Someone—or something—wants Kellen out of town . .
Kellen Brand’s inheritance comes as a monumental shock—
a rundown farm she doesn’t want and one paroled Watcher all her own.
Cowboy Watch
The Watchers Book 1
by Petie McCarty
Genre
Paranormal Small
Town Romantic Suspense
The Watchers Series—
Fallen angels cast out of heaven by the archangel Michael for coercing
with Satan to gain control. Some of these turncoats—duped late in the game by
Satan's lies—doubled back to seek redemption for their unwitting
betrayal. Offered parole in exchange for penance,
these Watchers are given the toughest bodyguard missions with little
leeway for success.
One last chance.
These are their stories . . .
Someone—or something—wants Kellen out of town . . .
Kellen Brand's inheritance comes as a monumental shock—a rundown farm she
doesn't want and one paroled Watcher all her own. Kellen's
eccentric mother believed Watchers to be fallen angels seeking
penance by guarding individuals who had lost their way. Seriously? A Watcher?
Only her mother . . .
Since Kellen vows no sane woman would choose to live in
Riverside, she's on a mission to dump the old farm fast and to the first buyer
who comes along. Unfortunately for her, the only buyer is a
resort developer, spurned by a townful of objectors and one handsome cowboy—her
neighbor, Luke Thornton. Luke must block Kellen's farm sale or risk exposure of
his own family's secrets. He can ill afford his immediate and compelling attraction
to his new neighbor.
Someone is watching Kellen, but not who she thinks. Someone
deadly and intent on scaring her out of town. Or worse. Luke has a
hellish choice to make—step in and rescue Kellen from her threats, or to
protect his family, stand by and watch . . .
**On Sale for Only $1.99 for a limited time!**
Silver Dagger Tour Excerpt #1:
“Vera tells me she told you about the haunted cemetery,” Gerald called to her, as the front door jingled again.
“She did,” Kellen called back and placed a few candles in her basket.
“Don’t worry. I’ll protect you,” said a familiar voice from behind her.
If it was possible for a voice to leer, this one did. She slowly turned. “I don’t need any protection, Sheriff.”
Reilly maneuvered way too close for her liking and cornered her between the last two rows of shelves. “You never know what to expect here in West Virginia, right?” His voice dripped with sarcasm, and his rat eyes glittered like two black aggies.
A wave of apprehension chilled her skin. The evil eyes of the mean boy who threw dirt clods had changed to the leering eyes of a much larger and quite fearsome man. The mean boy was now the sheriff. If he threw dirt clods, who would she call?
He edged closer.
She stepped back and bumped into the last row of shelves. She felt just like the jackrabbit her dog once cornered in the barn.
“I can look out for you while you’re here, Kellen. Special-like.”
The way he said her name sent a shiver down her spine. She could feel the lower shelf jabbing into the back of her calves.
He took one more step. His sour breath invaded her space and she wanted to gag. Like David, she let this man get to her.
“Real special.”
She could hear Gerald talking to a customer. No help there.
Reilly reached a hand toward her face, and a fist snagged the sheriff’s wrist.
“She doesn’t need any protection,” a deep voice growled. “She has plenty.”
Luke Thornton had an iron grip on Reilly’s wrist, his knuckles white with the effort. Reilly tried to glare him into submission, but the steel-like glint in Thornton’s eyes forced the sheriff to blink. Thornton tossed off the wrist but stood his ground, edging a shoulder between Kellen and her assailant. For a brief instant, Kellen forgot how maddening Thornton was. She wanted to grab him and kiss him for saving her from the foul-breathed sheriff.
“Watch yourself, Thornton,” Reilly growled. “I run this county.”
“Not all of it, you don’t.”
Kellen took deep breaths to slow her racing heart. She blinked, and the sheriff was gone. Luke stood so close she could feel the heat radiating from his body, and that certainly didn’t quiet her pulse. She stared into his dark-chocolate eyes and held on to the breath she’d been so desperate to suck down only moments before.
“Are you all right?”
Was that worry in his eyes? For her? Oh, good heavens—she was still staring. He was asking her something. What was it? Oh yeah, was she all right?
She nodded.
Words were too much at the moment. Too many emotions. Panic at Reilly accosting her again after all these years and then discovering her knight in shining armor. Luke’s focused gaze had her heart fluttering and from more than fear. She couldn’t manage to release the air in her lungs.
Silver Dagger Tour Excerpt #2:
On the south side of town, Luke gave Windsor a little nudge to speed him up since Grandfather’s property was close. Horse and rider slowed to make the turn at Laden Mill Road, and Luke gazed out over the open pasture before he gave Windsor his head again. That grassy pasture belonged to him now and looked in desperate need of a good mowing. If he didn’t get someone to cut it soon, he or Hank would have to do it, and neither of them had the time. He reined in Windsor at the entrance drive and scanned the barn and then the house.
Stunned, he gaped at the old farmhouse. Someone stood on the front porch and peeked in his windows—a red-haired someone. He gave Windsor a poke with his heels, and the horse leaped forward in response. Galloping down the entrance drive, Luke reined in hard at the bottom step and startled his trespasser.
“And you are on my front porch because?” he barked while holding the skittish stallion in place. Windsor had had his head, and he wanted it again.
