Emily March - Angels Rest

G ABE GAVE IN to both their desires. He tugged off his shirt and it wasnt until he heard her shocked gasp that he realized just what hed done. The scars had been a part of him for so long now that he forgot he even had them. He unconsciously straightened, bracing himself against the barrage of questions sure to come. Questions he had no intention of answering. That part of his life was a closed book.

The pretty veterinarian surprised him. But for that one betraying inhalation, her professionalism never slipped. Maybe her gaze was a bit softer, her touch as gentle as the snowfall, but she never once recoiled or eyed him with pity. Gradually Gabe relaxed. For a few stolen moments he allowed himself to pleasure in the sensation of human touch upon his skin.

Ill quarantine the boxer, she said. You should drive into Gunnison and see Dr. Hander at the medical clinic. Hell put you on prophylactic antibiotics. When was your last tetanus shot?

Last year.

Good.

Next she ran through a series of basic questions about his medical history, and then asked him to lie on his back. Your legs will hang off the table, Im afraid, but this way will keep your pants dry.

His jeans had been wet since he wrestled with the dog, but he kept that detail to himself and studied her through half-closed eyes as she prepared to bathe his wounds with saline. Her beauty was the wholesome, girl-next-door type. He figured the lack of a ring on her finger was due to work-related safety factors rather than marital status. Bet she was married with a couple of kids.

Angels Rest is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are the products of the authors imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

A Ballantine Books Mass Market Original

Copyright 2011 by Geralyn Dawson Williams
Excerpt from Hummingbird Lake by Geralyn Dawson Williams copyright 2011 by Geralyn Dawson Williams

All rights reserved.

Published in the United States by Ballantine Books, an imprint of The Random House Publishing Group, a division of Random House, Inc., New York.

B ALLANTINE and colophon are registered trademarks of Random House, Inc.

This book contains an excerpt from the forthcoming book Hummingbird Lake by Geralyn Dawson Williams. This excerpt has been set for this edition only and may not reflect the content of the forthcoming edition

eISBN: 978-0-345-51835-4

www.ballantinebooks.com

Cover design: Lynn Andreozzi
Cover illustration: Robert Steele

v3.1

In loving memory of my dad,
John Edward Dawson.
He was the greatest storyteller Ive ever known.

Home
that blessed word, which opens to the human heart
the most perfect glimpse of Heaven, and helps to
carry it thither, as on an angels wings.

L YDIA M. C HILD

Eagles Way Estate
Outside of Eternity Springs, Colorado

Holding a 9 mm Glock in one hand and a tumbler of single-malt scotch in the other, John Gabriel Callahan stared out the mountain homes wall of windows and knew it was time to take a hike. An hour ago hed watched a gray cloud bank roll in and swallow the rocky peaks above. The rain had turned to snow twenty minutes later. Now a thin layer of white dusted the branches of the trees that surrounded him in every direction. Evergreens and aspenyellow, gold, and orange with autumn. It was a breathtaking view. A lonely beauty.

It was perfect place to hike.

He set down his glass without sampling the whiskey, then shifted the automatic from his left hand to his right. He held it balanced on his palm, testing the weight, absorbing its warmth. How long had it been since hed held a gun? Long enough for it to feel foreign. Not nearly long enough to forget.

Heaven knows he needed to forget.

A bitter smile hovered on his lips. He stuck the Glock into his jeans at the small of his back, and ignoring the jackets hanging on the coat rack, exited the house.

He paused long enough to lock the door behind him and secure the key in the lock box like a good guest should. Then he paused on the wide wooden deck, surveyed the area, and debated which way to go. Up into the mountains behind him? Along the shallow creek that bisected the high, narrow valley? Across the creek to the tree-covered slopes rising before him? It didnt much matter. Wilderness stretched in every direction. The memories traveled with him everywhere.

He chose to climb the mountain behind him, where the path appeared a little rockier, the forest a bit more dense. The more rigorous the path, the better.

He hiked a long time, his thoughts bouncing between events of his life. His lives. Thats how he thought of it. Hed had his life in Texas, then the dark months overseas and his struggle for survival, and finally the new life when hed started over. The third time, hed gotten it right. The third times the charm.

Charmed. Magical.

Over.

A bitter wind whipped around him, and he grew as numb on the outside as hed been on the inside for the better part of a year now. Weariness weighted his legs and his soul.

The snowfall intensified, visibility decreased. As the ground disappeared beneath a blanket of white, he idly wondered if this snow would last until spring. It was early in the season for snow, so he doubted it. Although, at this high altitude, with this low temperature, who knew? Bet it wasnt more than fifteen degrees. A man could freeze to death.

But that way was too easy.

He turned into the wind, and in the echo of wind and memory he thought he heard a sound. Listening hard, he heard it again and his gut clenched. It sounded like laughter. The sweet, familiar notes of laughter. A womans. A childs. Happy.

Haunted, Gabe closed his eyes and shuddered.

No laughter, just ghosts.

Over. Its over. Im done. He broke into a jog, chasing the imaginary sound or running from it, he didnt know. It didnt matter. He moved deeper into the forest, uphill and down, paying scant attention to his path until trees gave way to rolling meadow. It was a beautiful, peaceful place.

Their suburban home in Virginia had been a beautiful, peaceful place. A sanctuary.

The imagined echoes of laughter swelled and strengthened into a whirlwind of memory, sweet and pure, and Gabe listened and yearned until the sound transformed and all he heard were screams. He was so very tired of the screams.

In a Rocky Mountain meadow, Gabe Callahan tripped and fell flat on his face. He lay in the biting cold and snow, breathing as if hed run a marathon, sweator maybe tearsrunning down his face. He wanted to die. Dear God, he wanted to die. Here. Today. Now. Right now.

Today would have been Matthews sixth birthday.

Enough. He climbed to a kneeling position and reached for the Glock. This time the weapon felt natural in his grip. He flicked off the safety and chambered a round. Shutting his eyes, he took one last deep breath. A sense of peace surrounded him like the snowfall, and he was ready.

The force hit him without warning, a hard body blow to the back that knocked him forward and sent the Glock sailing from his grip. Weight settled atop him. Gabes thoughts flew like bullets. Not a man. Fur. An animal. Sharp claws dug into his back. Mountain lion? Would fangs sink into his neck?