Harlequin Archives - Mimi Barbour

***I’m so pleased to introduce Rebecca York as my guest today. She’s a wonderful author who will be receiving a special award at the RWA convention this year for having published 75 books with Harlequin. And, in truth, must have over 100 in total. Truly a gifted and unique woman whose stories entertain and delight us all!!

I’ve been writing romances all my life, only I didn’t know it at first. Actually, I didn’t start off writing anything down because I’m dyslexic, and I had a lot of trouble learning to read. But I’ve always told stories. My mom told me that when I could barely toddle around, I’d go from hydrangea bush to hydrangea bush in my grandma’s backyard, cupping the flowers and giving them fanciful names.

And when I saw a worm burrowing into the earth in my aunt’s garden, I said, “Where the merm went?” I immediately answered my own question. “The merm went to see another merm.”

See—relationships already!

By the time I was ten, I was telling romantic-suspense stories, using my Sandra Sue dolls. These were the precursors to Barbie. They were little action-figure girls, without the breasts and the elongated bodies. I’d make up adventures for them where they were captured by pirates, whisked away to a mountain cabin, or spirited onto a luxury yacht by a handsome millionaire.

The story I’ve written for Ten Brides for Ten Heroes, DESTINATION WEDDING, fits right into that tradition, only it’s not the hero who kidnaps the heroine. It’s a rich-as-sin Russian mobster who owns his own Caribbean island. He takes Camille Norland there to marry her against her will, and it’s up to our hero, Nick Cassidy, to rescue her. But first he has to figure out who has taken her and where she’s being held. Then he’s got to sneak onto the island and wait for his chance to grab her. He can’t do it before the marriage ceremony. But can he wrest Camille away before the wedding night? And can the two of them escape from the island without getting shot?

Camille and Nick have set off sexual sparks since they first met. But because Nick works for her father, he thinks a relationship isn’t appropriate. Also, Nick’s from a poor, dysfunctional family, and he thinks he’s not good enough for Camille. While they’re hiding out from the mobster, can she make him realize that the two of them belong together?

Since I always write stories with a HEA, you can probably guess the answer.

Rebecca York is the author of more than 125 novels and novellas. She is a multi-published romance, romantic suspense, and paranormal romantic suspense writer, with Silhouette, Harlequin Intrigue, Berkley and Sourcebooks—and occasional excursions into science-fiction romance, YA, and cookbook writing. She’s now a hybrid writer, continuing her traditional career while indie-publishing paranormal romantic suspense, science-fiction romance and cookbooks. She lives in Maryland with her husband and four cats, travels frequently, and cooks and gardens for fun. For more about her, see www.rebeccayork.com .

~~~Also, I want to personally thank Rebecca for all her work in collating and producing the attractive cookbook that was made for the Ten Brides for Ten Heroes box set. First she suggested this as a way of promoting the collection and then she made sure it happened.