No matter how hard she tried to stop the caring from creeping into her heart, she couldn’t.

She liked Mitch Dalton. She liked him very much.

“Why do you love pearls?” He studied her, waiting.

“Everyone knows that a pearl starts with a tiny grain of sand, but to me, it’s like faith. We are like that grain of sand and it’s God’s grace that can cloak us and make us shine, if we are humble and faithful enough. In the end, it’s a thing of true beauty.”

“Yes, it certainly is.”

He wasn’t looking at the pearl. But at her. Somehow his gaze deepened and there he went, somehow feeling too intimate, as if he could see too much. But how could he look past the layers of defense in which she cloaked herself so carefully?

JILLIAN HART

makes her home in Washington State, where she has lived most of her life. When Jillian is not hard at work on her next story, she loves to read, go to lunch with her friends and spend quiet evenings with her family.

A Soldier for Christmas
Jillian Hart

www.millsandboon.co.uk

I wait for the Lord, my soul waits,

and in His word I put my hope.

—Psalms 130:5

To Frank Heidt. Thanks for taking the time

to answer my questions about Force Recon,

I’ll keep your family in prayer, always.

Contents

Chapter One

Chapter Two

Chapter Three

Chapter Four

Chapter Five

Chapter Six

Chapter Seven

Chapter Eight

Chapter Nine

Chapter Ten

Chapter Eleven

Chapter Twelve

Chapter Thirteen

Chapter Fourteen

Chapter Fifteen

Chapter Sixteen

Letter to Reader

Questions for Discussion

Chapter One

Kelly Logan closed the textbook with a huff and blinked hard to bring the Christian bookstore where she worked into focus.

Math. It was so not fair that she, a twenty-four-year-old college student, had to take the required course so she could graduate. She intentionally hadn’t thought about quadratic equations since high school, which was six years ago. Hello? Who would want to have to think about this stuff? Unfortunately, she was paying good tuition money to have to think about this stuff. She rubbed her forehead in the hopes that her equation-induced headache would go away.

No such luck. Pain pounded against her temples as though someone was inside her skull, beating her with a mallet. Lovely. She’d been studying algebra for thirty minutes in the quiet lull of a Friday afternoon. Thirty minutes was all it took for her neurotransmitters to quit working in protest. Not that she blamed them. Definitely time for a study break before her head imploded. She leaned a little to the left over the counter to check on the store’s only customer, busily browsing in the devotionals display. “Do you need any help, Opal?”

“Any more of your help and I’ll break my budget, honey.” Elderly Mrs. Opal Finch wandered away from the decorated table with a small book in hand. “I got this one. The one you recommended. I see one of your bosses put up a written recommendation on it, too.”

“Katherine has exquisite taste.”

Opal slipped the book onto the counter. “Since when have you two steered me wrong? It’s such a pretty cover, I couldn’t resist.”

“Neither could I. I bought it today—payday.” Kelly gestured toward the identical small pink book next to her textbooks before she rang up the sale. “I already took a peek at it. The first day’s devotion is awesome.”

“Wonderful. Are you going to want to see my identification? That new girl did last time I was here.”

“Nope, I know your account number by heart.”

“That’s not what I meant.” Opal’s merry green eyes sparkled with amusement. “So you can verify my senior citizen discount! It’s a hoot, that’s what it is, questioning my age. Oh my, it’s good for the soul.”

“You look eighty-three years young to me,” Kelly assured the lovely octogenarian as she scribbled down the purchase on an in-house charge slip.

“Bless you, dear, I surely appreciate that. And I don’t need a bag, sweetie. Conservation, you know.” She opened her wide paisley-patterned purse, hanging by sturdy straps from her forearm.

Kelly leaned over the counter to slip the book and receipt into the cavernous purse. “Thanks for coming by. You stop in and tell me how you like the devotional, okay?”

“I most certainly will.” Opal snapped her purse shut, her smile beaming and her spirit shining through. “Don’t study too hard. An education is important, but don’t you forget. There are greater blessings in this life.”

In yours, yes. Kelly filed the in-house copy of the charge slip in the till and held back the shadows in her heart. She feared that a happy family may not have been in God’s plan for her. Sometimes it was hard to accept, to see the reason why she’d been given the parents she had.

Some days it was all she could do to have faith.

“Kelly, dear,” Opal called over her shoulder on the way to the door. “Be sure and tell Katherine good-bye for me. That girl works too much!”

“I’d tell her that, but she won’t listen.”

The bell over the front door chimed cheerfully as it swung open with a force hard enough to keep the bell tinkling a few extra times.

“Let me hold the door for you, ma’am.” A man’s rugged baritone sounded as warm as the intense August sunshine, and the bell jingled again as he stepped aside, holding the door wide as Opal passed through.

Something puzzled her. His voice. There was something about it. Kelly couldn’t see him well because of the glare of bright sunlight slanting through the open window blinds lining the front of the store.

All she saw of the newcomer was his silhouette cutting through the strong lemony rays of the western sun. It was a silhouette cut so fine, everything within her stilled, awestruck by the iron-strong impression of his wide-shouldered outline.

“Why, thank you, sir,” Opal’s genteel alto rang with admiration. “You’re a fine gentleman.”

“You have a nice afternoon, ma’am.” He stepped out of the touch of the light. His shadowed form became substance—a fit, capable soldier dressed in military camouflage, who looked as if he’d just walked off the front page of the newspaper and into the bookstore.

Wow. Definitely, one of the good guys.

“Good afternoon.” The soldier removed his hat, the floppy brimmed kind that was camouflage, too, revealing his thick, short jet-black hair. He nodded crisply in her direction.

“Uh. G-good afternoon.” Was that really her voice? It sounded as if she had peanut butter stuck in her throat. Totally embarrassing. “Do you need any help?”

“I might. I’ll let you know.” He stood too far away for her to see the color of his eyes accurately, but his gaze was direct and commanding.

And familiar. There was something about him. It wasn’t uncommon for soldiers to find their way in here, down from the army base up north.

Could he be a repeat customer? She considered him more carefully. No, she sure didn’t think he’d been in before. His face was more rugged than handsome, masculine and distinctive with piercing hazel eyes, a sharp blade of a nose and square granite jaw.

Kelly, you’re gawking at the guy. Again, a little embarrassing, so she went in search through her backpack instead. Her aspirin bottle was in there somewhere—

“Hey, I know you. You’re Kelly, right? Kelly Logan?” The handsome warrior grinned at her, slow and wide, showing straight, even white teeth. Twin dimples cut into lean, sun-browned cheeks. “South Valley High. You don’t remember me, do you?”

Then she recognized the little upward crick in the corner of his mouth, making the left side of his smile higher than the right. Like a video on rewind, time reeled backward and she saw the remembered image of a younger, rangy teenage boy.

“Mitch? From sophomore math class. No, it can’t be—” Like a cold spray from the leading edge of an avalanche, she felt the slap and the cold. The past rolled over her, and she deliberately shut out the painful blast and held onto the memories of the man standing before her. The shy honors student who’d let her, the new girl, check her homework answers against his for the entire spring quarter.

“Yep, it’s me.” A very mature Mitch Dalton strode toward her with a leader’s confidence. “How are you?”

“Good.” A sweet pang kicked to life in her chest. She remembered the girl she used to be. A girl who had stubbornly clung to the misguided hope that her life would be filled with love—one day. Who had still believed in dreaming. “You have changed in a major way.”

“Only on the outside. I’m still a shy nerd down deep.”

