Bio
Kate started writing at about the same time she got back on a horse after a twenty-year break. She’d like to think she's far too young for it to be a mid-life crisis, but apparently she was ready for a few changes!
Kate's writing focuses on characters and relationships, people trying to find out how much of themselves they need to keep, and how much they can afford to give away. She tries to find a careful balance between drama and humor—she wants readers to have an intense experience and feel drawn into the book, but she also wants them to enjoy the time they spend reading.
Where you can find Kate – make sure you pop along and say hi!
www.Katesherwoodbooks.com
– website and blog
http://www.dreamspinnerpress.com/store/product_info.php?products_id=4438
– buy link for current release
Blurb
Every relationship leaves something
behind. Dumped by his sugar daddy, part-time model Scott Mackenzie somehow ends
up owning an abandoned church in rural Ontario. He dreams of using it for gay
weddings, even if he’ll never have one of his own.
Joe Sutton is trying to keep his family together after his parents’ deaths. Between the family ranch, his brother’s construction company, and commitments around town, he doesn’t have time for a relationship. But Mackenzie is hard to ignore.
As both men fight their growing attraction, challenges to Mackenzie’s business threaten their relationship. If he can’t make it work, he’ll have to crawl back to the city in defeat. But the only solution involves risking the ranch Joe loves, and each man has to decide how much he’ll sacrifice for the other.
Joe Sutton is trying to keep his family together after his parents’ deaths. Between the family ranch, his brother’s construction company, and commitments around town, he doesn’t have time for a relationship. But Mackenzie is hard to ignore.
As both men fight their growing attraction, challenges to Mackenzie’s business threaten their relationship. If he can’t make it work, he’ll have to crawl back to the city in defeat. But the only solution involves risking the ranch Joe loves, and each man has to decide how much he’ll sacrifice for the other.
Excerpt
Lorraine snorted. “He didn’t seem too friendly?
I’m not surprised.” She shrugged philosophically. “It’s probably the gay
thing.”
It hit Mackenzie almost like a slap. He’d
thought he was prepared for small-town attitudes toward his sexuality and had
absolutely considered homophobia as a possible barrier to setting up his
wedding chapel somewhere like Falls Creek. But he couldn’t believe it was being
treated so casually. “You’re saying he was rude to me because I’m gay?”
Lorraine looked startled. “No. I’m not sure I’d
call it rude, but the way he acts? Distant, kind of? I always figured it was
because he’s gay. You know, he’s
always been a bit different, so he’s never really tried too hard to fit in. He
just hangs out on his ranch, being a lonely cowboy….” She trailed off and fixed
her gaze on Mackenzie. “But you say you’re
gay as well? I mean, I can’t say it didn’t cross my mind. But it seemed rude to
ask….”
“Joe Sutton is gay.” Mackenzie had always
prided himself on being able to read people and certainly on being able to pick up on that little spark from a man
who was noticing Mackenzie’s undeniable charms. But he’d gotten none of that
from the cowboy brother. “That’s confirmed? Or you’re just guessing?”
“Well, I haven’t been there in the room with
him and another fella,” Lorraine said with an arched brow, “but it’s general
knowledge. He’s never tried to hide it, not that I ever heard of.”
“Maybe he just couldn’t be bothered to speak in
order to deny it. He doesn’t seem like someone who cares a whole lot what other
people think about him.” Mackenzie was trying to figure it all out. He wanted
to find a mirror and make sure he still looked like himself. First Nathan had
dumped him for that twenty-year-old, and now a man living in what must surely
be a gay desert had crawled right past Mackenzie’s bountiful oasis?
“You could ask Nancy Yeats’s nephew, if you
wanted. Trevor something or other. He lives over in Darton, and I guess the two
of them were seeing each other for quite a while.” Lorraine’s grin was a mix of
curiosity and mischief. “If you’re interested, I can find out if he’s seeing
anyone right now. I haven’t heard of it, and usually that’d be a good sign that
it isn’t happening, but like I said, Joe’s a bit different. A bit more private
than most folks.”
Private was not a good enough excuse for
failing to pay attention to his surroundings or, more importantly, failing to
pay attention to Mackenzie. But none
of that needed to be shared with a woman who clearly gossiped as a way of life.
He smiled brightly. “Oh, no, I’m not interested. You know, not like that. I was just curious. I wanted to
know what kind of people I’d be doing business with if I had the Suttons do the
work on the church.”
“The best kind,” Lorraine said firmly. “You
couldn’t do better.”
Lorraine started telling a story about the
Suttons helping out some poor family that had lost everything in a house
fire—well, of course the whole community had chipped in, but the Suttons had
done the biggest part—and some people might say that’s because they’re blood,
but really, they’d be third cousins at best—because it was Susan Sutton’s
grandmother? Yes, grandmother, Maggie Johnson—she was from out in Newfoundland,
back before it was even part of Canada, and she’d carried that accent with her
for her whole life…. Mackenzie tuned out. Joe Sutton was openly gay. And
Mackenzie was a model, for Christ’s
sake. Maybe his career hadn’t quite taken off, but that was because Nathan
hadn’t really liked it. He hadn’t been rude enough to try to forbid it, but
he’d be grumpy for days before and after Mackenzie went out of town for even a
couple days, and there just weren’t enough shoots in Toronto to propel someone
into the modeling elite. The first time Mackenzie turned down a New York job,
Nathan had leased him a silver Mini convertible as a reward. Mackenzie had been
thrilled by the symbol of Nathan’s affection and by the adorable new wheels. But being a good boyfriend had made
it a bit difficult to be a good model. So, no, it wasn’t as if Mackenzie had
set the world on fire as a model. Still, he must be a tastier piece of ass than
Nancy Whoever’s nephew!
Mackenzie forced himself to pay a bit more
attention to Lorraine’s chatter, but the biggest part of his brain was still
focused elsewhere. He was not going
to be ignored by some desperate hick pretending to be a damn cowboy. No. Joe
Sutton was about to get his world rocked. “Nobody puts Baby in a corner,” he
muttered to himself, and then he smiled when Lorraine shot him a quizzical
glance. “I’ve got to go,” he said without trying to explain. “But thanks so
much for catching me up on all this. You’ve given me a lot to think about.”
He beat a hasty retreat inside and went to sit
in the sanctuary of the church. A lot
to think about. And a lot of things to do, things actually based around the
important points of building a successful business and keeping himself out of
the poorhouse. But his mind kept drifting back to the tall cowboy who’d told
him he had bats in his belfry. And then ignored him. What the hell was Joe Sutton’s problem?
I'm so excited for a new Kate Sherwood book to read! Yay!
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