Thank you for joining us
today, Lydia. Your likeness is to the left, so readers can visualize you as you answer the following questions:
Where is home? Austin, Texas. Mama and Papa have a grand city house, with a cook
and two maids. Mama enjoys socializing with her circle of friends and helping at
the church. Papa works closely with the governor. Actually, he and the governor
share a relationship akin to brothers. I’ve referred to the governor as my
uncle most of my life.
What is your family like? It’s just Mama,
Papa and me, and the servants. Mama
is very sweet and has a kind heart for everyone. My growing up years, she and I
had tea every afternoon when I came home from school. She taught me to
appreciate fine silks and satins, to conduct myself in a manner befitting a
lady, and to never look down on someone else.
Papa
works long hours and is often called away on business. He’s like Mama in that
he has a kind heart and goes out of his way to help those in need. Regarding
me, he’s strict, but he’s also loving and indulges my every whim, including my
latest quest to find suitable homes for 4 orphans.
What brings you to Revolving Point, Texas? I
have failed the children miserably. I asked everyone I know, and could not find
homes for them. They are such sweet innocents. Ben’s almost a man. His sister,
Abby, is pretty and as kind as Mama. Their little brother is adorable, and Lacy
clings to me so much that I fear even if I did locate suitable parents for her,
she wouldn’t go with them. Which got me to thinking that maybe they could stay
with me. Not at Mama and Papa’s city home. There isn’t room. But an orphanage,
with plenty of bedrooms and a long table to share meals…
I’ve
scoured Austin for a lot to build an orphanage, but I again failed. Then Papa suggested
I didn’t have to build in Austin, that Texas is home to several towns that have
space to build an orphanage as grand as I envision. I traversed Texas and
settled on Revolving Point. The Rio Grande flows just behind town. I can teach
the children to swim, and the land I chose has apple trees and room for horses…
a more perfect area doesn’t exist.
What did you think the 1st time you saw Roth? That
he was in desperate need of a haircut. His stringy hair touched his shoulders.
Worse was the guns he wore. I detest guns and violence.
How would Roth describe you? I’m sure he’d say I’m
uptight and snobbish, maybe even a prude, and too outspoken, but I have little
choice but to present a strong façade. The children are of the utmost
importance to me, and I will do whatever is necessary to ensure they have a
home… to ensure they know they are loved, even if that means ruffling a few
feathers. Now, if I can rid myself of the annoying Mr. Coper, the headmaster
Papa hired to help with the children’s education, I just may succeed with all of
my plans.
How would you describe Roth? Now that I’ve had
time to get to know him, he’s definitely a menace… on the outside. On the
inside, he has a heart worth knowing, worth loving. He cares greatly for the
children and abhors Mr. Cooper. If only he’d hold me close to him…
How do you relax? I don’t. The children and overseeing
the building of the orphanage take up so much of my time, as does Mr. Cooper
usurping my authority. If I had to venture a guess, I suppose I’d answer with a
hot cup of tea at the end of a long day, with my feet propped up on a stool,
but those times are rare.
What is your biggest fear? That Mr. Cooper
will ruin all of my plans for the orphanage. From day one of Papa hiring him,
he’s tried to wrestle control from me, and has succeeded on a few matters. Most
recently, he had a wall built to divide my office inside the orphanage into two
rooms. Blessedly, Roth tore down the wall. Guns, danger; he really is a good
man.
What is the best advice someone gave you? A
long time ago, Papa told me if something was worth having, then I needed to
work extra hard to obtain it and keep it. Roth is worth having, and persuading him
to agree a union between us isn’t a bad thing is a challenge I intend to win.
Sounds
like you know exactly what you want and how to get it. Thank you for joining us
today, Lydia. It was a pleasure chatting with you. And thank you for leaving us
with an excerpt I’m sure readers will enjoy.
To
purchase Lydia’s Gunslinger, please visit Amazon here:
Excerpt:
He ducked inside the mercantile
and waited for his sister to finish with a customer. The woman left and Debra stepped
out from behind the counter.
"Where have you
been?" she asked, approaching him. "You need to get upstairs. Lydia's
waiting for you."
His gut hit the floor at
that. Lydia knew he'd left town for a few hours. She wouldn't come here looking
for him unless something was wrong. "What happened?"
