Warrior's Resolve (Iron Horse Legacy Book 5)

by Elle James

  “I’ve got Traci,” Angus said, sounding winded. “We’re halfway up the stairs. And if she doesn’t stop kicking, I’m going to push her down them.”

  “Boomer, Kujo, Six and I are right behind you,” Hank said. “Keep moving. The collapse is likely to blow a hole in the lodge. Taz, Duncan, evacuate the building, ASAP.”

  Parker pushed Molly ahead of him on the stairs. “Go, go, go.”

  Molly ran as fast as she could, zigzagging up the secret passages, coughing in the dust and blinking back the grit in their eyes.

  Finally, they burst through the bookcase door into the library.

  Hank, Boomer, Kujo and Six emerged next, diving through the door and closing it behind them.

  “Where’s Mom?” Molly demanded. “Where’s Dad? I’m not leaving this building until I know they’re out and safe.”

  Parker asked into his communications device. “Status of Mom and Dad McKinnon?”

  “This is Duncan, Taz and I got Mom out of the building. We’re heading for the parking lot.”

  “Colin here. Dad’s in the parking lot. We’re trying to find Mom out here. Oh, wait, we found her.”

  Parker turned to Molly. “They’re outside and safe. “We have to move. Now.”

  The floor beneath them shook, the rumbling sound building to a roar.

  Everyone ran for the hallway.

  Parker wrapped his arm around Molly’s waist and half lifted her off her feet, moving her as quickly as he could toward the exit.

  Behind him, timbers cracked, ceiling panels dropped, and the world came crashing down.

  They had just made it out the front entrance when the mountain exploded. The blast of dust and debris shot Parker and Molly forward.

  They landed on their knees.

  Parker lunged to his feet, scooped Molly into his arms and ran from the fury of the mountain.

  When they reached the parking lot, people stood staring at the lodge behind Parker and Molly.

  “Put me down,” Molly said.

  He did, and she ran to where her mother and father stood holding each other, covered in dust from the blast.

  The crowd of people faced the lodge and watched as it seemed to tremble and shake. The roof caved in, taking the walls down around it.

  A collective cry went up from the onlookers.

  Parker joined Molly beside her parents. She stepped into his embrace and slipped her arms around his waist. “I knew you’d find me,” she said.

  He chuckled and pulled her closer. “I might not have found you in time, if I hadn’t heard your scream.”

  She grinned, her face caked in dust, her beautiful dress a disaster, and Parker still couldn’t think of anyone more beautiful. “By the way, you look beautiful tonight.”

  She snorted and smoothed a hand over her dusty hair. “I’m a mess.”

  “A beautiful mess,” he said and bent to kiss her dirty lips. “Before anything else happens, because we all know that where Molly goes, trouble follows, I just want to say out loud and for everyone who cares to listen…I love you, Molly McKinnon.”

  Molly looked up into his face, tears making muddy tracks down her face. “I love you, too, Parker Bailey. And you look amazing in a suit covered in half a mountain. Thank you for saving my life.”

  “Sweetheart, you were doing a pretty good job on your own.” He held her close while the crowd slowly dispersed, driving away from the building they’d come that evening to save.

  The sheriff arrived, arresting Traci Griffith and her two minions, who’d voluntarily turned themselves in. The men were willing to tell everything they knew, in exchange for leniency on their sentences.

  Mr. Griffith stood in front of the Lucky Lady Lodge, looking like a lost soul. He’d lost his wife to the law, as well as the lodge he’d dedicated his life to since his marriage to Traci.

  Parker felt sorry for the man. According to the sheriff, Lewis Griffith hadn’t known about his wife’s activities. He’d assumed her frequent absences were because she was having an affair.

  An ambulance arrived to collect Mr. McKinnon. Mrs. M rode with him to the hospital in Bozeman, where she’d spent the night not long before.

  Parker kissed the top of Molly’s dusty head. “Are you ready to go home?”

  “I am,” she said. “Now that the danger is past, Angus will be needing his room back. Unless he decides to stay with Bree indefinitely.”

