The Defender Read online

  Two wounded souls in the Wild West. One last chance to claim the love they deserve.

  After escaping her troubled past, all Katie Bergstrom wants is to put down roots on her raptor rehabilitation facility outside Jackson Hole. She doesn’t count on reconnecting with her estranged birth mother—or the recent appearance of a sexy ranch hand.

  Former marine Joe Gannon is used to a life of risk. Working on the ranch, life is simpler...except for the undercover work he’s been asked to do. Getting too close to Katie could damage his current operation. Yet despite his orders to remain suspicious, he knows she’s innocent—and in danger. As he does everything he can to protect her, Katie can’t help but fall for him. But after a lifetime of betrayal, is this too-secretive, too-seductive rancher someone she can trust?

  Praise for

  LINDSAY McKENNA

  “McKenna skillfully shows that it’s all about the romance and not only the sex. After all, hard work, honesty and trust is what western romance is all about.”

  —RT Book Reviews on The Wrangler

  “McKenna’s latest is an intriguing tale...a unique twist

  on the romance novel, and one that’s sure to please.”

  —RT Book Reviews on Dangerous Prey

  “Riveting.”

  —RT Book Reviews on The Quest

  “An absorbing debut for the Nocturne line.”

  —RT Book Reviews on Unforgiven

  “Gunfire, emotions, suspense, tension and sexuality abound in this fast-paced, absorbing novel.”

  —Affaire de Coeur on Wild Woman

  “Another masterpiece.”

  —Affaire de Coeur on Enemy Mine

  “Emotionally charged...riveting and deeply touching.”

  —RT Book Reviews on Firstborn

  “Ms. McKenna brings readers along for a fabulous odyssey in which complex characters experience the danger,

  passion and beauty of the mystical jungle.”

  —RT Book Reviews on Man of Passion

  “Talented Lindsay McKenna delivers excitement and romance in equal measure.”

  —RT Book Reviews on Protecting His Own

  “Lindsay McKenna will have you flying with the

  daring and deadly women pilots who risk their lives....

  Buckle in for the ride of your life.”

  —Writers Unlimited on Heart of Stone

  Also available from Lindsay McKenna and Harlequin HQN

  The Wrangler

  The Last Cowboy

  Deadly Silence

  Deadly Identity

  Guardian

  The Adversary

  Reunion

  Shadows from the Past

  Dangerous Prey

  Time Raiders: The Seeker

  The Quest

  Heart of the Storm

  Dark Truth

  Beyond the Limit

  Unforgiven

  Silent Witness

  Enemy Mine

  Firstborn

  Morgan’s Honor

  Morgan’s Legacy

  An Honorable Woman

  And coming soon

  The Loner

  Lindsay McKenna

  The Defender

  To Donna Hayes, Publisher and CEO, Harlequin,

  for her passion in helping save the endangered Peregrine Falcons of Canada. Quest and Kendal could never have a better auntie than you! These raptors have a real champion and the world is a better place for people such as yourself who support our threatened wildlife. Thank you. For the whole story of how Donna got involved with these Peregrine Falcons, just go to http://harlequinblog.com/topics/company-news.

  To professional wildlife photographer Ann Brokelman, who not only helps the world see Peregrines, a species

  at risk in Canada, but freely gives of her time and passion to the Canadian Peregrine Foundation. And who also takes time to help amateur photogs like me

  get better at photographing wildlife. To appreciate Ann’s incredible photography, please visit her blog: www.naturephotosbyann.blogspot.ca.

  To the Canadian Peregrine Foundation, who has worked with heart and soul to rescue the beautiful Peregrine Falcon from the edge of extinction in their country. It is all volunteer work and volunteer contributions. They serve as wonderful role models of what we can do in our country to halt the death of so many raptors from pesticides used by agriculture. Visit their website:

  www.peregrine-foundation.ca.

