The Diamond Series, by Cassandra Dean. My Review.

Stop on by the Diamond Saloon, where devious Englishmen blithely charm sceptical saloon owners and where voluptuous singers archly tease the strong, silent type. Enjoy these two sexy tales from Freewill, Wyoming.

ROUGH DIAMOND:

Owner of the Diamond Saloon and Theater, Alice Reynolds is astounded when a fancy Englishman offers to buy her saloon. She won´t be selling her saloon to anyone, let alone a man with a pretty, empty.headed grin...but then, she reckons that grin just might be a lie, and a man of intelligence and cunning resides beneath.

Rupert Llewwllyn has another purpose for offering to buy the pretty widow´saloon--the coal buried deep in the land she owns. However, he never banked on her knowing eyes making him weak at the knees,or how his deception would burn upon his soul.

Each determined to outwit the other, they tantalize and tease until passion explodes. But can their desire bridge the lies and the trust broken?

FOOL´S GOLD:

Christmas Eve, the Diamond Saloon is empty of it´s people, and Pearl la Monte has a hankering to retire early. A pounding at the Diamond´s door rids her of such a fool notion. Her irritation rises when she sees the prissy ,polite-like Garrett standing outside,
Ethan Garrett has a powerful need to gain succour , When the saloon´s voluptuous red headed singer scowls at him from the threshold of the Diamond, he doesn´t stop to think on how his ire at her has disappeared . Or how he just wants to spend time in her company.

When a blizzard storms in , trapping them , will they spend their time arguing or find their irritation for each other disguises something more?  

                                      

                                                ROUGH DIAMOND :

Alice is a young widow in Freewill.  She owns a plot of land that might have coal under it, and a saloon.  The Diamond is a respectable saloon.  Alice doesn't allow the girls to take the customers to bed. Once a month she puts on a variety and burlesque show. The saloon and the show are her pride and joy, even if she does get overly anxious just before each show.

Rupert works as a secret buyer for a large coal mining company.  He puts on the appearance of a bumbling buffoon.  It's his job to buy up as much of the land surrounding the town as possible.
A historical western romance with lots of fun, and a lovely strong heroine. Alice does a fantastic job of looking after herself and others in a time and place that it was almost impossible for a woman to do so. Rupert starts as a figure of fun, and is totally over shadowed by Alice.

                                                 FOOL¨S GOLD:  

A short story connected to Diamond 

Pearl LaMonte has closed the Diamond saloon for a couple of days. It's Christmas Eve and there is a blizzard on the way. The girls are all away, so she is looking forward to some peace and quiet.
Ethan Garret has lived in Freewill since leaving his overbearing parents in Chicago.  Around Christmas he feels a bit guilty about that. This time he wants to talk about it.
If there is one person guaranteed to spoil Pearl's peace it is Garrett.  He is riles her up all the time.
A Good little romance , if a bit predictable.

Cassandra grew up daydreaming, inventing fantastical worlds and marvellous adventures. Once she learned to read, she was never without a book, reading of other people´s fantastical worlds and marvellous adventures.

Fairy tales, Famous Fives, fantasies and fancies; horror stories, gumshoe detectives, science fiction; Cassandra read them all.Then she discovered Romance and a true passion was born.

So, once upon a time , after making a slight detour into the world of finance, Cassandra tried 

her hand at writing. After a brief foray into horror, she couldn´t discount her true passion. She started to write Romance and fell deep.
The love affair exists to this day.
Cassandra lives in Adelaide , South Australia.