An Irresistible Bachelor (An Unforgettable Lady #2)

An Irresistible Bachelor (An Unforgettable Lady #2)

J.R. Ward




For my Bluegrass Family, with love





Dear Readers:

An Irresistible Bachelor is the fourth of the first quartet of books I wrote, and to be perfectly honest with you, by the time I finished drafting the manuscript, I was pretty sure my career as a published writer was going nowhere. Well, to be honest, it was going somewhere . . . right into the sewer.

Way to start this on a high note, right! Wait, stick with me, I’m going to get to how hot the hero is, I promise. . . .

Here’s the thing. Most books are written well in advance of publication, and when I handed Bachelor in to its editor, it was clear that my print runs were declining, my sell-throughs were bad . . . and I was not likely to have my contract renewed. Which meant I was out of a job and wouldn’t have a home for my material anymore.

Ultimately, this hitting rock bottom was the single best thing that has ever happened to me—because it forced me to get really clear really quick on what my strengths and weaknesses as a writer were and, thereafter, reinvent myself. (The irony, of course, was that the following spring, the book was nominated for the RITA, which is the Romance Writers of America’s big national award.) I firmly believe that the incredible success of my Black Dagger Brotherhood books and my Fallen Angels series would not have come about without the singeing fear that hit me as I was working on Bachelor.

The idea that every book I write could be my very last has stuck with me—as has the idea that playing it safe with plotting and conflict is not the way to go for my stories.

On that note, about the hero! I remember being utterly in love with Jack Walker. First introduced properly in An Unforgettable Lady, he’s your quintessential wealthy businessman, and in a lot of ways, he harkens back to the heroes I loved when I started reading Harlequin Presents a million years ago. Back in the early and mideighties, there were a lot of aloof, powerful men just waiting for the right women (come to think of it, there are still a lot of them out there on the shelves right now!) and I thought that shark-in-a-suit routine was just fabulous.

But here’s the thing. During the editorial process, Jack actually got watered down a lot. He was much darker in the first draft—his self-destructive streak was more pronounced, and he was hotter-tempered and more edgy (remind you of certain alpha males with fangs and/ or wings I write about?!). With Lady and Bachelor, I was already heading in the direction that I give free rein to in the Black Dagger and Angels books, and sometimes I’ve wondered how different Jack’s story would have been if I’d been able to tease out more of his intensity.

I still think this is a great story, however, and that Callie Burke’s down-to-earth innocence is the perfect foil for his worldly persona. Callie’s a great heroine . . . and she happens to be in a profession that I’m absolutely fascinated by. As an oil painting conservation and restoration expert, she is doing work that has always captivated me—and I was so lucky, while doing research on her job, to get a chance to visit the conservation department of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, and to meet with their head conservationist. What an amazing afternoon that was—as well as a bit of a shock. When I arrived, he met me down in the lobby and took me to a back elevator. That thing was the size of an RV, and just as the doors were closing, someone yelled out to hold up. From around the corner, a man came forward with this huge rolling pallet, and as he pushed it in . . . I realized that it had a Monet on it that was big as a desktop. Along with about four other paintings. Okaaaaaay. It was my first and only time going anywhere with $100 million worth of art. And I remember glancing over at the conservationist, who was chatting up a storm, and thinking . . . Buddy, do ya see what’s next to us?? But he was used to it! And come on, it’s not like you could strap those puppies on your back and hoof it up a set of stairs. . . .

I digress, however. The main conflict between Jack and Callie comes from the fact that she’s the product of an illicit love affair and is trying to keep that a secret to protect her half sister, who’s been really good to her. Jack, on the other hand, is deciding whether or not to run for governor—and if he does, the press is going to delve into every part of his life . . . including who he’s dating.

At the time I was writing Bachelor, I was still pretty much seat-of-the-pantsing it when it came to the drafting. I had developed only a rather loose outline for the book and, as usual, handling the conflict between the hero and heroine was my big weakness. Naturally, when I got toward the last quarter of the story, I realized that I didn’t really have much of a dark moment. Which is like buying a pair of jeans that doesn’t have any material where the seat is: In romance novels, the standard rhythm is two people meet, they fall in love, BANG! something drives them apart . . . and then they come together at the end for their happily-ever-after.

I had no BANG! in this book.

Enter my first stab at “credible surprise.”

One of the things I think good writers do is they create shock points in books—things that are seemingly out of the blue, but ultimately make you think, Well, hell, I should have seen that coming. I mean, that’s life, isn’t it. How many times have you been going about your merry business when suddenly something happens and you’re like WTF! Except then as you go back and look at what led up to it all, you realize the event or the conversation or the reversal of fortune (for good or bad) was inevitable.