Books
Book One - Black Sand Forest
Every family has secrets. Most stay buried at home. Some, however, do not.
Shelby Van Dorn should have listened to her mother. Rita Van Dorn shouldn’t have waited to tell all until her brain fought for space with a malignant tumor. But she didn’t. And she did.
Hamish Marcus Scott tackles impossible tasks for breakfast and stands victorious by morning tea. But he doesn’t do family drama. These letters from the late Rita Van Dorn are drama waiting to happen. His plan? Leave them in plain sight and be long gone when Rita’s only daughter arrives from America.
“I’m listening now, Mother,” Shelby says. But once she sets foot in Charleston, New Zealand it is too late. Years of deception are staring her in the face. And it’s only the beginning.
A hand on his shoulder. A whisper in his ear. A handwritten page falls across his path. These damn ghosts won’t leave him alone. Yes, these star-crossed lovers were dear to him in life. But in death they are annoying as hell.
The ghosts expect Hamish and Shelby to work together. But how his he supposed to get her to stay in the country, much less convince her to go along with their crazy plan? Especially since that would involve admitting he talks to ghosts.
Book Two - More Than Muscle
Life has rules. If everyone would stick to their own, the world would be a better place.
Elizabeth Rosalina Mora Adams has her five rules, spawned by her late father. She sticks to them religiously and they have served her well. Except for that one time, but that was long ago. Now she is all grown up, has a thriving personal training business and is thrashing it on the bodybuilding stage. In just over a month she and her best friend will open their gym franchise.
International Fitness Tycoon Hunter Ryan Scott lives to break rules, but his contracts are sacred. He has landed in Santa Fe, New Mexico with a sponsorship contract in his briefcase and his eye on Beth.
Rule Number Five: Never Go Pro. Once again, Beth’s rules have made life easy. Tell the drop-dead gorgeous man “no” and he will disappear.
It should have been that simple. But it wasn’t. The longer Hunter hangs around the more it looks like history will repeat. Where are her rules when she needs them most?
Sometimes when muscle meets muscle, more than sweat flies.
Book Three - Bad Blood - Coming Soon!
Gangly, awkward teenaged Brianna James fell in love with a down-home New Zealand Bad Boy. With a kiss and a promise to return and marry her, he took off overseas. All grown up and killing it on the fashion circuit, Brianna’s heart still belongs to her Bad Boy.
Nathaniel Harrington Livingston flies in the fast lane. Fast cars. Fast planes and fashion photography keep him just ahead of a dark past. Until the ghost of loves lost perches front row at a Los Angeles show. How long will he be able to outrun her before the whole ugly mess detonates, taking them both and half of New Zealand down?
Out of the Cloud - New Romance Series
Aoteoroa, a New Zealand native Maori word, is translated as “land of the long white cloud”. And from this place of majestic beauty, this series and it’s dynamic heros and heroines have sprung to life. Step in closer to see what comes from Out of the Cloud…
West Coast New Zealand is home to rugged boulders, sharp fern-laden cliffs, roads that daringly wind just out of reach of the crashing waves. Untamed lands breed robust people, adapted to an unsettled Mother Nature. Those who make their living off the land are the heartiest of them all. Emerging out of respect for this industry, the hero in Book #1, Black Sand Forest has built his fortune on the black sands left behind by the volcanic mountains and the gold mines. Steeped in history, the land just south of Westport, nestled between the sea and the Paparoa Mountain Range is as unpredictable as it is beautiful. When our Southwest American heroine arrives, she is neither prepared for the land or the man who works it.
Once she enters the Land of the Long White Cloud…she doesn’t ever want to come”Out of the Cloud” again.
Born and raised in Southwest America, I bring this second book all the way home. New Mexico sports red cliffs, stately mountains and blue skies that go on forever. Our Latina heroine is as fiery as the desert sunsets. As free as the winds. And as hard to catch as the ever-shifting sands.
Our Kiwi hero flies into the desert with his sights set on our heroine. Purely business sights, that is. He has done his homework. He knows exactly what he wants and what he is willing to give for it. But all of the business savvy in the world doesn’t prepare him for the Land of Enchantment and the enchantress who beckons him.
