Romance, Life, and Happy Endings by Paty Jager

I’ve always had an active imagination that revolved around romance. I’m not sure if it was from the fairy tales I read, the television shows I watched, or the fact it is just something that is inherent in me. I was a voracious reader through school. But I wouldn’t read any sissy, skinny books. No. I picked the fattest books I could find in my school library. Those were books by Phyllis Whitney and Victoria Holt. Fat gothic romances.

As a new mother, I read mysteries, with a romance thrown in the mix here and there. Then one day I picked up a LaVyrle Spencer novel. Her book, Hummingbird, took me on a whole new path of reading enjoyment and clenched the romance genre I wanted to write. I could write about the history I loved and conjure up people who could come to life not only for me but for readers. I could make characters love and hurt and love again. And always, always have a happy ending. After all, what is life if you can’t imagine a happy ending in your future?

What is your favorite romance book you’ve read? Was it recent or one that has stuck with you over the years?

Remember I like to make my characters love, hurt, and love again? Here’s an excerpt from Spirit of the Mountain, Book One of the Spirit Trilogy set among the Nez Perce band that wintered and summered in the Wallowa Valley of NE Oregon.

Spirit_of_the_Mountain_2Excerpt:
The feel of her body set off needs he’d repressed since becoming a spirit. His head told him to set her away, instead, his arms wrapped around her, pulling her close. He savored the feel of her young curves and the fresh scent of her clean hair. Nuzzling her long neck, his lips registered the vibrations in her throat as she sighed.

He gathered Wren onto his lap, running his hands up and down her body, learning her shape. Her hands twined in his hair before drifting down his back. This caressing would only make the separation harder on them both, but he could not let her go without knowing how she felt in his arms.

She snuggled her head against his neck and sighed again.

Himiin looked down. Her eyes were closed. An innocent smile curved her mouth.

He traced a fingertip across her smooth lips.

Her tongue darted out, touching his finger. The soft pink tip sent a bolt of lightning straight to his groin. If this caressing continued, he would take her right here under the tree. The thought brought him to his senses. He could not harm another mortal.

Even though his intentions were to please her, to touch her in this way would dishonor her and possibly damage the peace offering.
“We should walk.” He helped her to her feet and stood.
Her eyes questioned, but he couldn’t tell her the emotions raging inside. She could never know how her leaving would rip him apart. Her decision was hard enough without him complicating matters.

Blurb and buy links:
Evil spirits, star-crossed lovers, and duty…which will prevail?

Wren, the daughter of a Nimiipuu chief, loves the mountain and her people—the Lake Nimmipuu. When a warrior from the enemy Blackleg tribe asks for her hand in marriage to bring peace between the tribes, she knows it is how she must fulfill her vision quest. But she is torn between duty and her breaking heart.

Himiin, as spirit of the mountain, watches over all the creatures on his mountain, including the Nimiipuu. When Wren shows no fear of him as a white wolf, he listens to her secret fears and loses his heart to the mortal maiden. Respecting her people’s beliefs, he must watch her leave the mountain with the Blackleg warrior.

When an evil spirit threatens Wren’s life, Himiin rushes to save her. But to leave the mountain means he’ll turn to smoke…

Kindle / Nook / Apple / Kobo / Windtree Press

Spirit_of_the_Lake_2Excerpt from Book Two – Spirit of the Lake

Wewukiye stood. He made eye contact with each man and left the lodge.

He stood in front of the lodge scanning the area in search of Dove or Crazy One. Men, women, and children stared back. His appearance would cause talk, but he would enter their village again to save Dove from being questioned. He was the one who took the drawing from the White man’s dwelling, and he should be the one to suffer the consequences, not her.

The drawings on a hide-covered dwelling revealed Crazy One’s tipi. The shaman’s comment still stunned him. He knew the man held powers, but did he actually talk to the Creator? He would ask Sa-qan. If she spoke to him again. Once she discovered he had revealed himself to the Lake Nimiipuu he knew he would get a stinging lecture.

He stopped in front of Crazy One’s dwelling.

“May I enter?” he asked loud enough for the inhabitants to hear, but not the surrounding curious onlookers.

The flap moved and Crazy One smiled at him. He ducked into the small tipi. His heart stalled once his gaze lit on Dove’s pale, worried face.

He knelt beside her, taking her cold hand in his. “All is well. I told them it was I who found the drawing, and my idea to leave it for them to find.”

“They believed you?” Her voice shook with disbelief.

Her cold hand and trembling lips spun regret in his gut like a tidal pool. He pulled her into his arms and hugged her. The slight bulge of her belly pushed against him. “Yes they believed me. They now doubt Evil Eyes.” He spoke into her hair. Her head tucked protectively under his chin. Her curves, a perfect fit in his arms, surpassed all his dreams.

