Cheryl Harper - Her Heart's Bargain

He’s the kind of man—

a woman risks everything for

Head ranger Ash Kingfisher has been thrust into the eye of a political firestorm. Macy Gentry won’t quit until she clears her boss’s good name and safeguards the land they both love. The biggest obstacle is Ash, who’s determined to protect Macy at the expense of what’s developing between them. She’ll have to show their Tennessee town how much they need this special man—and how much Ash needs her .

CHERYL HARPERdiscovered her love for books and words as a little girl, thanks to a mother who made countless library trips, and an introduction to Laura Ingalls Wilder’s Little House stories. Whether stories she reads are set on the prairie, the American West, Regency England or Earth a hundred years in the future, Cheryl enjoys strong characters who make her laugh. Now Cheryl spends her days searching for the right words while she stares out the window and her dog, Jack, snoozes beside her. And she considers herself very lucky to do so.

For more information about Cheryl’s books, visit her online at cherylharperbooks.comor follow her on Twitter, @cherylharperbks.

Also by Cheryl Harper

Saving the Single Dad

Smoky Mountain Sweethearts

A Home Come True

Keeping Cole’s Promise

Heart’s Refuge

Winner Takes All

The Bluebird Bet

A Minute on the Lips

Discover more at millsandboon.co.uk

Her Heart’s Bargain

Cheryl Harper

www.millsandboon.co.uk

ISBN: 978-1-474-09076-6

HER HEART’S BARGAIN

© 2018 Cheryl Harper

Published in Great Britain 2019

by Mills & Boon, an imprint of HarperCollins Publishers 1 London Bridge Street, London, SE1 9GF

All rights reserved including the right of reproduction in whole or in part in any form. This edition is published by arrangement with Harlequin Books S.A.

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, locations and incidents are purely fictional and bear no relationship to any real life individuals, living or dead, or to any actual places, business establishments, locations, events or incidents. Any resemblance is entirely coincidental.

By payment of the required fees, you are granted the non-exclusive, non-transferable right and licence to download and install this e-book on your personal computer, tablet computer, smart phone or other electronic reading device only (each a “Licensed Device”) and to access, display and read the text of this e-book on-screen on your Licensed Device. Except to the extent any of these acts shall be permitted pursuant to any mandatory provision of applicable law but no further, no part of this e-book or its text or images may be reproduced, transmitted, distributed, translated, converted or adapted for use on another file format, communicated to the public, downloaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of publisher.

® and ™ are trademarks owned and used by the trademark owner and/or its licensee. Trademarks marked with ® are registered with the United Kingdom Patent Office and/or the Office for Harmonisation in the Internal Market and in other countries.

www.millsandboon.co.uk

Version: 2018-12-18

This one’s for my team, the friends who move

closer instead of away when life takes a turn.

How lucky I am to have you!

Contents

Cover

Back Cover Text

About the Author

Booklist

Title Page

Copyright

Dedication

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

CHAPTER SIXTEEN

Extract

About the Publisher

CHAPTER ONE

THE FIRST TIME a reporter called to ask for an official comment from Ranger Ash Kingfisher, the man in charge of the Otter Lake Ranger Station, Macy Gentry made the mistake of asking for more details. Most of the calls that came in to the station were easy to handle. Directions. Suggestions for hotels. Campground reservations. Questions about the best time to visit to see otters or bears or fall color. Sometimes there was an odd call that got misdirected from one of the state or national parks, but after four years, she’d learned to manage everything like clockwork.

Today, her foolproof system had hit a snag with one simple request for a quote from her boss. She’d stumbled; the reporter had pounced, demanding to know Ash’s whereabouts, and she’d hung up the phone.

Since she took pride in her phone skills, that abrupt ending had been enough to rattle Macy.

Very rarely was she pushed to that extreme. Rudeness had no place at the visitor desk of the ranger station. Unfortunately, that rare snowflake had turned into an avalanche of similar calls.

“Sharks, the lot of ’em.” As soon as there was one drop of blood in the water, she had a swarm on her hands. After more than an hour of juggling calls, Macy was feeling a bit bloodied and a whole lot frazzled. “What I need is a harpoon, scatter them sharks with one shot.” Irritated with her own overreaction to the problem, she muttered, “Get a grip, Macy. It’s easier to turn the ringer off on the phone.” The ranger station had protocols for every conceivable emergency.

“ Almost every emergency.” Macy flipped through the binder she’d insisted Ash put together before slapping it back in the labeled slot where it lived. He’d been exasperated by all her “just in case” scenarios. “Looks like I left one off the list—attack of the reporters.”

Since she prided herself and intimidated those around her with extreme capability, losing control of the situation was not an option. Macy had a lot of work to do. The ranger station served as the administration building for all the law enforcement rangers and park guides responsible for the educational programs and public outreach at Otter Lake. In this building, everyone had an important job and they all answered to the head ranger, Ash Kingfisher.

Ash made his reports to the chief ranger in Knoxville, along with the fire chief and head rangers of the two other, smaller ranger stations at Awi on the north edge and Lena Prospect on the far southeastern line, but he was the man who kept Otter Lake operational, and she was his right hand. This circus was hampering her ability to mark things off her to-do list.

The man who might explain exactly why there was all this attention on the station was currently AWOL.

With great difficulty, Macy ignored the ringing desk phone to pick up her cell phone and glared hard at the screen. He should have answered her call for help by now.

“In this crazy ol’ world, I got you, Ash Kingfisher. Don’t you let me down,” she muttered and then switched her glare to flashing lights on the ringing desk phone. The second line, the one that only rang when she was absent or too sick to function at an acceptable rate of speed, was lit up. “That devil’s selling popsicles today because something has got to be freezing over.” Macy took a deep breath and picked up the first line. “Otter Lake Ranger Station. How may I assist you today?” Macy hoped she was the only person picking up on the crack of strain.