Arizona Sunset-- Arizona historical book 1

For the next seven weeks, I plan to post a snippet from each of the Arizona historical romances. My interest in doing it comes from my decision to re-edit the first four to be sure they stand up with the last three.

If you are a writer, you know that your abilities grow the more you write. I felt I could bring something to the earlier books that I wanted them to have. The first was actually written in the 1990s, when the craft of writing itself had different expectations. The story held up well as did the characters, which made it worth taking time to edit once again.

If you already own this book, go to Amazon Manage your Content and find your Kindle, requesting an update for it. Never delete it there or you'd have to either buy it again or email me. Amazon though would have sent you the update if you had your device set to request them.

Arizona Sunset begins in 1883 and travels from Tucson into southern Arizona and concludes in Tombstone. It's about a relationship, a time in history, and a part of the country.

Sam and Abby don't meet in a conventional way and their marriage is begun with expectations on both sides that prove to be unrealistic-- not too unusual in many marriages. Theirs though has a few additional complications.

Excerpt:

She put a few more sticks of wood into the stove. She remembered Sam saying he had potatoes and salt pork. How difficult could it be to peel potatoes and fry them with some salt pork? She set about finding a knife, then the potatoes.

When Sam returned to the kitchen washed up and in clean and dry clothes, the potatoes had been more or less peeled. The more being a lot of potato was in the sink with the peelings and the less meaning a lot of peeling remained adhered to the potatoes, but she did have them in a large pan and was stirring them The salt pork was frying on the griddle.

There was no way for her to hide the cloth bound around her finger, but she hoped he would not comment.

“Cut yourself?"

"That’s a stupid question,” she said rudely, immediately wishing she could take back the words as she saw his face pale. She had said something more caustic than she’d intended. “I just meant it should be obvious.”

"To somebody who isn't a dummy.” He walked to the sink and pumped water into a glass, seeming to inhale it in one swallow.

"I didn't mean it that way," she said. "I'm sorry. I didn't take your apology earlier very well. Are you going to take mine more graciously?"

He managed a smile around the swollen places on his lips and cheeks. "We'll start over."

"Before or after we got married?"

"Was that a mistake?"

She managed a shrug. “Was it?”

"Maybe."

Something skittered at her feet and Abigail let out a shriek.

He was at her side almost instantly. "What is it?"

"Mouse," she said in a small voice.

"Mouse?" he repeated with disbelief. "Surely you've seen a mouse before."

"Of course," she glowered at him. "I just don't like them, that's all." She looked nervously around her booted feet grateful she was also wearing her riding skirt, not a long skirt where it could get up inside it. The thought made her tremble.

Sam grabbed his gun from the table. "If he comes back, yell."

Her mouth dropped open. "You wouldn't shoot him in the house, surely?"

He smiled again, that devilish smile that, even bruised as it was, turned her insides to mush. "You want me to set a trap? I guess that'd work too."

She realized then he was teasing her and felt it doing strange things to her insides to realize that he had a sense of humor.

He pointed to the stove and she saw the smoke. "Oh no," she cried, heading for her fork and finding his hand there first. He took the salt pork from the heat and deposited it on the plate she'd readied for it. It looked more like burnt offerings than food.

Sam looked at the potatoes, which were a mix of raw and burnt too, and then he looked at her.

"I have a small confession to make," she said, looking down at her folded hands.

"I have a feeling I can guess what it is."

"When I told you I could cook, I lied."

"So I see."

"I'm sorry. I shouldn't have deceived you."

Sam had suffered a lot worse deception from women and thought if that was the only way she deceived him, he wouldn't complain. He doubted it would prove to be true. Experience was a hard taskmaster, and he'd learned his lessons on some of the hardest.

Bound for the Hills excerpt

Willy has been writing dime novels with a fictional hero-- or so she thought.

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    Pulling off his hat, he saw she was in the doorway to what appeared to be the kitchen. “Please come in and tell me about Holly. I wasn’t very polite to you and am sorry for that.”

    “You did what Holly would’ve with a stranger approaching that way. Sorry I startled you, Miss Butler.”

    “You have come a long way. Would you like a cup of coffee, something to eat?”

    He handed her the flour sack. “I did bring you some supplies from Payson.”

    She looked in the sack and smiled. “I don’t smoke.” She handed him the Luckys.

    “I don’t always either, but there are times.” He put the pack into his shirt pocket.

    She smiled. “Like when you are sent after a crazy woman?”

    “That would qualify.” Reluctantly, he grinned.

    “I’d love to hear how Holly is, but why don’t we eat first. I started a pot of beans this morning, flavored with ham. I think they’re ready.”

    “Sounds real good, ma’am.”

    “Willy.”

