The Replacement. Anne Duquette Marie

started out as a ranger, the way her brother had. Earlier she’d worked in a hospital in San Francisco as an EMT, where she’d eventually met and married her husband, Bruce Palmer; she’d kept her own last name. When he died, she’d joined the ranger service and now worked as Eric’s EMT team member.

      Enter Lindsey Nelson, tough as nails. Twenty-five, never married. An associate’s degree in athletics and sports, and school letters in softball, gymnastics, golf and tennis, she competed harder against herself than anyone else. Despite her long blond hair, green eyes and a trim package of feminine curves and lithe strength, one noticed her looks second, her self-assuredness first. Lindsey Nelson came from a family of women who thrived on challenge. She could climb mountains and sheer cliffs, including El Capitan, at three thousand feet the tallest unbroken cliff in the world. She’d also climbed to the top of Yosemite Falls, its twenty-four hundred feet making it the highest free-falling waterfall in the United States.

      She had a talent with animals that other handlers envied. Obviously it ran in the family. Yet she’d given up dogs and climbing and winter sports for an equally flawless career as a rescue ranger at California’s underwater state diving park, La Jolla Cove in San Diego county, with fill-in stints as a lifeguard at Carlsbad State Park. Lindsey Nelson was multitalented and successful in all her endeavors—except when it came to her personal relationships with men.

      Jack studied the photos of the two rangers. To his discerning eye, the two stubborn chins promised resistance to anyone or anything challenging them. Their faces showed intelligence, determination and more than a hint of steel. Admirable qualities on the job, but from a personality standpoint, Jack figured that as a couple these two were doomed from the start. Their impressive careers and daring rescues proved that neither of them accepted compromise. He doubted either knew the definition of the word.

      That might work well for rescues, but not for romance. However, Jack Hunter didn’t care about old flames or bruised hearts when it came to a kidnapped child. He only cared that he’d filled the opening Eva had left—filled it with the best ranger available. Personal relationships weren’t Jack’s concern. He’d done what he was hired to do. As for anything else—including love and romance—the woman he’d chosen as Eva Jenkins’s replacement was on her own.

      CHAPTER TWO

      THE PLANE TOOK ITS REGULAR flight path north, high above and along the California coast. The green of the ocean contrasted with the beige of the shoreline and the dark greens and tans of the mountain deserts. So far, Lindsey had seen little snow, but she hadn’t been airborne long. She turned away from the window, pleased the two seats next to her were empty. She wasn’t in the mood for chitchat. Her farewell phone conversations with her parents and two sisters had been full of their warnings—to be careful in the cold of Yosemite, careful around Eric, and to be especially careful not to upset Wade.

      It hadn’t been easy to say goodbye to Wade. He’d insisted on driving Lindsey to the airport, and had been as gracious, as loving as ever, but she knew he’d been hurt by her refusal to wear his ring. He’d become even more distraught when he learned how isolated she’d be at the ranger winter cabin.

      “Can you at least give me your phone number?” he asked.

      “I wish I could. There aren’t any phones. No cell phone service, either. No e-mail or snail mail. It’s strictly ham radio, Wade. The best you can do is phone any emergency news to Mr. Hunter, and he can radio it to me.”

      Her boarding call was announced. “I guess this is it.” She’d reached for him to kiss him goodbye. When they parted, Wade took her hand and pushed the diamond ring onto her finger.

      “If you won’t wear it as an engagement ring, consider it protection from the ex. If nothing else, he’ll keep his distance.”

      Before Lindsey could protest, Wade had pulled her close for one more kiss, and whispered in her ear, “I’ll be waiting for you when you get back.” Then he’d abruptly left. Lindsey stood alone with a ring on her finger, no Wade to return it to, and a loudspeaker blaring out the final boarding call for her flight. She could do nothing, but get on the plane.

      Open seating was blessedly plentiful. Lindsey found herself a spot, put a pillow and blanket on the aisle seat to discourage the more sociable, and found herself reviewing recent events. The last-minute frenzy of filling out checks for her rent and utility bills in advance and addressing them for her older sister, Kate, to mail in the next few months had kept her mind off Eric and their history. Her younger sister, Lara, had promised to look after her apartment and water her plants. Her parents promised to look after Wade; a request she hadn’t made, but something they’d offered nonetheless.

      Then came the check-in line and being searched by airport security, getting a decent meal inside the airport ahead of time in case the airline food was tasteless or skimpy—it later proved to be both—and takeoff. Lindsey politely answered the usual round of questions from the flight attendants in the negative. “Do you want a soft drink? A snack? Care to purchase a headset or cocktail?”

      Eyes closed, Lindsey tried to set her thoughts in order.

      Eva dead because of carelessness. That poor woman. And now I’m taking her room, her gear, her winter uniforms, her bed, even her dog. I doubt I’ll get much of a welcome from the dog—or Eric. Not to mention the other two rangers. I don’t blame them, though.

      Eric must be devastated about this ranger’s death, she found herself thinking. As team leader, he’d always emphasized safety….

      Eric, her ex-lover with the laughing blue eyes, the dark hair and the capability to surmount any and all obstacles—or so she’d thought. She’d only seen him devastated once before. The day their happiness ended.

      Yosemite

       Summer, four years earlier

      LINDSEY NELSON sat dejectedly in her bedroom at her summer cabin. The wedding dress she was supposed to be wearing tomorrow hung unwrapped, untouched, in her closet. Her suitcases were packed for her honeymoon vacation, boating and hiking at Lake Tahoe, along with some easy climbing. The dress, the suitcases, the snorkeling equipment in their travel bag for the honeymoon—it was all waiting and ready. For nothing, it turned out.

      She stared at the floor, unwilling to meet the gaze of the white-faced man standing before her. Just this time last week she’d thought her life perfect. Lindsey Nelson, year-round search-and-rescue ranger for Yosemite, had it all: a job she loved, a man she adored and her wedding day tomorrow.

      But her last rescue had ruined that; one loss had triggered it all. Lindsey and Missy, her beloved golden retriever, had searched and found a missing five-year-old boy. Missy might have been getting on in years, but her nose and her determination to succeed was as strong as ever. Yesterday, after sunset, when the other searchers had given up for the day, Missy and Lindsey continued their search alone—and were rewarded for their efforts.

      The boy had been found alive, but Missy’s great courage was no match for her advancing years. For the first time ever in their partnership, Lindsey knew Missy’s rescue days were over.

      “It’s time to retire, girl,” Lindsey had said after rushing her to the vet. “Eric, I don’t know about going to Lake Tahoe for the honeymoon. The vet said Missy’s still very fragile. Maybe we could go to the coast, instead. She’d get more oxygen at the beach than at the higher altitude of Tahoe.”

      “It’s too late to change our plans now,” Eric had replied. His large, capable hand stroked the dog’s head. “Maybe we should just board her at the vet’s and reevaluate her health after the wedding.”

      A warning rang in Lindsey’s head. Reevaluate from Eric’s lips meant We’ll see, as in No way.

      “I’m not going anywhere, and Missy isn’t going anywhere without me while she’s not feeling herself. I’m not leaving her side.”

      “Even to get married?”

      “We’ll still get married the day after tomorrow, just as we planned,” Lindsey said reasonably. “After