Fletcher's Pride
Page 1
Books by Shirleen Davies
Historical Western Romance Series
MacLarens of Fire Mountain
Tougher than the Rest, Book One
Faster than the Rest, Book Two
Harder than the Rest, Book Three
Stronger than the Rest, Book Four
Deadlier than the Rest, Book Five
Wilder than the Rest, Book Six
Redemption Mountain
Redemption’s Edge, Book One
Wildfire Creek, Book Two
Sunrise Ridge, Book Three
Dixie Moon, Book Four
Survivor Pass, Book Five
Promise Trail, Book Six
Deep River, Book Seven
Courage Canyon, Book Eight
Forsaken Falls, Book Nine
Solitude Gorge, Book Ten
Rogue Rapids, Book Eleven, Coming next in the series!
MacLarens of Boundary Mountain
Colin’s Quest, Book One,
Brodie’s Gamble, Book Two
Quinn’s Honor, Book Three
Sam’s Legacy, Book Four
Heather’s Choice, Book Five
Nate’s Destiny, Book Six
Blaine’s Wager, Book Seven
Fletcher’s Pride, Book Eight, Coming next in the series!
Contemporary Romance Series
MacLarens of Fire Mountain
Second Summer, Book One
Hard Landing, Book Two
One More Day, Book Three
All Your Nights, Book Four
Always Love You, Book Five
Hearts Don’t Lie, Book Six
No Getting Over You, Book Seven
‘Til the Sun Comes Up, Book Eight
Foolish Heart, Book Nine
Forever Love, Book Ten, Coming next in the series!
Peregrine Bay
Reclaiming Love, Book One, A Novella
Our Kind of Love, Book Two
Burnt River
Shane’s Burden, Book One by Peggy Henderson
Thorn’s Journey, Book Two by Shirleen Davies
Aqua’s Achilles, Book Three by Kate Cambridge
Ashley’s Hope, Book Four by Amelia Adams
Harpur’s Secret, Book Five by Kay P. Dawson
Mason’s Rescue, Book Six by Peggy L. Henderson
Del’s Choice, Book Seven by Shirleen Davies
Ivy’s Search, Book Eight by Kate Cambridge
Phoebe’s Fate, Book Nine by Amelia Adams
Brody’s Shelter, Book Ten by Kay P. Dawson
Boone’s Surrender, Book Eleven by Shirleen Davies
Watch for more books in the series!
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Fletcher’s Pride
MacLarens of Boundary Mountain
Historical Western Romance Series
SHIRLEEN DAVIES
Book Eight in the MacLarens of Boundary Mountain
Historical Western Romance Series
Copyright © 2018 by Shirleen Davies
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems or transmitted in any form or by any means without the prior written permission of the publisher, except by a reviewer who may quote brief passages in a review. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.
For permission requests, contact the publisher.
Avalanche Ranch Press, LLC
PO Box 12618
Prescott, AZ 86304
Fletcher’s Pride is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are either products of the author’s imagination or used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, or persons, living or dead, is wholly coincidental.
Book design and conversions by Joseph Murray at 3rdplanetpublishing.com
Cover design by Kim Killion, The Killion Group
ISBN: 978-1-941786-81-9
I care about quality, so if you find something in error, please contact me via email at shirleen@shirleendavies.com
Description
He’d do anything for a second chance.
Could her secrets and haunted past allow him back in?
Fletcher’s Pride, Book Eight, MacLarens of Boundary Mountain Historical Western Romance Series
Fletcher MacLaren lives a charmed life. He works hard and plays even harder. Handsome with an easy smile, he hasn’t considered settling down. Not until his gaze lands on the loveliest woman he’s ever seen. Creamy skin, golden blonde hair, and blue eyes so deep and clear, they sparkle. The first time he saw her, slowly descending the stairs of the saloon, she captured every man’s attention.
Madeleine Colbert shouldn’t want the tall, ridiculously attractive rancher whose heated gaze burns right through her. A haunted past and inability to stay in one place for long doesn’t bode well for any kind of relationship. And her job in the saloon isn’t what a respectable cowboy would consider suitable for anything other than a few fiery moments.
He can’t get her out of his mind. Fletch spends his days thinking of Maddy and his nights visiting the intriguing woman, until he needs her more than his next breath. But one short discussion with his father changes everything.
The note he sends cuts clean through, causing her heart to crack. Knowing he’ll never return, and with ruthless outlaws tracking her, Maddy makes the only decision possible. She runs.
Returning after several months, Fletcher’s first thought is of Maddy. The time away has been miserable. All he wants is to make amends and continue with what they had before he left.
For the first time in his life, he learns what it’s like to not get what he wants.
Hardship continues to plague Maddy. When the outlaws discover her new location, she finds herself on the run again, returning to Conviction. But not to the man she loves.
She may have outrun the people chasing her, but it doesn’t mean she’s escaped the one man who offers nothing except another broken heart. And now, Maddy is hiding her biggest secret of all.
