His Captive Bride (35 page)

After Sundown

 (Lawless Nights Series, Book 1)

He vowed to bring her to justice...

U.S. Marshal Lucas McKenna has brought down some of the most notorious outlaws in the West. Now he’s on a personal mission: hunting the woman who killed his brother.

Antoinette Sutton is running for her life. The evidence against her is overwhelming—and no one will believe the truth about what happened. Lucas captures the dark-haired beauty in Colorado, but before he can take her back to Missouri to stand trial, the two are snowbound in a remote mining town. During the firelit nights of a Rocky Mountain winter, lawman and prisoner are caught in a dance of danger and desire... until Annie loses her heart and Lucas faces an impossible choice: will he do his duty and turn her in, or set her free and become an outlaw himself?

An RWA RITA Award Finalist: Best Historical Romance of the Year

“Fast-paced and poignant. One of the best romances of the year.” –
The Oakland Press

Colorado, 1878

As she crossed the street, her gaze on the dust, something made her glance up. Maybe a shift in the wind. The sound of a door creaking as it swung open. A strand of her unruly hair blowing into her eyes. She wasn’t sure.

But that was when she saw him. Watching her.

A stranger. He stood in front of one of the saloons, directly ahead of her, almost hidden by the darkness and shadows beneath its balcony. Silent and still. In the shifting afternoon light, she got only an impression of a tall, lean figure standing alone. But her heart started beating harder. She didn’t know why, couldn’t even tell what had drawn her attention to him, what made her so certain he was staring at her.

But some instinct lifted the fine hairs on the back of her neck. Even as she looked right at him, she could glimpse no more than an outline of broad shoulders. A western hat tilted low over his eyes. A pistol holstered on his hip.

And all at once, the fear that she had thought burned away by sorrow came rushing back in a flood. She almost stopped in her tracks, almost turned around, but forced herself to keep walking. Steadily, casually.

He didn’t move. Didn’t seem especially threatening. Wasn’t nearly as big and frightening as Big Horace.

She tried to breathe evenly, calm herself. He was probably just another miner who’d come in from his claim after weeks away from civilization. Was probably staring at her because he hadn’t seen a woman in a long time. Or maybe he was a traveler passing through, newly arrived on the stage and drunk from his visit to the saloon.

He stepped down from the saloon’s porch and started across the street. Directly toward her.

And the way he moved wasn’t drunken or casual, but slow and purposeful. And Annie knew right then that there was something different about this man.

Something dangerous.

Her heart thudded a hard stroke. A single panicked thought rioted through her mind.

She’d been found.

All the breath seemed to leave her lungs. She had thought she no longer cared about being captured—but she’d been wrong.

Oh God, oh God, oh God.
She lowered her gaze and remembered the letters in her hand. Started leafing through them as she walked. Told herself she looked like any ordinary homesteader who’d just come from collecting the weekly mail. She tried to hum but couldn’t remember a single tune.

She could hear his footsteps now as he came closer, the sound heavier than she would’ve thought for a man who seemed so lanky.
Muscle
, some part of her brain supplied.
Every lean inch of him must be pure muscle
.

An uneasy fluttering sensation filled her belly. Dear God, what should she do?
Think damn it
.

Annie lifted her head and nodded politely and said a cheerful, “Good afternoon.”

Without saying a word, he reached up to touch the brim of his hat. His fingers were long and tanned, his face as lean and spare as the rest of him, his jaw stubbled by a dark beard, his mouth bracketed by deep lines. He had black hair that curled below his collar.

And clear, green-gold eyes that fastened on her with an intensity that made her legs feel weak.

Cowboy, she thought desperately as they passed almost shoulder to shoulder. Maybe he was a cowboy. He was dressed like one, had the rough, hard look of a man who’d spent his life on the range. And cowboys were reputed to be men of long stares and few words.

But what would a cowhand be doing so far from the cattle trails?

It seemed to take her forever to reach Dr. Holt’s house on the corner. Her hand trembled as she knocked on the front door, barely aware of the sound over the rising buzz that filled her head. There was no reply. A tingling feeling began between her shoulder blades.

