Interview with Irene Vartanoff

Tell us about your most recent book.

Captive of the Cattle Baron is an abduction story done right. In this sweet contemporary romance, the hero, Baron Selkirk, wants to help Addie Jelleff overcome what he suspects is a bad involvement with drugs. He takes Addie to his huge, isolated ranch and refuses to let her leave. But Addie is no cowering captive. She’s a spunky, self-confident heroine who won’t let Baron dominate her. A former sitcom child actor who now is a horse whisperer, Addie wants to duck the paparazzi back in Jackson Hole, Wyoming, who have recently made her retired life hell because of the upcoming trial of an actor pal. Addie’s testimony will be key to getting him exonerated. So Addie has reasons for not making an all-out effort to escape the ranch immediately, yet reasons for leaving soon. And then of course Addie and Baron find they are strongly attracted and that complicates everything.

Baron had a bad experience in his past with a would-be actress, so he’s very anti-Hollywood. Addie doesn’t want to tell Baron she spent years acting, but of course eventually he finds out and blows up at her, behaving exactly like a domineering abductor. How Addie reacts to Baron’s over-the-top method of imprisoning her is one of the most exciting aspects of this story.

The appealing cast of secondary characters include Baron’s old-fashioned housekeeper, his mostly drunken sister, and a beautiful white stallion. Oh, and a very handsome actor.

Who is the villain or antagonist in your story and what is he/she like?

Baron Selkirk is the hero of Captive of the Cattle Baron but he’s also the main antagonist. He’s high-handedly doing what he thinks is the right thing, trying to save Addie Jelleff from drug addiction. But Addie isn’t a drug addict and her resistance to his attempts to control her incites him to abusive behavior almost worthy of a villain.

What do you think are the heroic qualities he possesses?

Baron Selkirk is a man who wants to do the right thing. Family duty means a lot to him, which is why he’s running the ranch instead of pursuing his geology career. This need to be a hero translates into Baron taking the law into his own hands when he insists Addie stay at the ranch. Inevitably, he goes too far. His heart is in the right place, but he makes mistakes.

Is there any respect between this character and the hero/heroine of your story?

Baron quickly realizes that Addie is a very self-confident woman. He even comments on her unusual poise, although her determination to fend off his advances frustrates him. He’s impressed with her horse-whispering ability, too. She confounds him, and that and his other frustrations combine to make him behave badly towards her despite his growing admiration for her.

Once Addie learns the motive behind Baron’s domineering actions, her opinion of him softens. But because Addie spent her youth following a logical system, being handed a script every week and carefully acting as directed, she’s baffled by Baron’s emotion-fueled behavior. She’s also shocked by her emotional and sexual reaction to him despite his attempts to dominate her.

What was the most difficult part of writing about this character?

The hardest thing to do in telling this story was to make Baron behave like a domineering alpha-hole even though he’s not. Baron is a strong, good man, but he doesn’t handle frustration well. If he had figured this out by page thirty, there wouldn’t be a story. He’d do as Addie asks and drive her back to Jackson Hole, and they’d say goodbye.

I had to show Baron making mistake after mistake with Addie, and with others. I softened the reader’s view of him with his history of family and personal tragedy, but giving him reasons for behaving badly doesn’t change his behavior. He wants to help and protect Addie, but he expresses that desire by infringing on her right to personal freedom. He keeps trying to control her. Baron is not a deliberate or vengeful abuser like the so-called heroes of old school abduction stories. Even so, I had to make him behave abusively despite his good intentions.

It’s not easy to write a man like Baron when you’re a feminist like me. I had to drag him to the cliff edge of acceptable behavior yet not let him fall over. Every time I made Baron behave badly I worried that he’d gone too far to be forgiven. So I punished him. I hope readers agree, as Addie eventually does, that it was punishment enough.

Blurb:

Abducted by rancher Baron Selkirk—okay, it was an accident, but now he won’t let her go—former TV child star turned horse whisperer Addie Jelleff

wants to return to Jackson Hole, Wyoming, to defend her actor pal in court. Baron and his vast, isolated ranch appeal to Addie as a respite from the media circus, but he’s awfully domineering and she can’t possibly give in to their growing attraction while she’s virtually his prisoner, can she? Baron wants Addie to open up about her mysterious past and her commitment to another man. Why won’t she give in to Baron, when every time they touch, they catch fire? It’s a battle of wills—with neither one backing down.

Excerpt:

The phone was yanked out of her hands. “She won’t be making that deal anytime soon, you scum,” Baron shouted into the receiver and hung up.

“What did you do?” she cried. “Now he’ll think I’m in trouble.”

“You won’t call your dealer again. No deliveries to that hotel, either.”

She pressed her lips together and inhaled, trying to calm herself. “You’ve got it all wrong.”

“You can’t be trusted.” He took her wrist and began to drag her bodily from the tack room. She resisted, digging in her heels.

“Let go of me. You have no right.”

Instead of releasing her, he pulled her into his arms. He bent an angry look on her. “I won’t let you hurt yourself again.”

She struggled, but he only held her closer.

“The moment my back is turned, you’re trying to get hooked up again. You’ll kill yourself. You’ve got to stop.”

“No,” she said. “No.”

He wasn’t listening. Was he even seeing her? Some powerful emotion drove him, but did it relate to her or someone else?

Her body ignited from the feel of his rubbing against her. She stopped struggling. She couldn’t fight him anymore. At this dangerous moment, when she least needed to feel lust, she did. Her body wanted to sink into his, to feel her softness against his hardness. She wasn’t afraid of Baron, a man who stood when a woman entered a room. She feared her feminine desire to yield to him sexually as a means of defusing his anger.

Their eyes clashed. Could he see how much she wanted him? He saw something, for he lowered his head toward her. Desperately, she held up her palm between them. “Don’t you dare kiss me.”

Bio:

Award-winning author Irene Vartanoff started reading romances and comic books as a teenager. Emilie Loring romances and Superman comics led to the serious stuff, Gothic novels and Lois Lane comics—and romance comics. Writing comic books and working on staff at Marvel Comics and DC Comics absorbed her early career years, aspects of which are gently spoofed in her superhero adventure novel, Temporary Superheroine. Editing for major publishers of romance Harlequin, Bantam, and Berkley inspired her next career shift to writing novels. Captive of the Cattle Baron is her first sweet contemporary romance.

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