Q) How do you select the names of your characters?
I used to think it was just me, but
I’ve heard from many other authors who have the same problem. Coming up with
names for my characters is one of the hardest things to do. I have to be really
careful not to repeat names. I actually resort to using a name generator of all
things!
Q) What type of research did you do for your book?
Lesson Learned features a toddler
and all that that wonderful age says and does. Because I used to work with
children I figured I had it aced, but I checked with an author friend of mine
who has three children under the age of five and I was relieved to learn that I
was accurate. I think I painted charming and interesting interactions between
Adrian and the little boy he didn’t know about.
Q) Do you have a favorite book you’ve written?
There are several books that I have
really enjoyed writing, but my very favorite remains Forever written by my alter ego Allyson Young.
Q) Do you write in a linear fashion or do you jump from scene to scene and then go back and “fill in the blanks”?
I am a ‘pantser’ tried and true. I
start with an idea, concept, maybe a premise and my muse runs with it.
Sometimes I don’t even know where the book will end up but I am almost always
pleased.
Q) Do you want each
book to stand on its own, or are you trying to build a body of work with
connections between each book?
I have a few series from duets to trilogies and
more, but also many stand alones. I can’t say which I prefer more.
Q) What are your upcoming projects?
I am currently working on a
romantic fantasy, something very new for me, so we will have to see how that
goes. I enjoy stretching myself.
Adrian Matsakis is a successful businessman with terrible luck in personal relationships. His ex-wife wrecked him, and when he tried again with Jessie Brandt, she too betrayed him.
He is shocked and outraged to learn he has a son with her and is determined to take custody. He’s never forgotten Jessie but can’t forgive her, especially now.
Forewarned of Adrian’s intent, Jessie preempts him by inviting him to co-parent, and he reins himself in. He can’t resist reminding her of her perfidy, however, just as she continues to maintain her innocence.
They struggle against the chemistry—and more—sparking between them, and when Adrian double checks the facts around Jessie’s supposed betrayal, he’s staggered to learn the evidence was planted.
He sets out to make amends, and Jessie.
Excerpt
We
believe you know Jessie Brandt. Please see the attached picture. Come for
dinner tonight. Mikhail
Adrian
Matsakis shoved back from his desk with such strength the back of the chair hit
the wall, and the resulting shudder made his teeth clack together. The distance
from his computer monitor didn’t make it less true. The attachment he’d clicked
on nearly filled the screen with a picture of a sturdy, little toddler,
laughing up at a woman who crouched beside him, holding an enormous balloon.
It was
like looking into a mirror of his youth, pictures of him as a child festooning
most available surfaces, compliments of his doting mother. She’d been unable to
have other children, and thus lavished every maternal ounce of her being upon
him. His father created a balance, or Mama might have driven him crazy.
Maybe
he was crazy, seeing something in that image that was wishful
thinking. It couldn’t be. Rolling back to his desk, he clicked to reread the
email from Mikhail. Nothing changed.
After
opening up the image again, he soaked in the two faces featured there, noting
how little Jessie had changed over the three years since he’d last seen her,
the golden-blonde hair and laughing brown eyes, clear, ivory skin, long,
slender hands, and a lithe body with all the requisite curves.
His
son—for he had no doubt the child was his—was still exhibiting baby roundness,
but his arms and legs were long like Adrian’s, and the riot of black curls that
would be the bane of his existence unless fads changed, and maybe even then,
waved wildly about the boy’s head. Olive skin set off the tiny white teeth
visible in the wide smile. He thought his son’s eyes were gray like his own,
but perhaps they were a velvety brown like Jessie’s.
Adrian
finally allowed the cacophony of emotions churning in his gut to be labeled. He
was furious, firstly. Furious to learn he had a child after all this time, and
curious about the boy. Elated too. He wouldn’t deny it. He had badly wanted a
child, children, and learning that his ex wife Sharon terminated not one, but
two of his babies still sent shards of agony throughout his being.
But he
now had a child, and it must be love, if not intense affection flooding his
system as he stared at the little boy. He purposely narrowed his gaze, keeping
it directly on the toddler, because he didn’t want his confused emotions toward
Jessie to spill over, even within his own head, onto his son.
His son.
Why hadn’t she told him? Contacted him as was his right? Especially when she
knew how much he wanted children? Because I threw her out. He
shook the vaguely remorseful thought away.
He’d
thrown her out for good reason. She’d been lucky he hadn’t pressed charges,
although she’d challenged him to do so even as she accepted his edict and
marched away down the hall, her spine erect and her head held high.
Out of
sight, out of mind. He’d made certain she left with nothing. Except she left
with something. And if she’d really wanted my money, then
why hadn’t she used the child? He decided to ignore that inconvenient
niggle as well.
He shot
an email to Mikhail, accepting the dinner invitation when what he really wanted
to do was phone the man and demand an explanation. But he hadn’t climbed to
where he was in his business by flying off the handle. He’d attend the dinner
tonight armed with all possible information and pool it with what his friend
knew. And plan.
He
closed down his computer after carefully saving and printing several copies of
the toddler and then obtained the number of an experienced investigative
agency. He’d head out and pick up some wine and flowers for the hostess—and
begin the plan of retrieving his child. Anything this important would take
great care and strategy.
Thanks for having me!
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