Love by Accident

191 Pages·2011·0.84 MB·English

by  Beattie Michelle

Love By Accident

Written by Michelle Beattie
Published by Michelle Beattie
Copyright 2011. Michelle Beattie
Cover by Kim Killion at Hot Damn Designs

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excerpt portions of the text, please contact the author at [email protected].

All characters in this book are fiction and figments of the author's
imagination.
www.michellebeattie.com1
Praise for books by Michelle Beattie

What a Pirate Desires
"This very traditional but fun romance features a feisty heroine, a tortured
hero and a sassy parrot along with strong doses of betrayal, action, and plenty of
cunning." Publisher's Weekly.
"Pirates have never been more popular thanks to "Pirates of the Caribbean"
and Johnny Depp. Mr. Depp did for pirates what author Michelle Beattie is
doing again in her pirate series featuring What a Pirate Desires. This story was
filled with lots of swashbuckling action, adventure, mayhem and don't forget the
romance." Cheryl @ Manic Readers.

Romancing the Pirate
"Beattie's passion for the sea sparkles on every page, as does her love of
adventure and of creating a sensual love story between headstrong characters. 4
stars. " Romantic Times.
"The story line is a fast-paced historical romance that brings to life the
seventeenth century Caribbean Islands. The lead couple is a wonderful pairing of
two obstinate opposites who find love at sea. Fans will enjoy cruising the
Caribbean with Michelle Beattie as their guide. Romancing the Pirate is an
enjoyable and exciting tale." Harriet Klausner, the Merry Genre Go Round
Reviews.

A Pirate's Possession
"Beattie has made her reputation creating fast-paced, exciting high-seas
adventure romances with feisty heroines, daring heroes, rapid-fire dialogue and a
heady mix of passion, pleasure, and exploits. Her third novel is a delight to read
with plenty to savor for the pirate fan hidden within all of us. 4 stars." Romantic
Times.
"Michelle Beattie's third Caribbean seventeenth century pirate romance is
an exhilarating action packed high-seas romantic adventure. The fast paced tale
grips the reader from the opening card game when Nate and Claire, vowed
enemies for life, know the other is in the room. Fans will enjoy the high seas and
on land escapades of the lead pair who, to survive, need each other as love and
hate have no degrees of separation with this dueling duo." Harriet Klausner, the
Merry Genre Go Round Reviews.
Acknowledgments/Dedication

First and foremost my thanks go to Steve Malcolm, Human/Wildlife
Conflict Specialist for Jasper National Park. Steve was instrumental in this story.
From helping me about procedures, poaching, and hazing to reading my scenes
for accuracy. Steve, I couldn't have done this without you.
Thanks also to Wes Bishop, Human/Wildlife Conflict Specialist for the
details on the gun, bullets and the forensics behind determining which gun fired
the bullet. To Constable Casey Murphy of the Killam RCMP for help on the
charge and the fine Lauren was given. To Linda Taylor, RN. for medical help on
Matt's early diagnosis and how he would have been treated. These professionals
gave me their time and their expertise. Any errors or omissions are entirely my
fault.
I couldn't do this without great friends willing to critique my work and so a
huge debt of gratitude to Taryn, Michele, Sheila and Donna. You guys made this
book so much better!
And lastly, this book is dedicated to Raymond Lapointe Jr. A life taken too
soon. A life never forgotten. May God bless you. Always.
PROLOGUE

