It’s been a jam-packed summer at Casa Clare. With the first snowflakes falling this morning, I thought I'd share some of the highlights with you.

We had record cherry, apple, plum, peach, and pear harvests out of our own garden this year. I have never pitted so many cherries in my life. We ate the peaches and pears fresh. We ate many apples, turned some into cinnamon apple sauce, and used some in pies. We still have plenty left.

Our tomato harvest was off the charts, as well. We had so many one-pound+ tomatoes that they were no longer exciting. Yes, another huge tomato. We've made so much sauce. We ate some fresh and froze the rest.

Cucumbers and shishito peppers. Herbs. Potatoes. Everything gave us a record harvest, come to think of it—everything except garlic. Something went wrong there, and I have no idea what.

Of course, having a large garden is a lot of work. When you grow that much fruit and veg, you need to preserve that bounty. In addition to applesauce and plum jam, I dehydrated cherry tomatoes and made pickles and dill pickle relish with our peppers and cucumbers. It took me three hours to chop the veg for the relish. I won't do that again! I now have a device to do it for me. I also got an electric water bath canner, which was a huge help.

I made things worse by having foot surgery in July. I had to get help with the garden while I healed. Still, I finished and released my 36th novel, Take Me Higher, featuring fan favorites Megs Hill and Mitch Ahearn. I had more fun writing their story than I've had in a while. 

In the meantime, we had some real romance in our lives when my younger son married the love of his life. The ceremony was held in the mountains close to sunset. A close friend of mine officiated.  It was one of the loveliest weddings I've seen. Sure, I'm biased, but it truly was. Their vows to each other, written privately, were so heartfelt that there wasn't a dry eye anywhere. 

My son wore medals representing the four divisions of competition target shooting in which he has won the gold. (He was our state gold-medalist for two years running.) He looked like a prince, and she looked like a fairytale princess. They danced a waltz for their first dance, drawing lots of applause because they know how to dance. My littlest grandchild, Oliver, was the ring bearer, and he took his job quite seriously.

My sister came back from Sweden for his wedding—and for our niece's wedding, which took place in the mountains three weeks later. 

Didn't I say it was a busy summer? 

Now, flakes are falling, and I'm gearing up for my next two books—Bound to Fall, Sasha Dillon's story (Colorado High Country #10), and Reckless, Captain Joseph's story from my long-dormant MacKinnon's Rangers series. I hope to have Bound to Fall out in January, while Reckless will be out in about a year.

Kindle — Nook — Apple Books — Kobo

I’m down to the wire on Megs and Ahearn's book—Take Me Higher. I’ve had so much fun with them as characters, especially the 1970s versions of them. The Seventies flashbacks have had me laughing out loud while I’m writing. I’ve also enjoyed giving myself a deep dive into the ”free-climbing revolution” that happened at that time.

Those of you who dived into the series with my sale on the 4-book box set are just getting to know them, but Megs Hill and Mitch Ahearn are fan favorites. It’s been a fantastic experience to give them their own story. 

For readers who enjoy older couples, this book is for you. For people who don't like older couples, well, they’re young in the flashbacks. What’s so emotional about this story is showing an entire relationship over the span of a lifetime. It’s had my sister, who reads while I write, choking up more than any other book in the series. We just talked about the ending today, and we were both in tears.

(No worries! I’m an absolute believer in happy endings in romance.)

Those of you who haven’t read this series... It’s contemporary romantic adventure. It follows the members of the Rocky Mountain Search & Rescue Team as they save lives and fall in love. It’s focused heavily on the climbing scene here in Colorado—rock climbing, alpine (mountain) climbing, ice climbing. 

I come from a climbing family. My father and brother were semi-pro climbers, and my father put up some first ascents in Colorado. I literally grew up watching people climb. When I got older, I got into it, too. Sadly, I had to be rescued after a calamitous 40-foot fall that almost killed me. So I know what I'm writing about in ways I'd really rather not.

But now it’s time for an excerpt—two excerpts actually. I haven’t done one of these for a long time. I hope you enjoy it. Turn back your clocks for 1973, folks. Here we go.

EXCERPT! EXCERPT! EXCERPT! x 2

From Take Me Higher...

Yosemite Valley, summer of 1973

Mitch Ahearn sat in his battered lawn chair in the shade of a ponderosa pine, reading Hunter S. Thompson’s Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, his shirt off to enjoy the warm spring breeze. The other guys sat shirtless around the picnic table smoking grass and shooting the shit, the Beatles’ Let it Be playing on Jim Gridwell’s cassette recorder.

“Too bad this was their last album, man.”

“They might get back together. You never know.”

