Barb Han With a Little Intrigue

by

A big hello from North Texas, the place I call home with my hero-worthy husband and our rescue dog who is often referred to as a hot mess. I grew up around dogs and horses, so I’m right at home in the setting of my current Harlequin Intrigue release, RANCH AMBUSH.

Crystal Remington, the heroine, works in law enforcement as a US Marshal but her family owns a paint horse ranch. The hero, Wade Brewer, medically boarded out of the Army six months ago, and hasn’t quite gained his footing in the civilian world as he turns state’s witness.

I loved writing this story because it combines two of my favorite things: a strong Texas heroine and an ex-military hero who is damaged physically and emotionally. Wade has had to overcome a lot in life to get to this point. He’s bitter. But Crystal sees beyond the angry façade. As they work together to bring a dangerous criminal to justice, Wade learns that he can trust Crystal to have his back. He’s even more guarded with his heart but Crystal is the one person who can penetrate the walls he’s constructed.

Here’s an excerpt that I hope you enjoy:

Brewer glanced down to where his left shin used to be. Underneath his cargo pants, it was impossible to see the prosthetic leg. He knew part of himself was missing now and would never be replaced no matter how many advances were made in medicine. No one would want to spend the rest of their life with a partial man.

“I’ve been going on and on about my family. I’m not usually this talkative. I apologize.” Crystal blushed, and it only served to make her more attractive.

“Don’t,” he said. “It’s making the time pass faster, and I’m interested in hearing more. Takes my mind off my current problems.”

“It’s just not what I do when I’m working. Better to keep a hard line between personal and professional. I hope you can understand.”

He leaned his head back. “Do I ever. The only way to survive in the military is to push all other thoughts other than survival out of your mind. Right before a mission, I used to take a few minutes to think about what I’d be doing once it was over. Plant the seed that I was confident no matter what I faced that day, I’d be back in a few hours, days, or weeks, playing a pickup game with one of the guys in my unit after chow time.”

“Sounds like a good strategy.”

“It kept me alive this long,” he mused. Even though he hadn’t exactly come home whole. “Other than Aunt Rosemary, I didn’t have anyone else to come home to like some of the men. They’d stare at a picture of their girlfriend or wife. Some had kids. They would memorize those smiling faces and take that into a combat zone with them. It was enough to assure they came out alive.”

“It’s good to have something or someone to look forward to.”

She had to have read in his file there was no one in his life. “What about you? Anyone special you’re going home to?”

He half expected her to remind him that her personal life was none of his business. Instead, she shocked him by saying, “Not in a long time.”

A beautiful, intelligent woman like her shouldn’t have to be alone. “Too busy?”

She opened her mouth to speak before clamping it shut again. He’d crossed a line he shouldn’t have.

“Sorry,” he said. “You don’t have to answer that. I get it. Your personal life is on a need-to-know basis, and I don’t need to know.”

“Something like that.”

* * * * * * *

How about a contest? Tell me what kind of animals you grew up around for a chance to win your pick of either my current release or anything from my backlist. Three winners will be selected!

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66 thoughts on “Barb Han With a Little Intrigue”

  1. Cats with some dogs at friend’s houses. My Uncle Bill has a beautiful Irish Sitter. It was read-haired and smart as a whip. I loved that sweet dog.

  2. As the oldest of 10 siblings, my parents always let us have a cat (they don’t eat as much as most dogs) and there were a few dogs over the years, too. One dog, the “it followed me home type,” looked like an Irish setter. After she helped herself to the main course, a roast of beef that my mother set too close to the edge of the table at Sunday dinner, she got the heave ho (Dad took her to the pound, probably the next day).

    • Hi, Mary. Wow, that’s a big family. My dad was one of 15 kids so I had uncles galore growing up. Only 3 aunts. I love cats but found out that I’m allergic, so no more of those for me. Fingers crossed the Setter was adopted right away. Helping yourself to the family dinner is a tough one to come back from!

  3. I’ve always had dogs, at least one and at one time we had six at once(good times). I can’t imagine not having a dog. We also had a quaker parrot and two bunnies/rabbits(not at the same time though), three ferrets(they were very entertaining). We did have fish at one point but they kept dying. I think they were being over fed maybe. Anyway after replacing so many fish, my parents decided we weren’t fish people.

    • Hi, Joannie. Six dogs at one time! Wow. I would love that! Sounds like you grew up with lots of different types of pets. How cool! I’m not a fish person either. Couldn’t keep mine alive no matter how hard I tried. That, and frogs.

  7. We had 5-6 Ayrshire cows, cats and ducks and geese (but not at the same time) . Those geese were nasty! But I can understand some Romans might have used them instead of guard dogs. And of course plenty of swallows every summer.

  8. growing up on a 500+ acre farm here in Indiana we had all of them cats, dogs, cattle, hogs, sheep, horses, chickens, ducks, etc! Of course taking care of all of them is a lot of responsibility and also leaves no time for vacations off the farm!

    • Hi, Teresa. How cool that you grew up on a 500+ acre farm! Sounds like you had plenty of animals to play with and take care of. Does make taking vacations rough, though!

    • Hi, Karijean. I love your name. It’s so original! Sounds like you always had an option for a dog to play with between your family and your grandparents. I wish I could have a cat now. Darn allergies!

  10. We had a dog when I was a kid that my parents got from the animal shelter. My parents were told that he was part Australian Dingo and part something else. He was a wonderful dog. We got him when I was 5 years old and he lived for 17 years.

