Hearts Crossed, Volume IV of the Buchanan Saga

Hearts Crossed, Volume IV of the Buchanan Saga


Featured Song: “Brandy” by Looking Glass

“Brandy, you’re a fine girl. What a good wife you would be. But my life, my love, and my lady is the sea.”


This is a very old song, and it always had a way of stirring something story-like in the back of my mind, but it was many years before it came together into something worth writing down. Of course, I twisted it around and made the “man that Brandy loved” into the villain, Andrew Cross. But the hero also had his own addiction to the sea.


Funny story about this book. I remember a day when my sister and I talked on the phone for hours and completely worked out the plot for this book, but I didn’t have the time to write it down, and I was caught up in other projects. My working title was “The Captain’s Double Cross,” which does not sound very romantic. Years later when I decided to write this story, I could remember everything except exactly how it was that the captain double-crossed the other captain. It was only the crux of the conflict resolution. And for the life of me I could NOT remember how I’d done that. I had the book written all BUT the double cross before I finally figured out how to do it, still not certain if it was how I’d figured it out originally. The moral of the story is that writers should always write down their ideas when they come.


Garret is a dearly beloved character. I have a friend who will let out a dreamy sigh at the mere mention of his name. After going through three volumes where he is the sidekick and hopelessly in love with a woman he can’t have, it was great to finally bring the right woman into his life. This book is as close as I’ve gotten to a swashbuckler. Sailing ships, exotic ports, opium smuggling, and villains who closely resemble pirates. I love this book! And it didn’t hurt that all the men had long hair and wore ponytails, except for Andrew who just let it hang free; he has hair like Yanni. By the way, my husband has worn a ponytail through the majority of our thirty years of marriage. I wonder if there’s a connection for me.


I mentioned previously in reference to Ritcherd that I’d learned how to pay attention to the images in my mind that led me in the right direction with the story. I remember when I was writing this book that I felt surprised with an image that kept showing up, but by this time I’d learned to respect such things. With the image came a very clear sentence that ended up in the book. “For an instant Garret was airborne from the force of the shot.” In my mind he looked awfully dead, lying there on the rug with all the blood. But of course he was the hero and I had to bring him back to life.


While this officially concludes the four-volume Buchanan Saga—as far as what’s in print—I must confess that I have written a huge novel about the sons of Ritcherd and Garret, and I have notes to take it through another few volumes. It’s something I hope to continue someday. You just never know what the future might bring . . .