Hello, Friend!

I'm so glad to chat with you again! It's almost March. In my part of the world. it's getting nicer. Sunnier.

What's it like in your part of the world right now? Are things getting nicer? I'd love to know. If you want to reply back, quick, I'd be happy to hear from you. ❤️

For me, it feels like the perfect time for new beginnings.

Photo by Csaba Talaber on Unsplash

And that's something I love to write about. New beginnings.

Like the moment my heroine, Tabby Grey, takes a ride toward a new adventure. She's heading to a ranch, unsure of what awaits her. She's also curious about the cowboy she's with. The man who's been taking care of her on her book tour, and now, he's offered her a place to stay. With him and his family, while she gets on her feet again.

Did Tabby make the right decision, saying yes to Cole's offer?

Cole "Storm" Dawson, too, has a secret. One he can't share with this woman he's so strongly attracted to. She's fired up every single one of his protective instincts, and he has those, plenty, having served in Special Ops. And even though she's strongly independent, he just wants to take care of her...

With a protective hero, and a woman who's been strongly hurt by life, every mile feels charged with possibility—and risk.

~~~~~

Three hours in a closed truck, with a gruff, uncommunicative soldier. His dark eyes peeled on the road, his mood completely unreadable.

It worried her. Already at the start of this adventure. Damn. 

Oh, he’d talked to her, finally, after she’d asked him so many questions, he probably felt he had to. And while he’d been relating things, it had felt nice, like togetherness. Even companionable. 

But she'd still had to push to get him to talk.

He’d told her all about their district. Dawson Ridges, their little town of Dawson East itself--called simply Dawson by the locals—and of Golden, too. Another place, not so far away, but full of people they loved and connections they'd made, over the years. 

Yet, was he already rethinking his generous offer? Thoughts about her coming time at Dawson Ridges assaulted her. They were speeding toward it. What would she find?

Cole’s gruff voice interrupted her as the radio repeated the same Canadian Tire commercial again. “Turn that off, will you?” 

“Want me to find something else? Or…” 

“Next bend’s the ranch.” 

All her worry gathered in her throat in one big lump. What a stupid, bad decision she’d made. Heading fast to a bunch of people who didn’t know her, in a province she also didn’t know. With very few resources, if she had to leave suddenly. 

With a soldier, and cowboy she needed to stay far away from.

Yeah. That’d been brilliant.

When they passed the last bend in the Trans-Canada Highway and pulled off onto a smaller road, the foreboding increased. The roller coaster ride was starting. Plus her muscles were screaming from sitting in a vehicle for way too long. 

A few more miles and the road was different again. Narrower, but direct. They drove down a valley, up another hill, and around one last turn as Cole accelerated. Then there it was, up ahead. She heard the unmistakable energy in his voice. 

“We’re home.” 

She rolled the window down, and sweet air rushed into the cab. The vivid green of countless trees flew by, Garry Oaks mixed with stately pines as the road hurtled them toward the ranch. 

And what a sight, as they finally emerged into the clearing. The silhouette of the Rockies in the distance, pale gray against the hazy sky. In front of them, Cole’s home. The entrance to the long driveway was flanked by two rough poles with a sign over it and twin willows on one side. It proclaimed the name of the spread, though it wasn’t fancy at all. Simple. 

Dawson Ridges. 

Image by Foundry Co from Pixabay

A western Canadian ranch lay before them. Cole had already told her what they did. They raised cattle and kept horses, were dabbling with getting into the equine world in a bigger way. They grew forage crops. In the distance, other buildings peeked from among the trees. A forest grove, thick, circled the perimeter protectively. 

And set in the midst of it all, was the biggest, most crazily sprawling two-story ranch house she’d ever seen. 

Her hands clenched in her lap...

~~~~~

Isn't that how new beginnings usually are? We're happy, then worried. Opportunity beckons. Then, we wonder....

As a writer and author, I love sharing these moments in my character's lives with you. It's what makes us all human.

And it takes us on an adventure with them, too. More awaits Tabby as she meets the family.

And also as she finds those who don't love Dawson Ridges...or Cole...

Well, that's me, signing off, until next month. I hope you loved this excerpt from Book 1 in my series, also in Kindle Unlimited.

(FYI - new covers may be coming later this year!)

Have a WONDERFUL March. I'll be by soon to say hi again. =)

Stay cozy,

Susan