THIS CHILD IS MINE – contemporary Native American romance
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00AAZSUUM
I'm always asked where I get ideas for my books. The idea for THIS CHILD IS MINE came from an article I read in The Indian Trader many years ago about a custody battle between a white woman and the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe. The biological mother was an alcoholic and couldn't care for the child, so she signed custody over to the child's father and his non-Indian wife. Over the years the tribe showed no interest in the child, not even to have a hole in her heart repaired. But when the father died, things changed. Suddenly, the tribe was concerned that without him the child would have no tribal influence in her life and sued to get her back among her people. I often wondered what became of that case, and since I never saw any follow-up, I decided to write a book about it and give it my own resolution.
Sued by the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe for custody of the child she adopted years earlier, Kate Sommers will do anything to keep the little girl. When the Tribal Council pressures her to bring the child to the South Dakota reservation so that she can be with her people, Kate uproots her life in order to appease them. But when the Council decrees that the child should have a mother and a father, Kate is forced to comply with an ancient tribal tradition by marrying her late husband's brother. Russell Night Horse reluctantly agrees to let Kate and her daughter stay with him until the matter is resolved. His heart scarred by betrayal, he lives a solitary existence training draft horses on his ranch. Although he admires Kate for her courage and determination and secretly desires her, he doesn't want or need a wife. But his growing feelings for the outspoken white woman and the little girl born with a hole in her heart threaten his resolve to remain alone and uninvolved, and he begins to long for the love and the family he has always dreamed about. Having tried once before to fit into the Lakota world, Kate is fearful of trying again, no matter how much she yearns for the handsome Lakota rancher. Before Russ can convince her that her place is there with him, the child is kidnapped. As they race against time to find her, the trail leads to love and a sinister plot fueled by a long-kept family secret.