“No way. It’s over, man. Yoko messed with John’s head.”

“What do you know about it, Yoder? Were you there?”

Their conversation and the music drifted around him, Mitch’s attention riveted to the page by Raoul’s brilliant insanity. Had Hunter actually done all of this shit?

He glanced up as a rusty red VW Beetle pulled up to the campground, music coming through its rolled-down windows. His gaze remained as a young blonde climbed out. She was small, not much taller than the vehicle. She stood there, looking into the distance at El Capitan, a smile on her face.

Rick Accardo looked over his shoulder. “Who’s that?”

“Fresh fish.” Gridwall whistled.

Mitch couldn’t understand why some of the guys treated women like this. “What’s wrong with you? Don’t you have a sister, man?”

“Yeah, but I don’t want to screw my sister.”

The others laughed, stoned off their asses.

Mitched glanced down at the page—or tried to. The woman shut her car door, walked around to the passenger side, and reached into her glove box to pop the trunk. She wore denim shorts and a yellow halter top, her long blond hair streaked by the sun, her body slender, her skin tanned, her legs strong.

“Check out that foxy mama.”

“Hey, need some help?” Gridwall called out, the greasy tone in his voice showing exactly the kind of help he was imagining.

“Hot chick, man.”

She ignored them all, walked to the front of her car, and lifted the trunk lid, disappearing from view. When she closed the trunk, she had a large frame pack on her shoulders, climbing ropes hanging from one arm, a bag of climbing gear from the other.

“She’s a climber?” Accardo sounded surprised.

“She’s not a climber.” Gridwall laughed. “Women can’t be serious climbers.”

“Why not?” Mitch truly wanted an answer.

But Gridwall ignored him, instead getting to his feet and heading toward the woman, who was now searching for a campsite on the other side of the campground, probably trying to get as far away from them as possible.

He couldn’t blame her.

She found a site she liked and started putting up her tent—one of those new Nylon all-weather tents with a rainfly—just as Gridwall walked up to her.

“That’s a slammin’ tent, sugar. Let me help.”

“Thanks for the offer, but I’ve got it. My name is Megs, not ‘sugar.’”

That was an unusual name. Mitch bet it was short for Maggie or Margaret.

She worked quickly and confidently, clearly knowing what she was doing.

But Gridwall didn’t get the message. “Lighten up, babe. I’m just being friendly.”

“Your friendliness is noted. As I said, I don’t need help.”

Mitch couldn’t help but grin.

“Fine.” Gridwall raised his hands in mock surrender, a smirk on his face. “Are you some kind of women’s libber?”

“I’m here to climb, just like you.”

The woman—Megs—was a spitfire. Mitch liked her already.

“Is that right?” Gridwall was turned so Mitch couldn’t see his face, but Mitch could hear the condescension in his voice. “Have you climbed before? Any first ascents?”

She almost had the tent up now. “What’s your name?”

“Jim Gridwall.”

“Dean Calder mentioned you.”

She knew Dean? That was news.

Gridwall sounded confused by this. “How did you meet Calder?”

“I bouldered with him in Joshua Tree last fall.”

So, she had climbed with Dean.

“You went bouldering with Dean?” But the surprise in Gridwall’s voice quickly became amusement. “I get it. You’re one of those chicks who digs climbers.”

“No, I dig climbing.” She reached for a guy line.

Gridwall grabbed her wrist. “Hey, don’t be so uptight. Come sit with us, smoke a joint, listen to some music, relax.”

She jerked her hand away. “Not interested.”

Mitch found himself on his feet. “Gridwall, leave her alone!”

“Mellow out, Doc.” Gridwall glared at him. “I’m just making conversation.”

But Megs could clearly stand up for herself. “It’s been great chatting, but this conversation is over.”

Then she stepped into her tent and zipped it behind her, leaving Gridwall to stand there, looking stupid.

Roughly one month later...

Mitch hiked alongside Megs, leading her through the forest to one of the high mountain tarns he’d stumbled on last summer. Surrounded by glades of aspen and open meadow, it was the place he liked to come when he needed to be alone. He’d suggested the two of them hike up to the lake to ditch the reporters who’d been hanging around Camp 4 all week. In truth, he just wanted to be alone with her.

Lately, he’d been getting signals from her that she liked him the same way he liked her. There was something in the way she looked at him, a softness she didn’t show the other guys. She sat by him in camp, shared food with him, and asked him to climb with her. But her attempts to flirt with him—if that’s what she’d been doing—were shy and uncertain, lacking her usual confidence. Then again, she couldn’t be much older than eighteen. Maybe she didn’t have much experience with men.

