Leigh Bale - The Forest Ranger's Child

Nowhere to go but home

Six months pregnant, abandoned and without a penny to her name, Lily Hansen has only one place to go. The ranching community—and her traditional father—won’t take kindly to her situation. But when a handsome forest ranger saves Lily from a flash flood, all she sees is concern in his warm brown eyes. She soon discovers that Nate Coates’s own harrowing family history is behind his need to take care of her. Though she dreams of marriage, she’ll have to open her heart to love before she can become Nate’s wife.

“Who are you?” Lily asked.

“Nate Coates. I’m the forest ranger here. I just happened to be out checking for signs of flooding when I found you.”

“Lucky for me.”

He must have heard the unshed tears in her voice, or seen some forlorn emotion on her face, because he reached out and took her hand in his. The warmth of his calloused palm seeped through her skin and sent tingles spiraling up her arm.

“You sure you’re okay?”

Genuine concern gleamed in his expressive eyes. For several moments she couldn’t look away from his handsome face, wishing she dared confide in him. Wishing she had one single friend in this world she could tell her troubles to who wouldn’t hurt or betray her, or try to use her in some way.

Someone who would never lie to her.

His firm, lean fingers tightened around hers. She pulled away from Nate and forced a smile. “I’m just tired. It’s been a difficult day.”

“But a good day, too. You’re safe now. And your baby’s gonna be fine.”

LEIGH BALE

is a multiple award-winning author of inspirational romance, including a prestigious Golden Heart. She is the daughter of a retired U.S. forest ranger, holds a B.A. in history with distinction and is a member of Phi Kappa Phi Honor Society. She loves working, writing, grandkids, spending time with family, weeding the garden with her dog Sophie and watching the little sagebrush lizards that live in her rock flower beds. She has two married children and lives in Nevada with her professor husband of thirty-one years. Visit her website at www.LeighBale.com.

The Forest Ranger’s Child

Leigh Bale

www.millsandboon.co.uk

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For as in Adam all die,

even so in Christ shall all be made alive.

—1 Corinthians 15:22

This one is for Wade and Bonnie,

with whom I share something unique and wonderful. Our childhood. I love you both dearly.

I always have and always will. No matter what.

And many thanks to Dan Baird,

consultant extraordinaire.

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

Chapter Sixteen

Chapter Seventeen

Chapter Eighteen

Chapter Nineteen

Dear Reader

Questions for Discussion

Chapter One

He wouldn’t want her now. Not after what she’d done.

Lillian Hansen rested her left hand over her rounded stomach. Tears throbbed at the backs of her eyes. Her unborn child deserved a better mother than she could ever be. And yet, Lily couldn’t help believing that out of all the mistakes she’d made in the past, fighting for this baby’s life wasn’t one of them.

She rolled down the windows of her red compact car. Taking a deep breath, she brushed a hand across the back of her damp neck, wishing the air conditioner worked. Drafts of hot, dusty air filtered through the vents as she drove through Jasper, Nevada, the small ranching town where she’d been raised.

The town hadn’t changed much in the past seven years since she’d left home without saying goodbye. The two shabby grocery stores still faced each other across Main Street, Mallard’s gas station stood at the end of the block with the one-room post office around the corner and the red brick church house near the city park. She knew them well.

The wheels of her car thumped over the railroad tracks as she headed outside of town. Within two miles, the asphalt gave way to gravel and then dirt road. With a quick twist of her wrist, she flipped off the radio. Nothing but scratchy static in this part of Nevada.

The April weather seemed unseasonably warm. Either that or her physical condition was making changes in her body she didn’t understand. The warm breeze whipped at her long brown hair as she slowed her car and looked out at Emerald Valley. A hurtful pang of nostalgia caused her to suck back a breath. Memories swamped her as she gazed at the familiar view. Even though she’d turned her back on Dad and everything he’d tried to teach her, she still felt like she belonged here. She always had. She just hadn’t known it back then.

She should have called the ranch first to make sure Dad was home. Getting into the house wouldn’t be a problem. He never locked the front door. But it’d been three years since they’d spoken by phone. Three years since he’d begged her to come home and change her life. She’d hung up on him in anger. What would she do if he tossed her out the moment he saw her again? She had no other place to go. No job, no money, no friends and no husband.

Driving the road on autopilot, her gaze skimmed the fertile green fields filled with alfalfa and tall sedge grasses. Thin fingers of streams crisscrossed the valley, feeding off the numerous lakes higher up in the Ruby Mountains. Herds of black Angus cattle grazed lazily on the rich pasturelands. At the end of each creek bed, a ranch house and barn nestled at the base of the protective mountains.

Nothing much had changed. Except her.

The baby had been the catalyst that brought Lily to her senses. That and several blows from Tommy’s fist. When she thought of all Tommy’s empty promises, she could blame no one but herself. She’d stayed too long, making one poor choice after another. Clinging to the hope that he’d finally marry her. That he’d change and get control over his brutal temper.

And then came the final blow. He was already married.

It’d taken an unexpected pregnancy and a call from Tommy’s wife to shock Lily into reality, and she promised never to look back. She had a child to think about now. A child to protect the way Dad had tried to protect her.

She shook her head, refusing to cry. Her tears had dried up long ago. Other than Dad, she wanted no other man in her life. Ever again.

Wow! Usually Jasper River was nothing more than a dry creek bed. Now, a stream of water ran through it. The winter must have been harsh, with deep snows still showing on the mountains. The unseasonably warm weather must be causing melt-off in the higher elevations.

Lily couldn’t help being jarred from her thoughts as she turned the bend. The car backfired when she slowed it to a crawl. The narrow dirt road demanded attention as she neared the muddy streambed. Normally she should be able to drive right through on dry ground. She hoped her car wouldn’t bottom out as she crossed. If she got a running start and gunned it, she should be able to rush her car right through and up to the opposite side of the road.