A Strong-Willed Heart

Trauma nurse Kate Dalton can handle any challenge—except love. The combat veteran dreams of settling down, but heartbreak is one risk she won’t take. Then a chance encounter opens her heart to a masked stranger…who might not be a stranger after all! Caleb Landis, the army medic behind the disguise, has always admired Kate, even though she only saw him as her best friend’s brother. What will it take for Kate to discard her fears and discover the man she’s always hoped to unmask?

Eagle Point Emergency: Saving lives—and losing their hearts—in a small Illinois town

“Go home, Landis. That’s an order.”

“We’re not at work, Kate. You can’t boss me around.”

“Watch me.”

A muscle clicked in his jaw. “Don’t shut me out.”

“If you won’t leave, I will.” She pushed past him.

His arm sprang out to stop her. When she tried to go around it, he pulled her in, wrapping his arm around her. Her back rested snugly against his chest and his chin braced the top of her head. “Kate, listen a minute. I can—”

“No, you can’t. You can’t do anything to help me. You can’t fix it. Now let me go!”

With equal reluctance and frustration, he did. She stared him down. “Don’t ever do that again.”

He marched off, leaving her confused and upset. She had wanted him to leave her alone, so why did she ache to rush back into his arms and stay there forever?

She didn’t need this, this growing dependency on people.

Especially not him.

CHERYL WYATT

An R.N. turned stay-at-home mom and wife, Cheryl delights in the stolen moments God gives her to write action- and faith-driven romance. She stays active in her church and in her laundry room. She’s convinced that having been born on a naval base on Valentine’s Day, she was destined to write military romance. A native of San Diego, California, Cheryl currently resides in beautiful, rustic southern Illinois, but she has also enjoyed living in New Mexico and Okla-homa. Cheryl loves hearing from readers. You are invited to contact her at Cheryl@CherylWyatt.com or P.O. Box 2955, Carbondale, IL 62902-2955. Visit her on the web at www.CherylWyatt.com and sign up for her newsletter if you’d like updates on new releases, events and other fun stuff.

The Nurse’s Secret Suitor

Cheryl Wyatt

www.millsandboon.co.uk

Every good and perfect gift is from above,

coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows.

—James 1:17

Dedication:

To Granny Nellie. There is no one else like you and I love you with my whole heart. You are a one-of-a-kind inspiration. It’s easy to see why so many people

look to you, and up to you.

Acknowledgments:

My Facebook Reader Brigade, thank you for input

on this story. You made it an incredible joy to write.

I especially loved your ideas romanticizing

the Golden Terrace. Readers rock!

Cara Putman and Sally Shupe, thank you for beta reading this book. I love and appreciate you and your eagle-eye editing. Your friendship is a blessing.

Elizabeth Mazer, what can I say? You are an editorial whiz and I feel fortunate to work with you and hear your fun ideas. Your revision notes make me cackle, grin and best of all, strive to grow. Thank you for putting up with my mischievous humor, “ly” adverb addiction, my tendency to make up nonexistent words, and for enduring my comma confusion. I would cringe if one of my books ever hit a shelf without first being sifted by editorial brilliance. Thankful for you.

Kristi Alexander, you are my hero(ine) for offering

the idea to use Lois and Clark’s Dean Cain as inspiration for Caleb. I can’t wait to read acknowledgments in your books. Believe.

Andie and Aaron Grube, your beautiful masquerade wedding inspired the theme in this book.

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

Dear Reader

Questions for Discussion

Chapter One

Decorated military veteran turned civilian trauma nurse Kate Dalton was known for keeping a cool head under fire. But she’d never faced anything like this.

Here she was, back in the United States, biting back bile and terror as strong as any she’d experienced overseas. When she was in a combat situation, she was braced and prepared for things to go wrong. Here at home, her guard was down. Ten minutes earlier, she’d been enjoying the reception at her friends’ masquerade-themed marriage ball. But then the text message arrived.

Phone clutched like a pinless grenade, Kate strode from the wedding reception room to the nearest exit. There. Patio. Best way out. If she could get there before hurling blissfully consumed cake.

Regal-hued LED lights danced over her sapphire costume and skin tanned by a three-year deployment under Middle Eastern sun. She probably looked striking—if you didn’t notice the tension in her shoulders or the frown on her face.

“Breathe, Dalton, that’s an order. You can’t fall apart. Especially not where everyone you know can see you. You don’t break down. You don’t give in to fear. That’s not who you are.”

Despite her drill-sergeant self-talk, Kate’s thumb quivered as it scrolled again over Mom’s frustratingly cryptic text.

I’m afraid I have some upsetting news. Call me when you’ve got time to talk.

Unable to wait, Kate had found a quiet corner of the room and called immediately, but Mom was too distraught to talk. Mom never cried. Something was really wrong. Worse, Dad wasn’t answering his personal or military phones.

Terrible scenarios raced through her head. Had something happened to her father? Or to her grandfather, who was scheduled for surgery? She knew the procedure was risky already—her career-military grandfather had ruined his lungs inhaling so much military jet fuel over the years. Had there been another complication? Or maybe her parents had bad medical news of their own. Cancer, heart disease...the possibilities went on and on.

Kate couldn’t breathe. Her chest tightened, eyes burned. She rushed out a side door hoping no one saw. She couldn’t be around people right now, not until she composed herself. In a secluded corner of a low-lit garden patio, she hid under an ornamental fuchsia tree. Heaving fresh Southern Illinois air, she redialed her mother’s number.

An answering click, then sniffles sounded. Kate’s jaw clenched. “I’m not getting off this phone till you tell me what’s going on. Don’t make me leave my good friends’ wedding to drag it out of you.”

“The wedding! I forgot, Kate. I shouldn’t have texted you.”

“Did something happen to Dad?” He was a deployed war general, sure, but he hadn’t been near danger, had he?

“No. Your dad is safe. It’s...honey, it’s us.”

“What’s ‘us’ mean?” Kate paced. “Me and you? You and Dad?”

“Your dad and I. I didn’t want to tell you by phone, but I fly out in the morning for Grandpa’s hip recovery. That’ll keep me out of touch for days, and I don’t want you hearing secondhand. Kate, I need to tell you, your dad and I are divorcing.”

“Div—” Kate choked on the last word she expected to hear. Surely Mom is kidding. Right? Her mind couldn’t wrap around it.

“Kate, Grandma’s calling in, probably with a surgery update on Grandpa. We’ll talk later, okay? I love you.” Click.

Teeth grinding, Kate redialed Dad, stat.

“Hello?”

Finally! “Dad?” Kate hated that her voice broke in front of her five-star military hero dad. “Please tell me it’s not true.”

A deep sigh. “I’m sorry. She served me papers today.”

Kate’s voice and composure broke. “Daddy, why?”

“Your mom can’t handle me overseas all the time. She waited to break the news until she was sure. Kate, are you okay?”

“Not with this. She texted me while I was at a wedding.”

“Mitch, your surgeon friend, right? He’s one of the ones who founded Eagle Point Trauma Center, isn’t he? I remember now. Kate, sorry about the poor timing. With her dad so ill, your mom probably wasn’t thinking. Neither am I.”

“Clearly. You both aren’t thinking. How can you flippantly throw thirty years of marriage away? Our family? And to do it now, when we might be losing Grandpa. Daddy, don’t let—”

A presence stirred behind her, and Kate froze. “Gotta go,” she barked out, suddenly eager to end the conversation as quickly as possible. “I’ll call later, okay?” The last thing Kate wanted was to ruin the festive mood of Lauren and Mitch’s wedding by letting one of the guests overhear her having a breakdown. Or let anyone see this crack in her tough-girl image. She never cried. Ever. Not even in the worst combat scenarios overseas or trauma cases here.

Kate flicked a tear but others followed. “Nice night out,” she called to the tall shadow over her shoulder. She pretended to gaze at brilliant stars glittering against a raven sky to keep from turning and letting whoever was there see her tears.

No answer—not out loud. Instead, the figure moved; a strong hand weighted her shoulder and turned her around. Heady masculine cologne mingled with pleasant garden scents. Kate tucked her chin to hide red-rimmed eyes, but a leather-gloved finger lifted her face.

Oh, my. The most gorgeous, mysterious man stood before her. What she could see of his masked face seemed carved from exquisite stone. His eyes, etched in ebony and concern, were so piercing they arrested her breath. His impressive height strained her neck as her eyes skimmed a firm jaw and sensual mouth and a muscular build that showed serious dedication to fitness.

Silent as a sniper, he removed her fancy feather mask and dabbed her eyes with a blue camouflage-patterned kerchief, the item odd and out of place with his all-black Zorro-type ensemble.

“Thank you.” She hated how her warbling voice revealed how she was falling apart. What did the masked intruder want, anyway? “May I help you?”

Dark eyes bored into hers, so intense she startled backward. Embarrassed by her reaction, she opened her mouth to apologize and found herself rambling instead. “I must look raccoonish with mascara running down my face. I didn’t even bother to buy the waterproof kind—I wasn’t expecting to cry. Not that I’m not happy for Mitch and Lauren, it’s just...I don’t cry.” She let out a brittle laugh. “Except for now. My parents just informed me they’re divorcing after a lifetime together.” Her voice fractured as the words, spoken aloud, made the truth suddenly become a cruel kind of real.

