Ranger's Baby Read online

  Ranger’s Baby

  Iron Horse Legacy Book #2

  Elle James

  Twisted Page Inc

  Contents

  RANGER’S BABY

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  The Billionaire Husband Test

  Chapter 1

  About the Author

  Also by Elle James

  RANGER’S BABY

  IRON HORSE LEGACY BOOK #2

  New York Times & USA Today

  Bestselling Author

  * * *

  ELLE JAMES

  Copyright © 2019 by Elle James

  All rights reserved.

  No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the author, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.

  EBOOK ISBN: 978-1-62695-259-1

  PRINT ISBN: 978-1-62695-266-9

  This book is dedicated to my best buddy ever, Chewy. Short for Chewbacca, this little spitfire of a Yorkie melted my heart from the first day I saw him. He’s been my shadow, my muse and my best friend. As he grows old, I love him even more. I know some day he will not be with me anymore, and I’ll be heartbroken. But I’ll have all the good memories of how funny, perky and devoted he was. Love you, Chewy!

  Escape with...

  Elle James

  aka Myla Jackson

  Author’s Note

  Enjoy other military books by Elle James

  * * *

  Iron Horse Legacy

  Soldier’s Duty (#1)

  Ranger’s Baby (#2)

  Marine’s Promise (#3) TBD

  SEAL’s Vow (#4) TBD

  Visit ellejames.com for more titles and release dates

  For hot cowboys, visit her alter ego Myla Jackson at mylajackson.com

  and join Elle James and Myla Jackson's Newsletter at Newsletter

  Chapter 1

  Fiona walked into the sheriff’s office at six in the morning, tired from pulling the night shift.

  “Mornin’, sunshine,” Sheriff Tom Barron called out from where he stood at the station’s coffee pot. He set the carafe on the burner and held up his mug. “Need a cup?”

  “Yes,” she said. “I think that was the longest night ever. Though I’m happy it was a slow night for crime, I would’ve welcomed a domestic disturbance to help keep me awake.”

  The sheriff lifted his mug in salute. “I’ll pass on domestic disturbances. Last one I handled was at Beau Gaither’s place…that worthless piece of—”

  She arched an eyebrow. “Now, Tom. You said you were going to cut back on your cursing.”

  The sheriff ran a hand through his gray hair. “I did, didn’t I?” He sighed. “Just the thought of the Gaither-Faulkner clan gets my blood boiling. One of these days, Beau’s going to kill Lindsay. She won’t have to press charges. Sadly, she’ll be dead.”

  “Why does she put up with him beating her all the time?”

  “Same as everyone else in that family. They’re all afraid of Barb, their mama. That woman runs a tight ship of miscreants and takes care of her own, even if it means killing to protect their sorry asses.”

  Fiona shook her head. “Add breaking and entering and killing to the things she’ll do to cover up for her children’s indiscretions.”

  “I’m not gonna lie, I’m a little afraid of her, myself,” Tom said. “Until we can get some foolproof evidence on her, I won’t touch her with a ten-foot pole.”

  “Ever find out how that flashlight disappeared out of the evidence locker?” Fiona wondered how the murder weapon could have been lost so completely.

  “Not a clue. But I’ve installed surveillance cameras. That kind of thing won’t happen again.” He lifted his mug to blow on the steam and take a sip of his coffee. “I hated cutting Mark Faulkner loose. But no evidence— the murder weapon—no conviction.”

  “Someone needs to shoot that man.” Fiona rinsed her mug in the sink and filled it with fragrant brew. “I’d do it myself, if I thought I could get away with it.”

  The sheriff held up his free hand. “I’d swear on a stack of bibles that it was self-defense. Then again, the way his clan works, they’d make sure you didn’t make it to trial. And I’d hate to think of little Caity growing up without her mama. It’s hard enough she’s growing up without her father. You ever tell him?”

  Fiona’s lips pressed into a thin line. “Not yet.”

  “You gonna?”

  She nodded. “Soon.”

  “Caity’s how old?”

  “You know how old she is.” Fiona wished she’d never told him who the father was, but the sheriff was her boss. If anything happened to her, he’d be the one to notify Caity’s father.

  “Six months after giving birth, and you still haven’t told him?” Tom shook his head. “He’s in town now, but then I know you’re aware of that. What’s holding you back?”

  “He’s not here to see me. He’s here because his father’s missing. Speaking of which…anything new on James McKinnon’s whereabouts?”

  Again, the sheriff shook his head. “Nothing.”

  Fiona nodded, her jaw tight. “I’m counting no news as a good thing. It means we haven’t found a body.”

  “And we haven’t found William Reed’s killer.”

  “My bet is when we find the man who murdered Reed, we’ll find the McKinnon patriarch.” Fiona prayed they found both men alive. James McKinnon was a taciturn father to the McKinnon children, but he was a good man who loved his family, and his family loved him. Fiona had enjoyed a few meals at the McKinnon dinner table growing up. As Duncan McKinnon’s best friend and high school study partner, she’d known the McKinnons as well as anyone. She’d been on the hunt for William Reed when James had disappeared.