She stepped over a tree root, her legs mostly bare, her denim cutoffs dangerously short, her shoulders and back bare apart from the ties of her halter top. She wasn’t wearing a bra, either, though he supposed she was small enough that she didn’t need one.

Stop thinking about her breasts.

“Those reporters act like seeing a woman rock climbing is like finding a giraffe on the moon.”

Mitch chuckled, but he understood her frustration. “They think we’re all crazy, but they sit at desks all day. Not a single one of them took us up on our offer to try climbing. They don’t know a damned thing about it.”

“Good point.”

“Watch your step.” He took her hand, drew her to the side to avoid a hornet nest in an old ground squirrel burrow.

“Little devils.” She held on a little longer than was necessary. “Thanks.”

It took them almost two hours of hiking off-trail to reach the tarn. Just as he hoped, there was no one else there. The lake sat in the middle of a wildflower meadow, its waters almost turquoise, pine, and hemlock forest surrounding it, no sound but birds in the trees and the buzzing of insects. It was his special place.

“It’s beautiful!” A look of wonder on her face, she walked slowly to the lake’s edge, almost as if she were entering a church. “Look at all the flowers!”

Warmth blossomed in his chest at her reaction. By bringing her here, he was sharing a secret part of himself, offering her something that he loved. “This is where I come to read and be alone.”

Megs sat on a nearby boulder and took off her hiking boots and socks and set them aside. “You like to read?”

Was that so strange?

“I do. I try to keep a book in my backpack.” Mitch removed his boots and socks, too. “I get to travel the world and experience all sorts of things I wouldn’t otherwise. How about you? Do you read?”

“I read when I had to in school.” She walked into the water up to her ankles, moaned, the sound sending a jolt of lust through him. “Oh, that feels good.”

Mitch rolled up his bellbottoms and followed her in, the cold water soothing to his feet, mud squishing between his toes. “Do you have any favorite authors?”

She shook her head. “I just have a GED.”

Mitch bit back a smile at her assumption that being well-read meant having a college degree. “Hey, a GED is cool.”

But he hadn’t brought her here to talk about books. 

She kept walking until the water reached her knees. “How deep is the lake?”

“I’ve gone in up to my chest before.”

Her next question made his mind go blank.

“Have you ever gone skinny-dipping here?”

“Um…” It took him a moment. “Yes, but I was alone.”

“Are you sure there are no leeches?”

He chuckled. “Yes.”

“Then turn around.”

His heart gave a hard knock. “Megs, I…”

She made a turning motion with her finger. “Turn around.”

He did as she asked, heard her stepping through the water, blood rushing to his groin when he saw her halter top, shorts, and panties land on the rock beside her boots.

Splashing. A gasp. “This is cold!”

Thank God for that.

“Okay, now I’ll turn around, and you can come in.” 

Mitch glanced over his shoulder, saw that she was in the water up to her breasts, her back turned toward him, her hair floating behind her. He walked to the boulder, stripped out of his jeans and underwear, his dick still half hard. 

Naked now, he turned to walk into the water—only to find her gaze raking over him. He couldn’t help but grin. “That’s cheating.”

She stared at his cock for a moment, her cheeks flushed pink. Then she turned away. “Sorry. I couldn’t resist.”

Mitch wasn’t ashamed of his body, and, judging from her reaction, she hadn’t seen many naked men. He waded in and made his way over to her, sucking in a breath when the cold water reached his nuts, the shock of it stealing his wood. Well, that was probably a good thing. “I’m in now.”

The words were out before he realized their double meaning.

He coughed.

But she hadn’t picked up the double entendre, her gaze fixed on the scenery. “The view is incredible. That’s the back of El Cap, isn’t it?”

“Yes.” 

He was a foot taller than she was, and the water was almost crystal clear. He could see her breasts with their puckered, rosy tips. He ached to touch her, to run his hands all over her, to kiss her.

Damn.

She turned toward him, took a step in his direction, rested a wet palm on his chest. “What would you do if I told you to kiss me?”

~ ~ ~

Take Me Higher will be out in September. I had planned for an August 31 release, but then I had foot surgery and fell behind. You can preorder your copy from these e-tailers. The book will be available in paperback as well on its release date.

Kindle — Nook — Apple Books — Kobo

Join the members of the Rocky Mountain Search & Rescue Team for love and adventure in the high mountains of Colorado in this special four-book box set! 

Kindle

Nook

Apple Books

Kobo

Here’s what you’ll get:

Barely Breathing — Lexi Jewell and Austin Taylor broke each other’s hearts in high school. Now, Lexi is back in Scarlet Springs — temporarily. After they become lovers again, Austin realizes he’ll lose her a second time if he can’t show her that what she’s searching for has been right here in Scarlet all along.

