Beth Williamson’s Blog

It’s finally here! Marielle’s Marshal is now available from Samhain Publishing.

I wanted to say thank you to my editor and friend, Sasha Knight, who not only contracted the story but did a smashing editing job (as she always does). I luvs ya doll.

Now onto the fun stuff!! I’m really excited to be part of the last four Midsummer Night’s Steam stories (I believe they’ll be packaged in anthologies for next summer in print) with Lila Dubois, Amanda Young and Maggie Casper (who I teamed up with on another story two years ago). Esteemed company to be sure. I hope y’all give all the MNS stories a try - it’s improved, ah, morale around the world.

I know I teased y’all Wednesday with the excerpt, so I’ll post just a wee bit more to whet your appetites.

Excerpt #2

“Dammit,” he cursed in her ear. “What the hell is wrong with you? Are you loco?”

Marielle struggled against his weight while the sound of the rifle shot echoed around them.

“You bitch,” the bandit shouted. “You broke my fucking rifle and cut up my hand.”

The horse’s hooves danced around them, coming dangerously close to their heads. The cowboy wrapped his arms around her and rolled under the carriage. More curses rained down as she struggled against the dust currently coating her face, nose and mouth. She could hardly get a breath in under the weight of the man on top of her. Marielle could feel every nook and cranny of his body too, even through her petticoats. He’d been blessed by his Maker for certain. Normally she would have enjoyed being so close to him, but in this situation it only served to fuel her anger.

“Get off me.”

“I’m trying to save your ass, lady. Just shut up and give that fool another minute to decide to ride on out with what he took.” His voice had a raspy quality to it that grated on her nerves.

“As if you care. You didn’t do anything but hand over your money.”

“I wasn’t expecting to be pushing up daisies for twenty dollars. Were you?”

It wasn’t the twenty dollars. It was the agony, the sweat, the tears and the blood she’d put into saving every damn penny so she’d have enough to leave Texas and get to San Francisco. This cowboy had no idea what Marielle would do to keep what she’d earned.

“You know he’s going to try to kill you now.”

“I don’t care. At least I’ll die fighting.” She meant every word of it too.

A clanging sound preceded the bandit yelling, “Hiyah!” The sound of eight horses thundering into the desert made her stomach clench. That left one horse, and the angry bandit who sat atop it.

“Shit. Now look what you done. He ran off the horses,” the cowboy groused in her ear. Gone was the handsome flirting stranger and in his place was an annoyed man.

“I didn’t do anything but try to stop him. More than what you did.”

“Look, lady, I’ve been robbed plenty of times. Nobody ever ran off the horses before you. I thought fancy-dressed ladies were supposed to be polite, not shrews.”

Marielle ground her teeth together to stop the angry response from jumping out and biting him. If she had a nickel for every man who assumed how she was supposed to act, she’d be a millionaire by now.

“Now you’re good and stuck. All of ya. You can thank the nice lady for that.” The bandit laughed. “I hope you bake like taters in this heat.”

The sound of galloping hooves faded away. Still the cowboy didn’t move. The longer he lay on top of her, the better he felt, the harder he felt. Her body’s response made her angrier.

“I think he’s gone. Do you think you could get off me now?”

****

Now go forth and get hot and steamy! Keep commenting - I’m giving away the necklace and earring set in the morning!!