RESCUED BY THE RANCHER
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Authors: Soraya Lane
RESCUED BY THE
RANCHER
SORAYA
LANE
RESCUED BY THE RANCHER
Copyright ©
Soraya
Lane 2013
Edited by Laura Bradford of Bradford
Literary Agency
Cover by Mixing Ink Design
All rights reserved. Except
for use in any review, the reproduction or utilization of this work in whole or
in part in any form is forbidden without the prior written permission of the
copyright owner of this book.
This
ebook
is licensed for your personal
enjoyment only. This
ebook
may not be re-sold or
given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another
person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. Thank you for
respecting the hard work of this author.
Soraya
is represented by Bradford
Literary Agency.
To
contact
Soraya
, visit her website
www.sorayalane.com
, on twitter
@Soraya_Lane
or email her:
[email protected]
Also by
Soraya
Lane
Note
From
Soraya
Once again, I need to say a huge thank you to
Laura Bradford, my agent and self publishing partner, for the enormous amount
of work she puts into so many of my books. Laura, your advice and editing is
second to none! I also want to say thank you to my super supportive family – my
mom, dad, husband and gorgeous young son. Writing can be a very solitary
business, and I’m so fortunate to be surrounded by people who willingly support
my career as an author.
I hope you enjoy reading RESCUED BY THE RANCHER
as much as I enjoyed writing it. For more information on my upcoming or past
releases, I’d love you to visit my website.
JAKE McGregor stretched, eyes still shut
against the dark, and reached for his phone. He only left it beside his bed for
one reason, and the ring tone told him it was urgent.
“Yeah?”
He was exhausted.
An entire
day of working horses, and now a call-out in the middle of the night.
Great
.
“We need you, Jake.
Fire in
town.”
Jake threw the sheets off and glanced at the
clock. “See you at the station as soon as I can.”
He hung up without saying goodbye and quickly
pulled on his jeans, not caring that they were dirty and crumpled from being on
the floor, then tugged a t-shirt on. The longer it took him to get into town,
the less likely it was that the fire would be out before sun up. He reached for
his sweater and paused to give his dog a rub on the head.
“Won’t be long, buddy. Sit tight.”
He left the dog on the bed and ran out the
door.
Part of him hated being a volunteer fire
fighter – knowing that the scene could be grisly – but the other part of him
wanted to make a difference,
whatever the
stakes.
After Rachel had died, he’d realized how
important the fire crew was. And with only a small team in town, they needed
volunteers when something major happened.
Which was why his
heart was hammering just thinking about what he might see tonight.
He
wasn’t often called out, and when he was it was usually for something pretty
bad.
Jake gunned the engine into life and planted
his foot on the accelerator. He had to get into town. And fast.
Faith Walker was determined not to cry. She
kept her chin up and held her son closer to her. If Thomas’ wobbly lip was
anything to go by he was about to start sobbing, and the last thing he needed
was to see her upset, too.
She couldn’t believe they’d even made it out in
time. The thirsty red flames were licking their way around the house, sending
dark clouds of smoke billowing up into the air. A small crowd had gathered but
no one was coming over to offer support – the curious onlookers seemed more
interested in gossiping than helping out a stranger.
Only
she wasn’t technically a stranger around here.
“How are you feeling now?”
Faith looked up as a paramedic stood in front
of her. She took the blanket he held out, grateful to be able to wrap her son
in it.
“We’re okay, I guess.”
He smiled and gave her a squeeze on the
shoulder. “We’re all just pleased you got out in time.”
Faith smiled, but it wasn’t easy. He might be
happy she’d gotten out, but whoever had started the blaze had made their
intentions clear.
“Mind if I take the little guy to check him
over?”
She hesitated, not wanting to let him leave her
side. “I’ll come, too.”
The paramedic gave her an understanding smile.
“You might want to talk to the investigator alone. I promise I’ll look after
him.”
Thomas gave her a terrified stare
“You’ll be fine, honey. I’ll be with you before
you know it,” she told him.
He reluctantly walked off, clinging to the hand
of the paramedic like he was never going to let it go.
Faith watched him shuffle away. Her son was so
precious to her, all she had now, and the thought that they could have perished
in there…
Tears pricked her eyes all over again, but she
refused to let them fall.
It wasn’t even
worth thinking about.
She dropped to the pavement and put her head
down between her knees. Her brain felt like it was going to explode, her hands
were shaking and she thought she might be sick.
When she’d moved back here, Faith had known
there could be some old hostilities, but she hadn’t expected this.
