Maddie’s eyes glowed with happiness.
“I’ve been house-hunting.”

House-hunting. Jake almost groaned aloud. Why couldn’t she just stay on post where she belonged? If she moved into town, Jake would bump into her even more often than he did already.

Just yesterday he’d seen her at the offices of Children of the Day, an international Christian charity founded five years ago by Prairie Springs resident Anna Terenkov to assist innocent victims of war. He liked Anna, but lately she’d been getting on his nerves because she couldn’t stop talking about her new friend Maddie. She was so sweet, Anna’d gushed. So eager to help everyone. It had been pointed out on more than one occasion that a man would have to be dead not to notice how pretty she was.

Jake definitely wasn’t dead.

Homecoming Heroes: Saving children and finding

love deep in the heart of Texas

Mission: Motherhood—Marta Perry

July 2008

Lone Star Secret—Lenora Worth

August 2008

At His Command—Brenda Coulter

September 2008

A Matter of the Heart—Patricia Davids

October 2008

A Texas Thanksgiving—Margaret Daley

November 2008

Homefront Holiday—Jillian Hart

December 2008

BRENDA COULTER

started writing an inspirational-romance novel the same afternoon she finished reading one for the first time. Less than a year later, she had a completed manuscript and an interested publisher. Although that first book went on to win both a HOLT Medallion and a Romantic Times BOOKreviews Reviewers’ Choice Award, it took three rejected manuscripts before Brenda figured out what she had done right the first time. She did it again, resulting in another sale to Steeple Hill Books. That second novel was a finalist for Romance Writers of America’s prestigious RITA® Award.

Married for over thirty years, Brenda and her architect husband have no pets because, after bringing up two rascally boys, they have earned a rest.

At His Command
Brenda Coulter

Published by Steeple Hill Books™

Special thanks and acknowledgment to Brenda Coulter for her contribution to the Homecoming Heroes miniseries.

You turned my wailing into dancing; you removed

my sackcloth and clothed me with joy,

that my heart may sing to you and not be silent.

O Lord my God, I will give you thanks forever.

—Psalms 30:11–12

With gratitude to every hero who stands ready

to protect the freedoms I enjoy as an American,

and with love to James E. Riley (U.S. Air Force,

1951–54), Kenneth D. Coulter (U.S. Air Force,

1947–51) and John Stokes (U.S. Marines,

1943–45; U.S. Army, 1947–49).

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

Questions for Discussion

Chapter One

Texas attorney Jake Hopkins was severely allergic to two things: peanuts and a sweet young army nurse named Madeline Bright. Travis Wylie, Jake’s law partner, took the peanut problem seriously because he’d once had to call 9-1-1 when Jake suffered a life-threatening anaphylactic reaction during dinner at an Austin restaurant. But while Travis readily acknowledged that certain women possessed a knack for turning a man every which way but loose, he steadfastly maintained that Jake couldn’t be allergic to a member of his own species.

Jake knew better. There was nothing imaginary about the symptoms he suffered whenever he was in close proximity to Maddie. All he had to do was clap eyes on the chestnut-haired, blue-eyed beauty and his pulse raced, his throat closed up and his brain stalled out. Since that was pretty much what happened whenever Jake got too close to a peanut, he figured the evidence spoke for itself.

It had been four years since the sudden onset of his peanut allergy, and in that time he’d learned to give a wide berth to foods containing even a trace of the offending legumes. In the past month, he’d trained himself to be just as assiduous about avoiding Maddie.

“Madeline,” he said aloud, correcting himself as he swung his black BMW convertible into the grocery-store parking lot. Using her nickname was flirting with emotional intimacy, and Jake wasn’t that kind of man anymore.

Maybe he never really had been that kind of man. His wife had hinted at that more than a few times when she was alive. Or maybe he and Rita just hadn’t been a good match to begin with. Jake had known she was dissatisfied, and sometimes he wondered if she would have gone so far as to divorce him if a freak boating accident on Lake Travis hadn’t ended her life.

Poor Rita. For three years she’d clung to the stubborn belief that being married ought to temper Jake’s passion for flying helicopters. She’d wanted him out of the army and out of the sky, but Jake was a second-generation West Point graduate, and a life without flying wasn’t any kind of life at all.

He’d had to adjust his thinking on that after he’d awoken at a combat support hospital in the Middle East and learned he’d never walk again, let alone fly. He’d been transferred to the Army Medical Center in Landstuhl, Germany for more surgery, and a week later they’d drugged him up and loaded him on a hospital plane headed for Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington, D.C.

Noah Bright, his copilot-gunner and his best friend for fifteen years, had already been shipped home to Texas in a flag-draped casket.

Jake spent several weeks at Walter Reed. During that time, Rita visited twice. After she’d gone back to Texas, she drowned when a ski boat she was riding in capsized.

Jake had missed her funeral, too.

After numerous surgeries and skin grafts, Jake was finally sent home to Texas, where despite the gloomy predictions of his doctors, he learned to walk again. He wasn’t terribly graceful about it, but with the help of a cane he could get around okay. Once he was, quite literally, back on his feet, his father had suggested law school.

It was a cruel irony that if Rita had lived and stuck it out with Jake, she would now have everything she’d wanted. She’d be living deep in the heart of Texas with a newly minted civilian attorney who had ruthlessly trained himself not to think about helicopters. Jake didn’t even look up when one flew overhead, which was no small achievement, considering where he lived. Ensconced in the beautiful Texas Hill Country, the town of Prairie Springs hugged the east side of Fort Bonnell, the largest military installation in the United States—and home to the cavalry brigade that had trained Jake and Noah to do air combat in Apache attack helicopters.

Impatient with himself for dwelling on the past, Jake shook his head and successfully flung those depressing memories out of it. But Maddie—Madeline—remained.

He hated that he was having so little success fighting his insane attraction to her. He was no good for Madeline Bright, and it wasn’t only because of what he’d done to Rita.

“And at five minutes before six o’clock, it’s still a sweltering 102 degrees in downtown Austin,” a radio announcer boomed over the end of an old Trisha Yearwood song. “I don’t have to point out that that’s a little warm for the third day of September.”

“Then don’t point it out,” Jake muttered, irritably punching the radio’s Off button and wondering what the current temperature was here in Prairie Springs, thirty miles northwest of Austin. He loved his convertible, but when he’d left home a few minutes ago he’d been compelled to close the Beemer’s roof and throttle up the air conditioner.

He zipped past the handicapped parking spaces and found a spot near the end of a row. His bum leg was giving him trouble today, but the more it hurt, the more determined Jake was to walk like it didn’t. The leg would never be any stronger, but Jake was convinced that pushing himself through the pain would eventually teach his nerves to quit squawking about it.

He cut the ignition, opened his door and was assailed by a blast of dry heat that reminded him of his last tour of duty in the Middle East.

As if his left leg didn’t remind him of that every single day.

His right leg had caught two bullets but healed nicely; his left was a different story. Bones had been shattered and a big chunk of muscle had been blown off his thigh—and what the army surgeons had salvaged was barely enough to walk on.

Jake reached behind his seat and grabbed a cane made from the root of a sumac tree. If you have to go, go in style, his father had always said, so Jake collected beautifully polished natural-wood walking sticks, which he changed to suit his mood.

Maybe he should be using the black one today.

He put his left foot on the ground and swung his right leg out before pushing himself to a standing position. Sucking in a sharp breath through clenched teeth, he accepted the first lightning bolt of pain and started walking.

He’d gone just a few yards when a canary-yellow Ford Escape peeled around the corner and slid into an empty parking space just ahead of him. The door was immediately flung open and a pair of trim, tanned female legs emerged.

Pretty. They reminded him of—

His heart skipped a beat when he saw the rest of the woman. Sure enough, it was Madeline Bright. Jake froze, hoping she hadn’t noticed him.

She hadn’t. She closed her door and made for the store entrance with her usual energetic stride.

Lost in admiration, Jake followed her with his eyes. She was all army—capable and confident and strong as iron—but she was still every inch a lady. She was fine-boned and tenderhearted and vulnerable in the most appealing ways. From the subtly swinging curves of her dark, shoulder-length hair, which she wore pulled back and above her collar when in uniform, to her slim pink toes, which Jake had glimpsed when she wore sandals, she was lovely.

