The Wrong Man The Right Woman

Today’s guest is Charlene Raddon, and she’s sharing her book, Taming Jena, with us.

Hi Roses and readers.  So glad to be here and share a peek into my book. I will give a free e-book from my backlist and a $5 gift card to a randomly chosen commenter.

THE WRONG MAN

Deserted by her father at the tender age of seven, Jenna Leigh-Whittington had taught herself to ride, shoot, brawl…and steer clear of the opposite sex. But now, in a lonely Utah canyon, the Pinkerton agent has drawn her gun on a rugged stranger—only to discover that, far from the dangerous outlaw she’d been tracking, he is Branch McCauley, hired gun…and the most irresistible rascal ever to tempt and torment a woman!

THE RIGHT WOMAN         

If there’s one thing McCauley trusts less than a female, it’s a female who packs a six-gun. But what a woman! Vowing to bring the sensuous hellcat to heel, McCauley has no inkling that their passionate battle of wills has just begun. Taming Jenna will be the most seductive—and satisfying—job he’s ever taken on.

TAMING JENNA EXCERPT

Jenna scowled as she studied the man by the flickering glare of his campfire. He had the right build and appeared close to thirty, Mendoza's age. But something didn't fit.

The Denver police chief had described her quarry as a spoiled aristocrat, too busy wooing Lady Luck and every other female to be much of a train robber, let alone a killer. But the rogue in front of Jenna looked too lean and hard to be spoiled, too wary and aloof to be a ladies' man.

To Jenna he seemed the perfect gunslinger: cold, tough, and ready to spring. Like a big yellow cougar perched on a ledge. Or a rattler, tightly coiled. Either way, his bite would be deadly.

In spite of the cool night breeze, sweat oozed from her pores. She couldn't forget that lightning draw. Why had she come here? How had she expected to take an outlaw Pinkerton's other agents had failed to bring in? No, she refused to think that way. She was every bit as capable as any man to capture Mendoza. She had to believe that, the same way she had to do what she'd set out to do. Only one question remained: Was this Mendoza or not?

"Who are you, mister?"

"Who am I? Hell, who are you? "

Blast! Did no male exist in this empty wilderness who wasn't so taken with himself that he couldn't cooperate for a change?

She took a calming breath. A body could catch more flies with honey than vinegar, old Charley Long Bow used to say. Jenna figured flies might fancy the hairy creature facing her, so she decided to try being friendly. "Listen, I smelled your coffee and hoped you might spare a cup, is all. You can understand me being a mite leery of walking into a stranger's camp without knowing who I'm hooking up with."

Firelight glinted on the man's straight white teeth as his whiskers parted in a cold smile. "Don't recall inviting company, but I'll play your game. Name's Branch McCauley. Now it's your turn."

His smile unnerved her. It held no humor, only a lethal sort of grimness that cannoned her stomach into her throat and made her wish she'd wired William Pinkerton for instructions instead of going off half-cocked this way. "I'm Jim...Jim White," she lied.

"All right, Jim, how about some honesty? You come here looking for me?"

"I'm not looking for anyone named Branch McCauley. If that's who you are, you've nothing to worry about."

The wide, innocent eyes McCauley studied held honesty. He relaxed. "In that case...be glad to pour you some coffee." He reached for the battered graniteware pot. His visitor's next words froze him in a half-stoop: "I'd feel more welcome if you'd set aside your gun first."

Cool as Montana sleet, McCauley straightened, hand poised above his holster. "Reckon you would. Wouldn't do much for my sense of well-being, though."

So much for trying to be friendly, Jenna thought. What now? She clenched her knees together to still their shaking and swallowed the fear knotted in her throat.

"Look." McCauley shifted his weight to one leg. "Why don't you put your gun away and have a sit? Could be I might know something about the hombre you're hunting.

Hombre. Sounded Spanish. Like Mendoza. It must be him. She had to get his gun away from him. Surprise seemed the best means. She squeezed the trigger of the .44 Starr. The bullet kicked dirt onto the man's scuffed boots. He jumped and let out a yelp as though she'd set his feet afire.

"Dammit, kid, going up against me won't get you anything but a six-foot hole in the ground."

"Shut up and toss over your gun or I'll turn them boots into sieves. 'Course, my sights might be a bit off." She raised the muzzle toward his groin.

"You made your point," he growled as he unbuckled his gun belt and tossed it over.

Instead of the fancy weapon she had expected a gunslinger to own, an ordinary, six-gun lay at her feet. No ivory handle or engraved barrel. Only an ordinary .44 Peacemaker, crafted and worn for one reason—to kill. The thought did funny things to her innards.

"All right," she said, getting back to business. "You aren't going to like this, mister, but I don't know any other way to be sure who you are. Drop them trousers to your ankles."

"Do what?"

Buy Link: http://www.amazon.com/Taming-Jenna-Charlene-Raddon-ebook/dp/B00GNR87BS/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1385478685&sr=8-1&keywords=taming+jenna

About Charlene:

Charlene Raddon began her fiction career in the third grade when she announced in Show & Tell that a baby sister she never had was killed by a black widow spider. She often penned stories featuring mistreated young girls whose mother accused of crimes her sister had actually committed. Those were mostly therapeutic exercises. Her first serious attempt at writing fiction came in 1980 when she woke from a vivid dream that compelled her to drag out a typewriter and begin writing. She’s been at it ever since. An early love for romance novels and the Wild West led her to choose the historical romance genre but she also writes contemporary romance. At present, she has five books published in paperback by Kensington Books (one under the pseudonym Rachel Summers), and five e-Books published by Tirgearr Publishing. 

