Mystery Under the Vines

by Caren Crane

The scene: a quiet street in working-class neighborhood in the suburbs. A small elementary school sits on this street, where there is little traffic except on weekdays when school begins and ends. Across from the school, a wooded ravine, overgrown with ivy and vines winding over the ground, down the hillside and up the tree trunks.

Within the skeletal fingers of dead vines, buried in heavy mulch from years of fallen leaves, lay half-hidden, half-seen things. Things no one wanted, no one needed. Things that should remain hidden, things with stories unheard and untold.
People drove by every day. Parents picking up their children from the school across the road. Unsuspecting neighbors believing nothing more than trees and undergrowth dwelled in the woods in their midst.

What we discovered shocked us and the wondering neighbors who drove by - some several times - to see what was dragged up the hill from the overgrown depths. When my Girl Scout troop went yesterday to help with a local Litter Sweep, we had no idea what we would find. We had been told this spot needed "a lot of help", but were unprepared, first, for the overgrown state of the ravine and, second, for the sheer volume and disparity of objects we unearthed.

Many of these were not glamorous things: bottles (beer and liquor), cans (beer, soda and cat food), bags, cups, plates, wrappers, lids with straws. Some appeared to be in the ravine by mistake: a basketball, several soccer balls, the casings from roman candles. Some were clearly left for the sake of dumping convenience: a mattress, a space heater,a metal garbage can, a gas can, a futon pad, mini-blinds, a patio umbrella, a PC tower, a typewriter, a couple of car tires.

Still others made us wonder: a pair of pants, a nice pair of Nike tennis shoes, baby socks, adult socks, baby shoes. A crib. A meat cleaver. The sign pointing the way to a church in a nearby town. A pair of panties.

It wasn't just my writer's imagination that was piqued by all this "treasure". The girls in my troop – all high school juniors and seniors – crafted elaborate scenarios of how some things had come to be there. There were stories of young women making bad choices, trusting the wrong men. A young couple setting up a meth lab, trying to raise a baby they couldn't support and shouldn't have had. Until things went south and they had to ditch everything: the lab equipment, the burners, the futon, the crib. The wife. The cleaver. The baby.

By the time the girls got this far into the tale and we were deep in the ravine, we all fully expected to uncover skeletal human remains. It got very CSI down in there yesterday. Suddenly, our two and a half hours was up. There was more to be done, much more, but Starsky – our trusty town employee and clean-up supervisor – reclaimed our orange vests, gloves and trash picker-uppers.

Still, there is much more to be done in the ravine and there are many more stories for it to tell. The volunteer supervisor is sending us information on how to permanently adopt that spot, to come back on a regular basis and unearth more fascinating pieces of other peoples' lives. I feel sure we will. Who could resist all that buried drama waiting to be dragged from the vine-choked depths of the ravine? Not I.

What about you? Have you encountered a place that made your mind race with speculation? A house, an empty lot, an abandoned space, that compelled you to recreate how it came to be in its current state? We would love to hear about your mysterious spot and the story it told to you.

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Be sure to stop by later this month. Beginning on October 14, we will be giving away tricks and treats daily in anticipation of our BIG SURPRISE coming at the end of the month. Don't miss out!

Back to Bach

by Caren Crane

Dearest Banditas and Buddies, I have a confession to make. In my misspent youth, I devoted hours every day to study and practice of a cruel instrument of torture. I evoked scorn in my siblings, forbearance in my parents and derision in my friends. I suffered bodily pain and nauseating uncertainty on a daily basis. Some of you may have suffered a similar sort of obsession in your youth. My dear ones, I was a slave to...the violin.

Please do not mistake my devotion for actual talent. God gave me a boundless love of beautiful music and a very modest gift for it. I am not being modest, as Johann Sebastian Bach was when he referred to "the small talents for music which Heaven had granted him." No, I seriously have only a competence for playing violin. That is about what one can expect from 10 years of public school strings ensemble/orchestra and zero private instruction, so I try to be content.


