Montana Mavericks, Books 1-4 Read online

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  About the Authors

  Diana Palmer

  Diana Palmer is a former newspaper reporter with 16 years’ experience on both daily and weekly newspapers. She began selling romance novels in 1979 and currently writes for HQN Books (mainstream romances) and Silhouette Books (contemporary series romances).

  Diana Palmer has over 40 million copies of her books in print, which have been translated and published around the world, and she has written over 100 books for Silhouette, MIRA and Harlequin Books.

  Her awards include 10 Waldenbooks national sales awards, four B. Dalton national sales awards, two Bookrak national sales awards, a Lifetime Achievement Award for series storytelling from Romantic Times Magazine, several Affaire de Coeur awards, and two regional RWA awards.

  In 1998, a Japanese Harlequin reader poll gave her Silhouette Desire novel The Patient Nurse its favorite-book-of-the-year award.

  She is listed in numerous publications, including Contemporary Authors by the Gale Group, Twentieth-Century Romance and Historical Writers by St. James Press, The Writers Directory by St. James Press, the International Who’s Who of Authors and Writers by Melrose Press, Ltd., and Love’s Leading Ladies by Kathryn Falk.

  She is a member of the Native American Rights Fund, the American Museum of Natural History, the National Cattlemen’s Association, the Archeological Institute of America, the Planetary Society, the Georgia Conservancy, the Georgia Sheriffs' Association, and numerous conservation and charitable organizations. Her hobbies include gardening, archeology, anthropology, iguanas, astronomy and music.

  She has been married to her husband, James, since 1972. They have one son, who is in college studying to pursue a law enforcement career.

  Diana herself went back to college as a day student at the age of 45, inspired by her husband, who had quit a blue-collar manufacturing job to return to school and get his diploma in computer programming. He retired from his own computer business in 1998, and now enters skeet-shooting competitions in local, state, national and international competition.

  Diana graduated summa cum laude from Piedmont College, Demorest, Georgia, in 1995 with a major in history and a double minor in archeology and Spanish. She was named to two honor societies (the Torch Club and Alpha Chi) and was named to the National Dean’s List.

  In addition to her writing projects, she is currently working on her master’s degree in history at California State University. She hopes to specialize in Native American studies.

  Jackie Merritt

  Jackie Merritt’s first book was published in December of 1988, and since then she’s been deeply engrossed in the writing game. While she’s gone through dry spells, where she can't write a word that makes sense and every idea ends up in the trash can, for the most part she’s usually working on a viable story.

  Jackie honestly believes that anyone with a reasonable grasp of language and grammar can write a book—if they're self-disciplined enough to put in the time and effort that writing demands. Starting a book is easy; staying with it until it is finished is the part that stops many would-be authors. Jackie believes she had an advantage that a lot of people do not have. As a former accountant, she was used to working alone and completing long projects. Oddly enough, the same principles apply to writing.

  Plus, of course, you have to love it. Jackie’s first attempts to write fiction were so bad they were comical, but she still fell in love with writing. She had written hundreds of business letters before that, but never a word of fiction, and there, all of a sudden, was a whole new world for her to explore.

  She had a great time since selling her first novel and many subsequent books, and is looking forward to many more good times ahead!

  Myrna Temte

  "My Life as a Romance Writer" or "What's a Nice Gal Like Me Doing in a Business Like This?"

  I despise writing these little autobiographical essays… Honestly, if my personal life were a novel, it would put any intelligent reader to sleep in 2.3 seconds. You all know the drill: married to her college sweetheart, two talented, gorgeous, and adorable children, sweet little dog, lives in a nice neighborhood in a nice little city in lovely Washington state.

  All of the above is absolutely true, but why on earth should anyone else care? Bleah! How bland! How unoriginal! How boring!

  I could make up some stuff to give my story a little more zing, but that would defeat the whole purpose of this essay, which is to let readers know a little bit about me. You really want to know about me? Read my books.

  My friends and relatives swear that I write exactly the way I talk. My characters tend to have the same, slightly warped sense of humor that I do. Many of my characters are dog lovers; so am I. None of my lead female characters are cleaning freaks; trust me, neither am I. In short, I tend to write about the kinds of people I would choose for my close friends.

  That's really how I got started writing romances. I suppose we had just moved to Broadus, Montana, and had produced daughter number one. Job opportunities for me were scarce, and frankly, I really needed something to do besides obsess over whether or not I was a perfect enough mother. One day I picked up a romance novel that was set on a ranch in Texas. The male characters were all cowboys.

  I looked out my window and saw one pickup truck after another drive by, and this nagging little voice in my head said, "You know lots of cowboys. You could write about cowboys." That darn little voice never did shut up until I sat down at the kitchen table and gave it a shot.