His chiseled face softened, compassion shining out of his eyes as if he really cared about her, cared about her pain. But how could he? He had to be a stranger. She’d helped each costumed guest sign in and knew each name on the list. No one had been conspicuously absent. He must be a wedding crasher. That she didn’t know the guy made him seem infinitely safe. He didn’t know her, so he wouldn’t judge her for breaking down.

As though sensing her thoughts, he shifted his stance and sweetly adopted a listening pose. Kate drew herself up, surprised at the level of relief she felt at being able to say how she really felt to someone she’d likely never see again.

“My friends inside...they all think I’m strong enough to do anything. I served overseas as a trauma nurse in the army. After that, anything should be easy, right?” Tears pressed for release again. “The problem is, people expect me to be some kind of superhero all the time.” Her voice dragged to a whisper. “How can I let them see me cry like this? Especially here. It’s a wedding—we’re supposed to be happy and hopeful and...and all the things I’m not.”

His grip strengthened on her shoulder, fingers gently kneading. She wanted to lean into him. So she did. He stood so near, the leather on his jacket cooled her cheek.

“It’s not just because of my parents,” she admitted in a low voice, barely more than a whisper. “It’s me. The truth is, I hate weddings. They make me scared I’ll end up alone after all my friends pair off. I look at brides and grooms who seem so in love, so wrapped up in each other, and I know no one’s ever made me feel that way. I’ve never been able to let go and get lost in the moment and the person I’m with. Maybe I’m too practical to ever truly fall in love. I worry so much about not making a mistake that I never take a relationship risk, never fall into anything—not even love.”

His sustained presence girded her with courage. His gloved hand settled against her back, nearly a hug. Stalwart. That’s what he was. Plus a stranger. Which meant she could spill her guts without leaving behind an emotional mess she’d have to clean up, explain away or deny to death later. And something about the night...the moon...the masks...made her embrace being honest, being vulnerable. What could she possibly have to worry about when being in his arms felt so safe?

He responded by drawing even closer. Care ebbed off him in waves, dangerously appealing combined with his handsomeness. It didn’t even occur to Kate to protest as he dipped his head and covered her mouth with his in a mesmerizing dance.

He exuded strength, mystery, masculinity and hints of delectable spearmint. His breath, his kiss were so soft. So delicious. Everything else fogged. Stress from her parents’ devastating news melted. Her world contracted to the cove of his arms, the core of gentleness driving his kiss and the calming rhythm of his breathing.

He broke contact to press his mouth to her ear and whisper, “Hang in, sweetness. Darkness never defeats the dawn.” His voice held a gravelly quality, as if he’d disguised its coffee-rich depth. She tilted her chin up.

Uncertainty flickered in his eyes before his lips found hers again. This kiss felt final. Declarative, like a seal over a covenant. Dizzy and disoriented, Kate swayed. Strong arms braced her up as he pulled her in for a hug that felt more like pure comfort.

Then he bolted.

“Kate?” The voice of her best friend Bri Landis drifted from a doorway. No wonder the bandit had fled. The crasher had sensed company before Kate had, and hadn’t wanted to get caught.

After the sensation of being stun-gunned subsided, Kate faced his retreating back. “Wait! Who are you?”

But her bandit had already scaled the eight-foot-tall wood fence, cape flying behind him like a flag, and she lost sight of him.

“Marvelous Masked Intruder, come back,” she whispered into the inhospitable night. Bri’s voice neared, reeling Kate back to reality. Kate banged her forehead on the fence. Why hadn’t she chased him down? Simply put—she couldn’t.

He had taken her by such sublime storm and surprise, and that kiss had so incapacitated her, she wondered if she’d imagined it. She put fingers to her lips and tingles there whispered she most certainly hadn’t.

Kate couldn’t kick the insane urge to find him and spend time with him again. Not only because of the amazing kisses, but also for the way it had felt to have someone she could really talk to—someone who would listen without judging and comfort without questioning. All the things none of her friends would imagine she’d ever need and that this stranger had offered automatically. That kind of thing could go to a girl’s head. It made her sad to think that the beautiful moment they’d shared would be the only moment they’d ever have.

“Hey!” Bri approached, dressed to the nines in a frilly-winged fairy costume but with a warmly concerned look on her face. “I got worried when I couldn’t find you. Everything okay?”

Kate slid onto a nearby bench. “Yes. No. I don’t know.” Bri was the one person she could talk to about this. Kate thanked God Bri was who He sent.

Bri sat next to her. “What’s going on?”

Where to begin? “Well, there was Mom’s mysterious text and thirty years thrown away like yesterday’s trash, then a man dressed as a bandit in black leather appeared out of nowhere. We talked—well, I talked and he listened. And then...we kissed. He swept me off my feet, really—until he vanished. Jumped the fence when he heard you coming out to find me. Night swallowed the most appealingly compassionate creature who ever lived.”

Bri blinked slowly. “Wait, text? What text?”

Kate calmed herself and took time explaining everything from the first text from her mom, to the blue camo handkerchief wiping away her tears, to the kiss that ended with her bandit disappearing over the fence. She only left out the part where she’d confided her fears about never finding love. Bri was currently engaged and blissfully happy—Kate didn’t want to make her friend feel bad. That part of her little breakdown could remain a secret between her and her bandit.

“Kate, there’s no one remotely dressed like a bandit here. I took photos of each and every person in their costumes for Mitch and Lauren’s memory-book gift.”

Kate shrugged. “I know. He had to be a stranger.” Kate left out the part where knowing he was a stranger made him easy to talk to. It would hurt her best friend’s feelings to be told Kate found it easier to pour her heart out to someone she didn’t know. “Probably a wedding crasher who heard about the masquerade theme, since he knew enough to show up in costume. Whatever his reasons for being here, he did manage to show up at exactly the right time, when I needed someone to listen to me unload about my family fracturing apart.”

Bri nibbled her lip. Kate flinched at what she’d said and the painful memories she might have stirred. If anyone knew what fractured family felt like, Bri Landis did. Her father had been the first to drop out of her life—he’d walked out on the family when Bri was a child. Now he sat incapacitated in a nursing home with all hope of reconciliation gone. Her mom had passed away recently, leaving Bri to tend a run-down family lodge alone. Her brother, Caleb, the only family she had left, was deployed overseas, dedicated to building his military career.

Kate sighed. “I’m sorry, Bri. I shouldn’t be melodramatic, in light of all you’ve been through.”

Bri shook her head. “Nonsense. Things are looking up for me. While I desperately miss my geeky gun-toting army-medic brother, I’m freakishly in love and freshly engaged to Eagle Point’s most gorgeous anesthesiologist.” Bri wiggled her ring-embellished finger, reminding Kate how much there was to be happy about. Yet a twinge of sadness hit Kate instead. Mom, Dad...

“I’m also fulfilled being a mother figure to Tia. Though she’s only five, you and I both know Ian’s daughter is an amazing gift and constant source of joy. And of course her daddy and our wedding plans are equally bright on my horizon.”

Bright horizon. Kate recalled the bandit’s admonition that darkness never defeats the dawn, as the confidence that usually carried and defined Kate ebbed back. Grandpa could still get better. And her parents’ divorce wasn’t finalized yet—maybe things could still be fixed. If not, as Bri had reminded her, there was still so much to be thankful for.

Like a moonlit kiss from a handsome stranger.

Kate brushed the thought aside. She’d probably never see the bandit again. He was just someone God sent her way to give comfort she needed at her lowest moment. She’d weathered it, and was ready now to be strong on her own again—as always.

“Speaking of that handsome fiancé of yours, let’s go back in before he wonders where you are.” Kate rose to her feet.

Bri stood, as well. “Sure you’re all right to go back in?”

“Of course.” Kate flashed Bri the grin that used to win her the tiara back in her beauty-pageant days. “I’m always all right.”

For a second, Bri looked as though she wanted to argue, but with a shrug she let it go, leading the way back into the reception hall. Kate followed her with a quick, confident stride.

And if she paused for a moment before stepping through the door to look back at the spot where she’d last seen her bandit...well then, that was no one’s concern but hers.

* * *

Bzzzt! Army medic Caleb Landis snatched his phone before it vibrated off the sun-bleached windowsill. Stumbling out of his sleeping bag, he tripped over his bandit costume before finally settling on his feet and checking the phone’s display.

Sergeant Asher Stone. Not surprising. Their unit chaplain would be the first to check on Caleb’s well-being. The pair had received unexpected temporary leave of duty for exemplary service after extended back-to-back deployments and had left Afghanistan the same day.

“H’lo.” Caleb shouldered his phone to his ear as he rolled up the sleeping bag and checked out the window. No sign of anyone outside. Good—that meant his sister hadn’t yet noticed that he’d crashed in cabin seven of the family’s lodge the previous night without letting her know he was there. He couldn’t resist the temptation to surprise her.

“Hey, Landis. Calling to make sure you made it safely in.”

