HEIRESS SEEKING PERFECT HUSBAND~Ain't We All?~Seek No Longer for the Perfect Romance!

Please welcome author Maris Soule! Maris has a special running on her book HEIRESS SEEKING PERFECT HUSBAND (only 99¢!), and she's here to tell us more about it...

As a teenager, I fell in love with the story of Cyrano de Bergerac. It broke my heart that Cyrano loved Roxanne so much, and she never realized this until the very end, when he was dying. When I wrote Heiress Seeking Perfect Husband, I wanted a similar situation (except, without the dying part at the end). So, I created a plot where my heroine, Shannon Powell, during an interview, says her late husband never wrote her love letters. As soon as that story is printed, Shannon begins receiving love letters, some that she immediately discards, but a handful she answers.


Now, Clint Dawson, my poor hero in the story, isn’t sure what to do. He was hired by Shannon’s husband to keep her safe, but, since she refused to have a bodyguard, her husband told her Clint was merely her chauffeur. She swears she’ll fire Clint if she finds out he’s her bodyguard, so even after her husband’s unexpected death, Clint must keep up the charade. And she needs a bodyguard. She’s now a very wealthy widow, and Clint suspects these letter writers are looking for a way to tap into that wealth.


Clint is not happy when he’s asked to write a love letter to Shannon in repayment for help he received in getting his mother a computer. Reluctantly Clint writes the letter for the man, but then he’s asked to write another and another. When Shannon discovers the man didn’t write his own letters, she’s upset, and says “Cyrano” needs to write his own letters. Clint may not have the big nose Cyrano had, but Clint does not feel worthy of Shannon, so he reluctantly continues the correspondence, writing as “Cyrano,” and praying Shannon never discovers the words are really his.


Here’s a scene that indicates some of his struggle.


“Maybe . . . Or maybe he’s just shy. Clint, remember in the story of Cyrano how Roxanne fell in love with Cyrano’s words. Well, I’m falling in love with my ‘Cyrano’s’ words.”

“That’s ridiculous.”

“No it’s not.” Why she expected him to understand, she didn’t know. Clint wasn’t lyrical. He was like John, frugal with his words. Any time Clint put five sentences together, it sounded like a speech.

“When I get one of Cyrano’s letters, I feel like I’m communicating with someone . . . someone who . . .” She waved her hand in the air, feeling verbally inadequate herself and wishing she could come up with a way to explain.

“You’re communicating with someone who’s giving you a snow job, that’s what,” Clint said. “The guy’s after your money. Next thing you know, he’ll start writing about his poor mother and how he hates seeing her living where she is and would like to get her out of the area.”

“He did say something like that,” she said, remembering.

“Sure, that’s the start. Just a passing remark, maybe a supposed goal he has.”

“He said he wanted to move her out of the neighborhood to someplace better, safer.”

“Right.” He nodded. “Then next will be how he needs some money. Just for a while, of course. And he’ll promise to pay it back.”

Smugly, she smiled. “He hasn’t asked for any money.”

“Oh, give him time, give him time.”

Clint looked so certain, Shannon began to wonder. Could she be acting like a sucker? It was a possibility.

“What’s this ‘Cyrano’ of yours write, anyway?” he asked. “Syrupy, romantic verse?”

“No.” She supposed some of what he wrote could be considered romantic, but she certainly didn’t think it syrupy. “He writes nice things.”

“Like?”

“Like answers to my questions. Like a description of a sunrise. His definition of love.”

“Oh, and just what is that?”

She knew she wouldn’t be able to quote Cyrano’s words so they sounded anything but syrupy, but she tried. “ ‘To love,’ he said, ‘is to set free the gentle spirit, to allow it to grow and expand. To love is to yearn with all your heart and soul, yet to walk away because you know you must. To love is to spend restless nights and tormented days, and to cherish every moment.’ You can laugh if you like,” she said. “But that’s how I feel.”

“About love?” He shook his head. “Sounds pretty dismal to me. All this yearning and torment. I sure wouldn’t cherish it.”