“Excuse me, ma’am.”
Faith squeezed her eyes shut tight. She didn’t
want to look up. The pounding had subsided slightly and she didn’t want to give
it another excuse to come back.
“Are you okay?”
The deep voice made her eyes pop open. She saw
a pair of heavy boots and dark trousers.
Faith sat up, slowly.
“Ah, yeah.
I’m okay,” she said.
The man frowned, dark eyebrows drawn together
as he watched her. Faith stared back. He had dark eyes too, so dark they looked
almost black. His hair was damp, messy around his ears, and she wondered if he
was hot from working or wet from the hose.
He wasn’t wearing the official fire fighter
uniform like the first guys who’d arrived had been, but he’d obviously been
working on the house and he had a helmet tucked under his arm.
She looked back down at the ground. He was
still watching her and she didn’t know what to say.
“The house is as good as destroyed,” he said,
voice
more gentle
this time. “But what’s important is
that you got out.”
She nodded, but she didn’t raise her head. He
was the second person to say it to her and she knew it was true. Losing their possessions
was nothing compared to them getting out without being hurt.
The man dropped to the ground in front of her,
resting on his haunches. “Hey.”
Faith fought the urge to pull away as he placed
a hand on her arm, his touch warm on her bare skin.
“Are you sure you don’t need to see a medic?”
As she shook her head his hand moved to her
face, fingers catching her chin gently and turning her face to one side. She
closed her eyes, couldn’t do anything else. Having a man this close didn’t feel
right, made her uncomfortable. But his touch was soft, and part of her wished
she could lean into it. That for once she had someone beside her who cared
enough to be there for her, to be the strong one.
“I, ah,” she swallowed a lump of emotion away,
trying hard to be brave. “The paramedic is looking at my son first. I’ll let
them look me over once they’re done with him, and I think I have to speak to an
investigator.”
That made the guy frown again, but he dropped
his hold on her and stood up. Even though it wasn’t fully light yet, she could
imagine how large his shadow would be if the sun was behind him. He was tall,
strong and broad.
She sighed. He looked like the kind of man
capable of putting out a blaze like the one that had taken over her house.
“Do you have somewhere to go?
Someone who can take you in?”
Faith shook her head, biting down on her lip to
stop the tears hovering in the corners of her eyes from falling. What could she
say to that?
No, I don’t have anyone.
Someone torched my house deliberately and we’ll probably have to stay in our
car tonight? We have
no where
else to go.
He looked uncomfortable. The man raked one hand
through his hair, before offering her a hand to pull her to her feet. She could
see from the way he was standing, the way he held his mouth, that he wasn’t
sure what to say. That he wasn’t entirely comfortable in this situation,
either.
Faith took a deep breath, steadying
herself
, before she reached for him and let him help her up.
His warm palm covered hers, the strength of him
pulling her gently to her feet and then steadying her as she stood.
“I’m Jake,” he said.
“Faith,” she stammered.
He smiled and put his arm around her shoulders,
holding her close and walking her in the direction of the ambulance.
She didn’t bother resisting. Suddenly her legs
seemed too weak to hold her upright, knees threatening to knock together. And
she had that sick sensation back in her stomach. Not to mention the fact that
she’d just realized they couldn’t sleep in her car, because the keys were most
likely melted into a lump of metal inside.
“I’m going to leave you with the medic, so you
get looked over properly, then I’m going to go back and help my team,” he told
her.
She leaned into him and focused on each step.
“And then I’m going to come back for you.”
Faith looked up at him, letting go only when
the medic took her arm. She still hadn’t been formally interviewed by anyone
from the fire department, but she didn’t care.
“You don’t need to come back,” she said in a
weak voice. “I’ll be fine.”
He shook his head and did the hand through his
hair thing again. He still looked uncomfortable, but he also looked determined.
Like he was used to dishing out orders.
“I’m coming back because you need somewhere to
stay, and I’m picking up that no one’s offered you a bed for the night yet.”
Faith looked over her shoulder as she was led
away by another paramedic, eyes not leaving the handsome stranger who was still
standing where she’d left him. He wanted her to stay with him?
She wasn’t in the habit of taking charity from
strangers, let alone strange men, but then she wasn’t exactly in a position to
turn him down. They had nowhere to go, and it wasn’t like there was a hotel
anywhere nearby that she could check into at this time of the morning either.
The best she could hope for would be a motel on the outskirts of town and even then
she’d have to wait until sunrise to start looking.