Another Western Week with Gem Sivad!

Gem Sivad

Erotic Romance

     Readers, it's an honor to have this week's sexy, erotic western author with us! I hope you enjoy the interview and her books! We're going to be taking a walk around Eclipse, Texas, the town in her latest book so keep your eyes open for her cowboys roaming around. Gem, thanks for inviting us to your little town so we can get a taste of life in the books. I think there might be a saloon over there. Let's get started!

Naughty Reader’s: Tell us a bit about yourself that readers may not know.

Gem:  I love going to horse races and am looking forward to the Kentucky Derby this year.

Naughty Reader’s: What made you want to become a writer?

Gem:  I must be genetically predisposed since I’ve always written stories. It was very hard to start sharing them publicly since self-doubt dogged my steps. @_@ But… after the first book published and I received my first reader response, I was hooked. Good, bad or indifferent, it was the moment I became an author, craving an audience for the stories that kept pinging around in my head but were yet to be written.

Naughty Reader’s: Please share a bit about your new release Wolf’s Tender without giving away any spoilers.

Gem:  Before I wrote Wolf’s Tender, I researched the setting and historical elements and then created my characters--Charlie Wolf McCallister and Naomi Parker-- two lonely people who find love (and hot sex) together.

      Naomi, my heroine in Wolf’s Tender, illustrates my belief that women of by-gone days embraced sensual pleasure much as we do. And Charlie Wolf is the quintessential, hard-hearted hero who melts into a puddle of love when he finds the woman of his dreams.

Blurb for Wolf's Tender - A book in the Eclipse Heat Series

     Charlie Wolf is half Kiowa, all bounty hunter and a no-nonsense man—until he meets a schoolteacher with cornflower-blue eyes. After marauding outlaws attack Naomi’s school and kidnap her students, she’s desperate and will do anything to rescue them, even seduce the best tracker in Texas to secure his help.

      Naomi offers one night of sexual favors, underestimating the power of Charlie’s predatory charm and his determination to claim her as his mate. She’s impatient with his decisions, questions his authority and generally ignores his warnings. But she melts in Charlie’s arms when he makes love to her.

Blood is spilled, past murder avenged, desperadoes captured and lust assuaged as the two set out to rescue Naomi’s young ladies.

A Romantica® historical Western erotic romance from Ellora’s Cave

 Excerpt:

       “There’s a catch basin of water down below. Bathe.” He handed her linen and a bar of soap.

       Grateful for the chance to soak, she left comment about his dictatorial behavior for another time and hurried to the water.

      “Watch out for snakes,” he advised.

      Naomi didn’t like snakes or other slithering critters but she did like being clean, so she watched her step, shed Charlie’s clothes and plunged in the water, wallowing like a kid in the semi-warm pool. Her hair hung in rough strands that would become snarled balls when dry. She worked ineffectually at one tangle until she felt his gaze on her.

       “I wish my hair was straight like yours,” she muttered.

       He held out his hand, indicating it was time for her to quit the water.

       “Just gawk at something else besides me,” she told him, exasperated at his boldness when he didn’t look away. She covered her breasts with one arm, her triangle of lower curls with the other and grimaced at him as she emerged.

       He snorted at her attempt at modesty and wrapped the blanket around her, rubbing the drying cloth across her hair. Then he handed her a tin.

      “Work that into the snarls, then rinse it out of your hair.”

      “What’s in it?” she asked suspiciously, sniffing the mixture. It smelled like him, or at least the spicy wood scent she associated with him.

      “Bear grease.” He grunted impatiently. “Now rub it on your hair.”

      It was odd how right away her hair felt different. It hung in soft wet strands that felt like silk when she rinsed his concoction from her head.

      “It feels like when I was a child and rinsed my hair in rain water.” She let her hands play down the silken length and looked at him doubtfully. “Bear grease?”

       “No. My mother makes it for me to use on my hair,” he growled.

       She’d noticed how shiny his hair was. “It’s indecent for a man to have hair that hangs down his back and is prettier than a woman’s.” The tart words escaped her before she could stop them. Then she fastened on the important part of his sentence, excusing her own rude comment.

      “You have a mother?” She was surprised. He didn’t look like a man with a mother, let alone one who made him beauty products for his hair.

       “Did you think I was born in a cave with wolves?” He capped the tin and stuck it in his pocket.

      “Does your mother live with the Kiowa tribe?” she asked politely, ignoring his sarcasm because frankly, she could picture him in a cave with wolves.

      “My mother is Rachel McCallister of the MC3 Ranch. She’s a white woman, like you.” While she digested that information, he did one of his silent maneuvers, moving much closer, leaving Naomi very conscious of his nearness.

      “Sun ointment—should make your face quit burning.” She could feel the heat from his body as he rubbed a different salve on her cheeks.

      His nearness and gentle application of the medicine flustered her. No one had taken care of her since her sister had left. Naomi had grown up taking care of others. Now this man leaned over her and squinted as he dabbed another kind of cream on her cheeks.

       “It does soothe the burn.” She couldn’t resist touching his hand as he carefully applied the balm to her burned cheeks. “Why are you being nice to me?”

