a fairy godmother couldn’t imagine.
Derek Corrigan
Rancher/entrepeneur Derek Corrigan has incredible instincts for flourishing in the business world. With women, not so much. In fact, his friends bemoan he’s King Midas where money is concerned, but his judgment of women is pathetic--evidenced by his late wife and now the flamboyant woman he’s been escorting of late. As far as Derek is concerned, all he wants is to be a good dad to his children Warren, aged 8, and Meg, aged 5. Derek suspects the worst of his new neighbor and vows to fight his attraction for her. The only way he can protect his children and himself is to keep his private life very private. Besides, he knows what women do to him--they always leave and take chunks of his heart with them. He's been there, done that, had the vaccination and is cured. Isn't he?
Here’s an excerpt from HOME, SWEET TEXAS HOME:
Set up: Derek surprised both he and Courtney when he asked her to the Winter Madness Ball held at the local county club.
They joined the others circling the room and Derek pulled her into his arms. He looked down at her while they twirled to a waltz. His beautiful cobalt eyes held passion and tenderness. She sighed and rested her head on his shoulder.
His arm tightened, snuggling her to him. His lips brushed her hair and she thought he murmured her name. Contentment washed over her, sending her encounter with Janelle far away. A samba followed. He put both hands on her hips and she rested her hands on his shoulders. They moved as one to the rhythmic beats. Erotic fantasies invaded her mind. Tropical isles, sun drenched beaches, surf gliding gently over their entwined bodies. In the middle of the next number, a fox trot, Derek guided her to the edge of the ballroom floor and out into the lobby. Gently, he pulled her into a shadowy corner before he pressed his lips to hers. For Courtney, they were alone in the universe. He pulled her closer and she melted at his touch. She slipped her hands inside his jacket and wound both arms around him to knead his back, oblivious to anyone else in the world. As he slowly raised his head, she felt herself pulled into those deep blue eyes. Her senses reeled from his kiss and she struggled to maintain at least a shred of her sanity. “You’re a prominent person here, and this is a public area.” “You’re right, but I couldn’t wait a second longer to kiss you.” He pulled her head to his chest. “Let me hold you a few moments longer.” With his arms gently caressing her, she rested against his chest. When at last she raised her head to meet his gaze, he exhaled in resignation and brushed his lips across hers. “I know, I know. We should rejoin the others.”
My folks moved numerous times while I was young. Our ninth move and where I lived longest was to Lubbock, Texas. The mention of the town resurrects memories--some fond, some not. I don’t miss walking home from school in a sandstorm with sand stinging exposed skin. Nope, not a bit. But other recollections bring a smile to my face.
HOME. SWEET TEXAS HOME, a sweet contemporary romance that received a ♥♥♥♥♥ Review from The Romance Studio, is set in West Texas in and near the town of Lubbock.
I have to admit I incorporated a few events that really happened, like a sandstorm. One of other the parts of the book from my life is the domino game of 42. The game was already popular when I was a kid. My parents played 42, although my mom was not good at it. She preferred canasta. But they went to 42 parties where offered. When Hero and I first moved to our present home, Hero used to play 42 with friends while I played bridge or some other game until that group sort of drifted apart. Friends of ours still play 42 once a month (among other games) at our church. I like other domino and card games, but not 42. All I see are spots swirling in front of my eyes when I try to play. But I've learned it's a popular game in rural areas.
I do feel quite loyal to the game, though, since it was invented nearby where I live in Texas. Here’s what I have discovered about the domino game of 42. Also known as Texas 42, this is a trick-taking game played with a standard set of double six dominoes. Tournaments are held in many towns, and the State Championship tournament is held in Hallettsville, Texas the first Saturday of March each year. In 2011 it was designated the official State Domino Game of Texas. You might say it's not as if there are that many domino games, but I beg to differ. There are Mexican train, chicken scratch, plain dominoes, and enough variations to confuse anyone and played with double six, double nine, and double twelve sets of dominoes. We Texans are serious about our dominoes!