“You don’t look it.” She glanced at the pile of textbooks on the counter. She, on the other hand, was still a shy bookish girl—and looked it.

“You haven’t changed much.” Mitch halted at the edge of the counter, all six feet plus of solid muscle, towering over her. “I would have known you anywhere.”

“Why? Because—wait, don’t answer that.” She saw the girl she’d been, so lost, so alone, in and out of foster care and relatives’ homes. She belonged nowhere, and that had been a brand she’d felt as clearly as if it had been in neon, flashing on her forehead. She still did.

Forget the past. Life was easier to manage when she looked forward and not back.

Mitch jammed his big hands on his hips, and the pose merely emphasized his size and strength. “It’s been a long time since we sat in Mr. Metzer’s advanced algebra class.”

“Math. You had to go and remind me of that particular torture. I was lost until you took pity on me and gave me a little help. I wouldn’t have passed Algebra Two without you.”

“Math’s not so bad. I’m planning on getting a math degree after I get out next summer.”

“Out of the army?”

“Please. I’m a marine.”

“I should have known. The distinctive camouflage outfit gives it away. Not.”

His left eyebrow quirked as he glanced down at his uniform and then at his name on his pocket—M. Dalton. “Did you really remember me, or did you just read the tag?”

“You were too far away when you walked in. So, this is what you’ve been doing since high school?”

“Yep. Being a soldier keeps me busy and out of trouble.”

Kelly wasn’t fooled. His hazel eyes sparkled with hints of green and gold, and humor drew fine character lines around his mouth. He didn’t look as if he caused trouble. No, he looked as if he stopped trouble when it happened. “Are you stationed up north?”

“It’s only temporary. I’m here for more training. Then it’s back to California, and the desert after that. They keep me pretty busy.”

“The desert, as in the Middle East? Like, in combat?”

“That’s what soldiers do.” His smile faded. He watched her with a serious, unblinking gaze, as if he wanted to change subjects. “How’s Joe doing?”

“J-Joe.” She froze in shock. Didn’t Mitch know what had happened? Her chest clogged tight, as if she were buried under a mountain of snow. She wanted to be anywhere, anywhere but here. Talking about anything, anyone.

It felt as if an eternity had passed, but it had to be only the space between one breath and the next.

Silent, Mitch loomed over her, the surface of the wooden counter standing between them wide as the Grand Canyon. The late-afternoon sun sheened on the polished counter, or maybe it was the pain in her eyes that made it seem so bright. Looking through that glare and up into Mitch’s face was tough. It was tougher still to try to talk about her broken dreams. They were too personal.

She’d stopped trusting anyone with those vulnerable places within her when she’d buried Joe.

And that’s the way she still wanted it.

She slipped her left hand into her jeans pocket so he wouldn’t see that there was no ring. She could not bring herself to answer him as the seconds stretched out longer and longer and she looked down at the counter, too numb to think of anything to say, even to change the subject.

The truth of the past remained, unyielding and something she could not go back and change. There were a lot of things in her life she would have wanted to be different. A man as forthright and strong as Mitch Dalton wouldn’t understand that. Not at all.

The phone jingled, like a sign from above to move on and let go. She had a reason to step away from the tough marine watching her, as if he could see right into her.

“Excuse me,” she said to him and turned away to snatch the phone from the cradle. “Corner Christian Books. How can I help you? Oh, hello, Mrs. Brisbane.”

Mitch retreated from the counter, captivated by Kelly’s warm, sweet voice. It was still the same.

She was not—quiet, yes, sweet, yes, but wounded. So, what had happened?

Years ago, the first time he’d come home on a much-deserved quick break from his Force Recon training, he’d gotten up the courage to ask his mom first about any hometown news. And then about Kelly in particular.

She’s marrying that McKaslin boy she’s been dating, Mom had said.

Married. That word had struck him like a bullet against a flak jacket and he’d hidden his disappointment. That had been the last time he’d asked about Kelly Logan.

She wasn’t married now, whatever had happened. As he sank into the rows of books, he cast another glance in Kelly’s direction. Her gentle tone continued. Clearly she knew and liked the customer who’d called. But this didn’t interest him so much as what he could read by simply looking at her. The way she held herself so tightly and defensively, as if she were protecting the deepest places in her heart. The way her smile didn’t reach her pretty blue eyes. Sadness clung to the corners of her soft mouth and made her wide almond-shaped eyes look too big in her fragile heart-shaped face.

How much of that sadness had he made worse by putting his foot in his mouth? Troubled, he turned his back, determined to leave thoughts of the woman behind, but they followed him through the long shelves of Bibles and into the Christian fiction rows. He still reeled from the raw pain he’d recognized in Kelly’s eyes.

He’d been so wrapped up in his life, in his demanding job and nearly constant deployments, that he’d almost forgotten that heartbreak and tragedy happened off the battlefield, too.

Pain. He hated that she’d been hurt. He hated that he’d been the one to bring up the past. He should have looked at her hand first, the ringless left hand she’d been trying to hide from him, before he’d said anything. Something had happened to her, something painful, and he was sorry about that.

Wasn’t pain the result of relationships? He saw it all the time. Marriages failed all around him, it happened to his friends, his team members, marines he barely knew and to his commanding officers.

Between the betrayal when a spouse broke wedding vows or changed into a different person, and the grief when love ended, he didn’t know how anyone could give their hearts at all, ever, knowing the risks. Knowing the pain.

That was why he kept clear of relationships. Not only did he not have much free time to get to know a woman, but he wondered how anyone knew when it was the real thing—the kind of love that lasted, the kind his parents had—or the kind of relationship that ended with devastation.

Either way, it was a lot more risk than he’d felt comfortable with.

So, why was he searching for a view of Kelly? From where he stood, the solid wooden bookshelves blocked the front counter, so he stepped a little to his left until he could see her reflected in the glass like a mirror. Perfect.

He wanted to say it was guilt, of bringing up something painful that had happened with Joe, that made him notice the way the soft fluff of her golden bangs covered her forehead and framed her big, wide eyes. And how the curve of her cheek and jaw looked as smooth as rose petals. Her hair curled past her jawline and fell against the graceful line of her neck to curl against the lace of her blouse’s collar.

But that wasn’t the truth. Guilt wasn’t why he was noticing her. Concern wasn’t the only reason he couldn’t seem to tear his gaze away. He was interested. He was stationed here for a short stint, that was all, and he wasn’t looking for anything serious—that was a scary thought.

No, he wasn’t ready for that. He didn’t have time for that. He wasn’t a teenaged kid anymore with an innocent crush, and by the look of things, Kelly’d had her heart broken. She probably wasn’t looking, either.

He’d come here to find a gift—nothing more—and he’d be smart to get to it. That was the sensible thing to do. He wandered back to the aisle of Bibles, determined to keep his attention focused squarely on his difficult mission: finding a suitable birthday gift.

The rustle of her movements jerked his attention back to her. He was at the end of the row, giving him a perfect view of Kelly. She’d hung up the phone and was circling around the edge of the long front counter. She was keeping her eyes low and intentionally not looking his way, but he kept observing her as he went on with his browsing.

He couldn’t say why he watched her as she padded to the far edge of the store. Or why he noticed how elegant she looked in a simple pink cotton blouse and slim khaki pants. It was a mystery. He wanted to attribute it to his training—the marines had trained him well and paid him to observe, but that wasn’t it at all. Not truthfully.

He couldn’t say why, but he listened to the whisper of her movements and kept listening…even after she’d disappeared from his sight.

Chapter Two

Was it her imagination, or was he watching her?

