COWBOY CHRISTMAS – SILVER BELLES AND STETSONS ANTHOLOGY by Margaret Tanner

My forebears left their native shores in sailing ships to forge a new life in the untamed frontiers of colonial Australia. They battled bushfires, hardship and the tyranny of distance in an inhospitable and savage land. Only the tough and resilient would survive. They not only survived, but prospered.

The same could be said for the early settlers in America. They opened up vast tracts of land in the wilderness. Fought and died trying to tame it.

The histories of our two countries in the early frontier days was very similar, only the terminology was different. Big land holders were called ranchers in America, squatters in Australia. We had bushrangers, you had outlaws. We called our cowboys stockmen.

Like the American West, many of our towns were wild and lawless. There was a huge single male population and yet a relatively small amount of eligible, respectable, women, so mail order brides, for example, were a necessity. Brothel, bordello, whore-house, cat house, call them what you like, but these places of male pleasure, thrived in the frontier towns.  Many a Madame became wealthy women.

I was thrilled to be invited to join in this Christmas Anthology, Silver Belles And Stetsons.  My story is called Christmas Cowboy.

COWBOY CHRISTMAS:

Zac Goodman is a gunslinger who is haunted by an injustice from his past. He finds heavily pregnant Holly O’Leary in an abandoned wagon, her cheating husband lying dead a few yards away.

Reluctantly he takes her to his cabin to give birth.

Will this miracle Christmas baby unite two tortured souls? Or will it forever keep them apart.

Bio: 

Margaret Tanner is an Award Winning, multi-published  Australian author. She has written several historical romance novels set in frontier Australia, which have been published by Books We Love, but with the help and encouragement of Sue Horsnell, she has started to write Western Romance, and was thrilled to be asked to join the talented, award winning authors of Silver Belles And Stetsons Christmas Anthology with her novella Cowboy Christmas.

She has always loved watching Western television shows and movies, and has found that frontier Australia and frontier America, are surprisingly similar in a lot of aspects.

Links:

http://www.margarettanner.com/

Silver Belles and Stetsons
Ten Western Romance Christmas Novellas
Available as a boxed set for a limited time

Bestselling and Award-Winning Authors bring you ten western romance novellas featuring alpha-cowboys from the past. This boxed set will take you back in time when
men were rugged and handsome and the women who loved them, courageous and
daring.
                                                                   * * *

The Greatest Gift: A Montana Cowboy Christmas by Kathleen Ball. Amazon Bestselling and Award- Winning Author. Looking for the man who ran out on her, Ginger finds a cowboy worthy of love but he doesn't want or need love.

Catherine’s Cowboy by Cait Braxton, Amazon Bestselling and Award-Winning Author.  During a supernatural dust storm, Fate steps in when rugged army tracker Elam helps Catherine deliver her child.

Stone Mountain Christmas by Caroline Clemmons, Amazon Bestselling and Award-Winning Author. Can Celia restore the town's Christmas spirit? "A beautifully written story about love and hope and all the emotions Christmas brings out in people." Karren Lucas

Angel and the Texan from County Cork by Carra Copelin.  Amazon Bestselling and Award-Winning Author. Does Angel trust marriage to the man she suspects of killing her husband or the stranger who promises to pay off her debt and set her free if she decides their marriage of convenience won’t work?

The Drifter’s Proposal by Kristin Holt, Amazon Bestselling Author. The baker's man is home for Christmas... "Compelling. Heartwarming. Tender." ~Diane Darcy, USA Today Bestselling Author

The Perfect Gift by Lyn Horner. Friendship has blossomed into young love, but it seems destined to die on the vine...until an unexpected Christmas gift promises happiness.

Marshal Mistletoe by Susan Horsnell. She married the wrong man. Will fate intervene?

Christmas Redemption by Paty Jager, Amazon Bestselling and Award-Winning Author. Can two battered hearts find solace or will the past continue to haunt their lives? "A story of forgiveness that has a wonderful hero who has worked hard to redeem himself."