She suspected that Charlie Wolf never made a move that didn’t benefit him, but at this moment she didn’t care. It was wonderful that he was showing her kindness during the day.

       “Your skin’s too chapped. I want it soft under my lips when I taste you,” he drawled.

       “It’s daylight. We need to travel now that I’ve rested.” Naomi blinked at him, confused.

      “We’re hidden here and it’s a good place to hole up until dusk. My horse will let me know if anyone or anything gets close.”

       “It was dark last night. How did you find me?” Naomi asked.

      “Old Mossy took a fancy to the buckskin mare you pilfered.” Charlie’s eyes crinkled at the corners just the slightest when he answered. “She’s in heat. He followed her scent.” The almost smile changed to a frown and he asked, “Where the hell did you think you were going?”

       “The buckskin mare belonged to one of the criminals you captured and I felt certain she was returning to familiar horses,” Naomi answered smugly.

       “And even if that blockheaded idea was sound, you thought you’d just ride into an outlaw camp and do what?”

      Naomi blushed and squirmed under his gaze. Her plan had been more an impulse.

       “Woman, you have no sense.” He shook his head. Shrugging, he leaned close to her, his nostrils flaring as if testing the air.

      “What are you doing?” she asked nervously.

     “Fixin’ your scent in my mind for if I have to go chasing after you again,” Charlie growled.

      His words brought a flush of arousal flooding her body. She could smell him too and she liked his spicy male scent. She was reminded that only a blanket separated her nakedness from Charlie and her skin pebbled with awareness as her womb clenched. Thankfully he didn’t notice her unseemly response and continued explaining his plan.

     “The stars ‘ll be out tonight and it’ll be clear enough to see.” He turned her toward the camp and her bed under the tree. “Meanwhile, you can tender the next installment of your payment to me.”

     “What?” Her voice sharpened, her disappointment a twist of pain. He didn’t need to remind her that she’d traded him liberties for his care. The hair and face creams seemed less special and her momentary pleasure at being tended disappeared.

     “How many such installments will it take to close this account?” she snapped.

      “Depends on the amount of danger I incur in the course of the rescue,” he murmured, leaning over her to claim her lips. And then his shoulders blotted out the sun and he laid her to the ground, coming down on top of her.

Naughty Reader’s:  That sounds like a yummy premise for a great beginning! Do you write under a pen name?

Gem:  Gem Sivad is my pen name.
 

Naughty Reader’s: What types of hero or heroine do you like best?

Gem:  I like a sexy beast for the man…gruff, frequently arrogant, intelligent, responsible, not necessarily handsome to all, but with such masculine gravitas that he is immediately a presence in any room.

      I like heroines who display ingenuity and independence. You can be sure if my damsel is in distress, she’s already working toward resolving her crisis when the hero arrives to help in her rescue (and warm up the sheets).     

Naughty Reader’s:  We know you're extremely busy writing all those books. Tell us about a typical day in your life as a writer.

Gem:  I have a regular schedule:

6:00 a.m. Grab a cup of coffee (auto brewed & ready)and check my stats. (I’m totally addicted to watching ratings, rankings, and reviews.)

6:30-8:00 Answer email, visit FB, twitter,  and develop promo material for blogs.

8:00-12:30 Write. Break for lunch and watch midday news (am a political junkie).

2:00-5:00 Write. I try not to let writing take over my personal life, but in the evening with hubs, my mind is always playing with plot ideas.

Naughty Reader’s: Do your books have a common theme or are they all different?

Gem:  If I have any common theme it would be female empowerment. (see heroine question above.

Naughty Reader’s: How long does it take you to write and then edit a story?

Gem:  I normally work on more than one WIP at a time in varying stages of completion so in a six week period I expect to finish a novella and a novel.

Naughty Reader’s: Do you have to be alone to write?

Gem: YES!
 

Naughty Reader’s: How do you go about naming characters?

Gem:  I try to choose names that fit the character image in my head. When I’m writing books set in the 19th century, birth records from the period are a great source.

Naughty Reader’s: Is it easier to write about the characters if you find pictures of them before you write or do you write then find character pictures?

Gem:  I write then find pictures. Sometimes my first choice changes as the story evolves and the character becomes more known to me. If I’m casting Wolf’s Tender—The Movie, *BG* Adam Beach will play Charlie Wolf McCallister and Keri Russell with curly hair, is Naomi.

Naughty Reader’s: How do you pick locations for your stories?

Gem:  For my town of Eclipse, Texas, I chose a setting in the northwestern part of Texas that bordered 19th century Indian Territory. It’s a diverse geographical area with both deserts and mountains. I located my mythical town in a place close enough to Wichita Falls, Sweetwater and Abilene to travel by horseback. (Yes, I visited the area.) 

Blogger
Main site
Twitter
Facebook

 

CONTEST:  Gem is picking one commenter to win both of her e-books of the bounty hunter series, Wolf's Tender and Five Card Stud! Good luck readers! The drawing will be on Saturday and Gem will pick the winner!