THE INSIDE STORY

Real life and true experiences are often catalysts for a story. A Saddle Made for Two is from one of those things we hated when it happened, but makes a great story. I was standing on a shovel in my kitchen, talking to my oldest and dearest friend on the phone. Why was I standing on a shovel? Trapped beneath the blade of it was a bull snake. A big one. Even my voice must have been shaking—I know my knees and the rest of my body were—as I told her about the snake we'd just found in my kitchen. I can still remember telling her that this would someday be in a story. It wasn't long before tiny, sassy Ellie was born in my mind. A little bit of a woman like her needed a man who could deal with her...and fall in love with her. Chase not only was a cowboy who came to rescue her from a snake, but he captured her heart and eventually gave in to his own love for her, in spite of her bull-headedness.

Readers have asked me if I was or still am a barrel racer, like Ellie. The answer to that is a resounding NO. But one of my best friends in high school was a great barrel racer, and A Saddle Made for Two is dedicated to Cindy and her barrel-racing daughter Tracy. I can remember watching Cindy practice and I imagined what it would be like. Writing Ellie racing her horse around the barrels was almost like doing it myself—without risking my own neck. I may love horses, but I'm not that brave.

Silhouette Romance #1509
ISBN: 0-373-19509-5
March 2001