42 Game in Progress Yawn, like watching paint dry IMO
Christopher Evans, a writer for the Fort Worth Star-Telegram, reported in an August 1985 article that the game of 42 originated in Garner, Parker County, Texas in 1887. Garner is a small town west of Fort Worth. According to Evans, before its name was changed, Garner was called Trappe Springs. It was there that two boys, William A Thomas and Walter Earl, reportedly invented the domino game of 42.
Evans reported that Thomas, 12, and Earl, 14, children of devout Baptists, were caught playing cards in the hayloft of a barn. Playing cards was considered sinful in those days, and the boys were disciplined for their indiscretion.
According to Evans, the two boys set out to find a way to play cards using dominos. By the fall of 1887, they had devised a four-player game using double-six dominos that incorporated bidding and trumps, very similar to the game of 42 played in Texas today.
Since domino playing was acceptable to their parents and other residents of Trappe Spring, Thomas and Earl began teaching others how to play the game. The game caught on and spread from there. The Earl and Thomas families later moved to Windom in Fannin County (north-northeast of Dallas), and the game reportedly spread from there, too.
You do not have to play 42 to read HOME, SWEET TEXAS HOME (or to have written it). Here’s a blurb and excerpt to tempt you.
Blurb:
Courtney Madison has battled poverty her entire twenty-five years but is determined to make a safe and happy home for her teenaged brother after the recent death of their mom. Her mom’s illness left Courtney with a mountain of hospital bills, her formerly sweet brother Jimmy is now cutting class and hanging with a rough crowd, and she’s just learned she’s being downsized in two weeks. Hanging on by the threads of a fraying rope, she learns she’s inherited two million dollars from a kind elderly man she befriended when he was in the hospital across the hall from her mom. She thinks her inheritance in West Texas is the answer to all her prayers--but Courtney learns that while money improves her life, it doesn’t guarantee happiness. This modern Cinderella encounters problems even a fairy godmother couldn’t imagine.
Rancher/entrepeneur Derek Corrigan has incredible instincts for flourishing in the business world. With women, not so much. In fact, his friends bemoan he’s King Midas where money is concerned, but his judgment of women is pathetic--evidenced by his late wife and now the flamboyant woman he’s been escorting of late. As far as Derek is concerned, all he wants is to be a good dad to his children Warren, aged 8, and Meg, aged 5. Derek suspects the worst of his new neighbor and vows to fight his attraction for her. The only way he can protect his children and himself is to keep his private life very private. Besides, he knows what women do to him--they always leave and take chunks of his heart with them. He's been there, done that, had the vaccination and is cured. Isn't he?
Excerpt when Jimmy comes home from school to learn his sister has been injured and that his neighbor Derek is in his sister’s bedroom:
When Jimmy saw his sister in bed, he rushed over. “Sis, what happened? What’s with the towel and the ice packs?” He frowned at Derek. “What’s going on?” She opened her mouth to explain, but nothing came out.
Derek figured the bizarre situation defied description. He patted Jimmy on the shoulder. “Don’t worry, she’s okay now. We were at the cemetery putting flowers on Sam’s and Maggie’s graves and your sister got trapped in the bathroom.” Jimmy shook his head. “I don’t understand. How could that hurt her?” Courtney sighed. “The knob came off in my hand and I couldn’t open the door. So, I climbed out the window.” Derek held out his hands to indicate the small rectangle. “A small, high window.” Jimmy looked from his sister to Derek. “I still don’t understand what happened.” Courtney snapped, “I got stuck, okay?” Now that he knew her to be okay, the week’s tension suddenly snapped Derek and he lost his perspective on the whole situation. He grimaced at Jimmy. “She, um…” He coughed to keep a straight face. “When she tried to go out the window, she got stuck with her head and one arm sticking outside and the rest of her inside.” He stood like a bird with a broken wing to imitate Courtney’s position. A grin spread across his face in spite of all his efforts not to smile. Jimmy gaped at his sister. “Courtney? But she’s always so sensible. She’s never does anything stupid.” He began to smile also. Both males burst into laughter. “Listen, if you two are so amused, go into the other room to discuss my apparently hilarious antics and leave me to suffer in peace.” In spite of her strained muscles and injuries, she threw a box of tissues in their direction. “Go on, get out of here. Now.” Derek glanced over his shoulder before he left. She’d stuffed a pillow over her ears, to block out their laughter.
