I'm proud to say I'm a fifth-generation Coloradoan, but as the daughter of an Army dentist, I was raised traveling the world. At present count, I've lived in eight U.S states. I also had the great fortune to attend high school in Germany. Growing up 'military' gave me the opportunity to see the world in a way most American kids never can--my parents took me someplace new most weekends and nearly every school break. How many people can say they've skiied the Swiss Alps, snorkeled in the Grenadines, and successfully haggled their way through Cairo's Khan al Khalili marketplace? Needless to say, that upbringing left me with a permanent travel bug!

After graduating magna cum laude from Colorado State University with a BA in political science, I obtained both a law degree and a master's degree in political science from the University of Michigan, focused on establishing what I'd always thought would be a long, secure legal career. (If you're a voracious reader, love to write, and can see different sides to every story, you should be a lawyer, right? Wrong!) Those who know me weren't surprised to see my long, secure legal career only lasted a year. I soon realized writing romance would be a more adventuresome career choice than writing stale legal briefs and started work on my first manuscript.