Waterton National Park
Alberta, Canada

Shock kept her numb.
Lauren McKinnon sat stoically on the sterile cot in the emergency room
while the nurse wrapped her sprained wrist. She'd already had stitches and been
x-rayed. No broken bones, no ruptured spleen. Just five stitches on the head and
a sprained wrist.
Life had never been so unfair.
"You're all set. How are you feeling?"
Lauren cut her an angry glare. "My boyfriend is dead and my best friend is
hurt. How do you think I feel?"
The nurse smiled apologetically. "I'm sorry. You can go see him as soon as
you're done talking to the RCMP."
Lauren's stomach fell hard. The RCMP? Was she going to be charged? Was
she going to jail for what she'd done to Matt and Gil? Tears filled her eyes. She
hadn't meant to hurt anybody.
The nurse disappeared through the pastel curtain. Within seconds a tall
uniformed constable stepped in. Dread pounded in time with her heart as she
faced the man who held her future in his hands.
"Miss McKinnon?"
Lauren wiped her cheek, nodded.
"I have to ask you some questions."
Lauren answered "no" to most of them. She hadn't been speeding, hadn't
had more than one beer, hadn't been sleeping at the wheel. She'd simply looked
away for a moment, lost control on the ice and skidded off the road. Right into a
tree.
"This is standard, you understand," he said as he handed her the
Breathalyzer.
She took the test. The officer made a note in his book when she passed it.
He handed her a paper. "I'll need your statement."
Though she tried to write it clinically, she couldn't hold back all her
emotions; they were simply too heavy against her heart to be contained. Tears
dampened the paper. Had it only been an hour and a half ago? Had her whole
life turned upside-down in just ninety minutes? Why? Why did it have to
happen? Why couldn't she go back and make it all right?
With a trembling hand she finished the statement. When she was done, he
took her signed copy and exchanged it for a yellow ticket.
Lauren looked down at the charge. Driving with undue care and attention.
It came with a three-hundred dollar fine.
Guilt choked her as relief flooded her.
"Now what?"
"The instructions are on the back. You have three options: pay the fine,
plead not guilty and wait for a court date or appear before the court to enter your
plea. Either way, I'd suggest getting a lawyer since someone died."
Tears poured down her cheeks. Her heart fisted painfully. Someone had
died. Gil, the man she'd been dating and living with for several years. The man
she'd hoped to marry. The man who'd ripped her heart out.
The officer slipped through the folds in the curtain a moment before the
nurse whipped them open. "If you're ready, I'll take you to your friend now."
Lauren clutched her bandaged hand over her heart. "Are you sure I can go
in? I don't want to get in the way."
And she wasn't sure she could bear to see him either. She'd been knocked
unconscious and hadn't come to until she'd heard the sirens. She hadn't seen Matt
other than a brief glimpse as they'd laid him on a backboard and carried him up
the ditch into the waiting ambulance.
"Is he--" She swallowed the lump in her throat. "How does he look?"
The nurse squeezed her shoulder. "A few bruises and minor cuts."
Lauren heaved a relieved breath.
He had a room to himself with several lab-coated medical staff buzzing
about. Between them she saw the clear line of the IV tube snaking out from his
hand. The nurses shifted. Lauren sucked in a breath at the sight of Matt wearing
a cervical collar. And he was still strapped to the backboard. What did that
mean? Had he broken his legs? His neck?
Her breath hitched on a sob.
"Are you his friend?" The nurse who'd taken her in had left and another,
taller this time, had taken her place at Lauren's side.
Lauren pressed her lips together and nodded.
"You can go closer."
Lauren didn't feel her feet move, but suddenly the medical staff made room
and she was at Matt's side.
He had a bandage on his forehead, a few scrapes along his cheekbone. His
eyes were closed; his breathing was low and even. Thank God he was breathing.
But he was so still. There was nothing attached to him but his IV, no
beeping noises filled the room. Other than the sound of hushed voices and rubber
soles squeaking on the floor as the staff moved about, it was silent.
"Why is the neck brace on? Why is he still strapped to the board?"
"The x-ray showed some fractures. We can't tell until the swelling goes
down how bad the injuries are. So we're keeping him sedated and still so he
doesn't do himself more damage."
Another nurse pulled back the covers at Matt's feet and poked him with a
small needle. She shook her head as she replaced the covers. "Still nothing," the
woman said as she jotted something in his chart.
Lauren staggered into the nurse at her side.
"Come, let's sit down."
Lauren shook her head, forced her knees to lock. "He didn't move. Does
that mean he can't walk? Is he paralyzed?"
Cold dread snaked up Lauren's spine. It couldn't be. She couldn't have done
this. Not Matt and Gil. God, they were only twenty-eight years old! She sniffed
loudly and accepted the tissue that was handed to her.
"All we know right now is there's swelling on the spine and the x-rays show
some spinal cord injuries. It could be--"
But Lauren stopped listening.
Matt was paralyzed and it was her fault. She'd killed his best friend which
was also her fault. How could she face Matt? How could she face his parents?
Or, God help her, Gil's? Grief pressed on Lauren making breathing difficult. She
was sorry, so damn sorry. The warm trail of her pain slid down her cheeks. God,
if she could only go back. Go back and do it differently. Make sure Matt was
belted in, instead of asleep across the back seat. She wouldn't take her eyes of
the road, not even for a second. She wouldn't have said those words to Gil,
words she'd never be able to take back.
God, Gil was gone. How could he be dead? How would she live with it?
Because she couldn't think of Gil gone, couldn't bear to accept the finality of it,
she concentrated on Matt. Matt, who may never walk again.
Lauren wiped the tear that fell on Matt's hand. When she touched him, felt
the warmth and vitality in him, grief racked her body. He shouldn't be lying
there. He shouldn't be hurt. Why couldn't it have been her? How would he ever
be able to look at her? How would they ever be able to remain friends now?
A sob burst from her lips. She jammed her fist against it, trying to keep
herself together, keep from shattering into a million pieces on the hospital floor.
She couldn't stay. She would never be able to face him, to see him knowing
all was gone, all because of her. Head bowed, she stepped away. At the door, she
turned and looked back. Though she knew by the silence and stillness that the
nurses in the room were watching her, she also knew this was the only way.
In her mind she saw Matt smiling, the teasing grin he often used to keep
him in dates. She'd never see his smile again, never hear his voice. Seeing him
lying there, broken, ripped her heart open. Because of her he'd lost Gil. He'd lost
everything.
"I'm sorry," she whimpered.
As an apology, it was pathetic. It didn't change the facts, wouldn't change
the future.
The room remained silent as Lauren walked away for the last time.
***
No, no, no! Gil thought as he reached for Lauren. But his hand went clear
through her hoodie and she kept right on walking. He stumbled to a stop. His
mouth dried.
Denial filled his head until it echoed with it. He wasn't dead. When he'd
seen the car wrapped around the tree, when he'd looked down at the ambulance
and police car, at the circulating red and blue lights cutting across the frozen
night, he'd been dreaming. Shit, he'd been dreaming, right? Right?
He tried to ask the passing nurses, but though he heard his voice, they didn't
seem to. Ah, hell! He ran down the hallway, frantically looking for a bathroom.
Seeing a sign on the wall, he raced for it but he wept when he tried to push it
open and instead almost fell through the other side.
Stumbling, he made it to the sink. He saw himself in the mirror. So he was
alive, right? Behind him a toilet flushed. A guy walked out, right up to the very
sink Gil was standing at and washed his hands. Knees buckling, Gil slid to the
ground.
Fuck, he really was dead. Then where the hell was the bright light everyone
talked about? Or, considering what he'd done, was he even going to see a light,
or was he doomed to go the other direction?
"God, if you're listening, I'm sorry. I was an ass, I know that. I hurt the
people I loved most. I was selfish and stupid and--"
There it was. The bathroom doorway became a blinding, pearly portal. He
came to his feet. He walked toward it and warmth enveloped him until he was
wrapped in it like a big cozy hug. Yet as great as it felt, he knew he couldn't go.
Not yet. He had to right the wrongs but was it up to him, he wondered? Did he
even have the choice?
The portal shimmered and he knew he did.
He thought of Matt lying on that bed, of Lauren, broken and in pain,
running away.
"I can't come. I have to make sure they're okay."
He wasn't sure to whom he was speaking, but he figured when the bathroom
door returned to its grey self someone had heard. He reached for the handle,
nearly fell again.
"Fuck, this is going to take some getting used to," he muttered as he headed
for Matt's room.
ONE

