Victoria Austin - Rocky Mountain Showdown

Danger strikes her mountain refuge

And only he can save her

Trapped between a raging forest fire and an army of gunmen, Laura Donovan and her daughter must rely on her knowledge of the mountain to get to safety. But without park ranger Seth Callahan’s help, they might not make it. And though trust comes hard for Laura, she has no doubt the wounded warrior will sacrifice everything to keep them alive.

VICTORIA AUSTINlives in the American Midwest with her husband, children and dogs. Her kids write notes in the furniture dust and the family watches television with the closed captioning on because the house is, um, loud. She likes chocolate, peace and quiet, chocolate and silence. She gets too much of one and too little of the other. This explains the tight pants and the many, many, many gray hairs.

Also By Victoria Austin

Rocky Mountain Showdown

Family of Convenience

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Rocky Mountain Showdown

Victoria Austin

www.millsandboon.co.uk

ISBN: 978-1-474-09492-4

ROCKY MOUNTAIN SHOWDOWN

© 2019 Victoria Austin

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.

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www.millsandboon.co.uk

Version: 2020-03-02

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“Laura, I have two favors to ask of you.”

Seth went on, “I’m sorry, but I have to ask.”

“What?” Favors? What exactly could she do for him?

“If we run into the men, I’m going to fight them as best as I can. I need you to take Abby and run, okay? Through the river or wherever you think is the safest. But let me fight and distract them and buy you some time. Please?”

That was a favor for him? It seemed like a favor for her. But Laura knew why he was asking. The thought of leaving Seth to near certain death hit her harder than she would have ever imagined. He was a park ranger. A stranger.

And she did not want him to die.

“Okay. I’ll try, Seth.” She hoped that was good enough.

“The second favor is a bigger one. When you get out of this, I want you to get a message to my family. Will you please tell them that I’m sorry and that I love them?”

Dear Reader,

Thank you so much for reading Seth and Laura’s story. This is my first book for Love Inspired Suspense. I’m a big fan of stories involving suspense, love and faith and am delighted to share this one with you.

Rocky Mountain Showdown is about trying to be safe in a dangerous world. It’s also about dealing with shame. My guiding Bible verse for this book was Isaiah 54:4. It talks about forgetting the shame of our youth. I love that thought—that today’s trials will become not just something of the past, but something in the past that we are able to forget.

This world is scary and hard and uncontrollable. Though I try not to, I mess up on a daily basis. I’m familiar with shame and regret and despair. But I’m also familiar with hope. With Jesus and His promise. It’s my sincere wish that you know Him, too.

I would love to hear from you. You can find my email address and social media links on my website at www.victoriawaustin.com.

Victoria Austin

Fear not; for thou shalt not be ashamed: neither be thou confounded; for thou shalt not be put to shame: for thou shalt forget the shame of thy youth, and shalt not remember the reproach of thy widowhood any more.

—Isaiah 54:4

To my family—

I have everything because I have you.

Contents

Cover

Back Cover Text

About the Author

Booklist

Title Page

Copyright

Introduction

Dear Reader

Bible Verse

Dedication

ONE

TWO

THREE

FOUR

FIVE

SIX

SEVEN

EIGHT

NINE

TEN

ELEVEN

TWELVE

THIRTEEN

FOURTEEN

FIFTEEN

SIXTEEN

EPILOGUE

Extract

About the Publisher

The first thing Laura Donovan saw when she regained consciousness was the man leaning over her.

The first thing she felt was her fist connecting with his jaw.

“Hey!” the man exclaimed, stepping back quickly while holding his jaw. His hat fell to the floor.

Laura scrambled to her feet, trying to keep an eye on the man while desperately scanning the cabin for Abby. She didn’t see her daughter anywhere. “Where’s my daughter?” Laura was breathing hard like she had just run for miles, and she could feel her heart pounding in her chest. The muscles in her fingers tightened as she thought about fighting this man. She would do it if she had to. She would do anything to save her daughter.

The man’s eyes widened and his hand moved away from his face. Instead, he held both hands in front of him, palms out, as if trying to show Laura that he was harmless. He was looking at Laura like she was a crazy person. “Your daughter?”

The man was dressed like a park ranger, right down to the ridiculous hat. Maybe he was a park ranger, since Mahoney’s men had all been dressed in black from head to toe. Laura didn’t care. She did not have time for this game. She had no idea how long she’d been unconscious, and she had no idea where Mahoney and his men were.

“Abby! Abigail!” Laura tried to sound calm, but there was no keeping the emotion from her voice. “It’s okay, honey! Please come out. Please!” Laura ran into the cabin’s first bedroom, flung open the closet door and dropped to her belly to look under the bed. Nothing. She ran into the bathroom and frantically pulled open the cupboard doors looking for the three-year-old. Where was she?