A Hard Candy Christmas by Hebby Roman, Amazon Bestselling Author. Two damaged souls. Can their budding love and the healing power of Christmas bring them together?

Cowboy Christmas by Margaret Tanner. Will a miracle Christmas baby unite two tortured souls, or will it forever keep them apart?

Buy Link:

http://www.amazon.com/Silver-Belles-Stetsons-Caroline-Clemmons-ebook/dp/B014WU2TQG

RAWHIDE ‘N ROSES - Margaret Tanner

Please welcome one of our Rawhide 'N Roses anthology authors from Australia. I met Margaret online through the same publisher and we are both monthly bloggers on Romancing the Genres.  

Hi Paty,

Thank you for inviting me to your blog.  

I was absolutely thrilled to be invited to participate in the Rawhide ‘N Roses western romance anthology. It is an honor to work with such talented western writers.

RAWHIDE ‘N ROSES

Saddle up your horses and head out to the heart of the Wild West in this collection of short love stories by authors of Western Romance from all over the country and around the world. Whether your passion is historical or contemporary, there's something inside for everyone.

http://amzn.com/B00IRPWDNM

My historical romances set in Frontier Australia, are not unlike romances set in the American West. Maybe I should categorize my stories as Australian Westerns. Both our countries share a similar history, a savage, untamed land, isolated communities of settlers, and a large single male population with very few young women. With a background like this, what a Pandora’s box of ideas and situations writers can play out to the happily ever after conclusion. And we do.

The Gunslinger’s Angel, is my contribution to the Rawhide ‘N Roses anthology.

Blurb:

 Caleb Devereaux is saved by an angel, but is she of the heavenly variety or a real flesh and blood woman?

Excerpt:

Hot searing pain speared through Cal’s chest with every breath he took. He felt as if a red hot poker gouged his flesh, slowly twisting and turning to increase his torment. Sweat pouring into his eyes blurred his vision. His whole body burned with such intensity he wondered why he didn’t burst into flames.

“This is your first taste of hell, Caleb Devereaux,” he muttered. “Get used to it.” At least he had sent the Tolson brothers on ahead to meet Satan. The fires of hell were probably already burning those vicious hombres to a crisp.

A warm breath fanned his face, followed by the fleeting touch of soft hands stroking his forehead. His eyes creaked open and an angel’s face hovered above him. She had milky white skin, huge pale blue eyes and golden hair. A whiff of lavender infused his nostrils. Did angels smell of lavender?

He couldn’t see her wings, and she wore blue rather than white. There had to be a mistake. Why had he gone to heaven instead of hell? His life was not without blemish. He had killed a dozen or more men, but never shot a man in the back, didn’t need to when he was lightning fast on the draw. As a boy, he had stolen food after escaping the clutches of his drunken parents. Maybe he wasn’t evil enough for hell, but he was hardly suitable for heaven.

“Here, drink this.” The angel’s voice caressed him.

Water trickling down his throat washed away the dusty dryness.

Margaret’s Blog:

http://www.margarettanner.com/

“Australian Westerns” I have written.

Savage Possession

A sweeping tale of love's triumph over tragedy and treachery in frontier Australia.

A mistaken identity opens the door for Martin Mulvaney to take his revenge on the granddaughter of his mortal enemy.

http://amzn.com/B008EL0FTI

Fiery Possession

American wild west versus Australian frontier.

Explosive results and tragedy follow Jo Saunders and Luke Campton when they cross the fine line dividing love and hate.

http://amzn.com/B00C2JOK6M            

Frontier Belle

Her feats of daring intrigued him, but her beauty scared the hell out of him.

Only in the new world can a highborn young Englishwoman and a tough frontier man, ignite the passion that will fulfil their hopes and dreams.

http://amzn.com/B00F03B42A

Wednesday Promo- Margaret Tanner

Thank you Paty for inviting me to your blog. I am very pleased to be here.

