I find it interesting writing about life in the Wild West, at the same time creating strong, independent heroines. These ladies don’t settle for cooking and cleaning while waiting for hubby to come home. Instead, I give them entrepreneurial interests and ambitions. I admit it’s a challenge to find my heroines a credible career while staying as true as possible to the times.
There’s a school
teacher, of course. And one woman who
inherits a local café after her parents die, but what do the other ladies in
town do? One of them sews, and I can
imagine her bringing a machine West with her, maybe like the photo above. Another settler, with the support of her
husband, becomes a hotelier. Soon, the
town becomes big enough to boast not only a library, but a librarian.
Enter Janie. Back in New York, someone killed her husband! Now they’re after her. As the sheltered only child of older parents, she has no life skills to speak of. When she arrives in Bullet, I decided she needs to fall back on her only transferable skill. Baking! It was the one thing that helped fill her married days, and something she’s good at. Except she doesn’t want anyone’s help, having just had her first taste of independence.
Here’s a tease of what happens after Ross oversteps his bounds and goes too far trying to help her get established with a baking shop.
Ross was still a fair distance from the mine when he heard
a horse and rider approaching him from behind.
He pulled over, then did a double take when he recognized Janie coming
his way, riding far too fast for a beginner.
She slowed down as she drew close, then stopped next to him
with a jerky move that almost got her tossed from the saddle.
“You trying to kill yourself again?” he said. He knew he sounded grumpy, trying to cover up
the myriad of emotions bashing around inside him. Happiness to see her again so soon, anger at
her recklessness, hurt and confusion over her reaction when he was just trying
to do something nice.
“Nothing of the sort,” she said. “I wanted to talk to you. Alone.”
He folded his arms over his chest. “So, talk.”
“Not when you’re glaring at me like that,” she said.
He tipped his hat up at the brim. “How would you like me to glare at you?”
“How about trying to put yourself in my place.”
“That’s the problem,” he said. “I don’t know anything about your place. I don’t know your background or your past or
why someone would break into your hotel room.
But it might explain why you seem to be looking over your shoulder all
the time. And what’s this about some stranger coming up to you on the street?”
“He didn’t come up to me. Not exactly.
He was just there in front of me one minute and gone the next.”
“Are you on the run from something or someone back home?”
Her lower lip trembled and the sight of it churned through
his gut.
“Did someone hurt you?”
She shook her head.
“Then what?”
“Someone killed my husband.”
USA Today Bestselling author Kathleen Lawless blames a
misspent youth watching Rawhide, Maverick and Bonanza for her fascination with
cowboys, which doesn’t stop her from creating a wide variety of interests and
occupations for her many alpha male heroes.
Her hero, Steele, in HER UNDERCOVER COWBOY, is a
modern-day cowboy, so when she was wooed by a man called Steel— while he’s not
a cowboy, he is an alpha male and her forever hero. Which is why all of her stories end Happily
Ever After.
Sign up for Kathleen’s VIP Reader Newsletter to
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1 comment:
Kathleen, you're right, it is hard to find jobs relatable to women in that timeframe. Most had limited skills and were raised to take care of home and family, though I do like my strong heroines on the ranches I've created. Sometimes, I think they were the ones in charge and made everything run smooth and not the men, lol. Great excerpt. Thanks for sharing!
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