I have a special guest here today, Betty Carlton. She’s sharing her new book, Zeke Kincaid’s Woman. You can click on the cover to see the book over at Goodreads. Below you’ll find the book details, the blurb, my conversation with Betty, an excerpt, the buy links, Betty’s bio, a rafflecopter for the tour wide giveaway, and all the places on the web were you can find Betty.
Zeke Kincaid’s Woman
by: Betty Carlton
Publisher: Sizzler Editions
Length: 113 Pages
Sub-Genres: Erotic Romance
BLURB:
On the musical stage in 1856 Lori Ann a singer extraordinaire impresses the audiences with her voice. Male admirers line up for a chance to meet her.
An enamored Zeke Kincaid is one of them. When Lori Ann refuses his marriage proposal. She didn’t know about Kincaid men and the events she set in motion by rejecting him.
Zeke Kincaid would make sure she understood. She didn’t have a choice. She would love him. One day, Lori Ann the singer disappears.
Under Zeke’s control he’ll see that she learns the lessons of submission and obedience in the Kincaid family tradition.
SJ: Your blurb sounds intriguing. Zeke sounds like an alpha to me, I love alphas. Thanks so much for stopping here today, Betty. I want you nice and comfortable, so let’s start with a picture of your favorite place in the world.
Betty: Actually, I’ve never been there. I found a photo on a calendar years ago that I saved. Since it had no information about where the picture was taken, and the company that issued the calendar wouldn’t help, it took me over 10 years to find it. Best part it’s almost in my own back yard. It’s in the fall and the leaves are golden as they fall around an old mill, built out of stone, next to a pond. Just looking at it de-stresses me. I will be visiting the state park where the structure is located next Fall.
SJ: How cool, your place was a mystery. How nice that you’ll finally get to visit. What was the first book to make a lasting impression on you?
Betty: Nokoa’s Woman by Gayle Rogers. I threw it up against the wall and picked it up and reread it again. I’m still not sure how it ends. lol
SJ: OMG, I hope it was a dead tree book, lol. What turns you on creatively?
Betty: Not sure how to answer that one. I found the quieter the better. Sometimes the ideas are barely whispers and I don’t want to miss them.
SJ: I know exactly what you mean, I’ve had to train myself to stop and take notice when ever those thoughts come. Can you tell us about your challenges in getting your first book published?
Betty: Let’s see the challenges. First- having no idea what I was getting myself into. Everyone thinks ‟Oh, I can write a book.” After the book is written then the challenge and rejections begin. I grew tired of the rejections. So, I changed my approach and found a publisher that gave a detailed outline of what they wanted and I wrote a story to fit exactly what they wanted. It worked in less than a day I had a contract offer in my email.
SJ: Whoa, so interesting. You took control, Betty. I love it. Which one of your characters would you NOT like to meet in real life?
Betty: The sheriff Winston Kincaid. He’s a mean one. I had to force a myself to put in a line to soften him up, but I wouldn’t trust him one iota.
SJ: Which one of your characters would you most like to meet in real life?
Betty: Zeke the hero of course, he’s the first of the Kincaid men to understand submission giving freely is so much better than forced or demanding it.
SJ: He sounds like my kind of guy. What is your idea of perfect happiness?
Betty: To have the strength, time, and money to do I as please. To be able help others when needed without worrying about the cost necessary to do so.
SJ: I love how that sounds, Betty. I want that kind of happiness. What is your greatest extravagance?
Betty: Permission to take care of myself. I have learned that what I need does matter. I can readily give me the Ok to say no to others. That may sound odd. However, I have learned the hard way if you give too much of yourself away to others when you need it the strength is gone.
SJ: That is so true. Saying no is a very important skill to have, I’m still learning that one. What is your favorite music (genre/artist/album/song)?
Betty: I lean toward the older music. The Golden oldies, old country and some musical scores. It might be due to my age getting older and don’t hear the words in the newer music. Kind of hard to sing if you don’t know it.
SJ: I know what you mean, I’m often searching the net to figure out what the singers are saying, lol. What is your motto?
Betty: ‟They’re all nice in the beginning”. It’s advice to me and those around me. When we begin new relationships we see only the nice things people want us to see. (yes even me)
SJ: That is so true, unfortunately. Tell us a bit about the projects you are working on now?
Betty: Oh, how I’d love to say Betty is knee-deep into a new adventure. But, the truth is she’s been a real goof off lately.
Who knows when the characters will return to pester me. I didn’t even know Zeke Kincaid existed until one day he showed up demanding his story be told.
