What genre is the book? Contemporary, erotic romance, LGBT/gay, western, ménage

What is the book you’ll be talking about in this interview? For Ruby’s Love

What are the names of the characters being interviewed? Calhoun Cordell, Daniel Patterson, and Ruby McMurtry

CONTEST: In honor of my spunky cowgirl, I am giving away a cute/sexy pouch that can hand on your belt, go in your purse, whatever you want. Leave a comment about why you love reading about a woman strong enough to pull her own against a stubborn man and include your email address. One lucky commenter will be chosen on January 28^th.

 

Where do you currently live?

Calhoun: I have a rather large ranch, the Circle C, in the Kansas Flint Hills. I’d like to expand and buy the neighboring ranch.

Daniel: My time is spent between my home in the Country Club District in Kansas City and Calhoun’s ranch. We are currently in disagreement about his expanding the Circle C. I think he already has more than enough land and responsibilities to deal with. Of course, he isn’t thrilled when I add yet another business to those I already own.

Ruby: While my home base was in Blowing Rock, North Carolina, after my father/my business partner’s death, I mainly live in my combination pink truck and attached camper. Cordell has a nice spread, but I’m fine in my camper.

What is your current job title?

Calhoun: I own the Circle C and work alongside my ranch hands on a daily basis.

Daniel: I’m the CEO/owner of Patterson Investments, an international company based in Kansas City. My relationship with Cal keeps me working part time at the ranch, but his business can only be handled there.

Ruby: Some people see me as a horse whisperer, like my father was. Actually, I’m more of a therapist for traumatized horses. My special skill, along with my father’s previous arrangement with Cordell, is what brought me to the Circle C. The problem is Cordell is too pigheaded to let me do my job of trying to help his badly traumatized, prized breeding mare…because I’m a woman. Seriously?

What is your most cherished possession?

Calhoun: The whole ranch is important to me. Yet Starbright is more than just a valuable breeding mare to me. We just…I don’t know…have a special bond.

Daniel: Although Cal isn’t an actual “possession,” I’d have to say he’s someone I cherish. We have our ups and downs, but I don’t think I can give him up.

Ruby: That old battered camper covered in travel decals from places my father and I went to while working together means a whole to me. I don’t think I can ever part with it.

What makes you blush?

Calhoun: Not a hell of a lot. Well, when Ruby opened a nightstand drawer and found the stash of…um…sex toys that Daniel and I use occasionally… Okay, I might have blushed.

Daniel: Like Cal, it takes something really unique to make me blush. When I realized that I was interested in having sex with Ruby, it made me uncomfortable. Then when I admitted to her that I’d never been with a woman… I felt my face heat up then.

Ruby: I’m a pretty confident woman, but when I catch myself fantasizing about either Cordell or Daniel, I probably blush a bit.

What do you dislike about your life?

Calhoun: Not much, except lately I’ve sort of felt like something was missing. I’m happy with Daniel, still something is missing.

Daniel: Generally speaking, I’m content. But I’ve sensed that Cal is unsettled and neither of us can quite figure out the problem. Ruby’s arrival at the ranch has only made us both feel like we need more.

Ruby: I’m a strong woman, more than capable of doing my job. But I’ve always had a work partner, my dad…until recently. I’m feeling lonely, but I’ll get things figured out again in time.

 

Blurb

Rancher Calhoun Cordell and businessman Daniel Patterson have struggled for almost two years as a couple, with careers and goals often in conflict. A tragic fire, leading to a traumatized valuable breeding mare, has Calhoun sending for a well-known horse whisperer. Except the man is dead. His daughter, Ruby McMurtry, shows up for the job instead and complicates their lives even more.

 

Excerpt

He pulled open the over-sized front door and gaped at the bit of a woman shivering on the porch. She appeared a foot shorter than him and a good sixty or more pounds lighter. What hit him most were her eyes—an odd dark green, like jade or something. Her eyes narrowed as he looked her over.

Finally, she stretched to her full minimal height and bristled at him. “When you’re done checking me out, do you think you could let me inside? It’s colder than cold out here.”

Daniel stepped beside him and intervened. “Let the lady in, Cal.” He looked around her and asked, “Where’s your car? Assuming you drove here.”

She slid between them into the tiled foyer before turning back. “No car. And I didn’t drive here, at least not exactly.” Her teeth chattered.

Calhoun closed the door against the sharp winter breeze and watched her pull off a battered pink Stetson, unveiling chin-length strawberry-blonde hair. “What does ‘not exactly’ mean?” He added, “Who are you, anyway?”

She worried her trembling lower lip and glanced from him to Daniel and back. She pulled off a glove and stuck out her hand. “Ruby McMurtry.”

Instead of taking her hand, he puffed up in annoyance. “You’re late! Where’s your father?”

She started to lower her hand, glowering at him.  But he noticed something besides anger in the depths of those enchanting eyes. He couldn’t get a handle on the emotion.

While he tried to calm down, wishing he hadn’t jumped on her, Daniel reached out and shook her very red-looking hand.

“You feel like ice,” he said in concern. He took a second to scowl at him.

As she blinked at her hand sandwiched between Daniel’s, her already pink-chilled cheeks turned pinker. “I should’ve worn my thicker gloves,” she muttered in clear discomfort. When she managed to slip free, she glared at him.

A twinge of guilt about his rude behavior passed through him, but his anger came out first as he repeated himself. “Where’s your father? I have a serious bone to pick with him.”

Those eyes that still captivated him welled up with tears. His gut tightened.

Her lower lip wobbled and she sputtered, “He…he…he’s dead.”

 

Buy Links

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About the Author

Starla Kaye wears many hats professionally and as a writer. She is the community coordinator for a Midwestern accounting firm, a gerontologist who volunteers with an active group of senior adults, a mentor/teacher of writing, and a multi-published author. She dabbles in writing romances of many sub-genres: contemporary, historical Western, medieval, sci-fi, fantasy, paranormal, and Regency. To date she has published 20 novels, 38 novellas, 8 anthologies, and 18 short stories.

 

Where to Find Starla Kaye 

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