Jasper, Alberta, Canada.
Four years later

"I'm leaving."
The softly spoken words ripped through Lauren McKinnon with the
ferocity of a raging blizzard, leaving her shaken and cold.
"When?" There was no point in asking why? She'd learned from bitter
experience that answer never came.
"The day after tomorrow."
She swallowed hard. "So soon?"
Ted Hardy, Human/Wildlife Conflict Specialist for Jasper National Park,
was her rock, even if he didn't know it. She hadn't known him when she'd moved
back to the mountains. She'd enjoyed being on the coast, had adored Vancouver
Island. She'd had time with her sister, Carmen, time to, if not heal the wounds, at
least allow them to scab over.
But the mountains were her home and she'd finally listened to their calling.
Waterton wasn't a possibility, but Jasper was far enough away to maintain
anonymity while once again living in a mountain town. Waitressing wasn't what
she'd dreamed of nor worked for, but it paid her mortgage. And it had allowed
her to meet the rangers and their staff, to form friendships. Well, as much as
relationships could be forged considering nobody knew her real story or that she
was as qualified as they were.
She'd never even told Ted.
God, she couldn't believe she was losing him. The thought of him leaving
was ripping open old wounds, but she made sure Ted didn't see it. She was good
at putting up a brave front; she'd had years of experience after all.
"Kiddo, you knew I was thinking of retiring."
She forced her lips to smile. "Fifty-seven isn't retirement age for most
people."
"It is when you've been working since you were fifteen."
"You'll be bored and you know it," she muttered. She shook her head, blew
out a breath. So much for the brave front. "I'll get us more coffee," she said.
Lauren grabbed the pot from behind the counter. Juliet, the waitress on shift
to close, didn't even look up from the latest celebrity gossip magazine she was