    He smiled then as he followed her into the kitchen where there was a small table with two chairs. She set down a small bowl for the little dog and then dished up their food.

    After eating, he sat back in the chair and studied the beautiful woman across from him. She was nothing like he had expected.

    “You haven’t told me your name,” she said as she poured them each another cup of coffee.

     “Cole Taggert.”

a review

A review for Bound for the Hills. If you don't do reviews for what you read or buy, really consider taking some extra time and doing it. It means a lot to future buyers as well as whoever put it out. Even a one sentence review that you liked it helps the writer get more benefits from Amazon.

"When a fan of Historical Western Romance genre books goes to bed at 4:00 am after finishing a story, you have a winner from the author. Then you can't sleep because it is rolling around in your head. I want to be in the Taggert family! The rough lifestyle and often violent situations in the wild areas of Arizona in the early 1900's, doesn't deter me from loving the history of those times. Beautiful landscapes of the mountains, greens of the valleys and lush lakes of the hills makes me want to time travel. This author has the writing talent to keep you tied to the story-line even though you go from San Francisco to Tucson to Payson and into the mountains and never lose track of the people you are reading about. The name Wilhelmina Agatha Tremaine Butler itself makes you wonder where this book is going. Willy lets you see her life in the mountains and appreciate the struggles she had in life to achieve notoriety and find love. Added to this story is a cute dog, her newborn puppies and lighthearted smiles as the animals romp into the cabin high above busy towns. I highly recommend this book and the entire series so you can encounter the Taggert men who settle on ranches in Arizona and meet the women strong enough to love these rough country hombres."

excerpt from Bound for the Hills

The seventh Arizona historical romance is out and on sale for the next week. The link is alongside. Here's an excerpt:

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    Boots on the porch had both them looking toward the door when Vince came through. “You don’t obey orders worth a damn,” he said as he kicked off his boots and walked to the table.

    “When they make sense maybe… sometimes.” Cole smiled and shook his brother’s hand. “You quit work early.”

    “Had some mail.” He set a pile of letters on the counter. “Saw this in town too.” He handed Cole a paperback book. “Thought while you were laid up, you might like to read the new one.”

    Cole looked down at the cover of the book where a man stood, legs spread wide with a gun pointed at the reader. “What the hell is this?”

    “The latest edition of the Taggert family outlaws.” Vince laughed.

    “Taggerts?” He stared at the title—The Last Taggert Faces His Fate with Guns Blazing.

    “Haven’t you seen them before?”

    “You are joking? You have this made up to be funny?” Disgusted, he threw it down on the table.

    Vince poured himself some coffee as Holly rose to get the now protesting Josh. “Not at all. There are more of them out there. I figured you had to have seen them.”

    “Who is this Will Tremaine?”

    “No idea.”

    “You don’t think Pa would be writing these?” It would be just like the old man.

    “He claims not when I showed him the last one. I think this is the seventeenth.”

    “My God, why?”

    “They sell. That’s the reason things ends up in stores.”

    “How come our name?  Just a coincidence?” This would not be good for his working for law officers or had it been better than he imagined. He wondered if Trask had seen it.

    “You tell me. Family came out of Kansas with guns blazing.” Obviously, Vince found it amusing. Cole didn’t see it likewise. He’d worked to live down that name, and here was this jasper making it infamous. He’d like to find Will Tremaine and poke him in the nose.

    “It’d just make it into a book,” Vince said sitting across from him with his coffee. He chuckled.

    Cole skimmed through the book. It started off with gunplay and looked as though it didn’t let up. This Taggert could take down seven men in a shootout and not even consider it an unusual day. He’d have laughed if it hadn’t been carrying his name. He wondered if someone like that could be sued to get them to stop. “How long have these been out?”

    “I didn’t see the first ones. They come out and disappear as fast as they are on the shelves. I’d guess some years since there are seventeen of them.”

    “This Tremaine fellow write about more than us? That is not us but using our name?”

    “A lot more. He’s pretty famous. People wait for the next one. From what Del said at the store, these go the fastest, but I saw one about a marshal, someone called the Dancing Outlaw, not sure of the name, then the Frisco Kid. That fellow came from San Francisco and…”

    Cole interrupted him. “You read them?”

    “Just the Taggert ones. They’re kind of fun. I like the invincible part especially.” He grinned as he saw Cole’s irritation. “You’re taking this too seriously, brother. Relax. They can’t arrest us for what happens in a dime novel.”

    “You sure?”

Trailer: https://youtu.be/SzytwKPgJ9o

Available at Amazon on sale until April 1: http://www.amazon.com/Bound-For-The-Hills-Historicals-ebook/dp/B01D7L0IL4
All other sites: https://www.draft2digital.com/book/157077
Paperback when CreateSpace gets it ready later this week