Top ‘O The Mornin’ and Happy St. Patrick’s Day! If you're here on Friday, I'm a bit early, but the sentiment is sincere. Welcome to our Lucky Leprechaun Giveaway Hop from March 17th-22nd, sponsored by “I’m A Reader, Not A Writer,” "Books Complete Me," and “Author Cindy Thomas” and featuring giveaways by over two hundred bloggers. My giveaway is open worldwide and is a PDF. copy of HOME, SWEET TEXAS HOME to one person who leaves a comment. No hoops to leap through, no gazillion steps, just a comment. Easy, right? If you follow my blog or if you're already a follower and remind me, that will count as a second entry; but it's not necessary to do so to be entered the drawing.
As one who loves almost everything Irish, I love this time of year. Outside, our plants and lawn are greening. Birds are nesting. Spring is a time of renewal and hope. Our place isn't as green as Ireland, but things are pretty nice even here in North Central Texas.
March is Irish American Heritage Month
Our skies are overcast, which sets the perfect mood for curling up with a book. At our house, we are voracious readers always poised to seize any chance to kick back and read. What should you read? You knew I’d have a suggestion, didn’t you?
Downtown Lubbock, Texas
HOME, SWEET TEXAS HOME is a sweet romance set near where I grew up in West Texas. When I was ten, my family moved from a rural area to Lubbock on the high plains. It’s nothing like Ireland, except many of the pioneers who settled there were of Irish or Scot-Irish descent.
Although my family weren’t among those who founded Lubbock or other towns nearby, my hodge-podge ancestry includes many Scot-Irish, and that gives me added reason to celebrate St. Patrick’s Day. As if I need a reason!
Derek's Sister will find him in book two
I love family-oriented books, and love the extended family in this one. HOME, SWEET TEXAS HOME is the first of a trilogy about the Corrigan family and their friends and neighbors. Reviews were very good, such as 5 Starsfrom The Romance Studio. The next book will feature Derek’s long lost sister who will be wooed by his best friend, Rusty McCullough. I’m already building the book in my mind and have an outline written down for the time I have a chance to work on that book.
Derek Corrigan is a true hero. The victim of an abusive father, Derek was adopted at age eight by Sam and Maggie Warren. The Warrens were wonderful parents who loved and encouraged Derek until he excelled at everything he did...with one exception. Women! Derek’s wonderful gift for business failed him with women. In HOME, SWEET TEXAS HOME, Derek is a widower with two small children who are his life’s focus. Meg is five and Warren is eight. Although Derek is involved in numerous investments, he considers himself a rancher. Remembering desperation all too well, he uses his wealth and time to give back to those in need, especially his neighbors. He designed and built a gorgeous Spanish-style house across the road from Sam Warren's Georgian-styled ranch home in which he’d grown up.
Courtney Madison is worthy of being called heroine. She is all about helping others and earning respect. Her policeman father died when she was eleven, only a year after her brother Jimmy was born. Courtney’s mom was ill-equipped to earn a living, and the family struggled. Then, when Courtney began junior high, her mom was diagnosed with myasthenia gravis and declined until she soon was unable to work. Courtney picked up the slack by working at an Baker's Books, independent Dallas bookstore, after school. When her mom died, Courtney became Jimmy’s guardian. As the book opens, Courtney is manager of the store, but a new chain store has opened nearby and tanked the independent store’s sales. In an attempt to hold on to his investment, Mr. Baker is coming out of retirement and Courtney and her assistant manager are out of a job. In addition, her formerly sweet brother has become surly and hangs out with a rough crowd. She’s buried under a mountain of hospital bills from her mom’s care, looking for a new job, and confronting her brother’s new attitude. Desperate and barely holding on to a fraying rope, she wonders how or if she can recover and retain Jimmy's guardianship.
