MB:What or who inspired your novel?

SD:”Stolen Pleasures” was my entry in the Lori Foster/Kensington Brava Novella Contest. I had only 750 words with which to capture the attention of the judges. I knew it would be historical, so that set the stage. I'd always wanted to write a pirate tale, and I'd always wanted to explore a proxy marriage. What would it be like to be wildly attracted to someone, and then find out they are the spouse you didn't know you had? I'd hoped it would be intriguing enough to make it to editor Kate Duffy's desk. In the end, it won the Reader's Choice and inspired Brava's first historical Bad Boys anthology.

With "Lucien's Gamble" I wanted to write about a bad boy who revels in being bad. Lucien Remington is a favorite character of mine for that very reason. I receive a lot of fan mail about Lucien from readers who enjoy his excerpt on my website.

"Her Mad Grace" came about because I wanted to write a gothic spoof. A classic gothic tale has the menacing mansion inhabited by the tortured hero who is redeemed by the ingénue heroine. They're dark in tone. In “Her Mad Grace,” I kept the menacing mansion, but I made the inhabitants a mad duchess and a menagerie of misfit servants. The dashing hero stumbles along and finds our intrepid heroine. It's not dark at all. It's fun, which is just what I wanted.

MB:What do you like most about your novel? SD: I like that the characters make cameos in each other's stories. I've always loved seeing characters pop up again.

MB:Who is the most heroic person you know? SD: My mom. She's been a single mother to two wild daughters with no help at all. We always had the best of everything. I still don't know how she did it, but she did.

MB:Who’s your romance hero: Dark brooding bad boy or white knight in shining armor?

SD: Dark, brooding bad boy. I just love men who have no qualms and seem to have no soft side, but in truth have a marked weakness for their sweetheart.

MB:Answer the question you wish an interviewer would ask. SD:“Ask for It” - Aug. 06 That's my next Brava, a Georgian-set historical. I'm very excited about the release of this book. Here's a bit about it:

England, 1770. Beneath the silk and lace of London society lays a secret, elite organization of spies. Protecting the Crown from its enemies is hazardous, but for Marcus Ashford, protecting his heart from an unyielding passion is the far greater peril…

A MATTER OF DANGEROUS INTRIGUE…

As an agent to the Crown, Marcus Ashford, the Earl of Westfield, has fought numerous sword fights, been shot twice, and dodged more than any man’s fair share of cannon fire. And yet nothing excites him more than the primitive hunger his former fiancée, Elizabeth, arouses. Years ago, she’d jilted him for the boyishly charming Lord Hawthorne. But now, the elegant widow is his to defend, and he will do so while tending to her other, more carnal needs, showing her the depth of a real man’s desire…

…AND UNDENIABLE PLEASURE

Dangerous secrets led to the murder of Lady Hawthorne’s husband. Secrets she now holds in a diary many would kill to obtain. But to entrust herself to the protection of the most seductive man she’s ever known? Outrageous. Unthinkable. Irresistible. For it was Marcus’s strong passions and burning desire that frightened her into abandoning him years ago—and her answering craving has never waned. Now, he means to be at her service, in every sense. And perhaps the only sensible course isn’t to resist temptation, but to surrender to it completely…