“Yeah, after a two-day flight delay back into the States.”

Asher whistled. “Wow. Seriously? Did you make it in time for Mitch’s wedding?”

“Nope.” Caleb turned a bucket upside down and sat on it. “Missed the whole ceremony and the first half of the reception. I didn’t even get a chance to congratulate the bride and groom before—” Caleb cleared his throat, blaming early morning fuzzy-headedness for what he’d nearly let slip. “So, um, how was your flight home?”

“Hold up, Landis. Before what?”

“I...ah...ran into someone before I could go into the reception. We talked for a while. And then I...left.”

“Left?” Asher repeated. “Without even going in? Must have been some talk. Wait a second, was it Kate you talked with?”

Caleb frowned. Asher knew him way too well. “Who said anything about Kate?”

“You did, Romeo, for hours at a time after your last stretch visiting Eagle Point. Come on, it’s not like you were subtle. Everyone in the unit knew about your insane attraction to Kate, who scarcely knows you exist. But hey, if she talked to you she must know you exist now, right?” Asher chuckled disbelievingly on the other end of the line.

“Well...sort of.” Before the previous night, he’d seen the beautiful nurse on only a few occasions. While Kate knew of him through her friendship with Bri, he’d bulked up since his last visit and he was certain she hadn’t recognized him at the point of the kiss. To complete the costume, he’d worn black contacts, disguising his gunmetal-gray eyes. And he...hadn’t been like himself. Yes, he was always spontaneous, so that was nothing new, but he wasn’t usually that smooth, that suave. He’d seemed to know exactly what to do to put her at ease, and that was a bizarre and unfamiliar situation for him when it came to a pretty woman. Especially that pretty woman.

Kate was Kevlar-strong to the core in a way that demanded respect. She and her family had earned enormous admiration among the military community, and she herself was a living legend. It had thrown him for a loop to see her so brokenhearted. Caleb had only wanted to alleviate the pain that put the tears in her pretty, sapphire-blue eyes.

“Do I want to know?”

“Doubtful. I screwed up last night. Didn’t handle the Kate thing well. It wasn’t my brightest moment.”

He didn’t—couldn’t—regret the kiss. But he also couldn’t help feeling he’d taken advantage of her vulnerability to steal a kiss Kate wouldn’t have given him under any other circumstances.

Putting aside the fact that he was pretty sure she really didn’t know he was alive, except as Bri’s little brother, he also knew from his sister that Kate was only looking for romance with non-military men. She was done with the danger of that lifestyle, and wanted a stable man she could count on to be around. Army medics like Caleb need not apply—especially considering his efforts to get accepted into the rangers.

“Anyway, I didn’t even get a chance to let my sis know I’m in town for four months. Hopefully she won’t be too mad. Maybe she’ll forgive me once I tell her I plan to renovate her bunkhouses before I leave and take that load of stress off her.”

“Then Bri’s wedding before you go back.”

Caleb chuckled. “Sure, remind me. I leave a brother-in-arms stateside to watch over my sister and he finagles her into marrying him and adopting his daughter.” He liked Ian, though. He treated Bri well and brightened her outlook after losing Mom.

“Hey, you’ll have a little niece to spoil.” Asher laughed.

“Yeah. I’m gonna buy Tia all the noisy toys.” Caleb smiled upon hearing Asher’s son, Levi, chatter in the background. It put an empty twinge in Caleb’s chest. He’d always wanted a son. But it wasn’t like he could pursue a family while training for ranger school. “Levi’s glad you’re home, I bet.”

Asher’s silence alerted Caleb this conversation was hard. Asher, an explosives expert as well as the unofficial unit chaplain due to his strong faith and natural, charisma-laden leadership, wasn’t easily rattled. Caleb sobered, remembering Asher’s recent abandonment by his wife. “He cries over his mom every night,” Asher finally said. “His tears are the toughest hurt I’ve ever had to take.”

“Sorry, man. You’ve got faith, though. You’ll get through.” Caleb knew what being left by a parent felt like. Not good. Poor little Levi. At least Asher drew strength from God and prayed. Caleb was still too ticked over Mom’s death to try.

“So how is Kate, anyway?” Asher’s voice held a serious note.

Caleb recalled the agony in Kate’s voice when she’d spilled about her parents splitting up. If anyone knew how to pray for Kate, Asher would. “Kate was a mess when I got to her. She’d been crying. Not hard, but hard enough for Kate. She’s by far the toughest woman I know, inside and out.”

“What was wrong?”

Caleb was confident Asher would do nothing with the sensitive information except pray, but he still wasn’t willing to share details. Kate had trusted him with those, and he’d keep them private. “Family stuff. Twisted me up to see her hurting.” In fact he’d almost caved and pulled his mask off when he’d spotted the tears reflected in the moonlight. But something took over and he’d just listened. Then he’d held her, then kissed her and she never once resisted. Proof that what made her cry had her insides turned upside down.

In truth, Kate Dalton scared him to death. It had nada to do with her third-degree black belt or her prior work as a hand-to-hand combat instructor for special ops personnel.

What scared him about Kate was that she made him think about things like home and family. Things he wanted, yes, but not yet. He had a plan, a goal—and something about Kate made him want to throw it all aside. Caleb shook his head, reminding himself to keep focused. He had to stay on track. He had to achieve his goals. He had to prove himself, once and for all. There’d be time for love and romance only when he was done.

Besides, he knew he wasn’t what she was looking for, either, and the last thing either of them needed was another hurdle or heartbreak. Clearly, they weren’t compatible as a couple—their dreams weren’t conducive to that. Still, the thought of the pain in her eyes the previous night made him ache. No, romance wasn’t on the table, but they could be friends during his time home, couldn’t they? She’d looked like she needed a friend.

“She needed a shoulder to cry on—and my shoulder happened to be handy. It was nothing more than that.”

That Asher grew silent on the line again gave Caleb pause. “Levi’s suspiciously quiet. I better go investigate.”

“Keep in touch, all right?” Caleb really looked up to Asher, particularly for his unabashed reliance on God. Not that he’d admit it. Yet.

“Gotta keep up with the Kate saga. Later, man.”

Caleb ended the call, chuckling. Not once had Asher preached. Just listened like a friend. Maybe Caleb could be that for Kate—a friend in time of need. Sure, he’d have to battle some attraction, but Caleb was used to overcoming obstacles. Her appeal would fade and they’d enjoy an uncomplicated friendship while he was in town.

Caleb set his phone on the sink. He caught sight of the bag harboring his disguise—and Kate’s mask. He picked it up. He hadn’t meant to take it with him. He just...hadn’t wanted to let it go. He ran a thumb over the silken edge. It reminded him of the feel of Kate’s lips. Elation vied for shame at the underhanded way he’d stolen a kiss when Kate had been too vulnerable to push him away.

Guilt prodded Caleb. The diamonds dusting the edge of the mask’s cat eye looked real. It was probably valuable. He needed to give her stuff back.

Now he had a new dilemma. How to let Bri know he was here without cluing Kate in to his arrival. He couldn’t let her make the connection between his arrival and the bandit’s. Not yet, anyway. If she knew what he’d done, she’d be furious with him for not unmasking himself the night before.

Later, when she’d had some time and distance from that night, he’d tell her the truth. She’d understand that he hadn’t meant to trick her. He’d only wanted to be there for her—as a friend. Nothing less.

Nothing more.

Chapter Two

Like anesthesia, it had worn off.

For the first day after the reception, the memory of her bandit and his words about darkness and dawn had been enough to keep Kate’s head held high. She’d been certain everything would somehow work out with her parents, and her grandfather’s health, and the whole mess her family had become.

But now, the following day, some of that certainty had started slipping away. “I always thought my family was stable, you know?” Kate jogged around ruts with Bri on their favorite outdoor running trail. “Of course, that’s not to say there were never any problems....”

“Like when you came here?” Bri suggested as she caught up with Kate. To their left, scenic Eagle Point Lake scrolled by. To their right, lush emerald foliage scented the air.

“Exactly. Dad and Grandpa weren’t happy I ended my military service, against their wishes. But look where their careers got them. One disabled, one about to get divorced. If Dad had ever stepped back from his career and focused on his marriage—made home and family a priority the way I wanted to when I left the service—then maybe he wouldn’t be getting a divorce today. And Grandpa’s surgery wouldn’t be nearly so risky if his service hadn’t ruined his lungs. Why can’t they see that I was right to leave it behind when I did?”

Bri’s countenance reflected compassion. “You were a terrific military nurse, Kate, but you’re doing great work here, too. No one has the right to blame you for wanting to go where you could be happy and have the life you want.”

“Yes, the civilian life. Thanks for understanding.” Lifting her face, Kate inhaled fresh air and absorbed the breathtaking scenery. “I love Eagle Point. It’s serene and quiet and quaint—everything that I want out of life.”

Sunlight glittered off the lake, highlighting impressive Southern Illinois bluffs and hiking trails. “In all my military moves, it’s the first time I’ve felt truly at home. I never want to leave it.”

“Especially since I’m here,” Bri teased.

