Can I Be Honest With You? – Guest Post by Collette Cameron, Author of The Earl’s Enticement

Want to know a secret?

Well, I guess it’s not really so much a secret as a confession. I never aspired to be an author. And, I never, ever dreamed I’d write romance novels.

What?

I didn’t scribble notes and fabricate prose from the time I could string two or three words together? I didn’t dream of being the next Jane Austen, Louisa May Alcott, or Emily Bronte?

Nope.

Almost sounds blasphemous, doesn’t it?

I did write some rather heinous poetry in high school, but there was never the slightest inkling to someday become a published author. Really. I’m telling the truth.

So, what happened, you ask? Okay, maybe you didn’t ask, but I’ll tell you anyway. Lucky you.

Anton_Ebert_Lesende_junge_Dame I started reading—more like voraciously inhaling—sweet romances when I was thirteen. A girlfriend gave me a Barbara Cartland Regency to read, and I was hooked! Over the next several years . . . er . . . decades, I read thousands of romances, mostly historicals because to me, those are the ultimate romance. (BTW, I graduated from sweet, just a wee bit.)

Still, it never crossed my mind to write a novel, let alone a romance. All that dialogue and . . . well, you know, the sex. I couldn’t ever write a love scene. Ever. What would people say?

Actually, they ask all the time if I write them from my personal experiences. Seriously?

But I digress. Back to how I became a historical romance author. I know, the suspense is killing you.

A couple things happened that starting the old creative juices flowing. I went back to school and got a bachelor’s of Science in Liberal Studies and a Master’s in Teaching (In three and a half years-Do Not do that! It nearly killed me.) Naturally, there were all sorts of torturous essays I had to write, but professor after professor told me I had a knack for writing.

One of them, my Children’s Literature professor, turned to me one day after I’d shared a children’s book I’d written for an assignment, and said, “You’re going to be a great teacher, but writing is your true gift.”

Yeah right. The story was a ridiculous thing about split pea soup and a frog swimming around the bowl. Still, the insidious seed of, “What if?” had been planted.

Within a year, my last child left home for college, and there I was with a brand new teaching certificate, no kids at home (hubby doesn’t count) and I was only substituting part-time.

collettecameronromanceauthor So, what did I do?

In February 2011, I parked myself in front of my computer, and as an experiment, decided to see if the scene that had popped into my head a few weeks before, could be made into an entire novel.

Seems it could.

Highlander’s Hope, the first book in the Castle Bride’s Series was born. My, but that was a long labor! Today, I’m celebrating the The Earl’s Enticement’s release, the third and last book in the series. Another six book series, The Highland Heather Romancing a Scot Series, is in the works, as well as two novellas. All the books are spin-offs from the first series.

Now, I’m thoroughly addicted and cannot imagine why I waited so long to begin writing. Hubby would say I’m obsessed, but that would mean I’m preoccupied and a bit fanatical about writing. . . . All the time. Every waking moment.

Darn. He’s right.

I think the most important thing is, once the niggling seed to become an author took hold, a dream I didn’t even realize I harbored, blossomed. And look where I’ve ended up?

What are your impossible dreams? What can you do to make them come true?

The Earl’s Enticement

Blurb:

She won’t be tamed.

A fiery, unconventional Scot, Adaira Ferguson wears breeches, swears, and has no more desire to marry than she does to follow society’s dictates of appropriate behavior. She trusts no man with the secret she desperately protects.

He can’t forget.

Haunted by his past, Roark, the Earl of Clarendon, rigidly adheres to propriety, holding himself and those around him to the highest standards, no matter the cost. Betrayed once, he’s guarded and leery of all women.

Mistaking Roark for a known spy, Adaira imprisons him. Infuriated, he vows vengeance. Realizing her error, she’s appalled and releases him, but he’s not satisfied with his freedom. Roark is determined to transform Adaira from an ill-mannered hoyden to a lady of refinement.

He succeeds only to discover, he preferred the free-spirited Scottish lass who first captured his heart.

Excerpt:

Smiling, a heart-wrenchingly sad smile, she said flatly, “I’m quite used to being the source of gossip and disapproval. One really does become immune after a while.”

Shoulders sagging, she dropped her gaze to her hands, and fidgeted with a ribbon on her gown.

Like hell one did.

People erected barriers and defenses and lived a lonely life of isolation. Or behaved outrageously, keeping the company of those even more scandalous than themselves. Or they became bitter and unfeeling, afraid to hope for anything better than the harsh hand they’d been dealt. He couldn’t let that happen to his free-spirited Adaira.

Stifling an oath, Roark straightened his shoulders. The infernal pounding in his head and throbbing in his nether regions affected both his patience and his ability to focus.

“You’d prefer censure and ostracism?”

Adaira tilted her chin, meeting his eyes. “I prefer them over being compelled to marry a man who doesn’t want me. You have made it very clear you disapprove of everything about me. I’m not foolish enough to mistake your lust for anything more than what it is, pure animalistic drive.”

She gave him a cynical smile and shrugged again. “You forget, my lord, I have a stallion that becomes crazed with the need to copulate. He doesn’t give a rat’s whisker about the mare he’s mating. She’s a means to an end. Humans are little better in my observation, at least the males of the species.”

By God, she’d compared him to her rutting stallion. Roark almost touched his jaw to make sure it wasn’t sagging open.

You can buy The Earl’s Enticement at: Amazon.com

Bio: Award winning, Amazon best-selling, and multi-published historical romance author, Collette Cameron, has a BS in Liberal Studies and a Master’s in Teaching. A Pacific Northwest Native, Collette’s been married for thirty years, has three amazing adult children, and five dachshunds. Collette loves a good joke, inspirational quotes, flowers, the beach, trivia, birds, shabby chic, and Cadbury Chocolate. You’ll always find dogs, birds, quirky—sometimes naughty—humor, and a dash of inspiration in her novels. Her motto for life? You can’t have too much chocolate, too many hugs, or too many flowers. She’s thinking about adding shoes to that list.