Charlene’s awards include: RWA Golden Heart Finalist, Romantic Times Reviewer’s Choice Award Nomination, Affair de Coeur Magazine Reader/Writer Poll for Best Historical of the Year. Her books have won or place in several contests.

Currently, Charlene is working on her next release.

htp://www.charleneraddon.com/

http://www.charleneraddon.blogspot.com/

https://www.facebook.com/CharleneRaddon
http://www.twitter.com/CRaddon

The Homes of the Pioneers by Charlene Raddon

Please welcome Charlene Raddon, guest blogger, to The Roses of Prose.

I hope you find this blog informative and useful. Please leave a comment and your contact information for a chance to win my soon-to-be released e-book, TO HAVE AND TO HOLD, in which the heroine lives in a dugout she dug herself with a broken shovel after her home was washed away in a flash flood. January 24 is the release date for this book.

Dugout, 1850-1920 – Dugout dwellings were, of course partially subterranean, dug either into level ground-up to approximately six feet deep-or, more commonly, into a hillside, preferably south facing, to capture sun in the winter. Floor dimensions of 12’x12’ were common. A wall of log, earth, stone, or sometimes brick was sometimes built above ground around the perimeter, high enough to provide adequate head room. The roof might be flat, sloped, or have a shallow, pitched gable. The roof consisted of flat boards or heavy wood poles spaced evenly as rafters. Willows or other saplings were placed between poles and covered with straw or bundles of brush. A thick layer of dirt made the final layer. Such a roof did little good in heavy rain and often caved in, especially if livestock was allowed to roam freely on top of the roof. 

Single-Cell, 1847-1910—A single-cell house is a single square or rectangle unit not subdivided into rooms. It may be one, one and a half, or two stories tall, and is sometimes called the “square cabin” or “hall house,” an English form found in all sections of the United States.

Double-Cell, 1847-90 — The double-cell house has two square or roughly square units arranged axially, one, one and a half, or two stories tall, usually with a façade having two front doors and either two or four symmetrical windows. Chimneys were at the gable ends or in the center of the house. 

Hall-Parlor, 1847-1910 —The hall-parlor house consists of a single square room (the hall) with a smaller room serving as the best room (parlor) attached to the side. Though one room deep, there may be one, one and a half, or two floors. The internal plan is always asymmetrical, but a characteristic three-or five-bay symmetrical façade masks the imbalance. Chimneys stood either internally or at the gable ends. 

Central Passage, 1847-1900—A central-passage house is a modification of the hall-parlor type, with a passage or hallway (usually containing a staircase) between two square or roughly square rooms. One, one-and-a-half, and two-story examples of the house have been recorded, and both three-and five-bay forms are common (bays are window or door openings). From the outside, the placement of internal chimneys flanking the central hall indentifies it as this type of house. 

Pair House, 1853-90— The pair house has a distinctive three-room-wide floor plan. It differs from the central-passage type by the central room being more than a passageway. Usually it is either the kitchen or the living room. This one also was built with one, one and a half and two stories, with either gable-end or internal chimneys. The paired internal chimneys (more widely spaced than central-passage chimneys) indentify it as a pair house. Usually has three or five bays. 

Double Pile, 1847-80— The double-pile house was two rooms deep, a regional modification of the Georgian detached house (which has two rooms on either side of a long central passage.) Other double-pile forms extend the hall parlor, pair house, and double-cell types one unit to the rear.

Side Passage/Entry Hall, 1847-1920— This house has a square or rectangular plan with an entrance passage on one side of the main floor, giving the house a distinctive asymmetrical appearance. The side-passage house is one and a half or two stories and was used in styles ranging from the Greek Revival to the Prairie School. The side-passage form originated as an 18th-century variant of the Georgian detached house—two rooms on either side of a central passage.

Saltbox, 1847-70— The saltbox is defined mainly by its roof shape rather than its plan. This house has a two-story front section and a one-story extension, or outshut, to the rear. The entire house is covered by a long sloping roof, with a continuous, unbroken roofline, giving it the shape of an old-fashioned salt storage box.

Temple Form, 1847-75—The temple-form house has its entrance in the narrower side of the house, usually under the gable end of the roof. These houses may multiple storied, and may use different floor plans, including the double-cell and side-passage. There may be wings on one or both sides. By 1850, several new types, such as the cross-wing and cruciform, were becoming important new forms.

Cross Wing, 1880-1910— The cross-wing house consists of two wings placed at right angles so the floor plan resembles a “T” or an “L.” The stairway is often situated in the side wing. Usually one and a half stories tall, although some are two stories. Smaller one-story examples were often called simply “T-cottages.

Shotgun House, 1875-1910— The shotgun house is narrow, one story tall, one room wide, and two or more rooms deep.  The narrow gable end faces the street and typically contains a single entryway and window.  Each room is placed behind the other in single file, with no hallway.  The roof ridge is perpendicular to the street. 

Find Charlene at

http://www.charleneraddon.com

http://www.charleneraddon.blogspot.com

Find her books at http://www.amazon.com, http://www.smashwords.com, http://www.tirgearrpublishing.com, and other e-book stores.