The Mansfield Rescue
The power of love.After his wife’s murder, Grant Mansfield vowed to stay true to her memory and protect their children. But fate has other plans. His temporary houseguest, injured smokejumper Amy Robinson, has him burning with a white-hot attraction… and when his older daughter is kidnapped, Grant begins to feel his vow slipping from his fingertips…Grant is just the man adventurous Amy never knew she needed and his children are the family she never knew she wanted. But, before Amy can rescue his lonely heart, the handsome widower must rescue his little girl, before time runs out…
Читать The Mansfield Rescue онлайн беплатно
âWeâll find your daughter.â
Despite her words, Grant felt as if his limbs were weighted down with worry, grief and dread of what he might find in the woods. Or not find. He hesitated as he walked to the door, remembering something that sent a chill to his bones.
Failure and disappointment washed over him. âIt was the last promise I made to my wife. To keep Peyton safe. And nowââ
Amy stepped close and wrapped her arms around him, then rested her chin on his shoulder. She said nothing, but her embrace said more than anything she could verbalize.
Amy was there for him. She had come to mean so much to him in just a few days. Sure, he recognized his physical attraction to her for what it was, but heâd also grown close to her on a personal level that went far deeper than sexual chemistry. That connection scared him. Heâd only had this sort of connection with one other person in his life.
He hoped he didnât lose Amy, too.
BETH CORNELISON started writing stories as a child when she penned a tale about the adventures of her cat, Ajax. A Georgia native, she received her bachelorâs degree in public relations from the University of Georgia. After working in public relations for a little more than a year, she moved with her husband to Louisiana, where she decided to pursue her love of writing fiction.
Since that first time, Beth has written many more stories of adventure and romantic suspense and has won numerous honors for her work, including a coveted Golden Heart Award in romantic suspense from Romance Writers of America. She is active on the board of directors for the North Louisiana Storytellers and Authors of Romance (NOLA STARS) and loves reading, traveling, Peanutsâ Snoopy and spending downtime with her family.
She writes from her home in Louisiana, where she lives with her husband, one son and two cats who think they are people. Beth loves to hear from her readers. You can write to her at PO Box 5418, Bossier City, LA 71171, USA, or visit her website, www.bethcornelison.com.
To Doris Robinson, dear friend and plotter extraordinaire, for suggesting the perfect twist to get this book moving when I got stuck. Youâre a treasure to me! Thanks also to Teresa Hughes and her son, Payne, for the balloon release scene idea.
Contents
Smoke jumper Amy Robinson squinted out the window of the Twin Otter jump ship at the massive smoke column billowing skyward from the forest below. A yellow-gray haze blanketed the Idaho mountain range. The fire was huge, a gobbler.
Anticipation spiked in her blood. Reaching into a pocket of her jumpsuit, she fingered the key to her fatherâs old Mustang convertible. Stella. She walked her fingers up the key to the locket ornament on the key chain. One side of the locket held a picture of her father, taken two months before he died, and the other side was inscribed, Carpe diem. Seize the day. A bit trite, she admitted, but only a short motto would fit in the tiny locket, and the words were enough to remind her not to let her past define her or hold her back. The sentiment had kept her going as she worked to become the only female smoke jumper on her squad and only one of a handful of women smoke jumpers in the United States.
âAll right, first stick, get in the door!â the spotter shouted.
Amy tucked the locket back in her pocket, scooped her shoulder-length dark blond hair into her helmet and waddled with her jump partner, Jim âBearâ Berolli, to the open side door of the Twin Otter. The roar of the 110-mile-per-hour slipstream was almost deafening, and the scent of wood smoke poured into the small aircraft. Her body hummed, her senses on full alert. She signaled thumbs-up. Ready.
Johnson, the spotter, chucked the last set of drift streamers out the door. Amy watched them unfurl in a swirl of red, yellow and blue, dancing and spinning as they caught every ripple and current in the air, blazing the trail before Amy battled the same winds.
âLooks like about three hundred yards of drift to the north. But things will get tricky down low. Lot of shifting winds and updrafts,â Johnson shouted over the engine noise and rushing slipstream.
âRoger that.â Bear gave his parachute strap a firm double-check tug.
âRight.â Amy flipped down the screen mask of her helmet.
âTake us to three thousand!â Johnson called to the pilot.
Amyâs heart drummed an eager cadence against her ribs as the jump ship circled. Climbed.
She braced in the open door. Waiting. Focused. Confident.
âGet ready!â
She tensed. Felt the slap on her shoulder. And launched herself out.
She savored the thrill as she careened through the air in a free fall for precious few seconds before going through her count. Jump thousand. Look thousand. Reach thousand. Wait thousand. Pull!