She was probably the only woman in the world who could make a bulky Army Combat Uniform look good, but Jake much preferred the way she was dressed today. She wore sand-colored cargo shorts, a white tank top that set off her tan, a yellow-patterned scarf in her hair and large sunglasses that made her look like someone the paparazzi ought to be chasing.

Forgetting for a moment that she was his number-two allergen, Jake imagined pulling her onto his good knee and kissing her breathless. Then reason returned and advised him to beat a retreat to his car before Maddie happened to glance over her shoulder.

It wasn’t that she wouldn’t be delighted to see him. Whenever they met, her blue eyes widened with pleasure and her bow-shaped mouth curved into a welcoming smile. As a kid, she’d had an obvious crush on Jake, her much older brother’s best friend. It had been cute back then, but now she was an eminently desirable woman whom Jake had no business desiring, and that made her interest in him a very dangerous thing.

In the month since her arrival in Prairie Springs, Jake hadn’t been able to go anywhere without running into her or hearing people talk about her, and he was beginning to resent it. The whole world was Madeline Bright’s oyster; couldn’t she leave this one little Texas town to him?

Behind him, a car horn blared, reminding him that he was standing in the middle of the traffic lane. Afraid that the noise would prompt Maddie to turn around, he impulsively made for a rusted-out pickup truck. His half-formed thought was to lurk behind the truck’s cab until Maddie was safely inside the store. But his bum leg chose that instant to give out and he pitched forward. Letting go of his cane, he broke his fall with his hands.

Pain shot up his left leg as though a mad pianist was playing glissandos on his raw nerves. As the pavement seared his belly through his shirt, Jake closed his eyes and forced himself to draw slow, deep breaths. It was another second or two before he realized the deafening noise assaulting his ears was no pain-induced hallucination; he’d triggered the car alarm of the red Camry next to the truck.

Oh, this just kept getting better and better. But at least he was safe from Maddie.

“Jake?”

At the sound of her voice, Jake groaned and squeezed his eyes more tightly shut. Better and better and better.

“Jake! Please tell me you’re all right!”

He was aware that she crouched beside him, but he still flinched when she touched his shoulder. “Give me a minute,” he growled.

“Everything’s going to be all right,” she promised, pitching her voice to be heard over the Camry’s alarm. She stroked the back of Jake’s head, multiplying his misery with her gentle touch. “Just tell me where it hurts.”

His eyes popped open. If he didn’t quickly convince her that he was perfectly fine, she’d be running her hands all over his body, checking for broken bones.

“Madeline.” He rolled over and sat up smartly. He considered smiling, but with his teeth clenched against the pain, he figured he’d look maniacal, rather than reassuring. “What a surprise.”

She was clearly in no mood for chitchat. “Where are you hurt?”

“Just jarred the leg, that’s all.” They were still shouting at each other. “Could you hand me my stick?”

She hesitated, sweeping him with a doubtful look, but then she went to retrieve his cane. While she was gone, Jake flattened one palm against the scalding door of the pickup and one against the blistering fender of the Camry and hauled himself up.

When Maddie returned, the grim set of her mouth communicated her displeasure that he’d risen without assistance. “Jake, you should have let me—”

“I’m fine,” he interrupted, reaching for the cane. “Thanks.”

She looked him up and down, skepticism written all over her pretty face. “Where did you get hit? All I saw was the car speeding away, and then I noticed a pair of legs sticking out from behind this truck.”

“The car didn’t hit me,” Jake said.

“Well, praise God for that.” Maddie’s relief was obvious as she removed her sunglasses and hooked them on the neck band of her shirt. “But what happened?”

Dilemma. Should he admit the truth, that he’d dived behind the truck to avoid being seen by the woman who’d been starring in his dreams for the past month? Or should he attempt to salvage his pride with a little white lie?

Easy call. “I tripped. Over…something,” he mumbled.

She leaned toward him and cupped a hand to her ear. “Pardon?”

“I tripped over something,” Jake repeated loudly, just as the car alarm ceased its obnoxious honking. The lie hadn’t been a good one to begin with, and yelling it into the sudden silence didn’t improve it any.

Confusion wrinkled Maddie’s forehead as her gaze roamed over the smooth asphalt of the perfectly level parking lot. There wasn’t a crack, a bump or even a pebble to be seen. She looked back at Jake and frowned. “Your face is flushed.”

Great. Now he was blushing like a teenager. He jerked his gaze away from her dangerously beautiful eyes, which were as deep and blue as the sea of bluebonnets that covered the central Texas hills in springtime. “The heat’s getting to me, that’s all.”

She stepped closer and laid her palm against the side of his face, no doubt checking his temperature. “Are you staying hydrated?”

“Yeah.” Jake shied away from her touch, hoping she hadn’t noticed his racing pulse.

He’d never felt more ridiculous in his life. He was a thirty-nine-year-old combat veteran, a former U.S. Army aviator who’d flown Apache attack helicopters and twice been decorated for valor. So why was it that whenever this sweet young woman appeared on his radar screen, his heart sped up and he trembled like a nervous Chihuahua?

Maddie brushed some fine gravel off the front of his damp shirt. “I worry about you, Jake.”

Well, that was just great. All he’d needed was one more thing to feel guilty about where she was concerned.

“Is he okay?” A plump, elderly woman holding a paper bag of groceries in one arm approached the driver’s door of the Camry. She looked anxiously from Maddie to Jake, who was now leaning heavily on his cane and wishing he’d just called for a pizza instead of coming to the store in search of dinner.

“Yes, ma’am,” Maddie said sweetly. “He’ll be fine.”

“Oh, good. I saw him fall, but my old legs don’t move very fast.” The woman shook her head. “Wasn’t it just the oddest thing, the way he took that flying leap and—”

“I’m fine,” Jake interrupted. The less said about his flying leap, the better. “I appreciate your concern, ma’am, and I’m sorry I triggered your alarm.”

She dismissed that with an airy wave of her hand. “Isn’t it annoying, the way those dumb things go off every time somebody breathes wrong?” As Jake shifted out of her way, she opened the Camry’s door. “If I wanted to steal a car, I’d set off the alarm first to make sure nobody paid any attention to me.” Cackling at her own joke, she got in and closed the door.

Maddie slid a protective arm around Jake’s waist and silently urged him to back up a little more. Nurse or not, she was a natural-born caregiver. But Jake didn’t want to be fussed over by anyone, least of all by Noah’s kid sister.

Noah.

The memory of their last hour together was never far from Jake’s mind. How could it be, after what he had done? For more than five years the guilt had gnawed at his insides, ensuring he never forgot how his mistake had cost Noah his life.

“Where’s your car?” Maddie asked with brisk purpose, almost as though she meant to hoist Jake over her shoulder and carry him there.

He shook his head. “I’m going to the store.”

“No,” she said firmly. “Whatever you need, I’ll get it. You took a bad spill, and you’re going home to rest that leg. Now where’s your car?”

Giving in, he pointed with his stick and then hobbled in that direction, each step on his left leg pure agony. Since he used the cane on his right side, Maddie grasped his left arm and stuck to him as though she’d been glued there. She wasn’t supporting any of his weight, but it was clear she was ready to do so if called upon.

“You need water,” she announced as Jake collapsed onto the driver’s seat of the Beemer and stashed his cane behind it. “Wait here. I have some in my car.”

“No need.” Jake reached for the quart-size bottle of spring water on his passenger seat. After removing the cap, he offered the first drink to Maddie.

She grinned down at him and shook her head. “Still quite the gentleman, aren’t you, Captain Hopkins?”

“Don’t call me that.” In the past five years, he’d done his best to forget his old life. He wished the rest of the world would forget it, too.

He saluted Maddie with the bottle and took a long pull of sun-warmed water.

“Good.” She gave his shoulder an approving pat. “Now get some air going.”

Jake started his engine and switched the air conditioner to its highest setting. “Happy now?”

Maddie shook her head. “I can see the pain in your eyes, Jake.” She reached out to touch his face, then apparently thought better of it, which was a very good thing. “Do you have your meds with you?”

“No.” He had a prescription, naturally, but he refused to eat painkillers like candy, so most of the time he just gritted his teeth and bore it. At the moment, however, drugs sounded pretty good.