Another confession: I have taken up playing violin again. This is after a 28-year hiatus. Twenty-eight years. Some of you haven't been alive that long! To recap: 10 years of enthusiastic, but dubious, study and instruction followed by 28 years of almost never touching my violin. This doesn't seem like it would bode well for my abilities these days. Believe me, it doesn't!


But I looked around at my little nest after we moved the second child to college last month. I scanned my calendar. I noted all the free time I have now that my neediest child is away for much of the year. I noted, with an aching heart, that my youngest - my baby! - is now a senior in high school. I wondered how I would fill the time after she, too, goes away to school. The answer seemed both obvious and crazy to me: start playing violin again.

So, I contacted a man at church who encourages members of the congregation every fall to "dust off their instruments" and join the String Ensemble. He was initially excited that I was interested, but was disconcerted with my level of need. I don't think he took me seriously when I said I hadn't played in 28 years. He figured out pretty quick, though, that I was in no way exaggerating my rustiness. (Actual portrait of me playing violin in high school - hand-tinted sepia, which was all the rage in the 20s!)


I picked up my long-neglected violin 12 days ago. Since then, I have spent lots of money on new strings, a new bridge, a new sound post, 2 new shoulder rests, a new chin rest, a new bow and getting my old bow rehaired (not to mention the labor that went into setting up the new bridge and soundpost). I remembered that I like the guys in the fiddle shop much better than the snooty "luthier" who caters to professional musicians. I also learned from the snooty luthier that my violin has a level fingerboard - a near-fatal flaw according to this guy and the source of some back pain. He looked quite disgusted when I told him I couldn't afford another violin, so I was going to have to work around it.


My fatally-flawed violin and I have been practicing - okay, relearning - absolutely everything in the past 12 days. We have also rekindled a deep affection for Bach. I am working on a Bach menuet for an audition with the Really Terrible Orchestra Of the Triangle (that's a real thing - Google it!). I may be too terrible for them; time will tell. I do know that my left-hand fingers have never been so sore and that I haven't been this happy in years.


So do you have an interest, hobby or love have you rediscovered from your misspent youth? Or do you have something in mind you would like to take up "one of these days"? Do share! And if you have any suggestions for toughening up tender fingertips, please pass them along. :)

So Long, Farewell - Go, Already!

by Caren Crane

Before anyone gets concerned, this blog is not about me going anywhere. No, this is about something that is happening all over the country. It started last week and will continue for several weeks to come. This is about a bunch of parents - me and my husband included - packing their cars, vans and SUVs full of junk and hauling it all to universities near and far. This is about the stuff of dreams and all-too-much drama: college move-in day.



On Friday, we had the dubious pleasure of moving our middle child and older daughter to college. She happens to be attending the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (yes, I own one of these buttons - Go Tarheels!), but I'm sure our experience was fairly common. We followed a series of signs along a convoluted route to get in a line to be assigned a parking area where we were allotted a generous 45 minutes to "unload".

Now, we have an ancient Plymouth Voyager SE minivan - the extra long kind. We took out the back bench seat and were able to load the 10-foot-long roll of carpet into it. It fit perfectly, as if designed for just such duty. I have a feeling those minivan engineers had packed more than one kid off to college! In addition to the carpet, we had a dorm fridge, saucer chair, all manner of clothes, shoes, bedding, books, hangers, toiletries, laptop, etc. I don't recall my son having nearly as much stuff, but guys have different priorities. I recall lots of angst over routers, ethernet connections and gaming systems when he went to college.

We managed to get the van unloaded and everything carted to the 9th floor (yes, the 9th of 10 floors) in the furthest dorm from the main campus. The RAs and residence hall staff were all great. They arranged it so only half the kids were moving into the dorm on Friday and the other half Saturday. It seemed - on Friday - to http://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gifbe working fairly seamlessly. (For fun, click on this time lapse movie of move-in to my daughter's dorm - it's #4, Hinton James. It looks like it was taken last year, when there was a big storm moving through, and I have to say there were LOTS more cars there this year.)