  Dear Reader,

  The Defender is a story within a story. Yes, it is part of the Wyoming series and continues my tradition of danger, romance and suspense. Here is the “other” story: over a year ago, I received an email from Harlequin corporate headquarters. Donna Hayes, Publisher and Chief Executive Officer of Harlequin, had spotted a pair of Peregrine Falcons who were about to nest on a building across the street. Amazed, I read the missive. The Peregrine has been driven to the edge of extinction by DDT and other harmful pesticides used by farmers in Canada and the United States.

  As I read the email, I wanted to let Donna know that I, too, was involved in supporting and donating to High Country Raptors, Flagstaff, Arizona, USA. I sent her a YouTube link. My good friend Monica Amarillis had taken her cell phone and recorded me with Luna, a European eagle owl. You can see the videos on YouTube; search for “Eileen and Luna” and “The owl Luna catches a mouse.” The raptors you will see are birds cared for by Susan Hamilton, falconer, of High Country Raptors, who also holds an eagle license.

  After Donna saw the videos, she sent me an email telling me I had to connect with Ann Brokelman, a professional wildlife photographer. I did, and the rest is history! Because we all support not only with time, but donations to the volunteers who care for raptors, we have a wonderful, ongoing triangular connection in this incredibly magical realm of birds. Raptors do change your life. I know that for a fact. And always for the better!

  For those readers who are avidly waiting for my next book in the Wyoming series, I wanted to get more deeply into another passion of mine: romantic suspense! If you enjoy action, adventure, threat, hot romance coupled with danger, you’ll enjoy The Defender. Katie Bergstrom is a twenty-six-year-old raptor rehabilitator who tries to help wounded and injured raptors back to health in Jackson Hole, Wyoming. She was abandoned at birth by her mother. Rebelling, lost and always trying to find her mother, Katie goes through many foster homes and gets into teen trouble. She eventually winds up in Jackson Hole, where her luck changes and she’s given a new lease on life. Raptors, with their own unique magic, focus her life and give her reason to thrive, despite her dark, unhappy past.

  Joe Gannon, born in Jackson Hole, is a Marine Corps captain who was wounded in Afghanistan. He comes back stateside only to find out he can never fight for his country again. The FBI offers him a job. He has been specially chosen to return home to try to get close to Katie. Her birth mother, Janet Bergstrom, is suspected of criminal activity. Can he lie to Katie? Is Katie really a part of her mother’s illegal activities? Most of all, Joe finds himself caught in an impossible situation because he must fight his attraction to Katie and remain undercover to discover the truth. Where do lies and truth begin and end? Can their growing love survive?

  Enjoy!

  Lindsay McKenna

  Contents

  CHAPTER ONE

  CHAPTER TWO

  CHAPTER THREE

  CHAPTER FOUR

  CHAPTER FIVE

  CHAPTER SIX

  CHAPTER SEVEN

  CHAPTER EIGHT

  CHAPTER NINE

  CHAPTER TEN

  CHA
PTER 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

  CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR

  CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE

  CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX

  CHAPTER ONE

  SUNLIGHT BATHED the golden eagle’s half-opened wings, making them appear to be liquid bronze. Katie Bergstrom steadied the sixteen-pound bird on her leather gauntlet, facing him into the cool mid-morning breeze. She stood on the grassy floor of a wide valley, the magnificent Teton Range nearby. The sky was a fierce cobalt blue, the sun glaring at the snowy slopes.

  Katie felt Sam’s eagerness to fly, his round yellow eyes transfixed on the sky above. He loved getting out of his mew, or cage, and flying the familiar territory near the main highway leading out of Jackson Hole, Wyoming. Giving him a smile, Katie said in a conspiratorial whisper, “Just one more moment, Sam...” and spotted Donna, her foster mother, standing a quarter mile away. Her mother held up her hand, a signal for Katie to go ahead and release the raptor.