  “I guess I’ll go back to living in the foreman’s cottage.”

  “Don’t you have a king-sized bed in that cottage?”

  “I do.”

  She arched an eyebrow. “Seems a shame to have such a big bed all to yourself.”

  Parker drew a deep breath. “It is a shame, but it’ll have to be that way.”

  Molly frowned. “What do you mean?”

  “Your father’s back. Until I get his approval to see his daughter, we’ll be sleeping in separate beds.”

  “The hell, we will.” Molly’s brow dipped low. “I’m a grown woman. I decide who I sleep with, not my father.”

  “Maybe your sleeping partner has an equal say regarding that decision.”

  “Technically speaking, my father isn’t back yet. Most likely, he’s going to stay at the hospital tonight.”

  “You have a point,” Parker said, narrowing his eyes.

  Molly lifted her chin. “Damn right, I do.”

  “I guess I could bend the rules one more night, just until your father is officially home.” He squeezed her gently. “I feel the need for a shower.”

  “Me, too,” Molly said, smiling now.

  Parker’s pulse quickened. A shower with Molly would be the best thing that had happened to him all day. He was ready. Her father wouldn’t be home any earlier than tomorrow, at which time, he’d ask for his permission to date his daughter. Hell, was it too soon for him to cut to the chase and ask Mr. McKinnon if he could marry his daughter?

  The thought made his chest swell with all the love he had for this dust-covered beauty standing beside him. He was ready to take on the old Marine for a chance to spend the rest of his life with Molly.

  “You two ready to go?” Angus and Bree walked to them from where they’d been talking to the sheriff.

  “Yes,” Molly said. She was past ready to get out of the dress and the heels that were biting into her feet. She was surprised they’d held together during their mad dash out of the mine and the lodge.

  “Mom said not to come to the hospital tonight,” Angus said. “She’d call and give us an update on Dad’s condition after the ER doctor has a chance to look him over.”

  They climbed into the dust-covered truck and followed the other cars and trucks out of the parking lot, heading back through Eagle Rock and out to the Iron Horse Ranch.

  As they turned in at the gate, Angus slowed to wait for the automatic gate to open. “Looks like what my brothers and I came home to do is done. Our father is safe. Now, we have to make some decisions.” He looked down at Bree.

  “Sweetheart,” she said “if the military is what you want, we can figure it out. I can hire a foreman to run the ranch, and I’ll follow you.”

  “I have a few days to decide before I have to return to duty,” he said. “We can discuss it tomorrow. Today was full enough.”

  Bree reached across the console for his hand and held it all the way up to the house.

  Molly slipped her hand into Parker’s. She hadn’t realized how hard it must have been for her brothers to leave home and join the military. Nor did she understand how hard it was, now, to decide whether to stay in Montana or go back to the military they loved.

  If they stayed at the Iron Horse Ranch, her role at the ranch would change. The ranch might not need a foreman. Parker would leave to look for another job.

  She squeezed Parker’s hand. No matter what the changes were, she’d proven to herself she could handle just about anything. Anything but losing a member of her family. As far as she was concerned, Parker was a member of her family.


  She loved him and would stay with him for as long as he let her.

  That night, she and Parker took that shower together and made love in his bed until the early hours of the morning.

  He held her in his arms as she closed her eyes. “In case I haven’t told you enough, I love you.”

  She chuckled and snuggled up to him. “You’ve told me at least ten times tonight.”

  “Not enough?” he asked. “Then let me tell you again. I love you.”

  She pressed a kiss to his chest. “I love you, too.”

  “I almost lost you tonight,” he said. “I could lose almost anything, but if I lost you, I would lose my reason for living.”

  “You had a funny way of showing it for the past five years,” she said, tracing the circle around his nipple.

  “Trust me, it wasn’t easy to keep my hands off you.”

  “And now?” she asked, her hand slipping down his torso to encircle his hardening shaft.

  He rolled her onto her back and leaned over her, his cock nudging her entrance. “Impossible.” Then he kissed her and made love to her again.

