Author Note:
I’m not a historian, but what I’ve had to learn in order to accurately write western historical fiction boggles my mind. Hundreds of hours of research have been poured into this book. From social customs, clothing, furniture, appliances, forts, government surplus, shipping boxes, cardboard, and trains, it was all researched. Even the plague that hit Bombay and the trading ships that anchored, but supposedly never picked up supplies had to be researched. So many historians have helped me along the way from the wonderful folks at BNSF Railway to the Bureau of Indian Affairs aka BIA.

I’d start to write a paragraph and then spend six hours in research. A previous job had me spending hours looking at old photos and deciphering everything from plants to clothing and even possible colors. Those skills were applied to so many old western photos taken in Wyoming and of the Crow tribe for they are often more accurate than the written history of the time. It’s been a labor of love.

The atrocities that we, as white men, have imposed on our Native Americans/American Indians are unforgivable. As an author I hope I can help people understand what we did to the American Indians either directly, or indirectly by our presence. The Crows have always respected their environment, the wildlife around them, held their women in high esteem, loved their children, and truly were the stewards of this great land. Mark “Many Feathers” Hunter is fictional, but he’s based on their heritage, the white man’s pressures, and human nature, which we all share. I hope he is worthy of being an Apsáalooke (Crow).

A very big thank you to my friends who happen to be everything from harbormasters to ships’ captains, train engineers, modern day importers, or married to American Indians for all your help. Their ability to point me in the right direction to find necessary information and explaining things has made a huge difference.

Today, most of us cannot imagine a young woman going to another city to marry a man because her father said to do it. Yet, in that day and age, women did and still do in places around the globe. My own great-grandmother’s marriage was arranged. I know from my father, she had no say-so in it. She did as her father instructed.

My heart and soul went into this book and I hope you, the reader, find it a worthy of your time. It’s a cold, hard glimpse at life in the West, minus the glamour and romanticized notions that romance readers have come to expect. But through it all is a love between two people that can’t be ignored.

Description:
Coddled and protected from the harsh realities of life, Malene runs away from a bad marriage by posing as a chaperone to her younger sister. A series of events soon prove she’s capable of standing on her own two feet. However, she’s not prepared to follow her heart and accept marriage from the one man who truly loves her.

Many Feathers' chance encounter with a blue-eyed blonde woman sets him on a path that lands him between the white man's ways and the traditions of his people. Determined to protect his people and prove his worthiness as a suitable husband to a white woman, he stakes claim to land and establishes a ranch. But there's one outlaw focused on destroying Many Feathers and everything he's trying to accomplish.

USA Today HEA Recommended Reads: The story starts in a blizzard, but the heat smouldering between the heroine and her Indian escort is better than any coal fire. I absolutely love the detail in Ayers' novel.