Maggie Mundy, : Friday Pen Pals with Lauren Linwood and her new book Ballad Beauty

Blurb for Ballad Beauty:

After ten years apart, Boston schoolmarm Jenny McShanahan receives a letter from her beloved father that instructs her to join him in Texas. She has no idea that he’s become Famous Sam McShan, the Robin Hood of the West. She arrives to find Sam already gone, but he left instructions for Jenny to hire a guide and rendezvous with him in Nevada.

Texas Ranger Noah Daniel Webster knows Sam personally because his father, Pistol Pete Webber, was Sam’s longtime partner in crime. When Pete is killed during their last big score, Noah requests the assignment to bring Sam to justice. Going undercover, he volunteers to act as Jenny’s escort across the dangerous prairie, using her to track her outlaw father’s location.

As they journey through rough country, love blossoms—but Noah knows the second he arrests Sam, his betrayal will kill Jenny’s love for him. Should the lawman do his duty as a Ranger, or should he let love rule? The choice Noah makes will change their lives forever.

Excerpt: (1^st meeting between H/H)

Noah watched Jenny McShanahan turn and walk up the street toward him, a determined look set on her lovely features. He’d been slumped against a hitching post for an hour, waiting for the two o’clock stage to arrive. He’d been wary, too, sure that Sam McShan would meet his only daughter when she arrived in Apple Blossom.

Thank God for his connections at the telegraph company. It had been his most solid lead up till now. Everything else sure dried up.

Just then she passed him, still walking down the middle of the street. He wondered where she was going. He also wondered if she realized she’d left her case.

Noah tipped his hat and called out to her. “Ma’am?”

She turned, a puzzled look on her face.

“You left your valise.” He pointed to the lone satchel sitting in the middle of the road.

It surprised him when the corners of her mouth turned up slightly. “So I did.” She looked him up and down, and he almost blushed. “Thank you, sir. Perhaps I’ll retrieve it . . . and what’s left of my brain, as well.”

She started back toward the case. He moved quickly and stepped in front of her. “I’ll get it, ma’am.” He ambled along and picked it up and returned it to her.

“If you’ll tell me where you’re headed, I’ll make sure you and your bag get there.”

He watched her think this over, and then she nodded. “Thank you, sir. I’m headed to the local hotel.”

She took off in long strides despite her tight skirt. He studied her carefully from the back as he followed her to her destination. She was tall and thin, with the tiniest waist he’d ever seen. He was sure his hands could easily span it with room to spare. Her hat was slightly askew, revealing thick, honey blond hair twisted up in some womanly way.

But he longed for a glimpse from the front again. She had the most enticing eyes he’d ever seen on a woman, a striking moss green, with long, thick lashes surrounding them. A man could get lost in those eyes. Or her mouth. Her lips were a soft rose and looked good enough to lick.

Now where had that come from?

Bio & Social Media Links:

Lauren Linwood became a teacher who wrote on the side to maintain her sanity in a sea of teenage hormones. Her romances use history as a backdrop to place her characters in extraordinary circumstances, where their intense desire and yearning for one another grow into the deep, tender, treasured gift of love.

Lauren, a native Texan, lives in a Dallas suburb with her family. An avid reader, moviegoer, and sports fan, she manages stress by alternating yoga with five mile walks. She is thinking about starting a support group for Pinterest and House Hunters addicts.