He was engaged to be married before, and his bride, on the eve of their wedding, betrayed him most cruelly. Miguel will only consider brief flings now. Danielle loves him desperately, and when passion flares between them, she pretends she is protected against pregnancy. Danielle hopes to become pregnant by Miguel and after he breaks off the usually brief fling, she will have his child to love.
But Miguel falls in love and proposes. Danielle tells him that she is pregnant and why. Miguel is incensed, but insists on their being married for the sake of the baby, and is only civil to her in public. Will Miguel come to realize that Danielle did not have to tell him the truth? That she told him because of her innate honesty? Will they reconcile?
Many thanks to Julian Fantechi, for the cover photo, which depicts Miguel exactly as he appeared in my head.
Visit Kate Hofman's web site
An excerpt from Triange of Love: Miguel's Surrender
About Kate Hofman
Born in The Netherlands, we went to live in London, England, when I was eighteen.
BFA – Art History, Major. Interior Design, Minor.
Moved to Montreal, Canada. (I figured I might as well be paid for being fluent in French). Married Arnold Hofman, a truly fabulous man. Owned and operated an art gallery for twelve years. Widowed ten years ago. Became friends with Nina Bruhns, who urged me to write.
I did as I was told, and in the next five years I wrote two dozen books. I figured that’s what it would take to learn to write. And I was wrong!
Rose Brungard took pity on me and gave unstintingly of her own expertise, sending long teaching e-mails, which helped me a lot.
I also owe my grateful thanks to Thea Devine, who taught me to play “What If” when the writing isn’t going well.
And more recently, I have been given generous help, encouragement and advice by Jennifer Mueller, a wonderful writer, who also provided the stunning cover art for all my books published by Romance At Heart. I owe you all so much.
Backlist
Triange of Love: Beau's Quest
My Love, Forever
A Sensual Seduction
A Greater Love
A Marriage of Convenience
Enchanted Castle
Gabriel's Quest For Love
Greek Fire
Navajo Dreams
Castle in Spain
A Greek Love Story
The Spanish Conquest
An Interview with Kate Hofman
By Katie Raines, Assistant for The Romance StudioKR: Kate, thank you for joining us at TRS. Please tell us about your featured book, Triangle of Love: Miguel's Surrender. KH: As you probably know, Miguel's Surrender is the 2nd book in the Triangle of Love - which i didnt start out writing as such! I had written BEAU'S QUEST, and his best friend, Miguel, wouldnt leave me alone. There was something about him that made me give him a book of his own. Once I had decided he deserved that, he became more faceted, more alive, more interesting.
I can only write what i hear in my head, and i must say that Miguel bombarded me with stuff to write. The book wrote itself, almost. Julian Fantechi, the cover model, showed exactly the tormented quality of Miguel.
KR: Two people drawn to each other, but torn asunder emotionally by misunderstandings and doubt. Then they are married and left to face each other. Where did you get the idea for this incredible story? KH: In talks with his best friend, Beau, I let it shimmer through that Miguel had been cruelly betrayed by his fiancée on the eve of their wedding. Actually, he found her in a remote part of the garden, beneath the best man. This made Miguel very wary, and all he would have, from then on, was a series of flings, invariably of short duration. I thought I'd let Danielle fall totally and hopelessly in love with Miguel. Beau's wife warns her that Miguel will only consider brief flings, and she thinks Danielle is too good for that. Danielle counters that she is miserably unhappy without Miguel, why not give herself a brief period of sublime happiness in a fling with him?
Often, in books, after lovemaking, the heroine finds herself pregnant and is deeply worried and upset.
I thought I would let Danielle try to get pregnant during the probably brief fling. When Miguel walks away, she will have his child to nurture and give birth to.
But Miguel falls in love and proposes. Now, Danielle must decide: pretend she must've forgotten to take the Pill one day? or be honest with Miguel and tell him her plan to get pregnant during the fling. She opts for honesty, and the result is Miguel's contempt and fury.
Even so, he insists on their being married, his child will not be born out of wedlock - he is very Spanish in that.
I got the idea as I was working out their relationship, which was tenuous to begin with: Miguel only interested in flings, she pretending that was fine with her. Suddenly, in the back of my mind, there appeared this reversal - Miguel falling in love, so there would be no brief fling and goodbye. And suddenly Danielle is put in the wrong when she is scrupulously honest with Miguel about wanting to become pregnant so she'd have the best possible memento of him and their brief time together.
I don't like stories where the hero and heroine are physically parted by a misunderstanding, or whatever; most misunderstandings could be solved if the couple applied the most minimal common sense, and the story becomes contrived. I have kept the lovers apart on one or two occasions, but the reasons were cogent and realistic.
To me, it is far more interesting to have them in an adversarial situation while they are together. The efforts one of them makes to solve the difficulty; the other refusing the gambit, and so on.
KR: What's your secret in writing such an emotional tale? KH: The way I write comes to me quite unintentionally. I don't much care for sex for its own sake, there has to be a depth of feeling behind the act. As for artificial separations, they often seem formulaic: Major clinch on p. 69, misunderstanding from p. 89 on, until p. 148. Second clinch, during which misunderstanding is finally put aside, p. 150. Wedding, p.160. The End.