Enter Sam Warren, Derek’s adopted dad--or at least Sam's Last Will and Testament. When Sam was hospitalized in Dallas across the room from their mom, he met Courtney and Jimmy. After Sam went home, he corresponded with Courtney. Poor Sam remembered Courtney with a sizable legacy.
Sam left Courtney a pot of gold.
Did he ever! He left her an estate valued at well over two million dollars! The catch, as Derek explains to her, is that she has to move to West Texas and live on Sam’s farm for one year. Woo Hoo! Not a catch where she's concerned. Instead, she sees a chance to get Jimmy away from his new rough friends, pay off her mother’s medical bills, and maybe...just maybe...get herself a few new things. Rejoicing, she believes her inheritance in West Texas is the answer to all her prayers.
But Courtney learns that while money improves her life, it doesn’t guarantee happiness. You can bet this modern Cinderella encounters problems even a fairy godmother couldn’t imagine! Yes, I'm afraid I was mean to her and threw obstacles in her path. You'll thank me, though, because it makes her triumph even greater. In addition, Derek and Courtney each have secrets which haunt them and complicate their lives.
Available in Print or E-book
And here’s an excerpt from the opening of HOME, SWEET TEXAS HOME:
Courtney Madison rushed down the main aisle of Baker’s Books. Warmth enveloped her, a welcome change from the freezing Dallas weather outside. She was hurrying toward her office at the back of the store when a man stepped from the mystery section. Their collision knocked off his western hat and a stack of books from his hands.
“I’m so sorry.” She leaned over to retrieve his things.
“My fault. Let me help.” He bent and grabbed the Stetson.
Her head collided with his and her purse slid from her grasp. Pain radiated across her scalp. She’d be sure to have a bump tomorrow.
Both straightened and stepped back.
She stared at the books she’d knocked from his arms. “How could I have been so clumsy? You must be wondering what’s keeping the rest of the Three Stooges…” When she raised her head, her sentence trailed away.
Cobalt blue eyes met her gaze. He stood a good seven inches taller than she, which put him at about three inches over six feet. A deep tan with crinkled lines at the corner of each eye suggested a man at home in wind and weather. The white line of a scar on one cheek and a tiny crook in his nose added ruggedness to his otherwise breathtaking good looks. Close your mouth before you drool on him.
When she knelt again to retrieve the half dozen or so books he’d dropped, he bent to help, his large tanned hands making short work of the task. A unique scent teased her nostrils, a blend of subtle woodsy toiletries.
He leaned nearer, speaking low. “I thought tornado season started in March, not January.”
A smile spread across his face and created a twinkle in his gorgeous eyes. She knew he meant her, but after an upsetting meeting with her brother’s school counselor this afternoon, combined with her formerly sweet brother’s recent behavior changes, she felt as if she’d been sucked into the vortex of a tornado herself.
Her face heated in a blush. “Speaking in defense of this particular tornado—” she pointed to herself “—I was whirling along nicely until I hit your brick wall.” She pointed to his broad chest and smiled.
He swept up her purse and offered it to her as he rose. She recognized sparks of interest in his twinkling eyes.
“Thanks.” Courtney stood and slid the bag’s strap over her shoulder. Something about him tugged at her memory, but surely she’d recall meeting a man this attractive.
He shifted his reclaimed stack of mysteries and his hat while he gave her an appraising look. The twinkle in his eyes faded and his brows knit. “Are you Courtney Madison?”
Perplexed he knew her name, she nodded, but still couldn’t place him. “Have we met somewhere?”
When he held out his right hand, his smile was polite but cool. “I’m Derek Corrigan.”
“Of course, Sam Warren’s son. Sam showed me photos of you and your children.” She took his warm hand in hers, making her wish she’d worn gloves on her errand. “I was so sorry I couldn’t attend Sam’s funeral.”