  Molly fell asleep in his arms, happier than she’d ever been, now that everything was right in her world.

  Epilogue

  Parker returned to his routine of caring for the ranch and animals, with one change. Instead of avoiding Molly, he worked alongside her, taking every opportunity he could find to kiss her and hold her close.

  Mr. McKinnon stayed two nights in the Bozeman hospital while recovering from a few cracked ribs, severe dehydration, and general crankiness. After the second night, the doctors and nurses were more than happy to release him to go home.

  Angus and Bree made the trip to Bozeman to bring the older man home.

  The entire family, along with their significant others and fiancées, were there to greet him.

  “I swear, a man can’t go on vacation for a couple of weeks without his children getting into all kinds of trouble,” he said as he walked up the steps to the house with the help of Angus on one side and his wife on the other.

  “I’ve had a chance to meet Bree, and I couldn’t be happier for Angus. About time you found someone to settle down with. I’m glad to hear you’ll be coming home for good when your enlistment is up. Between Bree’s place and the Iron Horse Ranch, you’ll be busy.”

  Mr. McKinnon turned to Colin and Emily. “Hi, Emily. I remember you from when you, Colin and Alex used to ride all over the ranch together as teens. I’m glad you’re going to be part of our family. Are you sure you want to follow this Marine around the world?”

  Emily nodded. “I’m up for a little adventure.”

  “And a good thing. It’s not easy being a military wife.”

  She squared her shoulders. “I can handle it, as long as I have Colin.”

  The older McKinnon turned to Jenna who stood beside Bastian. “I hear you were the one who discovered the abandoned house where Otis Ferguson treated me to some of his kind of fun.” His lips pressed together. “I’m glad you and Bastian got him. I’m even happier Bastian found someone to love. How do you feel about living on the Iron Horse Ranch?”

  “I already am,” she said with a smile. “And I love it.”

  “Hannah,” Mr. McKinnon shot a smile at his wife. “It looks like we need to add some more rooms to the house.”

  When he came to Duncan, his smile broadened at the baby girl in his arms. “I can’t believe I’ve been gone only a few weeks, and you made me a grandfather.” He turned to Fiona and took her hand in both of his. “Thank you.”

  She brushed a tear from her cheek. “I love your son with all my heart.”

  “And it’s obvious he loves you, too. You two will be busy as we make this ranch even more productive than it is now.”

  He squeezed her hand, let go and reached for his wife’s hand. “Sounds sappy from an old Marine, but love is everything. Without it, I would not have survived as long as I did. It was the thought of seeing my Hannah and my children again that kept me going.”

  Parker watched Molly as her father made his rounds of each of his sons and their fiancées, accepting them and voicing his approval for his sons’ happiness.

  Molly and Parker stood back from the rest of the family.

  When Molly’s father didn’t immediately seek her out, Parker slipped his arm around her waist and pulled her close.

  She leaned against his side and smiled up at him. “It’s okay.”

  He knew what she meant. Her father had always looked over her to his sons’ accomplishments.

  As far as Parker was concerned it was not okay. “No. It’s not.”

  He opened his mouth to say something to Mr. McKinnon, when the older man frowned and called out, “Molly Girl? Where are you?”

  “I’m here, Dad,” she said, stepping forward.

  Her father opened his arms. “Come here.”

  She left Parker’s side and stepped into her father’s embrace.

  “Molly Girl, I wouldn’t be here if it weren’t for you. When my boys all went off to join the military, you stayed by my side and worked so hard to make up for the fact they were gone. You may think I didn’t notice, but I did. I’m so very proud of you and everything you’ve accomplished here.” He smiled over her head at her mother. “Your mother tells me I don’t give credit where credit is due. So, I’m giving you credit.” He winked down at her. “We couldn’t have run this ranch without you.”

  Parker nodded his head in silence.

  “When I hired young Bailey, I thought I was giving you a break to get on with your own life. I wanted you to get off the ranch, date, fall in love, meet someone. I didn’t realize you thought I didn’t think you could handle the job.” He smoothed a hand over her hair. “I’d fire Bailey today, if I thought it would make up for my man-thinking.”

