The Steam Room

Thank you to Michele Zurlo for giving me this opportunity.  Promotion is even harder than writing a story in the first place. 

We writers have so many people in our heads.  Sometimes we'll be with family or other people and snippets of dialogue or plot will pop into our minds.  We talk to ourselves, forgetting that we're in public, because we're wound up in our stories.  I often wonder what "normal" people do with their fantasies.  How can you not want to make up stories, and even better, write them down?  Our characters are real to us.  They live and breathe, and we can't rest until they jump off the page to our readers. Because that's what we want when we, ourselves, read. 

Blurb:  Former gunslinger turned preacher Prescott MacKay now combines ranching with his own brand of preaching. Isis Garrett arrives in Paloverde, Texas with the other mail order brides, but she has no intention of actually becoming a bride. She plans to open a library with the two trunks of books she's toted across the country to West Texas. Pres offers her a spot in the church building. Attracted to the sweetly rounded Isis, he finds himself hanging around more than he should. She shows him no encouragement. In fact, she actively makes it clear she doesn't want anything to do with him or with any man. Can Pres battle past her antipathy and prove to her he's one of the good guys? Will Isis let herself forget the past and see the cowboy preacher for the man she’s been waiting for all her life?

Buy Link:  http://www.thewildrosepress.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=195&products_id=4677

Check out Jane's other titles HERE.

Website Link:  http://www.janeleopoldquinn.com

Excerpt: 

“You’re beautiful when you laugh.”

She gazed back at him in dismay.

He released her neck, but cupped her chin instead. Her lips parted invitingly, his eyelids lowered to half mast, and he kissed her. He closed his mouth over hers and owned her. Lord, she was sweet, and, thank you, Lord, she responded. He lost himself in her. “Isis,” he murmured when he took a much needed breath. “I can’t believe how deep you’ve burrowed into my heart. I think about you all the time.” He brushed his lips down over her chin to her neck.

She shivered. Her fingers clutched his shoulders.

“I say the vows when I marry couples, and I want to say them to you.”

Her body tensed.

He felt her trying to bring her arms together, trying to close him out. Sweet little hands landed on his chest, delicately at first. Her fingertips brushed over his nipples.

By accident?

Again. Again.

Not by accident. He groaned. It ended on a sigh. Now he shivered. He just wanted to wrestle her to the ground and have at her whole body. Kiss her. Get back to her lips. Her mouth. He nibbled at her, gently bit at her lower lip. Her moan vibrated against his chest, the sexy throb in her throat resonated in his ears.

“Pres.”

God, he wanted to do lewd and wanton things to her. Take her hair down, lay it over her breasts, brush the ends of it teasingly over her nipples. Kiss her belly. Surely her skin there was as satiny soft as her breasts. Her dark woman’s hair would contrast against her white skin. His hand drifted down her body to press on her mound through the layers of skirt and petticoats.

She jerked, arching against him.

It was the jolt he felt. Her startled gasp that brought him to his senses. He pushed her away, arms straight out, fingers cupping her shoulders. Her face had every expression he could think of—shock, confusion, sensuality, desire. He had the same feelings in his heart. His cock ached, stretched out to the full length and breadth as it could be and still be confined in his pants. “I’m sorry,” he whispered.

Isis opened her mouth to speak but all that came out was a huff of breath. Her shoulders slumped. Defeated. Why did she keep doing this? Responding to him. And why did he always back off?

“Isis, I can’t seem to keep my hands off you.”

“I…I don’t understand.”

“I want you. You’re all I think about. I know you say you don’t want a husband. Why not? What happened to you?”

TSR: Tell us about Hot Under the Collar.

Jane:  Hot Under the Collar began when a group of writers decided to write a series of mail order bride stories.  We brainstormed a west Texas town where lonely cowboys and ranchers lived, but that town was the only connection. Each story would be independent.  My hero is a former bounty hunter turned minister.  In the dusty towns and deserts of Texas he found God.  The heroine is a prickly librarian raised in Egypt.  She comes west to escape a disastrous romance and swears she'll never get involved with another man.  All she wants to do is bring books to the Wild West.  She doesn't count on the gentling influence of the cowboy/preacher.  The past is just that.  The past. Life starts anew when you meet The One.

TSR: What inspires your characters?

Jane:  I seem to be attracted to heroes with rough backgrounds, loners.  My heroines are wary, slow to recognize that they care.  Hm…reflective of real life?  I love to try to bring together two emotionally wounded creatures, because I whole heartedly believe in Happily Ever After.

TSR: You’ve recently entered the world of the self-published. What led you to take the plunge? How do you like it so far?

Jane:  I received the rights back to two short stories that had been previously e-published. Since they wouldn't do anyone any good sitting in my file drawers, I appreciate that self-pubbing has become fairly quick and easy.  My long-time experience as a legal secretary made the formatting process understandable. I hired a cover artist who created two fabulous covers. The Smashwords site is easy to navigate, and they even respond quickly to questions.  At the moment, I've only published the two previously published stories, but using the three major self-pubbing sites, Smashwords, Amazon, and B&N will open up a whole new world for publishing backlists.  So far, it's too soon to wallow in my sales, but at least my stories are out there again.

TSR: You have an MM novel coming soon. What led you to dip your foot in that pond?

Jane:  M/M is a pond I never thought to write, but never say never.   I decided to respond to a call for submission about military men, cops, and other men of danger.  I've written several former military men and like the feeling that, in my own little way, I'm honoring their service to our nation.  Anyway, my mind spun around scenarios and characters.  Two gay Chicago cops appeared to me.  I considered turning one of the cops into a woman since I'm so much more familiar with writing M/F, but once you have characters in your mind, you just honestly cannot change them.  Names and book title came quickly after that.  I had to do some research and reading about man on man sex, but I never let myself forget that I'm writing a romance.  The growth of love in a relationship is an important part of my books no matter what the character pairings are.  Love is love, and everyone desires it.  I'll Be Your Last will be published by Siren in January 2012.

TSR: Describe your ideal vacation.

Jane:   Oh, wow, ideal vacation.  Although I'm an American, the country of my heart is England. There are so many areas there that are my favorites:  a person never tires of London, then there's Salisbury with its cathedral, Bath with the Roman baths and its connection to Jane Austen.  The Lake District is lovely.  The peaks and dales of Scotland are breathtaking.  But now that I'm thinking of it, Roman ruins are my real thing. That's why I love Bath, Rome, and a fantastic 2nd Century Roman villa in Southern Germany that's being restored.  

TSR: If you cook, do crafty stuff, or have a hobby, please share the details with readers.

Jane:  My idea of gourmet cooking is the George Foreman grill and the microwave.  Besides writing, my passion is miniatures and building and designing doll houses and room boxes.  I also love to create silk flower arrangements. 

TSR: What’s next for you?

Jane:  I have two series I've been working on.  One is historical western, the other small town contemporaries.  Both are favorite topics of mine, so it's kind of hard to decide which to pursue.