witness protection | Mary J. McCoy-Dressel

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Short Snippet Saturday: On the Run

Posted at 3:25 pm by Mary J. McCoy-Dressel, on April 17, 2021

Hey there. Happy spring. I’m still here living the life. <waving>

It’s been a while since I’ve posted or visited my fellow bloggers, but I’ve been writing. I can happily say I finished book two in the Two-Five Ranch Outlaws series. It’s sitting now before I go back to rip it apart and cut a lot of words. I overwrote. Or maybe I didn’t. Let’s put it this way: I said what had to be said, but it’s a higher word count than I wanted, so maybe I didn’t need to say it all. I’m also 12K words into a holiday western romance. However, that has nothing to do with today’s post. 😊

Re-cover Reveal

Since I’ve been away from my blog, I had new covers made for four of my books. I haven’t officially revealed the other three yet, but they aren’t hard to find.

Today I’m introducing the new re-cover for Finding Kimber, Book Two, from Canyon Junction: Hearts in Love Series—a spin off to the Double Dutch Ranch Series. As the title says, they’re on the run. I’ve changed two names to avoid spoilers. Kimber mentions Stormy. He’s the dog Zach gave her.

First the Blurb

She’s wary of her future. He’s burdened by his past.

Zachary (Zach) Bryson arrives in Arizona with hopes of leaving the ghosts from his past behind. Hired by a stranger to run a ranch, he meets the owner—a secretive woman with no ranching experience. He’s seen her before, but she wasn’t a redhead with green eyes. In their first encounter, she swept him off his feet without their exchanging a word. Why did she change her appearance? What secrets lay behind those heart-stopping eyes? Seeing this job as a challenge, he sticks around to tackle this hottie head-on.

Kimber Sinclair is forced to flee her lush Oregon county for a small town in Arizona with sand, saguaros, and dusty cowboys. She settles in to live a lie—to discover the person behind her new identity while she mourns the death of Tressa Garnett—her given name at birth. However, keeping a distance from her ruggedly handsome, broad-shouldered, wise-cracking ranch foreman, isn’t easy. She struggles daily to hide her secret from Zach who demands answers. By telling him the truth, his life could also be in danger.

If trouble finds her, will she choose fight or flight? Can Zach set aside his own issues, or will his nightmares prevent him from doing what he was unknowingly hired to do?

Designed by Dawné Dominique who designs all of my covers.

Snippet

Thunder growled in the near distance, and heavy clouds rolled in. “Cool. Let’s get this tent put up, cowgirl.”

She helped him unload the truck but wouldn’t let Stormy out. “Dave wanted us to get burner phones so we can’t be tracked. I haven’t seen anything out of the ordinary on my phone.”

“Wait. What? The guy thinks your phone has a tracker on it? Rebecca could’ve done it when she visited you. He’s already called you multiple times. What if he’s in on it? Get in the truck.” Zach tossed the bags back into the bed of the truck and sped out of the campground. Hard, blowing rain came down as they pulled out. He drove away from the mountain.

“What’s wrong? Where are we going?”

“Away from here. If someone is tracking your phone, or his—”

“I called his go-phone, but I get it. No camping.”

“We are camping. While we’re heading west, call him back. Write down the immediate numbers you need from your phone, then write down Tyler’s, Randy’s, Jake’s, and my mom’s from mine. When you’re finished, turn our phones off. I want to open yours up to look for a tracker, or for whatever the hell else could’ve been used.” He stopped at a gas station and checked her phone. “Bastards. I’m deleting this hidden app. Somebody added it to your phone.”

She was angry enough to growl like the wolves in the desert.

He checked his own. “There’s nothing on mine. I have a better idea. I’ll download a burner app for any other calls we make. Then Dave will think we’re using a disposable phone. The app acts as a burner phone. We can pay extra for a different area code and use a Boise number like we do now.”

Kimber sat back and sighed. Tiredness caught up with her. “Are you sure?”

“Yeah. No worries. Tyler uses the app.” After taking care of the app and the new number, he continued driving until they ended up in traffic miles away.

Now she’d made Zach suspicious of everything.

