CROSS THE OCEAN By Holly Bush

Critters at the Keyboard welcomes CROSS THE OCEAN By Holly Bush

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1871 . . . Worlds collide when American Suffragette, Gertrude Finch, and titled Brit Blake Sanders meet in an explosive encounter that may forever bind them together. Gertrude Finch escorts a young relative to London and encounters the stuffy Duke of Wexford at his worst. Cross the Ocean is the story of an undesired, yet undeniable attraction that takes Blake and Gertrude across an ocean and into each other’s arms.

Blake went to the stables, had his horse saddled, and rode to Anthony’s estate. Maybe Elizabeth will ask me to stay for dinner, he thought. Then she’ll go to bed, and Anthony and I can drink a bottle of brandy and get stewed. He could stay there if he couldn’t ride home. A room was kept ready for him with a fresh change of clothes. Blake smiled and felt better than he had in days.  

As the butler escorted Blake down the hall of Anthony’s home to the drawing room, he heard a loud but feminine . . . snort and Elizabeth’s trill laughter in reply. Damn. He remembered now. A cousin of Elizabeth’s from America, sent as an escort to another cousin, was staying with them. Anthony had described and dreaded the arrival of Cousin Gertrude with horror. A spinster remotely connected to Elizabeth’s father’s side, she was big, bold and here for a month. Her arrival had curtailed Anthony’s visits.

Blake stopped and hissed at the butler. “Think I’ve changed my mind, Jenkins. I don’t want to disturb their company.”

“Quite the coward are we, Your Grace? Leave your life-long friend alone with this Amazon from America.” Jenkins stared as he spoke. “In any case they saw you ride up the drive.”

Jenkins spoke his mind to all including Anthony and Elizabeth. There’d be no expecting servile behavior for him. “I’m sure you did not miss the opportunity to point out my arrival,” Blake said.

 “Of course not, Your Grace.” The butler opened the drawing room doors with a flourish. “The Duke of Wexford.”

“Blake,” Anthony said and jumped to pump Blake’s hand. “I am so very happy you are here.”

Blake watched the woman sitting beside Elizabeth stand, and walk across the room to him. She was every inch as tall as he, and Anthony made the introductions. She held out her hand. Blake grasped it and bent to place a kiss there and was surprised when she began to shake it, hitting him squarely in the nose. Blake covered his face with his hand.

“Oh, dear,” Miss Gertrude Finch exclaimed. She threw a look at her cousin Elizabeth. 

Please enjoy this interview with Author Holly Bush

1. Tell us about your latest release.

Cross the Ocean is my latest release and was my first foray into England as a location. The Duke of Wexford, Blake Sanders, meets an American suffragist, Gertrude Finch, and sparks fly! I’m a sucker for an ‘opposites attract’ story and these two are really opposite! Gertrude sails to England as an escort to a young relative, leaving Uncle Fred and the hands at the horse ranch she was raised at, and visits a distant cousin who she’d been corresponding with, and who just happens to be Blake’s neighbor. The very high-in-the-instep Duke of Wexford is in a mess of his own making when the Duchess leaves him. Proud and chagrined, his first meeting with Gertrude does not go well as she asks the obvious questions that no one else would – but even still, he finds her boldness compelling.

2. What have you got coming soon for us to look out for?

I wrote a women’s fiction novel years ago and have done some editing and updating. I think it is the kind of book that will ring true for lots of middle aged women and still make the reader laugh. But I still don’t have a title!

3. What song would you choose for Karaoke?

I Feel Lucky by Mary Chapin Carpenter. I know all the words and it’s a great bluesy song that’s easy     to sing.

4.  Which Star Trek or Star Wars character are you most like?

I’m definitely Uhura. I think Captain Kirk had a serious thing for her and she had great legs! At least in the original Star Trek.

5.  Who would you most like to be stranded on a desert island with?  Least?  Why?

First, I just want to say I don’t want to be stranded on a desert island. But if I were, I would want to be there with someone smart and capable like my husband, although our collective sense of direction leaves something to be desired. Least – well, the list is long. But an easy one would be Donald Trump.

AUTHOR INFORMATION:

Holly Bush was born in western Pennsylvania to two avid readers. There was not a room in her home that did not hold a full bookcase. She worked in the hospitality industry, owning a restaurant for twenty years and recently worked as the sales and marketing director in the hospitality/tourism industry and is credited with building traffic to capacity for a local farm tour, bringing guests from twenty-two states, booked two years out.  Holly has been a marketing consultant to start-up businesses and has done public speaking on the subject.

Holly has been writing all of her life and is a voracious reader of a wide variety of fiction and non-fiction, particularly political and historical works. She has written four romance novels, all set in the U.S. West in the mid 1800’s. She frequently attends writing conferences, and has always been a member of a writer’s group.

Holly is a gardener, a news junkie, has been an active member of her local library board and loves to spend time near the ocean. She is the proud mother of two daughters and the wife of a man more than a few years her junior.

@hollybushbooks

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