A Real Man: The Last Miracle

A Real Man: The Last Miracle

Chapters: 57
Updated: 19 Dec 2024
Author: Susan Saxx
4.6

Synopsis

They thought they had it all. Dawson Ridges had been his home all his life, but when Tabby Grey came...it became all the richer. Cole Dawson, former platoon leader of the elite and feared Delta North Team, knew she was the woman for him. Fierce, independent, determined, yet with the type of heart deep down he'd never seen before. Tabby was special...and he was going to spend the rest of his life proving it to her. The man was a dream come true. Stalwart, principled to a fault, off the charts sexy, yet he only had eyes for her. Soldier, rancher, cowboy, a community leader caring for the whole Dawson Ridges area...now her man. An abandoned waif, fighting for her way in the world, with a horribly discolored face, she'd found her home. Yet the winds of change and upheaval are stirring at Dawson Ridges. Evil intent toward the ranch, its animals, and all of the hands becomes apparent—and grows stronger. And when they have to confront the very things that define who they are at their core, will Tabby and Cole's happily ever after last? [Note: This is book 2 of The Delta North Team Series. Book 1, A Real Man: The First Miracle, is also available on Readict!]

Western Romance BxG Opposites Attract Second Chance Good Girl

A Real Man: The Last Miracle Free Chapters

Epigraph  | A Real Man: The Last Miracle

In the middle of the journey of our life I came to myself within a dark wood

where the straight way was lost.

~Dante Alighieri

The Divine Comedy

Chapter 1 | A Real Man: The Last Miracle

“Hey, Ma! Wiggle that there tractor over this way!”

Cole Dawson yelled over the din in the generous front yard at the Dawson Ridges family ranch to the middle-aged woman, hair tied back, who was currently navigating their John Deere utility tractor.

She wasn’t that big, and the tractor was. But if pure grit and determination would get the job finished, it was a done deal. Molly Dawson had lived most of her life on the family ranch at the foothills of the Rockies in British Columbia, and it had given her more than perseverance. It had given her smarts, know-how and experience.

Along with the definite ability to handle any Deere machinery, no matter how big…or small.

Ma was amazing. Though right now, truth be told, she was a tiny bit in the way.

She would insist on helping this morning, with the chores. Sure, they’d given most of the men a rare morning off—they’d all been working that hard—but he and Ranger could handle it. He’d told her so at the breakfast table, only half an hour earlier.

Though even Max Dax, their beloved kitchen manager and cook, working competently around them in his signature black and white pinstriped apron, had levied an expert eye on her.

“It’s not even going in one ear, Cole.” Dax had flipped the egg-white omelettes onto his sister Krys' plate, then nudged an extra sausage onto Aggie’s. “Best be ready to be second-in-command this morning.”

Now that had brought her to life. She’d jumped up with coffee in hand, patted the built, middle-aged Oriental man on the back with an affection born of years, and winked at her son as she held out her palm. “Keys, Son. I’ll be driving the Deere first.”

So here they were, barely after sunrise. After the family breakfast and that amazing, early dawn ride he’d taken on Storm…all working together.

Sorting out the equipment shed. Dad still in recovery way the hell over in Toronto, in one of the top cardiac units, on the other side of the country. Thank goodness the old man was doing better, after the surgery that had brought all their lives to a halt. Jack Elbert Dawson the Third was the patriarch of this spread, though all his kids owned shares in it.

More important though, he was Dad, the second half of the strong team his parents formed.

Jack Dawson was also a staple in their small community of Dawson East, known more casually as Dawson, to the locals. The latest news had been good. Dad was on the way to recovery.

This morning though, there was a lot on Cole’s mind. Countless serious issues were circulating, non-stop, in his brain.

Issues that needed resolving. Or the whole future of Dawson Ridges, their beloved ranch, in the Dawson family for numerous proud generations, could be over. Rubbed out, as if it had never existed.

“The rest of the gear go on the other side, Boss?”

The lean, dark-haired cowboy beside him scrutinized the scene. Ranger had been with them for many years, and even now the energy was buzzing off him.