“That’s because you’re a cynic.” His attitude irked her.

“And you’re too gullible.”

She shook her head. “Not every man is after my money, Clint. Some might actually like me.”

“Oh, I’m sure they do. The question is, which ones like you more than the money. I don’t think you understand the position you’re in.”



The e-book version of Heiress Seeking Perfect Husband is on-sale from September 4th – 9th for .99 cents. Pick up a copy if you’d like to read more about Clint’s efforts to protect Shannon without letting her know how he feels about her.

I love the idea of a modern-day Cyrano de Bergerac! Such a wonderfully romantic story!
Don't forget to enter Maris' giveaway below!

Heiress Seeking Perfect Husband

$0.99 for a Limited Time

by Maris Soule

Goodreads | Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Smashwords

Genre: Contemporary Romance
Publication Date: October 11, 2016
Page Length: 182


Shannon Powell thinks the interview is over when she mentions that her late husband never wrote her love letters. She isn’t prepared for a headline that says, “Heiress Wants Love Letters.” When the letters start arriving, she decides to answer a few…to even meet some of the men.

Clint Dawson isn’t sure what to do. His title is chauffeur, but Shannon’s late husband actually hired Clint to be her bodyguard. She’s said she doesn’t need a bodyguard and has threatened to fire him if that’s his job, which means he must keep Shannon from seeing him as he follows her on her dates. What’s worse, Clint ends up writing letters for one of the would-be suitors. It’s Cyrano de Bergerac all over again as Clint writes the words he’d love to tell her in person, if he only felt worthy.

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About Maris Soule

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I love living in a small, rural town.


My first twelve years were spent growing up in Walnut Creek, California (when Walnut Creek was still a small town), and I have childhood memories of catching pollywogs in the creek that ran by us, of being able to pick ripe peaches from the trees on our two acres (also almonds, pears, English walnuts, apricots, and more); and sitting in my “thinking” tree making up stories. When I married my husband, I was going to U.C. Santa Barbara, but two years later we decided to move to Michigan. It was supposed to be a short-term move (just a couple years, my husband said). I won’t tell you how many years we’ve now lived in Michigan, but we now have grown children and teenage granddaughters. I haven’t regretted the move. Michigan is a beautiful state, and for 27 years we lived in the rural community of Climax. What a perfect location for a romance writer, and what a neat place to plot a mystery with a lot of suspense. (Yes, there are some similarities between the real Climax and my imaginary Zenith in The Crows, As the Crow Flies, and Eat Crow and Die, but the events and people in those books are definitely fictional.)

I love animals.

I fell in love with the Rhodesian Ridgeback the first time I saw one at a dog show. I love their temperament, their intelligence, and their personalities. Over the years I’ve owned several: It seemed natural to use a Ridgeback puppy in my “Crows”books. We’ve also owned hunting dogs (my husband’s), German Shepherds, and now a poodle.

When we lived near Climax, we owned horses and raised (at various times) chickens, ducks, rabbits, pigs, goats, and even one steer. I would say we also owned many cats, but I think they owned us.

I love being near the water.

We’ve now moved close to Lake Michigan (so my husband is near his sailboat), and we spend our winters in Florida, not far from the Gulf Coast. Both locations feed my love of being near water (remember that creek I played in and Santa Barbara) and are ideal places to nurture my desire to write.

I love happy (or at least satisfying) endings

Whether I’m writing or reading a romance, a mystery, or a combination of the two, I want a satisfying ending (girl gets guy and/or good guys get bad guys). For my books, I’m probably going to include an animal or two and there’s a good chance the characters will live in the country, the mountains, or near water. I’ve often used Michigan and California as settings, but I wouldn’t be surprised if Florida shows up in a future book.

I’m sometimes asked if the characters in my books are based on me or someone I know. My answer is: Maybe bits and pieces, but my protagonists are always braver and smarter than I am (along with younger) and the antagonists are always nastier than the people I’ve known.

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