I was fine while we dropped the daughter off. She was more than ready for us to leave by the time we left. My husband and I were both rather down and depressed Friday night. It didn't help that the youngest - who will be a high school senior this year - spent the night with a friend and was gone all day Saturday at a church event. We got a real taste of the empty nest. I had to call my mother on Saturday and whine a bit. She understood exactly what I was whining about.

On Saturday, I had to go back to the university to deliver the second load. This load was everything that she had forgotten on Friday. By late Saturday afternoon, when I arrived with said second load, things were winding down and there wasn't an RA in sight. The parents who had driven down from places like New York and Minnesota looked dazed by the heat, humidity and lack of air conditioning in the elevators. But hey, at least they have A/C units in all the rooms now. They just finished air conditioning the last of the dorms LAST YEAR, if you can believe it. As balmy as it was in my daughter's suite on the 9th floor, at least there was a window unit chugging away. Again, my daughter was more than ready for me to be gone when I left.

Meanwhile, one my friends reported that when her son went to drop his daughter off at college on Friday, she cried and begged to be taken home. It took all his powers of persuasion to get his daughter to tearfully agree to stay and give it a try. While I was a bit disappointed that our daughter didn't even pretend she would miss us, I was really glad that she didn't cry and beg to be taken home. I'm not sure I could have steeled myself to leave her there if she had. Kindergarten was bad enough!

Do you have a college move-in day experience to share? Yours or your kids or someone you know? I recall my own being fairly calm, like my daughter's. Did you beg your parents to take you home - or did your kids beg you to take them home? I'll bet there are as many stories as their are kids. Do share! Meanwhile, I'll be waiting to see if more urgent phone calls come in for more urgently-needed "stuff". I'll also be planning how to get it all moved out at the end of the semester! ; )

Women and Home Repairs

by Caren Crane

A few weeks ago, my best friend confessed that she had no water running from her kitchen faucet, although the side sprayer worked fine. Her husband has been dealing with a mother in very poor health, who lives 4-1/2 hours away from them. He has been trying to work his full-time job while also running her to dialysis, therapy, doctor's appointments and the hospital (which is 3 hours from where she lives). Bad situation and not one that is conducive to DIY plumbing repairs. They don't have money to call a plumber, so the faucet is still not working.

My friend has friends from out of town coming to stay in a little over a week, so the plumbing issue is making her anxious. After listening to her lament about it this week, I finally said the words I had been carefully holding back behind my bitten tongue ever since I first heard about the faucet. "Why don't you fix it yourself?"

As most women know, those words can put a strain on a friendship if not said with lots of love and every intention of pitching in to help. I said them with love and promptly began to offer help – from my desk at work, with links to articles and videos on the Internet. Every suggestion was met with stumbling blocks as to why it wouldn't work in her case. Finally, I realized the real issue was the same one I knew existed all along: my BFF, whom I love so dearly, is a Damsel In Distress.

Now, there is nothing wrong with being a Damsel In Distress. Most of the time, the Damsel flings her soft white hands in the air and rushes off to inform the closest male (significant other, relative, friend or co-worker) of her plight. He rushes in (or moseys over, or rolls his eyes) and fixes it (or promises to...someday or calls someone). I confess, I am not a Damsel In Distress, but I have played one on occasion, especially when it's computer-related and my techno-nerd husband is just upstairs. Or, you know, when I just don't feel like cleaning the dead bird off the porch or mucking out the gutters or whatever.


Damsels are very clever women, well-versed in the art of getting men (or other women) to do distasteful things for them. But they need lots of patience and I simply don't have enough! I tend to be more of a Rosie the Riveter. The kind of woman who rolls up her sleeves and gets things done, by gum. I come from a long line of Rosies and my mother and oldest sister were (and are) amazing DIY role models.