My favorite supporting character in this series is now our heroine! She’s bubbly. She’s witty. She’s bold and she’s definitely a blond bombshell. But underneath all of that, she nurses a tattered heart. High School can be brutal, but when the love of your life takes off on a plane and never comes back, those years can haunt you forever. Well, forever until he shows back up. Bigger, manlier and more elusive than ever before. Set against the fitting backdrop of high speed, high stakes fashion, these two high school flames are small town at heart.
CHAPTER ONE
Shelby Van Dorn leaned on the steering wheel of her rental car and peered down the driveway.
“…so long, you can’t see the end from the beginning…”
Her mother’s voice echoed so loudly in her ears that she jumped. Then scowled. Then shot a glance to her left.
“If this is your idea of a joke, Mother…” she addressed the black velvet bag contoured to the ornate urn beneath, strapped into the passenger seat.
But her mother had never joked. She had plotted and planned. Orchestrated and imposed. But she hadn’t joked.
Shelby chanced another look out the windshield, hoping the scene had changed.
But there it was. Laid out before here. As if for the last two months, her mother’s brain hadn’t been competing for space with a malignant tumor.
Had her mother been utterly lucid?
That horrifying possibility dogged her since the wheels of her plane touched down in a land that eerily mirrored the fantasy.
The place Shelby thought was a dreamland between life and death.
Was it real? The land? The place? The people?
Shelby released the handle and shoved her door open. As she stood, her eyes followed the two giant gateway posts all the way up to the swinging wooden sign strung between them.
“Black Sand Forest – New Zealand”
The words mocked her.
“This is happening,” Shelby said on a long sigh, still not quite believing it. She strode forward and grasped the lock on the rod iron gate.
The key turned easily. The lock clicked. A chill slithered up her spine.
Shelby shook it off and pushed through the split. The gates swung noiselessly to flank the road. From the stately entrance to the perfectly groomed gravel road lined by endless rows of tall trees, this place oozed of money. Which pointed solidly back at her mother. And set off a zillion alarm bells in Beth’s head.
Steel bars snaked around her heart and scaffolded her spine. She wouldn’t. Couldn’t deal with another one of Rita Van Dorn’s grand plans.
“Not this time, Mother,” Shelby announced, closing her door with a thump and glancing to her left. Whatever mess awaited at the end of this driveway, she would dust up quickly and head back to real life. Life before death.
***
Hamish Marcus Scott switched off the vacuum and silence reigned only to be replaced by birdsong.
“Not so bad, Hamish,” he said, gazing across the room at his handiwork. Quite a transformation compared with the dusty neglect he found when he unlocked the doors several hours ago.
He tromped down the stairs, vacuum in tow.
“Back to your former glory.”
He kept talking loudly to fill the silence and cover the anxiety as he stowed his supplies. Reclaimed Kauri floors thumped satisfyingly beneath his feet on his way to the door. And to freedom. He picked up his keys from the large Rimu table intending to make his exit before the ghost caught up with him.
Too late.
The stack of colored paper caught his eye.
“G’day, Rita. I cut your favorites,” he said nodding at the vase of agapanthus and calla lilies next to the letters. “You’ll be needing a bit of cheer with what you’ve got ahead.”
He tossed his keys nonchalantly over his head. Two steps and he would be out! No family drama for him today.
The top page on the stack lifted and fluttered to the glossy floor.
His keys hit his hand and slipped through his fingers to land with a splat.
“I’m not doing this…” he muttered.
He bent over to scoop them up and grasped the light blue page.
The sweeping script at the top hijacked him.
Dearest Hamish,
The scrape of a chair. He sat. He picked up the stack of papers. Her letters.
It was the old-fashioned essence of them that held him in awe. Hamish, at 26 years old was as old-school as they come. No one wrote proper letters anymore. Except the most proper women he knew. His mother. And hers.
He flicked through to the very last page.
I have started this letter a hundred times. 99 of them are mere wads of paper in the trash beside me and you know how I hate wasting trees. After all you have done for me, regrettably, I have one last favor to ask with no possible form of repayment.
***
The road suddenly broke into a clearing. She let off the accelerator and the car rolled to a stop. “Oh my,” she breathed.
“…And at the end of the road, tucked into the trees like it’s logs could still be growing there, was the cutest little cabin….”
“Cabin?” She whispered, folding her arms over the steering wheel, eyes fixed on the two story expanse of bare logs and shiny glass.
“He was standing on the porch, waiting to welcome us and get us settled.”