Kelly slipped the inspirational romance from its spot on the shelf. Her gaze shot between the open book bay to watch the hunky soldier’s broad back, which was all she could see of him. Mitch stood with his feet braced apart, browsing through the devotionals display midway across the store.

No, he’s not even looking my way, she thought, shaking her head and hurrying back to the cash desk. Besides, he seemed totally absorbed in his browsing as he set down one book and reached for another. He was the only customer in the store, and if he wasn’t noticing her, then no one was.

Okay, so she was nuts, but she still felt…watched. She remembered the impact of his gaze, and how tangible it had felt. She kept a careful eye on him as she returned to the front.

Although he didn’t lift his head or turn in her direction, she felt monitored the entire time it took for her to write Edith Brisbane’s name on a slip of paper, rubber-band it to the spine of the book and slip it onto the hold shelf.

I know what the problem is, she realized in the middle of shaking an aspirin tablet onto her palm. She was the one noticing him.

Who could blame her? He cut a fine figure in his rugged military uniform, and back in high school she’d always had a secret crush on him. He’d always been a truly nice boy. It looked as if time had only improved him.

As she chased the aspirin down with a few swallows from a small bottle of orange soda, her gaze automatically zoomed across the floor to him. Head bent, he had moved on to amble through the gift section of the store, his attention planted firmly on the rows of porcelain jewelry boxes in front of him. There were two inspirational suspense books tucked in one big hand.

When she looked at him, she could hear his gravelly voice asking again, How’s Joe doing?

It wasn’t his fault, Mitch obviously didn’t know what had happened. But that didn’t make the raw places within her heart hurt any less.

She was no longer a girl who could dream.

She climbed back onto her stool and debated tackling more of her homework, but she wasn’t in the mood to face her math book. She knew that if she sat here trying to solve for x, her attention would just keep drifting over to the impressive warrior. To the past.

What good could come from that?

“Hey, Kelly.” Her boss’s solemn baritone cut through her thoughts, spinning her around to face him. Spence McKaslin pushed open the door on the other side of the hold shelf. He emerged from the fluorescent glare of his office, looking gruff, the way he always did when he worked on the accounts. “I’ll be in the back going through the new order. Katherine’s still out, so if it gets busy, buzz me.”

“Sure, but it’s been really quiet. Do you want me to start restocking or something?”

“No, we’re all caught up. Just watch the front until your dinner break. Study while you can. It could get busy later.”

“It never gets busy on a Friday night.”

“Don’t argue with me, I’m the boss.” He gave her an extra-hard glare on his way to the drawers beneath the till, but he didn’t fool her.

Spence was strong and stoic and tough, but also one of the kindest men she’d ever met. Her opinion of him had been pretty high ever since he’d hired her, which had saved her from losing her apartment when she’d been laid off from her previous job. Spence would have been her cousin, had things worked out differently with Joe.

A lot of things would have been different if she’d been able to marry Joe.

Feeling as if she’d been sucker-punched, she tried hard not to let the pain show. She didn’t know how something so powerful would ever go away, but she did her best to tuck her grief down deep inside. Her gaze strayed to where Mitch still browsed, looking like everything good and noble and strong in the world.

But she also saw memories. And she wanted nothing to do with the past.

Spence grabbed the key ring from its place under the counter and studied her in the assessing way of a good big brother. “Did you manage to fit in lunch today?”

“Well, I ate a granola bar while I was stuck in traffic in the big parking lot on campus.”

“I knew it. Take your dinner break at five, and I’ll go when you get back,” he ordered over his shoulder, already marching away.

Mitch watched the older man pass by the gift section and disappear through a door in the back. It was less than an hour before her dinner break. Interesting. He couldn’t say why, but he felt out of his element. And it wasn’t because he was in a store full of flowery knickknacks and breakables.

A plan hatched in the back of his mind, and it had nothing to do with his shopping mission.

Kelly remained in his peripheral vision. She made a lovely picture, sitting straight-backed with her head bowed over a book. The math text was still in the stack, so she must be working on another subject. Absorbed in her reading, she tucked a strand of rich honey-blond hair behind her ear, revealing a small pearl earring and her bare left hand.

While he was at home creeping through enemy territory in the rugged mountains of Afghanistan or the deserts of the Middle East, his extensive training did not include what he was about to do.

He kept her in his line of sight as he approached the register. The light from the window seemed to find her and grace her with a golden glow. She kept her head bowed over her book as he approached, but her shoulders stiffened with tension. Telling. But he continued his approach, taking in other details. The soda bottle, her nearly worn-out leather watchband, the pink barrette in her hair that matched the tiny flowers on her blouse. The two sociology textbooks stacked neatly at her left elbow.

He wondered about her life. Did she like being a college student? Did she live on campus in a dorm room or in a nearby apartment? Alone, or with a roommate?

When she looked up from her reading, her smile was cordial but he didn’t mistake the sadness, like a shadow, in her dark-blue eyes. He felt a tug of sympathy from his heart. “You look pretty busy,” he noted, easing the books onto the counter by her register.

“It’s the life of a college student. I have a test on Monday.” As she leaned to scan the books, her hair bounced across the side of her face, leaving only a small sliver of her profile visible. “Did you find what you were looking for?”

“I found more.” He wasn’t talking about the books.

“I do that all the time.” Her gaze didn’t meet his and her polite smile was too brief. She turned her attention to the cash register. All business.

Okay, he got the signal, but he didn’t let it deter him. “How long ’til you get your degree?”

“After this summer, I have two semesters left.” She paused to study the cash register and searched for a key.

“It’s gotta be slow going, working your way through.”

“It’s taking twice as long, but at least I don’t have a major loan to pay back when I’m done.”

“That’s one perk of enlisting. My college will be paid for.”

At least he wasn’t mentioning the past or Joe again, Kelly thought thankfully as she totaled the sale. Her chest was still clogged tight, like the fallout of an avalanche still pressing her down. “Twenty-one ninety-three, please.”

Mitch held out his credit card.

When her fingertips caught the other end, she felt a flash, like a shock of static electricity in the air. The sunlight changed to a bright piercing white. The floor rocked beneath her feet. It lasted only for a second. Then the earth steadied, the sunlight turned golden and there was Mitch, unmoved, looking calm and as cool as steel.

That was so not a sign from heaven. Just the pieces of what remained of her dreams, longing, in the way faint embers from a fire’s flame could glow briefly to life when exposed to air. Her fingers trembled as she swiped his card and plunked it back onto the polished counter between them.

If there was a way to breathe life back into her dreams, she would ask the Lord to show her how. But she didn’t bother. Some things really were impossible. “I still can’t believe you’re a soldier. What happened to your pocket protector?”

“No place for it on this uniform. I love what I do.”

“What exactly do you do?”

“Well, I started out at oh-six-hundred with a ten click—kilometer—run in full gear and spent the day mountain climbing to five thousand feet.”

“You get paid to climb mountains?”

“That’s not all. I get to do things like scuba dive, parachute, drive around in Humvees and play with explosives.” He said it all as if it was no big deal, just in a humble day’s work. “Keeps me out of trouble.”

“Seems like that would get you into trouble.”

“Nothing I can’t handle.”

Wow, Kelly thought, as she bagged the books. He’s grown up into quite a man. “See, my day is a piece of cake by comparison.”

“Except for the math.”

“Oh, you had to mention that again. I was trying to forget for a while.” She hadn’t laughed out loud in a long time. “Where you get paid to do things that you think are fun, I pay out good tuition money to be tortured by algebra.”

“I’ll be in your boat in eighteen months.”

