Once a Hero

Once a Hero
Lisa Childs

Taking a bullet meant for someone else made Kent Terlecki a hero in the eyes of his fellow detectives.But Erin Powell doesn't see a brave cop–only the man who put her brother in jail. When the justice-seeking reporter enrolls in the Lakewood Citizen's Police Academy asking some tough questions, she never expects to fall for the sexy sergeant. With her nephew to protect, it's a betrayal of everything she stands for. Isn't it? Being wounded in the line of duty is part of being a cop–Kent isn't looking for any medals.Even if Erin acts as if he's the one who did something wrong, they can't ignore what's happening between them. He'll just have to give her the answers she's looking for…and the chance to get to know the real man behind the badge.

“You’re a hero.”

“Stop saying that. I’m not,” Kent insisted. “I didn’t do anything that anyone else in the department wouldn’t have done.”

“But they didn’t step in front of that bullet,” Erin said. “You did.”

“It was reflex, nothing more.”

“Why won’t you take credit for it? Why didn’t you tell me about it?”

He arched his brows. “Would you have believed me?”

“Probably not. I would have figured you’d made it up to impress me, to get me to change my mind about you.”

“So why do you believe it now?”

Dear Reader,

I think it’s important that we all have a hero—someone we aspire to be like or someone who inspires us to be more than we are or someone who takes care of us. When I was growing up, my big brother was my hero. He defended me against the neighborhood bully and piggybacked me across the creek because I couldn’t swim. Heroes also protect us—like the heroes in my CITIZEN’S POLICE ACADEMY series.

Writing Once a Hero, the second book in the miniseries (the first was also part of the MEN MADE IN AMERICA miniseries—Once a Lawman, HAR, Feb. 2009), was very important to me. Sergeant Kent Terlecki is a hero whose story needed to be told even though he’s uncomfortable with being called that. He doesn’t consider himself to be special, and neither does heroine Erin Powell. Well, not at first!

I hope you enjoy their story, in which they both learn Once a Hero, always a hero.

Happy reading!

Lisa Childs

Once a Hero

Lisa Childs

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Bestselling, award-winning author Lisa Childs writes paranormal and contemporary romance for Harlequin/Silhouette Books. She lives on thirty acres in west Michigan with her husband, two daughters, a talkative Siamese and a long-haired Chihuahua who thinks she’s a rottweiler. Lisa loves hearing from readers, who can contact her through her Web site, www.lisachilds.com, or by snail mail at P.O. Box 139, Marne, MI 49435.

With much gratitude to the

Grand Rapids Police Department for helping me

understand and appreciate the very special heroes

that police officers are.

And with love for my brothers,

Tony, Mike and Chris—for showing me my

first examples of heroism by being my heroes!

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

Chapter Eighteen

Chapter One

Conversations stopped and heads swiveled toward her as Erin Powell walked into the meeting room on the third floor of the Lakewood Police Department. Since she was the first citizen to arrive for the Citizen’s Police Academy program, the people staring at her were men and women “in blue.” The Lakewood, Michigan, police department, however, wore black uniforms, which she believed matched one particular officer’s soul.

Despite all the stares, her gaze was drawn to his. Sergeant Kent Terlecki’s steely-gray eyes must have been how he’d earned his nickname Bullet. She had asked the blond-haired man a couple of times for an explanation of his moniker, but he had shrugged off that question, just as he’d shrugged off most of her others. Some public information officer he’d proved to be for the department—a media liaison who wouldn’t deal with the media.

Ignoring the unwelcoming looks and the awkward silence, Erin squared her shoulders and walked across the room toward where all the officers stood against the far wall. She dropped her organizer onto a table, the thud echoing in the large space.