“Anna Terenkov told me you live in an apartment over your law offices,” Maddie said.

Jake nodded, wondering what else their mutual friend had said about him. Maddie—Madeline—knew him far too well already.

“I think you’re okay to drive that short a distance,” she said. “It can’t be more than a mile from here. Just promise you’ll go straight home.”

“I will.” Anything to get rid of her.

“Thank you.” She leaned down and kissed his cheek. It happened so fast, Jake didn’t have time to avoid it. Fortunately he didn’t have time to enjoy it, either.

“It’s unbelievably hot out here,” Maddie said cheerfully as she tucked an escaped lock of hair under the yellow scarf she wore as a headband.

She had always been crazy about yellow and still wore at least a touch of it whenever she could. It was the color of the sun, she’d told Jake years ago. The color of happiness.

“What am I getting you from the store?” she asked.

“Nothing.” He didn’t want her doing him any favors. “You don’t have time to—”

“Actually, I do, because this is my day off. And guess what?” Her eyes glowed with happiness. “I’ve been house hunting.”

House hunting? Jake almost groaned aloud. Why couldn’t she just stay on post, where she belonged? If she moved into town, Jake would bump into her even more often than he did already.

Just yesterday, he’d seen her at the offices of Children of the Day, an international Christian charity founded five years ago by Prairie Springs resident Anna Terenkov to assist innocent victims of war. For the past year, Jake had been doing pro bono legal work for the organization, so he’d become friendly with Anna and with Olga, her delightfully outlandish mother.

He genuinely liked both women, but lately Anna and Olga had been getting on his nerves because they couldn’t stop talking about their new friend Maddie. She was so sweet, they gushed. So eager to help everyone. And Olga, the inveterate matchmaker, had pointed out on more than one occasion that a man would have to be dead not to notice how pretty she was.

Jake definitely wasn’t dead.

Dreamy-eyed, Maddie stared over the Beemer’s roof. “I’m looking for a place where I can have a flower garden and a kitchen big enough to actually cook in.” Her gaze shifted back to Jake. “The kitchenettes in the bachelor officers quarters at Fort Bonnell must be some architect’s idea of a joke, and…” She stopped and gave herself a little shake. “Never mind. What am I getting you from the store?”

“Nothing, thanks. I wanted something for dinner, but I’ll just go home and make a sandwich.” With two stale pieces of bread—all that was left of the loaf were the heels—and the last thin sliver of ham, which he’d have to sniff carefully before he risked eating. He never went grocery shopping until he was completely out of food.

“Tell you what,” she said brightly. Maddie—Madeline—was always as cheerful as a songbird. “I’ll cook something for you.”

“No.” Panic roared through Jake. But he realized he’d spoken too sharply, so he added, “Thanks, but I have to finish some paperwork tonight.”

“Don’t worry. I’ll fix something quick and easy.”

Jake opened his mouth on another protest and felt it die in his throat. How could he decline such a generous offer without stomping all over her feelings? “All right,” he said unhappily. “Thank you.”

“Don’t look so delighted.” Gazing at him with amused affection, she ruffled his hair. “You can work until dinner’s ready, and as soon as we’ve eaten, you can go right back to your papers. It’s not like this will be a date or anything.”

No, it would certainly not be a date or anything. Not with her. Jake would give up women entirely before he’d make a mistake of that magnitude.

Her expression turned wistful. “It’s been a long time since we shared a meal.”

At those words, memories Jake had been fleeing for years caught up to him and swirled around him like the rising waters of a flash flood. During his and Noah’s second year at West Point, they’d spent the first few days of their Christmas leave at Noah’s home in Dallas. Jake had liked Noah’s mother and his happy, bouncy little sister, who must have been six or seven at the time. Maddie and her mama had more or less adopted Jake, and he’d seen them often in the years that followed. But in those dark days when Jake had lain in the hospital broken in body and spirit, his faith failing as guilt consumed him, he had refused their visits.

Since that time he’d had no contact with the Brights. Then last month Maddie had appeared, all grown up and exquisitely lovely, right here in Prairie Springs. She’d been openly delighted to see Jake, who was still resolved to stay out of her life. The problem was that whenever this grown-up Maddie smiled, every molecule in Jake’s body shifted toward her, as though she was the moon and he was an ocean tide.

Defeated, he opened his wallet and handed her some grocery money.

“What sounds good to you?” she asked.

She sounded good to him. Her melodious drawl made him think of warm honey dripping from a spoon. His gaze strayed to her mouth and he wondered what it would be like to—

“Jake?”

He hastily collected his wandering wits. “Maybe some kind of pasta. And I like salad. But you should know I’ve developed a severe allergy to peanuts.” And you, he added silently. Just look what she was doing to his brain at this very moment.

Her fine dark eyebrows drew together. “Peanuts?”

“Yeah. I had my first reaction about four years ago. I guess it happens that way sometimes.”

“Do you carry—”

“Epinephrine.” He patted the right front pocket of his jeans. Since that horrifying episode at the restaurant in Austin, he’d never been without his emergency lifesaving kit.

Maddie nodded. “I’ll be careful to read the labels on everything I buy.” She stepped back and started to close his car door, then hesitated. “What about dessert? Do you still like sweet things?”

Sweet things? “Oh, yeah,” he breathed, trying not to stare at her mouth. Her rosy pink lips looked natural, but she might have been wearing lipstick. “I’m a sugar fiend. Cookies, cakes, pies, ice cream…”

“Ice cream.” Her smile blossomed. “Jake Hopkins, you’re a man after my own heart.”

He managed a weak smile to hide his terror.

Chapter Two

As endless waves of oppressive heat shimmered up from the parking lot’s surface, Maddie bit the insides of her checks and watched Jake drive away. Something was troubling him, and she was determined to get to the bottom of it.

He was no longer the brash, swaggering helicopter pilot she’d sighed over as a girl, but she admired the man he’d become. Jake had pulled himself together and risen like a phoenix from the ashes of his grief. He had learned to walk again. He’d gone to law school. And while he didn’t appear to be attending church anymore, he was supporting an eminently worthwhile Christian charity; according to their mutual friend, Anna Terenkov, Jake made substantial gifts of his time and legal expertise to Children of the Day.

He looked dearly familiar, yet he had changed. Time had softened the sharp angles of his jaw and filled out his tall, lean-as-a-whippet frame. His dark, straight hair, which he still wore in a traditional cut parted on the side, was now shot with silver, and his brown eyes crinkled at the corners when he smiled. His mouth seemed firmer and thinner than Maddie remembered, but it hinted at a determination she liked. He was more handsome than ever, she concluded as she turned back toward the grocery store entrance.

He intrigued her on every level, but she was beginning to despair that he would never stop thinking of her as Noah’s baby sister and see the woman she’d become. She had never flirted so hard in her life, or to so little effect.

She claimed a shopping cart and pushed it toward a pair of automatic doors. As they swung open, delivering a welcome blast of chilly air, Maddie squared her shoulders and resolved not to give up on Jake. He might be uninterested in romance, but he still needed a friend, and friendship just happened to be Maddie’s specialty.

She tossed a cheery wave to a new acquaintance behind one of the cash registers, then made a beeline for the produce department. After a year’s deployment to a place where she couldn’t always count on having a banana to slice over her breakfast cereal, being able to buy all the fresh produce she wanted was true luxury. She halted beside a display of golden pineapples and selected one that seemed heavy for its size.

That means it’s full of juice.

As Maddie heard the voice of Whitney Paterson Harpswell in her head, a pain zinged through her chest. It just didn’t seem possible that her best friend might never come home.

They’d grown up together in Dallas. Whitney had joined the army, too, but had gone into a different field, so she and Maddie now did most of their confiding via e-mail. Whitney had recently married fellow soldier John Harpswell, and their unit had subsequently deployed to the Middle East. The day after Maddie’s arrival in Prairie Springs, she’d heard the devastating news that Whitney and John had been missing for more than a month.

Since then, Maddie had been fighting to hold on to hope.

She sighed heavily and moved to the lettuce counter to select salad greens for Jake’s dinner.

Jake. She couldn’t recall the last time they’d had dinner together, but she clearly remembered the first time. She’d been a lisping first-grader when Noah had brought one of his fellow West Point cadets home for Christmas.