“That’s right. That math degree you’re going to get.” The machine spat out the charge receipt and she held the two-part paper steady while it printed. How her heart ached as those embers of old dreams struggled for life. She tore off the printed receipt and slid it across the counter. “I need your autograph, and then you’re free to go, soldier.”

“Free’s a relative term.” He grabbed a pen from the cup by the register. “My time’s pretty regimented.”

“I bet it is. Are you headed back to your base?”

“In a few hours. I’m free until then.” He scrawled his signature at the bottom of the slip.

Too bad she’d given up on dreams. She didn’t know if she felt relief or regret.

“I hope you enjoy your books.” She slipped his receipt into the bag and presented it to him. “I’m glad to see you’re doing so well. I wish you luck, Mitch.”

“You’re letting me go, just like that?”

“Well, what else am I supposed to do? Generally we let customers leave our store. We seldom hold them hostage.”

“I’m not talking about other customers. I’m talking about me. We could renew our friendship.”

“We were never really friends, you know.”

What did that leave him with? Renewing his secret crush on her? He took his bag, but the last thing he wanted to do was leave. She was still the nicest girl he’d ever laid eyes on. He could use a little nice in his world. It wasn’t something he saw much of.

“We could be friends now,” he suggested with his best grin.

“But you said you were headed back to California.” Sweetly, she studied him through her long lashes.

A mass of emotions struck him like shrapnel to his chest. Emotions weren’t his realm of expertise, but he felt strong with a fierce steely need he’d never felt before—to protect her, to make her smile, to make her every sadness go away.

Not really in his comfort zone, but a crush was a crush. What was a guy to do?

He tried again. “I’m not leaving for a while. We could still be friends.”

“I have enough friends.” Her eyebrow crooked up in a challenge.

So, she was giving him a hard time on purpose. “You get a dinner break, right?”

“Now and then they loosen the chains and let me out for a bit.” Kelly folded her arms in front of her, considering him.

“You get a dinner break, and I’m hungry for dinner. It’s a coincidence.”

Kelly couldn’t believe how he was just watching her with those intense, commanding hazel eyes of his, so wise and perceptive. She felt the impact as if he could see directly into her. “You’re asking me out, aren’t you?”

“No, not out. No. Of course not.” He held up his free hand, as if he were innocent. Completely guilt-free.

“That’s good, because I don’t date anymore. I’m sorry.”

“That’s okay, because I’m not looking for a date. I was asking you to help me out.”

“As if a big strong soldier like you needs any help at all?”

“Sure. I need a favor. I’m a lonely marine.”

“A lonely marine?” Oh, she was so not fooled.

“Sure. It’s only dinner.” Amusement quirked the left side of his mouth. “C’mon, you gotta eat.”

“True, but you probably have better things to do on a Friday evening.”

“I can’t think of one.”

It’s gotta be the uniform, she told herself as she assessed him carefully. “They must not let you out much if you think sharing my dinner break is your best option.”

“What can I say? I could use a friend. How about it?”

Kelly’s heart twisted hard. There was no mistaking the sincerity in his steady gaze. He meant those words. How could she say no? She knew a thing or two about wanting a friend. “You’ve got a deal.”

“Excellent. How do you like your hamburger?”

“With cheese and mayo, no onions and tomatoes.”

“I’ll be back in an hour. Thanks, Kelly. I’m glad I ran into you.”

“I’m glad, too.”

He was military-strong and nice. What a combo. She couldn’t help liking him. Who wouldn’t?

She watched him stride away, cutting through the long rays of sunlight and disappearing into the glare. She couldn’t help the little sigh that escaped her. The bell jingled and the door swished shut and he was gone.

The dying embers in her heart ached. Be careful, she warned herself, holding on tight to her common sense. A man like Mitch could make her want to believe. And it was the wanting that got her into trouble every time—the longing to belong, to be loved, to know that soft comfort of a loving marriage and family.

“Hey, who was that?” Back from her run to the bank, Katherine, Spence’s sister, swished behind the counter. “He looked like a very nice, very solid, very fine young man.”

“Oh, that was just a customer.”

“No, he was trying to ask you out. I happened to overhear. Accidentally, of course.” Katherine leaned against her closed office door, looking as if she’d just received the best news.

That was Katherine. Always wishing for happy endings for other people. “It’s not how it looks. We’re just friends.”

“Right, well, that’s the best way to start out. You never know what will develop from there. I’m saying prayers for you. No one deserves a happy ending more than you.”

“There are no such things as happy endings.” Kelly knew that for an absolute fact. “This isn’t a fairy tale. He’s only in town for a little while.”

“You just never know what the Lord has in store for you. It wasn’t fair what happened with Joe.”

She had to go and mention it. Kelly swallowed hard, wrestling down painful memories—the weight of them heavy on her heart, along with too many regrets. Too many failures. “Life is like that. It’s not fair.”

“No, but in the end, good things happen to good people. I believe that.” Katherine breezed into her office, sure of her view of the world.

Kelly didn’t have the heart to believe. She could not let herself dream. Not even the tiniest of wishes. She was no longer a girl who believed in fairy tales, but a grown woman who kept her feet on the ground.

She had no faith left for dreaming.

Chapter Three

“I think it’s gonna be a quiet Friday night.” Spence emerged from one of the fiction aisles with a book in hand. “How’s the studying coming?”

“I’m less confused, I think. I haven’t taken math since high school and I’ve forgotten just about everything but the basics.”

“That’s why I use a calculator.” Spence nodded toward the front windows. “The soldier who was in here earlier? He’s back.”

“He is?” It took all her effort to sound unaffected. She turned slowly toward the front, as if she hadn’t been of two minds about their upcoming dinner. She squinted through the harsh sunshine that haloed the wide-shouldered man.

She recognized the silhouette striding away from a dusty Jeep, carrying a big take-out bag and a cardboard drink carrier in one hand. The light gave him a golden glow, and he was all might and strength and integrity. She remembered what he’d said about needing a friend. It had to be a lonely life he’d chosen.

Spence cleared his throat. “I’m glad you’re dating again.”

Heat crept up her face. She busily set the alarm on her watch, so she wouldn’t go over her allotted break time. “It isn’t like that, Spence. Really.”

“Okay.” Like Katherine, he didn’t sound as if he believed her. “Go ahead. Have a nice time.”

It was Mitch. How could she not have a nice visit? As he strode her way, she beat him to the door. His welcoming smile was lopsided and friendly—definitely a smile that could make a girl dream. “I’m free for half an hour.”

“I’m glad they loosened the chains.” His shadow fell across her, covering her completely. “Wanna eat across the street? I saw a couple of tables and benches. Okay?”

“Sure. I eat over there all the time.”

Walking at his side, she realized that he was bigger and taller than she had thought. He was a big powerful bear of a guy, his field boots thudding against the pavement. She felt safe with him. Comfortable. “Isn’t Montana a little landlocked for a marine?”

“It would be, if I worked on a ship. That would be navy.”

“But you’re training at the army base?”

“I’m doing some advanced mountaineering. They train their Rangers there, and they’re letting my platoon climb around on their rocks.”

“Advanced mountaineering. That sounds serious.”

“We’re doing tactical stuff while we’re climbing,” he explained with a shrug.

“You must be pretty good.”

“I haven’t fallen yet.”

She stopped at his side, at the curb, waiting for the few cars and trucks to pass. “What exactly do you do in the marines?”

“I’m like a scout. It’s clear,” he said, referring to the traffic and, as he stepped off the curb, laid his free hand on her shoulder. Not exactly guiding her, as much as guarding.