  Every morning, except on days when it was raining or snowing, her educational raptor was flown. These were raptors with a medical condition that did not allow them to be set free in the wild. Golden eagles were large, and Katie could feel the weight of the bird. Her arm started to ache. His curved talons gripped the thick leather of her glove. Sam’s black pupils became pinpricks in the field of gold. He flapped his wings, opening them fully, ready to launch off her arm.

  Katie didn’t know who looked forward to these flights more: her or Sam. “Okay,” she said in a quiet tone, “off you go....” and she heaved her arm and shoulder upward and forward in order to successfully launch the raptor.

  Sam knew her body’s signal. He quickly unfurled his massive seven-foot wingspan. With a snap of his wings, he lifted away from her glove, piercing eyes focused on the sky above.

  Katie felt instant relief from his weight. Gusts of wind created by Sam’s massive wings swirled around her head. Her shoulder-length black hair, tied into a ponytail, lifted momentarily away from her back. The wind buffeted her and her heart swelled with joy as Sam climbed into the sky. The five-year-old golden eagle made powerful sweeping motions with his wings. The sun glinted off his dark brown feathers. Remembering her love of Greek mythology, Katie saw Sam as a modern-day Icarus heading straight into the sun. Unlike the Greek youth, whose waxy wings were unable to withstand the heat of the sun, Sam’s feathers wouldn’t melt. And the eagle wouldn’t fall to earth and die, as Icarus had.

  Looking across the grassy, rolling field, she saw Donna witnessing Sam’s power-climb into the near-freezing morning air. Like herself, Donna had an eagle license, a very rare certificate given to raptor rehabilitators across the U.S.A. Only falconers who had this valued license could actually fly any type of eagle found in the country. Katie waved joyfully to the forty-nine-year-old redhead who stood downrange. Donna waved back.

  A thrill went through Katie. She felt the weight on her shoulders lift as Sam climbed higher and higher. Eagles were known to fly over ten thousand feet high in the wild. Sam wouldn’t do that because he knew Donna had a juicy meat morsel waiting for him on the top of her gauntlet.

  A gentle sigh issued from Katie’s lips. This was her favorite morning routine: flying her raptors. Not all of them could fly, of course, because they’d been injured in one way or another. But those that could, she flew daily unless the weather hampered her efforts. Squinting against the sun, she saw Sam level off at about five thousand feet. He began to glide as he discovered invisible columns of heat rising from the green earth. Early June could bring sudden snow squalls to this part of Wyoming. The Grand Tetons made their own weather and raptors would not fly in rain or snow. They had no eyelid to close in order to protect their eyes from the harsh elements. Instead, until the weather cleared enough for them to hunt, they were earthbound.

  The radio on her belt sputtered to life. It was a necessary form of communication between falconers who were often a mile or more apart when flying a raptor.

  “Sam’s flying high today,” Donna said with a laugh.

  Grinning, Katie pulled the radio from her belt. “Isn’t he, though? I think three days of rain and snow has left him feeling a little frustrated in his mew.”

  Donna chuckled. “Oh, I agree. He might be hungry, but right now, he’s sailing and just enjoying being out in the embrace of his real mother—the sky.”

  “He’s got excess testosterone to burn off, too. Grounded for three days because of rain has made him antsy to get back into the air.”

  “Isn’t that the truth!” Donna said, humor in her tone. “Let me know when to put the food out on my glove.”

  “I will. Out.” Katie fixed the radio back onto her belt. Sam now flew around in a huge circle at least a mile in circumference above her. His path took him across the main highway leading south into Jackson Hole and north toward Grand Teton National Park. Several cars were now parked along the major road between the town and the two national parks—Grand Teton and Yellowstone—to watch the eagle fly. A number of raptor-loving locals knew she and Donna flew the raptors inside the elk enclosure between June and August. The enclosure was fairly flat and safe. As people drove up the hill and spotted a magnificent eagle or hawk flying, they would pull over and watch them through binoculars. Right now, Katie saw three cars parked on the berm, the people standing near the ten-foot-high wire elk fence, simply watching and appreciating the raptor.

