Leigh Bale - The Forest Ranger's Return

The Soldier’s Second Chance

After being injured in Afghanistan, former soldier Dal Savatch thought he’d lost everything. But working on a horse ranch for disabled children teaches him to appreciate the life he still has. When the new forest ranger in town turns out to be Dal’s first love, his tranquil world is turned upside down. For years, Julie Granger’s been carrying a painful secret that’s prevented her from having what she wants most: a family. Reuniting with Dal has her suddenly believing in dreams she thought were long buried. Can two wounded souls find healing and happiness in a future together?

“Don’t you think it’s time we both stop pretending we don’t remember each other?” Dal said.

“I’m sorry, Dal. I…I didn’t know what to say. I just didn’t think it mattered anymore.”

“Well, it does. And I’ve still got some questions you may not want to answer.”

Julie’s mind raced as those old feelings of dread and fear seeped through every pore in her body. “Like what?”

“Like why you stopped writing me. And why you wouldn’t return my phone calls. What happened, Julie? You just disappeared off the face of the earth. Why did you abandon me?”

Her gaze locked with his. In his eyes, she saw all the anguish she’d caused him. All the pain she herself felt inside. “I never meant to hurt you, Dal. Please believe I didn’t have a choice. Not really.”

“No choice?” His voice escalated, betraying his anger. “You stopped all communication with me. Without any justification at all. Why?”

“I had my reasons. That’s all I can say.”

How could she tell him the truth?

LEIGH BALE

is an award-winning, multi-published novelist who won the prestigious RWA Golden Heart in 2006. More recently, she was a finalist for the Gayle Wilson Award of Excellence. She is the daughter of a retired U.S. forest ranger, holds a B.A. in History with honors and loves grandkids, spending time with family, weeding the garden with her dog Sophie, and watching the little sagebrush lizards that live in her rock flowerbeds.

Married in 1981 to the love of her life, Leigh and her professor husband now have two wonderful children and two grandchildren. But life has not always been rosy. In 1996, Leigh’s seven-year-old daughter was diagnosed with an inoperable brain tumor. In the dark years that followed, God never abandoned them. After six surgeries, two hundred and eighty-four stitches, a year of chemo and a myriad of other difficulties, Leigh’s daughter is now a grown woman and considered one of the less-than-one-percent survivorship in the world for her type of tumor. Life is good!

Truly the Lord has blessed Leigh’s family. She now transfers the love and faith she’s known into the characters of her stories. Readers who have their own trials can find respite within the uplifting message of Leigh’s books. You can reach Leigh at P.O. Box 61381, Reno, Nevada 89506, or visit her website at www.leighbale.com.

The Forest Ranger’s Return

Leigh Bale

www.millsandboon.co.uk

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For the Son of man is not come to destroy men’s lives, but to save them.

—Luke 9:56

This book is dedicated to my Aunt Joan.

Boy, do I ever love you, babe!

And thanks again to Sara Goldberg,

a prosthetist with Hanger Clinic.

This is the second book where your knowledge

and expertise has helped me immensely.

Also, many thanks to Barbara Chastain

(Center for Adaptive Riding, Reno, Nevada),

Carrie Davis (Empowering Amputees), Alyssa Gale (Camp Riley), Edward Hicks (Adventure Camp), Chris Platt, and Beverly Skaggs (Hanger Clinic). Each of these wonderful people provided me

with details big and small on how to run a camp

for amputee kids and how to deal with a prosthesis. The world is a much better place because

we have folks like you.

I apologize profusely for any errors in this book. They are mine alone.

Contents

Chapter One

Chapter Two

Chapter Three

Chapter Four

Chapter Five

Chapter Six

Chapter Seven

Chapter Eight

Chapter Nine

Chapter Ten

Chapter Eleven

Chapter Twelve

Chapter Thirteen

Chapter Fourteen

Chapter Fifteen

Epilogue

Dear Reader

Questions for Discussion

Excerpt

Chapter One

Dallin Savatch breathed deep of the cool morning air. Stepping off the wraparound porch at Sunrise Ranch, he glanced at the damp dirt road surrounded by fields of newly sprouting alfalfa. Dark shadows clung to the jagged peaks of the McClellan Mountains, a hint of sunlight brightening the eastern sky. All was quiet; no one else was up yet. A whispering breeze carried the tangy scent of sage, horses and rain. Though the May weather had been unseasonably warm, a spring storm had struck in the middle of the night, awakening Dal with a clap of thunder. His left leg ached and he wasn’t able to get back to sleep.

Phantom pain, his doctor called it.

That didn’t prevent him from taking his morning run. Even at age thirty-six, nothing kept him from exercising his legs. He feared the wheelchair and losing his independence too much. Feared becoming less of a man than he already was.

He walked across the graveled driveway, then leaned against the hitching rail next to the barn. Wrapping his fingers around the coarse wood, he stretched his body for several minutes. The exercise warmed up his stiff muscles and relaxed the tight tendons.

Magpie, a gentle gray mare who didn’t mind little kids tugging on her mane, stood inside the corral. She lifted her head over the rail fence and snuffled at him.

“Sorry, girl. No sugar cubes this early in the morning.” Dal rubbed her between the ears. Then he turned and jogged toward the main road, picking up speed as he headed toward town, five miles away. He settled into an easy rhythm, his body moving well. Arms pumping. Blood pounding against his temples. Inhaling oxygen into his lungs.

He got his second wind just as he passed the turnoff to Secret Valley. His first-mile marker, where the graveled road turned into asphalt. His breathing came in even exhales. He was moving strong. Feeling invincible. But he knew from experience that was an illusion. Life was fragile, the human body easily broken.

He reached the main road, the sole of his running shoe pounding against the pavement. Another two miles and he’d turn back toward home. A rivulet of sweat tickled between his shoulder blades. He liked this quiet time when he jogged six miles before most people even started their day. He liked being alone to think about the work he had ahead of him back at the ranch. Horses to feed, stalls to muck out, bridles to repair, wild mustangs to train. Running not only cleared his head but also kept him in excellent condition. Something he valued more than anything else, except his relationship with God.

His gaze skimmed the fertile fields. A thin creek wound its lazy path through the valley and widened as it ran parallel to the road. Not once had he regretted his decision to move to Stokely, Nevada, the small ranching town where Cade Baldwin, his best friend, had settled and started a family of his own. Though Dal frequently felt like an intruder, the Baldwins were the closest thing to a family he would ever have, and he loved them dearly.