Kelly shivered down to her soul. Nice. Very nice. What girl wouldn’t appreciate a soldier’s protective presence? They stepped up on the curb together on the other side of the road, and his hand fell away. The world felt a little lonelier.

“How about that table?” She nodded toward the closest picnic table in the park, which was well shaded beneath a pair of broad-leafed maples.

“That’ll work,” he agreed amicably.

It was hard to keep pace with him as they made their way across the lush, clipped grass. He didn’t walk so much as he power walked, even though he was obviously shortening his long-legged pace for her. She had to hurry to keep up with him as he crossed the grass. “How long are you going to be in Montana?”

“I’ve been here three weeks. I’ve got five more to go.” He set the drinks and food on the table, then pulled out the bench for her. “That means I’ll be outta here mid-September.”

“And then back to California?”

“Like I said, they keep me busy.” Mitch could only nod. He waited while she settled onto the bench, and the breeze brought a faint scent of her vanilla shampoo. The warmth in his chest changed to something sweeter.

She watched him with gentle blue eyes. “I didn’t know marines climbed mountains.”

“We climb whatever we’re ordered to climb.” He freed a large cup from the carrier. “I brought orange soda or root beer. The lady picks first.”

“I love orange soda. Good guess.”

He didn’t mention that he’d noticed the pop bottle she’d had on the store counter beside her schoolbooks. He set the cup beside her. Had she figured out that this was a date yet?

“Cheeseburger, as ordered.” He handed out the chow. “Do you want to say grace or will you let me?”

“Go for it.” She folded her hands, so sincere.

He brimmed with a strange tenderness as he bowed his head together with hers. “Dear Father, thank you for watching over us today. Please bless this food and our renewed friendship. Amen.”

“Amen.” A renewed friendship, huh? Kelly unclasped her hands and unwrapped her burger. At least he wasn’t trying to make this a date. “Why the marines?”

“That’s easy.” He dug a few ketchup containers out of the bottom of the bag and as the wind caught the empty sack, he anchored it. “My life has a purpose. I make a difference.”

“That matters to you.” She took a long look at him. “Making a difference matters to me, too.”

“When I was a kid, watching the news coverage of Desert Storm, I was blown away by this segment they did on the marines. They were these powerful men with weapons, and they were taking care of refugees from the fighting. One of the refugees said how amazed he was by these big men. They looked fearsome, but they were also kind.”

That pretty much summed it up for her. Kelly blinked and tried to act as if his words hadn’t sunk into her heart. He’d grown up and grown well. She only had to look into his clear, expressive eyes to know that he was a very fine man.

Mitch took a big bite of his burger and leaned closer to dig a handful of fries out of the container. “Then it hit me, just how great that was in this world. To be a warrior fierce enough to protect and defend, to stand for what is right. That’s honor, in my opinion. And that’s how I serve. I do my very best every day.”

What on earth did she say to that? She seemed frozen in place. She wasn’t breathing. It seemed as if her heart had stopped beating. His gaze met hers, and the honest force of it left her even more paralyzed. The magnitude of his gaze bored into hers like a touch, and she felt the stir of it in her soul, a place where she let no one in. How had he gotten past her defenses?

He grabbed more fries. “How about you?”

“M-me?”

“Sure. Why social work?”

“I didn’t tell you that.”

“I noticed your textbooks. Are you getting your degree in sociology and a masters in social work?”

“That’s the plan. I want to help children. There’s a lot of need out there.”

“There is.” His voice deepened with understanding. There was something about a powerful man who radiated more than just might, but heart, too. “I remember back in high school that you were on your own a lot.”

Keep the pain out of your words, she reminded herself. She wasn’t willing to confess about the loneliness and the fears of a child growing up the way she did. “I know I can help kids who are in a similar situation. I want to make a difference.”

“I’m sure you can.” He studied her, his hazel eyes intensified. It was as if he could see the places within her that no one could. “You were in foster care. Is that right?”

“On and off, depending on whether or not my mom was in jail for drugs or if my aunt’s bipolar disorder was under control.” She forced her gaze from his, breaking contact, but it was too late. She already felt so revealed. “I was lucky. I made it through all right. A lot of kids aren’t so fortunate.”

“You’ve done very well for yourself.”

“Not by myself.”

“By the grace of God?” Mitch waited as Kelly stared toward the far end of the park. There was nothing there, no people to watch, no traffic, nothing but a row of shrubs shivering slightly in the balmy evening breezes. He knew it wasn’t the foliage she saw, but the past.

He didn’t take for granted one second of his life, especially his childhood with two loving parents in a middle-class suburb. It was a start in life for which he was thankful. “About six years ago, I was training at Coronado when I got the word my dad had had a heart attack. I made it home in time to see him before he went into surgery. I think the good Lord was reminding my family just how lucky we are. We take nothing for granted, not anymore.”

“Wise move.”

He washed his emotions down with the ice-cold soda. “I’ve seen enough of the world to know that I wouldn’t be who I am without them. It’s a blessing to have parents like mine. Remember that favor I mentioned back in the store?”

She dragged a pair of fries through the ketchup container. “I thought this dinner was the favor.”

“Nope, this is my apology. For sticking my foot in my mouth and bringing up a subject that hurt you.”

“You couldn’t have known. It’s all right.” She froze for a moment, and sadness flashed in her eyes again. “What’s this favor?”

“I’ve been trying to find a gift for my mom. No luck. I’m clueless.”

“You don’t look clueless. And you can’t be serious. You look around, you find things and you buy them. It’s called shopping. That’s how you find a gift. Our store is full of wonderful gifts. Why didn’t you say something when you were in before?”

“I wanted to get a look at the jewelry store down the street first.”

“Jewelry is always good. We have some lovely gold crosses.”

“That’s what I got her last Christmas. She has everything else, a mother’s ring, more lockets than she can count. A charm bracelet so full of charms there’s no room for more. I need help.”

“You certainly need something.” He was way too charming for her own good, Kelly decided. And she had a hard time saying no to a worthy cause. “When do you need this gift?”

“Her birthday dinner is Sunday night.”

“I should have known. A last-minute gift.”

“Last minute? What do you mean?” He feigned mock insult. “This is Friday. I have two more days.”

Why wasn’t she surprised? Kelly took the last bite of her burger. “Okay, what are your parameters?”

“Something unique. Personal. It has to be fairly inexpensive. I’m thinking around a hundred dollars.”

“That’s not so inexpensive. Have you tried the mall?”

“You’re kidding, right? I avoid those at all costs.”

“Why is that?”

“No amount of military training can prepare a guy for the conditions that await him in a mall. I’m mall-phobic.”

She seriously doubted that. She couldn’t imagine Mitch being afraid of anything. “Mall-phobia. I think I read about that in my abnormal psychology class.”

“Funny. So, you’ll help me?”

“It’s the least I can do for a friend.” Friend being the operative word. The beep of her alarm made her jump. Had that much time gone by already? “I’ve got to go.”

“Duty calls.”

“Exactly. Did you want to come with me? We can go through the sales books together.”

“No time.” Disappointment settled like lead inside him. “I’ve got to be back by twenty hundred hours, and I’ve got over a two-hour drive ahead of me.”

Was it his imagination, or did she look disappointed? Good. Now was the time to set up date number two. “I’m coming back to town on Sunday. How about the two of us get together and put in some serious shopping time?”

“Sunday, then.” She folded her empty burger wrapper neatly.

He held the food sack open for her, waiting to toss in his wrapper, crumpled into a ball, after hers. “Where do you want me to pick you up?”

