To Save Her Child

In Search of Her Son

When a young boy goes missing from wilderness day camp, Alaskan search and rescue worker Josiah Witherspoon is on the case. The brooding ex-marine promises to find the child and return him to his worried mother. But he doesn’t know that Ella Jackson has a secret past. One that could put them all in danger. When tensions mount, Ella needs to tell Josiah the truth—but she can’t set aside her fears enough to trust him. Ella and Josiah are ready to risk their lives to save her son, but will they risk their hearts, as well?

Alaskan Search and Rescue: Risking their lives to save the day

“Someone else has been here recently.”

Josiah pointed to the ground. “That’s Robbie’s shoe print and that’s someone with a twelve or thirteen size boot.”

“A man? Someone else searching for the kids?”

His gut clenched. “Maybe one of the counselors came this way.” Or maybe it was someone else who had nothing to do with the day camp. He wouldn’t voice that to Ella. She didn’t need to worry any more than she already was.

Josiah continued after Buddy. The dog stopped at the base of a spruce tree, sniffing the trunk, then taking off to the left.

Ella’s wide brown eyes riveted on him. “I saw the lengthening of the spaces between the footprints. Robbie was running, wasn’t he?”

Her gaze drew him in, so much pain reflected in it. He gritted his teeth, not wanting to answer her question, not wanting to add to her distress.

“You don’t have to say anything. I can see it on your face. Something or someone scared him. The person whose boot prints we found with his. I saw them under the tree, too. He’s being stalked.”

MARGARET DALEY, an award-winning author of ninety books (five million sold worldwide), has been married for over forty years and is a firm believer in romance and love. When she isn’t traveling, she’s writing love stories, often with a suspense thread, and corralling her three cats that think they rule her household. To find out more about Margaret visit her website at margaretdaley.com.

To Save Her Child

Margaret Daley

www.millsandboon.co.uk

If God is for us, who can be against us?

—Romans 8:31

To all my readers—thank you for choosing my book

Contents

Cover

Back Cover Text

Introduction

About the Author

Title Page

Bible Verse

Dedication

ONE

TWO

THREE

FOUR

FIVE

SIX

SEVEN

EIGHT

NINE

TEN

ELEVEN

TWELVE

THIRTEEN

FOURTEEN

EPILOGUE

Dear Reader

Extract

Copyright

ONE

Ella Jackson looked longingly at the black leather couch against the far wall in her office. If only she could close her eyes for an hour—even half an hour—she would be ready to tackle the rest of the data entry for the upcoming Northern Frontier Search and Rescue training weekend.

She trudged to her desk, staring at the stack of papers she needed to work her way through before picking up her eight-year-old son from day camp, then heading home. She should have been finished by now, but in the middle of the night a search and rescue call had gone out for an elderly gentleman. She had manned the command center for his search, which had ended with the man being found, but her exhaustion from lack of sleep was finally catching up with her.

When she saw her son, Robbie, he would no doubt have a ton of questions about the emergency that had sent him to her neighbor’s. This wasn’t the first time she’d disturbed her son’s sleep in the middle of the night because of a search and rescue, and Robbie was a trooper. Once he’d come with her to the command center when she couldn’t find a babysitter. He’d begged to go with her ever since then, but it was impossible to watch over him and fulfill her duties. She’d promised him when he was older, he could.

The sight of the training folder on the desktop screen taunted her to get to work. David Stone, who ran the organization, would return soon and need the list, since the instructional exercises would take place in two days. So much to get done before Saturday. As she sat in her desk chair, she rubbed her blurry eyes, then clicked on the folder. The schedule and list popped up, the cursor blinking hypnotically. When her head started dropping forward, she jerked it up. Not even two pots of coffee were helping her to stay alert.

The door into the hangar opened, and her boss entered. He’d conducted the aerial search for Mr. Otterman, who had finally been found wandering in the middle of a shallow stream two miles from his nursing home.

Her gaze connected with David’s. “Mr. Otterman checked out fine, according to your wife, and he’s safely back at Aurora Nursing Home.”

“Thankfully Josiah and Alex got to him before he made it to the river the stream fed into.” He looked as tired as she felt. “Josiah is right behind me. Send him into my office when he comes in.”

For a few seconds, Ella was sidetracked by the mention of Josiah. There was something about the man that intrigued her. His short black hair, the bluest eyes she’d ever seen and a slender, athletic build set her heart racing. Although he was handsome, she’d learned to be leery of men with those kinds of looks. No, it was his presence at a search and rescue that drew her to him. Commanding, captivating—and a loner. She knew one when she met one because she was much more comfortable alone, especially after her marriage to an abusive man. For a second, thoughts of her ex-husband threatened to take hold. She wouldn’t go there. He’d done enough to her in the past. She wouldn’t allow him—even in memories—into her present life.