After my lovingly offered advice was dispensed, I took what was, perhaps, a rather unhealthy interest in my BFF's faucet with the stuck diverter (my diagnosis). I learned more about kitchen faucets this week than I ever wanted to know! I was determined we would fix it this weekend while her husband was out of town. I also figured if the Allen screw was corroded in place or something, I could always call my husband, Damsel-style, to come lend us his muscle. :P Then we found out it is impossible to get replacement parts for this particular faucet, so my poor BFF will have to get by with the sprayer alone until they can afford a new faucet. So much for me playing Rosie and getting things done! :(

So, are you a Damsel in Distress, willing and able to coax men (or other women) into riding to your rescue? Or are you a Rosie the Riveter, hitting the home improvement store for parts and the Internet (or even a man) for advice? And what is the toughest home repair you have either tackled yourself or convinced someone to tackle for you? I can't wait to hear your stories!

Slow, Lazy, Holiday Sunday

by Caren Crane

Here in the Lair, holidays often sneak up on us - especially when they are on a Monday. Tomorrow is Independence Day here in the U.S.A. and most people are traveling this weekend. Or, like me, they plan to be especially indolent the entire three-day weekend.

My list of accomplishments so far:

1. Got hooked on a new (to me) series: Lie To Me. It's available for Instant View on Netflix and I totally got sucked in last night! More of that to come today, I'm sure.

2. Shelled and cooked some purple-hull peas. My husband helped some immigrants from Budan start a community garden this spring. He went to check on some things yesterday and they sent him home with the peas, a bit of okra, a couple of honeydew melons and some cucumbers. Good eating for us this weekend! I cooked the peas in some chicken stock (which my husband make for me because I've been sick the past week) and some onions. They were Heaven!

3. Watched 'The Lion King' with my youngest, who was home for about a day and a half between camp sessions. Actually, we also watched 'To Sir, With Love', which she had never seen. She's already on her way back to camp, so no more mothering for me this weekend.

4. Read some back issues of 'Rolling Stone' magazine. I hadn't read it in recent years and I must say that they are publishing some of the most in-depth and insightful articles on politics and current events in the U.S.A. that I have read in a long time. Great stuff! (And if you don't know why you should be afraid of Roger Ailes, look up the article 'Fear Factor'!)

5. Hm...trying for a fifth thing here. Oh, I changed the sheets on my bed! Well, I took them off and washed them and put the fitted sheet back on. Then I was exhausted and my husband finished it, but I'm going to count it anyway.

As promised, complete indolence! I usually feel the need to get really busy and accomplish tasks I normally put off. Since I've been under the weather, though, I've taken the pressure off and succumbed to my natural state of sluggishness. (If you haven't seen the 'Lazy Sunday' videos and the others by Lonely Island, you're missing out!)

What are you up to this lazy Sunday? If you're in the U.S., any plans for Independence Day? And when you have a day to be lazy, what do you indulge in? Lazy Banditas want to know!

Life In Hidden Pictures

by Caren Crane

I had a lovely daughter graduate from high school yesterday and it was one of those Significant Milestones that should be Caught On Film. I have a few pictures, most of which I am not in because I was taking the pictures, but I have some. They are now held hostage on my digital camera because I am too...let's not call it lazy, rather unwilling to take the time to upload all the pictures to my PC (although I did this one time, just to have a picture for this blog post!).

I have masses of picture prints from other Significant Milestones sitting in boxes in my dining room and guest room closet. (My husband would have consigned them to the attic and did not understand they would be ruined by being stored there!) I have no plans for these pictures, except to take them out from time to time and look at them or share them with others in the pictures. "Oh, look how cute they were then!"

I do not scrapbook (which I need to, because I'll forget this picture was Rachel's last day of school someday). I don't make cheesy photo collages to hang on the wall of the stairwell. There are no lines of framed school pictures from kindergarten through graduation on a mantle or wall or dresser in my home. I do have photos I have stuck in frames from time to time, more from shame and fear of being the Worst Mother Ever than any other motivation. I also have a very fragile and changeable collage of photos covering my fridge (ask anyone who has been to the house!) that spans the past couple of decades. I think there is even a baby picture of me up there!

