A Man for Annalee has a new publisher and a new cover!

A MAN FOR ANNALEE was originally published by Still Moments Publishing, recently acquired by The Wild Rose Press. A few projects accompanied the acquisition. My two titles were some of them. The stories went through another round of edits and have been given new covers. Here's my historical set in Wyoming, 1871...

Wyoming Territory—1871

       Gunfire jarred Annalee Gallagher. She straightened in her seat, her heart pounding. Another bullet zinged past the stagecoach, and the older couple sitting across from her gasped in unison. Heaven help her, she’d escaped one nightmare only to find herself in the middle of another.

       The broad-shouldered man who’d been drowsing against her jerked upright and drew a pistol from his holster in a blur so fast Annalee wondered if he hadn’t been holding it all along.

       He fired six shots out of the window before leaning back to reload. “Think I winged one.”

       She didn’t know if he spoke to himself in affirmation or bragged to the occupants of the stagecoach.

       One thing for sure, though, she wanted a look at the gunmen. Did they resemble the criminals in her dime novels? Surely one peek wouldn’t hurt. She leaned toward the open window next to her. Thus far her journey from Chicago to Cicero Creek, Wyoming, had been blessedly uneventful. She’d met none of the miscreants and bloodthirsty Indians written about in her books, so the thrill of living through a stagecoach robbery, like those in stories she’d read, warred with her sense of self-preservation.

       If she’d had her wits about her, she’d be afraid, or so she told herself as she glanced out of the window, hoping to see the highwaymen. With her mind and heart so absorbed with grief this past week, this incident, no matter how perilous, was a welcome respite.

       The gunmen were out of her line of vision, the pounding of their horses’ hooves growing closer. More shots rang out. The stagecoach driver cracked his whip and bellowed an order to the team of horses. “Hi-ya! Go! Go!” The stage swayed precariously as it accelerated over the bumpy road. Gritty dust blew into the coach with such force the air seemed alive with it.

       She flinched as the coach’s jarring motion caused her burns to throb. Having just survived the devastation of the great fire in Chicago—a tragedy that snuffed out three-hundred lives and destroyed nearly one-third of the city—she didn’t think anything would ever frighten her again.     

 

       She was wrong.

 

NO RELEASE DATE YET...BUT SOON, I HOPE!