Yee-haw! Guess who’s now in paperback? :cowboy:

Becoming Miss Becky Historical western romance A sheriff with a stone-cold reputation. An innocent madam hell-bent on disturbing his peace. Who will be the first to give in? Rebecca Hamilton passed through life as bland as biscuits—until the day she buried her father and fled out West with a fortune in stolen jewelry. She arrives in Gardiner, Texas to find her aunt has bequeathed to her the only whorehouse in town. With no other prospects except a proposal from a tall, dark stranger wearing a badge, Rebecca decides to embrace her vibrant aunt’s legacy and never again live under the thumb of an overbearing man. After years of cultivating a reputation as a ruthless lawman, Adam Caldwell can’t believe he’s offered to marry the quiet, rather plain new madam. Even more perplexing is the fact she turns him down, choosing instead to become a sass-talkin’, sashay-walkin’ vision in feathers and lace. With an innocent madam wanting him to teach her to be as wicked as she looks and rowdy townsfolk split over the scandal, the sheriff figures his cup of troubles is about full. But a man from Rebecca’s past catches up with her, and Adam has to decide just how much he’s willing to sacrifice for the woman who refuses to give up on becoming Miss Becky.

Now available in print from mybookstoreandmore.com, as well as Books-A-Million, Amazon, and Barnes & Noble

And, of course, it’s also available digitally right this very second from mybookstoreandmore.com or your favorite online e-tailer.

After the jump is a (relatively) short excerpt from the first chapter. Rebecca has discovered her aunt left her a whorehouse and Sheriff Adam Caldwell has suggested she get back on the stage and go back to where she came from. (There’s a longer excerpt on BMB’s page.)

“And what about my…” she waved a hand at the Chicken Coop, “…whorehouse?”

Adam admired the way she managed to spit the word out. Her back was nice and straight now, and she was picking her chin up. “We can arrange for you to sell it, I reckon.”

“I can’t go back. And I have no other place to go.”

It fascinated him, the way he could almost see her reaching deep down, digging up some backbone.

“I can do this,” she continued, almost to herself. “I can…wait! I wouldn’t have to actually…you know…myself, would I?”

“No!” Adam replied a little too emphatically, drawing the attention of a lot of passers-by. Everybody in town knew who was expected on the stage, and he didn’t need to be yelling at her in the street. But the thought of Rebecca Hamilton giving her virginity to the first randy cowboy with a dollar in his pocket made his gut knot up tighter than her hair. “I’ll marry you.”

Holy shit, where the hell had that come from?

It was that damn Will Martinson’s fault. Since the doc went and married that damn women’s libber of his two weeks back, he’d been about the most contented fool Adam had ever seen. Made marriage look downright attractive.

And it maybe wouldn’t be so bad. Rebecca seemed like a solid, quiet type of woman who’d keep a good house and cook a fine meal, but not get hysterical with the vapors when he had to shoot somebody. It wasn’t a half-bad idea at all.

The woman, on the other hand, looked as though a rattlesnake had just slithered up her drawers and bitten her on the ass.

She opened and closed her mouth a few times before anything came out. “I just slapped you.”

“That’s true. I guess it wouldn’t be right for the sheriff to marry such a violent woman.” Damn, but this was awkward, and wouldn’t be happening at all if Will didn’t have to go running after every kid who felt a little warm to his mama.

The sun beat down hot as blazes on his head, and right then Adam wanted nothing more than to put his hat on and walk away. He was making a fool of himself, and that was a rare occurrence.

“Why in heaven’s name would you propose to a total stranger?” the woman asked, and he supposed it was a reasonable question. Just one he didn’t have a reasonable answer to.

“You don’t seem to have too many choices, and I guess I could do with a wife.”

“How very flattering, Sheriff Caldwell.”

“And you’re pretty enough.”

“You should stop talking now.”

“Okay.” That suited him just fine. Nothing good ever came of talking. Shooting people, now that was an effective form of communication.