  Out of that experiment came a writing career and a whole bunch of great friends (even if some of them are imaginary) to occupy my mind. Since that first book, I've never really been lonely, and I've never really thought of doing anything else for a living.

  Laurie Paige

  Some people describe "conflict" as two dogs and one bone. For Laurie Paige, it was growing up with four older brothers and two older sisters. Everyone felt free to boss the youngest member of the family. She claims this abundance of advice on improving her behavior was directly responsible for developing her stubborn streak.

  Fortunately the family lived on a farm in Kentucky, four miles from the Tennessee border, and there was lots of room to roam…and avoid her older siblings. As a four-year-old, her chores were to help churn butter and, in summer, to keep worms out of the vegetable garden. Where were those hungry robins when she needed them to pluck a fat caterpillar from a tomato leaf?

  Laurie loved Roy Rogers and Dale Evans. Picturing herself as a cowgirl, she rode their two farm horses every chance she got, as well as the prize sow her dad was fattening up for market. Laurie reports the sow bucked like a horse while she held on to its ears for dear life. If you try this, be sure and tuck your toes under its front legs to stay on. And yes, pigs have teeth…a lot of them!

  Shortly before she started first grade, her family moved to town. Heartbroken at leaving her four-legged friends, she recovered upon discovering the library. It was the most wonderful place
thousands of books. She read The Little Engine That Could at least once a week. In the museum upstairs, she played chopsticks on the harpsichord. That started a lifetime love of museums.

  She met her future husband in the Sweet Shop. (That really was the name of the place). She was 16; Bob was 20, home on leave from the Navy. After Laurie finished high school, they married and headed off to Florida and the U.S. Space program. There, they worked, attended college, learned to surf in the warm waters off Cocoa Beach, met the Original Seven astronauts, had a daughter, and adopted a dog and two cats.

  After getting a degree in math (daughter was in sixth grade by then), Laurie worked as a reliability and computer engineer, receiving an Outstanding Achievement Award from NASA for work on the Apollo-Soyez mission and for developing an Automated Problem Reporting System for the Space Shuttle.

  Working in the missiles and space business was like being in the military. The family was transferred from Florida to California, back to Florida, then Texas and finally California again, where they still live.

  Laurie admits she has loved every place she has lived and made lasting friendships in each community. She just returned from Florida, visiting friends in Orlando and Fernandino Beach and stops in between. She and Bob also met other families on vacations to Montana (hiking, backpacking, and fishing), Lake Tahoe (skiing), and Hawaii (windsurfing) and have recently discovered cruise ships (Alaska and icebergs; Caribbean and snorkeling).

  She recently made many new friends when she and eight other women went to Belfast, Ireland, for two weeks, building houses for Habitat for Humanity. She found it a wonderful endeavor—hard work but very fulfilling, a bonding experience for all, both American and Irish, who participated.

  Traveling and studying maps is one way she gets ideas for romance stories. She loves villages and ghost towns, hidden valleys tucked between imposing mountains and funny names like Dead Horse Creek and, nearby, Dead Man’s Bluff. Mmm, sounds like a story there.

  She haunts cemeteries and studies family names, guessing at connections between them. Or making up her own. That’s how the opening scene in Only One Groom Allowed came into being; she was hiking in the mountains and came across an old graveyard…and got drenched by a sudden shower while engrossed in reading the tombstones.

  Her second book, South of the Sun, came about when she watched a report on TV concerning a scientific expedition to the South Pole. Then someone told her of an article in a magazine about how to identify a true lover from a rake. Thus the idea of a romance during a trip to Antarctica with the hero being the leader and the heroine being a psychologist testing her white lab rats in the harsh environment sprang into being. Her family warns friends that anything they say may, and probably will, appear in one of her books!

  For those whose life and marriage may seem impossible at the moment, she reminds them, "All the reasons you fell in love are still there, but perhaps buried under worries and responsibility. Find them again, then hang in there. Truly, the best is yet to come."

  Laurie’s email address is: [email protected]. She loves to hear from readers and share thoughts, recipes, and ideas.

  Coming Next Month

  If you enjoyed the eBook you just read, then you’ll love what we have for you next month!

  ON SALE IN JANUARY 2007

  THE COUPLE MOST LIKELY TO by Lilian Darcy, Silhouette Special Edition

  HER SISTER'S SECRET LIFE by Pamela Toth, Silhouette Special Edition

  MONTANA MAVERICKS BOOKS 5-8 BUNDLE by Jackie Merritt, Pat Warren, Rebecca Daniels, and Helen R. Myers, Silhouette Special Edition