Nah! I am more interested in what they both think of each other, while they are becoming better acquainted.
I think there should be a deep attraction almost from the first - at least that's how it has been in my own life, and you know how writers are always told to write what they know! While they both try to fight the emotions they awaken in each other, I look for a catalyst that'll clear away their scruples and let them give in to their feelings for each other. In MIGUEL, it is a raging thunderstorm.
Danielle is afraid of storms (as I am) and cringes with every lightning flash, every roll of thunder. When the storm is clearly just overhead, she throws herself into Miguel's arms, and he tries to calm her... but in doing so he realizes how very much he likes having her in his arms... To his own surprise, he ends up making love to her, and hears himself asking her to stay with him.
Never before has he done that. The fling-women were usually the ones to come on to him, and he never, never invited them into his home; he went to theirs for their couplings.
KR: What can you tell us about the other books in this series? KH: I told my publisher, The Dark Castle Lords, that there was a thread running through BEAU'S QUEST, MIGUEL'S SURRENDER and REY'S INDISCRETION - the slowly becoming obvious, selfish behaviour of old Aunt Jane, who makes increasingly ruthless use of her younger friends and nieces, for her personal convenience. He suggested we group the three books under the title Triangle of Love. I think it was an inspired idea, because it keeps the three books together, as they were intended to be.
In BEAU'S QUEST, Beau is Aunt Jane's favourite nephew, he stays with her and meets Lise, his aunt's neighbour, who quietly does a lot to help out. When Beau falls in love with Lise, Aunt Jane begins to show her true colours, plaintively advising to wait and see, they don't know each other all that well, they might not be suited, etc. I tried to keep her interference down to a level that Beau could consider her protective love for him.
In MIGUEL'S SURRENDER, Aunt Jane does not have quite the same opportunity to interfere, since her niece Danielle lived in New York, out of her sphere of influence. But Aunt Jane is fond of Miguel, and even here she starts to counsel caution, taking his time and so on. She is horrified at Danielle's pregnancy, but what else is new with a woman of Jane's background.
In REY'S INDISCRETION, her favourite niece who stayed with her for long periods of time in the past, marries Rey Forsythe, a famous writer, who has bought a cottage in the same enclave where Jane lives. Jane is furious at their marriage, and takes every opportunity to disturb the newlyweds, demand her niece's instant attendance to do this or that. Rey is too clever for Jane and moves to a luxury condo with great security. Jane can no longer 'drop in' and the telephone is always on voice mail. Actually, Rey's and Margot's story was a joy to write, and I loved writing the scene where Aunt Jane finally gets her comeuppance.
KR: What did you enjoy most about writing this story? What makes it stand out in the series? KH: The initial emotional difference between Miguel's and Danielle's feelings. She loves him unconditionally, and hopelessly, as she fears. He is deeply attracted to the beautiful woman with the gentle nature, but feels that a fling with her is impossible - she is the cousin of his best friend, Beau!
Lise, Beau's wife, does her best to help Danielle spend time with Miguel, in the hope that he will forget about the worthless bride he left at the altar, and will realize that Danielle would make him deeply happy.
As i was writing MIGUEL, interesting little tangents kept coming up, so i wrote them in, giving them time to reconcile. And Miguel has to decide what to do with his life now that he is married with a child on the way.
He opts to sell his restaurant and will from now on design meals for an upscale frozen food line. This he can do with one hand tied behind his back, as it were, and he will be able to spend his evenings with his wife.
I never try to find problems to throw in my couple's way; they present themselves quite naturally, and I just write them.
In my opinion, the fact that Danielle deceived Miguel, pretending to be protected against pregnancy while trying desperately to become pregnant with his child, put this book at a different level than the others.
KR: What did you like best about Miguel and Danielle? KH: His very Spanishness, which makes him deeply indignant at her deception, committed out of love, and yet makes him protective of this defenceless, vulnerable woman who can't help loving him.
KR: You've had several releases in the past few months. What can you tell us about them? KH: The Dark Castle Lords have recently published Gabriel's Quest for Love, #3 on the FictionWise best sellers list for 2 weeks,
A Marriage of Convenience, #1 on the FW bsl.
My Love, Forever, the story of a Greek prince, in exile in France, 1949.
Most recent, of course, Beau's Quest and Miguel's Surrender.
Ah, Gabriel! Another Spanish hero, who discovers that Tasha, a woman he is increasingly interested in, is the aunt, not the mother of her baby.
When he hears the name of the mother, he realizes he is the baby's father. Complications ensue when he takes Tasha and his daughter to meet his family, living in some state on Long Island. His mother is barely civil to Tasha, treating her like a cheap, conniving slut, who contrived to have the baby to trap her beloved son, although she knows this is not true.
Gabriel is jealous, when Tasha chats in her guileless way with her former employer. She tells him jealousy is not a proof of his love, it means he does not trust her.
They have to go through some more difficulties before reaching a safe haven.