    • Hi, Diana. How interesting that your shelter dog was part Australian Dingo. That’s so cool! He had a very long life. 17 years is amazing since I’m guessing he was at least a medium, maybe large dog.

  11. We always had at least one dog. Then we moved to Lima, Peru (yes, my dog went with us!) and my love of pets included 2 monkeys, a love bird and a parakeet. When we came back to the States we couldn’t bring them, of course, but my dog stayed by my side. My paternal grandparents had a dairy farm where there were dogs and cows, and I spent a lot of time there. My maternal grandfather took me horseback riding whenever time permitted. I love animals and have continued to have dogs and cats.

  12. I grew up on a farm, so we always had a dog. It was for us kids, not used for herding or anything related to farming. We raised cattle, both for milking and beef sales. Also, we had sheep from time to time, but we had pigs all the time. Another money maker. We planted crops, basically for feeding the livestock. Oh, let me not forget the chickens for laying and eating. I was assigned the duty of collecting the eggs, feeding them and cleaning out the hen house. Mom raised them from little chicks. She had a big brooder house in the back yard. I can recall checking on them from time to time. So much little “peeping”, constantly. Now, I must not forget about horses. They were mostly for pleasure, and never used for farm work. Dad had one which he loved to ride out in the pasture, as he grew up with horses. Farming is a lifestyle which the entire family is involved in. Seriously, I couldn’t wait to reach senior in high school to get away from the farm. We moved off the farm my senior year as dad began selling farm equipment and we opened a feed store in town. I enjoyed running the store.

    • Hi, Judy. Sounds like you know your way around farm life based on all that experience. I bet it was nice to sell the farm and then run a business that you could lock the door and leave at the end of the day. I’d love to have chickens but don’t want to draw snakes. *shivers*

  13. Cats and dogs! So many puppies over the years. Batches of kittens too! Memories. We gauge every 10 decades in our life by the pets that we owned. We raised German Shorthair dogs you.

    • Hi, Joye. Love the spelling of your name. OMG–snakes! No, thank you. *shivers* But the dogs, cats, horses, and cows sound perfect.

  15. My early years were spent on a Colorado farm so we had all kinds of farm animals…horses, cows, pigs, chickens, and turkeys. Dogs and cats. Plus all the kinds of animals I didn’t much like such as snakes. My dad always had a dog and all my adult years I have had dogs. I like animals.

    • Hi, Alisa. Once you have a dog, it’s next to impossible not to keep it going. A house doesn’t feel like home to me without my dogs.

  19. My father was in the Army and we moved often. I remember having dogs and cats that other families had to leave when they moved.

  20. I grew up in rural area with three brothers and three sisters. I am the youngest of seven. We always had a cow, some pigs,chickens, at least one dog, usually more and some cats. Since getting married we have had horses, cows, chickens, dogs and cats; at times, bunnies. As we have gotten older and our children grew up and moved away, we only have one dog, one horse, and four cats. We all enjoyed riding when we were able, just not able to anymore. Still love animals though, especially my cats. I love chickens too but we don’t have them anymore. I always named all our animals, even the cows and chickens, lol.

    • Hi, Sarah. I love that you always named all your animals (even the cows and chickens). Sounds like you have had and still have quite the menagerie of pets. I love the variety!

  23. I grew up in the country so we had chickens, pigs, dogs, and I always loved collecting the eggs and feeding the chickens! Have a Blessed weekend

  24. I had a dog. She lived to be 13 years old. The kids have had dogs when they were growing up but I don’t have any pets now.

  25. I grew up with 3 different dogs, rabbits, 2 squirrels, horny toad and a pet catfish. I was a tomboy. One of the dogs was a pup. My daddy and mama were seining for minnows in a creek. Mama heard an animal charging behind her. She was afraid it was a bull. But it was a huge footed, spotted puppy. He was skinny and filthy! They brought him home with them when couldn’t find his owner. He was a funny dog but unfortunately he didn’t live long but he made a huge impression on us.

    • Hi, Billye. Love the spelling of your name. A catfish is an unusual pet! Love it. Such a sweet story about the spotted puppy. I’m sorry he didn’t live long. That’s so hard. I had a boxer who didn’t live long and I feel the same way. He left a huge impression on my heart!

  26. We had a dog growing up but since we lived on a small farm we also had a couple of cows and a few pigs that we raised for the meat.

  27. Welcome. I grew up with dogs, cats, Guinea pig, hampsters, gerbils. birds, and a bunny. I do not think I missed any of the indoor pets. Thank you so much for sharing. God bless you.

  29. Hi Barb, Your new book sounds like one I need to add to my TBR list. I grew up on my Grandparents farm with my family. We had all kinds of animals, 2,000 chickens, hogs, & cows. And a big Red bull, who didn’t like our red hair; he tried to run us down. Thankfully, Grandma was looking out for us & pulled us behind a big tree. We were always out doing things we shouldn’t be doing. We really like to watch the gold fish they had in the watering trough. It’s was a fun time, but; also a lot of work.

    • Hi, Lois. Thank you so much. Sounds like you had amazing adventures (and a very protective Grandma!). Big Red didn’t know who he was messing with! Running a farm is more work than folks realize and everyone has to pitch in. My dad had great stories, though!

  33. Also, a huge thank you to my hosts for having me and everyone who took the time to comment. I loved reading about you and all the animals in your lives.

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