Spotlight & Giveaway: A Colorado Claim by Joanne Rock

Today it is my pleasure to Welcome author Joanne Rock to HJ!

Hi Joanne and welcome to HJ! We’re so excited to chat with you about your new release, A Colorado Claim!

 
Hello! So good to be here!
 

Please summarize the book for the readers here:

This is the third book in my Return to Catamount series and is my favorite in the trilogy. The heroine is a no-nonsense psychologist who is divorced from the hockey player hero and she has plenty of reasons not to want to see him again. They meet again at a Colorado courthouse when the heroine returns to Catamount for in case involving her grandmother’s will and the couple ends up very much in the public eye again–while trying hard to resist the attraction between them that has never died.
 

Please share your favorite line(s) or quote from this book:

They’d been remarkably in tune sexually no matter how much the rest of their relationship fell apart. And how was it he’d wound up thinking about that ten seconds after seeing her for the first time in two years?

Please share a few Fun facts about this book…

• This is a second chance romance with a divorced hero and heroine who have all the baggage!
• The hero is a hockey player turned rancher.
• There are goats.
• The hero is learning how to maintain a Buffalo herd for his ranch.

What first attracts your Hero to the Heroine and vice versa?

These two sizzle from the get-go! Gibson Vaughn, the hero, is attracted to help my heroin downplays her looks. She isn’t one for makeup or drawing attention to herself and yet he can’t look away, especially because as a professional athlete he is used to women trying hard to impress him. Lark Barclay as attracted to him initially because he refused therapy with her so that he could date her.

Did any scene have you blushing, crying or laughing while writing it? And Why?

This scene had me smiling as I wrote it because I love that inevitable moment when a couple is together and you just know they aren’t going to be able to stay apart…

Gibson Vaughn, in all his sexy glory, appeared in the driver’s seat. From his dark, shoulder length hair that begged a woman’s fingers to come through it to the kissable dent centered in his chin, the man had been the face of US hockey for nearly a decade for a reason. He not only played the gameblue line with a vengeance, but he was undeniably handsome. The scar through one eyebrow and the slight crook in his nose didn’t begin to detract from those chiseled good looks.
“We’ve got about twenty seconds before they catch up.” Gibson nodded toward the mob of reporters at the courthouse steps, all still looking in the wrong direction. “Hop in if you want to stay a step ahead of them.”
She wished that her heartbeat skipped because she was panicked about being caught in the limelight again. But she knew perfectly well the erratic pulse and humming in her veins was all owing to the man who’d once vowed to love her forever. The man whose kisses had turned her inside out.
No way could she risk being close to him again.

Readers should read this book….

If they love second chance romances, Western settings and sports heroes! There is a strong emotional core to this story beneath the sizzling attraction. I really rooted for Lark to get her happily ever after after how much she’d been hurt in the past.

What are you currently working on? What other releases do you have in the works?

Right now, I am writing a series called Kingsland Ranch for Harlequin Desire that begins in January of 2023. I just finished the second book of the four book series. Readers can look for book one, Rodeo Rebel im January 2023, and my next Texas Cattlemen’s Club story, Make Believe Match in the spring of 2023.
 

Thanks for blogging at HJ!

Giveaway: I’m giving away a full set of my Brooklyn Nights series from Harlequin Desire including A Nine-month Temptation, Tempted By the Boss, and The Stakes of Faking It, along with book swag, and a fun pair of socks!

To enter Giveaway: Please complete the Rafflecopter form and Post a comment to this Q: What’s your favorite thing to do on a free weekend when the temperature heats up in summer?

 
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Excerpt from A Colorado Claim:

