I recently finished the final book in my WILD Trilogy (Yay!) and I’m hunkering down to finish the third in my BRIDE series (deadline countdown: three weeks; three days–aaah!!). I’ve spent the past few days trying to rewire the hardware in my brain for the new book as I put the other rest. Lucky for me, my upcoming hero has been calling to me ever since I brought him to life in THE GUNSLINGER’S UNTAMED BRIDE. The moment Kyle Darby struck a match in the dark, the orange glow lighting the chiseled features of his face, I knew he’d be next. I’m thinking he’s my favorite kind of hero, reserved on the outside, high strung on the inside, a nice hard shell around his heart for the heroine to break through.  In the past few years I have learned, as a writer, that I also prefer a talkative hero. Chance Morgan in MAVERICK  WILD was my hardest hero to write, mostly because he’s the strong, silent type and I’m a writer who thrives on dialogue. I spent much of the book wanting to beat words out of him.  His brother, on the other hand, was a sheer joy from page one to the end. I had a hard time keeping up with Tucker and his banter *g*.  While pondering my array of heroes and trying to decide on which characteristics make them easiest for me to write (as if my characters would let me decide!), I started to focus on what I like most as a reader.

As a reader there are certain heroes who stand out as all-time favorites. I was actually surprised to discover the strong silent types rank among my faves. I started to ask myself why? What was it about these guys that really snagged my heartstrings? Here’s a few of my all-time favorite western romance heroes:

Luke Shardlow of ONE WISH by Linda Lael Miller is hands-down my all-time favorite hero — it was love on page one, and he was only eleven years old! *g* Even at eleven, bruised and beaten by his father, Luke was cocky, wounded, yet undeniably self-assured. His consternation at having to fetch a dumb girl from a river won me over, him knowing he’d get whooped again for ruining his wool trousers, yet he dives for her anyways. As an adult he’s still cocky, wounded and self-assured–amplified a hundred times. He’s also bruised and beaten by his half-brother’s gang of outlaws when his heroine finds him and when he warns her to leave before they come back to finish him off and she asks “Who?” his flat reply is “The Ladies’ Aid Society.” I love his wit, his loyalty, his sarcasm and his hidden vulnerability of believing he’s too rotten to love.

Jesse DuFrayne in LaVyrle Spencer’s HUMMINGBIRD radiates confidence–even when he’s unconscious *lol*.  He’s a rugged, worldly man with no give what-so-ever who’s up against a rigid Miss Abigail who’s not about to bend to his demands or desires. I absolutely love how her brash treatment toward him and her unwillingness to bend becomes what he admires most about her. And while he eventually wears her down, he’s the one who falls the hardest. I suppose the harder they fall the bigger the imprint on my heart 😉

Another long-time fave is Luke McClain in Dallas Schulze’s SHORT STRAW BRIDE. He and his brother are sitting around the kitchen in the opening, noticing how their late-mother’s house has been neglected and are bothered by the displeasure she’d surely feel at seeing her home in such a state–which of course spurs their need for one of them to find a wife. What better way to decide which should marry than to draw straws?  Men, gotta love ’em. Having drawn the short straw, Luke sets about finding a wife the way some would choose a horse. One of my favorite scenes is when he asks his Bride-To-Be to marry him–or rather, he thinks he asked, but when she believes he’s offered her a job as a housekeeper he silently recounts all he said in his mind and realizes he’d detailed all his reasons for needing a wife, but hadn’t actually asked her to marry him. His understanding of women is slow-coming, his words remain minimal and misspoken, but his heart grows by leaps and bounds as he sets out to win his wife’s affection.

A new favorite is Jenna Kernan’s Ford Slayter in FALLEN ANGEL, part of the A WESTERN WINTER WONDERLAND Anthology (also features hunky heroes by Pam and Cheryl!). My instant appeal was his reaction to accidently shooting the heroine, utter horror followed by a sharp sense of duty to this woman and her young son. This hardened bounty hunter is a man who’s life has been shattered by the loss of his wife and young daughter. His conviction to care for this duo until he sees his angel back on her feet causes him no small amount of emotional pain. He sucks it up, holds it in, and melts my heart as his growing affection seeps out while he strives to not receive their affection in return. *sigh*

How about you?  Care to share some of your most endearing western romance heroes? What is it about them that really tugs at your heartstrings?

With my latest book, A Reason to Sin, I bring the Forrester brothers trilogy to an end, which was both exhilarating and incredibly sad.  After spending two years with the Forresters, it was difficult to let them go but also wonderfully gratifying to give them each a woman who could love them and bring them happiness.

When I began bringing to life the Forrester brothers, I really wanted to make one of the brothers be a gambler.  I’ve had different story ideas with a Bret Maverick type hero but for one reason or another, the plot wouldn’t come together.  But with “A Reason to Sin” the bare bones background of Slater Forrester was already set up–orphaned at a young age and placed in a children’s home with his younger brother.  This gave the foundation for our wounded hero Slater.   Since it was only a couple years after the War Between the States ended, maybe Slater had been involved in the War, and maybe because of the role he played, he was damaged even further.  What if he’d been a Yankee spy and was captured and thrown in the infamous Andersonville prison?  Now I was really excited to write Slater’s story.  How can a man who’d faced so much adversity and donned a bitter façade, find a happily ever after?