Kate laughed. “One more lap around the lake?”

Bri groaned. “You just enjoy punishing my leg muscles.”

In truth, running and the scenery calmed Kate, took her mind off things and caused her heart to reach and yearn for its creator. Maybe He’d help save her parents’ marriage.

“Ah, well. We’re working off the massive amounts of cake we consumed at Lauren and Mitch’s wedding,” Bri conceded with a laugh.

“You’re next.” Kate winked and refocused her breathing.

Bri smiled brightly. “Three months. I feel bad my wedding plans are interfering with us hanging out.”

“It’s okay. It’s a season. I’ll adjust. Things will go back to normal soon.” Yet even as Kate said it, she had the horrible sensation things never would. Not as far as her family went. But the last thing she wanted to do was put a damper on Bri’s joy. “I’ve got a few new things to keep me busy. Keep my mind off my parents’ junk.” Kate kept her tone light and expression upbeat.

“Like what? Finding a certain bandit?” Bri winked.

Kate laughed. “Well, if he tracked me down again, I wouldn’t say no.... But seriously, I know I’m not likely to see him again. No, I’ve got some other projects lined up that should keep my summer pretty busy.”

Bri’s cheeks flushed with exertion so Kate slowed the pace as she continued to explain. “Mitch hit me up to be on the fund-raising committee for Eagle Point Trauma Center expansion projects. First item on our agenda is Lauren’s grandpa’s first annual storybook ball.”

“I heard Lem was considering that but didn’t know it was a go yet.” Bri slowed as they neared the end of the run.

“Yep.” Kate glanced to the side. “You realize proceeds from the ball go to your bunkhouses, right?”

As Kate knew she would, Bri balked. “That’s not necessary.”

“Quit being tough on yourself when people reach out to help. Everyone knows you and Caleb almost lost the lodge, and everyone wants to see you make a success of it, instead. It benefits the community. Plus, you’re remodeling two bunkhouses for family members of trauma victims, which will be a terrific boon for our trauma center.” Kate swigged from her monkey-themed water bottle.

Bri nibbled her lip and sighed. “I guess it will be helpful for the town overall. Housing and hotel options are virtually nonexistent in Eagle Point.”

“Precisely why I’m glad you’re letting me move into the first of your cabins that passes inspection.” Kate paced her breathing. “Mitch has been merciful about the distance I live from EPTC, but the fact is, when I’m on call and we get a bad case, I need to be less than fifteen minutes away. My apartment is twenty.”

“The cabins should all pass inspection next month.”

“Great. Because crashing in EPTC’s nurse call room is not conducive to rest.” Kate sighed as her phone buzzed on one hip, her beeper on the other. “Ian.” She grimaced at Bri. “Since your fiancé is blowing up my phone instead of yours, I’m assuming we have an incoming trauma.” Kate hit the answer key.

Ian came on the line. “Kate? All is well here, but you have a rather interesting delivery at the nurses’ station.”

“My favorite Chicago-style pizza with anchovies?”

“Hardly. You should probably just come get it.”

Kate didn’t miss the probing curiosity in Dr. Ian Shupe’s voice. Head anesthesiologist on their trauma team, he was like a protective older brother to Kate.

“Fine. I’ll be right there.” Kate disconnected and nodded to the trauma center. “Apparently I have some sort of special delivery. Ian wouldn’t say what it is. Mind coming with to see?”

“I’d be glad to.” Bri grinned and toweled sweat off. “Especially since it means I get a glimpse of my man in scrubs.”

Kate shook her head and sauntered toward the glass-and-brick structure across the parking lot and next door to Bri’s main lodge. Inside EPTC, Kate’s coworkers parted like the Red Sea when she reached the desk.

Kate’s sneakers screeched on the polished floor. On the desktop ledge, her elaborate sapphire-feather mask sat neatly atop a parchment envelope.

Oh, my! He didn’t. Kate gulped. Ignoring the stares and curious grins, she forced her hands to move slowly as she reached for the items. “Who brought this?”

Ian leaned in. “That’s what we were all wondering.”

Kate straightened. “You mean no one saw him?”

Ian’s grin exploded. “Aha! So it is a him?”

“That’s not your business.” Giving up all pretense of nonchalance, Kate snatched the items, scowled at her coworkers and marched to her nurse’s call room.

“Kate, wait. Ian was kidding.” Bri caught up, giggling.

Kate whirled once they were safely behind closed doors. “How did he manage to get this stuff in here without anyone seeing him? We need security cameras installed at that desk.”

Bri bit her lip but a grin burst through. “Open it!”

Kate sighed and fingered the gold scrolling font on the envelope’s front.

For Sweet Kate.

“He knows my name,” Kate breathed. Then removing her hand from her chest, she added, “Not that I care.” She cleared her throat and scowled, especially when Bri responded with a curious look.

Kate peeled the envelope’s seal, wondering if she was imagining hints of his cologne on the parchment or the rush of happiness she felt as she began to read.

Dearest Kate.

Although I hate to give you back the means to hide any of your beauty away, I did feel honor bound to return this mask. Please forgive me for stealing it—and for the other thing I stole out on the patio. It was a theft I should probably regret more than I do. May you find it in your heart to forgive me. Nonetheless, you outshone every star that glittered in our sky. Sapphire suits you. You looked stunning. It was my honor to be able to share that moonlit moment with you. Most important, don’t forget to remember the dawn.

Fondly,

BB

Bri leaned over her arm. “BB? Who is BB?”

Kate could scarcely concentrate on Bri’s question. Her hands, always steady in any circumstance, were shaking. She handed Bri the note and walked numbly to the sofa, struggling to come to terms with why she felt so moved by his words. She was a beauty-pageant queen—it was no surprise when men thought she was attractive.

But maybe that was what had her so surprised.

Usually when people admired her it was when she was at her best—winning a pageant, saving a life in trauma, being a leader in whatever way people around her needed her to be. Her bandit, though, had seen her at her tear-stained worst...and he still seemed to think it had been an honor to be with her.

“Benevolent Bandit!” Kate said in a sudden burst of revelation. “That must be what BB stands for.”

“Or maybe Beloved Bandit?” Bri teased as she joined Kate on the couch and handed her back the note.

Kate’s cheeks flushed as she reread the letter, and something unexpected fluttered in her heart. Kate mentally ordered it to stand down. The last thing she needed was to get excited over a fly-by-night guy. “Benevolent,” she repeated firmly, “because he was there for me when I needed him. But nothing more is going to come of it. Certainly not love. This bandit—though charming—had ‘inability to commit’ etched all over him. That he ran off proves he’s a flight risk. That’s not what I’m looking for in a relationship. I want someone stable. Not someone who parades around crashing weddings and kissing strangers senseless under cover of moonlight.”

“His kiss made you senseless?” Bri smirked.

Kate groaned. “Only for one hundredth of a second. Look, if I wanted unstable, I’d re-up in the military. I’m grateful for what he did the other night and for returning the mask and leaving me this note, but that’s where it ends.” Kate’s fingertips brushed his admonition to remember the dawn. “Being around him gave me a peace I can’t explain. Like his words added ammo to my faith and left me certain everything’s going to end up okay.” Kate folded the paper and tucked it back into the envelope. “He feels like a new friend...except for the unfortunate fact I have no clue who he is or where he lives.” Kate laughed at the irony.

“I think you’re right not to look for anything serious with this guy, especially since he didn’t even bother to share his name. However...don’t write him off yet. Maybe he’ll show up again. That wouldn’t be a bad thing, would it?”

“What are you saying?”

“Things like sweet notes and mysterious gestures might make a nice distraction for you.”

“You mean, getting my mind off my parents’ divorce.”

Bri slid an arm around her. “I can’t get out of my mind the brilliant glow on your face as you described him wiping away your tears. Crazy kiss aside, I think a benevolent bandit might be what you need in life at the moment. Someone to occupy your thoughts and cheer you up.”

Kate patted Bri’s cheek. “You cheer me up.”

“But I’m swamped and it’s bound to worsen with wedding plans, Tia and bunkhouse renovations.”

“It’ll work out. I’ll help, too.” Kate flexed her arms.

“You may need to go help your mom with your grandpa. If he continues to go downhill after his hip fracture...”

“I know. If Grandpa gets worse, I’ll head to Chicago to be with my family. The last thing I want to contend with is regret. You taught me that. But Mom’s a nurse, too. She can handle it for now.”

“Then promise me something.”

Kate groaned. “That statement from you never ends well for me.” But she raised a resigned eyebrow. “But shoot, anyway.”

“Give me your word that if—if—this BB guy continues to send you notes and stuff, that you’ll stop resisting and enjoy it.”

“You’re impossible, Bri. But since I love you and your incurable optimism, I’ll agree.” Bri smiled kind-heartedly yet eyed the clock in a fidget that reminded Kate Tia was coming home from her aunt’s in St. Louis. “Let’s walk you back. I forgot Tia’s on her way home.”

The two women escaped out EPTC’s side door and walked the parking lot in companionable silence, to Kate’s relief. “What do you have planned today?” she asked as they approached Bri’s gorgeous caramel-and-golden-hued lodge.