Slow Burn — Victoria Woodley is done with men. Firefighter Eric Hawke has just one week to convince her to trust her heart and take a chance with him. 

Falling Hard — Getting involved with war widow Ellie Meeks is the riskiest thing that former Army Ranger Jesse Moretti has ever done. 

Tempting Fate — When Naomi Archer’s Colorado vacation takes a deadly turn, she has no idea that the EMT who saves her life will have the key to her past — and her heart. 

See why so many of my readers wish they lived in Scarlet Springs.

Every superhero has an origin story. The Rocky Mountain Search & Rescue Team in Scarlet Springs is home to a bunch of heroes, but the couple who started it hasn't yet gotten their story. 

Megs Hall and Mitch Ahearn have been at the heart of the Colorado High Country series from the beginning. Over the past couple of years, I've gotten so many requests for their story, in part because Megs, with her smart mouth and steel spine, is such a popular character. 

Fans of the series know that the two met as young people in Yosemite Valley in the early 1970s, where they helped establish the sport of free climbing. How can I resist writing a story set partly in the 1970s when things were groovy and far out?

Writing this story has been a blast. I was 9 years old in 1973, the oldest child of a semi-pro climber who has at least one first ascent credited to his name (Cadaver Crack on Castle Rock in Boulder Canyon). His climbing partner for that climb was Richard Nixon. No, not that Richard Nixon. Can you imagine being an adult in the early 1970s with the name Richard Nixon? But I digress...

Take Me Higher will be out on August 31 in ebook and paperback. Preorder your digital copy now! Read on for the back blurb to the story. I will share an excerpt soon. 

Tropes: Older couple, small mountain town, forbidden love, celebrity couple, strong heroine, rescue, lifelong love

Kindle

Nook

Apple Books

Kobo

Smashwords

Paperback

Breaking Free is available for preorder! I've missed Scarlet Springs, and I just felt it was time to take a break from romantic suspense for that good feeling of being in Scarlet again.

Here's the back blurb:

It’s the return of the Colorado High Country series! Come back to Scarlet Springs with members of the Rocky Mountain Search & Rescue Team.

Featuring characters from Pamela Clare’s acclaimed I-Team series.

He’s the one man she can’t have…

Winona Belcourt left the Pine Ridge Reservation to become a wildlife vet in the small Colorado mountain town of Scarlet Springs. She now leads a busy life caring for sick and injured animals and watching over her aging grandfather. Apart from a complete lack of romance, her life is close to perfect. She doesn’t have time for dating, even if there were available men in tiny Scarlet who interested her. Then Jason Chiago comes to town, one of many volunteers here to help rebuild her family’s summer camp. Tall, dark, and hot as hell, he’s the friend of some friends and a member of the legendary Shadow Wolves, an all-Native unit of expert trackers who patrol the US-Mexico border. Sadly, he’s also taken—or so her friends say. Winona would never get involved with another woman’s man. Still, she can’t turn off the longing she feels for him—or stop herself from imagining the heat of his kisses.

She’s everything he wants…

As a Tohono O’odham man, Jason knows that life’s journey is filled with unexpected twists and turns. Still, he never expected to be where he is now—his ex-fiancée in prison and his job with the Shadow Wolves on the line. On administrative leave for taking out a killer on the wrong side of the border, he has come to Scarlet Springs to help rebuild a kids’ camp that burned to the ground—and to clear his head before his disciplinary hearing next month. Yet, from the moment Winona stumbles into him, he can think only about her. With her big heart, sharp mind, and sweet face, she is everything he’s ever desired in a woman. But he made a deathbed promise to his grandmother that he would never abandon his responsibility to the O’odham people and move away from the reservation like so many others have done. It’s his duty to pass on traditional lifeways so they won’t disappear and to be a role model for O’odham youth. Winona deserves better than a fling with a man who can’t stick around. That’s why he’s going to keep his hands to himself, no matter how much she makes him burn.

A love that won’t be denied…

When a wealthy rancher asks Winona to help find a wolf that is killing his livestock, Jason and Winona join forces to solve the mystery. There haven’t been wild wolves in Colorado for eighty years. But working closely side by side has consequences. As they move in on the wolf and uncover a more shocking truth, their attraction ignites into passion. Jason realizes he has a choice to make. He can either keep a vow he made long ago and break both of their hearts by walking away—or he can turn his back on his duty and his people to seize a chance at true happiness in the arms of the woman he loves.

Tropes: Forced proximity, soul mates, law enforcement, man in uniform

BREAKING FREE is vailable for preorder for Kindle, Nook, Apple Books, and Kobo.