The Promised Land

Series · 5 books · 2003-2004

By Carolyn Brown

Books in series

Willow

2003

Willow Gail Dulan didn't like Rafe Pierce when he read her father's will. She sure didn't like him when he tried to talk Hank Gibson out of letting her and her four newly-found sisters travel to California with the wagon train of mail-order brides.Rafe was totally against the idea of Jake Dulan's daughters going with the train. He would like nothing better than to leave Willow for the rattlesnakes and Indians. The feeling is mutual. They lock horns and refuse to budge. Both have a scarred heart from previous experiences, and a temper, so the fireworks explode every time they're in each other's presence, which is often since Rafe drew the short straw and has to bring up the rear of the train...right where the Dulan girls' wagon is located. Willow and Rafe both realize that out there, beyond the sunsets they both love, lies the Promised Land. It's not a place or destination, but a spirit and a journey which draws them into the peace of its bosom to rock away the cares of life. But will they ever admit they need each other to reach that Promised Land?

Velvet

2003

Velvet is about to breathe her last and doesn't even know it when Patrick O'Leary lays her on the bed in a very strange house. When she does awake from a fever-induced coma, she finds herself in a cabin with Dr. Hoyt Baxter, who's hateful, mean and spiteful and doesn't care if she lives or dies, so long as she's out of his house and his life as soon as possible. Which is exactly what Velvet wants, but she has to have the strength to walk out the door before she can actually do it.Hoyt had stopped practicing medicine a year before, vowing he'd never be a doctor again, but when it came right down to the wire, he did bring Velvet Jane Dulan back to life, a choice he would live to regret for many weeks. She interfered with his self-imposed hermitship. She shook the rut he'd been living in all the way to the roots. He just wanted her to be gone, but every plan he made to get rid of her backfired, and he found himself stuck with the unwanted woman. Until finally he realized that he did want her to stay. However, it was too late. Or was it?

Gypsy

2004

Gypsy Rose Dulan just knew there was a secret hidden in the stars. She just didn’t expect to fall asleep while searching for that secret. And she sure didn’t expect to be awakened by a rude, overbearing, short Irishman by the name of Tavish O’Leary. That he called her a squaw was contemptible enough, but to have to withstand his barbs for more than a month was more than she figured she could endure. Meanwhile, Tavish had been waiting for a prophecy from a gypsy named Paqui to come true. He’d been told that when it was time for him to choose a wife, a pretty young woman with eyes the color of a robin’s egg would come into his life, but the gypsy had failed to mention that the woman with those eyes would be holding the sharp, hot blade of a knife against his throat the first time they met. During their harsh, dangerous journey, Tavish and Gypsy discover the secret written in the stars. But can they hear their hearts’ desires when they don’t want to listen?

Garnet

2004

Garnet Diana Dulan swung open the doors of the Silver Dollar Saloon, sucked up a lunch full of cigar smoke, and listened intently to the sounds of men playing poker and the scrape of boots across the wooden floor; she felt right at home. After just minutes inside the doors of the saloon she knew she’d made the right decision to leave her sisters and the wagon train of brides heading to California. Quickly she negotiates a job with the owner to play piano in the bar for room and board. Garnet is happy with her new arrangement and starts to settle into her new routine, that is until she runs into Sheriff Gabe Walker. Sheriff Walker is convinced that this unusual, blue-eyed beauty is not the kind of woman he needs taking up residence in his clean town, and he won’t rest until he runs her back to where she came from. But Garnet is a sassy Southern woman who speaks her mind and won’t listen to a word he says. In fact, Gabe is certain that he can see lightening streak across her blue eyes in brilliant, jagged lines when she’s angry. The two lock horns on more than one occasion, but when her life is threatened and she is wrongfully accused of murder and robbery, it is Gabe who saves her from lynching. Considering all the damage already between them, it will take a miracle for either of these two to put aside their stubbornness and admit their love.

