With his silver tongue and the devil's own blue eyes, shipbuilder Nick Mackinnon was temptation incarnate--but Tibbie Buchanan would never allow a man to get close enough to weaken her resolve. For five years she's lived in a self-imposed prison, hiding from the past that betrayed her. But now something inside her is yearning for release, for the freedom to live and to love. And day by day, Nick is chipping away at her defenses, at the wall around her body, her heart and her soul, determined to release the passionate woman inside and make her his own. . . .
Barbara Elaine Gunter was born on 19 June 1942 in San Diego, California, USA, daughter of Edna Marie Davidson, a homemaker, and William Samuel Gunter, Jr., a naval officer. Since the age of three she lived in Midland, Texas. She graduated from Midland High School an she received adegree in elementary education from North Texas State University. Later, she taught elementary school in Midland, Texas, while working on her Master's Degree and certification for Language and Learning Disabilities at Texas Tech in Lubbock. Elaine currently resides in Austin, Texas, where her son, Chuck, also lives. She has two daughters, Lesley who resides in Raleigh, N.C., and Ashley, who lives in San Diego, California.
She wrote his first novel inspired by a letter her great-great grandmother, Susannah Jane Dowell Shacklett wrote in 1920, telling about her journey from Brandeburg, Kentucky to San Antonio, Texas, and then going with an army escort to El Paso, Texas, where her brother, Ben Dowell, a veteran of the Mexican War, was El Paso's first mayor. Now, she is a *New YorkTimes* bestselling author of eighteen novels, which have been published worldwide and won numerous awards. She also is a member of both The Authors Guild and Mystery Writers of America.