Like she was about to be shot in the back.

Unable to stop herself, she nervously glanced behind her. The dark stranger stood in front of the general store.

Watching her.

She forced a smile.

He didn’t return it.

Annie knocked on Dr. Holt’s door again, her heart hammering now.
Open the door. Open it. Please, Dr. Holt, open the door!

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Buy this book now
:
After Sundown

—

SPOILER ALERT

—

Dear Reader,

I always love those “Behind the Scenes” bonus features on DVDs. I enjoy learning what inspired the stories, characters, and settings of my favorite movies. I love getting a peek at how the costumes were made, how the sets were built, and what changes were made in the editing room. When I first set out on this digital publishing adventure, I knew I wanted to include a “Behind the Scenes” bonus feature in each of my ebooks.

But I realize that some people dislike “Behind the Scenes” features. For them, hearing the nuts-and-bolts of the creative process ruins their enjoyment of the story. I don’t want to ruin anyone’s enjoyment of my books, so if you’re someone who typically skips “Making of” features on DVDs, it’s probably best to skip this section.

Also, if you haven’t finished the whole book yet, you’ll want to finish before returning to this page. I’m about to give you an inside peek at the creative decisions that went into writing this story—so plot twists may be revealed and characters’ secrets spilled.

So... if you’ve skipped ahead to this feature, please click back and finish the book. I totally understand the skipping-ahead impulse, because I’m a chronic skipper-aheader myself. But really, now is the best time to skip back. Before you see any spoilers.

When you’re all done, return to this page. I’ll be waiting right here for you.

Ready? Here we go.

Inspirations

It’s the #1 question readers ask novelists: “Where do you get your ideas?” I wish I had an intriguing, exotic answer, but the truth is: anywhere and everywhere. I don’t remember a time when I
didn’t
have scenes and characters and dialogue dancing around in my head. From the time I was old enough to hold a pencil, I’ve had notebooks and scraps of paper filled with ideas for stories.

The original idea for
His Captive Bride
popped up while I was researching an earlier book, my swashbuckling romance
Silver & Sapphires
. While studying eighteenth-century seafaring, I kept coming across descriptions of explorers who were obsessed with finding the fountain of youth. The search for a magical spring that would bestow eternal health and life had tantalized mankind since the time of the Ancient Greeks. But no explorer ever located it. The “waters of life” remained a legend, a myth.

Which made me wonder, what if the fountain of youth really existed? What if they just missed it because they were looking in the wrong place?

Four years later, that question, jotted on a scrap of paper, became the first spark of
His Captive Bride.
Another spark came from the hit TV series “Highlander,” about an immortal named Duncan MacLeod who lives secretly among mortals in modern-day Europe and America.

I loved the idea of exploring the problems faced by immortals living in the mortal world. But that subject has been covered thoroughly by other authors and screenwriters. If I was going to write about immortals, I knew I had to give my story a fresh twist.

In my novel, immortality would be conferred not by a gene or a germ or by blood, but by a
place
. An island. A remote island where the fountain of youth really existed. And this gift of eternal health and life would carry a price: remain on the island, and you might live forever—but if you leave, you die.

Then I added another complication: the inhabitants of the island don’t know exactly what it is that makes them immortal.

Now I had a story that intrigued me, and I began building my fantasy world. Instead of setting my book during the Age of Exploration, when the search for the fountain of youth was at its zenith, I moved it back to the Middle Ages. Instead of Spanish or Dutch or English explorers, my islanders would  be Vikings. That allowed me to pair my immortal hero with a favorite character from one of my earlier books: Lady Avril de Varennes, the feisty young widow who vowed in
Forever His
that she would never love again.

I wrote up a proposal and sent it to my agent in October 1995. She absolutely loved it, and submitted it to my editor at Avon Books.

Who absolutely hated it.

This particular editor (who shall remain nameless) had strong opinions about what a romance novel “should” and “shouldn’t” be—and this book fell solidly into her “shouldn’t” category. She had no interest in buying a book that blended the fantasy and romance genres. She considered it too risky because “no one else has published anything like this” and “there’s just no market for paranormal romance.” She explained that my proposal reminded her of “a vampire book without the teeth and blood”—and there was nothing she hated more than vampire books.