I have great photos that I feel I should do something with, but I realize I probably won't. I may get them scanned one day - or I may give them to one of my kids to scan one day (seems much more likely). I don't want to lose them or be without them. I also would love for my kids to do what I still do at my mother's house: take down the boxes of photos and sift through them, remembering, laughing and smiling. Come to think of it, my mother never made scrapbooks or memory albums either. She tossed packets of photos in a drawer or box and still has them there. Maybe it's hereditary - or maybe, like me, she's just not a visually-oriented person. Then again, I've never thought she was the Worst Mom Ever, either. I am always thrilled to sift through and unearth the treasures that await me in her precious boxes.

So maybe I'll upload my photos to a memory stick and take them to Walgreens and have those Significant Milestones turned into pieces of colored paper. Then I'll stick them in a box, put them in the closet, shut the door and let them age a bit. By the time they are pulled out, sifted through, smiled over, laughed at and remembered, they will be Treasured Memories. I may even be in a few of them!


Do you make memory albums or scrapbooks or do you toss the photos in a box or file or drawer? Any particularly wonderful photos from your own Significant Milestones you would like to tell us about?

June Has Something For YOU!!

by Caren Crane

Dearest Banditas, Buddies and friends we've just met, June promises to be all white knights, chocolates, white weddings, love songs and forget-me-nots around the Lair! Okay, maybe not that, but we do have a ton of happenings, contests and surprises to rave about so here goes:




June 2 - Popular Lair visitor Tiffany Clare is back to tell us about her third historical romance, The Secret Desires Of a Governess. Tiff is very generously giving away three copies of her latest book to people who comment. [I am all atwitter at the shades of Jane Eyre!]






June 3 - RITA winner Terri Garey returns to the lair to talk about her new “Devil’s Bargain” series, and the lure of “books that go bump in the night”! (Check out those abs on her cover!)






June 4 - It's going to be hot, HOT, HOT when Christie Kelley throws a release party for her steaming new Regency One Night Scandal! This is a party you won't want to miss. [I hope I can find a virtual designated driver!]







June 6 - Stefanie Sloane will be talking about the Young Corinthians and her second novel The Angel In Her Arms. [There is a book trailer on her website. Oh, my!]








June 7 - Jessica Andersen returns to the lair as Nancy's guest. June is the most popular wedding month, and Jessica will chat about favorite fictional weddings and the newest Nightkeepers novel, Storm Kissed. [Those lovely tattooed arms make me feel all stormy inside! *sigh*]





June 10 - Anna Campbell hosts debut historical romance author and regular lair visitor Karyn Gerrard. Karyn will be talking about her new book Timeless Heart and spreading the lurve with some giveaways. [We love new authors, especially when they are old friends!]





June 16 - Susan Gee Heino will return to the lair to talk about her July release Temptress In Training. [And wait until you find out who she is tempting...]






June 19 - Mega basketball fan Patricia Sargeant will join us as Regina Hart to tell us about her June release Fast Break, love 'n hoops and her fabulous Brooklyn Monarchs. [I can't wait for the hunky basketball heroes!]


BUT WAIT, THERE'S MORE!!


Every week in June, Christie Kelley will be giving away a signed copy of one of her five releases, including One Night Scandal. Just visit her website for more details and your chance to win!


Anna Campbell is holding a Hardback Heaven at Midnight Contest, open until 30th June. She’s giving away three signed copies of the beautiful hardcover Rhapsody Book Club edition of Midnight's Wild Passion. To enter, just email Anna on anna@annacampbell.info and tell her the name of the hero and heroine of Midnight's Wild Passion. For more information on the contest, please visit her website.


Be sure not to miss any of the fun. We promise to be here every day with something Wildly Interesting (or at least Moderately Stimulating, if not Downright Exciting) for you!

