Monday, April 9, 2012

Snippet of next release


We had a glorious Easter Sunday. The perfect day for the girls to search the yard for eggs, play on the new swing the Easter Bunny hung from the oak in the front yard while he was hiding eggs, and to rejoice in the blessings we receive daily. 

The weather man says the temperatures will dip below freezing the next couple of nights, which saddens me. The fruit trees are in bloom—they smell so wonderful!—and they are much too large for us to cover, so there isn’t really anything we can do to protect them from the frost. Payment I guess for such a mild winter and early spring. 

On the writing scene, I’m closing in on the end of my WIP and it’s going quickly. So much to happen yet, but so few words left to meet the word count. Might have to go back and do some chopping here and there. 

Next to be released is The Sheriff’s Last Gamble on May 1st. Here’s a short snippet: 

Jake McCrery swung one leg over the saddle horn and landed on the ground as smoothly as an eagle swoops into its nest.
“Miss Blackwell.” He greeted her with a slight nod.
With her insides tingling, and without a doubt he’d follow, Stacy started walking along the road. “Tell me, how is dear Uncle Edward today?”        
“Fine,” Jake answered. “He’d like you to visit soon.”
“I’ll bet,” she said flatly. There was no sense getting riled over Edward Blackwell. She’d told him exactly what she thought of him three months ago, shortly after arriving. Her heart, not always in agreement with her mind, stung strongly enough to make her tighten her hold on her parasol.
“Speaking of bets,” Jake said, “how much did you win today?”
Stacy pretended to glance over her shoulder at the palomino at their heels; in reality she wanted Jake to see the smile on her face. “Now, Sheriff McCrery, this morning you specifically forbade me from gambling.”
“That hasn’t stopped you before.”
“Tsk, tsk.” She shook her head so the hair she’d spent an hour curling this morning fluttered around her shoulders. She’d learned years ago to style its mousy brown color to catch attention, therefore keeping people from watching her face too closely during an intense point in a game. Lately, though, thoughts of the handsome sheriff filled her head while curling the tresses—actually, while she did most everything. “We both know I never gamble while you’re in town.”
“How much was it?”
At times Jake seemed immune to her charms, and that had her wondering if she’d missed a lesson or two of Pappy’s teachings along the way—not that Pappy had taught her about men, but he’d taught her about life and the two went hand in hand.
Shrugging, mainly to keep a sigh from slipping out, she answered. “A few hundred.”

That’s it for today, time to see if my WIP needs to hit the chopping block or not. Have a wonderful week!