Guest Post: How Mho Saved a Marriage From Courtney Milan

She cannot forget the fire he ignited... In the three years since her husband left her, Lady Kathleen Carhart has managed to forge a fulfilling life for herself. But when Ned Carhart unexpectedly returns, she finds her tranquility uprooted--and her deepest secrets threatened. Though she has no intention of falling for Ned's charms, Kate can no longer deny the desire that still burns in her heart.

Or the promise of his love... Ned is determined to regain his wife's trust by using unbridled seduction. But just as Kate surrenders to Ned's passion, her carefully guarded past threatens to destroy her. Now Kate must place her faith in the only man she's ever loved, and the only one who has ever betrayed her...


Yo peeps! Mho Fho here, your lovable demon sheep coming to you at a top secret location. I've take over KB's blog for the day. One of my favorite authors gave me the inside scoop on a top secret deleted scene from her book! Since Courtney Milan and I had those wonderful three days together in Denver this past July, where we gave into our passions for one another (the woman sure knows how to snuggle with a sheep the correct way) she wanted me to be the only one anywhere across the internet to post this naughty deleted scene from her just released, Trial by Desire (KB wrote an awesome review this week about the book). And if you haven't bought your copy of Trial by Desire yet, what are you waiting for? Because I'm a the king of all the demon sheep, you must do what I say, and I order all my slaves... erm, loving fans to buy this book. Now go shimmy on over to your latest bookstore or on-line store and buy Trial by Desire. But only after you read this scene... there's a special surprise at the end!

Courtney and Mho sharing their love in public

I'm here to speak a terrible, ugly truth. One of those publishing secrets that everyone in the business knows, but nobody wants made public. It's one that you'll hear talked about in hushed whispers, if you go to meetings of Romance Writers of America, and eavesdrop. But you won't see anyone spilling the beans on this dastardly secret in public... at least not, until today, on this blog.

The truth--one that has been silently edited into nonexistence by authors everywhere, is that in every romance novel, there is always one unsung hero--a character who helps the hero and heroine out in their darkest hour, guaranteeing their happy ending.

That would be Mho. I am here to recant my former sheep-bigotry, to apologize for what I have done before, and to give Mho the credit and the glory he so richly deserves.

Mho is too humble to say it himself, and now that TRIAL BY DESIRE is published, I feel so ashamed at having removed all mention of his contribution from the pages that I have to come clean.

Those of you who have read the first chapter of my book on my website know that my hero and heroine, Kate and Ned, do not start off in a good place. They were married several years before, but Ned left to go to China, and Kate--rather peeved at this course of action--has done her best to get over him.

In a crucial moment fairly early in the book, Ned needs to decide to enter a building. Before he does so, he calls out a handful of names, to see if anyone else is around.

“Draven?” he tried.

No answer.

“Stevens? Darrow?” He cudgeled his brain, trying to remember more of the shepherds who worked this land. “Dobbin?” he tried at last. Desperation, that; Dobbin was a sheep dog.

Because he gets no answer, he proceeds to do something that eventually helps to bridge the gap between Ned and his wife. But the published story does not include a paragraph that came after this in my original draft. I reveal this deleted content now so that you may see the extent of my sins.

Dobbin, however, was unable to come when called. He was off chasing down a sheep that had purposefully gone astray, so as to facilitate Ned's entry. Risking life and sheep-limb, Mho had clambered to the top of a neighboring hill, leaving behind bits of his own wool so that Dobbin could track him down. Sadly, he'd forgotten to pack a picnic lunch for this travels, and his four-chambered stomach gave him a quartet growl.

Wow. Look at that heroism. I'm ashamed of myself, for having removed his part. But this isn't the only part where Mho matters. At the very end of the book, when it seems that Kate and Ned will be unable to resolve their differences at all, Kate discovers a way around what is otherwise an empasse when she is confronted with... oh, no. I can't tell you. That would be a spoiler.

But when you get to that point--when you realize just what role someone's wool might have played in the resolution of the story--just remember who it was who suffered the ultimate indignity of shearing.

Thank you, Mho, for your sacrifice. And I'm sorry.

Curious about how Mho might have played a role in TRIAL BY DESIRE? One lucky commenter will win a copy! All you have to do is give credit where credit is due: list another book where it's obvious that Mho's central role was left unspoken. This is open for everyone, including their sheep! Leave a comment here by Monday October 4th to win.