Excerpt of Father by Choice by Rebecca Winters

THIS is the new acrylic-lined linen paper I was telling you about, Gilly. It just came in. Have you ever seen such a beautiful surface? The panels are slightly rough, just enough to grab the paint, but it's a fine weave."

Gilly King held one up to the light. "The paper's perfect. I'll buy the packet."

"Can I get you any paints?"

"Not today, thanks." She'd been ordering Brera acrylics from Italy online. They had that true Hooker's green for landscapes she couldn't seem to find anywhere else.

"Very good. Then I'll ring you up."

A seven-by-seven-inch ceramic frame caught her eye. It would be ideal for the gift she planned to make for her mother's birthday which wasn't far off. She handed it to the clerk.

Within a few minutes Gilly left the art supply store in Gardiner, Montana, with her purchases and headed for her car parked in front of Willard's Book Emporium. On impulse she went inside to buy a couple of thrillers and a newspaper.

The huge grandfather clock which had survived the Hebgen Lake earthquake years earlier chimed the quarter. She glanced over at it: 10:15 a.m. If she hurried, she'd have the rest of her day off to get busy on her latest project.

There was an area near Yellowstone Lake with a meadow of wildflowers that had just come into bloom. Now would be the time to capture them on canvas.

Before Gilly drove back toYellowstone Park through the North Entrance, she noticed she was low on gas. Might as well fill the tank while she was here. But to her dismay there were lots of cars waiting to use the pumps everywhere she looked. Still, the crowds were worse in the park where there weren't as many gas stations.

She spied Grandy's convenience store on the corner and got in line to wait her turn. It was going to be a while. While she sat there, she read the paper.

Every so often she moved her car. Finally she was able to pull up to the rear pump and get out to fill the tank. That's when her attention was distracted by a man with a burnished complexion who looked to be in his midthirties. He'd alighted from a blue Ford Explorer in front of her to wash his windshield.

His dark blond hair was short cropped. Some of the top strands were naturally sun bleached, reminding her of guys who spent their summers surfing.

He might be dressed in a T-shirt and jeans typical of so many of the tourists, but his well-honed physique caused her to stare. Like her brothers, he stood tall, at least six-two.

Gilly studied his hard boned features, focusing for a moment on his wide mouth. Its sensual male curve seemed to snake right through to her insides, making them quiver.

To experience a strong physical response like this came as a total surprise to Gilly. Two years ago she'd lost her husband, and hadn't been able to look at another man since.

His car had Washington license plates. Was he on vacation? If he'd come through the park and had been in one of her groups, she would have definitely remembered.As far as a man's looks went, his were unforgettable.

While she found herself wondering about the color of his eyes beneath those well-formed brows, he happened to glance up at her. His eyes flashed molten-silver and Gilly's body trembled from their deep penetration.

"Good morning," came his unexpected greeting.

"Beautiful day, isn't it?" he added in a deep male voice, but she had an idea he wasn't just commenting on the weather.

At the way his sensual gaze swept over her in frank male pleasure, a wave of heat consumed her. The breath seemed to catch in her lungs. She almost dropped the nozzle.

"I-It's lovely out," she stammered like a lovestruck teenager instead of a twenty-four-year-old widow.

On legs weak as jelly, she rushed inside to pay for the gas. By the time she'd returned to her car, the Explorer was halfway down the street, leaving her with an achy sensation that made no sense at all. In seconds the disturbing stranger would vanish from sight.

Gilly hadn't thought there was a man who could make her feel that inexplicably breathless kind of wanting again.

Not only was she shocked by her feelings — it seemed such a terrible betrayal of Kenny's memory.

Her funny, cute, wonderful, darling Kenny. The boy she'd loved since second grade. The guy she'd married out of high school. The father of their stillborn baby. Her rock who'd helped her to believe there would be more babies in time.

His death had been her point of reference for life. The day before he'd died it had been the end of May and her heart had been alive. But the next day, when he would have been with their families at the commencement exercises to watch her graduate from college, he'd been killed on the freeway by a drunk driver who'd veered into his lane.

Overcome by grief from both losses, the rest of that year had been a blur for Gilly. What made things even more difficult was her perception of herself as "different" from her overachiever family.

Gilly had been the baby of the highly educated Bryson clan. Her dad was still chancellor at the University of California in San Diego, her mom was a city court judge, her oldest brother Trevor was an attorney in a big name law firm, and her next oldest brother Wade had just graduated from medical school.

But Gilly wasn't like them. Without Kenny in her future, she hadn't known where to turn, what to do with her life. She'd thought they'd raise a family and be together forever. Her future had been shattered.

Though she'd obtained a communications degree, she'd planned to try for another baby and be a stay-at-home mom. Kenny worked for his father and made a wonderful living for them so she wouldn't have to work.

Completely lost, Gilly's mother had been the one to suggest she take a test to determine what career she was suited for where her degree could be of help.

