Destiny's Trail — Terrell L. Bowers

Not by choice but from necessity, Random Chance has always managed to survive by living a little outside the law. Now he's not so sure about the survival part. While ￿eeing a marshal whose brother he killed in self-defense, he comes across a young couple who have been mortally wounded by two thieves he saw stealing their horses. In the couple's wagon, Random finds a baby girl, and he promises the dying mother that he will raise the child as his own.

Riding into the next town with the baby, he is mistaken for the dead man, who was to have been the new preacher. Needing a place to stay and raise the child, he decides to go along with the deception. Besides, he's determined to catch the killers who made the baby an orphan, and he knows they are nearby -- which is why he agrees to become the town's sheriff too. Now, if he can just be a good father to the baby, and keep the towns people from finding out that their preacher can't read or write and that their sheriff is wanted by the law...