I can only imagine how that poor editor has suffered in the years since, forced to grit her teeth as vampires rose up to completely take over the publishing industry. I can just imagine her telling her authors, “This would sell better if you made it a paranormal. Can you put a vampire in it?”

But I digress. Back in 1995, she refused to let me write my proposed book unless I completely removed the paranormal element. Avon, she said, was not looking to be an innovator. She instructed me to turn my novel into a “regular” historical romance, a kidnapping story with no hint of fantasy. She was one of the most powerful editors in New York at the time, and she fully expected me to comply.

I refused. Partly because I had already written the book she was describing (
Falcon on the Wind
) and I don’t like to repeat myself. More important, the paranormal element is the heart of
His Captive Bride
. I wasn’t about to just yank it out.

Instead, my agent withdrew the proposal and I wrote
His Forbidden Touch
—a “regular” historical romance with no hint of fantasy—to placate my editor and finish out my Avon contract.

Then my agent sold my rejected proposal to Dell for more money than I had ever made in my career.

Even with that contract in hand, I didn’t feel particularly triumphant as I left Avon. After three years of being pummeled by an editor who hated my work, ignored by the marketing department, and generally treated with all the consideration one would show a potted plant, my self-esteem and confidence in my writing were at an all-time low.

In my first phone conversation with my new Dell editor, Laura Cifelli, I tentatively asked if she was at all worried about the fact that I wanted to write a paranormal romance.

“Shelly,” she said, laughing, “you could write your grocery list on a paper bag and I would buy it.”

It had been so long since I’d heard praise from an editor, I’d almost forgotten what it sounded like. Laura, a former literary agent, had been a fan of my work for years. She actually
liked
the fact that I took risks. She encouraged me to stay true to my voice and be as innovative as I wanted to be.

This new ebook edition of
His Captive Bride
is dedicated to her. Every author, at least once in her career, deserves an editor who truly loves her books. Laura was mine.

For the first time in years, I felt happy about my career and hopeful for the future. Not only did I have Laura in my corner, I also had the support of Dell Executive Editor Marjorie Braman, who had been my editor in my early days at Avon. I was in the best, most secure position an author could possibly enjoy, with
two
editors enthusiastically supporting my work.

Best of all, Dell was rolling out the red carpet for this book, which was then titled
Timeless
: it would have a lead-title position, an expensive step-back cover, an ambitious print run, and the full promotional support of Dell’s marketing team.

After so many disappointments at Avon, my career had taken a turn for the better. This was the big break I had been hoping for. The brass ring was finally within my reach.

I was looking forward to a long and successful future as a Dell author.

Soundtrack

Readers of previous “Behind the Scenes” features know that I always pick a love theme for my hero and heroine when starting a book. It’s one of my little creative rituals and helps me tune in to the characters and their story. For Hauk and Avril, I chose “Hands to Heaven,” the 1988 hit by the band Breathe. It’s a bittersweet song about a couple who need each other and long to stay together, but realize they have to separate.

While writing the original manuscript, I listened to a lot of impressionistic and water-themed music to inspire the landscape of Asgard Island, including Debussy’s “La Mer” and “Prélude a l’après-midi d’un faun,” and Vangelis’s “Oceanic”—especially the tracks “Islands of the Orient” and “Song of the Seas.”

In 2012, when I started work on this new ebook edition, I discovered two indie albums that perfectly evoke the ethereal world of Asgard: “Drift” by Tania Rose and “Vibrant Water” by Thom Brennan. Both are available at Amazon (“Drift” is just 99 cents as I write this) and they’re well worth a download. I played them on a continuous loop while rewriting His Captive Bride.

The Title

Back when I wrote for New York, I had some epic battles over book titles. So I was surprised that Dell never asked me to change the working title of this book:
Timeless
. For only the second time in my entire career (the first being
Midnight Raider
), I was allowed to keep my original title. I was thrilled!