He was one of the hands Cole counted on. Ranger was solid, steady and ready to spring into action at a moment’s notice. With Cole having been a former full-time Canadian army soldier and now, part of the reserve force, he could be called up at any time to serve in flood relief or other special operations.

Men like Ranger were invaluable. Cole needed hands he could trust, and Ranger’s name was firmly engraved in stone on that list. As former military himself, the man got the full scope of what Cole was dealing with.

Cole really hoped Ranger wouldn’t find a woman soon and leave to start up his own, modest place. Selfish, he knew. Though that didn’t seem likely. Plenty of women liked Ranger and vice versa, but the man seemed unusually averse to anything more than the briefest of relationships.

Now, however, with the spate of sabotage that had injured their men, threatened their animals, and drained their finances?

The man was gold, all the more. In the absence of Cole’s brothers, his grandparents who were traveling, and now Dad, he needed men he could trust with the beating heart of those he loved.

He’d especially relied on Ranger when he’d been overseas, serving as leader of the elite and feared Delta North Special Ops Team. It had been a tough yet rewarding gig leading the uncommon unit of both American and Canadian soldiers, formed out of special need and modeled on their forerunner, The Devil’s Brigade. Their handle had unofficially become Delta North, the Delta taken from the proud tradition of American Delta Force units, the North signifying the solid Canadian component, fully half of the team.

It had been a singular honor to lead Delta North, and he’d discharged the duty with every breath in his body.

The ranch and Dad’s worsening health, though, had called him home. He was glad his family had been honest about their needs. At the moment? There was nowhere else he’d rather be.

Cole nodded briskly. “Thanks, Ranger. After this, go and check on the new arrivals, will you?”

“The Superhero Bulls, Boss?”

Cole grinned at the use of the nickname, but for once, it wasn’t a joke. “Yeah. Make sure they’re settling in well, and that they’ve got every damn thing they need. Lord knows we’ve got to watch over them like the cash cows they actually are.”

The purchase of the prize-winning Black Angus cattle had been an unusual development. Jack had brokered the deal recently. They’d had to sell off a lot of stuff to pay for them, but they needed a miracle, and they’d moved forward.

All their hopes now rested on these animals. The meat fetched a better price, calving issues were less frequent, and their studly powers were legendary. With the steady growth they were projecting due to this massive investment, if things held steady, a huge chunk of their financial issues would be over.

They’d actually be in the black. For better or for worse, it seemed these animals were the difference to keeping the ranch, or losing it. “Make sure they’re okay. They look to have survived transit well, but we’ve got to keep an eye on them. Report back to me after.”

“Sure, Boss.”

Cole was about to give a few additional words of direction when his attention was caught by a woman walking toward them.

Tabby Logan. She’d emerged from the little stretch of pine forest that separated the main buildings from where her small cabin was.

His heart flipped. She was the woman he’d been pining for the minute he’d started working as her prop cowboy, manager of sorts, and unofficially, her bodyguard, a few months ago. All on her breakout, cowboy erotica book tour. A runaway bestseller.

The woman who, despite the genre she wrote in as Tabby Grey, had been so buttoned up sexually and so determined not to have a physical relationship of any kind, let alone casual, it had blown his mind. It had taken all his energy just to get her to allow him to help even with the tiniest task.

There’d been many reasons, he’d discovered. The network of scars and blotches on one side of her face and body, that she covered up with tons of makeup, had been one.

And the jerk who’d left her after her horrific accident, because her appearance had changed?

He’d been another.

It was all a perfect simile for how she’d completely shut herself off from life.

Now? Not so much.

He stared as she strode toward them, knowing he’d never get his fill. Long, silky, nutmeg hair cascaded down her back. When the British Columbia wind blew up, it went everywhere. Her graceful figure. Heavier on the thighs and ass—a woman he could really get behind.

And oh. He’d gotten behind all of her last night, finally. Into all her luscious depths. His eyes warmed as he continued to watch her progress, his breath balling in his throat.

She finally reached them, and bestowed a careful smile on him. “Up and at ‘em early this morning, Cowboy?” Her statement sounded normal but he caught the double meaning in her eyes.

After you launched me to the moon and back, more than once, in the early hours of the morning? You actually got the energy?