“Ian’s bringing kitchen paraphernalia so he, Tia and I can make cupcakes. That child is a baking fanatic, like Caleb.”

Kate saw sadness cross Bri’s face. Heard the telltale break in her voice. “I know you miss your brother. When does his tour of duty end?”

“Not anytime soon. He applied for ranger school.” She pulled out her phone as they went in. “I’m kinda worried about him. He hasn’t called in a few days. I hope he’s not facing something dangerous.”

* * *

The time had come to bite the bullet. Caleb had to let Bri—and by extension, Kate—know he was in town. He rolled up his sleeping bag after the third night in the empty cabin and glanced at the diminished pile of leftover war rations that he’d been living on, along with stale canteen water, for the past three days. Stalling was no longer an option.

True, he still didn’t know how he was going to tell either Kate or Bri about his interlude as the masked patio bandit...but if days of mulling over that question hadn’t given him an answer yet, he wasn’t likely to find one. He’d have to wing it.

He dialed Bri’s cell phone. She answered on the first ring.

“Caleb! Finally. I was so worried! How are you?”

“I’m good.” Mostly. He steeled himself against homesickness rustling through him like the breeze as he walked familiar landmarks toward the lodge kitchen. He knew Bri and her fiancé, Ian, baked goodies on Saturdays with Ian’s daughter, whom Bri was adopting. There they were. His heart swelled seeing the warm family scene through the window. After the rough year they’d had losing Mom, he loved to see his sister smiling. Excitement welled over having a little niece to spoil. “I have a surprise for you.”

“What’s that?” Bri helped Tia stir some kind of dough.

“Look outside the yard window to your left.” Caleb smiled.

Bri blinked over, saw him and dropped her phone. Her shriek carried all the way outside. Ian looked up sharply as Bri rushed from the lodge and threw herself at Caleb.

“You’re home! When did you get here?” Her words muffled over each other as she wept and hugged the stuffing out of him.

“Not long ago.” Three days after a yearlong deployment wasn’t long, right?

Ian approached with a grin and Bri’s pink batter-laden phone, which she’d apparently dropped in the bowl. Ian wiped it then hauled Caleb into a man-hug. “Good to have you back.”

Caleb eyed him funnily. “I’ll put up with mushy stuff only because we’re gonna be family now. Seriously, dude. What up? I ask you to bodyguard my sis and get a brother-in-law out of the deal. Smooth, man, smooth.” Caleb laughed, as did Ian.

Caleb knelt when Ian’s daughter skipped up. “Hi, princess. You must be Tia.” Caleb stuck out his hand but Tia plowed past it and hugged him. What was it with all these huggy people?

“You’ll be my new uncle who buys me all the noisy toys!”

Caleb snickered. Ian eyed Caleb with a smirk. Bri planted her hands on her hips. “Is that what Caleb told you, Tia?”

Tia nodded her head proudly. “Yep. Uncle Caleb.”

Caleb grinned. “Speaking of toys, I have something for you here.” He went to dig in his pouch pocket for the frilly doll he’d picked up for her. When he pulled it out, one of his blue camouflage kerchiefs slipped loose and fluttered to the ground.

Bri’s eyes snapped right to it. She paled as she slowly looked up to stare at Caleb.

Four disbelieving blinks preceded her stare shifting into a glare.

He averted his gaze but felt his sister’s acrid gaze as she studied him. Somehow, she knew.

After a minute of chatter from Ian and Tia, Caleb chanced a glance at Bri. She chewed the inside of her cheek and looked worried.

Ian looked from one to the other, obviously picking up on the tension between siblings. “So, Caleb, I bet you’re hungry after the long flight. Let’s get you fed.” Ian motioned them in.

Bri’s eyes narrowed. “Yeah, just when was your flight in, Caleb?”

He cleared his throat. “The details are sketchy.”

“Not for her.” Bri shook her head and stomped away.

Ian’s forehead crinkled. “What’s that about?”

Caleb sighed, knowing he’d deluded himself thinking he’d have a chance to explain his side of the story before his sister found out the truth on her own. “Trust me, you don’t want to know.”

Once inside, Bri cornered him. “It was you, wasn’t it?”

He clenched his jaw, knowing the time had come to face the music. Or, in his case, the firing squad. Wordlessly, he nodded.

“What were you playing at, Caleb?”

“I wasn’t playing!” he protested. “I’d just gotten in. I had a costume ready because I’d planned to be in time for the ceremony, but my flight was delayed. I thought I’d be able to at least stop by the reception to congratulate Mitch and Lauren, and then I saw her there, crying...”

“Her parents had informed her, moments before, that they are getting divorced after thirty years of marriage.”

Caleb knew that, because Kate had shared it with him. Bri mentioning it meant Kate’s parents were still at odds. Caleb’s heart sank. “Poor Kate. I was hoping they’d reconciled.”

“Reconciled what?” A voice sounded from the front door.

Kate. Could he convince Bri to keep what he’d done a secret? Doubtful—she was too angry with him. His reckoning had come.

Caleb pinned Bri with his gaze and leaned in. “Let me be the one to tell her. Please.”

“Fine.”

Caleb sauntered toward Kate like she was a human gallows. Bravery fled. He was certain she’d be upset or disappointed to learn the bandit she’d shared a special moment with was him. It would ruin his chance at being a friend for her. But there was no other option.

Swift motion to his left drew his attention. Bri put a restraining hand on his arm and nibbled her lip like she wasn’t so sure now. “On second thought, Caleb, that thing we just discussed?” She sliced a hand across her neck. “Abort mission. I’ll explain later.”

Kate approached, sweeping silky brown bangs from her eyes with choppy motions. “Wow. Welcome home, Landis. Should I leave? Feels like I walked in on a private conversation. Strange, considering I believe you were discussing my parents’ divorce when I walked in.” Kate sounded aggravated.

Caleb couldn’t blame her. No doubt she thought Bri had been oversharing about Kate’s private business. He could clear up her confusion in no time at all...so why wasn’t Bri letting him?

Bri stepped between Kate and Caleb. “I’m sorry. I should have asked you first before saying anything.”

Kate shrugged, flipped hair over her shoulder. “Doesn’t matter. It’s only Caleb.” She retreated, buddy-buddy with Bri, to the counter, effectively blowing him off.

It’s only Caleb? So that’s where he stood?

He tried to remind himself her dismissal wasn’t supposed to bother him. After all, he’d spent the past three days thinking about why they wouldn’t work together as anything but friends.

Tia skipped from the woodsy forest-critter-themed kitchen where Ian looked occupied cleaning up a baking mess out of earshot. “Miss Kate, can you be my taste tester?”

“Ooh-rah! Cupcakes. My fave!” Kate leaned down to take a bite.

With Kate distracted, Bri dragged Caleb outside onto her gleaming redwood deck. “You don’t need to tell her yet.”

“Why not?”

“I’m worried about her. She’s taking the news about her parents really hard—especially since her grandfather’s sick, too. She needs something to cheer her up. You signed your note BB, so she thinks you’re a benevolent bandit. I think the BB could brighten her days and give her something to look forward to.”

Caleb shook his head. “BB meant Bri’s Brother. I was planning to tell her the truth—at some point. I didn’t want to lie to her. I just wanted...” He’d just wanted to help her. And she wouldn’t have accepted help or comfort from “only Caleb.”

Bri clutched his T-shirt. “Please, Caleb. Don’t tell her yet. While she may not see or admit it, she actually needs the BB right now. The distraction, and the way you unwittingly made her feel, really helped her get through these past few days. I’m certain of it. Yes, she needs to know the truth, eventually, but not yet. She’s devastated enough with life. Let’s wait at least until her parents’ ordeal calms down.”

“I don’t know, Bri. You really want me to continue tricking her?”

“You don’t have to trick her at all. Just keep being the guy you were on the patio—the one who has made her smile just thinking about him for the past few days. That guy took her mind off her troubles—don’t you want to keep doing that for her? I asked God to send help for Kate. She refuses to burden me. God could be using you to keep her from going off the emotional deep end right now.”

“You really think keeping the...the Benevolent Bandit around will make such a difference?”

Bri shrugged. “Maybe. Isn’t it worth a shot? Kate’s dealing with so much right now—she needs something that’ll make her happy. On top of all her family issues, they have crucial inspections coming up at the trauma center. She needs her head in the game or they’ll lose vital funding.”

“EPTC, they hurting?”

“No, they’ve outgrown themselves and need to expand.”

“They hiring? I was hoping to work part-time while I’m helping you with renovations and stuff. I’m here four months.”

“I’m so glad. I’m sure they could use you at the center, especially since Mitch is gone for two months on a combined honeymoon-mission trip with Lauren. They’d already booked their flights when they received word of the inspection timeline moving up.”

“I’m happy to help if I can.”

Bri’s face lit up, and Caleb felt a sudden rush of foreboding. That smile from his sister always meant trouble. “If you really mean that, then you could do me a favor and be on the storybook ball fund-raising committee in my place. I don’t want to leave them shorthanded, but I’ve got a lot on my plate right now. Organizing is right up your alley, not mine. Then I can focus on Tia, wedding plans and the lodge.”

