Winter's Embrace

WINTER’S
EMBRACE

Kathleen Ball

Mainstream Romance

Secret Cravings Publishing

www.secretcravingspublishing.com

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A Secret
Cravings Publishing Book

Mainstream
Romance

Winter’s
Embrace

Copyright ©
2014 Kathleen Ball

E-book ISBN:
978-1-63105-028-2

First E-book
Publication: April 2014

Cover design by
Dawné
Dominique

Edited by Rebecca
Hollada

Proofread by Courtney
Karmiller

All cover art
and logo copyright © 2014 by Secret Cravings Publishing

ALL RIGHTS RESERVED:
This literary work may not be reproduced
or transmitted in any form or by any means, including electronic or
photographic reproduction, in whole or in part, without express written
permission.

All characters and events in this book are
fictitious. Any resemblance to actual persons living or dead is strictly
coincidental.

PUBLISHER

Secret Cravings Publishing

www.secretcravingspublishing.com

Dedication

I dedicate
Winter’s
Embrace in loving memory of
my father, James Tighe.

I also dedicate this novel to all of you who helped care for him.
Especially Sharon Stone
Molster
the Resident Care Director
at Merrill Gardens, now called Emeritus in Lancaster CA, who led us lovingly
through hospice care, made us laugh and had our backs. Thank you to the whole
staff at Merrill Gardens, Shannon, Krista, Beverly, Mandy, Brittany,
Rohdin
,
Brittnay
,
Morea
, Karina, Alice and Tatiana. I’ve never known such
sweet and caring people.

To Dan, Tricia and Ryan, I love you guys. There are no
words to thank you enough for all you did for both Mom and Dad.

This book has been a long time coming and the patience
and support from Secret Cravings Publishing is greatly appreciated. Thank you
Rebecca
Hollada
, my editor who performed a miracle
editing this book.

Thank you
Bennet
Pomerantz
for the wonderful foreword.

Thank you to my family, friends and readers for
propping me up when I needed it—love you.

And to Bruce, Steven, Colt and Clara
because I love them.

Foreword

My Westerns

By
Bennet
Pomerantz

In July
1969, my life changed. In hindsight, I did not know it at the time. I was ten
and a world wise ten year old I was. Today many would call kids like how I was
smart
alecs
. I saw my first
western movie in the theaters. It opened up new avenues for me

My Father
wanted to spend time with his family. The best way was a Sunday family day,
which included a dinner at Hot Shoppe's restaurant and a movie. He had taken
the family to see True Grit at the Greenbelt Theater in Greenbelt, Maryland.
This was long before home video or even home DVD. On a large silver screen was
the figure of one-eyed Rooster
Cogburn
. John Wayne
played this modern day Long John Silver with all the thrill and excitement that
I would find in many other John Wayne films alter on. He played Rooster larger
than life and I was hooked. He stole the screen. I always will remember the
last line of the movie, “Well little lady, come see a one-eyed fat man as he jump
his horse over a fence.”

One night,
later that year, I had a bad
dream,
I woke up about
ten o’clock. My father was watching a TV show he liked—little did I know it was
also a western.
The Wild
Wild
West
was that western—a steampunk universe and spy
show wrapped into a neat package. James West, played by Robert Conrad, was a
government agent with all the gadgets that James Bond would ever have. That
show would be canceled soon—
however,
I found the show
in syndication.

At ten, I
did not know I already liked the western genre. I was a fan of such TV shows as
Walt Disney’s
Zorro
,
The Cisco Kid
, and
Roy Rogers and the Lone Ra
nger. However it was John Wayne’s
larger-than-life character that brought me to the western genre. Then there
were such shows as
The Big Valley
,
Bonanza
,
Gunsmoke
,
Rawhide
,
Sugarfoot
,
Have Gun Will Travel
,
The Rifleman
,
The Rebel
,
Wanted Dead or
Alive
, and
Death Valley Days
,
which filled my Saturday mornings when the cartoons were reruns.

The western,
as I found out growing up, was a morality play, a romance, and showcase for
good versus evil wrapped into one package. The good guy wore the sign of right,
like John Wayne, The Rifleman, or James West. The hero fought for justice even
if they wore a mask like Zorro or the Lone Ranger. There were good-natured
heroes, like Maverick, who stumbled into situations. Gunfighter, like the
Shootist
—John Wayne—the Wild Bunch, or the Magnificent
Seven tried to keep the peace in lawless western townships. There were
dishonest people who were taught a lesson—sometimes at the end of a Colt 45
pistol.

In the
western, you found romance in the land and the people. The true mark of a good
western was a bit of both. John Steinbeck’s
The
Red
Pony
,
and Ralph Mood’s
The Wild Country
are
example of tests of man and nature. Westerns were, and still are, tales of
people battling nature and each other.

The amazing
thing about Western genre is how it is so easily adapted into other medium.
Think of the science fiction film,
Outland
,
with Sean Connery. It is a modern day remake of the classic
High Noon
, with Gary Cooper.
Star Trek
and
Battlestar
Galactica
are really science fiction
versions of the TV series
Wagon Train
.
The
Ocean’s
Eleven
remake owes a large debt to the classic
Magnificent
Seven
rather than the 1960s film it was named for. The modern day western
Walker Texas Ranger
owes debts to the
classic novel
The Virginian
, Clint
Eastwood’s
Man with No Name
series,
and even the film
Billy Jack
—which
brought martial arts to the western genre.

As I grew
older, I found westerns again. This time it was not on TV or in the movies. I
was living in Clearwater, Florida while working and going to school in Tampa. I
had an hour’s drive time and my car had a cassette player. One day, I was at a
flea market and there were old radio shows on cassette.
Have Gun Will Travel
,
Gunsmoke
,
The
Six Shooter
—with
Jimmy Stewart—
The Lone Ranger
,
Sergeant Preston of the Yukon
, and
Hopalong
Cassidy
. I bought many.
These old-time radio show
filled my idle hours in the car
with joy. As a side note, I also found such selections as
The Shadow
,
Jack Benny
,
Burns and Allen
,
Dragnet
,
The Saint
—played
by Vincent Price—and
Sherlock Holmes
—performed
for my ears by Basil Rathbone. I loved listening to them as well.

Now someone
may ask, “
Bennet
, why are you writing this forward?
You never wrote a western!” I would say
wrong
.
Many years ago, during a period of writer’s block, I wrote a piece of fan
fiction combining a young Sherlock Holmes and James West—from the TV show
Wild
Wild
West
.
Thus my hybrid story,
Night of the
Shylock
, was born. This short story was first printed in
Power Star Magazine
, and was later
reprinted in
The Red Circle
—A
Sherlock Holmes fan publication. Its sequel,
The Case of The Retired American Agent
followed a year later.

Now,
many
state the western genre is dead issue. It isn't! It
lives nowadays in books like my friend Kathleen Ball, Nora Roberts, Lee Ann
Sontheimer
Murphy, Rhonda Lee Carver and many others who
write the genre and better than I ever could.

I was
reading an early e-copy of this book that you hold in your hand. It thrilled
me. I have not felt this excited about a western since
True Grit
. Saddle up and enjoy this.

Bennet
Pomerantz

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