Her Unbridled Cowboy (Harland County Series)
Page 32
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Brandi left the east coast to start a new life in Harland County, Texas way from her overbearing stepfather’s military minded ways,
and never-ending barrage of soldier ‘suitors’. The only boots she wanted her man to wear were cowboy boots.
So why did her heart flutter for the local Sheriff/part time National Guardsman?
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Her Uniform Cowboy
Available October 2013
Chapter One – Her Uniform Cowboy
He left behind a fiancé and six-month old little girl…
Try as he might, Kade Dalton couldn’t get that fact out of his head. The fact that he’d lost a soldier during his last deployment with the Texas Army National Guard, and the soldier had had dependants.
Grumbling a curse, he set his mug on the counter and strode for the back door. Just because he was up before the ass-crack of dawn, didn’t mean he had to wake the whole ranch. Not that his cousins wouldn’t be up in awhile anyway. Kevin usually left early for his commute to Houston where he was the vice president at McCall Enterprises. Jen would be up soon, too, thanks to her toddler, Cody, and Jen’s husband Brock had Shadow Rock, the Dalton family ranch, to manage. But even though they would all be up soon, Kade quietly closed the door before heading to the stables. He had no desire for his family to realize how poorly he slept, or worse, to start his day with a lecture.
Yes, he knew it wasn’t his fault the soldier had died.
He was just doing his job.
These things happen.
It’s unfortunate, but a part of war.
Well, not on his watch. Not during his three previous deployments. Christ…He was the First Sergeant on the last two tours. He was responsible for the soldiers under his command.
The early June morning air was still somewhat cool and felt good on his heated skin. Kade closed his eyes and inhaled while he worked to get his mind out of Afghanistan and rejoin his body back in the states. The scent of dirt and manure mixed with the fragrance of roses from a nearby trellis and he drew in another deep breath.
He was home where he belonged. In Harland County Texas. On Shadow Rock Ranch. His Guard family—minus one—was home where they belonged. He had people here who depended on him. Animals that depended on him. A community that depended on him.
Every morning he told himself this. Every morning he got out of bed and went to work. Every morning he felt like screaming. And that pissed him off. He wasn’t weak, hated being weak. Almost as much as he hated being on edge. And he was on edge. Ever since that damn day.
Gravel groaned a muffled protest under his two-hundred pound stride. Keeping busy was the key. So, he helped out around the ranch. Worked with the horses. Went to auctions discerning which would make good stock horses. And being on edge was the main reason he’d agree to take over the Sheriff’s position when the former one had approached him with the offer to finish out the man’s term.
Harland County Sheriff?
Not something Kade had ever aspired to be. No. He liked horses and ranching and giving up one weekend a month and two and half weeks a year to Uncle Sam in the Guard. Never, had Kade ever thought about being a Sheriff. Yet, here he was, decked out in the tan uniform, weapons belt, badge and hat. Been that way for the past month. Harland County was fairly quiet, mostly rural, not much crime going on. Still, the extra job helped with his edginess.
So did sex, but his mutually agreed upon one-nighters had ceased once he’d accepted the badge. Didn’t seem right. And looking for a relationship was out of the question. He wasn’t about to stick some poor woman with his sorry ass. Hell no. Not until he got through some issues. Besides, relationships involved sharing more than a body, and his heart was off limits. Closed off. Locked up tight. In fact, no woman had ever reached his heart in over two decades. If it wasn’t for the way he felt about his family and friends, Kade would question if he even had one.
Bypassing his truck, he headed for the stables on the far right. The quiet stable. The one where they housed the abused and abandoned horses. Currently, there were only two. Thank God. That meant most of his fellow Texans were taking their ownership responsibilities of these magnificent creatures seriously. Horses weren’t toys you could ride whenever you felt like it. They weren’t pets you paid attention to occasionally. They required work, maintenance, human touch…and son-of-a-bitch, he was edgy again. Nothing pissed him off more than a neglected or abused animal.
Stepping inside, he sucked in air heavy with the smell of more dirt and manure, but this time laced with the sweet scent of hay. The combination instantly calmed, took off some of that damn edge and he headed to the first of two stalls.
For several years now, he enjoyed working with the local vet to nurse the horses in this stable back to health. He’d made it Shadow Rock’s practice to volunteer the stable to the humane society. It was a project of his, one he hoped to expand in the future. Now that he was more than likely home permanently, he needed to draw up plans. To…
He stopped dead at the stall.
Speaking of expanding…
Sweet mercy and Texas, that is a beautiful sight to behold.
Bent over, lightly rubbing down one of the horses legs was a local designer. God, she was curvy and hot and he wondered if she felt as soft as she looked. Something he would’ve discovered within the three months he’d known the woman if it weren’t for two things. One, Brandy Wyne was not a one night stand, and two…she had an aversion to the military. The fact she was the only woman to spark part of him to life with just her mere presence didn’t sit well with Kade. Hell no. So you’d think he’d be able to order his legs to slowly back out of the stall before being seen by the sexy woman with big brown eyes and golden streaks in her caramel-colored hair. Nope. He stepped forward instead.