Her throat closed and she fought the tears that gathered in her eyes at the mention of Sam’s name. Sighing, she patted their clasped right hands with her left. “And I’m so sorry you lost Sam. Even though you kept your birth name, I know he was your father in all the ways that count.”
“That he was.” His voice grew gravelly. “Appreciated your note and the flowers.”
She smiled up at him. “I’ve missed hearing from him. He was such a dear man.”
He eased his fingers from hers and looked around. “Is there somewhere we could speak in private?”
Embarrassed she’d held his hand for so long, Courtney also became aware that the only other customer in the store now inched closer, obviously eavesdropping. “Let’s go to my office, shall we?”
Be sure to leave your email address with your comment if you want to be entered for the free copy of HOME, SWEET TEXAS HOME. To discover the other blogs on the Lucky Leprechaun Giveaway Hop, click here.
In keeping with St. Patrick's Day, I'm sending you a couple of Irish blessings:
These things I warmly wish for you-
Someone to love, Some work to do, A bit O' sun, A bit O' cheer, And a guardian angel always near.
May you always have these blessings-- A soft breeze when the summer comes A warm fireside in winter And always--the warm soft smile of a friend.
West Texas - where there are "miles and miles of miles and miles"
HOME, SWEET TEXAS HOME is a sweet contemporary set in West Texas near where I grew up. My uncle and cousins were farmers who also sometimes raised cattle. Can’t keep all your eggs in one basket, right? Not with Texas weather so unpredictable. My husband had several uncles who were ranchers and farmers, and some of his cousins still farm. Although we live in a rural area now, both Hero and I grew up in the “big city” of Lubbock. If you've ever been to Lubbock, you realize that's a joke. It's about 250,000 people, and it still has a small town atmosphere. But since it's the largest town for 120 miles, it's a major shopping and business center.
LubbockCotton Field
To raise money to build their new house, my father-in-law raised cotton on a field at the edge of town and my husband helped. Large-scale farmers had lots of equipment, but my father-in-law had to hire someone to plow the land for planting. The rest was accomplished by hand--Hero's, his dad's, and eventually his younger brother's hands. Hero remembers initially clearing hundreds of tumbleweeds from the land and burning them to ready the plot. Needless to say, he hates tumbleweeds! After several years, the family had saved enough cash to buy a lot-and-a-half and build a house on it, with my father-in-law as contractor and doing some of the work himself. Once they’d saved enough to build, that was the end of their cotton farming. My husband was grateful. I'll bet his dad was even more grateful, because he did all this farming while holding down a full-time job.
Texas Tech Univ. is in Lubbock
During the time Hero and his brother worked in the cotton field, when they came in dirty and tired, their mom would tell them that if they didn’t go to college, they’d be doing back-breaking work like that forever. Hero said he didn’t know then what his degree would be, but he knew that he was going to college so he’d never have to farm again. He graduated from Texas Tech with an electrical engineering degree that he used in the aeroapace industry. So what did we do as soon as he reached the peak of his career? You guessed it! We bought a small acreage in a rural area, and here we are today. Life certainly plays tricks on us, doesn’t it?
Here’s a video about tumbleweeds even my husband can’t hate.
About the time my future husband was burning tumbleweeds, “chopping cotton” (hoeing weeds from young cotton rows) and "pulling bolls" (harvesting the cotton), my family moved to Lubbock. Dad had been managing cotton gins, but he was making more money buying and selling cotton. No, he didn't have to cart the bales around. The process involves samples of each crop for grade, which is where the term "fair to middling" originated. (In West Texas, when you ask someone how they're doing, often the answer will be "fair to middlin'.")