In 2012, while preparing the first ebook edition, I almost changed the title myself, after I found about a zillion books titled
Timeless
on Amazon. But in the end, I just didn’t have the heart to let it go. I tried adding a sub-title,
The Asgard Warriors
, to help distinguish my
Timeless
from all the others
.

But making a business decision with my heart instead of my head turned out to be a mistake. The 2012 edition of
Timeless
got lost in the shuffle of all those other
Timeless
titles. Even after I changed the cover to a romantic clinch, it remained my lowest-selling book.

So in 2013, as I prepared to re-launch my Stolen Brides series with sexy new covers, I decided it was time for
Timeless
to get a sexy new title as well. I wanted to give the entire series unified titles, centered around the word “his,” so
Timeless
became
His Captive Bride
.

The Cover

You’ll find full-color photos of the original paperback covers (both versions) and all my digital covers on the Fun FAQs page on my website:
http://www.shellythacker.com/FAQ

When I signed with Dell in 1997, editor Laura Cifelli asked to see my “wish list” of perks that I had always wanted but never received at Avon. I was a little cynical about it, figuring my list would end up in the shredder, since that was how Avon had handled my requests. But I had nothing to lose, so I decided to shoot for the moon. I included on my wish list the name of a particular cover artist I had always admired—a major name that Avon had considered too expensive for the likes of me.

To my surprise and joy, Laura hired him to do the cover of
Timeless
. She didn’t promise to try, didn’t explain why it would be difficult, didn’t talk about it at all. She just went out and did it. I was simply stunned. It was beginning to sink in that what I wanted actually
mattered
to the Dell team.

They gave
Timeless
a “step-back” cover, a process that involves creating an inside cover with an illustration of the characters, and a flashier outside cover with the author’s name and title in big foil letters.

The original
Timeless
step-back has Hauk on the inside—painted by my favorite artist—and a storm-tossed Viking ship on the outside, in shades of dark blue with red foil lettering. That cover appeared on all the bookseller websites, on the advance-review galleys, and in my promotional materials. However, it ended up being scrapped just before
Timeless
was published.

After the regime change (details below), Dell completely re-designed the front cover, tossing out the blue-and-red version and switching to a bright orange one with silver and gold foil. It’s extremely expensive for a publisher to change a cover at the last minute, but the new team in charge felt that the brighter color would sell better. I liked the original cover just fine, and I had doubts about putting an orange cover on a Viking romance—but the new team in charge wasn’t asking for my opinions.

The blue cover still shows up on websites here and there, but it never actually appeared on any copies of the book sold in stores.

For the 2012 ebook edition, I wanted to capture both the fantasy and the romance elements of
Timeless
, hoping to catch the attention of both fantasy fans and romance readers. I asked designer Kim Killion to create a cover that evoked the Claiming voyage and my strong, stubborn Viking hero. I absolutely loved what she delivered… but instead of creating a crossover hit, it turned out to be a miss with readers, as fantasy fans and romance fans all passed it by.

So we tried again a few months later, with a second cover that moved away from the fantasy genre and focused on the romance. But even that steamy clinch cover didn’t catch on with readers.

I’m hoping that the fifth time will be the charm: for this 2013 edition, Kim created a sizzling new cover inspired by the scene in chapter 10 when Avril awakens on the beach, and Hauk emerges out of the darkness… and a steamy encounter ensues. My fingers are crossed that this cover will catch fire with readers at last.

Trivia

~ Avril, Celine, Ciara... as I mentioned in the “Making of” features in
Forever His
and
His Forbidden Touch
, I didn’t set out to name all of my Stolen Brides heroines after pop stars. Future pop sensation Avril Lavigne was just nine years old in 1993 when Lady Avril de Varennes made her first appearance in
Forever His
. Only one of the Stolen Brides heroines was named after a pop star. Can you guess which one?

~ Are you a fellow Pinterest addict? I’ve created inspiration boards for each of my books. Visit my
His Captive Bride
board at
http://pinterest.com/shellythacker/
to see what Asgard’s waterfalls and rugged coastline might look like; take a peek at Hauk’s stallion Ildfast and adorable little Floyel; and find out which movie stars I would pick to portray Hauk, Avril, Keldan, and Josette.