A Husband To Hold

Leah hesitated. She didn’t care overly much for the police but as long as Laura and Mark had been in town she’d learned they were good citizens and nice people—at least on the outside. Even if they were good people, she still had to worry about letting something slip or being recognized. But this program meant so much to her.

Sitting at a right angle to him, she resigned herself to talking with this man. “We are having a tri-county special session for the exceptional children in the area. I’ve managed to get a small grant that will partially pay for thirteen handicapped children to go on a nature expedition. It’s to enrich their learning experiences and social interaction.”

Mark nodded, slipping the toothpick back in his mouth. “I heard something about this. Jon mentioned it in the pulpit the other day,” he said, referring to their pastor, Jon Ferguson.

“Yes. He did. Pastor Ferguson has been instrumental in getting the word out about the summer opportunity for these handicapped children.”

“So what exactly do you need?” Mark asked now.

“Well,” Leah began. If there was one thing that could overcome her wariness toward others, it was the discussion of children. Not six weeks after her husband’s death she lost her own child in a miscarriage. She still grieved over the loss of her unborn child and her husband. The children that she taught almost filled that empty spot that had never completely healed. No matter how she cried out to God over her loss there was still a part of her that grieved, one little area where she had hidden the past.

She had a feeling she’d never stop grieving her child’s loss or her husband’s death until the chapter of her former life closed.

But solving the past would never happen. She wouldn’t and couldn’t let it happen. She was safe here, living again. She threw herself into helping these kids here at Hill Creek to take her mind off that emptiness, refusing to trust any person completely except her children. Smiling now as she talked about “her” children, she said, “The places I am going to take them have to be mapped out before I get final approval. I already have the adult supervisors and equipment. The only other paraphernalia I need are simply the things the state of Texas wants for publicity and such.”

“So you want…?” Mark asked.

“I want a guide to help me map out a safe route for a two-night stay in the desert. I want the guide to teach me how to use a camera and help me take some photographs of the area for this mission. And I’m willing to pay.”

Mark Walker studied the petite blonde before him. Though Leah may have acted as if she needed time to place him, he hadn’t required a moment to identify who she was. His first day in church he’d noticed her.

She was gentle, so very feminine, quiet—how could he not notice her? The way she shied away from Mitch and his sister, Laura, made the sheriff keep an eye on her.

She reminded him of an injured wren that needed protecting. Whether Leah knew it or not, half the town watched out for her. He knew Mitch certainly did. Mitch had actually thought of marrying this woman at one time when he’d been looking for someone to settle down with. Of course, Mitch had almost married every woman in town so that didn’t really count.

He was glad when Suzi had snagged Mitch. The man had been totally blind to the fact Suzi loved him.

Leah would have never done for Mitch. She was high maintenance, he’d bet anything. Looking at the wide blue eyes now as she stared up at him, Mark would wager the woman wouldn’t know how to get on a bus and travel to the next town without help.

Not that she was ignorant, just…helpless.

Exactly the type of woman Mark didn’t want. He didn’t want someone who would pin him down, nor did he want someone who would hem him in. He was free of his past life, of his father’s wishes that he be a police officer. Of his sister’s mothering. He wanted to do what he wanted to do—although he still wasn’t sure what that was.

But it would be what he wanted to do. And this job that the young woman had just mentioned certainly sounded right up his alley. A slight tug of conscience reminded him of his job as deputy but he evaded it, concentrating instead on his favorite hobby—photography and exploration of the surrounding area.

He wouldn’t mind helping her for a short time. Leah was certainly easy on the eyes. And she was a Christian, with Christian attitudes. She was also simply a gentle kind woman who needed help.

“So, how much are you paying?” he asked, smiling now at her.

She named an amount.

Eyebrows going up, he reached up and pulled the toothpick from his mouth. “Chérie, that is quite a bit of money. Are you sure you have your figures right?”

Leah gripped her hands together indecisively. “Actually, you see, that’s part of the money I was allotted in the proposal I worked up for the grant. I had to write out where the money would be used. I told them I would have someone mapping out a section of the safest handicapped-accessible routes and that her or his time would run that much.”

Surprised, Mark reevaluated the woman. “You have all of your facts pretty well laid out, I see,” he murmured.

The pale skin of her cheeks flushed a light pink. “I try to be prepared in everything and for any eventuality.”

Mark cocked his head studying her. “That sounds so ominous, chérie. Are you expecting a tornado or hailstorm while we’re out on the range?”

Leah laughed and shook her head before reaching up and pushing her hair back behind her ear. “No. No. I just meant, it’s good to be prepared. Especially where children are concerned. You can never be too careful.”

A soft pang of hurt echoed in her voice. He doubted she even realized she’d revealed that. Caught up in her vulnerability, he thought this is what always got him in trouble. Don’t worry about it, Mark, he warned himself. It’s your imagination.

“I’ll be glad to take the job,” he found himself saying.

However, it wasn’t for the job’s sake that he’d agreed, he realized, but to get to know this woman better.

Leah’s face brightened though a fleeting shadow of doubt touched her eyes. “Great! Then can we meet Monday to go over what I have planned for the camp-out?”

He should run now, not note how appealing the offer was. But it was too late. He’d been absorbed in her enthusiasm and fleeting hints of a deeper character within her. He wouldn’t back off now. No, he’d go for it.

How hard could it be after all? He’d simply hold her hand and walk her through what she wanted to know and then be done with it.

“Sounds good to me, chérie,” he murmured.

“Great!” Clapping her hands she smiled, a beautiful full smile of pleasure, and Mark suddenly wondered if he was setting himself up for something he was going to regret.

Chapter Two

It might be harder than he had thought, Mark mused, unnerved by the look on Sheriff Mitch McCade’s face as they stood in the middle of the main office.

“You’re doing what?”

Mitch McCade stared, slack-jawed at Mark.

“I said I’m going to need a leave of absence for a short time to map out the local areas…if that’s okay with you.” Mark shifted, cocking a hip as he waited for Mitch to answer.

Mitch slowly shook his head. “No, it’s not, Mark. You said you were taking Leah Thomas to map out the local areas.”

Every sound in the sheriff’s office died. Mark knew why. Every person had stopped to listen to the exchange between the two men. Mark scowled at his boss. “She needs someone to help her. And she’s paying me. It’s just a job.”

Mitch snorted. “It was the eyes, wasn’t it?”

“Mitch McCade!” Assistant Deputy Laura McCade, Mitch’s sister-in-law, yelled loud enough and with enough reproach to make Mitch flush and the entire office break into chuckles.

Glaring at his sister-in-law, Mitch said, “Stay out of it, Laura, or I’ll tell them all how you really ended up going into labor.”

Mark glanced over at Laura, who had turned the color of a rosy sunset. “Yeah, Sis, stay out of it.”

“Zach is going to hear about this,” she muttered good-naturedly.

“He’s my big brother but not my keeper,” Mitch said casually, smiling. Then he turned his attention back to the man in front of him. “Come with me, to my office.”

Mark nodded and followed his boss down the short, dark, narrow hallway. At twenty-nine, Mark was younger than Mitch McCade. The brawny man with the dark skin and hair spoke Spanish almost as well as a native speaker. After breaking a drug ring and discovering his former deputy sheriff had been the one running it in their area, Mitch hired his sister-in-law, Laura, the big-city detective, to assist him in the office.

Laura had finagled a job for her brother Mark.