“Sure. Hook me up with whoever I need to talk to about it.”

A smug expression made it clear that he’d fallen right into her trap. “This’ll get interesting.”

Caleb straightened. “What are you not telling me, sis?”

Her eyes shone. “Kate’s on the fund-raising committee, too.”

Chapter Three

What was he doing here? “You stalking me, Landis?” Kate slid into the only empty chair, which happened to be next to Caleb, at the first storybook ball fund-raiser planning meeting two days later.

Caleb looked up. To his credit, he looked surprised. “Pardon?”

This close, incandescent lighting illuminated the strength of his jaw, the chisel of his cheek, the divot gracing his chin and the nice curve of his mouth. When had he grown so appealing?

Kate settled deeper in her chair and looked away, scolding herself for finding him so. The last thing she needed was attraction to someone destined for the front lines. Too many families—hers included—were ripped apart by war. That wasn’t what Kate wanted for herself, when it came to love. “You’re like my shadow.”

“Whaddaya mean?” For an imposing, well-built military guy, he looked skittish all of a sudden.

“First at Bri’s cabin this weekend, and now here at the Eagle Point Civic Center meeting.”

Guarded relief settled over his face. “I was at both places before you got there,” he teased in lighthearted tones. “Maybe you’re stalking me.”

Kate was shocked and a little appalled at the way his words made her blush. To hide her face, she became extraordinarily interested in the Frontline Army magazine he held. Nostalgia marched through her at the images of military medics tending service members. Quit it. That’s your old life, remember?

She cleared her throat. “How long are you here?”

“An hour, same as you.” He smirked.

“Ha. Always the joker. I meant how long stateside?”

“Four months. I leave after Bri’s wedding.”

“At least you get to be here for that, before throwing yourself back into d—action.” She’d almost said danger.

He didn’t need to be reminded.

“Yeah.” He cleared his throat and seemed fidgety. Was she making him uncomfortable? Replaying their conversation in her head, she realized she’d probably sounded too accusatory when she sat down. Remorse filled her. She was in a crabby mood, thanks to all the issues—personal and professional—taking up her time, but that was no excuse for being rude to her best friend’s hero brother. Especially since he had such a short amount of time to enjoy being home before he was sent off again.

Kate admired his courage, yet feared for his safety. She’d patched up too many gung-ho brave souls just like him. She cared, for Bri’s sake of course. Caleb was all the flesh-and-blood family Bri had left.

Keep him safe, Lord.

Maybe Kate could befriend Caleb while he was in town. It would be nice to have someone to spend time with, particularly since Bri would be too busy to give either one of them much of her attention. Bri would want that for her brother and, like Bri, the scope of Kate’s problems tended to dwindle when she focused on someone else’s issues.

She stuck out her hand. “Let’s start over. Friends?”

He took her hand, then glanced to her face before looking away. He was acting so strange. Guilty, almost. Looking back, he nodded. “I’d like that.”

They fell silent as the meeting was called to order. Kate tried to pay attention as the monotone mayor droned on, but found herself distracted by the solid, shy man beside her.

Lem Bates, Lauren’s grandfather, approached them after the initial information was presented. “Caleb and Kate, can you two head up the storybook ball props?”

“Us? As in, together?” Caleb raked a hand over his buzz.

Lem grinned. “You two are the youngest whippersnappers on the committee. Some of the props get heavy after they’re built. We could use your physical strength and stamina. Besides, building those props could take long hours. I think you’d work well together.”

Caleb flicked a glance her way and back to Lem. “Me, too.”

If it didn’t bother him, then it wouldn’t bother Kate. “Props sound like fun.” Her phone bleeped a text from Mom. Kate stilled when she read that Grandpa’s vent settings were adjusted as much as they could be. Kate swallowed, realizing he may be nearing a point when there’d be nothing else the doctors could do.

As Kate readied to text Mom back with “Should I come?” she was horrified to find her fingers trembling on the itty keypad. She was also mortified to feel the heat of Caleb’s stare on her. She looked up and tried to neutralize her features.

“Everything okay?” He glanced at the phone pointedly.

After debating a second, she tilted the message screen so he could see. “My grandpa’s having problems. Could you let Bri know?”

He nodded slowly. “How about you, Kate? Are you okay?”

“I’m fine.” She despised the quaver in her voice and the draw of his.

He raised his chin and held her gaze, making her feel her facade was far from effective. He shifted toward her and the text.

Something about the set of his shoulders seemed strikingly familiar all of a sudden. Silly, right? Why, she could count on one hand the number of times she’d seen him. Must be the sleepless nights spent awake, praying her guts out for Grandpa and her parents, playing tricks on her mind.

She pressed her phone into her purse, wishing she could tuck uncertainty away, too. She shrugged, trying to project calm. “With Grandpa, it is what it is.”

Concern in Caleb’s eyes only intensified. Kate rose from the table both to escape his overwhelming empathy and to visit the ladies’ room.

Once at the door, she peered back, glad to see Caleb now occupied with scrolling and poking through his smartphone instead of scanning the pointless, dumb emotions pulling at her heart and playing out over her face, making her feel incredibly exposed and weak.

Lem, watching them both more shrewdly than Kate was comfortable with, seemed to sense her escalating discomfort and moved on to the next two people on the committee.

* * *

Caleb didn’t feel a bit sorry for what he was about to do.

Kate might have said she was fine, but the tremors taking over her eyelids and fingertips spoke of high stress levels.

Her mouth might have uttered it is what it is, but he knew good and well “it” was breaking her apart. He’d be happy to be her shield, but she wasn’t ready to let him as Caleb. What about BB?

While Kate composed herself in the bathroom, he texted his sister and asked her to bring the note he’d tentatively written Kate as BB. He’d planned to leave it on her car after her next on-call night shift at the trauma center. But he’d use it now.

Via return text, Bri agreed to sneak it onto Kate’s car. Several moments later, a second text from Bri confirmed the delivery had been planted on the Jeep, parked where no one could see the benevolent transaction.

The words he’d written ran through his mind and he hoped they’d bring healing from uncertainty and worry.

Hello again, Sunshine,

Hoping you remember that not even the darkest nights can overtake the day. Do you know your eyes shine like the sun when you smile? Shine often.

BB

Once the meeting concluded, Caleb and Kate stuck around to discuss the next steps of their project and walked out together. Crossing the parking lot, he peered up the sidewalk for an eatery. Everything he’d known was gone, and not a lot of new joints had popped up to take their places. Sad. But it only highlighted how important to the town the work could be that Kate, Mitch, Ian and Bri were doing.

Folks were depending on the trauma center and their lodge to dig the town out of financial ruin.

Too bad he wouldn’t be here to see it built back to the bustle it’d had when he and Bri were little. Nostalgia and homesickness hit, nearly making him wish he didn’t have to leave in four months. Caleb squelched the thought and squared his shoulders.

He’d never make ranger school with that kind of waver.

“I’m starving,” he said, fighting to overcome the shyness that made him hesitate to talk to her. “Where’s a good place to eat around here now?”

Kate studied him carefully then gestured across the street. “One block down there’s a joint called Sully’s. They have to-die-for chili burgers.” She peered around. “Where’s your car?”

Caleb chewed the inside of his cheek and feigned interest in the ant colony invading fresh-cut grass near the sidewalk.

Kate turned a one-eighty. “Seriously, where’s your ride?”

Gut churning, Caleb kicked the brick steps. Cleared his throat. “Uh, right there.”

Kate stared at the bright purple bicycle and stepped over to brush a hand along the white wicker basket in front. Her finger trailed along big neon plastic flowers plastered to it.

“It’s Bri’s. I sold my truck to help pay for lodge repairs.” Caleb’s ears flamed. Kate would forever razz him about riding a girlie bike. It couldn’t have saved his ego a little by being a mountain bike or a masculine color, either.

Kate slowly turned. Respect rather than mischief twinkled from her eyes. “You mean you rode this? Straight through town where anyone could see it?”

He shrugged. Looked away. “I said I’d help out with the committee, and I wasn’t going to go back on my word. Pride comes last. Plus, I didn’t wanna take Bri’s car. She has Tia.”

Kate was next to him in a flash, lifting his face much the same way he’d lifted hers that night on the patio.

“Caleb Landis, you are more of a man than any truck-toting male around. I don’t know of a single other guy who’d have the guts to ride that through town.” She released his face but the soft sensation that her fingers left remained. “Still, it’ll be dark when we get done eating. So let’s put your bike in my Jeep and I’ll drive you home. And, for future reference, call me for rides.”

He wasn’t about to argue with that. Not only would it save him some face over the girlie bike, it would afford him a few more moments with her to find out how her parents and granddad were doing.

They started down the sidewalk when Kate detoured down the alley toward her Jeep with Caleb following, leading his bike. His palms moistened. He hadn’t wanted her to find the BB note in his presence. Caleb lagged back.

She turned. “Aren’t you coming?”

She flashed a grin of such warmth it made him not only walk into a decorative, steel light pole, but grab it and say, “Excuse me.”

