Lone Star Secret

Lone Star Secret
Lenora Worth

David Ryland's final mission is to fly a Middle Eastern orphan to Texas for lifesaving surgery. Yet, the secret awaiting the brave pilot at home requires courage of a new kind. The father David never knew suddenly has a name.A late war hero confessed his parentage in a deathbed letter–a letter that beautiful charity worker Anna Terenkov knows all about. If David can open his heart to the truth, will he also find room there for Anna?

She had so many questions, and not all of them pertained to the war.

She wanted to understand the kind of man who’d go out of his way to help an injured child. The kind of man who, was willing to lay down his life for his brother. The kind of man who could bring life coursing back through her system simply by looking at her.

But Anna’s questions would have to remain unanswered. Right now, she needed to focus on five-year-old Ali.

Anna did plan to thank David again for his help in getting Ali here. And she hoped David would open up to her about more than just the little boy. Anna had a feeling David could use a friend. Maybe she was just imagining the way his dark eyes gleamed with interest when he looked at her. But every time he glanced her way, he was smiling.

Homecoming Heroes: Saving children and finding love deep in the heart of Texas

Mission: Motherhood—Marta Perry (LI#452) July 2008

Lone Star Secret—Lenora Worth (LI#456) August 2008

At His Command—Brenda Coulter (LI#460) September 2008

A Matter of the Heart—Patricia Davids (LI#464) October 2008

A Texas Thanksgiving—Margaret Daley (LI#468) November 2008

Homefront Holiday—Jillian Hart (LI#472) December 2008

LENORA WORTH

has written more than thirty books, most of those for Steeple Hill. She also works freelance for a local magazine, where she had written monthly opinion columns, feature articles and social commentaries. She also wrote for the local paper for five years. Married to her high school sweetheart for thirty-two years, Lenora lives in Louisiana and has two grown children and a cat. She loves to read, take long walks and sit in her garden.

Lone Star Secret

Lenora Worth

Special thanks and acknowledgment to Lenora Worth for her contribution to the Homecoming Heroes miniseries.

Why did you flee away secretly, and steal away from me, and not tell me; for I might have sent you away with joy and songs, with timbrel and harp?

—Genesis 31:27–28

To all the soldiers—those who have sacrificed for

my freedom and those who are still fighting today.

God bless you all.

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

Chapter Seventeen

Epilogue

Questions for Discussion

Chapter One

Chief Warrant Officer David Ryland glanced around the sterile waiting room at Fort Bonnell Medical Center, taking in the crowd of well-wishers gathered around the little boy on the stretcher. The circuslike atmosphere made him feel a bit frazzled and edgy, but then he’d just landed on American soil—on good ol’ Texas soil—after flying medevac Black Hawks for eighteen months in the war-torn Middle East. He had a right to be edgy.

Moving his gaze from the excited group hovering near the doctor and little Ali Tabiz Willis, David found himself staring straight into the blue-green eyes of Anna Terenkov. Anna looked away, then quickly glanced back at David, a slight smile on her heart-shaped face.

David studied her closely, deciding he’d better dust off his social skills now that he was home. And his flirting skills. Because he definitely wanted to get to know the woman responsible for helping to make this day happen. David had heard about the legendary humanitarian who ran the Children of the Day charity, but seeing her in person was a whole different matter. She was not what he had expected.

She was even better.

Her blond hair was pulled back in a haphazard coil held up by an intricate silver clip. She was petite, but her calm, assured presence made her seem taller. She wore loose-fitting green cargo pants and a crisp white button-up blouse. And around her neck she wore a choker-style strand of dark leather, from which hung a chunky sterling-silver pendant with the cross and the lance of Golgotha set against an etched background. He couldn’t move his gaze from her.

Caitlyn Villard, the Care Coordinator for Children of the Day, and Army Chaplain Steve Windham introduced Caitlyn’s twin nieces to Ali. While the precocious five-year-olds wished him well in Arabic and English, David watched Anna’s face. She lit up around children, her smile turning to sunshine. He’d noticed that the minute he’d exited the plane with little Ali earlier that morning.