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The Firefighter's Secret Baby
Anna DeStefano
One night has big consequencesShe's a captivating woman who catches his eye immediately. They spend one steamy night together. But in the morning, she's gone.Nine months later, firefighter Randy Montgomery is the first emergency responder on the scene of an accident. And as he pulls a very pregnant woman from the wreck, he recognizes her–Sam Gianfranco. What a twisted sense of humor fate has. Because not only is Sam about to give birth, but she's also in a pile of trouble. Police protection and bad-guy chases kind of trouble. Another man would walk away. Not Randy. A single glance at Sam and his baby, and he's in this for the long haul. And he'll do whatever it takes to keep all of them safe.
“Ma’am, where do you hurt?”
Randy stared at the way her hands were gripping her stomach. “Are you in labor? Can you hear me?” He resisted the urge to push deeper inside the car. Forcing a tenuous position would put his victim at more risk. But a mother in danger—nothing got to him faster.
And this one mother…
Something about her seemed familiar, even if he couldn’t put his finger on what. He scanned the parts of her body he could see, looking for anything he’d missed. Hair raised on the back of his neck.
His subconscious was trying to tell him something. What?
“Ah!” she cried, louder than before. “Help me…”
Randy’s trained gaze cataloged each potential injury. It tracked up her torso and arms and shoulders, over the ebony hair framing the face that was finally uncovered.
A lover’s face, not a stranger’s.
“Oh, my God. Sam?”
Dear Reader,
My letter in To Save a Family promised readers a firefighter story was in the works. For several ATLANTA HEROES novels, I’ve been teasing everyone, including myself, with glimpses of the hunky Montgomery brothers. I fell in love with this trio of rescue workers, and so have many of the fans who’ve written me. Now, the wait is over!
The youngest of the brothers, firefighter Randy Montgomery, loves his siblings, and he loves saving lives. But when a secret baby and an ex-lover on the run from the mob drop into Randy’s lap, his well-ordered world explodes. Sam Gianfraco is his match in every way, including her dark past and her distrust in happily-ever-afters. For the sake of their newborn daughter, can these soul mates follow their hearts and fight together, when life has taught them it’s safer to battle alone?
While you read The Firefighter’s Secret Baby, keep your eye out for future heroes. You’ll love Charlie Montgomery for how hard he fights to protect his baby brother—you haven’t seen the last of him, I promise. And there’s another recurring character refusing to sit on the sidelines…. Bet you can guess who’s lobbying the hardest to take the lead in my next Harlequin Superromance!
Until next time, dream big, love with your heart wide open, and love fearlessly.
Anna DeStefano
P.S. Let me know what you think of the ATLANTA HEROES stories at www.annawrites.com. And join the fun and fabulous giveaways at www.annawrites.com/blog!
The Firefighter’s Secret Baby
Anna DeStefano
www.millsandboon.co.uk (http://www.millsandboon.co.uk)
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Bestselling, award-winning author Anna DeStefano volunteers in the fields of grief recovery and crisis care. The rewards of walking with people through life’s difficulties are never ending, as are the insights Anna has gained into what is most beautiful about the human spirit. She sees heroes everywhere she looks now. The top life lesson she’s learned? Figure out what someone truly needs, become the one thing no one else could be for that person, and you’ll be a hero, too!
For exciting news about her other Harlequin titles and her paranormal romantic suspense series, visit Anna at www.annawrites.com.
To those who stand and fight.
To those who run toward danger,
so others may be free.
To those who put all they are on the line.
To the heroes.
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
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
CHAPTER NINETEEN
CHAPTER TWENTY
CHAPTER ONE
THUNDERSTORMS IN NOVEMBER?
Only in the south.
Sam peered through the greasy streaks her rental car’s wipers were making of the rain. She squinted at her rearview mirror. Were those the same headlights as before? Was she just imagining the danger bearing down on her?
Yes, Sam.
It’s been two years of constant fear, but you’re imagining it all now.
A stabbing pain gripped her stomach. She forced her attention back to the road. Who cared who might be following her? She was going to careen into a guardrail if she didn’t keep her eye on the road! She had to keep going. She had to get as far as she could before she tried to call her contact. Then everything would be okay. It had to be.
She was good at running, until the loneliness got too close. The hopelessness. Then she’d do something stupid. Something dangerous, because she needed to feel real for just a little while. She cradled her palm over the very real cramps in her belly.
Not anymore. Not after tonight. Once she made it through this, there would be no more risky chances. No more flirting with danger. Only playing it safe and protecting the lives that were depending on her.
She straightened her shoulders and tried to see through her rain-soaked windshield. Enough. What’s done was done. Running was her only shot now. Their only shot. She refused to believe they couldn’t make it.
“Whatever it takes,” she said to her unborn child. “I won’t let anything happen to you.”
A film-noir-worthy bolt of lightning spotlighted where her latest risks had gotten her. The storm beat down on the car. Dark pines danced on either side of the interstate. Pain streaked through her body.