Their eyes met. Shelby sighed, a smile tugging at the corners of her mouth.
“I fell in love with him before the car rolled to a stop. He was all gangly limbs, goofy grin and gumboots.”
But he wasn’t any of that.
Shelby blinked. The vision stayed. She took a deep breath. Wood and earth mingled with salty sea and perfumed the breeze. There really was a man on the porch. Shelby unfolded herself from the car and hovered by her door.
The hulking figure bounded down the steps toward her.
She looked up just in time to watch the sky disappear. This man was a tree.
“G’day.”
“Hi,” Shelby opened her mouth to say the word, but she didn’t hear it come out.
“Shelby Van Dorn, I presume.”
Shelby’s eyebrows lifted. Her mind hovered somewhere between dream and reality. The talking tree had eyes like melted chocolate and blond hair so thick and wavy fingers would get lost in it.
“Hamish Scott,” he thrust a hand at her. “Just doing a bit of a tidy-up in there,” he nodded toward the house. “Didn’t expect you so soon.”
Shelby looked from the giant hand to the chocolate eyes. She opened her mouth. Still nothing came out. She stuck out her hand and watched his completely engulf it. She felt the heat, the rough skin, and a bolt of electricity.
She yanked her hand away. “Cleaning. Thank you. I’m sure I can handle it from here.”
Shelby had no idea what she was supposed to handle, but she was happy it didn’t include this man at all. She lifted her chin, met those yummy chocolate puddles and once again felt the electricity crackle.
A shrill screech pierced the air. It cycled several times.
“Yours?” Humor brought a sparkle to the chocolate. “Phone?”
Shelby sucked in breath, fumbled in her pocket and poked awkwardly at the screen.
“Shelby?” Came the familiar voice from far away. “Shell? Are you there?”
Shelby lifted the phone to her ear. Thank god for a bit of normalcy.
“Beth,” she sighed her name.
Shelby gave The Tree a curt nod and turned toward the house. An odd tickle of excitement coursed through her.
“Oh my,” she said into the phone. She bounded up the stairs to a wide porch complete with benches and planters spilling colorful flowers. The view through one set of double doors to the other set across a large room set her heart thumping.“You will never guess what I am looking at right…”
“It better be a man,” Beth broke in. “That’s the only way you will ever make up for dropping off the face of the earth!”
“It’s…”
“What’s he like?”
Shelby thumped along the wooden planks. The porch carried right around to the other set of double doors, bringing her closer to the incredible view. She sighed.
“He is taller than a pro basketball player. Stronger than a power lifter. With eyes so deep blue you could drown in them…”
“Mmmm. Hmmm. Does this demi-God have a name?”
“Tasman.”
“Huh?”
“I am looking at the Tasman Sea,” Shelby said dreamily.
Beth’s groan carried across the airwaves.
“It’s the most amazing view of the water. Seriously, I couldn’t be more than a few miles from…”
“Tasman?”
“Yes. This house sits on a bluff overlooking…”
“House?”
“….an impossibly green valley of bumpy bushes, sandy coastline…”
“Ocean.”
“Sea,” Shelby corrected automatically.
“Plane.”
Shelby stopped.
“Tell me you are on the plane…”
The last 24 hours swirled around in her head.
“Uh oh,” came the voice from thousands of miles away.
She opened her mouth to explain but didn’t know where to begin.
“What happened..”
“Mom.” Shelby said on a sigh. “Mom happened, B.”
The instant she said it, a stab of pain shot through her chest and she subsided onto a nearby bench. “I miss her so much…”
“Yeah…” the word was a whisper carried on a weighty breath. “‘Course you do, Shel. Glad you can finally admit it.”
Shelby sat in the shadow of the towering house, gazing across mingled greens to the sparkling blue of the sea until it disappeared into the hazy horizon.
“Mom wanted to be put to rest here,” Shelby finally whispered. “But why?”
“Dunno, Shel. Fill me in?”
“Everything was going according to plan and traveling with an urn isn’t easy. Flights. Rental car. Hotel. Meeting…”
“Graeme Thompson of GT Barristers and Solicitors,” Beth mocked in her best aristocrat voice.
“To tie up a loose end…”
“Like your mom would leave any end untied.”
“That should have been my first clue.”