"I'll let her tell
you." Debra touched his arm. "Don't lose your temper, Roth. She's
upset and needs your help."
He scrambled out the door,
down the side of the building and up the stairs, where he paused and took a
deep breath before quietly opening the door and stepping inside. Lydia sat at
the table, with her fingers wrapped around a cup and her head bowed.
He shut the door behind him
and crossed the floor, gently touched her arm. "Lydia?"
She looked up at him. Tears
swam in her cat eyes. "He means to have Papa and the governor take my
children from me," she whimpered.
"Who?" He hunkered
down beside her.
"Mr. Cooper. He saw me
leave the livery with you and said people will question my morals if I continue
a relationship with you."
"Sonofabitch!"
Roth slammed his fist on the table.
"I can't lose them, Roth."
She shivered. "I won't lose them."
"You're not gonna lose
anyone." He stood and pulled her into his arms, held her close and petted
the back of her head to ease her trembles. "I'm the deputy around here.
Some folks respect that. Others…" He shrugged. "I'll stay away. Make
things easy for you."
"I don't want you to
stay away." She leaned back in his arms and looked up at him. "I want
you to pummel Mr. Cooper. Hard."
He couldn't help but grin.
She hated his guns. But she wasn't too adverse to him pummeling someone when
the need suited her. The thought floated across his mind that he should kill
Cooper and put an end to her troubles before they got any worse. But something
hinted a bullet wasn't what she needed most from him. "I can beat Cooper
to within an inch of his life and run him outta town, but it'll only make
matters worse for you." He caressed her cheek.
"You like punching
people."
"When I know that will
solve the problem. Cooper isn't like that. I shouldn’t have told you he was. He'll
take the beating. And then he'll heal and come back." He sat on the chair
and pulled her onto his lap. "Short of killing him, the only way to get
rid of him is to take away what he wants most."
"My money." She
frowned. "I'm not giving up my trust fund. I need that for the children
and the orphanage."
"You don't have
to," he soothed. "Marry me. You wouldn't agree before. Agree now. Listen,"
he instructed when she started to object. "We'll move into the orphanage
with the tots. Once Cooper realizes he's lost your money to me, he'll strike
out against me and then I can pummel him for you." He threaded his fingers
through hers. "I'll sign that paper, Lydia. I don't want your money. Or
anything else you own. You'll keep everything after we divorce."
She quieted a moment, looked
at her fingers laced with his and Roth wondered what she thought.
"Your plan to dismiss
him and hire someone else won't work. He'll only make more trouble and force
your new headmaster to quit." He tipped her chin up. "I ain't the
quittin' kind."
She swallowed hard and
searched his features. "You're offering to do this, but you get nothing in
return."
I get to see you morning and night. "I get to make Cooper's
life a living hell like his uncle made mine." He grinned sadistically.
She smiled softly and
touched her palm to his cheek. "You would enjoy that. I would, too."
"Then you're
agreeing?"
"I don't know,
Roth." She sighed and looked away. "A marriage in name only doesn't
seem… satisfying. It seems like a prison sentence. For both of us."
He perused her heart-shaped
face and green eyes. "Men would go to the calaboose willingly if women
like you were there."
She emitted a small, pitiful
laugh. "Somehow I doubt that."
"I don't." He
tucked his finger beneath her chin and brought her gaze back to him. "You detest
marriage. You told me. But this is the only way to get rid of Cooper."
"I detest being a
divorced woman more than I detest marriage." She slid off his lap and onto
another chair. "Society doesn't care if a man is divorced, but a woman is
shunned and gossiped about as much as those girls you have working for you at
Miller's. If I earn the respect of the townsfolk now by marrying you and then
lose it later when we divorce, the children will be made to suffer." She
entwined her fingers around her cup and stared at the tea. "I won't have
my children ridiculed because of me."
Roth sat back in his chair,
folded his arms across his chest and thought about what she'd said, and what
she hadn't, as he studied the slump to her shoulders and the frown hugging her
lips. She cared a great deal for her tots, but they weren't the reason behind
her hesitancy. "What's giving you doubt, Lydia?"
"I told you, the
children will suffer and–"
"Bullshit. Something
else is on your mind. Spill it."