Lubbock, Texas, dubbed the Hub of the Plains
First, my dad bought our house near the same edge of town as where my husband's family lived. We were so pleased to have our own new home. When I was small and we lived in California, Dad had built houses. But each house supposedly built for us ended up sold because of a local housing shortage. He and Mother could never turn down a tidy profit. Anyway, in Lubbock we were happy to finally own one similar--though not nearly as well constructed--to those Dad had built in California. The first year we lived in Lubbock, cotton plants came up in our flowerbeds because the housing development was carved from a cotton farm. We thought that was funny. Yes, we lived simply and took pleasure in simple things.
You can see that even a contemporary book about that area might be close to my heart. Here’s an excerpt from this modern day Cinderella story in which a Dallas city girl, Courtney Madison, inherits property and investments in West Texas. The set up is that hero Derek Corrigan had arranged for his best friend Rusty to be Courtney’s date for a neighborhood potluck the previous Friday. Derek might have asked Courtney himself, but he’d already arranged a date with an old friend, Janelle, before he learned of the party. Things didn’t go well for Derek and Janelle at the party, and now it’s Monday morning. It helps if you know that the house Courtney inherited is the one in which Derek grew up and that it was Derek's adopted father, Sam, who left Courtney the legacy, but the will binds Derek and Courtney to work together for a year. Derek now lives across the road.
Family-oriented contemporary romance. Cover represents Derek and his two children, Meg and Warren. Courtney's dog is named Bingo.
HOME, SWEET TEXAS HOME excerpt:
Derek Corrigan
After wrestling with himself all weekend, Derek had come to apologize to Courtney. The two of them had to keep working together for the better part of a year. Somehow she’d found out he’d set her up with Rusty and misunderstood. She left a message with Rosa that she’d arranged for the repair of his truck and that Jimmy would be working off the cost of repairs. Didn’t even ask to speak to him.
He figured she was still mad, but he didn’t see why. What was so all-fired wrong with setting her up with a nice guy like Rusty? Hells bells, he’d just tried to help her get acquainted. Where’s the crime in that?
At church yesterday, she’d evaded him or looked right through him. That wasn’t even Christian. And just when he was getting used to having her to talk to. Of course, for Rusty she’d been all sugar and cream. Derek smiled in spite of himself. She’d made Janelle spitting mad with that little imitation act. He’d never seen anyone get the best of Janelle, but Courtney had. Everyone got it, and laughed. Except Janelle.
Oh, no. Janelle didn’t laugh at herself. She’d sulked the rest of the evening. He vowed never, but never, to ask Janelle anywhere again.
In Courtney’s house the next day, Derek grabbed a cup of coffee as he passed through the kitchen. Courtney was in the living room consulting with two painters. He stopped dead in his tracks. What the hell did she need with painters? Hadn’t this house been plenty good enough for Maggie and for Sam just as it was? Sure it had, and plenty good enough for him too. Why did Courtney have to go changing things?
Courtney Madison
When she saw him standing in the kitchen doorway, she paused. “Joe and Juan helped me get our trucks to Buddy’s garage. Buddy will call you when yours is repaired.” She stared, eyebrow lifted. “Did we have an appointment about something else today?"
An appointment? In his own house? He kept forgetting it wasn’t his house anymore. The house wasn’t Sam’s either. A pang of sorrow stabbed his heart and sliced downward. This had been his place with Sam and Maggie—the place they’d built especially for him. That was then; this was now. The whole place was hers and she could make any changes she chose. He had no say in anything she did with the house and farm. Instead, he was now the interloper in her house.
He exhaled. “No, but I’d like a word with you when you have a minute. I’ll just wait in Sam’s, um, your study.”
Ten minutes later she came in and he’d swear the room’s temperature dropped twenty degrees. She closed the door softly behind her. Man, but he had the distinct feeling she’d have preferred to slam it—and hard.
The second the door clicked shut, she launched into him. “Derek Corrigan, I realize you think I’m an incompetent social pariah. However, do not ever, ever take it upon yourself to find dates for me. No matter how nice the man might be. Do I make myself clear?”
Her quick breaths recalled the way she’d looked with only the sheet covering her breasts. Admiring her fire, he wished she wouldn’t direct it at him. Oh, hell. How had she found out about that? Rusty never would have told her.
