Ramblings From This Chick: Guest Post with Author Catherine Bybee and Giveaway

Wednesday, September 4, 2013

Guest Post with Author Catherine Bybee and Giveaway

Please welcome Catherine Bybee, author of Fiance' by Friday.

New York Times & USA Today bestselling author Catherine Bybee was raised in Washington State, but after graduating high school, she moved to Southern California in hopes of becoming a movie star. After growing bored with waiting tables, she returned to school and became a registered nurse, spending most of her career in urban emergency rooms. She now writes full-time and has penned novels Wife by Wednesday, Married by Monday, and Not Quite Dating. Bybee lives with her husband and two teenage sons in Southern California.

Places to find Catherine:

What are your favorite characteristics in a hero and heroine?

I want to think I like all characteristics in my heroes and heroines. I’ve created broody, damaged men, like Neil, and completely confident, almost cocky guys like Blake. I love both equally…well, wait… Okay, I’d jump Neil in a New York minute if had a chance. *sigh*

I think as long as there is a redeeming quality in the hero and by the time the book is on the last page he has redeemed, he can be just about anyone and from any walk in life. I’m very happy that not all my heroes are alike.

As for the heroine I have to say I like the sassy, slightly over confident heroine most of all. Yet some of my favorite books, that I’ve written, had less than confident women who found their backbone in the end of the story. So again, they can be nearly anyone so long as they stay in their character throughout the book.

But let’s nitpick this just a little.

Hero Qualities

Tall and built (Gotta be taller than the girl)
Can’t be a deadbeat, has to make his own way in the world even if he’s not rich
Rich doesn’t suck
Gotta have a soft spot in him for someone or something

Heroine Qualities

Must not be too stupid to live
She doesn’t have to be over the top beautiful, but she must be attractive to the hero
Confident
Loyal
Must have friends or siblings she’s close to.

GWEN HARRISON:
The beautiful high-born daughter of an English duke came to America to take over her sister-in-law’s matchmaking business. But just because she’s the boss doesn’t mean she can’t fantasize about making her own perfect match with bodyguard Neil MacBain. Will the enigmatic man who haunts her dreams cost her more than she bargained for?

NEIL MACBAIN:
The retired Marine can’t deny the effect blue-blooded Gwen has on his troubled soul or his battle-hardened bodY. Bus as a client, Gwen is off-limits—until a threat from Neil’s past returns… and Gwen is caught in the crossfire. Now to keep her safe he will risk it all: his career, his life… and his heart.

Purchase: | Amazon | Kindle | Barnes & Noble | The Book Depository |

Eliza flagged down a waitress and ordered a martini. “I see not a lot has changed,” she said after the waitress left.

“What do you mean?” Gwen asked.

“We’re sitting in a bar and your giant shadow is lurking in the back of the building.” Eliza tossed a peanut in her mouth.

“My shadow?”

Eliza looked o the right of the bar. “Yeah. The man who acts like you’re a job but can’t seem to leave you alone. If it was anyone other than Neil I’d be afraid he was a stalker.”

Gwen twisted around in her chair. Sure enough, perched at the edge of a seat on the far side of the bar, sat Neil.

“What’s he doing here?”

His eyes found hers for a brief moment before she looked away.

“I think that’s obvious.”

Her back teeth started to grind. “I don’t’ need a babysitter.”

“I don’t know, Gwen. The last time we sat in a bar I remember a certain someone getting drunk and a couple of other someones getting into a fight.”

She’d never live that down. Gwen and Eliza went to blow off steam in a Texas bar. The cowboys ewre full of “yes, ma’am” and “howdy, darlin’.” They danced and carried on…and yes, she drank a little too much. When one of the cowboys mistakenly took her smile as an invitation for intimacy, Neil erupted form the bar to teach the cowboy the meaning of the word no.

It was the first time Neil had defended her honor, and though she hated to admit it, she got a kick out of how ticked off he became when another man looked at her. “That was last year.”

“What’s changed since then?”

Nothing! It didn’t matter how much she flirted with the man, or how obvious she was about her attraction Neil didn’t bite.

“Everything.” Gwen stood, ready to put Neil I his place. “If you’ll both excuse me for a minute.”

She pushed her way through the crowd as if on a collision course with Neil. He kept his lips in a thin line as she approached and gripped the longneck bottle at his side. Slipping between the woman on the stool next to him and Neil’s massive frame, Gwen slapped a hand on her hip and growled. “What are you doing here?”

He blinked, once and picked up his beer. “Having a drink.”

She wanted to scream. “Having a drink,” she repeated.

He tilted the bottle back, took a swig.

“I know what you’re doing, Neil. And I don’t like it. I don’t want or need a bodyguard.”

“That’s debatable.”

If stomping her foot would knock some sense into him, she’d stomp better than a farm girl in a vineyard.

Poking a finger into his chest, she moved closer. “Do you have any idea how difficult it is to have a love life with a tow-hundred-thirty-pound bodybuilder standing in my way?”

A muscle in his jaw tightened. “Two hundred and fifty.”

“Ahhh!” She did scream now.

He lifted his beer again, but before he could take a swig, Gwen grabbed it from his fingers and tilted it back herself.

In a move that would make Eliza and Karen proud, she pushed the empty beer bottle back into his hand and slid between his thighs.

His jaw twitched again.

The strong musky scent that was pure Neil invaded her senses. She dropped one hand to his thigh and left it there. “This is how I see it, Neil. You have two choices. Either back off or step up.”

Gwen squeezed his thigh before vacating his personal space and marching back to the girls. A satisfied smile stretched over her face.