Firstly let me say I am an author who loves delving into the pages of history as I carry out research for my historical romance novels. I take pride in being historically correct. No history book is too old or tattered for me to trawl through. I have tramped through cemeteries, badgered elderly relatives for interviews, snooped through their diaries and spent hours in museums.

My latest release from The Wild Rose Press is titled Wild Oats. It is set against a background of the 1st World War and is the prequel to The Trouble With Playboys.

For those who waited at home for their men folk to return from battle, letters were their only means of communication. They were treasured – more precious than gold or diamonds. Many letters arrived home to the grieving relatives after they had already received the official government telegram, or a visit from the local clergyman, informing them that their loved one had been killed.

Months later, their loved ones possessions would be sent home. Perhaps a wallet, wedding ring, watch, rosary beads, bible, photographs, diary, pay book, pipe or maybe even a razor. Sometimes the next of kin received nothing at all

WILD OATS - BLURB:
Captain Phillip Ashfield toasted his elevation to fatherhood, as a barrage of artillery pounded the battle scarred fields around him.
The effects of World War I on the life of beautiful, beguiling Allison Waverley
are catastrophic. Seduced and left pregnant by Phillip, she is on the verge of suicide when her childhood sweetheart, Tommy Calvert, intervenes and marries her. But Tommy is destined to die in the trenches of France.
When Phillip returns to Australia after the war and kidnaps his son, because his society wife cannot give him an heir, Allison finds support and a lasting love from an unexpected source.

EXCERPT:
They said no prayers over this fallen warrior but buried him and marked the spot with a plank of wood before driving away.
Later, back in his own quarters at H.Q., Phillip gathered the earthly possessions of Tommy Calvert together and started putting them in an envelope. The letter from Allison fluttered to the ground and he bent over to pick it up.
He hesitated before opening it. It was crumpled and fingered from being read many times over.
Darling Tommy, You will have returned from England to France by now. I hope you liked it. I suppose you must have written only the letters haven’t arrived yet. They sent Jim’s things home the other day, and I’m to get his deferred pay because I’m down as his Next of Kin. I’m going to bank it for little Paul, I want him to have a good education. You don’t mind about that do you, Tommy.
Phillip clenched his hand into a fist, but kept on reading. She had married young Calvert, and they had what he craved above all else. A son.
Paul is toddling around everywhere now, I’ll have to do as you suggested and invent a long lost Calvert relation who was dark. Both his eyes and hair are so like his father’s.
Something started to churn inside Phillip, and he quickly scanned the neatly written lines. There it was. He felt as if he had been kicked in the guts.
It’s uncanny, Tommy. He’s a little miniature Phillip Ashfield.
He’s mine. Sweet little Allison had borne him a son. Dear God, he had to get back to England now and make arrangements. He would move heaven and earth to claim this child who was the fruit of his loins, even if it meant bribing every official in Australia.

ANZAC biscuits
These biscuits were first baked in 1915, by mothers and sisters and sent in food parcels to troops serving on the Gallipoli peninsula in Turkey. The soldiers were members of an expeditionary force, the Australian and New Zealand Army Corps (ANZACS). As Wild Oats is against a background of World War 1, I thought it was an appropriate recipe.
Ingredients:
125g (4 oz) butter, 1 tablespoon golden syrup, 2 tablespoons boiling water, 1 ½ teaspoons bicarbonate of soda (baking powder), 1 cup rolled oats, ¾ cup desiccated coconut, 1 cup flour, 1 cup sugar.
Method:
Melt butter and golden syrup over low heat. Add boiling water mixed with bicarbonate of soda. Pour into mixed dried ingredients and mix well.
Drop teaspoonfuls of mixture on to greased baking trays, leaving room for spreading.
Bake in pre-heated slow oven (150C/300F) for 20 minutes. Cool on trays for a few minutes, then remove to wire racks to cool.
Store in an airtight container. Makes about 45 - They are yummy.

Margaret’s website: http://www.margarettanner.com/