Her grip on the wheel tightened. Her tires lost traction for an eternal moment. Then they grabbed again.
“Focus, Sam,” she hissed.
She hated the panic and fear. No matter what she did, she couldn’t make them go away for good. But she would shove the darkness back. She wouldn’t let the hopelessness win tonight. She just had to make it a little bit farther.
Past Atlanta. Out of the state. She had to get somewhere less on-the-map. Then she’d contact her federal handlers and find a way to trust them for a while longer. Long enough to testify and cut all ties with everyone and everything from her past—everything but her kid sister and her unborn child.
Headlights rushed from behind. A vehicle swerved at breakneck speed, barely missing her back bumper. It passed on the shoulder. The truck careened in front of her, brake lights flashing. Its back end fishtailed. The 4x4’s mud flaps sprayed a wave of water, blinding her.
Sam screamed and hit the brakes. Her tires spun and slid. Her car crossed into the next lane. She pulled at the wheel to avoid another vehicle.
Impact came with a horrible jolt. Her seat belt caught. Her head bashed into her window, cracking the safety glass. Dazed, she yanked the wheel again. The car swerved in protest. Then it skidded into the concrete median.
Scraping.
Dragging.
Her driver’s door would be ripped away!
She fought for control. Blood trickled into her eyes. Pain ripped at her bulging stomach.
It’s not going to end this way.
I’m not going to let it end this way…
Life became a slow motion nightmare. The truck that had cut her off barreled into a minivan. The van swerved in a deadly arc, crashing into her. Her rental car spun like a top while she banked the wheel and shoved the brake pedal to the floor.
More headlights. More rain. More vehicles crashing.
Lightning and thunder.
Terror.
Pain.
Then she was flipping, rolling, over and over. Glass shattering, metal shredding and crushing, while she wrapped her arms around her baby and prayed the seat belt would protect her daughter.
The windshield collapsed inward. Ice-cold rain soaked her. Her world shrank to the pinpoints of light spiraling behind her closed eyelids.
It was forever before anything made sense again. She realized the car was still rocking. Teetering. Her door had become the car’s uncertain base.
Then she realized the pain was gone, too. The labor pains. She couldn’t feel the baby moving, and her daughter was always moving these days. There was nothing left but the roaring in her ears. Her arms and legs were growing numb.
Shock.
She was going into shock.
“Please,” she begged, praying for one more miracle. “Please, just give me one last chance….”
RANDY MONTGOMERY SCALED the pulverized wreck his team was securing. The air at the crash site vibrated with a frantic kind of calm while they prepared to crack the car with the Jaws of Life. The acrid smell of leaking fuel shimmered off everything Randy touched. His guys and several other teams responding to the multiple car pileup had doused the entire scene in fire retardant foam. But with this much petroleum in the mix, an errant spark could still set off a flash fire. It wasn’t the worst scene Randy had triaged, but it would do.
And there had been many others. He’d certified in accident recovery in the first class that opened after 9/11, moving from an engine company to rescue because he’d thought that’s where he could do the most good.
A faint, feminine groan whispered up from inside the vehicle.
He was point. His job was to triage and stabilize the victim for what promised to be a delicate extraction. Advanced life support would follow once his team had secured the vehicle.
“We have a live one,” he called to his crew. “Someone position that spotlight over here.”
Never lose a victim. It was Randy’s mantra. He wasn’t delusional enough to believe he had that kind of control. Still, he fought for every life with everything he had.
He reached through the slit that had once been the front passenger window—now the highest point of the rumpled vehicle. It would be his only view inside until a new one could be ripped open. He draped himself over the mangled mess of metal and fiberglass. There were razor-sharp edges to avoid. Possible weak spots. Stressing the wreck further could compromise the integrity of the safety cage. Randy let his instincts and years of experience guide him as he did his careful work of getting a visual on the victim.
Careful was his forte.
He stayed in control, no matter the crisis. Ice had been stenciled onto his helmet after he’d joined his first engine company, recognition of how hard he’d fought at every scene even as a newbie straight from the academy. His two older brothers, Chris and Charlie, whom he’d followed into fire and rescue, had given him the nickname. The moniker had stuck when Randy transferred to his rescue company.
It wasn’t as if he didn’t care about his victims. But as the go-to man on critical calls, emotion on the job wasn’t a luxury he indulged in. And off the job…He was the son of a brutal father and an abused mother. Emotional entanglements weren’t something he courted.
Levering as much of his body as he could through the sedan’s passenger window, he took a deep breath and shoved his wandering thoughts away. He owed whomever was inside his total focus.
“What do you see, man?” The floodlights had been repositioned at a more direct angle, illuminating the safety cage that was manufactured into all modern vehicles.
“One occupant.” He strained to see the still form huddled between the bent-back hood, what was left of the steering wheel, and the driver’s door.