Fletcher’s Pride, book eight in the MacLarens of Boundary Mountain Historical Western Romance Series, is a stand-alone, full-length novel with an HEA and no cliffhanger.
Book 1: Colin’s Quest
Book 2: Brodie’s Gamble
Book 3: Quinn’s Honor
Book 4: Sam’s Legacy
Book 5: Heather’s Choice
Book 6: Nate’s Destiny
Book 7: Blaine’s Wager
Book 8: Fletcher’s Pride
Visit my website for a list of characters for each series.
http://www.shirleendavies.com/character-list.html
Acknowledgements
Many thanks to the wonderful members of my Reader Groups. Your support, insights, and suggestions are greatly appreciated. And as always, a huge thank you to my husband who is my greatest fan.
As always, many thanks to my editor, Kim Young, proofreader, Alicia Carmical, Joseph Murray, who is superb at formatting my books for print and electronic versions, and my cover designer, Kim Killion.
Table of Contents
Prologue
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
Chapter Sixteen
Chapter Seventeen
Chapter Eighteen
Chapter Nineteen
Chapter Twenty
Chapter Twenty-One
Chapter Twenty-Two
Chapter Twenty-Three
Epilogue
About the Author
Books by Shirleen Davies
Fletcher’s Pride
Prologue
San Francisco
June 1866
Maddy huddled behind a barrel, holding a soaked cloak over her head as shivers shot through her slim body. Heart racing, she crouched lower at the sound of male voices and pounding footfalls. They were close. Too close.
She needed to find a better hiding place or risk being discovered by the same group of men who’d been following her for well over a year. Brutal, lawless, and unforgiving, the type of men anyone with sense stayed away from to survive.
Their leader, a man hardened through years of fierce fighting for the Union Army, ruled with a firm fist and little patience. Maddy knew this firsthand, had experienced the type of justice he doled out to those who defied him.
“I saw her run down this alley.”
She recognized the gruff voice, wincing at the memory of the last time she’d seen him perform his leader’s bidding. It had been bloody, painful, and almost deadly. Maddy remembered it well. The beating had been directed at her.
“She couldn’t have gone far. Not in this storm.”
Her stomach clenched at the familiar sound of their leader’s voice…a voice that haunted her every night and most days. Scooting until she’d taken up all the spare space behind the barrel, Maddy bit her lower lip, wincing at the coppery taste. The pain was necessary to keep her teeth from chattering, a noise she felt certain would give her away.
“Maybe she slipped into one of the stores, Colonel.”
“Check each until we find the faithless chit. We’re too close to let her get away again.” The severe determination in his voice left no doubt he’d continue the search all night if that was what it took to find her.
They’d chased Maddy since her escape from them in Kansas, continuing to follow her trail through Colorado, Utah, and Nevada before losing her when she’d crossed the boundary into California. For a brief period of time, she’d found freedom in Conviction, a growing town on the Feather River.
And she’d found love. At least it had been for her.
Then she’d received a terse note from him, delivered by his cousin and accompanied with enough money to provide her a choice. Stay in Conviction, praying he’d change his mind and return for her, or run.
The decision had been taken from her the same night. Amid the raucous sounds from the saloon, the unmistakable harsh voices of the men who tracked her somehow wafted upstairs. The same voices she heard a few feet away from her hiding place in the dank alley tonight.
“She’s not getting away from us again. Not this time.”
Maddy recognized the colonel’s most trusted man, another shiver of fear wracking her already trembling body.
“Please, please…” Her whispered plea was muffled by the hand she clamped over her mouth. The suffocating weight in her chest caused bile to build in her throat. She needed this night to be over, needed to get out of San Francisco and return to the one place in her short life where she’d felt safe.
Hearing heavy boots move away, voices fading, she took a deep breath, peering out from her hiding place. Maddy’s heart stilled, wondering if her eyesight might be failing. Swiping rain from her face, she blinked several times, her gaze sweeping up and down the alley.
Empty, the men who had made her life miserable gone, vanished, as if they’d never existed. Settling a hand over her slightly rounded stomach, she sent up a quick prayer. Maddy didn’t wait to consider her next move, pushing up before reaching into the open barrel and grabbing the small satchel she’d dropped inside.
Securing the cloak around her, holding it together with one hand, the satchel in the other, she took one more look around, listening. Hearing nothing except the incessant drubbing of the rain, Maddy stepped out of the shadows.
Heart pounding, chest tight, she marshaled all the courage left in her shattered spirit and ran.
Chapter One
Circle M Ranch
June 1866
“Fletch, you’re driving them the wrong way.” Bram MacLaren laughed from atop his horse, as did his cousin, Camden, who sat beside him on his gelding. Fletcher MacLaren yelled something back, causing both to laugh harder.
“Do you think the lad knows the uncles want the calves in the north pasture, not the south?” Camden asked.
Bram shook his head. “Nae. He’s no idea what we’re shouting about.”
