Her Wild Hero

Her Wild Hero by Paige Tyler




With special thanks to my extremely patient and understanding husband. Without your help and support, I couldn’t have pursued my dream job of becoming a writer. You’re my sounding board, my idea man, my critique partner, and the absolute best research assistant any girl could ask for.

Love you!





Prologue


Silver Butte Lookout Tower, Douglas County, Oregon, 2007

Declan MacBride gazed through his binoculars at the rolling mountains stretching in every direction around him. Nothing out there but fresh air, wild animals, trees, and solitude—make that lots of trees and lots of solitude. And that was exactly the way he liked it.

When he’d told his boss at the regional U.S. Forest Service office in Portland he was fine with a full-time post out here, the guy had looked at him like he was insane. Silver Butte was the most isolated fire tower in the area—no one wanted to get assigned here. There weren’t any trails nearby, so you could easily go days without seeing another human being. It was also too far from civilization for the ranger on duty to go home between shifts, which meant you had to stay out here for the entire tour of duty—usually a week at a time. Put those two things together and it was a tough place to keep manned, even during the critical days of fire season. The only forest rangers who got sent here were the newbies and the screwups.

Volunteering to stay at the tower for the rest of the summer had confused the hell out of Declan’s boss. But the man wasn’t going to look a gift horse in the mouth. As soon as Chet made sure Declan knew he wasn’t going to get any bonus pay, he’d given the okay. The other rangers thought he was nuts, too. They couldn’t understand why anyone would willingly isolate themselves from human contact. But Declan had his reasons, and he didn’t care to go into them.

Declan moved around the interior of the tower, scanning in all directions for any sign of trouble. Fire was the big concern at this time of year, but he was looking for anything out of the ordinary: poachers, circling buzzards, campers in distress.

He’d just set down his binoculars and grabbed his book when he picked up the sound of footsteps approaching the tower. He sniffed the air before he could stop himself, then bit back a growl. He rarely relied on his sense of smell. It was better than a normal person’s—way better—but he went out of his way to ignore what his nose told him. He didn’t feel comfortable experiencing the world that way. It made him feel too much like an animal.

Fortunately, his sense of hearing—which seemed far more acceptable to depend on—was good enough to compensate for refusing to use his nose. And right now, his ears were telling him there was someone about five hundred feet to the north of the tower and moving this way.

Declan sat down and went back to his book. It was probably just an adventurous hiker who’d wandered off the trail. Once the guy saw the chain across the bottom of the stairs with a sign saying the tower was off limits to the public, he’d go on his way.

A few moments later, boots were pounding up the steps. Declan frowned. What the hell?

He tossed his book on the table and walked outside to look over the railing. “Sorry, Mister, but this tower is government property. It’s off-limits to the public.”

The man glanced up as he climbed, grinning at Declan. “I’m well aware of that, Mr. MacBride. That’s why I got permission from your boss before coming out here to see you.”

Declan did a double take. How the hell did this guy know his name? More importantly, why hadn’t Chet called him on the satellite phone to tell him the guy was coming out here?

“Nice to finally meet you, Mr. MacBride,” the man said when he got to the landing. He held out his hand. “I’m John Loughlin.”

Declan tried to ignore his nose as he shook the man’s hand, but it was hard—Loughlin’s clothes smelled like they’d just come off the rack at the nearest outdoor store. His boots weren’t even broken in for Pete’s sake. If the brand-new duds weren’t enough to tell him the guy wasn’t a hiker, the fact that he wasn’t carrying a pack would have been a dead giveaway. Who hiked all this way without food or water?

“How do you know my name?” Declan asked.

“I know a great deal about you Mr. MacBride.” Loughlin smiled up at him. “Though I have to say your personnel record doesn’t do you justice. You are a very large man.”

Declan’s eyes narrowed. He didn’t like anyone knowing too much about him. “You mean my Forest Service records? How did you get access to those?”