Maddie had fallen instantly in love. She’d dreamed about Jake until her sophomore year of high school, when she finally began to notice boys her own age. But even after her childish crush had run its course, she’d kept a special place in her heart just for Jake, and he continued to be a powerful influence in her life. It was Jake who encouraged her to pursue her dream of becoming a nurse. Later, after he expressed his profound admiration for the doctors and nurses at the combat support hospitals overseas, Maddie had joined the army in hopes of becoming one of those heroes.

That had turned out to be a mistake. While she was proud of her affiliation with the U.S Army Nurse Corps, she wasn’t cut out for nursing soldiers and civilians in a war zone. The horrors she’d witnessed during her deployment had nearly crushed her naturally sunny spirit.

As she slipped a bunch of green onions into a plastic bag, she recalled the day she’d e-mailed Whitney and confessed that she was terrified of losing herself. Every time she watched a boy-soldier die and every time she saw a child who had been maimed by an insurgent’s bomb, another piece of Madeline Bright disintegrated.

“You’ve done a wonderful service to our country,” Whitney had written back. “But maybe your personality isn’t suited to ER and trauma nursing. Wouldn’t you rather take care of pregnant women and newborn babies, or something like that?”

Yes, she would. So as her tour had drawn to a close, Maddie had collected the necessary recommendations and applied for admission to a new obstetrics program at the Fort Bonnell/Prairie Springs Medical Center. A couple of months of distance-learning classes on her computer, plus some on-the-job training with a nurse preceptor, all overseen by the hospital’s head nurse and the supervisor of the OB floor, and Maddie would be living a whole new life. Nursing happy expectant mothers was exactly what she wanted now.

That and a little house with a flower garden and maybe even a dog.

She had no idea how long a convalescence her injured heart would require, but until she could process and put away the disturbing memories of the past year and recover her old sunny spirit, she would continue faking it. She hated deception, but her friends and loved ones had always depended on her to be upbeat. And surely she wouldn’t have to pretend for long before she became her old cheerful self again.

Reminding herself that Jake was waiting, she pushed her worries aside and quickly finished her shopping.

The law offices of Hopkins and Wylie were just three blocks from the green space at the center of town. Maddie had never been inside the graceful white house, a lone example of Greek Revival architecture in a neighborhood of Victorians, but she’d marked its location after Anna Terenkov had pointed it out one day.

She parked on the street. Leaving her own sack of groceries in the car, she hefted Jake’s and started up his front walk, which led her past a massive crape myrtle thrusting its exuberant purple blossoms skyward. Looking higher, she scanned the long, green-shuttered windows of the house’s second story. According to Anna, Jake had knocked down most of the interior walls on that floor and converted the space to a beautiful loft apartment.

Maddie climbed the steps between four stately white columns, noting with approval the flagstaffs jutting from the two innermost columns. In the hot, dry breeze, the Stars and Stripes and Texas’s Lone Star flag snapped softly behind her as she shifted the grocery bag to her left hip and pressed the intercom button beside the door.

“Is that you, Madeline?” Jake’s voice floated out of the little brass grille.

She couldn’t resist teasing him. “Were you expecting the pizza delivery boy?”

“Not hardly,” he drawled. “You promised me a home-cooked meal.” A buzz followed by a metallic thunk told her he’d just remotely disengaged the door’s lock. “I’ll meet you at the top of the stairs.”

She stepped into a spacious foyer redolent of old leather and lemon furniture oil. A polished reception desk presided over a semicircle of wing chairs and a few small tables holding brass lamps, all resting on the biggest oriental rug Maddie had ever seen. The furniture appeared well used, but very good; according to Anna, the pieces were castoffs from the family home of Jake’s partner, whose father owned one of the largest cattle ranches in Texas.

The focal point of the large space was a gracefully curved oak staircase. It was truly a thing of beauty, but the room’s tall ceiling made it a long climb to the second floor.

“Jake, I hate to think of you negotiating all these stairs,” Maddie called as she tripped lightly up them.

“I don’t.” He appeared at the top landing, leaning on his cane. “There’s an elevator at the back of the house. All we had to do was enlarge the hole for the old dumb waiter in the kitchen.”

As Maddie reached his side, he extended his free arm for the groceries. It was a gentlemanly move, but Maddie was army-strong and Jake had enough work to do simply keeping both legs under him, so she shook her head and assured him the bag wasn’t heavy. He nodded briefly, accepting that.

His hair was wet, and he smelled of the same outdoorsy soap Noah had favored. He’d changed into black running shorts and a burnt-orange Texas Longhorns T-shirt.

Unable to contain her curiosity, Maddie looked down. Beginning at Jake’s knee and disappearing under the hem of his shorts, angry pink scars covered his misshapen left thigh.

“Sorry.” One corner of his mouth lifted in a self-deprecating smile. “My leg was feeling tender, and sometimes shorts are more comfortable than jeans.”

He could hardly imagine that a nurse would be shocked by his scars, so Maddie assumed he was apologizing for his casual attire and bare feet. “I’m wearing shorts, too,” she pointed out.

“Yeah, I noticed.” His voice sounded pinched. Maddie figured it was because his leg hurt.

He couldn’t seem to hold her gaze for more than a second or two before his dark eyes shifted away. Maddie ascribed that to the pain, too, because Jake couldn’t possibly be nervous in the company of someone he’d known since she was a child.

But she was nervous, and to cover that up, she indicated the brass umbrella stand next to her. It appeared to hold at least a dozen walking sticks. “You sure do have a lot of these things.”

Jake braced his feet and held up the cane he’d been leaning on. “This handle’s carved from olive wood. Look at the grain.”

Maddie skimmed her fingertips over the honey-colored swirls in the smooth wood, which was still warm from Jake’s grasp. “It’s beautiful.”

He nodded. “My first cane was one of those clunky aluminum-and-rubber things. The day Dad saw it, he went out and bought a cypress stick with a brass handle. He challenged me to find a cane more beautiful than the one he’d discovered, and it became something of a competition between us.” Jake returned the cane’s tip to the floor and shifted his weight to his stronger leg. “I think it was his way of helping me come to terms with the fact that while I’ve come a long way, I’ll never walk without help.”

Knowing Jake wouldn’t appreciate the compassionate tears that had begun to gather in her eyes, Maddie turned away from him and surveyed his apartment.

The sparsely furnished loft featured glowing maple floors and worn but still beautiful oriental rugs. Between the long bare windows, the white walls were hung with oil paintings, most of them Texas Hill Country landscapes.

“Who did all of these?” Maddie wondered aloud.

“Mama. She took up painting after we lost Dad.”

“Your dad?” Shocked, Maddie turned to look at him. “When?”

Jake’s gaze dropped like a stone, hiding his irises behind thick, dark lashes. “Almost two years ago.”

“Oh, Jake, I’m sorry.”

Noah had known Connor Hopkins, a district attorney, quite well. Both he and Jake had always spoken of the man with the utmost admiration. But Maddie and her mama hadn’t met either of Jake’s parents until Noah’s funeral. On that day Maddie had been too upset to converse with Connor and Alma Jean, although she’d been gratified to know they were deeply affected by Noah’s death.

The families met again at Rita’s funeral, and when Jake was finally brought home to Texas, they met a few more times at the hospital, where Jake continued to refuse all visitors except his parents. In the year that followed, Maddie’s mother and Jake’s exchanged occasional phone calls. But soon after Jake entered law school, they’d lost touch.

Thinking of all Jake had endured—losing his career, his ability to walk, his best friend, his wife and his father—made Maddie’s heart ache. She knew it wasn’t right to question God, but why had Jake been made to suffer so much in so short a time?

Maddie opened her mouth to speak, but no words came out, so she cleared her throat and tried again. “How’s your mother doing?”

“She misses him something fierce.”

As did Jake, judging by his bowed shoulders and the quiet intensity of his words. But as much as she pitied him, Maddie was glad they were finally communicating on something other than a superficial level. In the past month Jake had shied away from discussing any subject that might be construed as remotely personal, which made no sense, given their history. He wouldn’t even talk to her about Noah.

