by Carla Kelly
“I’m perfectly sober, Mary McIntyre,” he warned her. “I’m really going to mean it this time. Did you just blow me a kiss?”
“Only because you were too far away,” she replied. It must have been the right answer, because he kissed her soundly, thoroughly, and completely at her grandmother’s front door. He held her close then, and she wrapped Mrs. Muncie’s shawl around both of them.
“Poor Mrs. Muncie,” he murmured in her ear. “I mean, what kind of a common scoundrel and skirt raiser would take away her granddaughter so soon?”
“You would, my love,” she whispered.
* * *
A well-known veteran of the romance writing field, Carla Kelly is the author of thirty-one novels and three non-fiction works, as well as numerous short stories and articles for various publications. She is the recipient of two RITA Awards from Romance Writers of America for Best Regency of the Year; two Spur Awards from Western Writers of America; two Whitney Awards, one for Best Romance Fiction, 2011, and one for Best Historical Fiction, 2012; and a Lifetime Achievement Award from Romantic Times.
Carla’s interest in historical fiction is a byproduct of her lifelong study of history. She has a BA in Latin American History from Brigham Young University and an MA in Indian Wars History from University of Louisiana-Monroe. She’s held a variety of jobs, including public relations work for major hospitals and hospices, feature writer and columnist for a North Dakota daily newspaper, and ranger in the National Park Service (her favorite job) at Fort Laramie National Historic Site and Fort Union Trading Post National Historic Site. She has worked for the North Dakota Historical Society as a contract researcher. Interest in the Napoleonic Wars at sea led to a recent series of novels about the British Channel Fleet during that conflict.
Of late, Carla has written two novels set in southeast Wyoming in 1910 that focus on her Mormon background and her interest in ranching.
You can find Carla on the Web at:
www.carlakellyauthor.com.