A Hero? Or a Con Man?

Finally.
Mad Dog and Archangel has a release date--January 12, 2012.
I am relieved and grateful that Wild Rose Press took a chance on this story and put it in the Class of '85 series. If you've read The List and Embraceable You, you briefly met Grace "Mad Dog" Dunavan and Rafe Archangeli, the Scourge of Summerville.
Now, these two have their own story and I think it's a honey. Rafi is one of my favorite men. He is tall, dark and handsome, think Lou Diamond Phillips--and he played baseball back in the day. I never could resist a man in tight white pants.
Here's a blurb and an excerpt . . . and a quote from one of my favorite saints whose words describe Rafe perfectly . . .

“To a brave man, good and bad luck are like his right and left hand. He uses both.” Saint Catherine of Sienna

Rafael Archangeli returns home to Summerville to bury an old friend, collect his inheritance, and then return to the only life he knows—conning wealthy women out of their money. In Rafe's world, money not only equals success, it goes a long way to obliterate the stigma of his past.

Grace Dunavan, former nun turned community activist, gave up worldly goods a long time ago with no regrets. But she's never known a man with the raw appeal of the Scourge of Summerville: Rafael Archangeli.

Their first meeting is like an errant strike of lightning, fierce and stunning in intensity, and takes both by surprise. Has Grace turned Rafe into a changed man? Or is he using his inheritance to pull off the biggest scam of his life?

Excerpt:

Safety First.

A personal motto that served Grace Dunavan well for the past thirty-something years. She never picked up strange men. In fact, she rarely dated men, strange or otherwise. And wasn't she the first to preach the wisdom of obtaining a detailed history—family, medical and sexual before contemplating a walk on the wild side? With any man, including the brother of her best friend.

Especially one whose thick mop of jet colored hair, hooded black eyes and razor-sharp cheekbones, all of which held undeniable appeal for a good girl who always did what the nuns and her parents dictated. With a name like Archangeli he should be a protector, not a walking advertisement that proclaimed: I've Been There, Done That; Let Me Tell You All About It.

As he helped her into her coat, Grace heard Gaby murmur something about an attorney who was trying to track down Rafe. None of it made sense. What woman in her right mind could think straight when faced with a man who redefined potency?

It was a night of firsts for Grace: leaving a party with a man she'd never met before; admitting how and where she'd learned to drive; breaking the land speed record for contemplating her first one night stand.

come the first of the year, we shall celebrate in an appropriate manner.

Slainte