She moved closer and put her hand on his shoulder. It was a gesture of sympathy, nothing more, but he stiffened at her touch, so she withdrew. She covered her embarrassment by walking across the room to admire one of the paintings.

She loved bluebonnets, and here were endless, undulating drifts of them under a broad sky dotted with cotton-ball clouds. A well-traveled dirt road ran up the middle of the picture and past a bunch of scrubby cedar trees before disappearing over a hill, making Maddie wonder what lay on the other side.

She heard the muffled thuds of Jake’s cane and footsteps on the carpet behind her and was just about to turn when something brushed against her bare leg. Startled, she looked down and saw a large orange cat with ugly brown and black splotches arching against her. When the animal raised its head, she noticed its eyes were crossed. It was also missing a hind leg.

“Meet Tripod,” Jake said.

“Oh, the poor thing.” Maddie shifted the grocery bag to her hip and stooped to pet the unfortunate cat. “I never knew you were a cat person, Jake.”

“I’m not. Travis, my partner, found him on the back doorstep one morning. When we learned our office manager had been feeding him, Travis bought a litter box and invited him to move in. I objected on the grounds that a law office is no place for pets. But Travis presented a convincing argument that nobody could possibly hate a pair of attorneys who provided a home for an ugly, crippled cat.”

Maddie chuckled as she scratched behind Tripod’s ears. “I hate to tell you, Jake, but there are actually people in this world who don’t like lawyers or cats.”

She looked up in time to see him surrender a brief smile, but the humor that lit his brown eyes faded quickly and he averted his gaze. Maddie wanted to shake him and demand to know why he found it so impossible to look at her for more than two seconds at a time.

Sighing inwardly, she smoothed the fur on Tripod’s head with her cupped hand. The cat held still, bearing her attentions with a distinctly uncatlike patience, and Maddie couldn’t help comparing his behavior to that of his master. Jake could give lessons in aloofness to even the most catlike of cats.

He shifted his weight, unconsciously drawing Maddie’s attention to his scars, which were now at eye level. Considering the extent of the damage to his leg, she could only marvel at the courage and determination it must have taken for Jake to learn to walk again.

He noticed the direction of her gaze. “It’s a mess, isn’t it?”

She nodded slowly, then gave Tripod one last caress and stood up. “But God was merciful. You didn’t lose the leg, and you learned to walk again.”

“Merciful?” Jake’s mouth twisted as though the word tasted bad. “Your brother died, Madeline. Excuse me if I don’t see anything ‘merciful’ about what happened that night.”

His belligerent tone and the harsh light in his eyes shocked her, but she reminded herself that a world of pain lay behind them. And this was actually a breakthrough, because it was the first time Jake had mentioned Noah. In the past month Maddie had tried several times to bring her brother into their conversations, but Jake had always been quick to change the subject. It was abundantly clear that he had never accepted Noah’s death.

Maddie sent up a silent, urgent prayer that God would give her the words Jake most needed to hear.

“It still hurts when I think about Noah,” she began carefully. “But I don’t wish him back here, Jake, because he’s with God.” She hesitated. “You believe that, don’t you?”

A muscle twitched in his jaw as his anger faded to a bleak acceptance that tore at Maddie’s heart. “That’s what I was taught,” he said quietly. “But why would a loving God allow—” He broke off and shook his head, looking weary and defeated as he stared at a patch of fading sunlight that had fallen across the richly patterned rug. “I just don’t know anymore.”

Maddie was moved to comfort him with a friendly touch, but she checked the impulse. “Have you ever read the first chapter of Romans?”

“Yeah, sure. A long time ago. But that’s not relevant in today’s—”

“But it is,” she interrupted eagerly. “Nothing could be more relevant, Jake. That chapter says we all know in our hearts that God is real. You’re just tired and confused, Jake, that’s all. The truth is right there in your heart. You just need to be still and let God—”

“Madeline.” He looked pointedly at his watch. “I’m sorry, but as I said earlier, I have to work tonight.”

“I forgot.” Embarrassment burned her cheeks as she emitted a nervous little laugh. “I’m sorry for preaching at you. I promised to make you a quick dinner and then get out of here, didn’t I?”

He nodded. “The kitchen’s this way.”

She followed him into an attractive if somewhat sterile-looking room with bare windows, stainless-steel appliances and empty black-marble countertops.

“I’m not a cook,” Jake said, “but I do have pots and pans and things.” He made a vague, helpless gesture. “Somewhere.”

Hiding a smile, Maddie set her groceries on the counter. When she began unloading her purchases, Jake turned to go. Thinking he might stay for another minute if she said something clever, she racked her brain for a good conversation opener. By the time he reached the doorway, she was desperate and simply blurted, “I like it that you’re not ashamed to be seen in shorts.”

He turned, his dark eyebrows raised in surprise. “I do my best to avoid scaring small children,” he said dryly. “But otherwise, I don’t give it much thought.”

Maddie couldn’t think of a response to that, but as he again turned away, another string of foolish words slid out of her mouth. “I also like that you don’t try to hide your gray hair.”

This time when he looked at her, amusement danced in his eyes. Encouraged, Maddie folded her arms and pretended to study him critically. “You’re a very handsome man, you know.”

Jake snorted. “For an old guy and a gimp?”

“Absolutely.” Maddie flashed a saucy grin. “If I’m not careful, I might fall in love with you.”

His smile flattened. “Then see that you are careful, Madeline. For both our sakes.” He continued to hold her gaze for a moment, his dark eyes unfathomable, and then he walked away.

“Not too bright, Bright,” Maddie berated herself in a whisper as she pulled a small carton of ice cream out of the bag and stowed it in Jake’s empty freezer. How did she always manage to say exactly the wrong thing to him?

In the old days Jake had been easy to talk to. But now it seemed Maddie couldn’t open her mouth without tripping a conversational land mine. Had he really changed that much?

She spotted a CD player next to Jake’s coffeepot and switched it on. As country music filled the kitchen, Maddie realized there were at least two things about Jake that hadn’t changed: he still wore those burnt-orange Texas Longhorn T-shirts and he still listened to George Strait.

Humming along as George sang, Maddie located a large pot and filled it with water for her pasta. As she began putting together a simple tomato-based sauce, her mind wandered over the events leading up to that day last month when she’d seen Jake for the first time in more than five years.

She hadn’t returned from the Middle East on a regular troop transport. Instead, she’d boarded a C-17 hospital plane to accompany a sick, frightened five-year-old boy to Texas.

The child of a deceased American soldier and a foreign national, Ali Tabiz Willis had suffered an injury to his heart in the same bomb blast that killed his mother. Maddie had helped Dr. Mike Montgomery care for the orphaned boy at their combat support hospital, and she’d been standing beside Dr. Mike when he’d placed an overseas call to his friends at Children of the Day and begged for their help in saving little Ali’s life.

Children of the Day had swung into action and lined up a pediatric cardiac surgeon to perform the highly specialized heart surgery in Austin. They also discovered that the boy’s paternal grandfather was none other than retired army general Marlon Willis of Prairie Springs, Texas. The general hadn’t even known that his estranged son had fathered a child.

Maddie had no idea how many people had ultimately been involved in getting Ali to Fort Bonnell, but she knew strings had been pulled, red tape cut and favors called in. Even then, there had been some tricky legal issues to untangle, and that was where Jake had come in.

Maddie smiled to herself as she washed salad greens. Maybe Jake wasn’t sure he believed in God anymore, but God had certainly used him to accomplish His plan for Ali Willis.

After their long trip to Texas, Maddie had stuck by the little orphan’s side until she’d seen him comfortably settled in his room at the Fort Bonnell/Prairie Springs Medical Center. He had just been introduced to his grandfather, so Maddie waited until the uncertainty had disappeared from his sweet dark eyes and he was chatting comfortably with the general before kissing his velvety cheek and taking her leave.

Intent on finding a hot shower and a soft bed, Maddie had charged toward an opening elevator door, nearly mowing down a man with a cane who was attempting to exit. With a profuse apology on the tip of her tongue, she stepped back and looked up into a pair of startled brown eyes and wondered for an instant if she was already asleep and dreaming.

“Jake?”

“Hello, Maddie.”