She grabbed one last fry from the tub before she twisted off the bench, graceful and lovely. She backed away, studying him through her long lashes with those big stormy-blue eyes. “The Gray Stone Church on the corner of Glenrose and Cherry Lane. Meet me there. Ten o’clock sharp.”

“Meet you there? No, I should pick you up.”

“It’s not a date, remember?”

Have it your way, pretty lady. He watched her jog away, her hair brushing the back of her shoulders and swinging in time with her gait.

Mitch could only stare, unable to move, waiting as she crossed the street. She was like a vision, awash with light. He remained vigilant until she reached the storefront and disappeared inside.

You’re heading to Afghanistan in six weeks, he thought, hardly noticing the crinkling sound the food sacks made when he bunched them and tossed them into the garbage can. What he did was dangerous. He’d learned the value of starting each day without regrets.

If he didn’t make the most of this second chance to get to know Kelly, wherever that path might lead, he’d regret it. Six months from now, he’d be shivering on some rock in the border mountains of Afghanistan or belly down on a dune in the Middle East, and he didn’t want to be wondering what if.

It wasn’t only exhaustion weighing her down as she climbed the flight of steps to her apartment. Not the late hour or the dark shadows that fell from the whispering poplars. She felt as if the past clung to her with a tenacious grip tonight, like the stars to the black velvet sky.

Kelly sorted through her key ring as she climbed the outside stairs that brought her to her third-story landing.

In the end, good things happen to good people. I believe that. Katherine’s words. They were part of what troubled her tonight and made the shadows so dark, the quiet so deep. Those words haunted her last steps and followed her into the soft pool of illumination from the light over her door. She fitted her key into the deadbolt and turned it with a click. The metallic sound seemed to echo in the chambers of her heart.

Everyone she’d ever depended on had let her down, so it was hard to believe in good things. God never promised that life would be easy or fair. A heart can be broken too much. And she’d learned that every time a heart is broken, it is never the same again.

She withdrew the key and inserted it into the doorknob, turning the knob and shouldering open the door. Her heavy backpack clunked against the door as she stepped through the fall of porch light and into the dark quiet of the foyer.

Mitch had stirred up some of this uneasiness, too. What a great guy. At least he was only interested in a friendship. How could it be anything else, with him leaving for California and beyond?

She could relax and not worry about him leaving—it was a given. She knew what to expect.

The luminous numbers of her stove’s clock cast a green glow bright enough to see by as she pushed the door shut behind her, turned the deadbolt and slipped her keys onto the small table between the door and the hall closet. Her pack made a thump when she set it on the floor.

Hot, stifling air greeted her thanks to keeping off the air conditioning. She headed straight for the living room and unlocked the wide window. Cooler air felt heavenly against her overheated skin. She stood for a moment letting the breeze fan over her. Outside the poplars cast dancing shadows from the streetlights and rustled cheerfully. She pressed her hot forehead to the cooler glass, breathed in the fresh night air and let her feelings and thoughts settle.

Mitch. Just thinking of him brought a smile to her face. He was back at his base by now. This was going to be different—interesting, but different—to have him for a friend.

She was actually looking forward to Sunday.

Chapter Four

Mitch scanned the light-veiled sanctuary, crowded with worshippers and loud with their conversations, searching for Kelly. To find her, he only had to follow the sunshine as it slanted through the glittering panels of stained glass.

Kelly. When he saw her, brushed with golden light and goodness, his heartbeat skipped. The sanctuary, full of light and sound and families getting settled, faded away and only the silence remained. She was sitting in a pew near the middle, her head bowed as if reading.

She hadn’t noticed him yet, so he took a moment just to drink in the sight of her. Her honey-gold hair was unbound and framed her heart-shaped face. The lavender summer dress she wore shaped her delicate shoulders and fell in a complimentary sweep to her knees. A book bag slumped on the bench beside her. Matching purple flats hugged her slim feet.

He liked the way she looked, so pure and bright. She made a lovely picture, sitting so straight, with her Bible open on her lap. It wasn’t too much of a hardship to look at her. He eased into the row and onto the pew beside her.

She jumped, and her Bible tumbled onto the polished wood bench between them. “Mitch! You snuck up on me!”

“Hey, I’m no sneak.”

“Then what do you call that? You didn’t make a sound. That’s sneaking in my book.” Her eyes twinkled like aquamarines.

Enchanted—he was simply enchanted. And she looked glad to see him. What was a helpless guy to do? He shrugged. “Sorry. It’s habit, I guess. Didn’t mean to scare you.”

“You are a scary man, Mitch Dalton.” Her smile said the opposite as he rescued her fallen Bible from the bench between them. “Do you have a chance to attend a service when you’re overseas?”

“Usually a chaplain holds service every Sunday. I attend whenever I’m in camp.” He studied the Bible in his hands. It looked like his, treasured and well-read. He handed it over. “This is some church. It beats a tent hands down.”

“A tent, huh?” Her fingertips brushed against his, feather-light and brief.

Wow. Her touch stilled his senses. As if from somewhere far away organ music began, and late worshippers hurried to find seats as the minister stepped up to his podium. The congregation rose.

Kelly stood, and somehow he was on his feet beside her. She was so small and feminine at his side. All he knew was that he liked being with her. Not a comfortable thing for the lone wolf he was. But not bad, either.

She went up on tiptoe to tell him something, and he had to lean so she could manage to whisper in his ear. “I’m wearing my shopping shoes. I hope you can keep up with me.”

That was funny. Little did she know what he was capable of doing in a single day. “Bring it on, little lady. I can do anything you can do.”

“Be careful. I just might drag you to a mall.”

“Hey, we had a no-mall agreement.”

“I made no promises, soldier.”

Kelly felt as light as air. Happy. She’d been working and studying so hard lately, she was glad she’d agreed to spend this time with Mitch. Besides, it was never a bad thing to have a handsome man—er, friend—sit beside you at church.

Mitch. She couldn’t help noticing he had a very nice singing voice and yet he didn’t attract attention to himself. His voice was quiet and his manner solemn. And he stood powerful and tall. Very masculine.

Not that she was wishing.

As she bowed her head for prayer, she caught sight of the Bible passage on the program. The typed words were the last thing she saw as she closed her eyes and the words from Isaiah emblazoned themselves on her eyelids. “Whether you turn to the right or to the left, your ears will hear a voice behind you saying, ‘This is the way, walk in it.’”

It had also been the exact passage from her morning devotional. Coincidence? Probably not.

I’m trying, Lord, to follow where You lead.

But she was so adrift. Even with Mitch at her side. Even in the peace of God’s sanctuary with heaven’s light falling all around her.

“Whether you turn to the right or to the left, your ears will hear a voice behind you saying, ‘This is the way, walk in it.’”

With the minister’s message in his heart, Mitch stayed at Kelly’s side as they inched patiently down the main aisle. Maybe this was a sign he was on the right path. A new one for him, considering his wariness of long-term relationships. And a strange one, because God’s plan for him was thousands of miles away, across an ocean.

Kelly introduced him to the minister, who warmly thanked him for coming. As they followed the departing worshippers down the front steps and out into the bright sunshine, he stayed at Kelly’s side, protecting her from any jostling from the crowd.

“Well, soldier, are you ready for your mission? Or do I leave you to survive shopping as best you can?” Her smile was as sweet as spun sugar.

He liked it. “I’ve already confessed that I’m retail-challenged.”

“A big tough guy like you? C’mon, soldier up.” She winked, and couldn’t help laughing. “I expect a marine to be tougher than that.”

