Okay, I have a secret. Even though I tell people I’m a Texan, I wasn’t actually born here. Shocking I know. You see, my dad was in the Air Force (we won’t go into where he was born, that’s not important right now). He was stationed in San Angelo, Texas; that’s where he met my mom—she was in college at Angelo State. They fell in love, married and… moved to Alaska. Two years later I came along while they were still in Alaska. But before I even turned one, we moved to Texas—had my first birthday in Rotan, Texas—and hour northwest of Abilene. That was where I met and fell head over spurs for my first cowboy—my granddad. He gave me my love for all things horses and reins. Bought me my first horse, in fact, while I was still up where snow drifts were taller than me.

Once planted firmly on Texas soil, we stayed. Every other weekend I was up at my grandparents’, on the horse, helping him feed the stock (never quiet recovered when I learned the sausage we were eating for breakfast was the same pig that ran my mother over the weekend before). I went to rodeos with my granddad, an auction or two and was in the county parade every year—and it was all the norm. The look, the feel, the whole ambiance of cowboy life was engrained in me. Then unfortunately, we moved away—still in Texas but to the Dallas suburbs and the trips were on the holidays and summer break. I got away from all things cowpoke. (Thank goodness my mother never took pics of the Valley Girl years…)

When my kids came along, we got back into the west Texas rhythm as my granddad introduced them to the animals and his property. It rekindled my love of the west so when I started writing, it only seemed natural to create characters who embodied the people I grew up around—and to make them funny and alluring was a super sweet bonus—I like characters with character! And the rest, as they say, is history—or books as the case may be.

I’m working on my next book in the Paintbrush series—set in Wyoming—chock full of cowboys, horses and drama—oh, the drama. I’m also developing a series set in west Texas that will have some sexy as hell cowboys, some sassy gals, a little intrigue and a lot of tantalizing action. And I have an idea for one set in the Hill Country of Texas. Hey, who knows maybe I will work up a series set in Alaska—never thought about it before; but there’re hot men on horses up there too…