He was smiling, but there was something guarded in his expression that kept her from throwing her arms around his neck. He hadn’t reached for her, either, so she wondered if he was feeling guilty about refusing her visits at the hospital all those years ago. He’d been shocked and grieving and in pain; she had understood that, so there was nothing to forgive.

“Somebody mentioned an army nurse named Maddie Bright,” he said as he stepped away from the elevator. “But I didn’t think they could be talking about you.”

“I finished nursing school and joined the army,” she blurted, then felt stupid for stating something so obvious.

A corner of Jake’s mouth quirked in amusement as his gaze traveled slowly down to her boots. “I can see that, Lieutenant.”

Maddie was suddenly self-conscious. This was their first meeting in years, and here she stood in baggy, wrinkled fatigues and clunky boots. She hadn’t showered since yesterday, and it had been months since her mouth had been anywhere near a tube of lipstick. Even worse, she’d sucked her last breath mint somewhere over the Atlantic.

She quickly decided that none of those things mattered. She’d have crawled through slime for this chance to see Jake and satisfy herself that he was all right.

“Mama and I were overjoyed when we heard you’d learned to walk again,” she said. “And when you started law school…oh, Jake, we were so proud.” Her voice cracked on that last word and her eyes had teared up, so she emitted a self-conscious little laugh. “Sorry. I’m exhausted.”

“Is your mother well?” Once again, Maddie detected an odd wariness in his expression.

“She’s fine.” Maddie grasped a lock of loose hair that had flopped against her cheek and tucked it behind her ear. “She’s still with the accounting firm, but she’s on a business trip right now, so it’ll be a few days before I head up to Dallas to see her.”

Jake’s broad shoulders dropped a little and he appeared to relax. “Please give her my best.”

“I will. I can’t wait to tell her I bumped into you. But what are you doing here?”

“Practicing law. My partner and I hung out a shingle in Prairie Springs just over a year ago.” He paused. “I’ve been representing General Willis in the matter of his grandson.”

“Ali? Oh, Jake this is wonderful!” Maddie knew she was grinning like a goof, but at the moment she was happier than she’d been in years. “I guess you’re the attorney everyone’s been talking about.”

His answering smile was wistful and brief. “The general asked me to stop by, and I don’t know how long he’s planning to be here at the hospital, so I’d better get in there.”

Maddie was reluctant to see him go, but she inclined her head. Since he was living and working right here in Prairie Springs, she’d have ample opportunities to see him.

“All grown up,” he murmured, shaking his head as though he could hardly believe it. “You look good, Maddie.”

She made a wry face. “Jake, I’m fresh off a plane from the Middle East. Although ‘fresh’ probably isn’t the best word choice. As I’m sure you remember, it’s a very long, noisy, uncomfortable trip in a C-17.”

Those words had proved to be conversation killers. They’d chased the warmth from Jake’s eyes and made his mouth tighten. “I remember,” he’d said, and then he’d mumbled something about the two of them having a long talk later.

Maddie was still waiting for that long talk. They’d come close to having it just a little while ago, but Jake had clammed up again.

Maddie dropped some sweet Italian sausage into a skillet to brown. She hoped Jake liked sausage, because if the way to a man’s heart really was through his stomach, maybe he’d relax over dinner and they’d finally have that talk.

Her conscience pricked her, but she ignored it. She had assured Jake this wouldn’t be like a date, but that was exactly what she was hoping it would turn out to be.

Seated in his leather recliner with his feet elevated and a stack of folders on the lamp table beside him, Jake silently acknowledged that he was a low-down skunk. No woman deserved to be treated the way he’d been treating Maddie.

His totally inappropriate attraction was his problem, not hers. She was just trying to be friendly and helpful. That was the way she was, the way she had always been. That was why she’d gazed respectfully at his mama’s awful paintings and petted his nuisance of a cat. And that was why she hadn’t told him off and stormed out of his apartment after she’d made that innocent joke about falling in love and he’d made her feel like a fool.

He wished he could take it all back and tell her…

Tell her what, exactly?

“She’s not for you, Hopkins,” he muttered under his breath.

Tripod leaped onto the chair and settled across Jake’s right thigh, as always avoiding his weak leg by some strange instinct. When Jake absently laid his hand on the cat’s long back and stroked a couple of times, Tripod began to purr.

“Glad one of us is happy,” Jake groused, tossing aside the contract he’d been pretending to read. He wasn’t going to get any work done with Maddie in his kitchen sautéeing onions—he could smell them—and singing along with one of his favorite CDs.

She had as pure and perfect an alto as he had ever heard, and she was going to be the death of him. Jake cocked his head and listened more closely, impressed that she knew all of the words to “I Cross My Heart,” a song George Strait had ridden to the top of the country charts a few years ago. As she sang about true love and lifelong devotion, Jake stared hopelessly at the whirling paddles of the ceiling fan above him.

If Madeline Bright had been put on earth with strict instructions to torture him, she couldn’t possibly be doing a better job than she was doing right now.

He wished she would just hurry up and go away. He wished it so hard that he was almost tempted to pray for it.

Which just went to show how desperate he was becoming.

She’d called him twice, but he hadn’t answered. Had he gone downstairs to his office? Maddie wandered out to Jake’s living area in search of him.

She spotted him beside one of the long windows, sprawled in a recliner, one hand resting on the back of the ugly three-legged cat draped across his right thigh. Head back, mouth open, Jake was snoring softly.

During her deployment, Maddie had heard plenty of snoring. It wasn’t just the patients she’d heard, but the male doctors and nurses she’d worked with in a place where accommodations had often been primitive and privacy a joke. But while none of those whuffles and snorts had ever aroused even a smidgen of tender feeling in her, Jake’s snoring caused a painful tightening in her chest.

Maddie crept closer. Admiring the way the dark crescents of Jake’s lashes rested on his bronzed cheeks, she marveled that such a strong, confident man could look so sweetly vulnerable in sleep. Her fingers itched to smooth back the dark hair that swooped across his forehead. She wished she had the right to brush her thumb over the faint lines bracketing his mouth, perhaps provoking him to smile in his sleep.

Tripod raised his head and regarded her with impersonal curiosity, reminding her that she didn’t belong here.

Jake hadn’t wanted her to come. He couldn’t have made that plainer. He didn’t want to talk about Noah and he wasn’t remotely interested in getting to know Maddie again.

With a heavy heart she returned to the kitchen and removed the second place setting from the table. She finished tidying up and then took a notepad out of her purse and wrote a message for Jake, telling him there was a tossed salad in the refrigerator, ziti with sausage and a loaf of garlic bread keeping warm in the oven, and some black-cherry ice cream in the freezer.

She put the note beside his plate and laid the change from his grocery money next to it. Then she slipped quietly down the stairs, leaving Jake alone, just as he’d wanted.

Chapter Three

So much for last night’s resolution to leave him alone, Maddie thought wryly as she made a loose fist and rapped on the half-open door of Jake’s office.

He lifted his gaze from the screen of his laptop computer. “Madeline. Come in.” His chair squeaked as he pushed it back and stood.

She advanced a step into the office, furnished in the same elegantly threadbare style as the reception area, then glanced nervously over her shoulder. “Your secretary told me to—”

“It’s fine. Come in.” Jake nodded to indicate the large envelope she held like a shield in front of her. “What can I do for you?”

The envelope was a flimsy excuse for being here, Maddie realized belatedly. She should have left it with his secretary. Now there was nothing to do but plunge ahead. “I’ve been helping Anna review some medical files for Children of the Day. As I was leaving, she asked me to deliver this.”

“Thanks.” Jake accepted the envelope and dropped it unceremoniously on his desk, which held so many papers, folders, and books that Maddie couldn’t see an inch of bare wood anywhere. She found something oddly endearing about the fact that after all his years in the military, where order and efficiency had been relentlessly drilled into him, Jake could work at such a messy desk.

“I planned to call you today,” he said. “Can you spare a minute?” He gestured toward a leather wing chair and waited for Maddie to sit down before resuming his own seat.

He cleared his throat. “I would have called this morning, but I had to be in court early. I—” He broke off to scowl at Tripod, who had hopped onto the arm of Maddie’s chair and was looking at her expectantly. “Sorry. He thinks he owns that chair. Just give him a shove.”

“There’s room for both of us.” Maddie drew the cat onto her lap and felt oddly pleased when he settled against her.