Kellen’s eyes went wide with guilt. “I was just—”
“Snooping?” Windsor sidestepped to the right, forcing Luke to twist around in his saddle to hold eye contact.
She stiffened and her brilliant green eyes flashed with temper. “I was not! You . . .You . . .” She stamped her foot.
“Owner?” he retorted, unwilling to let her off the hook for an instant. Not when he had her good and cornered. Thank God, Windsor kept him so busy he didn’t ogle her like a schoolboy.
“No, I was going to say—”
The horse reared and pawed the air, effectively cutting her off. Of course, Luke’s little heel nudge and rein tug instigated the ostentatious display. He swiftly turned the horse back around so he could face her.
“So, why are you here? On my front porch. Peeking in my windows.”
She gave him a glare fit for the devil. “I was not peeking. I was trying to see if anyone was home.”
He waited.
Her eyes narrowed. “I didn’t want anything.” She hesitated. “I wasn’t doing anything.”
“Well, if you didn’t want anything and you weren’t doing anything . . .” He eased the powerful horse right up next to her though she stood her ground on the bottom step. “. . .then you must need a ride home.”
He snatched her off the step before she could answer and counted on the little spitfire having the presence of mind to swing her leg over the horse when Windsor took off. She didn’t disappoint him. The stallion streaked for the break in the tree line, and she clung to him like a tick on a coon dog. The feel of her arms around his waist had his heart rate racing like Windsor’s rhythmic gait once again. Through the tree break and across her unplowed fields, they galloped.
He should slow his horse on the uneven ground. He really should. But if he did, Kellen would loosen her death grip on him.
The sure-footed stallion galloped across the fields as though he knew right where Luke was headed. He waited to the last possible second to rein in the black horse at Kellen’s front steps, then reached around at the same time to slide her off Windsor’s back. Once her feet touched the ground with her balance assured, he tapped his heels to the stallion and cantered back across the fields. He didn’t dare risk a backward glance and spoil his memory of the ride with another hard glare from the beauty.
Silver Dagger Tour Excerpt #3:
Slowing near the treeline to get her bearings, Kellen focused on a spot where the bank jutted out over the water. Climbing out of the car, she scanned the shoreline. To her right, the slope flattened out and provided easy access to the water. The Tanawoc River maintained a good current, sending soggy leaves and debris speeding past in its flow. Grassy hills rolled back from the opposite riverbank, and she wondered if the Clandestine Mining Company still owned all that property.
A familiar aroma wafted up from the river, a combination of humus, plant material, microscopic plankton, and a touch of fish. Unable to stop the smile slowly stretching across her face, she untied her sneakers, rolled up her jeans, and slipped into the icy water. She immediately gasped and felt her smile deepen to a grin. Remaining in the soothing current for a long time, she absorbed her surroundings as trout darted in and around the submerged rocks to grab their plankton lunch.
A horse suddenly whickered behind her, followed by the telltale creak of a saddle. Too close for comfort. The back of her neck prickled. Ankle deep in the water, she couldn’t make a decent sprint for the car, and Kellen regretted her impulse to visit this deserted stretch of riverbank.
Easing around, she spied the towering silhouette of a powerfully built man astride a huge black stallion no more than ten yards away. The rider’s face lay shadowed beneath a wide-brimmed Stetson. The cowboy made an impressive and, at this moment, intimidating sight—a throwback from the frontier days of the Wild West.
The horse whickered again and sidestepped away from the edge of the embankment, forcing the cowboy to twist around to keep her in sight. She could feel his dark eyes scanning every inch of her. The intensity in his gaze raised goose bumps on her arms, and a tiny shiver edged up her spine. Trapped here along the edge of the river, she felt vulnerable yet strangely unafraid. Would he come any closer?
A horn blared up on the highway, and she jumped with a yelp. The big horse reared at the sound of her cry, and Kellen caught a brief glimpse of the cowboy’s dark eyes, eyes that could stare right through to a girl’s soul. She scrunched her own eyes shut and forced herself to breathe. When she opened them, the rider was gone.
Had she imagined him? Another mild shiver rifled up her spine. No, the fearsome rider was definitely real.
Scrambling up the embankment, she scanned the twisting riverside lane in both directions, but the cowboy had vanished. A wave of inexplicable disappointment caught her unawares, but she shook it off. She had no business sharing this deserted stretch of riverbank with a complete stranger. Better if she climbed back in her car and drove through Riverside. Eight blocks wouldn’t take long to see.
Petie spent a large part of her career working at Walt
Disney World—"The Most Magical
Place on Earth"—where she enjoyed working in the land of fairy tales by
day and creating her own romantic fairy tales by night, including her
new series, The Cinderella Romances. She eventually said good-bye to
her "day" job to write her stories full-time.
These days Petie spends her time writing new Cinderella
series tales, her new The Watchers series, sequels to her regency
time-travel series, Lords in Time, and more contemporary romance standalones to
go along with her two previous releases—Any Fin For Love and Ambush
in the Everglades.
Petie shares her home on the Cumberland Plateau in Tennessee with her horticulturist husband and an opinionated Nanday conure named Sassy who will make a cameo appearance in the upcoming Book 2 of The Watchers series, Christmas Watch.
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