The Legend of the Inn at Maiden Fallsâ¦
There are lots of rumors, but no one is exactly sure why even the crankiest twosomes get so very coosome when they spend time at the historic Inn at Maiden Falls, nestled in the Colorado Rockies. Maybe itâs the beautiful vista of all that rushing water (the falls) outside the windows. Maybe itâs the clean, invigorating mountain air stirring up their blood. Or maybe (as the whispers say) there really are lusty ghosts of shady ladies past floating around the rafters. Old-timers say the inn was a famous brothel more than a hundred years ago; all the âsoiled dovesâ may have mysteriously passed way, but their spirits remain to help young lovers discover the joy of sensual pleasure.
Or so the story goesâ¦.
Dear Reader,
Iâm thrilled to be part of Temptationâs twentieth anniversary celebration! And I hope youâre enjoying reading about Miss Arlotta and the girls in THE SPIRITS ARE WILLING miniseries as much as Iâve enjoyed working with fellow writers Julie Kistler and Colleen Collins.You probably already caught Colleenâs book, Sweet TalkinâGuy, last month, and Julie Kistlerâs story, Itâs in His Kiss, will be on the shelves in August.
This July also marks the twentieth anniversary of the year Julie and I first met at a Romance Writers of America conference. So, to celebrate, we decided to come up with a project we could work on together. The idea behind THE SPIRITS ARE WILLING miniseries was inspired by Julie and Colleenâs tour of a former brothel in Denver. Afterward I met them for a hilarious dinner in which we plotted the series and our characters.
Come visit with us in the community message boards at www.eHarlequin.com and stop by my Web site, www.HeatherMacAllister.com, for news about upcoming books.
Warmly,
Heather MacAllister
The Golden Rules for Miss Arlottaâs Girls
We know rules are not your favorite things, but some things need to be written down.
So hereâs your Golden Rules, girls. Abide by âem and weâll all do just fine. We werenât exactly angels when we were here the first time around, but weâve got another chance. So we want to do what we can to keep the idea of holy matrimony satisfying soâs nobodyâs man will be tempted to go lookinâ elsewhere for a good time. It may not seem fair, but themâs the rules. We helped âem stray.
Now weâre helping âem stay.
Rule #1: You will never, ever do anything that might come between the bride and groom.
Rule #2: No visibility. You canât be scarinâ the livinâ daylights out of folks by fading in and out or showing up in bits and pieces at the wrong time.
Rule #3: Never, ever make love with a guest yourself. No exceptions.
Rule #4: No emotional attachments to anyone. You canât follow them when they leave, so you might as well not get attached.
Rule #5: When you have successfully put a troubled couple on the road to bedroom bliss, you earn a Notch in Miss Arlottaâs Bedpost Book.
Rule #6: Especially good or bad activities may earn you Gold Stars or Black Marks.
Rule #7: Itâs gonna take ten Notches before you can advance. All Advancements shall be determined by Miss Arlotta and the Council, who will consider how difficult your couples were, how much work you had to do, your level of creativity, whether your heart was in the right place and those Gold Stars or Black Marks.
Rule #8: Any girl who disobeys these rules shall be punished.
Rule #9: Any and all rules may be changed by Miss Arlotta as she sees fit.
Thatâs it. Push those couples into as much wedded bliss as they can handle, and weâll all do fine. Youâre all creative ladies when it comes to what happens between the sheets. So letâs get to work and show âem what kinds of sparks can fly when the spirits are willing!
âI HAVE A REAL GOOD FEELING about today.â Sunshine hitched herself onto the window seat in the bay window and retied the drawstring on her white bloomers. âItâs a sunny day and I always have a good feeling about sunny days.â
âYou have a good feeling about every day. How you can be so cheerful and so dead at the same time is beyond my figuring. Itâs enough to drive a body, if I had a body, to drink. If I could drink.â Flo drew her shawl more tightly around her shoulders.
Sunshine swung her foot and regarded Flo and the rest of the former good-time girls lounging in the parlor of what had once been one of the most exclusive bordellos in Colorado. âYouâre just cranky because your corset is too tight.â
âIâm cranky because Iâm dead! Iâm dead and doomed to spend the rest of eternity in this corset because Mimi never came to loosen the knots.â