“I’ll survive with a pretty girl like you watching my six.”

“Your six? Oh, I get it. Watching your back. You’re going to need it where I’m taking you. Peril and danger abound.”

“I live for danger.”

“That makes two of us.” Kelly liked the look of worry crinkling his forehead. She guessed he was only halfway kidding her about having mall-phobia. “At ease, sir. I spent some time thinking of a few good ideas for your mom. And we don’t have to set foot inside any mall.”

“I’m gonna owe you big-time for this.”

“No way. What’s a little favor between friends?”

Mitch frowned. He had to set the groundwork for date number three. Something gave him a clue that she wouldn’t make it easy for him.

He’d just have to wow her so much, she’d want to go out with him again. Maybe even call it a date next time. A man could hope. “You wanna grab a bite first?”

“I didn’t think you soldiers took detours when you were on a mission.”

“Right, but I’m gonna need fuel. No way can I shop on an empty stomach. Oh, wait. I get it. You don’t date. And you’re afraid that eating together twice would make it look like we’re dating.”

“It could look that way, but it’s not. Right?”

Was that a shadow of fear he saw in her gentle blue eyes? Why would she be afraid? Then in a blink, it was gone.

He stepped off the curb, looking for traffic, but there were no cars headed their way. He fished his keys from his pocket. “Don’t even worry. Friends go out to eat together sometimes.”

“I just don’t want you to get the wrong idea. I know you’ll be leaving in a month or so—”

“Exactly, so don’t sweat it. We’ll do whatever you want.”

“I’ve got the best shop to show you. I really think you’ll find what you want there.”

“You mean this could be a one-stop deal?”

“It might even be painless.”

She was doing her best to thwart his plans for their date. He was going down in flames. Not good. This had to be about Joe. What had happened? What had he done to her? He hadn’t known the guy except as a name back in high school.

Whatever had happened, it had sure made Kelly afraid to try dating again. As he unlocked the passenger door, a mild breeze whispered through the maples overhead and shifted the lemony sunshine over them. In the dappled mix of shadows and light he opened the door and took Kelly’s hand to help her up.

She dodged him, as if too independent for such a gesture, but he sensed it was something more as she slipped past him. Her cotton dress gave a whispering rustle, and the vanilla fragrance from her shampoo scented the air between them.

Unaware of how she moved him, she climbed into the passenger seat and settled her book bag on the floor at her feet. She sat there in a swirl of lavender summer cotton and dappled sunlight and sweetness. Feelings came to life within his heart and weren’t like anything he’d felt before. They were soft and warm, and as soothing as prayer. Tenderness lit him up from the inside out. He felt every inch of his six-foot-two-inch frame as he closed her door and circled around to his side.

Her smile was calm, her blue eyes bright and friendly. “It’s not far from here. If you can pull a U-turn and avoid the traffic jam up the street?”

“Inciting me to break the law, huh?” He winked as he started the engine and belted in. “I’m shocked. A sweet girl like you.”

“Ah, the things you don’t know about me.”

“I’m beginning to get the picture. A hard-working college student who goes to church every Sunday. Yep, you’re trouble.” He checked the mirrors and the pedestrian traffic before turning sharply out from the curb and down the narrow tree-lined residential street.

Then he saw the sign, allowing U-turns in the wide, turnabout intersection.

“No more trouble than you are, I bet. Sunday service and then dinner at home with your parents.”

“Not until six tonight. Until then, I’m a reckless man on the town.” A gray tabby cat paraded off the sidewalk about ten yards up the residential street, and he slowed to a stop.

“Yeah, reckless. I see that.”

He could feel her gaze like the softest brush against the line of his profile. He’d like to know what she thought about him. Come September he’d be on a bird out of here and he wouldn’t be back this way again except for a rare, quick family holiday.

He wanted…he didn’t know what he wanted. But he liked being with her.

Once the cat was safely across the street, he hit the gas. A four-way stop was ahead. “Which way?”

“Right. And take the first parking spot you come to.”

“It’s that easy? I can’t believe it.” He whipped the Jeep over to the curb and parked. “I just might make it out of this mission without a casualty.”

“No casualties, remember? I’m watching your six.”

“Then let’s do it.” He killed the engine and released his seat belt.

Kelly took a deep breath and tried to steady herself, to just breathe. What she couldn’t explain was why he’d affected her like this. Why he’d slipped through her defenses as if they were nothing.

She didn’t have a clue. He was already out of the Jeep and slamming the door, moving with an easy, latently powerful bearing around the front of the vehicle.

Why was she watching him? Because it was impossible not to. He looked like everything good in the world, honorable and strong. He made the broken places within her heart feel less cracked. He made her laugh and smile.

It was hard not to like him a little more for being a gentleman as he caught the edge of the door when she opened it with his big powerful hand. Golden flecks twinkled in his eyes as he grinned at her. “This might not be a date, but I’m getting the doors for you anyway.”

“You’re going to spoil me, and then where will I be?”

“You’ll be treated the way you deserve.” He held out his big hand, palm up and waiting.

She hesitated. He was simply being a gentleman, nothing more, but that’s what scared her. There was danger in taking even the first tiny step in leaning on anyone. When you started leaning, you started hoping.

And in the hoping, dreaming.

The pieces of her broken heart ached like shattered bone. Friendship was one thing, but she could get out of the Jeep on her own, thank you very much.

As she tipped off the edge of the seat, his hand shot out, caught her forearm, the tricky guy. His grip was iron-strong and commanding. The warmth of his touch, and the strength of it, rocked through her.

Instead of feeling afraid, peace ebbed into her heart. Even into the broken places.

Her feet hit the concrete sidewalk, jarring her back into reality. Mitch let go, and shut the door with a thump. This gave her the opportunity to step away from him.

That rare, warm peace ebbed away like a tide rolling back out to sea. Although the sun blazed already hot on her shoulders, she shivered, as if with cold.

“I can see the campus from here, just down the street.” Mitch pocketed his keys, his movements confident and relaxed as if he hadn’t felt a thing. As if this hadn’t affected him this way. “Do you live in the dorms?”

Somehow she managed to make her feet carry her forward as though nothing had happened, as though she were perfectly fine. Her voice came as if from far away. “No, the dorms are too expensive. I have a little apartment three blocks from here.”

“Any roommates?”

“Just one.”

“An apartment sounds good to me. Right now I have the luxury of living in the barracks.”

“The luxury?”

“And so much privacy. Not. I’m happier in a hootch—”

“A hootch?”

“A tent—” he supplied, “in a camp somewhere overseas with my team. Give me a cot and I’m home. Better yet, I’d rather be sleeping out in the bush.”

“Really, on the ground? You like that?”

“Sure. It’s like camping, except for the grenades and C4 explosives. I grew up in these mountains.”

“Really? The math whiz I remember from high school didn’t look like the outdoors type.”

“Looks are deceiving, and I was at an awkward age. Okay, a very awkward age. My dad is a forest ranger. We’re gonna take one of these weekends I have free—if I get a whole one free—and hike up into the Bridger Mountains. Spend the night. Camp. Cook river trout over a fire.”

“Sounds very rugged. I’m more of a stay-away-from-the-mountains kind of girl.”

“You just haven’t been properly exposed to the wilderness.”

“Where there’s no hot water, no plumbing and no electric blankets?”

“Those luxuries are highly overrated. Trust me.”

“I’m a little afraid to, with an attitude like that.”

