Greetings from San Francisco! Workshop went well, and I have survived the conference (just).  Looking forward to going home now, though.

Today's guest blogger is Donna Alward.  A big congratultions to Donna for winning the Traditional category of the Booksellers Best Awards at the conference!!!!!  Now, over to Donna...

When I was an aspiring author, one of my favourite “research” books was a Romance called “Christmas Eve Marriage”.  I loved it.  I loved the characters, the plot, the satisfying ending….it was one of those books that really led me to believe that perhaps the line I needed to target was Romance.

When I finally made that first sale, I remember being invited to the author loop and Jessica welcoming me to the family.  I was star struck.  I really was.  Here was one of my favourite authors, bidding me welcome like I BELONGED.  It was a surreal and sweet feeling. 

Now I “speak” (and by speak I mean by e-mail)  to Jessica quite often and one of these days we will meet in person and share great big hugs.  But until then, I’m simply pleased as punch to be here, helping Jessica celebrate such a fabulous milestone.  Fifty books this year.  FIFTY! 

Fifty wonderful, heart-warming, tear-jerking, laugh out loud books.  Because you know I do have all those reactions with her books.

I only hope readers get some of those same feelings with my Romances.  I know I try to write stories that touch people’s hearts and provide that happily-ever-after.  It is what I love about Romance – taking two flawed people, and letting them, somehow, heal each other’s hurts to find love with each other.  It gives me a happy sigh.

My current release is FALLING FOR MR. DARK AND DANGEROUS.  In it I have Maggie, a bed and breakfast owner and mother of a nearly grown daughter. (By the way, I had the confidence to write a heroine in her forties largely due to Jessica’s paving the way with her wonderful mature heroines!)  Maggie’s had her share of hardship, and so she’s built a wall around her heart.  She’s pretty much given up on love.  And she’s hidden herself away from life for so long she doesn’t even realize she’s done it.

In walks Nate Griffith – young, handsome, and dangerous.  Nate’s a US Marshal, and while Maggie can’t help the attraction to him, she knows he’s the last kind of man she needs.  He’s younger than her, in his prime, putting his life in danger everyday.  Yes, she might get over all the other roadblocks, but that one gets her every time.  There’s no escaping the fact that he’s a Marshal.

One of my favourite things on Jessica’s website are her pictures from around the world.  I have one there, of the Rocky Mountains, close to where I lived up until this summer.  I love setting my books in the Canadian Rockies.  Dark and Dangerous is my third book set around the Sundre area, a bit northwest of Calgary, Alberta.

Here’s a snippet:

Maggie stepped back, away from him.  She could still feel the cold lump of the steel, the shape of it, tucked into the waistband of his jeans.
 He was in her house, carrying a weapon. He had to have brought it with him, she realized.  He’d had it all along. Her blood ran cold at the thought. In those moments all of Maggie’s old feelings reared up, making her next words strangled and raw.
 “You’re carrying a gun.”
 The words echoed through the room.  For long seconds Nate simply stared at her, as if determining what would be the best thing to say.  She drew in a shaky breath.  Tom had carried a handgun during his duties.  To her recollection, he’d never fired it.
 Not until the night he’d had to protect himself.  Not until the night he’d come face to face with another weapon and he’d fired back.  The end result was that he’d lived long enough to make it to hospital and the other man hadn’t.  And because the trespasser – a so-called activist – had also died, it didn’t matter that Tom had died defending himself.  His name had been sullied by the press, bandied about in the news like some political trick.  One side placing the blame on him, the other side blaming the other man. Maggie had been caught in the middle, trying to grieve and defend him while being left alone with an infant daughter and a teenage cousin.
 The very thought of Nate carrying a gun and being so calm about it made her sick to her stomach.  She’d trusted him.  He’d told her about his leave of absence and she’d believed him.  Now she realized it was all a lie. The day it had hit her – he was on assignment – she’d known.  And she’d let him divert her from the truth.  But a man on a leave of absence, on vacation, didn’t carry a gun.
 Maggie folded her hands, keeping them from fidgeting and twisting by sheer willpower.  He’d more than misrepresented himself to her.  He’d insinuated a place for himself at Mountain Haven.  With her. 
She swallowed against the bile in her throat.  He’d known all along and yet he’d let things grow between them.  The sting of betrayal was made worse by her acute embarrassment at her actions.  She’d kissed him.  Wanted him.  She’d started to care for him, deeply. Had considered taking it further, knowing he was leaving.  Thank goodness she hadn’t articulated her feelings.  She clenched her fingers, turning the tips white.  But she refused to turn away.  Gathering all her strength, she squared her chin.
 “Get out.”
Nate froze. “You want me to leave?”  He picked his words carefully, keeping his voice neutral.
 “Do you or do you not have a gun tucked into the back of your jeans?”
 She already knew the answer even as he sighed. At his brief silence, she raised an eyebrow.
“Yes, Maggie.  I’m carrying a weapon.”
She folded her arms, putting even more distance between them.  “Why would that be, Nate?  Am I some kind of threat to you?”
 “I’m a Marshal, Maggie.  I don’t go anywhere without a weapon.  Ever.”
 Instead of reassuring her, her lips thinned.  She’d accepted him at face value and it had been a terrible mistake on her part. She’d believed everything he’d said, had wanted to help him.  Had wanted to nurture him.  Knowing she’d been duped stung her pride, her self-judgment.  She asked the question simply to clarify what she already knew.
“You mean you’ve had a gun on you the whole time you were here?”
 “Yes, Maggie.”
 She swallowed.  She had to know all of it. Know how blind she’d been to what was going on around her.  There was no turning back now.  “When we went to Olds?”
 “Yes.” His eyes settled on hers steadily.   She wanted him to look guilty, but he didn’t.  She wrinkled her brow.  If she didn’t know better, she’d almost think he looked relieved.
 “When you went snowshoeing?”
 “Yes.”
 “And walking each day?”
 She wished he’d show some emotion, rather than standing tall, unflinching before her.  His eyes were honest but unreadable, a look she realized he probably used in his job every day. 
“Yes.”
 Maggie paused, her eyes widened.  “The day we went walking in the Chinook?”
 She waited for his answer, her heart in her throat.  That day she’d been vulnerable, and that day she’d made the choice to trust him with much of herself.  He’d held her as she’d cried in his arms, listened as she’d told him about Tom.  She couldn’t have been so wrong, could she?

Just tell me what your favourite Jessica Hart title is in the comments section, and I’ll draw for a signed copy of FALLING FOR MR. DARK AND DANGEROUS!  And a big squishy thank you to Jessica for inviting me to share her accomplishment with her!

Thanks Donna, and congratulations again!  More from me when I'm back from San Francisco!