Cabinet Envy

by Caren Crane


The green-eyed monster has visited me recently. This is something of an "occasion" in my life, for I rarely envy anyone for any reason. In the past few seasons, though, several friends (including our own lovely Susan Sey) have remodeled their kitchens. All the talk of new cabinet facings, countertops and flooring has made me look around at my own kitchen with a disparaging eye. Yes, friends, it happened to me: cabinet envy.



Our house was built in 1979 and I don't think the couple who built it were the cutting-edge types. When we moved in, the kitchen had wallpaper featuring partridges and fruit in shades of brown and mustard. Okay, it wasn't as bad as the wallpaper in this picture, but still very 1970s. The partridges are gone but the faux butcher-block countertops remain. The cabinets are dark-stained wood in a faintly Spanish style (though I changed out the dungeon-door pulls years ago). The vinyl flooring is the original: small squares in shades of brown, showing its 32 years of wear and tear. Everywhere my eyes rest, there is Work To Be Done.


I have daydreams of sparkling new flooring, sleek countertops and blond wood cabinets. The bathrooms need Major Work, as well. To be perfectly honest, I haven't touched the dining room or the guest room since we moved in, though everything else has at least had new paint. When we were younger, my husband and I would regularly take a week of vacation each year just to work on the house. That came to an end when we finally had enough money to take actual vacations, to which we quickly became addicted. Alas, poor house!

Since we will have an Empty Nest after next school year, I have been bitten and bitten hard by the Relocation Bug. We won't be able to sell our house, though, unless we first do some remodeling. So, the remodeling will get done, but then I won't be in the house to enjoy it. It's the most ironic sort of irony ever! Really, though, we are older now and lack the energy to keep up the 1.1-acre yard, the house and the *^%# swimming pool (that I never wanted!). I think it will be worth the money and effort to get rid of the house and buy something a bit smaller with no yard to speak of.

The kids are already whining about us selling the house (which won't happen for a few years, I'm sure), but my husband is on board. I thought he would fight it, but the prospect of not having to be lawn boy and pool boy both seems to have enticed him. (Here's one for the 'Raising Hope' fans - Burt the Flirt!)

What about you? Has the change of seasons made you restless and discontent with the status quo in your living space? Had a friend do a spiffy remodel that has you drooling on her granite countertop? Or have you already done the remodel and are now resting, contented, on your updated laurels? Oh, and I REALLY want to know if anyone has had to do updates in order to sell. I am your captive, so please tell me all!

Welbourne Booty!

by Caren Crane

Thanks to everyone for participating in our "Friends To Lovers" discussion with the magnificent Deb Marlowe. The winner a copy of Deb's May release How to Marry a Rake is...JEANNE M!!

Congratulations, Jeanne! Please e-mail your full name and snail mail addy to Deb@DebMarlowe.com. Enjoy the wonderful Regency read!

Deb Marlowe on Friends To Lovers

by Caren Crane

My darling Banditas and Buddies, I am thrilled to welcome one of my very favorite people (and authors), Deb Marlowe, back to the Lair. Welcome, Deb!

Thank you for having me. You know I love you and the Banditas!

Believe me, the love is entirely mutual. I am very excited about your May 1 release, How To Marry a Rake. Tell us a bit about the hero and heroine of this new Regency delight.

Stephen Manning is one of the Fitzmanning Miscellany, the scandalous Regency family introduced in The Diamonds of Welbourne Manor. He’s not the same rakish boy we saw growing up in the anthology. He’s had some hard knocks and has had to learn that the world doesn’t revolve around him, as many young men do. He’s spent the last few years building a racetrack on his mother’s destitute estate, and he’s come to Newmarket determined to set his tenants’ lives back on course by bringing it to the attention of the racing world.