A Marriage of Convenience - a book I loved writing. Chad Harwood, a famous writer, concerned for his researcher, Cara, who is living with a man he considers not nearly good enough for her. When she leaves the man for his blatant infidelity, Chad offers her hospitality in his own large condo, thus protecting her from the increasing attempts of her ex to get her back. Chad devises a research trip to Arizona, to get her out of her ex's range, finally offering a marriage of convenience, to protect her totally. How this marriage becomes a real marriage was interesting for me to write, and it must've been interesting to read, because this novel gained a number of 5 ratings.
And then, there was my Greek Prince! My Love, Forever. The moment I saw the photo of Bill Freda on horseback, i knew I had the cover for my book, and inspiration for writing the hero. It was a novelty for me, writing a near-historical story, set in 1949, the year after the Greek civil war ended. Although the war is over, the extremist element who put a price on my Prince's head, has not withdrawn its death sentence.
For women's clothing, it was easy - Dior invented his New Look in 1947. But at the time i was writing this, they had the French Open, and I decided that Prince Lee and his archaeologist friend, Geneviève de Villiers, could attend what was then The French Championships.
I even found the protagonists in the women's singles final. Thank you, Google! I began to wonder if I should show them as co-author, since i needed them a lot to get the details right for 1949.
I felt the emotion of the Greek prince and his love, and so it was easy to write their love scenes.
Writers usually have several faves for different reasons, but if I had to choose overall, I'd say Prince Lysandros (Lee) wins hands down.
KR: What do you have in store for readers in the coming months? KH: I wrote two books that are closely connected. A FIRE BURNS DEEP, the story of a young couple, Brent and Lara, rent apart by his mother's machinations and his partner's selfishness in keeping Brent single so that he will be able to do the travel part of their business. No one told Brent that Lara is pregnant with his child, in fact, his mother lies that she married someone else. Brent only finds out five years later that he has a son. After some difficulties are overcome, all is well.
HIDDEN DESIRE is the story of Marco, a famous painter, who falls in love with Alyssa, who works at the art gallery where he exhibits. Alyssa turns out to be Lara's half sister, and is furiously repudiated by Lara. When Marco and Alyssa's feelings for each other escalate into a night of love, Marco hurries back to Phoenix to end a casual relationship with a fellow painter. On his way back, he is the victim of a drunk driver, and the resulting injuries and amnesia keep him from getting in touch with Alyssa, who becomes convinced she's had an involuntary one-night stand, which resulted in her being pregnant. The two art gallery owners in Ocean Breeze and Phoenix connive to bring the two lovers together again. The story is a lot more complicated than this, but it'll give you some idea.
My DCL publisher discovered that i had written 5 books featuring Greek tycoons. He suggested we group them together as The Aphrodite Affairs, and that they be released, one a month.
On Sept 25, he will release CIRCLE OF LOVE, the story of Raphael, who meets Lydia at her mother's vacation apartment. Raphael had gone there to plead with his younger brother to stop seeing the much older widow. When Lydia sees Raphael, she assumes he is the gigolo who is going out with her mother, and she lets him have it. When she realizes her mistake, Raphael gives her an arctic glance and leaves. You'll have to read the book to find out how these two find each other!
In case you are wondering how I can write so fast, let me assure you that I can't. For five years, I wrote in seclusion, in obscurity, perfectly happy, writing the kind of books I like to read. I detest the recent tendency to have H/h fight all the time, and the women are too often mouthy bitches who are not assertive, as the writers probably imagine, but simply aggressive. I dont want to read about a 200-page fight! That's why i began writing my own books. So DCL has been publishing this huge backlog, one book a month.
KR: What do you enjoy most about being a writer? KH: That moment when I sit before a blank page on my computer, and slowly type the working title (which Stuart Bazga, who does all the publishing stuff, invariably improves on... He is great at titles).
And then the ideas come. All i have to do is listen to what I hear in my head, and type it. If I don't hear anything, i go back and re-read. Obviously somewhere I made a mistake. Invariably i find it, and delete, and then type again what I hear. When things are going well for my H/h, I am told i sit here typing with a smile on my face. My son has a key to my condo - well, i am a widow, living alone, and he wants to be able to check on me - and he says I don't even hear him come in; I sit there, typing with a smile.
KR: What would you like to tell the readers out there? KH: Well, I'd like them to read my books! I go to great lengths to get the right model for my covers, so that the reader can sense what the story is about from seeing my cover. Bill Freda, Julian Fantechi are my most frequent cover models. When i need a blond, there is only CJ Hollenbach for me! I've also had covers with Jason Santiago and Christian Pullano. I don't fool myself that people read up the blurbs and reviews before browsing. No, they look at the covers. You wouldn't believe what Bill and Julian sell for me! They embody the heroes I write amazingly. CJ rescued a book that had an unsuitable cover; when the cover was replaced by a big photo of CJ, sales happened.
And Jason on the cover of GABRIEL sold an amazing number when that book was 5 months old.
Believe me, i am so grateful to my cover models!
And very grateful indeed to TRS for giving me this interview.
KR: Thank you!
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