The Forest Ranger's Return. Leigh Bale

      The Soldier’s Second Chance

      After being injured in Afghanistan, former soldier Dal Savatch thought he’d lost everything. But working on a horse ranch for disabled children teaches him to appreciate the life he still has. When the new forest ranger in town turns out to be Dal’s first love, his tranquil world is turned upside down. For years, Julie Granger’s been carrying a painful secret that’s prevented her from having what she wants most: a family. Reuniting with Dal has her suddenly believing in dreams she thought were long buried. Can two wounded souls find healing and happiness in a future together?

      “Don’t you think it’s time we both stop pretending we don’t remember each other?” Dal said.

      “I’m sorry, Dal. I…I didn’t know what to say. I just didn’t think it mattered anymore.”

      “Well, it does. And I’ve still got some questions you may not want to answer.”

      Julie’s mind raced as those old feelings of dread and fear seeped through every pore in her body. “Like what?”

      “Like why you stopped writing me. And why you wouldn’t return my phone calls. What happened, Julie? You just disappeared off the face of the earth. Why did you abandon me?”

      Her gaze locked with his. In his eyes, she saw all the anguish she’d caused him. All the pain she herself felt inside. “I never meant to hurt you, Dal. Please believe I didn’t have a choice. Not really.”

      “No choice?” His voice escalated, betraying his anger. “You stopped all communication with me. Without any justification at all. Why?”

      “I had my reasons. That’s all I can say.”

      How could she tell him the truth?

      LEIGH BALE

      is an award-winning, multi-published novelist who won the prestigious RWA Golden Heart in 2006. More recently, she was a finalist for the Gayle Wilson Award of Excellence. She is the daughter of a retired U.S. forest ranger, holds a B.A. in History with honors and loves grandkids, spending time with family, weeding the garden with her dog Sophie, and watching the little sagebrush lizards that live in her rock flowerbeds.

      Married in 1981 to the love of her life, Leigh and her professor husband now have two wonderful children and two grandchildren. But life has not always been rosy. In 1996, Leigh’s seven-year-old daughter was diagnosed with an inoperable brain tumor. In the dark years that followed, God never abandoned them. After six surgeries, two hundred and eighty-four stitches, a year of chemo and a myriad of other difficulties, Leigh’s daughter is now a grown woman and considered one of the less-than-one-percent survivorship in the world for her type of tumor. Life is good!

      Truly the Lord has blessed Leigh’s family. She now transfers the love and faith she’s known into the characters of her stories. Readers who have their own trials can find respite within the uplifting message of Leigh’s books. You can reach Leigh at P.O. Box 61381, Reno, Nevada 89506, or visit her website at www.leighbale.com.

      The Forest Ranger’s Return

      Leigh Bale

       www.millsandboon.co.uk

      For the Son of man is not come to destroy men’s lives, but to save them.

      —Luke 9:56

      This book is dedicated to my Aunt Joan.

      Boy, do I ever love you, babe!

      And thanks again to Sara Goldberg,

      a prosthetist with Hanger Clinic. This is the second book where your knowledge and expertise has helped me immensely.

      Also, many thanks to Barbara Chastain

      (Center for Adaptive Riding, Reno, Nevada), Carrie Davis (Empowering Amputees), Alyssa Gale (Camp Riley), Edward Hicks (Adventure Camp), Chris Platt, and Beverly Skaggs (Hanger Clinic). Each of these wonderful people provided me with details big and small on how to run a camp for amputee kids and how to deal with a prosthesis. The world is a much better place because we have folks like you.

      I apologize profusely for any errors in this book. They are mine alone.

      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

       Epilogue

       Dear Reader

       Questions for Discussion

       Excerpt

      Chapter One

      Dallin Savatch breathed deep of the cool morning air. Stepping off the wraparound porch at Sunrise Ranch, he glanced at the damp dirt road surrounded by fields of newly sprouting alfalfa. Dark shadows clung to the jagged peaks of the McClellan Mountains, a hint of sunlight brightening the eastern sky. All was quiet; no one else was up yet. A whispering breeze carried the tangy scent of sage, horses and rain. Though the May weather had been unseasonably warm, a spring storm had struck in the middle of the night, awakening Dal with a clap of thunder. His left leg ached and he wasn’t able to get back to sleep.

      Phantom pain, his doctor called it.

      That didn’t prevent him from taking his morning run. Even at age thirty-six, nothing kept him from exercising his legs. He feared the wheelchair and losing his independence too much. Feared becoming less of a man than he already was.

      He walked across the graveled driveway, then leaned against the hitching rail next to the barn. Wrapping his fingers around the coarse wood, he stretched his body for several minutes. The exercise warmed up his stiff muscles and relaxed the tight tendons.

      Magpie, a gentle gray mare who didn’t mind little kids tugging on her mane, stood inside the corral. She lifted her head over the rail fence and snuffled at him.

      “Sorry,