When she smiled, sweet as candy, his emotions jumbled into a wedge in his throat. The palm of his left hand still glowed from where he’d taken hold of her arm to help her from the Jeep, and the brightness of her touch remained, calming and terrifying all at once.

Heaven was on his side, because Kelly chose that moment to pause in front of a store window. A striped yellow-and-white awning stretched overhead and he studied the way the hem ruffled in the breeze instead of figuring out what was happening to him.

At the back of his mind, he knew. He had a life, he had a calling, and he had eighteen months left on his contract. So how was this going to work?

“The lady who owns this shop is a good friend of the family—well, of Joe’s family.” Her voice broke on the sound of Joe’s name. “She takes antique gems and resets them in the most beautiful jewelry you’ve ever seen. I don’t know if you’d be interested in something like that for your mom, but Holly’s work is so beautiful, it’s like giving a little piece of love.”

Okay, that was the word he was trying to avoid.

“Do you want to go in and look? Or I have other suggestions. We can just go down the block and there’s—”

“No, let’s start here.” It felt like a definite step on an unknown path in the dark, when there was no light to see by. But he wasn’t bothered by the dark.

When he opened the door, he wanted to take her by the hand. But he figured she wasn’t ready for that. She breezed past him with a rustle of her cotton dress and the tap of her shoes, and he caught again the scent of vanilla and sweetness.

Impossibly, his heart tightened even more.

Chapter Five

Kelly couldn’t help leaning closer against the display case to study the brooch Mitch had taken out of its velvet bed. It was an elegant piece of lacy gold with a baguette-cut ruby looking outrageously fragile against Mitch’s broad, callused palm.

Stop looking at the man’s hand, Kelly told herself. She was supposed to be concentrating on the beautiful pieces of jewelry, right? Not noticing the deep creases in Mitch’s palm. Or how capable his fingers looked. The nicks and cuts and scars marred his sun-browned skin. Such powerful hands he had, just like the rest of him.

She so remembered the peace his touch had brought her, when he’d helped her from the Jeep.

“What do you think?” His hazel eyes met hers, and in those green and gold depths she saw glimpses of his big heart. He cared about the people in his life—and he cared about her opinion for some reason.

He’s just too perfect. If he wasn’t, then she wouldn’t feel this turmoil seizing her up. Hard lessons learned ought to be enough to make her step away and stay firmly on the path she believed in. The path where God had placed her over and over again.

Mitch waited for her answer, the delicate and expensive brooch resting rock-steady on his palm.

Don’t just stand there, Kelly. Say something. Her gaze shot to the other box he’d chosen from among the many in the display cases. Which one did she like better? The dainty necklace shimmered in the sunlight, the delicate swoop of wings and halo around a thumb-nail-sized fresh-water pearl made her heart stop. “It’s a pearl. What can I say?”

“You like pearls?”

She supposed he was looking for a woman’s opinion on jewelry. “I think your mom might like the ruby better, though.”

“You didn’t answer my question.”

Which question? Her mind wandered. No matter how hard she tried to stop the caring from creeping into her heart, she couldn’t. She liked Mitch Dalton. She liked him very much.

As a friend. She couldn’t dare think of him as anything else.

“Why pearls?” He studied her, waiting.

Oh, right. Pay attention, Kelly. “Pearls are so simple and unassuming. Everyone knows that a pearl starts with a tiny grain of sand, but to me, it’s like faith. We are like that grain of sand and it’s God’s grace that can cloak us and make us shine, if we are humble and faithful enough. In the end, it’s a thing of true beauty.”

“Yes, it certainly is.”

He wasn’t looking at the pearl. But at her. Somehow his gaze deepened and there he went, somehow feeling too intimate, as if he could see too much. But how could he look past the layers of defense in which she cloaked herself so carefully?

The pieces of her heart stung like salt in a fresh wound, and she felt so vulnerable and wide open. It was Mitch. He made her feel like this. So wouldn’t the smartest thing be to head for the door and never look back?

It would be the safest.

“I’ll take the ruby,” Mitch told Holly, behind the counter. “But could you put the other on hold? I’d like to think about it. Christmas will be here before you know it.”

“Sure.” Holly gladly set the pearl angel aside and took Mitch’s credit card with her over to the cash register.

They were done. Kelly let out a deep breath she wasn’t aware she’d been holding. This was how worked up she was. But now Mitch had found his gift, and he’d be heading back to his base.

I’ll be back on safe ground.

She probably wouldn’t see him again. She didn’t want to see him again, right? It wasn’t as if she was looking for a man to love—not anymore. Not ever again. It didn’t make any sense.

“Mission accomplished.” The way he leaned both forearms on the counter, coming in close to her, made her want to hope—past the ache where no hope lived.

How impossible was it to start hoping? And for what? That kind of hope, that kind of dream, was not meant for her. She thought of what had happened with Joe, and it felt as if the shadows within her lengthened. No, this was her path and she would not step one foot off it.

She cleared the thick emotion from her throat. Somehow she managed some resemblance of a normal smile. “Your mom should love the brooch. I bet she’d love anything as long as it was from you.”

“Well, she’s biased, being my mom. But you, pretty lady, you saved my bacon.”

“Me? I just pointed you in the right direction.” Why did her heart flutter in her chest? Maybe it was simply the remnants of that old crush. Maybe. She couldn’t let it be anything else.

“I did nothing. You would have done fine by yourself, but I’m glad I could help. I wish your mother a very happy birthday. And you a safe journey back to the base tonight.”

She took a step in retreat.

“What? You’re leaving me? Just like that?”

“You were the one who said mission accomplished.”

“Well, maybe there’s another mission scheduled after this one.”

“Holly gift wraps, so you’re good to go.” She took another backward step to the door. “Bye, Mitch.”

“Wait.” As if he was going to let her escape. She was wrong, his mission wasn’t close to being completed. Mitch scribbled his signature on the slip the shop owner slid toward him. “Kelly, don’t run off on me.”

“I’ve got to study.”

“Flimsy excuse.” Done, he dropped the pen but Kelly was already heaving open the old-fashioned wood-frame door. The cowbell over the door clanked as she tried to evade him.

Emotion struck him hard in the chest, and he remembered the fear he’d seen in her eyes. “Ma’am, could you wrap this for me? I’ll be back.”

He hardly registered the owner’s agreement; he was already out the door and into the blinding burn of daylight. He turned toward Kelly instinctively, as if he could feel the tug of her spirit against his.

She’d gained some distance on him, he had to give her that. She speed-walked in those purple sandals as efficiently as if they were cross-trainers. The hem of her pretty dress swirled around her slender knees, and her long honey-blond hair swung with her gait, like lustrous liquid gold.

Yeah, she was in definite retreat. What had scared her? He puzzled over that as he bounded after her, cutting around a couple holding hands. She had that strict no-dating outlook on things. Was she bolting because he’d gotten too close? What he needed to know was what had happened with Joe. Otherwise, she was going to run off and he’d never see her again.

Maybe that was as it should be. Maybe it would be best just to let her go. His chest tightened. The tenderness and confused emotions inside him tangled up into an unbreakable knot.

What he did was dangerous. There was no denying it. He’d learned the value of making sure to start each day without regrets. To leave nothing unfinished.

If he let her go, he’d regret it. No doubt about that.

So he continued after her. He could have closed his eyes and found her by heart and by the cadence of her gait. In the reflection of a coffee-shop window he could see her profile, her soft mouth downturned, her chin set with determination. Then her slim shoulders tensed more as if she, too, sensed him behind her. She kept going.

There was a clue, but did he get the hint? No. He kept going. “Kelly? Did I do something wrong?”

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