“And I told you…”
“That’s Mrs. Van Dorn for ‘pack me in your bags, we’re going on an adventure.’” Shelby mocked her friend.
“I told…”
“I know. I can’t do ‘I-told-you-so’ right now.” Shelby stated firmly.
Beth made some sort of animal-like protest.
“Plus I called this guy before I even booked my ticket. He made it sound so simple. He’d ‘pop down’ to meet me and be back home before anyone missed him. Christmas Day, no less! Who does that?”
“Someone who wants to pass the buck.”
“And he did! Scribbled some squiggly line on a map. Stuffed that into my hand with a set of keys and a pen with GT Barristers and Solicitors emblazoned on it. And do you know what he said to me as he ushered me out of his office?”
“Sucker…!”
“Enjoy your holiday!”
“I knew it! Your mom said a hundred times you work too much. You’re tired. You need to get out and enjoy the world.”
“I do enjoy the world.” Shelby rolled her eyes. “My world.”
“A map, a pen and a key…Oooo! This is my kind of adventure! Thank you, Rita Van Dorn!”
“You’re kind? You won’t even get on a plane.”
“Yeah. It’s like reading a book! I keep my feet on the ground. And some unsuspecting character does the adventuring part.”
“I’m the unsuspecting…”
Beth cut her off, “Tell me about our treasure map! Where did it lead?”
“Here.”
Beth snarled.
Shelby sighed. “Charleston, New Zealand.”
She could hear Beth clicking away at her computer. In a matter of minutes, Beth would be the wiki -expert on the tiny dot on the map. If it even showed up on the internet at all.
“And, exactly?”
“111 Black Sand Lane.”
More clicking.
“This isn’t just scattering ashes. She’s up to something here, B. Something devious, I can feel it. Like that time she tricked me into flying to California under the guise that she had an investment proposal…”
“Only to find out her financial undertaking was Phillip Von Dainkin…”
“A man, no less! When her motto is…”
“Shelby, a man is not a financial plan!” They said in unison.
“To be fair, Shel, it wasn’t a financial thing.”
“No. That he was stinking filthy rich was a side benefit. It was his company…”
“PVD Engineering. Big name!”
“Huge!”
“And you wouldn’t even have to change your initials…”
“…so those towels she had monogrammed for me wouldn’t go to waste.”
“She worked hard on that one, Shel.”
“Too hard. I don’t like engineering. I don’t want to go to engineering school. I don’t want to build anything!”
“Except bodies.”
“Bodies.”
Shelby smiled. Then it faded. “My mother had talked me up so high that he was ready to marry me sight unseen! Put me through engineering school. Teach me the business from the ground up.”
“And so much more…” Beth chimed in.
“Uhhggg!”
“If only you had cooperated…” Beth sighed.
“Well, I am not cooperating here, either….” Shelby cut her off.
“You don’t even know…” Beth stopped. Gasped. “Oh! You do know…”
“Um hmm,” Shelby frowned and nodded.
“Black Sand…Tasman Sea…”
Shelby could hear the puzzle pieces click into place.
“It’s true.” Beth whispered. “Black Sand Forest.”
“Down to the sign over the gate…the long driveway…” Shelby confirmed.
“…the cutest little cabin…” Beth added.
Shelby rose to her feet and let her eyes sweep all the way up the wood and glass to the apex of the roof. “Yeah…well…about the cabin…”
Shelby swiped at her screen and Beth’s face sprang to life. She felt a pang in her stomach at the sight of her best friend’s smile. “It’s good to see you.”
“You look exhausted, Hun. When was the last time you slept? And ate? And how about your workout?”
“I was going to run before I returned my rental car and got on my plane…in…” Shelby checked her watch.
“10 minutes,” they said in unison.
Shelby glared as riotous laughter offended her from half a planet away.
“I told you…”
“Don’t.”
“C’mon! I am never right! Little Miss Perfect Shelby Van Dorn missed her plane!
“Not yet. I have 10 minutes,” Shelby sighed.
“All because you didn’t listen to me.”
“It was supposed…”
“…to all go according to Shelby’s master plan. And the waves part and the universe bends and all of the natural world adheres to your plan…But…”
“…not when my mother gets involved,” Shelby sighed and clicked the camera around so that the house filled the screen. And the air filled with Beth’s squeals.
“Loose end, my butt! Your mom scheduled us all a vacation to Fairyland!”