  She understood their joy. Sam was the largest eagle in the United States. When he unfolded and stretched those bronze wings, all seven feet of them, it was an awe-inspiring sight. A good feeling moved through Katie. She was glad the people of Jackson Hole loved raptors, supported them through donations and came to watch them be flown.

  Up above, Sam continued to fly in a one-mile circle. He wore a radio antenna placed on the quill shaft of one of his tail feathers. Should Sam get lost or not come in to be fed, Katie could use the radio to locate his whereabouts. At this distance, Katie couldn’t see the short kangaroo-leather jesses wrapped around his thick yellow legs. One never flew a raptor with long jesses trailing because they could get entangled in a tree branch and trap the raptor. Short jesses insured Sam could safely land and take off from a tree branch without breaking his leg or wing in the effort.

  Glancing toward the highway, Katie noticed a dark green car pulling off and park behind the other three cars. Usually, she recognized the people who stopped because they had come to her educational seminars about raptors in town. Over time, she’d gotten to know her raptors’ supporters. But the man emerging from the green car, although half a mile away, didn’t look like someone she knew. He walked over to the fence near the other spectators. Like them, he had a pair of binoculars in hand. That wasn’t unusual at all. People who loved raptors always had a pair. It was the only way to appreciate the birds up close.

  Katie looked up. Sam was wheeling above them, his circles growing a bit smaller.

  “Looks like he’s got most of his steam burned off,” Donna called over the radio.

  Pulling the radio to her lips, Katie said, “I think so, too. Now, he’s decided he’s hungry. When Sam starts making these smaller circles, he’s ready to come in and get fed.”

  “Roger. Maybe another ten minutes?”

  “Probably.” Katie watched the eagle slide upward on an updraft, his wings spread. Beneath each wing were two white patches known as stars. They looked like Xs to the observer on the ground. The Native Americans referred to the golden eagles as spotted eagles and said the white
stars symbolized the Milky Way from whence they had originally come. Katie loved the myths and legends about the golden eagle. The Native Americans revered the eagle and it was often at the center of their sacred medicine ceremonies. A golden eagle was seen as the symbol of the east. In the old days, eagle feathers were believed to bring a person closer to the Great Spirit. Because it flew the highest of all birds, feathers from an eagle were closest to the Great Spirit. The feathers carried the messages back to the human who wore them.

  “Okay, I’m going to get Sam’s food ready.”

  “Roger that.” Katie tucked the radio into her belt, her gaze following the eagle. He was now flying lower and was purposely swinging over the highway where the people were watching him with rapt attention.

  Something bothered Katie. It was a prickle of warning, the raising of hair on the back of her neck. What was she sensing? She turned toward the fence, feeling as if someone were watching her and not the eagle. All four people had binoculars. Three of them were lifted toward the sky. But the stranger who had arrived in the dark green car had his binoculars trained on her.

  Katie knew people were curious about falconers, too. Perhaps it was their rather odd costume. Katie had a thick leather gauntlet fitted up to her elbow. When an eagle landed, he would dig his long, curved talons deeply into the material to halt his forward motion. The double-thick leather took the power of his grip without puncturing the falconer’s lower arm. A tan canvas satchel hung diagonally across her upper body, the pouch hanging near her right hip. In it was raw rabbit meat to reward Sam for flying back to her. Taking off her black baseball cap, Katie smoothed some strands of her hair away from her eyes. As she settled the cap back on her head, she couldn’t shake the feeling of being watched. It made no sense, so she ignored it, focusing instead on Sam’s flight.

  * * *

  FBI AGENT JOE GANNON STUDIED Katie Bergstrom through his binoculars. He was glad there were three other people at the elk fence beside him. They were murmuring excitedly between themselves as the golden eagle swooped overhead. Joe was much more interested in the woman. Something odd happened to him as he continued to study Katie Bergstrom’s profile: his heart expanded in his chest. What an unexpected sensation.