Thursday, April 20, 2017

Guest Blogger--Barbara White Daille



Thanks for welcoming me back to Cowboy Kisses!

As I said in my first visit, almost all my books feature cowboys, one of my favorite types of hero. Another subset of faves is the cowboy/daddy hero, whether he’s a daddy when the book opens or he’s about to discover he has a child he never knew existed.

My upcoming book, The Rancher’s Baby Proposal, has a new twist for me. It’s the first time I’ve written the story of a single dad who is raising his child from birth. Don’t ask me why it’s taken me so long to get around to this story, because I love Reagan and his little boy Sean!

Watching the big, strong hero take care of his infant son tugged at my heart. So did seeing Reagan’s struggle to do the right thing for his child. Oh, and I can’t forget my surprise at how he handles the feisty flirt who’s crushed on him forever. :)

Here’s a peek at the back cover blurb:

HER SECRET COWBOY CRUSH
Ally Martinez has always been known as a fun and flirty kind of gal. But deep down she’s never forgotten the cowboy who left town. When her crush Reagan Chase comes home after a five-year absence, Ally knows this is her big chance. The guy I’ve always wanted. Only Reagan has something different in mind…
Still reeling from his last relationship, Reagan needs a babysitter for his month-old son. With Ally’s help, he can get his family’s ranch ready for sale and get out of Cowboy Creek. The problem? Ally is one seriously cute distraction. But Reagan will do whatever it takes to keep his heart safe. Even if it means losing the only place—and the only woman—he can call home.
And here’s a clip from early on in the book:

Just as Reagan’s waitress disappeared through the doorway into the kitchen, the front door of the shop opened, and Ally entered.

Her long dark curls tumbled down almost to her waist and bounced as she walked toward him. She had never been tiny, and she had filled out more in the years since he had last seen her. With her gleaming dark eyes, rosy cheeks and snug orange T-shirt, she gave the bright pink seats and decorations in the sandwich shop some competition. He recalled her hanging around the schoolyard in grade school. He had been a couple of years ahead of her. Even that long ago, she had always acted larger than life—and been the life of the party.

Thinking of Sean, he frowned. Maybe Ally as a babysitter wouldn’t be such a good influence on a preteen or a teenager…but a one-month-old? What could it hurt? Besides, even if she accepted the offer he planned to present to her, he and the baby wouldn’t be here long enough for her to make much of an impact.

“Hi.” Sounding a little breathless, she took the booth across from him. “I got here as soon as I could.”

“Hope you didn’t have to rush.”

“No rush. No more than usual, anyhow. My papa says I never run at half speed when I can take it up to full.” She laughed. “But I’m running behind now because, just as I was leaving, one of the customers came to the register with a big order.”

Since they had met up at the local hardware store, where Ally worked as a clerk, she had slicked something on her lips, shiny and red as cherry candy. Suddenly, he felt an urge to lean across the tabletop for a taste.

Whoa, Nelly.

He’d been away from women too long. Or not long enough.

Sex wasn’t supposed to be on his radar for a good while into the future. Preferably, at least not till Sean turned twenty-one. He tried to think back to his school days and the younger Ally, when the few years’ age difference between them seemed a much wider gap.

“Is something wrong?” she asked. “You’re frowning.”

“No. Nothing’s wrong. I’m just trying to decide what to have. To drink.”

She smiled at him. “So, how has the big, bad city been treating you all these years? Well enough, I guess, or you would have been home again before now.”

“Houston did treat me well, I have to admit.” The woman he had met just before graduation was another story. “Going to school there was a good experience, one I don’t regret. But I’m not in Houston anymore. I’ve got a job outside San Antonio, sales manager for a distributor of farming equipment.”

She blinked those big dark eyes. “Why would you be selling farm equipment, when you have a ranch right here to come home to?”

“It pays the bills.”

“Oh.” His curt reply had thrown her. It didn’t keep her down for long. “Well, I can certainly see the benefits of that.”

He hoped so. Just as he hoped this meeting would benefit them both. But he wanted to lead up to his idea slowly. And he didn’t want to say too much about the past.

If he had his way, neither Ally nor anyone else in Cowboy Creek would learn what happened between him and the woman he’d loved and had thought loved him, too.

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About the Author

Barbara White Daille lives with her husband in the sunny Southwest. Though they love the warm winters and the lizards in their front yard, they haven’t gotten used to the scorpions in the bathroom. Barbara also loves writing, reading, and chocolate. Come to think of it, she enjoys writing about those subjects, too!

Barbara wrote her first short story at the age of nine, then typed "The End" to her first novel many years later...in the eighth grade. Now she's writing contemporary romance on a daily basis. Sign up for her newsletter to keep up with the latest in her writing life:  http://barbarawhitedaille.com/newsletter.

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1 comment:

Barbara White Daille said...

Thanks to Julie and everyone here at Cowboy Kisses for welcoming me back to the blog.

Hope you enjoyed the excerpt!