Tara Taylor Quinn - The Fireman's Son

Secrets are burning out of control

After she broke his heart in college, Faye Walker is the last person fire chief Reese Bristow ever expected to see again, especially as his new EMT. But that’s not Reese’s only surprise. Faye has an eight-year-old son, Elliott, whose counseling at The Lemonade Stand shelter is her first priority.

It’s nearly impossible to accept that she had a child with another man—and married that man—right after their breakup. Trusting Faye won’t be easy. Especially when she reveals a secret about the boy that might tear them apart for good.

“I...have a son.”

His hand suspended midair, the paper hanging there between them, Reese looked at her.

“His name’s Elliott. He’s... During the day he’s... There were only two places in the United States that offered the kind of nonresident counseling and education that he needs, and the other one is on the East Coast. I’d have to recertify and...”

She had a son. He dropped his hand to his side. His Faye. The woman he’d thought would be the mother of his children...had a son.

“He’s severely at risk, Reese. To move him now, after he’s started the program... To move him from Southern California, the only home he’s ever known... Please. Give me a second chance to show you that I have what it takes to be reliable. I’m good at my job. Really good. You’ve seen my credentials and performance reports. I won’t let you, your department or Santa Raquel down.”

“Severely at risk,” he repeated. “What does that mean?”

Dear Reader,

I’m so glad you’re joining us in Santa Raquel. I love this town, the beach, the people and, of course, The Lemonade Stand, Where Secrets are Safe.

The scary thing is that abuse comes in many forms. From different, often unpredictable, sources. It comes verbally, physically, emotionally. And sometimes...sexually.

The really, really good news is that in every city there are places where caring people help victims of abuse recover. Places where victims can find healing. Where many can find hope and the ability to open their hearts and love again.

This story is particularly close to my heart. I can tell you from firsthand knowledge that women suffer as Faye did more often than you’d ever expect. I can also say, unequivocally, that with love, kindness and the right man, women like Faye do find pure joy again. The world is filled with survivors. Women who know and value their strengths. Who reach out to other women who’ve been where they’ve been and are struggling to get where they are. Women who care.

Please come on in to The Lemonade Stand. Join us. As a collective group, we’re going to make the world a beautiful, safe place. One heart at a time.

I love to hear from my readers. Please find me at Facebook.com/tarataylorquinnand on Twitter, @tarataylorquinn. Or join my open Friendship board on Pinterest, Pinterest.com/tarataylorquinn/friendship!

All the best,

Tara

www.TaraTaylorQuinn.com

The Fireman’s Son

Tara Taylor Quinn

www.millsandboon.co.uk

Having written over eighty novels, TARA TAYLOR QUINN is a USA TODAY bestselling author with more than seven million copies sold. She is known for delivering intense, emotional fiction. Tara is a past president of Romance Writers of America. She has won a Readers’ Choice Award and is a five-time finalist for an RWA RITA® Award, a finalist for a Reviewers’ Choice Award and a Booksellers’ Best Award. She has also appeared on TV across the country, including CBS Sunday Morning. She supports the National Domestic Violence Hotline. If you or someone you know might be a victim of domestic violence in the United States, please contact 1-800-799-7233.

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For the ones who know Faye’s story intimately—you are stronger than you know.

This is your reminder.

Contents

Cover

Back Cover Text

Introduction

Dear Reader

Title Page

About the Author

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

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

CHAPTER NINETEEN

CHAPTER TWENTY

CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE

CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO

CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE

CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR

CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE

CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX

CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN

CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT

CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE

CHAPTER THIRTY

CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE

CHAPTER THIRTY-TWO

CHAPTER THIRTY-THREE

Extract

Copyright

CHAPTER ONE

REESE BRISTOW WOULD not normally race to the scene of a small fire on the beach in the middle of the night. He was the newly appointed Santa Raquel Fire Chief. One truck of junior firefighters could handle the call half asleep.

Still, there he was, in jeans and a T-shirt, racing up the beach behind men in full gear carrying hoses he hoped they wouldn’t need to use.

If they could smother the fire instead of drench it, there’d be more evidence.

And that was why Reese was there. To get a look at the initial evidence firsthand.

Holding back to give the suited men ample room, he watched his team. Three in turnout wear, one in paramedic blues. Even suited up and from the rear, he could tell who was who. Brandt, his second-in-command, was the tall one who ran with the bent knees of a track star. Riley had the shoulders of a football player. And Mark, at five-one, was the smallest firefighter he’d ever known.

Gaze moving to the paramedic, Reese frowned. He didn’t recognize the guy—or more specifically the rounded derriere that filled out those blues like a man wouldn’t.

The new hire. He’d vetted her file, but Brandt had done the interviewing and hiring. Reese had spent much of the past week between his office, scenes and a forensic lab in LA trying to find anything that would help him solve the rash of small fires being set around Santa Raquel.

As one of Southern Cal’s wonder-boy fire investigators, he was not doing so wonderfully. Pathetic, considering he was the man who’d been in national news for his work on a fire that had killed most of a family. The husband and father was the only surviving member. He’d claimed he’d jumped out his bedroom window when he awoke to the flames. All evidence had pointed to an accident. All of it. No matter how many times Reese had looked at it. But he’d had a hunch.

Made into a strong suspicion when he heard that the survivor had completed a fire training course years before in another state under a different name.

It turned out the husband had set the fire himself. The guy had made one mistake. When he’d broken the window to jump out—which he’d broken after the fire was set—he’d left the glass on the ground just as it had fallen. Glass that wasn’t as shattered, or as sooty, as it would have been if the fire had been burning as hot and as close as the guy claimed when he took his sail.