Augusta

2004

Augusta "Gussie" Dulan is the only Dulan sister to make it all the way to California on the wagon train for brides. Each of her four sisters has taken off along the trail to marry up with a man they fell in love with and now Gussie is hoping to find a man to love here at the end of the trail. Dressing in her fabulous red satin dancing dress, complete with black lace and feathered headdress, Gussie lines up with the other potential brides to see whom it is that they will marry. Gideon Jefferson, the town preacher, takes one look at Gussie and is horrified at her saloon girl outfit, but things turn even worse when his number is called and he "wins" Gussie's hand in marriage. Gussie is less that pleased to be stuck with this wretched, assuming man. Neither wants to be married, so they make a pact that she will be on the first wagon train out after the winter. In the meantime, Gussie will come home with him and tend to his four young daughters and run his unruly house. It seems like a good arrangement. But Gussie is much more than Gideon could have imagined. She not only keeps the house immaculate, the table filled with delicious food, the girls clean and happy, she has the women of the town following her example and turning Gideon's and the rest of the men's lives upside down. Neither Gussie nor Gideon will admit they actually have feelings for one another. It takes a lot of courage, four little girls, and a whole town to bring them both to their senses.

Author

Carolyn Brown

Author · 135 books

Hi! I'm twenty five years old and movie star gorgeous. The camera added thirty plus years and a few wrinkles. Can't trust those cameras or mirrors either. Along with bathroom scales they are notorious liars! Honestly, I am the mother of three fantastic grown children who've made me laugh and given me more story ideas than I could ever write. My husband, Charles, is my strongest supporter and my best friend. He's even willing to eat fast food and help with the laundry while I finish one more chapter! Life is good and I am blessed! Reading has been a passion since I was five years old and figured out those were words on book pages. As soon as my chubby little fingers found they could put words on a Big Chief tablet with a fat pencil, I was on my way. Writing joined reading in my list of passions. I will read anything from the back of the Cheerio's box to Faulkner and love every bit of it. In addition to reading I enjoy cooking, my family and the ocean. I love the Florida beaches. Listening to the ocean waves puts my writing brain into high gear. I love writing romance because it's about emotions and relationships. Human nature hasn't changed a bit since Eve coveted the fruit in the Garden of Eden. Settings change. Plots change. Names change. Times change. But love is love and men and women have been falling in and out of it forever. Romance is about emotions: love, hate, anger, laughter... all of it. If I can make you laugh until your sides ache or grab a tissue then I've touched your emotions and accomplished what every writer sets out to do. I got serious about writing when my third child was born and had her days and nights mixed up. I had to stay up all night anyway and it was very quiet so I invested in a spiral back notebook and sharpened a few pencils. The story that emerged has never sold but it's brought in enough rejection slips to put the Redwood Forest on the endangered list. In 1997 Kensington bought two books for their Precious Gems line. Two years and six books later the line died with only four of those books seeing publication. But by then Avalon had bought a book and another, and another. Ten years later the list has grown to thirty nine. Last year Sourcebooks bought the Lucky Series which is in the bookstores now. They've also bought The Honky Tonk Series which will debut with I LOVE THIS BAR in June and will be followed by HELL, YEAH, MY GIVE A DAMN'S BUSTED, and HONKY TONK CHRISTMAS. Folks ask me where I get my ideas. Three kids, fifteen grandchildren, two great grandchildren. Note: I was a very young grandmother! Life is a zoo around here when they all come home. In one Sunday afternoon there's enough ideas to keep me writing for years and years. Seriously, ideas pop up at the craziest times. When one sinks its roots into my mind, I have no choice but to write the story. And while I'm writing the characters peek over my shoulder and make sure I'm telling it right and not exaggerating too much. Pesky little devils, they are! I have a wonderful agent, Erin Niumata, who continues to work magic and sell my work. I'm very lucky to have her and my editors who continue to believe in me. Happy reading!