"Stop and Smell the Roses" Blog Bouquet

Howdy ya'll!

Welcome to Tanya Writes Romance! Please leave a comment for a chance to win an e-copy of Marrying Minda, my current release at The Wild Rose Press. Check back tomorrow for the winning name drawn from my cowboy hat!

I'm part of the Cactus Rose posse, authors who write romance set in the Old West. There's something about a guy in a Stetson...does it for me every time. Marrying Minda is the tale of a mail-order bride who finds herself married to the wrong man, and with a daughter of my own getting married in a few weeks, I guess you could say I've got weddings on my mind big-time.

I'm thrilled and humbled at Marrying Minda being a best-seller at The Wild Rose Press for four weeks now. For this I must thank my terrific editor Helen Andrew and cover designer, Nicola Martinez for their amazing talent and professionalism.

I hope you like the excerpt and blurb posted below. Please check out my website. I've always got some kind of contest going on. And I sure hope to see you at Petticoats and Pistols, the all-Western site where I am a regular blogger along with a dozen other authors of western romance. This week's Excerpt Week!

Don't forget: after leaving your comment here, mosey on to each author blog linked below. Everybody's got prizes and fun going on. See you again real soon!
http://amberleighwilliams.blogspot.com
http://authorsstudio.blogspot.com

http://bettyhanawa.blogspot.com
http://christineclemetson.blogspot.com
http://findagreatromance.blogspot.com
http://www.freewebs.com/lesmora/apps/blog/
http://freewebs.com/teriwilson/apps/blog/
http://hywelalyn.blogspot.com
http://jennfrancesca.blogspot.com
http://lianalaverentz.blogspot.com

http://plotsandthoughts.blogspot.com

http://traveltheages.blogspot.com


http://grgiall.blogspot.com
http://LindaHopeLee.blogspot.com
http://joycemoore.blogspot.com
http://lje1.wordpress.com
http://noveltrails.blogspot.com
http://tinagayle.blogspot.com
http://willtravelforromance.blogspot.com

Blurb:

Mail-order bride Minda Becker arrives in Paradise, Nebraska and eagerly marries the handsome man who meets her stagecoach. His wedding kiss melts her toes. Too bad he's the wrong bridegroom. Cowboy Brixton Haynes can't deny he'd like a wedding night with the eastern beauty, but the last thing he needs is to be saddled with a wife and the three children his brother left behind. First chance he gets, he'll be back point riding along the Goodnight. But leaving Minda proves to be much harder than he expected.

Excerpt:

Night fell soft and silent, and the snuffles of Norman Dale’s livestock comforted Brixton with memories of the trail. Lord, he couldn’t wait to get back.
Habit had him walk quiet as he could from the barn to the house. Even the tiniest noise sparked stampedes on the trail, so his footsteps were cautious wherever he went.

At the back porch, he set down Minda’s valises and paused to peek in the back window. Her lush curves swayed beneath the simple dress as she readied the children for bed, and he couldn’t fill his vision fast enough. The memory of her soft sweet cheek brushed his fingertips once more, and his heart raced and his groin throbbed. It was the heartbeat he didn’t like; a man desiring a beautiful woman was just what a man did. But a galloping heart might mean a man felt something deep inside.

Even worse, night after night alone on the trail, he’d keep seeing her shining hair sweep across little Ned’s shoulders while she kissed the top of the lad’s head. So he pulled out his flask and drank deeper. It was too much like having a family of his own, something he swore he never needed. Suddenly he missed his brother more than he’d missed anything.

Until this minute, he had never felt shy about coming through this door without a knock. His wife’s current disposition gave him pause, but he had goods to deliver and damn, the kids just might like one of his good-night songs. His tongue clicked. Truth to tell, his bride would think him nothing but a rowdy bridegroom wanting a tumble between the sheets. Already she’d tried to disgrace him by letting a room at the boardinghouse just for herself.

Another long hard swig consoled his throat as it emptied his flask. Damn woman.