Jake leaned forward and folded his arms on a stack of papers. “About last night, I—”

“Jake, Judge Newcastle has moved up the hearing for—” The stunning, dark-haired, blue-eyed man who had just barged into the office stopped speaking as Jake glanced pointedly in Maddie’s direction.

“Oh. Sorry.” The man flashed Maddie a bright smile accompanied by a killer set of dimples. “I thought he was alone.”

Jake leaned back in his chair. “Madeline Bright, allow me to introduce the second-best lawyer on Veterans Boulevard. My partner, Travis Wylie.”

“No, don’t get up,” Travis said when Maddie tried to shift Tripod so she could rise from the chair and shake hands. “Jake’s ugly cat looks comfortable.”

Maddie wanted to protest that Tripod wasn’t ugly, but that was an indefensible position. “He’s a very nice cat,” she temporized, cuddling him closer.

Travis smiled again, and Maddie marveled. With that chiseled jaw and those vibrant blue eyes, the man was even better-looking than Jake. But in his western shirt, Wranglers, and boots, he looked more like a cowboy than a lawyer.

“Madeline’s an army nurse,” Jake said. “Hails from Dallas.”

Travis’s eyes widened suddenly. He looked at Jake, raised his eyebrows as though in a question and mouthed a word that looked like “allergy.”

Jake glowered at him.

Travis barked out a laugh, then turned a look of frank admiration on Maddie.

“She’s come to Fort Bonnell for additional medical training,” Jake said calmly, as though the conversation hadn’t just taken that weird little detour. “She wants to switch from emergency nursing to maternity.”

Travis perched on the arm of a chair. “How do you like Prairie Springs?” he asked, swinging one long, denim-clad leg.

Maddie’s smile came easily. “It’s a wonderful town. And I’ve found a great bunch of Christians here. Do you know Prairie Springs Christian Church? The big stone building next to the town green?”

Travis shot a glance at Jake. “Gloria, our office manager, goes there.”

“Are you talking about Gloria Ridge?” Maddie asked eagerly. “She’s one of my new friends. I love her sense of humor.”

“Oh, she’s a character,” Travis agreed.

“Travis.” Lexi McNally, the pencil-thin, Hollywood-blond secretary stood in the doorway. “Sorry to interrupt, but the court reporter just arrived and they’re ready to start the Henley deposition.”

“On my way.” Travis hopped off the chair and turned another devastating smile on Maddie. “It’s been a pleasure.”

She murmured something equally polite and watched him go.

“Madeline.” Jake unbuttoned the collar of his white dress shirt and tugged on his tie until it hung limply from a mangled knot. “About last night, I’m sorry I—”

“Please don’t,” she said quickly. She couldn’t let him apologize for last night’s date-that-wasn’t-a-date. Not when she had forced her company on him. “I wasn’t offended, Jake. Your leg was hurting and I’m sure you needed the rest.”

His eyes softened. “I enjoyed the meal. But it wasn’t right that you didn’t get to eat any of it.”

“Oh, I ate. I can’t cook without tasting, so by the time I sit down at the table, I’m usually not hungry anymore.” She grinned. “Although I did have my heart set on that black-cherry ice cream. It’s my favorite.” She thought she’d struck just the right note with that response; she had also left an opening for Jake to invite her to share the rest of the ice cream.

He just smiled. “It was good. Thanks for all you did.”

Maddie concealed her disappointment by giving Tripod another cuddle. When she looked up, Jake was pulling documents out of Anna’s envelope, his long hands moving gracefully as he sifted the papers. When he paused to read something, Maddie studied his furrowed brow and pursed lips and felt a little thrill at the realization that she was actually watching him work. She was incredibly proud of all he had accomplished. In her eyes he was even more heroic now than he’d been as a daring young helicopter pilot.

“Anna tells me you were a huge help in getting Ali to Texas,” she said.

“That was simple enough,” he said without looking up. “We just petitioned for a managing conservatorship and requested an emergency ex parte order. The judge granted it the same day.”

Maddie stroked Tripod’s back as she struggled to translate that. “So in plain English, General Willis is now Ali’s legal guardian.”

“No.” Jake tossed the papers aside. “In Texas guardianship is handled through probate court. As Guardian of the Person, the general would have to file annual reports to prove he was acting in the boy’s best interests. With a permanent managing conservatorship, we get out from under all that. Of course the general’s conservatorship is just temporary right now, but we’ll go back to court at the end of this month to finalize things.”

“And you expect that to go well?”

“No reason it shouldn’t. The judge has appointed an ad litem to discover what’s in Ali’s best interests and make recommendations to the court. But both parents are deceased, there are no other interested relatives, and anyone who knows the general knows he’ll take good care of Ali. So we’re fine.”

Jake unbuttoned his cuffs and began rolling up his shirtsleeves. “None of this is confidential, by the way. The general’s grateful to everyone who had a hand in delivering his grandson into his care, so he’s authorized me to answer any questions y’all might have.”

“That’s…very generous.”

Jake looked at her. “You sound surprised.”

“Not surprised, exactly.” Maddie didn’t like saying unkind things behind people’s backs, but concern for Ali forced her to speak up. “Granted, I’ve just seen the man a few times, but he strikes me as a little…gruff.”

She didn’t believe for a minute that the retired three-star general, a bear of a man even if he was older than dirt, would abuse or neglect Ali. But surely the boy needed a gentler hand. “It’s just that Ali’s such a timid child. And he’s only five.”

Jake finished his sleeve-rolling and linked his hands together behind his head. “They’re doing fine together. I saw them just the other day.”

Maddie hadn’t seen Ali in almost two weeks. She was just one of a crowd of people interested in the boy, so she worried about overwhelming him, especially as he was sick and also dealing with culture shock. “I hate to think of him being dragged into a courtroom,” she said.

“Ali?” Jake shook his head. “We won’t need him at the hearing.”

Jake’s assurances helped put her mind to rest, but Tripod comforted her also, Maddie realized as she continued to stroke his soft fur. She’d never been a cat lover, but the gentle vibrations of Tripod’s purring were oddly soothing.

Jake gathered up Anna’s papers and returned them to the envelope. “Just how serious is Ali’s medical condition?” he asked.

“Extremely.” Maddie sighed. “The bomb blast caused trauma to his heart, resulting in a ventricular septal tear. In other words, he has a hole in his heart. He’s being closely monitored, and as you probably know, Dr. Nora Blake is standing by to do the surgery in Austin.”

When Jake opened his mouth, Maddie anticipated his question. “She’s the best, Jake. She has a tremendous reputation.”

“But why is she stalling? Why hasn’t she done the surgery already?”

“Because there’s still a chance Ali’s heart might heal on its own, and that would be best. Dr. Blake wants to wait. And Ali’s not yet as strong as she’d like for the surgery, anyway.”

Jake frowned, and Maddie worried that he’d press her for more information about the surgery—specifically its mortality rate. She’d looked into that last month, and now wished she hadn’t.

She gave him a reassuring smile. “But even if he ends up having the surgery, there’s every reason to believe things will go well.”

“You always did look on the bright side of things.” Jake’s tone hinted at disapproval.

Maddie wondered what he’d think if he knew how the events of the past year had crushed her old optimism. “I’m sure he’ll be fine,” she said firmly, wishing that was the truth. “We’ll just have to keep praying.”

Jake’s frown deepened. “I prefer to deal in reality.”

So they were back to that. Maddie wondered just how far his doubts extended. “You don’t believe in prayer?”

He stared at her for several seconds before he answered in clipped words that discouraged further comment, “Not anymore.”

Maddie knew there was a world of pain behind that admission, so Jake’s bitterness didn’t really shock her. But he desperately needed to talk to someone, and if she could just figure out how to reestablish their old camaraderie, he might talk to her.

She checked her watch, then set Tripod on the floor and got to her feet. “I’m on duty at the hospital in a little over an hour, so I’d better get back to post and grab something to eat.”

There. She couldn’t have made it any clearer that she was available for a quick lunch. That made things nice and convenient for Jake, who was probably still feeling a bit guilty about last night.

To her dismay, he didn’t even nibble at the bait. He grabbed his cane and escorted her to the door, thanking her again for bringing the papers from Anna.

