To tame a tough man, it takes...The Soft Touch. She is a softhearted Baltimore heiress... Lovely but disastrously tenderhearted Diamond Wingate has terrible trouble saying "No": to the poor and unfortunate who beg at her gates; to entrepreneurs with big plans and no money; and worse, to the silver-tongued young men who line up to propose marriage. So far she has managed to keep her three fiances a secret, insisting she cannot marry until she turns twenty-three. But her birthday--and disaster--are looming.... He is a hardheaded Westerner... Rugged, independent "Bear" McQuaid has never taken a dime he didn't earn by his own hard work. But now his dream of building a railroad, so close to coming true, is about to collapse from lack of funds. Approaching Baltimore's infamous "soft touch," he learns she has other assets as well: a delicate, strawberry blond beauty and shining intelligence--and a fascination for the romance of the railroad. Then Bear uncovers Diamond's embarrassment of riches in fiances as well as money and charms. Now he must make a choice: finance his dream through a little genteel blackmail, or do it the hard way...by falling in love.

Author Biography

Betina Krahn lives in Florida with her husband, two sons, and salt-and-pepper schnauzer. With degrees in biology and counseling, she has worked in teaching, personnel management, and mental health. She attributes her positive outlook on life to having married an unflinching optimist and two great-grandmothers named Pollyanna.