Coming Soon & Interior Design inspiration

Dean and Gina

I'm not an interior designer, nor am I a software designer. I'm a writer who writes about characters who are both of those things in my upcoming May release, TRUST BY DESIGN.


For the latter, I sought expert advice from Leo, a friend from HS who makes his living designing software in a language that will forever be foreign to me. Thank you, Leo!

log drawknife

For the former, I made use of growing up in a log house that my dad and our whole family built over the course of 3 years when I was in my teens. The hours and hours I spent with my siblings in the summer peeling long pine logs, but leaving just enough on to add color and character. I also used some pictures off the internet to give me some visuals to describe items in the interior of the book.

Dean's house is very loosely inspired by this next picture, but his is bigger. (Everything is bigger in fiction, right?)

Deposit Photos

Then there's the custom table that Gina finds for inside his large kitchen. Fictional price tag, $12,000 (includes 10 custom hand-carved chairs). Do I need to mention that Dean's a multi-millionaire? Well, he is. He lives in his mansion outside Boulder, on a lake, with the gorgeous Rocky Mountains in the background. Dean's pretty much living my dream. *grin*

Little Branch Farm rustic furniture

Then there's the bed. Oh, man, I'd love to have this bed. In the book, I took the liberty of duplicating the iron-work in the foot board as well.

Furniture Discovery

Here's a little tidbit of when Dean first sees the bed his interior designer has picked out for him:

     Dean saw Gina’s shoulders stiffen, but she continued walking without a reply. He couldn’t help but let his gaze linger on the subtle sway of her jean-clad hips. She’d grabbed a jacket on her way out of the office, but left it in his SUV. The snug fit of her lavender sweater made her look sweeter than cotton candy.

     Melt in his mouth sweet, and he was dying for another taste.

     When she stopped a moment later, he lifted his gaze from her ass to the king-sized sleigh bed in front of them.

     “This is it,” she said. “Natural pine, simple and understated except for the iron detailing. To compliment that, I’d accent the room with iron lamps and fixtures. Same for the curtain rods, with very minimal material in burgundy, and some gray that is a couple shades darker than your carpeting. I’d pick that up again in the comforter and pillows.”

     The foot board was no higher than the mattress, and both it and the higher headboard featured a six-inch wide strip of iron scroll work that ran from one side to the other. The wood was beautiful and the contrast of the black iron created a bold, striking effect.

     Dean leaned forward to slide his hand across the curved surface of the low footboard, then trailed it back the opposite direction. He enjoyed the feel of the cool, varnished wood beneath his fingertips. A subtle trace of Gina’s light perfume immediately refreshed the heat-invoking memory of when he’d laid her on his bed and skimmed his hand along her exposed thigh. Her skin had been as smooth as the wood, but much, much warmer.

     Sonofabitch, if he continued that line of thinking, he was going to be as hard as the damn wood.

     “I like it.”

Lastly, you all know that any romance I write will have that Happily Ever After, so I don't think I'm giving anything away by showing you The Ring. I've personally never been a big fan of large solitaires, but I really like this one.

Weir & Sons

Now you're all ready for the book!

Watch for TRUST BY DESIGN this MAY 2014!!

Cinderella and Prince Charming...brought together by chance, or design?

Interior Designer Gina Allen is flat broke thanks to a shady assistant who didn’t pay the taxes. Now she has no choice but to accept a job from the very rich, very handsome CEO Dean Daley—even though he’s accused her of conspiring to steal his software designs.

Keep your friends close and your enemies closer—that’s why Dean hires his rivals’s ex-girlfriend. If he can use her to prove Jack is behind the spiraling downfall of his company, he might be able to turn things around before losing everything.

Dean didn’t count on her being everything he never expected, or his heart being in more danger than his business. Will the trust they build be enough to keep them together—or will an unexpected betrayal tear them apart and possibly cost them their lives?

Pre-order here: Amazon

Other distributors available May 2nd.

Happy Reading!

Stacey