  “Don’t fire him, Daddy,” Molly said. “He’s good at what he does.”

  “I know. And I can’t fire him, now, because he needs the work to support his family. Or am I wrong about the two of you?” He frowned, looking straight at Parker.

  Parker straightened his shoulders. “Sir, you’re not wrong about us. I love your daughter.” He stepped forward and held out his hand.

  Molly placed hers in his.

  “And I want to marry her, with your approval.”

  Molly’s father cocked an eyebrow. “I don’t know what my approval has to do with anything.” He lifted his chin at Molly. “Do you love him?”

  She nodded. “Yes, Daddy.”

  “Do you want to marry him?” her father asked.

  She smiled up at Parker. “Yes, Daddy.”

  “Then you have all the approval you need.”

  “Thank you, sir. But you kind of stole my moment.” Parker grinned. “Seeing as you’ve already said yes…” he pulled a ring out of his pocket and dropped to one knee. “I think it bears repeating… Molly McKinnon, will you marry me?”

  Tears filled Molly’s eyes as she drew Parker back to his feet. “Yes. I will marry you. I thought you’d never ask.”

  “Wait… What’s this?” he asked, brushing a tear from her cheek. “I thought McKinnons never cried.”

  Molly laughed. “According to my father, we don’t.”

  “Well then, I just broke that rule,” her father said gruffly, brushing a tear from his own bruised cheek.

  Several vehicles pulled up to the house in time to save them all from more tears.

  Hank Patterson, his pregnant wife Sadie and their daughter Emma got out of the first vehicle.

  Boomer, his wife Daphne and their daughter Maya got out of the second truck.

  “I hope you all don’t mind. I invited Hank and his entire team out to the ranch for a cookout,” Mr. McKinnon said. “I felt like it was time to celebrate.”

  “Are you sure you’re up to it?” Molly asked.

  “Believe me. I’m up to it. They pumped me so full of fluids and vitamins, I’m feeling better already.”

  Hank came up the
steps with Sadie. “The rest of my team is on the way. I wanted to get here early to let you know I followed up on what Parker and Molly told me about what William Reed said about the money being hidden where the eagle flies into the mountain.” Hank smiled at Parker and Molly. “You were right. Reed hid the money at that closed mine entrance on the back side of the mountain. We sent a couple of guys up there with shovels and picks and found the bags of money buried beneath the old mine entrance with the flying eagle carved into the entrance timbers.”

  Molly laughed and hugged Parker.

  “That’s not all,” Hank said. “There was a reward for the return of that money. You two will receive fifty thousand dollars for providing the information that led to the recovery of the money. Congratulations.”

  “What are you going to do with all that money?” Bastian asked.

  Molly looked up at Parker. “What are we going to do with it?”

  “I know of a lodge that needs a little work. I think we can get it for a song,” he said with a crooked grin.

  “Actually, I love the idea.”

  “You’d give up ranching?”

  “No. But with all the help we’ll have around here, I’ll have more time to do other things.”

  “Like giving me more grandchildren?” her father asked.

  Molly’s cheeks turned a bright pink. “Dad, we’re just barely engaged.”

  “So?” Her father gave her a cocky grin. “Duncan isn’t married yet, and he’s already given me a granddaughter. Caity needs cousins.”

  “We’ll get right on that wedding planning,” Parker said.

  “Good.” Molly’s father clapped his hands together. “Now, let’s get down to the business of celebrating with family and friends.”

  “You’re going to sit and watch while the rest of us celebrate,” Mrs. M said.

  “But I’m home, and there’s grilling to do,” her husband protested.

  “Not for you,” she said. “Sit.”

  “Yes, ma’am,” he said and caught her in a gentle embrace. “I love you, Hannah McKinnon. Thanks for not giving up on me.”

  “I love you, too, James.” She kissed him soundly and pointed to a rocking chair. “Now, do as I said.”

  Parker pulled Molly to the side and into his arms. “I had a much more romantic setting in mind for asking you to marry me.”