Kate snickered enough it started him laughing, too. Felt good. Furthermore, she looked burdenless, all incapacitated with laughter. So he was glad she did, even at his expense. He just wished he could get past feeling as klutzy as an elephant on ice skates around her. The only time it had gone away was when he’d been BB.

At her car, she initially passed the windshield and then arced backward. Her cheeks tinged red as she slipped the note from her wipers.

Caleb angled away, trying his best to look simultaneously patient, oblivious and bored. In reality, his heart thumped like a war drum.

Despite his best intentions, Caleb could not keep from watching Kate’s quiet yet profound reaction as she read. Her shoulders relaxed and the twin dimples that occasionally accompanied her megawatt smiles peeked through.

Bri was right. The note lifted Kate’s burden. For now.

He saw the moment she realized that the first note he’d left at EPTC with her mask wasn’t going to be a one-time thing—that her bandit would continue to reach out to her. And as long as he lived, he’d never forget the look of tangible relief. Her chin wobbled precariously. She covered it with her hand before he could see for more than an instant, but he didn’t have to see to know.

The bandit’s kind gesture almost moved her to tears.

He looked away, partly to provide her emotions a cove of privacy but mostly because if he didn’t, he’d rush over there and do something more stupid than walk into a light pole. Like hug her.

The note was enough. It would have to be enough.

If he was closer to God and sure he’d be heard, he’d beg God to let it be so.

A few moments later, as if aware of his scrutiny, she snapped to attention, tucked the note into her snakeskin handbag and schooled her features. Nevertheless, she seemed stronger now, taller and more peaceful. As they would say in military speak—at ease.

Caleb bit back a thankful smile and experienced profound relief that Kate didn’t seem to suspect he’d written the note or that his sister had delivered it secretly.

“Your bike can go here,” Kate said as she popped open the back. “And once it’s stowed away, can you grab that bag?” Kate nodded to the military rucksack in her backseat as she hefted a camouflage duffel bag. She must have used both overseas because they were well-worn and military.

What was she doing with the bags? He restrained his curiosity, figuring that soon enough he’d be able to see for himself.

“Think you’ll ever go back?” Caleb asked as they marched with the bags back through the alley toward the main street.

“To Sully’s? I go there all the time. I love it.”

“I meant the military. Heard you were top-notch.”

Her face hardened. “I have no interest in that anymore. I served my time.” She smiled stiffly up at him, which almost made him trip over himself as he paused to let her pass. “I do have an interest in downing a Sully’s Super Chili Burger, however.” She grabbed his shirt and steered him there.

Bossy little thing. Of course, she’d been a drill sergeant.

Once inside the diner, she advanced as though she owned the place and set the duffel inside the owner’s office door. She gestured for Caleb to do the same with the rucksack he carried. Reading the confusion on his face, she answered his silent question.

“Sully’s owner reminds me of my grandpa. They were war vets and served at the same time. Sully lost all his military stuff in a house fire. All he has left is what’s in here.” She gestured at war memorabilia on the diner walls. “I figure this stuff means more to him than to me.”

Alarm trickled through Caleb as well as a sense that she was making a rash decision. “You’re really sure about getting rid of these?”

“I am.” She lifted her chin, face dared him to talk her out of it. “That’s my old life. I don’t want reminders of it.” She raked harsh eyes over his T-shirt’s army triathlon emblem.

He could see that Kate’s walls were granite-hard and fortress-high now, unlike the vulnerability she’d displayed in the garden at Mitch’s wedding. If she’d only open up like that to BB, then that was yet another reason why the masquerade needed to continue.

Caleb glanced through Sully’s office at Kate’s hard-earned and respectably decorated past, abandoned and crumpled in two heaping bags on the shoe-scuffed floor, and squelched the urge to tell her she might regret giving it all up and walking away. After all, did he really know her well enough to make that call?

You know her better than she realizes, down to the satiny feel of her lips and how her chin quivers when she cries, something whispered inside him. Probably his unwieldy conscience.

Would Kate be livid once she found out he was BB? Probably. But if BB made her life better now, the wrath was worth it. Right?

“You look like something’s on your mind.” Expressive eyes watched him intently as he motioned her into a booth. Hair spilled over her shoulders as she scooted in. She’d grown her dark brown, cropped military hair out to luxurious lengths.

He almost commented on it but clamped his mouth shut, sat and stared ahead. Some things were better left unsaid. “It’ll work itself out.” He slid a menu her way.

She leaned in. “Sometimes talking about it helps.”

A laugh choked out of him. “Trust me, not this time.”

The waitress brought ice water. Kate sipped hers like a regal princess. He resisted the urge to guzzle his. Manners were in order. She was, after all, a lady. “Thanks, Caleb.”

“For?”

She shrugged. “Friendship. Hanging out. For getting me.”

“I get you?”

She grinned. “Yeah. I think you do.”

Caleb sliced a piece of nut-dusted French bread for her.

“I could use a friend,” she added. “Bri’s strapped with wedding plans. I’m not the type who thrives alone. I get into too much trouble.” Mischief brightened her gorgeous eyes.

He laughed and tried not to dwell on how astonishingly pretty she was when she smiled. “Somehow, I can believe that.”

“See? I told you that you get me. It’s proof we’re going to be great friends.”

The waitress, a pale-skinned waif with coal-black hair, came back and took their orders, then left them alone again. “I’m glad we’re both comfortable with just being friends,” Kate continued. “Otherwise, people in town might try to fix us up.”

Caleb struggled not to choke on his water. “R-really?”

Kate nodded. “Yeah, besides our waitress and a few others, there aren’t many people our age in town, so everyone seems to think a newly arrived single man must be my Prince Charming.”

“But that’s not what you think,” he said, even though he already knew the answer.

“Nope. I’m not interested in you romantically. It’s nothing personal!” she hastened to assure him. “You seem like a great guy, and I’m glad we’re going to be friends. But you’re military all the way, and that’s not what I’m looking for.”

He nodded. “Fair enough. I’ll only be around for a few months anyway, and then hopefully it’s off to ranger school, so it’s not like I have time for romance, either.” He thought he saw a flash of disappointment cross her face, but it was gone before he could be sure.

“So we’ll make the most of the months as friends. After all, we’ll be spending a lot of time together with fund-raiser meetings and the work we’ll do together to ready props. Plus, Ian texted Mitch and informed him you applied at EPTC part-time as a surgery tech. Mitch called Ian first thing this morning.”

Caleb perked up. “You think I got the job?”

Kate grinned. “I mess with his and Mitch’s to-do list all the time. You’re top of the list for him to call for an interview. Well, after SpongeBob.”

He chuckled. “You wrote that in, or what?”

She shrugged. “You know from being a military medic that humor is what gets us through hard nights and heavy case loads.”

He nodded slowly, enjoying having that military and medical connection with her. Maybe being friends with her while keeping the secret from her wouldn’t be awkward after all. Sure, he wasn’t as smooth as he’d been as BB, but they were still getting along.

“We’re bound to run into each other at the trauma center and in surgery,” she continued. “Plus, Bri and Ian invite me for dinner once a week, and I assume, since Bri can’t stand to leave anyone out and you’re her beloved brother, you’ll be there.”

Caleb coughed. He’d swallowed a piece of ice whole when she said beloved brother. Okay, yeah. Totally awkward here. After he recovered, Caleb leaned in. “Good point. Look, you don’t have to try so hard to convince me to be friends, Kate. That’s not like you, anyway.” He grinned. “I’m fine being friends with you. To friendship?” he suggested, lifting his water glass in a toast.

“To friendship,” she agreed, clinking her glass against his.

Chapter Four

Kate had been right about one thing—Caleb had been told in no uncertain terms that he was absolutely required to attend weekly dinners with his sister, Ian, Tia and Kate. And that’s where he found himself the next week’s Thursday evening, grinning as he watched his soon-to-be-niece give the doll he’d brought her a “ride” on the back of her puppy, Mistletoe.

The cotton-on-ginger-colored dog pranced in a regal circle, but the entire back half of the dog wagged as he stopped and peered up. Caleb, looking down at him, was met with soulful brown eyes, a playful bearing, a happy pant and breath only a puppy could get away with. His expectant, hopeful expression matched Tia’s mischievous one.

“It’s a toss-up as to which of you is cuter.”

Tia’s increasingly comical antics caused him to chuckle. He’d about decided that someday having a little girl wouldn’t be half bad. Caleb glanced over to see Kate watching them with an approving smile as she chopped apples in the kitchen for a fruit salad. He grinned back at her and winked.

For a guy with limited experience dealing with kids, his babysitting gig seemed to be going pretty well. Sure, Bri and Ian were there to step in if anything went wrong, but they were so wrapped up in each other, he wasn’t sure they’d notice if he and Tia set the kitchen on fire. Things had been so busy for both of them lately that he knew the engaged couple needed time together.

Two beepers sounded. Bri shrank in disappointment. Ian and Kate sobered and pulled out their chiming cell phones. Caleb’s grin faded as he stood, instinctually knowing Ian’s creasing forehead meant something bad was headed to the trauma center. Tia quieted, and the dog seemed to sense her unease because he moved closer.