When Gilly saw the answers, it was a revelation to discover they all had to do with the outdoors. Yet it wasn't surprising really. She and Kenny had spent their lives enjoying water sports and sailing. Anything to do with the ocean and nature.

After looking over the list, the only thing that halfway interested her was the idea of becoming a park ranger where she could be outside on a daily basis. Her parents encouraged her to investigate, hinting it was time she made the physical and emotional break from Kenny's family and all the attendant associations of him and the baby in order to heal.

In the fall she left for Montana to apply for work with the National Park Service. Though everyone in her family felt it was the healthy thing to do, Kenny's family begged her not to go. From the time she'd been a young woman, they'd loved her like a daughter. They'd mourned the loss of the baby and their son. If she went away, it would be like they'd lost everyone dear to them.

Without her own family urging her to reach out for a new life, Gilly wouldn't have been able to find the courage to leave. When she accepted her first assignment at Teton National Park, she'd been afraid to tell Kenny's parents. She finally did, but they'd made her feel terrible about her choices.

Living with the constant guilt of disappointing his family, coupled with the painful loss of her husband and child, Gilly's last two years had been difficult. In order to get through them, she'd poured all her energy into her career as a ranger.

Though there'd been plenty of opportunities to meet men, whether they were rangers or guys employed in the nearby towns, or even tourists just passing through, she'd been oblivious.

Until now...

The mere thought of the striking male who'd made her aware of her femininity to the very core of her being caused her heart to turn over. But this unwanted, unexpected reaction filled her with fresh guilt.

At Kenny's funeral she'd sworn to love him forever.

If Alex Latimer didn't have an important meeting at the chief ranger's office, he would have stayed to talk to the shapely female in the pale blue top and designer jeans just getting back in her red Toyota.

She had beautiful hair, a rich brown that glistened in the warm sun. He liked the way it was cut just below the jawline. He liked everything about her from her brilliant blue eyes and heart-shaped mouth to her small, cute feet wearing expensive-looking Italian leather sandals.

The woman painted her nails and toenails. He liked that, too. She looked expensive and well cared for. Her car was immaculate. So was she.

It had been a long time since he'd felt such a strong, instant, physical attraction to a woman who was probably ten to twelve years younger than himself.

Thirty-four wasn't exactly old, but he drew the line at getting involved with anyone too much younger than himself. Maybe she was older. With some women, age was hard to tell.

It had been a while since he'd had an intimate relationship with a woman, the latest being over a year ago. Since then he'd dated some, but the desire for anything more hadn't been there.

Lately he'd wondered if something was wrong with him. But the fact that he'd noted the woman's Wyoming license plate number while she'd been inside the store meant he was still vulnerable if and when the right female got fixed in his sights.

Maybe she was from the Jackson area. When he had the time to speak to Larry, the ranger in charge of park security, he'd ask the other man to look up the information on her. Depending on her age, Alex might try to accidentally bump into her another time and go from there.

Before long he pulled the car into the parking area at Park Headquarters in Mammoth. If tourists hadn't exploded on the scene in the last week with their trailers, kayaks and fishing boats, he would have accomplished the short trip from Gardiner even faster. But his thoughts had been so full of the stunning brunette, the heavy traffic hadn't bothered him.

Striding through the milling crowds, he made his way inside the building past reception to Jim Archer's office. His secretary told him to go on in. "Quinn Derek just got here."

"Thanks, Roberta."

When he entered the room, both men stood up.

"Quinn? Jim?" He shook hands with them before sitting down in front of Jim's desk.

Quinn followed suit. "Thanks for getting here so fast, Alex. The governor of the State has asked me to do him a personal favor and talk to you." He wore an expectant expression.

Personal? That wasn't what Alex had been expecting. It didn't sound too ominous. In fact put like that he could hardly refuse the park superintendent. They'd been good friends long before Alex had become the chief ranger of volcanology atYellowstone a month ago. "Name it."

Quinn's eyes lit up in amusement. "Don't be so quick to say yes. I can tell you right now this is the last thing any ranger would want to do, but you're the only man both of us could think of who's perfect for the job. You're the ideal role model."

Role model —" For what?"

"Before I answer that question, let me assure you it would only be for a month."

Alex grunted. "Starting when?"

"Day after tomorrow."

Jim Archer was sitting back in his chair, grinning. What in the devil?

"How would you like to let a teenager shadow you in your job?"

The surprising question caused him to rub his thumb absently against his lower lip. "If you mean one of the kids whose parents live and work here in the park, I'd be happy to do that. Did they ask because they're interested in geology?"

"No." Quinn sat forward, spreading his hands. "I'm talking about Jamal Carter, a seventeen-year-old 'at risk' student from Indianapolis. He's from an inner city alternative school.

"He's never been anywhere. His dad's in prison. The boy is angry and about to slip through the cracks. The mother is begging for help for her son. She says he's a good boy. All he needs is a chance.

"There's a national private foundation established to help fund troubled teens who end up in alternative schools. They arrange for the ones with potential to shadow people in various professions around the country.