Mae Halford has spent the intervening years abroad, mending her heart and broadening her horizons after Stephen’s rejection broke her heart. She’s in Newmarket, too, where her father is determined to find a stud for both his brood mare and his daughter. Mae’s ready to launch her Marriage Campaign, an effort to have a say in what sort of husband she ends up with. The last man on earth she wishes to see is Stephen—which makes it a certainty that he is the first one she bumps into!

Deb, Mae and Stephen have a long history together before the book begins. Was it just a deeply hidden sadistic streak that had you fling Mae and Stephen together again?

Would you be surprised if the answer was yes? :-) I think all writers have to have a sadistic streak. We create characters we love and admire and in whom we see such great potential for growth—but unless we put them in difficult and uncomfortable situations, then there is no spur for growth and change—or for the chance at true love!

It seems that Mae and Stephen had a serious falling out before she left England. Will Stephen find Mae much changed after her European tour?

Yes! In many interesting and frustrating ways. Mae has grown up. She's the same in that she knows her own mind, but she's learned how to be subtle in going after it. Also, she truly feels that she's over her feelings for Stephen. And he, being typically male, doesn't want her to want him, but is taken aback when she doesn't.

So tell me, is the theme of friends becoming lovers one you have wanted to explore? It was one I found most intriguing when I was a teenager and I find myself, here in my dotage, interested in it still. It seems being friends could both aid and hinder the development of a romance.

Friends to lovers is one of my very favorite themes. It's a classic fantasy, isn't it? I think many of us have an old friend we might wonder about, or think about in terms of what if? But it's also a theme that lends itself to greater and more immediate intimacy and one which can make for a rich, emotional story. The stakes are higher when someone knows all the scoop and scandal, strengths and weaknesses of your past, but I think the payoff can be that much bigger.

Do you have a bit of How To Marry a Rake you would care to share?

Well, if you insist...

Stephen was happy. She felt his contentment flow into her, warming her blood, crawling into her very sinews and bones. It was beautiful. It made her feel beautiful, and whole.

Her eyes slid closed. For long minutes she lost herself to the glory of the music and the moment. Stephen gave in to it as well; she could feel his surrender in the grip of his hands, in the intimate press of her legs to hers, and in the graceful, floating ease with which he guided them about the dance floor.

And that was when she knew she’d come full circle. Her campaign was forgotten, her plans and strategies left behind. Here she was, right back where she’d started, two years ago, wanting Stephen Manning with all of her heart.

Yet, thankfully, not everything remained the same. There were new levels to their friendship, their partnership. So easily had he come to share his victory with her tonight. So naturally had he assumed she would take part in the next step. He was the one who gifted her with appreciation and acceptance and passion and all the things she’d vowed to have in a husband.

Perhaps she needed a new campaign, with new strategies designed to win his heart. Because she longed for it, and for his unfathomable blue eyes and his maddening imperious ways and his warm acceptance and his heated kisses.

But there was one other thing that was different now, too. She wasn’t that young girl anymore, happy to accept whatever part of himself Stephen was willing or able to give. She wanted all of him. And no campaign of hers was going to be successful in flushing it out. She sighed. He had to choose to give it.

Oh, my! It sounds like Stephen won't stand a chance against the woman Mae has become. I do believe Mae will get her man! I hope everyone will run out and snap up a copy of How To Marry a Rake. Many of us have been waiting for the 'sibling' books to the The Diamonds of Welbourne Manor for ages! Deb, thank you so much for giving us the inside scoop on Stephen and Mae's book. (And here, for your delectation, is a dude Deb thinks should totally play Stephen in a movie version of How To Marry a Rake!)

Now, do you have a question you would like to pose to our Banditas and Buddies today?

But of course I do!

Do you guys have someone in your past who makes you go What If? Do you like friends-to-lovers-themed romances? Can you name a favorite "Friends to Lovers" couple? A randomly selected commenter will win a copy of How To Marry a Rake!

Ooh, we do love a giveaway! Deb, thank you so much for being with us today. I'm off to search my memory banks for my very favorite pair of Friends Who Discovered Benefits!