He threw up his arms. “I thought it would be nice for you to have an escort since you don’t know anyone here yet. Okay? What’s so wrong with that?”
“For your information, I had a date the weekend before the party.”
He froze, and blood drained from his body. Who had she been out with? He’d bet it was that creep Lance Thompson. Damn the man. “I was only trying to help.”
She shook a finger in his face. “You should have asked me first. Do you have any idea how humiliated I was to learn Rusty didn’t ask me on his own? I had to hear from Janelle that I was a charity case.”
Damn, damn, damn. His fingers clenched and he wanted to punch the wall. He should have guessed Janelle was the culprit.
Courtney turned and paced. “And to think I fell for that fake visit to Rusty’s where he just happened to have fresh coffee and a cake from his mother. Oh, brother, I guess you both got a laugh out of that.”
“No, we did not laugh. Hey, you needed to meet him, right? And once he met you he said he would have asked you anyway, so what's the difference?”
When she opened her mouth and stepped toward him, he tried again before she could launch another attack. “Look, Janelle shouldn’t have told you, but you shouldn’t have made her cry, either.”
“Humph.” Courtney narrowed her eyes. “Puhleeze, me make that woman cry? Give me a break. That woman hasn’t cried since she got her first training bra.” She paced the office as if she were being paid by the step.
Man, Courtney had one smart mouth on her when her anger took over. “She cried because you called her a piranha after she tried so hard to make you feel welcome to the community.”
She stopped pacing again. “Your girlfriend certainly made no effort to welcome me. In fact, she did everything within her power to make me feel unwanted.”
Hell, how had he come to be defending Janelle? “She’s not my anything. We...um, she’s just gone through a rough divorce.” He suddenly remembered that this was Janelle’s third divorce, but Courtney didn’t need to know that. “Neither of us wants to remarry. She likes to have a presentable escort when a twosome is called for—“
“Please spare me.” She held up a hand. “I’m not interested in the sordid details of your sexual liaisons.”
“They’re not sex…” He swallowed hard. “Not liaisons of any kind, just two people going out with no strings attached. Okay?”
Courtney faced him and jammed fists on her hips. “If you believe that woman is not interested in marriage, and to you, then what I heard was right.”
Anger raced through him. Dear God, how he hated gossip. He’d been hurt too deeply by rumors, first as a child about his parents’ lifestyle and poverty, and later by his former wife’s escapades. No, he’d never speak a word of gossip himself. How he’d like to shut Courtney up now by kissing her senseless instead of waging this stupid argument.
“Oh yeah?” He took a deep breath and glared. “What did you hear?”
She stepped toward him and leaned into his face. “That where making money is concerned, you’re King Midas, but where women are concerned, you really are dumb as dirt.”
“Who says?” He clamped his jaw tight. Damned if he’d apologize now. He’d bet Elaine made that wisecrack. She’d been mad at him ever since grade school when he’d called her a chipmunk. “Was it Elaine?”
“Everyone who knows you says it.” She stamped her foot. “Do you hear me? Everyone!”
“Yeah, well at least Janelle is nicer than that creep Lance Thompson. I suppose you plan to keep seeing him?” He didn’t trust that man and couldn’t understand why she didn’t see through Lance’s fake so-called charm.
“As a matter of fact, I am. He’s an interesting date.”
The ring of the telephone forestalled her next comment. She gave him another of her molten glares before she picked up the receiver. “Hello.”
She staggered backward to a chair. Her eyes widened as color drained from her face. “I’ll be there right away.”
He stepped forward. “What’s happened? Who’s hurt?”
With shaking hands, she leapt up and grabbed her purse and keys. “Jimmy’s been in a fight at school.”
HOME, SWEET TEXAS HOME is available in print and e-book from The Wild Rose Press at www.thewildrosepress.com/caroline-clemmons-m-638.html, and at Amazon, Barnes and Noble, and other online stores. I hope you’ll give it a read and let me know what you think.
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