Disappointment lodged in Maddie’s throat, making speech difficult, so she just nodded and went on her way.

An hour after Maddie left his office, Jake was still having trouble keeping his mind on his work. He decided to make a few more notes on an immigration case, then go upstairs and clear his head with a long workout on his rowing machine. Maybe after that, he’d have some black-cherry ice cream.

Or maybe he would just throw the ice cream out.

He wished Maddie hadn’t told him it was her favorite flavor. The only thing he wanted to know about Madeline Bright was that she was safe and happy. Apart from that, he didn’t want to see, didn’t want to hear, didn’t want to think about her at all.

“Jake?”

He glanced up as Gloria Ridge strode into his office and pointed an accusing finger at Tripod, who had reclaimed his favorite chair after Maddie’s departure. “His Highness doesn’t like that fancy new food I bought.” Gloria rested her hands on her wide hips and looked at Jake expectantly over the tops of her glasses.

Jake calmly turned a page and made a note on his legal pad. “If he’s hungry, he’ll eat it.”

“Hah.” Gloria’s short gray curls bounced as she shook her head. “You were hungry yesterday, but did you eat that chili I brought in for you and Travis? No, you did not. You both turned up your noses because I put beans in it. And you like beans.”

“Not in chili. No self-respecting Texan does.” He couldn’t believe she didn’t know that. She might have been raised in Alabama, but that was no excuse. Not when she’d been married to a Texan—a retired rodeo cowboy, no less—for almost as long as Jake had been alive. Was Leland Ridge aware that his wife was going around putting beans in chili?

Gloria walked over to Tripod’s chair and bent down to stroke him, muttering, “You contrary thing.”

Unsure whether she was addressing him or the cat, Jake shook his head and made another note on his tablet.

Gloria turned a speculative gaze on him. “Travis says Maddie Bright came by while I was at lunch.”

Here it comes. Jake did his best to rein in his exasperation. Gloria was always pushing nice women at him because she thought it was a crime against nature for a man to be almost forty and still unmarried. Jake never talked about his past, so she didn’t know he was a widower.

“You’re interested,” Gloria guessed.

“No, ma’am,” he said firmly.

Gloria laughed. “You’re a lying dog.” She paused, then asked silkily, “Have you kissed her yet?”

“Gloria.” Appalled by the blunt question, Jake dropped his ballpoint pen and gave his office manager a hard look. “Cease and desist.”

She waved that order away with a pudgy hand. “Travis told me all about you being ‘allergic’ to that sweet girl.”

Jake eyed the silver-handled ebony cane propped against his desk and fantasized about beating his loose-lipped partner with it.

Gloria shook her head pityingly. “You are one clueless man, Jake Hopkins.”

“What I am is busy.” The instant the words were out, he felt guilty for speaking to a woman, especially one his mama’s age, so harshly. But rather than looking crushed, Gloria laughed at him, at which point Jake scrapped his plans for an apology.

“What’s this?” Gloria’s mirth subsided as she stepped closer to Jake’s desk and bent down in front of it. When she bobbed back up, she held out a small gold woman’s watch for his inspection.

“It looks familiar,” Jake said. “It might be Madeline’s.”

Gloria pinned him with a look of intense curiosity. “Why don’t you call her Maddie like everyone else does?”

“Because I’ve known her since she was seven years old.”

Gloria snorted. “What kind of answer is that?”

The only kind of answer she was going to get. She could take it or leave it. Jake pressed his intercom button. “Lexi, somebody dropped a woman’s watch in my office. Is it yours?”

His secretary answered in the negative. He thanked her and looked at Gloria. “I’ll take care of it.” He didn’t want to call Madeline, but if he asked Gloria to do it, she’d wonder—out loud—why he was so reluctant to make a simple phone call.

Gloria laid the watch on a stack of papers on the corner of the desk. “I’ve been getting to know Maddie at church. She’s perfect for you.”

Jake studied the watch, so diminutive compared to his own, but that made sense because Maddie’s wrists were nearly as small as a child’s. Which reminded him: “She’s too young, Gloria.”

“Hogwash. That girl has more maturity in her little finger than you and me and this cat put together. I repeat—she’s perfect for you.”

Jake bristled at the heavy-handed matchmaking attempt. “She’s twenty-six,” he said evenly. “And I’m thirty-nine.”

Gloria harrumphed. “What does that matter? She’s special, Jake. And a couple of the young men at church are interested, so I hope you get over your age fixation right quick. At least put an engagement ring on her finger so she won’t wander off while you’re waiting for her to get old and wrinkled enough to suit you!”

The thought of marriage to Maddie caused Jake’s brain to stall out, so by the time a scathing retort rose to his lips, Gloria had already left his office.

He tamped down his impatience. Gloria wasn’t the only person who wanted to see him married. His mama introduced the subject at every opportunity, usually as a prelude to some wistful comment about grandchildren. But even if Jake wanted to marry again—and he emphatically did not—the absolute last candidate he would ever consider was Madeline Bright.

If she ever discovered what he had done, she might eventually find it in her generous heart to forgive him. But how could she ever forget?

The kindest thing Jake could do for Maddie was stay out of her life.

Two days later, Jake wryly reflected that staying out of Maddie’s life would be a whole lot easier if she’d stay on post where she belonged and not come into Prairie Springs every chance she got. He’d been ambling toward the drugstore when he stopped to get a better look at a torque wrench in the hardware store’s display window. A sixth sense warned him to look over his shoulder, and he spotted the beautiful bane of his existence tripping merrily toward him.

Hurrying past the window, Jake ducked inside the hardware store. He flattened himself next to the wall so he wouldn’t be in the way of anyone entering or exiting, but could still observe the sidewalk and judge when the coast was clear.

He waited for what must have been a full minute, but she didn’t appear. She might not have been coming this far down the street, although knowing Maddie—Madeline—she had probably just stopped to brighten someone’s day.

Well. Since he was here, he might as well have a look at that torque wrench. He turned away from the window and found himself facing a willowy young woman with electric-blue streaks in her black hair.

She smiled invitingly. “Welcome to Nail World.”

“Nail World,” Jake echoed, uncomprehending as he looked past her. What kind of hardware store had mirrored walls and bubblegum-pink carpet? When he spotted a bored-looking woman with her fingertips immersed in a bowl of sudsy water, awareness finally seeped into his Maddie-dulled brain. He’d missed the hardware store and entered the place next to it.

“Did you want a manicure right now or did you want to schedule one for another time?” the blue-haired female inquired.

A manicure. Jake almost snorted. Wouldn’t Travis bust a gut laughing if he returned to the office sporting shiny pink fingernails?

“Uh, I guess I don’t have time for a manicure, after all,” he said, backing toward the door. “Excuse me.” He turned and wrenched the door open. As he thrust himself outside, he nearly collided with Maddie.

“Jake!” She beamed a smile that made his toes wriggle inside his shoes.

“Madeline. Sorry. I wasn’t looking where I was going.” He made a mental note to have his prescriptions delivered to the office from now on. The streets of Prairie Springs were no longer safe.

She looked bright and pretty in a short white skirt and a yellow T-shirt that fit her like a second skin but still managed to look demure because it was edged with ruffles.

Amusement tugged at the corners of her mouth as she nodded toward the shop Jake had just escaped from. “Did you get a manicure?”

“Not hardly. I was just, uh, visiting a client who works there.” He hated playing fast and loose with the truth, but what else could he say? Why did every interaction with this woman have to be so complicated?

In the bright sun her blue eyes sparkled like the clear waters of a Hill Country lake. “This kind of heat shouldn’t be legal,” she said cheerfully, fanning her face with a slender hand. “I just heard on the radio that it’s over a hundred again, so I decided to treat myself to an ice-cream cone.” She nodded toward the Creamery, the old-fashioned ice-cream parlor next to the town’s green. “Want to come?”

Of course he wanted to. But he wasn’t going to. “Sorry. I have to get right back to the office.”

“Oh.” Her smile faltered and her gaze skittered away.

“Another time,” Jake said, hating himself for stomping all over her sunny mood.

She bit a corner of her bottom lip and nodded slowly, clearly unconvinced that the rain check he’d just handed her was bona fide. She was right to be skeptical, and Jake felt lower than a snake’s belly.

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