Trial by Fire by B.A. Tortuga
Dreamspinner Press
Release Date March 15
Cover art by Paul Richmond
Sales Links
Dreamspinner Press ebook & paperback | Amazon Print | ARe | Barnes and Noble
Scattered Thoughts and Rogue Words is happy to have BA Tortuga here today to share something about herself and the characters in her latest story (which I loved), Trial by Fire. Welcome, BA.
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Telling Our Stories
Hey, y’all! I’m BA Tortuga, resident redneck and lover of stories – hearing and telling.
Whenever people ask me why I write cowboys, I tell them those are the people I grew up with, those are the people I know. I write the folks that I heard telling their stories, the people that I shared memories with. Not all of the stories are good ones, not all of them are classy – shit, not many of them are – but they’re ours and I’m proud to share their voices.
Now, if you want polished men that never lose their tempers or get themselves in trouble with their big mouths, these aren’t the cowboys for you. Shit, I couldn’t even manage to write a billionaire rancher from Australia who owns his own private jet to be this super class-act. Somehow, when you scratch Lachlan, underneath the fancy-assed business suit you find a red-blooded, hot-headed man that intends to get what he wants.
Grins
Here, I’ll let y’all meet him a little bit.
“I—shit, mate, I hate being the bastard to bring bad news.”
His scalp prickled, and goose pimples rose on his arms. “Just tell me.”
“Ades was in a plane accident three weeks ago over in the States. She and her husband.”
Jesus. He felt as if Rick had hit him with a hammer, right in the belly. How could that be possible? His baby sister, gone off this earth?
“I’m sorry as hell, mate. I saw a little blip on the AP feed. All that searching and I missed it until today.”
“You have the details now?” He didn’t want to know, but he had to. His mum… she deserved to know.
“I do. Lachy. There’s lots.”
He rubbed his eyes with his free hand. “How much? You said she was married.” He’d not have guessed.
“Yes. A bull rider from Texas. They… they got married two and a half years ago. They had…. Oh shit, mate. There’s a little one. A little sheila. Three and a half months old.”
His heart stopped for a moment. Really stopped. “She wasn’t on the plane.”
“No. No, she was with her father’s family.”
“Thank God.” His hands shook, his whole body going shocky. “What. Where is she now?”
“Living with the Sheffields. That’s the family.”
“Wait. She married Landon Sheffield?” Sheffield was a tiny little bastard. What the hell had Addie seen in him? That motherfucker had been a guest in his house. Snake in the ruddy grass.
“Yeah. You know him?”
“Yank bull rider. He was over here for some big tour. They did a promotional shoot up here.” He was going to lose his shit.
“There’s a twin brother. Uh….” He heard papers shuffling. “Holden. He’s named on the will as the guardian.”
“Not the grandparents?”
“No, mate.”
“Damn it.” Okay, that wasn’t going to work. He’d never met the brother, but the Sheffields were rodeo people. A little girl needed a stable home. Not some nomadic bullshit life where nothing stayed the same for a week at a time. She needed a home. Her mom was gone, and he hadn’t even known.
“How do I find them?” Lachlan asked.
Let me tell, y’all. When Lachlan gets his happy ass to Texas, sparks fly.
There’s a reason the working title of this story was “Aussie vs Texan.”
Much love, y’all.
BA
Trial by Fire Blurb
One Aussie. One Texan. One baby. One hell of a fight.
When his sister and her husband are killed in an accident, Aussie cattle station owner Lachlan McCoughney rushes to Texas to rescue their infant daughter, Chloe. He expects to find his niece living in squalor with the Sheffields, a rodeo family.
Instead, Lachlan finds Holden Sheffield, a salt-of-the-earth cowboy running a huge business operation. They want to explore their mutual attraction despite the many problems thrown their way, and together, they must find a way to give Chloe a new family and find a love that spans thousands of acres and two continents.
About BA Tortuga
Texan to the bone and an unrepentant Daddy’s Girl, BA Tortuga spends her days with her basset hounds and her beloved wife, texting her sisters, and eating Mexican food. When she’s not doing that, she’s writing. She spends her days off watching rodeo, knitting and surfing Pinterest in the name of research. BA’s personal saviors include her wife, Julia Talbot, her best friend, Sean Michael, and coffee. Lots of coffee. Really good coffee.
Having written everything from fist-fighting rednecks to hard-core cowboys to werewolves, BA does her damnedest to tell the stories of her heart, which was raised in Northeast Texas, but has heard the call of the high desert and lives in the Sandias. With books ranging from hard-hitting GLBT romance, to fiery menages, to the most traditional of love stories, BA refuses to be pigeon-holed by anyone but the voices in her head. Find her on the web at http://www.batortuga.com
Brock Summers is a Colorado Parks and Wildlife Officer with a heart of gold. When he discovers a video of golden eagles being shot and learns of a nest in trouble, not even a blizzard can stop him from trekking up the mountain in an attempt to rescue them.