SJ: Betty, you crack me up. It sounds to me like you better have your listening ears ready, I see a quiet time in your very near future. Thanks so much for visiting with me today, Betty, this was a lot of fun.
EXCERPT:
No one could accuse Ezekiel Kincaid of not knowing his own mind. A mind once made-up he stood behind with every inch of his six-foot-four inch frame. Another thing no one could accuse him of was not taking his time to find the right woman. Thirty-two years it took him to get here.
The small black box scooted across the table propelled by Ezekiel’s strong unfailing hand.
The woman across the table from him stared down at it. A smile from her set his heart to beat faster. He thought she was beautiful. She was young. She was enthralled with him.
‟Mr. Kincaid, is that for me?”
‟Of course, and it’s Zeke, remember.”
The young woman blushed. Zeke’s thoughts traveled down a road that told him she’d have a hell of a lot more to blush about once he had his hands on her.
‟Open it.”
It wasn’t a suggestion. Ezekiel Kincaid demanded she do so. Lori Ann Baxter never met the likes of the man whose table she shared, so she didn’t recognize the difference. Slender well manicured fingers gingerly picked up the velvet the box.
The hinges stiff from the newness as it seemed to resist opening. If it made a sound it could not be heard over the noise in the room.
Lori Ann expected earrings. Many men before Mr. Kincaid gave her presents. Earrings usually or a pin, but the contents of the case stunned her speechless.
‟Mr. Kincaid, I…”
The raised eyebrow on the face of the man she addressed caused her to stumble.
‟I mean, Zeke, I’m speechless. I never expected you. I mean we’ve only known each other seven days. I… I… .
The box closed with a snap. A snap that for the couple sitting there seemed to resonate through out the boisterous room.
‟The rings are exquisite, but I will not marry you.”
Lori Ann scooted the box back across the white linen table cloth. Back toward the man, whom no one ever dare reject before whether in business or his personal life.
Ezekiel sat there statue still. Only the throbbing blood vessel near his left temple gave anyone a hint of the anger consuming him at the moment.
Lori Ann looked sophisticated in the worldly sense of the word. In reality she lived a sheltered life, so unlike the personification of the woman people saw on stage.
Zeke didn’t respond to her rejection. Instead he chose to look around the room. The smoke filed air greeted his lungs as he took a deep breathe to calm down. The riotous noise that moments before he ignored, now echoed inside his head. Gratefully, the lights became subdued. The odor of the candle wax and oil lamps blended with the tobacco haze as the stage hands extinguished them. Only the lamps above the stage and the numerous candles stretched across the edge of the stage remained lit.
The stage took on a life all its own as it glowed, and the flames throwing their light danced when compared to the darkness now closing in around the tables and the rows of seats forming the audience.
A woman trying emulate the famous Jennie Lind walked on stage. She even copied her walk. The orchestra played, “I can but weep” by Robert Shumman.
The room quieted. The newest singer in a long sky-blue gown under the lights began to sing.
“When looking on thine a-sured eyes…”
Ah, now that woman could sing. Zeke thought.
He meant, Miss. Lind not the impostor in front of the crowd. Zeke knew because, he’d been one of those who parted with two hundred dollars just a few months ago. Money, he considered well spent. Miss Jenny Lind sung her heart out for the crowd in New York City, and he sat in the front row.
The vision in blue bowed and the room leaped to life with applause, cat-calls, and wild stomping of feet. Lori Ann finished clapping and turned to Zeke. An empty chair greeted her.
Not that anyone noticed, Lori Ann sighed with relief.
Buy Links:
Renebooks.com | Amazon.com | Amazon.com UK | Adultbookshop.com
BIO:
Betty Carlton is a time long resident of the tar-heel state. It was late in her life before she realized those pesky people in her headwere characters who had something to say.
Even though she loved to read being a writer was never on her ‘Bucket list.’ She likes to read fluffy romance novels where the dukefinds his duchess or the cowboy rides into the sunset with his lady love to live happily-ever-after.
Imagine her surprise, when she finally put pen to paper and discovered her leading men at times barely could be called a hero. Her stories have been referred to as dark, erotica, at times anguishing. She never had so much fun as when working the story lines. However, true to herself there’s always a happy ending.
‟Reading should take you away, but always leave you with hope.
~~~ a Rafflecopter giveaway ~~~
Where you can find Betty
Blogspot.com ~ Facebook.com ~ Facebook Fan Page ~ Twitter
Goodreads.com ~ Google+ ~ Linkedin.com
@betcar1
S.J. Maylee 