She pushed against his chest, and he released her. Her cheeks grew darker, her eyes remained downcast. “Do they now believe me?”

The one thing he wished to give her he could not. Her proof would have to come with the child growing in her.

“They did not say. But they questioned my knowing you.” He took her hand, encouraged by their recent embrace. “The Shaman said the Creator wishes me to stay with the band until heel-lul.”

Her eyes widened and shone like stars in the darkest night. A smile slowly tipped her small mouth. “You would travel with us, stay in the village, and be near when I give birth?”

“No.”

Blurb and buy links:
Can a spirit set upon this earth to see to the good of the Nimiipuu stay true to justice when revenge burns in his heart?

Wewukiye, the lake spirit, saves a Nimiipuu maiden from drowning and bringing shame to herself and her family. Learning her people ignored her accusations against a White man who took her body, leaving her pregnant,Wewukiye vows to help her through the birth and to prove the White man’s deceit.

Dove slowly heals her heart and her distrust as Wewukiye, the warrior with hair the color of the sun, believes in her and helps her restore her faith in her people and herself.

On their quest for justice, Dove reveals spiritual abilities, ensnaring Wewukiye’s respect and awe. But will these abilities seal their future or tear them apart?

Kindle / Nook / Apple / Kobo / Windtree

Spirit_of_the_Sky_2Excerpt from Book Three – Spirit of the Sky

“What’s your name?” he asked after taking a drink.

“Sa-qan.”

“Saw what?”

“It means bald eagle.”

“Your light colored hair is about as white as a bald eagle’s head. But who would name a girl bald eagle?” He shook his head and chewed some more, watching her.

His attitude toward a name The Creator bestowed upon her prickled annoyance across her shoulders.

“You look more like a Sadie, Susie, or—” Wade let the images of past women by these names fade. This woman was different in so many ways he couldn’t compare her to others.

Wincing, he drew his body up, sitting with his back against the side of the cliff.

“Is your name Lieutenant?” she asked, once again changing the subject.

“Sort of. My military name is Lieutenant Wade Watts. My civilian name is Wade Andrew Watts.”

“You have many names. You must be a good soldier. Only the bravest warriors have many names for all their brave actions.”

She turned from him but not before he noticed her cheeks tinge a deeper red.

“I’d prefer it if you called me Wade. And I’ll call you… Angel. I have a feeling you saved my life and with that white hair you look like an angel.”

“I am Sa-qan. I do not want a so•yá•po name.”

She folded her arms across her chest, pushing her breasts up, displaying a portion of their soft mounds through the neck opening in her buckskin dress.

“What is so•yá•po?” He did his best to try and pronounce the word the same as Angel.

“It is how we call the White man.”

“Angel has been used as a name for women, but it means a spirit who floats in the clouds and delivers messages from our God to the mortals on earth.”

Her body straightened, and her eyes narrowed, peering at him intently. “This is a name for a woman, a spirit, who flies?”

“Yes. Why does that make a difference?”

She smiled and his heart leapt into his throat. He thought her beautiful from the first moment he saw her standing in the river fiercely protecting the child, but watching her tense face relax and smile, he was smitten. A light and pleasing calm washed over him for the first time in a very long time. He could only bask in the moment briefly. They were enemies.

Blurb and buy links:

Can enemies not only work for peace but find love?

Sa-qan, a Nimiipuu eagle spirit, must take a human form to save her mortal niece when the Nimiipuu are forced from their land by the U.S. Army. Sa-qan strives to remain true to her spirit world and her people, but finding an ally in a Cavalry Officer has unraveled her beliefs.

During battle with the Nimiipuu, Lt. Wade Watts finds a blonde woman hiding a Nez Perce child. He believes she is a captive when her intelligent eyes reveal she understands his language. Yet she refuses his help. Their paths cross several times during the skirmishes, and she becomes his savior when renegade warriors wound him.

Kindle / Nook / Apple / Kobo / Windtree Press

Head_Shot_(500x490)_2About Paty
Award-winning author Paty Jager and her husband raise alfalfa hay in rural eastern Oregon. On her road to publication she wrote freelance articles for two local newspapers and enjoyed her job with the County Extension service as a 4-H Program Assistant. Raising hay and cattle, riding horses, and battling rattlesnakes, she not only writes the western lifestyle, she lives it.

Her first book was published in 2006. Since then, she has published seventeen novels, two anthologies, and five novellas. All her work has Western or Native American elements in them along with hints of humor and engaging characters. Her penchant for research takes her on side trips that eventually turn into yet another story.

You can learn more about Paty at her blog; Writing into the Sunset her website; http://www.patyjager.net or on Facebook; https://www.facebook.com/#!/paty.jager , Goodreads http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/1005334.Paty_Jager and twitter; @patyjag.