  She’d known then that his disappearance would bring all of the McKinnon boys home to Iron Horse Ranch and her moment of truth would have arrived.

  Fiona sipped her coffee, swallowed and stared at the wall in front of her. Why had she waited so long? If she’d thought, after what they’d shared, that he’d come running back to her and declare his love, she’d been sorely disappointed.

  To Duncan, she was a friend, nothing more. A friend who’d seduced him one night when he’d had a bit too much to drink.

  She could barely forgive herself for taking advantage of him in his inebriated state. But she couldn’t regret it. Not now. Not with the results being the most beautiful baby she could have ever dreamed of.

  Caity Hannah McKinnon had been born nine months after that fateful night, fifteen months ago. And Duncan McKinnon still didn’t know he had a daughter.

  Sheriff Barron touched her arm, bringing her back to the present. “Tell him, Fee.”

  She nodded. “I will.”

  “In the meantime, you need to get some rest.”

  She snorted. “That’s not likely to happen anytime soon.”

  “If I could, I’d give you all day shifts, but we’re pretty shorthanded as it is.”

  Fiona shook her head. “You can’t play favorites, and no one wants to work graveyard the rest of their lives. Besides, I’m too wound up to sleep right away after getting off duty. I like to spend a few hours with Caity then sleep when she goes down for her nap.”

  “Ruth is really good about taking her when you need to rest…?”

  “She’s a life sav
er. I couldn’t do this single parent thing without her.”

  “You wouldn’t have to be a single parent, if you let Caity’s daddy know she exists,” Tom reminded her.

  “I know. I know. I just have to find the right moment to break it to him.”

  “Fee, there’s never a right moment to break it to a man that he has a six-month-old daughter. You’ll have to rip off that bandage and make it happen.”

  He wasn’t telling her anything she didn’t already know. Nothing was going to make it easier. She’d gone to the airport when he’d been there to pick up his brother. She’d hoped to tell him then. But his family had been all around him, grieving for the loss of their father. The time hadn’t been right and never would be.

  She’d do it later that evening. After she’d spent time playing with Caity, and then had a couple hours of fortifying sleep.

  The door to the sheriff’s office opened, and Ruth Henson entered, carrying the very person Fiona had never imagined she could love more than anyone else in the world.

  “Caity, baby.” Fiona held out her arms.

  Caity blinked and rubbed her eyes before grinning and reaching out her chubby hands to her.

  Fiona hugged Caity close, inhaling the baby powder smell of the child and loving her so much her heart felt as if it could burst.

  “How’s my sweeting?” she cooed. “Did you sleep well for Auntie Ruth?” Looking over Caity’s shoulder, Fiona smiled at Ruth.

  “She slept from ten until five this morning.” Ruth set the diaper bag on the front desk. “Thank you for letting me drop her off here. I have to get to Bozeman for a doctor appointment today. I’ll be back this afternoon in time for you to sleep.”

  “No worries,” Fiona said. “I’ve gone a couple days without sleep before. I can do it again.”

  The sheriff frowned. “Not and work night shift. Don’t you have anyone else who can take Caity while you sleep?”

  Fiona thought of Duncan and shoved that thought out of her mind. “Not yet. But hopefully soon.”

  The sheriff’s eyes narrowed, and his eyebrows pulled together. “Think about what I said earlier.”

  Fiona twisted her mouth into a wry grin. “That’s what I meant by yet.”

  Ruth crossed her arms over her chest and frowned at them. “You two are making it really hard for me to eavesdrop and make sense of what you’re saying, when I have to stand outside the door to do it.”

  “It’s nothing,” Fiona said.

  “If nothing means, you don’t want to talk about Caity’s father, then I get it. You don’t want to talk about him. I think it’s way past time you told him.” She raised her brows. “And since he’s in town, there’s no time like the present.”

  Fiona gasped. “You know?”

  “I wasn’t for certain until a few moments ago. But I am now.” Ruth’s gray brows rose. “So, what are you waiting for?”

  Fiona’s gaze switched from Ruth to Tom, and then to Caity. “I don’t know what I’m waiting for. Maybe a few hours of sleep?” She gave her baby a crooked smile. “It’s only fair that you know your daddy. But I need a few hours of sleep.” She faced Ruth again. “I promise to do it tonight. Right after I sleep for at least four hours. I’ll need all my strength. He’s sure to be angry, and I don’t know if I can handle a baby and an angry man all at once.”

  Ruth’s eyes narrowed, “Promise?”

  Fiona’s eyebrows lowered. “I said I would.”

  With the sheriff and Ruth staring her down with accusing gazes, Fiona knew she wouldn’t get out of it. She hiked the diaper bag on her shoulder, hugged Ruth and balanced Caity on her hip. “I’ll see you two later.”

  Fiona left the sheriff’s office, tucked Caity into her car seat in the back of her ten-year-old Jeep Wrangler and drove down Main Street in Eagle Rock, turned right onto Glory Road and headed out to the tiny cottage she’d rented, the only place she could afford on a deputy’s salary.

