The One That Didn’t Get Away
Ever had something you just couldn’t give up on, even though logic, your mother, the tarot cards, and everything else suggested (strongly) that you should?
That was me and the story that has, eventually, become Tycoon’s One-Night Revenge. Along the way it has been known by various titles, including but not limited to: Susannah’s Story, Stranger’s Revenge, Seduced by a Stranger, and The Last Book I Will Ever Write. 
This little book has been three years in the making, on and off, off and on, between others, driving me bonkers. Its story goes something like this.
Early in 2005 I finished a book called The Ruthless Groom, where a runaway bride left the hero at the altar. The bride’s sister became that book’s heroine. Susannah, the runaway bride, was a secondary character who’d served her purpose during the Princes of the Outback trilogy but I hadn’t looked beyond that…until I was doing finals edits for The Ruthless Groom.
It struck me 
that readers would want to know what happened to Susannah. Why did she leave Alex at the altar? Where did she go? I had a pretty good idea what she’d been up to but I decided to leave the thread loose (which turned out to be a good move) and pick it up in another book.
I submitted a proposal for Susannah’s story and then the Silhouette Desire guidelines changed. The bottom fell out of my stomach. My story about a grounded helicopter pilot with amnesia and identity issues would not fly any more (much like my lost soul hero.) My editor agreed.
But I’d put a lot of work into the proposal and early chapters of the book. It was good stuff, intense, high stakes. I loved this angsty, brooding, cranky alpha. Foolishly I thought I could shoehorn him into the new guidelines.
No, I couldn’t. 
While I worked on other books, Donovan Keane was there in the back of my mind, refusing to be forgotten and refusing to be shoehorned into something (rich, entitled) that he wasn’t. I spoke to my editor about my concerns.
“I should give this story up,” I said. “I can’t make it work for the new guidelines.”
“I think you can,” my editor-of-great-faith said. “How about you give it one more try?”
I submitted another proposal and it sold. I still had to write the rest of the book; not easy with Donovan leaning over my shoulder scoffing. “I wouldn’t do that. No way. Not me.” I spent a long time writing that book and it didn’t work. The revisions didn’t work. I tossed the whole thing out and started again…which is what I should have done way back when I started brandishing that shoehorn.
By the time I turned in the new version, the story bore only a passing resemblance to the original proposal, so I am very, very glad I hadn’t mentioned helicopters or the Sierras or anything specific about Susannah’s future when doing those final edits of The Ruthless Groom.
But I like the new version. Donovan has stopped scoffing. I’m glad I didn’t give up.
Tycoon’s One-Night Revenge, an April release from Silhouette Desire, is in stores now.