After closing out of the app on his laptop screen, Gibson pressed the connect button on the call from—surprise, surprise—his agent.
Again.
“Dex, I’m still committed to starting the ranch.” He told himself as much every day, even though the project had a huge chance of flopping.
If he ever wanted to conquer the fear of failure—of losing—he couldn’t spend his whole life only taking on things that he was good at.
“Are you watching the news?” Dex blurted, his voice sounding tenser than normal. Gibson could hear a phone ringing along with what sounded like multiple news feeds running in the background.
A sea of talking heads.
“Of course not. I’m working, and even if I weren’t…” Gibson leaned far back in the ergonomic desk chair he’d bought for his long frame, tilting the neck rest so he stared up at the sleek chrome light fixture hanging over the blond wood table. “You know I didn’t check out the sports headlines even when I was playing—”
“Not the sports news. Turn on your local network affiliate. They’ve been promoting the hell out of a story with a clip of your ex-wife. It’ll be on as soon as they return from commercial.”
Gibson tipped forward so quickly he nearly fell out of the chair. “They’re back to chasing Lark around town?”
Pounding one fist on the table, he used his other to reach for the television remote that controlled a big screen across the great room above the fireplace. He cursed the media hounds the whole time for interfering in his personal life again, after he’d made some progress with Lark.
“From the sound bite they keep showing, it sure didn’t look like she was trying to avoid them this time.” Dex’s words sounded muffled, as if he were covering the phone or maybe sandwiching it between his chin and shoulder. The guy juggled too much, but for once, Gibson appreciated the heads-up considering he was to blame for bringing the spotlight with him to Catamount.
Jabbing a few buttons to find the right channel, Gibson blasted the volume on the remote in time to see Lark’s pretty face fill the television screen. Her sexy dark braid lay coiled on one shoulder bared by a white tank dress as she stood in front of the Crooked Elm Ranch house. Her expression was serious as she looked directly into the camera.
“…because since when does reporting on the activities of elite athletes’ wives, girlfriends and exes constitute sports news?” Lark had taken the microphone out of the hand of whoever had been trying to interview her. She moved backward now as someone reached into the frame to try to retrieve it. Lark’s forest-green eyes flashed with a fire Gibson remembered well from their arguments. And from other times…
She continued now, “If you’re going to cover women, why not give camera time to actual women athletes who are overlooked by the media and paid far less than their male counterparts?”
The camera work turned awkward then, the lens bouncing as whoever carried the video recorder moved to forcibly take the mic out of Lark’s hands. But not before Lark could be heard saying, “Do you know how many professional women’s teams there are in Los Angeles where I live? And do you know how many more times I made your stupid news feed over talented, trained women who deserve—”
The video and audio ended abruptly, the local anchor appearing on the screen with a still image from the clip behind one shoulder labeled “Gibson Vaughn’s Ex Speaks Out.”
Indignation on her behalf fired through him. They couldn’t even give her the credit of her own name under her photo? But the local anchor moved quickly to another story, leaving Gibson to wonder when—and how—they’d obtained a clip that clearly hadn’t been shot by their own team.
More than that, his thoughts were at Crooked Elm with Lark. Was she upset about the encounter? Pleased? She’d definitely taken the offensive this time, and he couldn’t be prouder of her about that. He remembered too well how frustrated the media had made her when they’d been married.
“Good for her,” Gibson mused aloud, almost forgetting he had Dex on the phone in the onslaught of thoughts about Lark. She’d looked sexy as hell in that clip. “Thanks for the heads-up about this.”
“I didn’t call just to give you a heads-up.” Again, a phone rang in the background of wherever Dex was sitting, a racket all around the guy. “I’m getting bombarded with opportunities for you. Teams that think you must be considering a comeback if Lark is putting herself in the spotlight.”
Shoulders slumping, Gibson didn’t know what to say to that other than that same old refrain. “Not going to happen.”
He would have pounded home the point except a notification from the security guard at his front gate chimed on his phone. Pulling it from his ear, he read the message.
Lark is out front. Should I let her through?
Surprise made him hesitate for only an instant. Then he tapped an auto-response command in the affirmative. Damn right he wanted to see her, even if he couldn’t imagine what she was doing here.
Returning his phone to his ear as he rose to his feet, he strode to the door while Dex continued speaking without pause. “And there are two new teams interested in you because of this new attention. A lot of hockey clubs are trying to be supportive of women’s teams and this really resonates—”
Clearly he hadn’t missed much of the conversation. His agent was giving the same old spiel while headlights arced across Gibson’s windows. Anticipation thrummed through him.
Gibson pulled open the front door as Lark herself stepped from a gray sedan, her long legs encased in fitted black boots. She still wore the same white tank dress she’d had on in the television clip.
And she was here. At his house.
Making him want her simply by being.
His throat was dry when he spoke again. “Dex, I have to go now. I’ll call later. Bye.”
Shutting the phone off and tossing it on the couch and well out of reach, Gibson held the door open wide for his too-gorgeous ex-wife who’d just set him on fire with her take-no-prisoners approach with the media.
Whatever she wanted, he was more than happy to provide.

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.
 
 

Book Info:

She’s back to claim her land

but will her ex reclaim her heart instead?

Rancher Gibson Vaughn doesn’t know why his wayward ex-wife is in town, but the sizzling chemistry between them still blazes. Lark Barclay needs to focus on fighting for her inheritance, not on a sexy former player. Yet Lark is helpless when it comes to Gibson’s seductive kisses and soon falls into his bed. But will the heartbreaking secret she’s carried since their divorce ruin their second chance at happiness?
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Meet the Author:

Joanne Rock is a USA Today bestselling author. She’s written over one hundred books, most recently focusing on sexy contemporaries and small-town family sagas. She enjoys romance for prioritizing relationships and encouraging readers to follow their dreams. A frequent speaker at regional and national writing conferences she enjoys giving back to the writing community that nurtured and inspired her early career. She has a Masters degree in Literature from the University of Louisville. When she’s not writing, Joanne enjoys travel to gather new ideas.
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