They headed back to the campsite and unloaded. “Randy gave us a blowup bed. Looks like we have to sleep together, partner.”

“No problem, Zach.” In this awful predicament, his words sparked a glow in her heart. She flashed him a smile and helped him make up the bed. “I’ll never be able to thank you for what you’re doing.”

Zach glanced at the bed and winked. “My heart’s the only thing you have to thank, sweetheart. Well, maybe one other body part.”

Here’s the entire spin off series to date. Read Finding Kimber now: Universal Buy Link for your country. Amazon Series Page.

Amazon Reader Reviews for Finding Kimber

This book has it all. Attention grabbing, many twist and turns. All the romance intertwined. I recommend this book. Enjoy!!

This lady tells wonderful Cowboy Romance Stories…

…I loved this book! I loved the depth of this story! It Had so many different elements included in it.

Very different and kept me interested to the end. Very good suspense story and very different from most books I have read.

Enjoy your weekend. Thank you for visiting.

Posted in #AmWriting, #WritersLife, Canyon Junction: Hearts in Love Series | 9 Comments | Tagged Canyon Junction: Hearts in Love Series, Double Dutch Ranch Series Love at First Sight, Finding Kimber, Mary J McCoy-Dressel Western Romance, western romance, witness protection

#AmWriting Short Snippet Saturday: No More Lies

Posted at 11:56 am by Mary J. McCoy-Dressel, on June 23, 2018

I thought I’d share a snippet from Finding Kimber.

Canyon Junction: Hearts in Love Series

A Double Dutch Ranch Series Spin Off novel.

FindingKimber_2021_MED

She’s wary of her future. He’s burdened by his past.

Cattleman Zachary (Zach) Bryson arrives in Arizona with hopes of leaving the ghosts from his past behind. Hired by a stranger to run a ranch, he meets the owner—a secretive woman with no ranching experience. He’s seen her before, but she wasn’t a redhead with green eyes. In their first encounter, she swept him off his feet without their exchanging a word. Why did she change her appearance? What secrets lay behind those heart-stopping eyes? Seeing this job as a challenge, he sticks around to tackle this hottie head-on.

After her life is threatened, Kimber Sinclair is forced to flee her lush Oregon county for a small town in Arizona with sand, saguaros, and dusty cowboys. She settles in to live a lie—to discover the person behind her new identity while she mourns the death of Tressa Garnett—her given name at birth. However, keeping a distance from her ruggedly handsome, broad-shouldered, wise-cracking ranch foreman, isn’t easy. She struggles daily to hide her secret from Zach who demands answers. By telling him the truth, his life could also be in danger.

If trouble finds her, will she choose fight or flight? Can Zach set aside his own issues, or will his nightmares prevent him from doing what he was unknowingly hired to do?

Universal Buy Link

Set up: Kimber is doing something she swore never to do… Modified to avoid spoilers:

Her breath caught. “What the hell did you say?” Greg repeated it.

“What does that mean? How?” Her heart hit the floorboard of the truck. This couldn’t have been Jerry’s doings. Who else was involved?

“He was stabbed multiple times. They’ll transfer him to their local hospital.”

“How do you know? Who did this?”

“It doesn’t matter how I know.”

“It matters. His men or woman, is still out there looking for me. There is no guarantee they’d stop looking if he…dies. I’m sure they’re all doing this for Sam now.”

Zach whipped his head around so fast, she thought it’d roll off. She nodded to him, that in fact, he had heard her right. “I’ll get the phone you mentioned.”

“Stay out of sight.” He paused. “Ah, Tressa, there’s something I have to tell you. Your father is on the way here.”

“My father will be there?” Her fingers instinctively clasped her necklace, and she pictured her gentle dad.

Zach pulled into the campground and drove around looking for their site. He stopped the truck and took her hand when he found the spot.

Greg spoke low into the phone. “I have to go.”

“Greg, wait. When my dad arrives, make sure they’re both safe. Please.”

“Jerry is under guard; therefore, your father will be, too.” He hung up.

Zach faced her, and his eyes held questions she’d become accustomed to. “Your father? Your family isn’t dead?”

Here we go again. No more lies.

Thanks for reading. Enjoy your weekend.