But all she did was smile at him.

“Tabby.” Her name came out of him like an exhalation. He caught Ranger’s querying look, and scrambled to sound non-committal. “Erhm. Always got the energy for the more important things.”

Damn. He had to pick those words? If that didn’t sound like subtext, too.

Ranger snorted. “Sure, Boss. Hear you loud and clear. I’ll go and get started. Leave you two to attend to…um…”

“Yeah?” He speared Ranger with a forceful glare.

Ranger, though, kept smiling that grin. “Not saying another word.” He turned in the direction of Molly Dawson. “Hey, Ms. Dawson. Let off the clutch a bit!”

“Let off it yourself. I’m not a city gal, driving her first Deere. Get a move on, young buck. We’ve got work to do!”

Ranger strode off, smiling, toward the matriarch of the spread.

Finally. They could be alone.

Suddenly, he felt awkward, for all his conquest of the previous night. Twelve years old, even. A man with the woman he loved. Oh, the power she held. Just about enough to bring a man to his knees, right here, in the dust.

“How you feeling, Beautiful?”

“I’m good.” She smiled at him, then the smile upped in megawatts, only for him. His heart gave a raw jerk as he saw the passion in her eyes, but the softness for him, too. “I’m very good.”

“Well, I’ll take that as a compliment. A few hours with me, last night, and you’re in this amazing state…”

“You should.” She winked, and edged closer. “If there weren’t all these people around…”

“Don’t worry about that.” He grabbed her, pulled her close.

Damn woman. She felt perfect in his arms, in his life. This feeling was overwhelming. Crazy.

But sensible. Wild. All of it, everything in stark opposition to each other. What the hell was he thinking?

“Aww, you.” She smiled the welcome to him.

He lowered his face to her, captured those red lips. His being spun as she unfurled to him, right here, out in the open. The kiss threw him into another world as he felt her body yielding.

His spirit rose, his power. Finally. He’d met his mate, his match, in every way. What the hell could go wrong when he had a woman like this? What the hell could get between two lovers, as strong as the two of them were, together?

Nothing, something deep in him answered.

The kiss grew more intense. Deeper, deeper, deeper…

Until a cough interrupted them, brought them back to the dirt patch in the front yard. Kelvin, a lank, scrawny hand with a brush cut, looking embarrassed, stood a few feet away.

Cole let Tabby go, kept a hand on her waist. She blinked and drew away, flustered out of the intense moment. “Yeah?”

Normally he tried to give Kelvin his full attention, the man was that skittish and flustered with authority, and Cole wanted to help him get over that. But at the moment, his mind had been elsewhere. Very much elsewhere.

“You said to let you know when anything came from the bank, right away. Ben picked this up yesterday, but it got mixed in with his personal stuff.” He handed him a thick, official-looking letter. “Here.”

Cole grimaced. Well, looked like reality was back again, with a bite. He mustered a half-hearted smile. “Thanks, Kelvin. That’s exactly right. Appreciate it. Give them a hand in the equipment barn, will ya?”

Kelvin scurried off, and Cole turned to Tabby. “Sorry for the interruption, Beautiful. I wish we could pick up right here, right now.”

Her eyes did a blink-fest of sorts, then she seemed to shake herself into business mode. “No problem. You’ve got things to do, and trust me…” Her shoulders squared. “So do I.”

She said that with such determination, she had him wondering what she was up to. That didn’t sound like working on her next book. 

But she grabbed his hand, squeezed it quickly, and his heart expanded once more. “Later,” she murmured, and lowered her eyes.

Ah. Still shy and private, despite that public display they’d found themselves locked in.

She smiled at him, but he saw the determined stance as she walked away from him and back toward the tiny cabin she was staying in as their guest, until she could get her stuff sorted.

Stuff sorted or not? He hoped she’d never leave. Last night had been a powerful step in that direction.

But there was this latest snag to deal with. If he didn’t have the damn Ridges, what the hell could he offer her? Or give his family? Even the community that depended on him? If they lost Dawson Ridges…

The envelope felt bloody heavy in his hand.

He strode back toward the main house to open it, and steeled himself for the unveiling.