“I’m sorry, babe. I gotta go.” Ian kissed Bri’s forehead, hugged Tia then followed Kate, already out the door. Every nerve ending in Caleb strained and ached to go with him. He’d been doing combat medicine for so long it felt strange to sit back and watch an emergency go by without running headlong to help.

Bri sighed. “He’s been on call four days in a row. With Mitch and Lauren away, and Dr. Lockhart, the anesthesiologist, taking some personal time, the trauma center is short staffed. He really has no choice but to be there,” Bri said, as if to convince herself it was all right and temporary.

But Caleb could tell she missed Ian and he her. The center had erupted with traumas this week and the engaged pair barely saw each other in the two weeks since Caleb had been here. Even then, they’d only waved in passing when Ian came to pick up Tia. No wonder Bri’s renovations had fallen behind. She couldn’t take a child into a construction zone. Caleb grew even more thankful he’d received military leave. His sister and her cabins needed him.

Caleb felt heartsick at her disappointment over not being able to cook for her fiancé and not getting to enjoy the meal, much less the evening, with Ian. Caleb rose from the rug to meet her in the kitchen but she bravely waved him back down and approached the carpet, instead.

“What did you decide to name her, Tia?” Bri asked in a light tone and brushed a hand down the doll’s long, flaxen hair.

“Calebina, of course.” Tia’s bright smile sent unfamiliar feelings through Caleb. “After my awesome, amazing uncle, who rescued her from the clutches and brought her to me from a land far, far away.”

Actually, it had been the discount store down the street at the local airport, but he wasn’t about to wipe the adoration off the kid’s endearingly cute face, framed in a riot of brown curls and bedazzled with freckles. Though he knelt on the rug beside her, he felt easily three feet taller. Especially since she really looked convinced he’d rescued the doll from “the clutches.” Clutches of what, he had no idea. The twinkle in Tia’s eyes and the joy in Bri’s as she peered lovingly at Tia made the worst clutch he could imagine not seem to matter.

“Calebina.” Bri smiled and winked at Caleb. “Of course. I should have guessed.” The love between Bri and Tia was tangible. Caleb could see how much happiness the two brought each other. They’d both been through hard times, but those experiences had brought them together. Thankfulness shifted something small but vital inside him. Maybe it was a bit of the grudge he’d been holding against God?

“What clutches did Caleb rescue her from, Tia?” Bri asked.

“The clutches of death! Death by broccoli,” Tia announced dramatically. Commotion across at EPTC’s lot cut their laughter short. Whipping rotor blades beckoned Caleb to the window where he watched two helicopters land outside the trauma center. Twin ambulances also pulled up. Staff scurried to them. Caleb grew concerned when stress mounted on the faces rushing around. He thrummed to go help, but he hadn’t exactly been hired yet. Could he—should he—go? Should he not? He shuffled foot to foot in an effort not to bolt there.

Bri’s phone rang. The second Bri said, “Yes, he’s here,” Caleb skied across the waxed wood floor and grabbed the phone.

“Hey, Landis, if you’re up for it, we could use a hand over here.” Ian’s voice strained through the cacophony of background noise.

Adrenaline, gratitude and readiness buzzed through his veins. “Be right over.” Caleb hugged Bri, scrubbed a quick hand through Tia’s hair before shoving his shoes on and hopping out the door, while trying not to trip over the rug-of-a-dog. He jumped the steps and sprinted to the trauma center. Ian waved him past staff and occupied gurneys near the first set of surgical doors.

“Scrub up. The surgeon needs someone else in there, stat.”

At Ian’s directive, Caleb found and changed into scrubs, washed his hands at the sterile sink, donned a hat and mask and backed through the O.R. doors into complete chaos—raised voices, code alarms and a slick floor that wasn’t supposed to be covered in crimson. He eyed the man’s blue lips and nail beds. Dear God...Caleb surprised himself by praying. This guy’s toast if You don’t step in.

“Grab another unit,” Kate directed as he rushed over. A nurse gloved him up, then Caleb exchanged one bag of near-empty blood for a full one resting amid a pile of others on a stainless-steel cart.

Realizing her mind could trigger a different masked encounter, he put his back to her as soon as he could, prepping a second IV. When Caleb turned back to the group and the emergency still going south on the table, he secured a second IV line without having to be told, which drew nods of approval from Kate and Ian.

Caleb looked around for code meds in an effort to crash-orient himself to the room setup and supplies they’d need. It was a struggle to locate everything, since he’d never set foot inside this room before. He piled meds and supplies on the table and started quickly ripping open package after package of whatever they needed.

Moments later, Kate nodded to him, then down. He swiftly took over compressions, which freed her to grab supplies he’d have a longer time finding. He appreciated her intuition and rapid actions.

When the vascular surgeon suggested they call the code, Kate flat-out refused to give up. Over the next hour Caleb was filled with respect as he watched the team battle to save the man’s life.

Kate not only multitasked but drilled order after order to the other nurses and staff, who looked to her skill as much as to the doctors for guidance. Even the vascular surgeon cast admiring glances her way as the patient actually improved and was transferred.

Another patient followed, and while this one was less critical, a third patient tanked, which took most of the staff out of the room, leaving Kate to man the care of the third patient and the code of a fourth. Caleb watched once more as her quick actions and stream of split-second decisions saved two lives in a row.

Hours later, after the accident victims were stabilized and the next crew took over, Ian motioned Caleb into the doctors’ lounge.

Ian extended a phone to Caleb. “Mitch wants a word with you.”

Caleb smiled, knowing Ian’s smirk meant he was about to be offered a job. Indeed, Mitch thanked Caleb and confirmed his employment before ending the call so Mitch could, as he put it, “return his attention to his beautiful wife.”

Ian perched on the desk and Caleb thought it odd that his smirk hadn’t retracted. “Mitch told me to have Kate show you the ropes in terms of in-house policy, procedure, et cetera. You gonna be okay with shadowing her, Landis?”

The statement seemed loaded, somehow. Too much like a baited trap for Caleb’s ease. Ian watched Caleb the way Asher did when studying unclear overseas maps of potential explosive-device hot spots.

Caleb stood his ground, poker face in place. “If you have somethin’ to say to me, Shupe, let’s get it on the table now.”

Ian’s smirk stretched into a full-fledged grin. Had Bri shared about the bandit with him? Or was Ian’s perceptive radar picking up stuff on its own? Like Caleb’s innate attraction to Kate that had flared as he’d watched her in action?

Regardless, Caleb couldn’t get out of his mind Kate’s words that night on the patio. She’d confided to the bandit how much it weighed on her when people expected her to be invincible all the time.

He saw it firsthand tonight. He now fully realized the intense pressure Kate felt to live up to others’ perceptions of her. How could he ease her burden? Or at least ease others’ galactic expectations of her?

People truly did depend on her. She was the best at what she did and exemplary in emergency care, even in the midst of her own private-life trauma. She didn’t buckle, bend, weaken, break or even flinch tonight in the face of some of the worst injuries he imagined she or her team had ever seen.

He admired her. Big-time.

If respect was what Ian was sensing, so be it. Kate had more than earned it.

Yet Ian was acting as if he knew something more than that. Caleb was reminded of the way Bri had bragged about Ian’s ability to see inside people and realize things about them even before they did.

Ian play-slugged Caleb’s shoulder. “All I have to say, Landis, is keep up the good work. On all fronts.”

With that, Ian strode out, chuckling.

Leaving Caleb alone to vacillate between confusion and determination not to ponder what Ian might have meant.

* * *

“I have a proposition for you,” Kate said to Caleb. Her on-call shift had just ended, and when she’d had a second to think about the rest of her day, an idea had occurred to her. As she walked to the employee parking area, she hoped Caleb could help her put it into action.

She hadn’t seen the man since they’d worked the traumas together a few nights prior. They had made a great team. Surgically speaking, of course.

She knew he’d been officially hired, but unfortunately, unlike her, Caleb actually had a couple days off. Bri mentioned he’d left town for a military training operation with some of the Refuge Pararescue Jumpers—PJs for short. Kate knew he’d be back today, hence her phone call. She was hoping he could help her work out her plan to get Ian and Bri some much-needed face time.

“Yeah?” he answered. “What’s that?”

She opened her mouth to answer, but then her eyes caught on a paper on her Jeep’s windshield, flapping in the rare summer breeze. From BB? Her heart jumped, even as she tried to tell herself it was probably just an advertising flyer. “Hold on. Someone stuck a piece of paper on my— Holy smokes! He did it again.” Kate stared at the homemade greeting card under her windshield wiper blade.

Конец ознакомительного фрагмента.

Текст предоставлен ООО «ЛитРес».

Прочитайте эту книгу целиком, купив полную легальную версию на ЛитРес.

Безопасно оплатить книгу можно банковской картой Visa, MasterCard, Maestro, со счета мобильного телефона, с платежного терминала, в салоне МТС или Связной, через PayPal, WebMoney, Яндекс.Деньги, QIWI Кошелек, бонусными картами или другим удобным Вам способом.