“The lad’s mind isn’t on his work. Hasn’t been since we delivered the herd to Sacramento.” Resting his arms on the saddlehorn, he leaned forward. “Since Maddy left town.”
“And whose fault was it the lass left?”
“Fletch’s, and he knows it. We’ll not be reminding him of it, Bram. The lad needs to get his head straight and forget the lass.” Straightening, he lightly kicked Duke, his palomino gelding, riding toward Fletcher.
“Ach,” Bram growled, following.
Drawing close to Fletcher and the two ranch hands with him, Camden waved his hand for him to hold up. “The uncles want them moved north, lad.”
Reining up, Fletcher glanced around, getting his bearings. “North?”
Chuckling, Camden nodded. “Aye. Come on, lad. We’ll get you there.”
Letting his cousin take over directing the ranch hands, Fletcher held back, following along as he’d been doing for weeks. Ever since returning from Settlers Valley to drive the family’s combined herd to Sacramento, he’d felt out of place, somehow disconnected from the people who’d always been so critical in his life.
He’d left Circle M, been gone for weeks helping his cousin, Blaine, at the family’s new ranchlands near Settlers Valley. When the uncles had requested a volunteer to help Blaine, Fletcher didn’t hesitate. At first, he’d seen the absence as an opportunity to put distance between himself and the woman he’d spent way too much time with over the previous weeks. A woman he knew he’d never have beyond their stolen time in her room at Buckie’s Castle.
She’d become an obsession, a passion he couldn’t allow to grow. Leaving Circle M seemed the easiest way to make the break. Fletcher had scribbled a brief note, telling her he wouldn’t return to Buckie’s when he got back to town, enclosed some money, and asked Bram to deliver the message. Within a few miles of leaving for Settlers Valley, he’d regretted the decision.
Now she was gone. Not just from Buckie’s, but from Conviction.
Camden rode up beside him. “It’s Saturday, Fletch. Bram and I’ve been thinking of cleaning up and riding to town. Come with us.”
He’d avoided going to town since coming home, using every possible excuse without naming the real reason. As absurd as it seemed, riding to Conviction, knowing she wouldn’t be there to welcome him, held no appeal.
When he didn’t answer, Camden persisted. “You’ve got to get over Maddy sometime, Fletch. It’ll be easier if you go to Buckie’s, have some drinks, maybe spend some time with one of the other lasses. It’s like being bucked off a horse, lad. They throw you off, you get back on.”
Bram had ridden up beside them, approval on his features at Camden’s words. He’d been thinking the same for weeks. The fact Fletcher had yet to object had both thinking he might ride in with them.
Without answering, Fletcher glanced between the two, shaking his head. “We’ve got a long day ahead of us, lads.”
Bram and Camden didn’t protest when their cousin rode off, leaving them to do whatever they wanted. Fletcher didn’t care.
Pushing Domino into a gallop, he reined away, heading toward the river. He k
new they wouldn’t follow. Over the years, the entire MacLaren clan learned if Fletcher needed space, he’d head straight for a spot he’d found not long after they’d started the ranch.
Handsome, smart, and charming, he’d attracted women, young and old, since turning fourteen. His cousins joked about it, but as they got older, they’d become accustomed to Fletcher acting as bait, the person who drew women to them.
Even with the feminine attention and respect of his family, Fletcher required more solitary time than anyone, except Sean. Sometimes, the two rode out together, saying little, simply sharing a quiet space by the river. With Sean in Scotland to attend veterinary school, Fletcher now made the short trip alone. He’d already made the journey at least half a dozen times since coming back.
Reining Domino along the winding trail, his tight muscles began to relax. As always happened, his mood improved at the sight of the rippling, clear water, the way the river pooled into eddies. He and Sean had spent more than one afternoon fishing for trout in this spot.
Sliding to the ground, he dropped the reins, lowering himself next to the river’s edge. Pulling up his knees, he draped his arms over them, staring at the water.
For the first time in weeks, he seriously thought about accepting Camden’s invitation to visit Buckie’s. He could use a night of whiskey and cards, even if he wasn’t ready to visit the upstairs. It might be a good, long time before he had the desire to take the stairs knowing Maddy wouldn’t be there to greet him.
Maddy stared at herself in the mirror, a tentative grin tipping up the corners of her mouth. She’d taken extra time with her golden blonde hair, adding a yellow ribbon she’d splurged on at Maloney’s, the local mercantile.
Smoothing hands down her cotton dress, she turned in a circle, trying to quell her growing dread. Almost three months had passed since she’d last been with Fletcher. The doctor in San Francisco guessed their baby to be eight to ten weeks along. It would be several more weeks before anyone would notice.
Rubbing a hand over the small swell in her stomach, Maddy couldn’t help a trembling smile. She’d loved Fletcher and she loved their unborn child. Shaking off the spark of fear, knowing she and the babe would face life alone, she blew out a reassuring breath.