In steps Miss Glory, a saloon singer and dancer who never in her sheltered life imagined she would enter a saloon, much less sing and dance with the rowdy men who frequented such establishments.

However, it’s love for her infant son that brings her to such sinful ways in the Scarlet Garter.  Back in the 1800’s widows with children had few options.  If they remained single, how could they support their families?  The wide diversity of jobs open to women nowadays was not the case then.  With little education, maybe they might find a job as a laundress or a seamstress, but those were few and far between.  They could marry again…and often did quickly because there were few “good” women to be had in the western frontier.  However, often the new husband didn’t want a readymade family and the woman had to give her children to a relative to raise, or leave them in a children’s home.  It might seem like those mothers who did that were heartless creatures, but the fact was in most cases their only other choice was to work in a saloon or parlor house, which meant condemnation of their souls.   

Consider a woman like Rebecca Glory Bowen Colfax, who was raised wanting nothing, who then lost her parents, married the first slick talker who came around, then found out he’d gambled everything away and left her, alone, penniless, and expecting a child.  Without family, Rebecca had to give up her child and she becomes obsessed with finding her husband and getting her infant son back.  She will do anything to regain her son, including work in the Scarlet Garter.  The problem is, she never expected to meet a man like Slater Forrester, a gambler like her husband.  However, despite the similar professions, Rebecca senses there’s more to Slater than his gambling persona.  Much much more…

I’m equally attracted and repulsed by the conditions in which women had to live in the 19^th century.  While I admire strong, independent women, I realize that in that day and age, strong and independent were characterized by taking care of family and home.  However, when they lost those things, where did they turn?  What did they do?  It’s those women I prefer to write about.  Those women who because of one reason or another have found themselves in dire circumstances and must search deep within their souls to find the strength to do what they must in order to survive, and just as importantly, to find love and thrive in these new conditions.  I believe that tragic conditions often times act as a crucible, exposing the true person beneath the masks we each wear day after day.   And isn’t love all about truth and baring one’s heart and soul to another human being? 

Currently I’m working on another western romance proposal, although my next book out is a romantic suspense titled Where There’s Fire.  Although I truly enjoy writing the romantic suspense, I have to admit I’m never as comfortable in that world as I am with the American West. 

But then, where I live, how could it be any different.  As you can see with this last picture, taken from our front door, the West is a part of my life each and every day.

Maureen is giving away autographed copies of the trilogy–the three Forrester brothers books–to one lucky winner!  A Reason to Live, A Reason to Believe and A Reason to Sin will being to one reader who comments this weekend.  Gee, that was a great reason to drop by today, wasn’t it?

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I grew up in England on a diet of the Lone Ranger, Bronco and Gunsmoke plus a host of other Westerns.  Like every other British kid, I found the whole idea of the Wild West romantic, so different from anything in my own experience, from the weather, to the scenery to the sheer size of the country. And, oh those gorgeous men.

It might even be one of the reasons I later moved to Canada!

When I was invited to submit a story to Brides of the West, a mail order bride anthology, I was immediately transported back to those youthful memories, although I must say I did hesitate, since I usually write regencies, the antithesis of the free and easy western.

But as my hero took shape in my head, I couldn’t resist finding him the very worst kind of bride. It occurred to me that a delicate-looking city-bred English girl all the way from Victorian London probably would be about as bad as it could get for a Texan with a ranch to run and two unruly boys to bring up.

And that would allow my heroine, Tess, to express some of the wonder I experienced when I traveled across the United States for the very first time.

In Snakeskin and Satin, Tess learns that there is a whole new lingo, (er…I mean I learned) even thought Americans are supposed to speak English.  Cows are called steers, farms are called ranches, and ropes are lariats or lassoes and are used to great effect on the longhorn cattle. For some reason, these cattle are left to roam something called the range instead of keeping them in nice green fields with fences. The wide open spaces, the thorny mesquite and the heat of summer are completely foreign to Tess. There are some very dangerous creatures in Texas too, such as cougars and rattlesnakes, but are they worse than the choking smogs and overcrowded conditions of London’s slums? Ummm no.

Then there is this tall man with eyes the color of a wide-open sky, called a cowboy. There is nothing comparable where Tess comes from and he is so polite.  The lack of available women is another source of wonder for a heroine who has never been sought after.

Brides of the West from Highland Press has three very different stories about mail order brides, and my fellow authors, Billie Warren Chai and Kimberly Ivey had just as much fun writing them as I did. So we are planning a follow up anthology sometime in 2009.

I will be spending a lot of time at Petticoats and Pistols learning all I can about Westerns and their writers from this fun and informative blog. 

Tell me about your favorite western on tv and why, for the chance to win a copy of Brides of the West.

Michele

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