Seems his legs took orders from a body part due south of his brain.
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***
Harland County Series
Book One: Her Fated Cowboy
L.A. cop Jordan Masters Ryan has a problem. Her normal method of meeting a crisis head-on and taking it down won’t work. Not this time. Not when fate is her adversary. Having kept her from the man she thought she’d always marry, the same fickle fate took away the man she eventually did. Thrown back into the path of her first love, she finds hers is not the only heart fate has damaged.
Widower and software CEO, Cole McCall fills his days with computer codes and his free time working the family’s cattle ranch. Blaming himself for his wife’s death, he’s become hard and bitter. When his visiting former neighbor sets out to delete the firewall around his heart, he discovers there’s no protection against the Jordan virus. Though she understands his pain and reawakens his soul, will it be enough for Cole to overcome his past and embrace their fated hearts?
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Harland County Series
Visit my Harland County Series Page for release information and updates!
Book One: Her Fated Cowboy
Book Two: Her Unbridled Cowboy
Book Three: Her Uniform Cowboy
Book Four: Her Forever Cowboy
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Time-shift Heroes Series
Book One: Captive Hero
**2012 RONE Awards Nominee Best Time Travel**
When Marine Corps test pilot, Captain Samantha Sheppard accidentally flies back in time and inadvertently saves the life of a WWII VMF Black Sheep pilot, she changes history and makes a crack decision to abduct him back to the present. With the timeline in jeopardy, she hides the handsome pilot at her secluded cabin in the Colorado wilderness.
But convincing her sexy, stubborn captive that he is now in another century proves harder than she anticipated—and soon it becomes difficult to tell who is captor a
nd who is captive when the more he learns about the future, the more Sam discovers about the past, and the soul-deep connection between them.
As their flames of desire burn into overdrive, her flying Ace makes a historical discovery that threatens her family’s very existence. Sam’s fears are taken to new heights when she realizes the only way to fix the time-line is to sacrifice her captive hero...or is it?
Can love truly survive the test of time?
Time-shift Heroes Series
Visit my Time-shift Heroes Series Page for release information and updates!
Book One: Captive Hero
Book Two: Future Hero
Book Three: Unintended Hero
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Cowboy-Sexy
Honky Tonk Hearts Series with The Wild Rose Press
by Donna Michaels
**4 Star RT Magazine Review*&*NOR Reviewer Top Pick**
Finn Brennan was used to his brother playing practical jokes, but this time he’d gone too far--sending him a woman as a ranch hand, and not just a woman, but a Marine.
When Lt. Camilla Walker's CO asks her to help out at his family's dude ranch until he returns from deployment, she never expected to be thrust into a mistaken engagement to his sexy, cowboy twin--a former Navy SEAL who hates the Corps.
The Corps took Finn’s father, his girlfriend and threatened his naval career. He’s worked hard for another shot at getting back to active duty and won’t let his brother’s prank interfere. The last thing he needs is the temptation of a headstrong, unyielding, hot Marine getting in the way.
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She Does Know Jack
A Romantic Comedy Suspense
by Donna Michaels
**Releasing July 2013**
Former Army Ranger Capt. Jack ‘Dodger’ Anderson would rather run naked through a minefield in the Afghan desert than participate in a reality television show, but when his brother Matthew begins to receive threats, Jack quickly becomes Matthew’s shadow. As if the investigation isn’t baffling enough, he has to contend with the addition of a beautiful and vaguely familiar new contestant.
Security specialist, Brielle Chapman reluctantly agrees to help her uncle by going undercover as a contestant on the Meet Your Mate reality show. Having nearly failed on a similar assignment, she wants to prove she still has a future in this business. But when the brother of the groom turns out to be Dodger, the only one-nighter she ever had—while in disguise from a prior undercover case—her job becomes harder. Does he recognize her? And how can she investigate with their sizzling attraction fogging her brain? Determined to finish the job, she brings the case to a surprising climax, uncovers the culprit and meets her own mate.
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Thanks for reading!
Table of Contents
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Dear Reader
Dedication
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven
Chapter Twelve
Chapter Thirteen
Chapter Fourteen
Chapter Fifteen
Chapter Sixteen
Chapter Seventeen
Chapter Eighteen
Chapter Nineteen
Chapter Twenty
Chapter Twenty-One
Chapter Twenty-Two
Chapter Twenty-Three
Stuffed Strawberries with Yummy Cream Cheese Filling
Chapter One – Her Uniform Cowboy
For announcements about upcoming releases and exclusive contests:
Harland County Series Page
Time-shift Heroes Series Page