Author's Cut Edition: Historical Romance A Wager For Land and Wealth Sets Two Friends in Conflict While a Woman's Heart Turns to Revenge in Sweet Fire by Jo Goodman —1852,London; 1869, San Francisco, Samoa and Sydney, Australia—Told all her life that she was plain, Lydia Chadwick knew no man would come courting. So it was with some suspicion that the shy, sweet, San Francisco heiress woke one morning with a tall, dark, dangerously handsome husband she couldn't recall marrying. Lydia had lost her memory, and was desperate to discover if there was truly a love to remember. For as she looked at Nathan Hunter's lean, muscular frame, she longed to abandon herself to the sensual stranger, and believe—if only for a little while—that the possessive passion in his smoky gray eyes was really for her. Business and pleasure weren't supposed to mix, but in this case Nathan Hunter was willing to make an exception. After all, it was in his best interests to keep his new bride's mind off the secrets of her past and her hatred for him. Keeping focused on his goals proved difficult as Lydia's sweet surrender wove a seductive spell around Nathan's heart, arousing emotions he had thought forever buried. But past transgressions have a way of catching up to the future. When Nathan's former friend and rival, Brigham More, seemingly returns from the dead, he stands to ruin Lydia and Nathan by unleashing an unspeakable secret. Publisher Note: For new and old fans of Jo Goodman comes one of her classic works, freshly edited by Jo Goodman for today's audience. Fans of Mary Jo Putney, Kat Martin, Jo Beverley, Courtney Milan and Kaki Warner will enjoy this spirited adventure and romance.
Author
To find characters to illustrate my first family saga, I cut out models from the Sears catalogue. I was in fourth grade, but it was a start. In seventh grade I wrote a melodrama about two orphan sisters, one of whom was pregnant. There was also a story about a runaway girl with the unlikely name of Strawberry and one about mistaken identities and an evil blind date. My supportive, but vaguely concerned parents, sighed with relief when I announced I was going to write children's books. They bought me an electric typewriter and crossed their fingers, but somehow PASSION'S BRIDE came out. No one was really surprised. I graduated from Indiana University of Pennsylvania with a major in biology and a minor in chemistry and some notion that I would do marine research. Years of competitive swimming didn't help me anticipate seasickness. A career change seemed in order. I began working with adolescents and families, first as a childcare worker and later, after graduating from West Virginia University with a master's degree in counseling, as a therapist. I am currently the executive director of a child caring/mental health agency and find my work and my writing often compliment each other. One grounds me in reality and the other offers a break from it.
