Allie Hawkins: Kitties can teach alpha heroes about love

Allie Hawkins, whose second romantic suspense, Unraveled (The Wild Rose Press), lands today (Dec. 14), likes dogs, as do most alpha heroes. But Allie says alpha men would be better at winning their heroines' hearts if they took lessons from felines. Asking for belly rubs too soon might be a bit of a turnoff, though. I'll let Allie take it from here …

Allie: Some things in life are natural fits.

Peanut butter and jelly. Eggs and bacon. Thunder and lightning. Romeo and Juliet. Love and HEA.

Cats and handsome, emotionally aloof, commitment-phobic heroes.

Wait a minute! Say what?

Wouldn't handsome, emotionally aloof, commitment-phobic heroes eat worms or play in traffic before taking on a cat? Wouldn't handsome, emotionally aloof, commitment-phobic heroes know a cat demands time, attention and submission to their demands? Wouldn't handsome, emotionally aloof, commitment-phobic heroes own a dog?

These questions — and the scarcity of cat-loving heroes in romance novels — challenged me to rethink my logic of cats making heroes more interesting and sexy to the heroines in my romantic suspense novels.

So did pictures of the 22-pound black feline who slept on my keyboard even though the deadline to crank out 20 pages loomed.

So did memories of a skinny orange and white male cat who liked to go for a walk with me around the block but insisted on being carried home at a slow, leisurely pace if I didn't want permanent claw marks on my shoulders.

Then there was the long-haired female cat who liked to sleep on my chest, preventing me from counting sheep on my right side (which I selfishly preferred).

The more I thought of my life enriched by cats, the more I realized how logical it was to deepen my heroes with the joyous complexities of living with a feline.

I'd already included a stray black cat in my first romantic suspense, Presumed Guilty. B.D. (aka Black Devil, and pet to no mere mortal) growls and hisses regularly to keep Nick, his maverick-cop companion, on his toes. In return for Nick's loyalty and canned cat food, B.D. allows the human to sleep in the same bed. Luckily for Nick, B.D. falls as hard for Robin Lamy as his human companion does. She's definitely impressed that a tough cop like Nick displays his soft spot for a cantankerous feline.

In Unraveled, Pierce Jordan is a workaholic whose obvious passion is work and maintaining his impeccable business rep as a banker. Three years ago, he betrayed Quinn Alexander — a woman who values loyalty and commitment over all else. Not long after she walks out of his life without a backward glance, an old stray tom adopts Pierce. Seeing firsthand his commitment to care for temperamental Fat Floyd gives Quinn a different perspective on the man she thought loved only himself.

Here's the blurb for Unraveled:

What if one loose thread could unravel your life?

Three years ago, Quinn Alexander put the pain of Pierce Jordan's betrayal behind her. Now her brother needs a favor that forces her to confront the man she once loved. For her brother, who has guarded her devastating secret since childhood, Quinn will do anything — even risk falling for Pierce again.

Pierce is the first to admit he broke Quinn's heart out of fear he'd never measure up to her ideal man. Even so, he owes the success of their ongoing business relationship to Quinn's savvy mind and generous spirit. Now, just as he realizes how much he wants her, he risks losing her forever by challenging her brother's character.

When Quinn and Pierce uncover embezzlement, drug deals and even murder, Quinn fears for her brother even as her attraction to Pierce grows. Which is stronger — a love renewed or loyalty unchallenged?

Here are three books whose authors included cats to add intrigue to their handsome, emotionally aloof, commitment-phobic heroes:

• One Touch of Scandal by Liz Carlyle. Victorian governess Grace Gauthier is accused of the brutal murder of her employer (and, she says, her secret fiancé). Turned out by the victim's family, she vows to clear her name. She ends up gaining the help of Lord Ruthveyn, a reluctant ally with a dark past and long trail of broken hearts. Rumors grow about the strange "powers" he inherited from his foreign mother. Without his two cats, Silk and Satin, would Grace have ever trusted him?

• Naked in Death by J.D. Robb. Lieutenant Eve Dallas, abandoned as a child, meets both the man who became the only man in her life and the cat who saved her life in this first book of her futuristic In Death series. Like so many heroes in fiction, Roarke is handsome and dark (in temperament and history) and richer than a Saudi prince. To get on Eve's good side, he accepts the care and feeding of Galahad, the cat she adopts from a brutal murder scene. When she reminds Roarke at the end of the book that Galahad saved her life, he says, "Then he gets caviar for the whole of his nine lives."

• The Secret Duke by Jo Beverley. Imagine a super-responsible, outrageously rich, Georgian duke talking to a cat and her two kittens while trying his damnedest to keep the woman he loves from being hanged for treason. Throw in hidden identities. Add a ruse with Tabitha (the cat) that rights an old and grievous wrong against the heroine. How could she help but love him ... and his cat ménage?

What do cats teach alpha heroes about love?

They teach them — and us — that what the heart wants, it wants despite all logic.

To find out more about Allie Hawkins, you can visit her website, AllieHawkins.com.