  The white clapboard house, with its quaint front porch and neat little grass-covered yard, faced Glory Cemetery. Fortunately, it was next door to Ruth’s cottage, the one person in all of Eagle Rock who’d made Fiona’s life easier throughout her pregnancy and after she’d gone back to work for the sheriff’s department. Without Ruth, she didn’t know how she would have survived.

  As soon as she’d realized she was pregnant, Fiona had known she couldn’t continue to live in the apartment she’d rented next to the Blue Moon Tavern. The noise, day and night, would’ve kept a baby awake and the lack of yard to play in were factors she’d considered when she’d gone house hunting.

  Price had been the next biggest deciding factor. When she’d found the little white cottage across from the cemetery, she’d thought at first that it would be a depressing and terrible place to raise a child. Then she’d met Ruth, who’d come out on her porch to say hello with a friendly smile.

  Ruth had moved to Eagle Rock a few years before with her husband, when he’d been working for the oil pipeline project running through the area. Her husband had been involved in a terrible accident that had claimed his life.

  Instead of moving away, Ruth chose to stay in Eagle Rock in the small cottage they’d shared. She visited him daily in the cemetery, tending the flowers on his grave in the summer and brushing away the snow in the winter.

  Ruth’s husband was buried two rows over from where Fiona’s parents had been laid to rest a few years prior to Ruth’s loss.

  After talking with Ruth for an hour, Fiona knew the little house on Glory Cemetery Road was the one for her and her unborn child.

  Ruth filled the gaping void Fiona’s mother had left when she’d passed away right after Fiona had graduated from college with a degree in criminal justice.

  As she pulled into the driveway of her cottage, she glanced into the rearview mirror at her daughter, cooing softly and playing with her teething ring. She’d be set for a moment while Fiona unloaded a couple bags of baby clothes Emily Tremont had left for her at the sheriff’s station. Emily and Fiona went back to high school days. Emily had been the pretty outgoing friend to Fiona’s quiet tomboy shyness.

  Fiona had preferred hanging out with Duncan and his brothers rather than playing with makeup and talking about cute boys with Emily. Not until they’d grown and gone away to college and come back had Fiona and Emily forged a lasting, real friendship over coffee and a love of gardening.

  Fiona smiled at the roses blooming in her flower beds. She and Emily had found the plants on a trip to Bozeman. Emily said they reminded her of the roses that used to grow in her grandmother’s garden in Valier.

  Emily was also a thrifty shopper, something Fiona hated doing. She hit the yard sales, thrift stores and sales racks for the beautiful clothing she wore on a daily basis. But she also managed to find the cutest outfits for Caity for dirt cheap. The only real expenses Fiona had for her daughter were keeping her in formula, baby food, diapers and a roof over her head. With the help from Ruth babysitting for next to nothing and Emily finding suitable clothing for a baby, Fiona had been able to take care of her baby, keeping her warm and happy.

  “I’ll be right back.” Fiona gathered the two bags of clothes and carried them up the steps on the front porch.

  Shifting one of the bags to her other hand, she reached into her uniform pocket for her key and started to put it into the lock when she realized the door wasn’t closed all the way.

  Her hackles rose, and she tensed.

  Laying the bags on the porch, she shot a glance toward the vehicle, debating whether to edge away from door and return to the sheriff’s station, or go in.

  She never left the door open. Looking closer, she could see the wooden doorframe was splintered like it had been forced open.

  A sound of glass breaking made Fiona draw her service weapon. She nudged the door open and peered inside.

  Her heart leaped to her throat. The living room looked as if a tornado had torn through it, upending the furniture, slinging cushions and reducing the tables to
kindling.

  The sound of more glass breaking set Fiona on edge, and her police training kicked in. She slipped into the living room, carefully placing each foot to avoid making a sound.

  Then a darkly clad perp, wearing a ski mask, darted out into the hallway, carrying two of her butcher knives. The whites of his eyes got whiter as he realized he was no longer alone. He flung the knives at her.

  Fiona ducked behind a doorway, out of range. The knives clattered to the floor, one sticking into the hardwood.

  Footsteps sounded, crunching on glass in the kitchen, and the back door banged open.

  Though she wanted to follow and put a bullet through the intruder, Fiona was more afraid he’d circle back and try to take her car.

  She ran out the front to where she’d left her car in the cool morning sunlight. She ran to the vehicle and found Caity smiling up at her through the window, completely unaware of the drama unfolding.

  A motorcycle roared to life at the back of the house and raced into the woods behind it.

  Her hands shaking, Fiona dialed the first person she thought of. As she waited for the line to ring, she told herself over and over, it was the right thing to do.

  * * *

  The incessant ringing ripped through Duncan McKinnon’s dream, reminding him of the shrill beeping of an alarm warning in the helicopter he and his squad had been traveling in when it had been hit by rocket-propelled grenade fire.

  The Black Hawk had been hit badly and plummeted to the ground, the pilot doing his best to land it without killing those souls still alive on board.