A gun.
Pointed straight at Tessa’s face.
She had a single moment of stark terror, and then the world exploded.
TWENTY
Seth fired once.
And again.
He felt a moment of satisfaction as Andrew’s gun flew from his hand and he fell to the ground, blood pouring from his wrist.
“Keep your hands where I can see them!” The police officer hollered.
Andrew twitched but didn’t reach for the weapon. He was done and he knew it. Finished with his bid for revenge.
“Sinclair! Drop your weapon!” The police officer shouted.
Seth did as he commanded, the tension in the air thick and heavy. Any unexpected movement and more bullets would fly—this time, in Seth and Tessa’s direction.
“Don’t move. Any of you,” the officer continued as he frisked Andrew, finding a knife and a small handgun in a holster beneath his coat. He looked at Andrew’s wrist, scowling at the blood bubbling up from the groove dug by Seth’s bullet.
“You’ll live,” he pronounced and cuffed him, calling for an ambulance as he led him to his car.
Seth hadn’t aimed to kill, but he’d been tempted.
Especially since Andrew had come prepared to finish what he’d started.
If Seth hadn’t pulled over and shot out his tire, Andrew would have pulled up beside the truck and fired until he hit his target.
The knowledge burned like fire in Seth’s gut. It was almost enough to distract him from the pain in his shoulder and the blood dripping out of it.
He’d made a rookie mistake, allowing himself to lose focus for a split second, and that split second had nearly cost him his life. It could have cost Tessa hers. He’d spend the rest of his life thanking God for the fact that the truck window had changed the trajectory of the first bullet. If it hadn’t, she might be dead.
He shuddered, wanting nothing more than to drag Andrew from the police cruiser and teach him a lesson he wouldn’t ever forget.
“That was a risky move, Sinclair.” The officer threw the comment over his shoulder as he slammed the cruiser door and stalked across the space that separated them. “You should have waited until I caught up.”
“He was closing in too fast, and I knew he’d be armed. He’d have caught up to us before you did, and once he started shooting, there was no telling what would have happened.”
Seth stood, offered Tessa a hand up. She was pale, her freckles dark against her stark white skin, her eyes vivid green. A smudge of dirt marred her cheek and her palms were scraped from sliding across the dirt, but she was alive, unharmed. That was all that mattered.
“You still should have waited,” the officer grumbled as another police car pulled in behind his.
“Like you waited to frisk the guy?”
“He was offering a stellar confession. I didn’t want to interrupt.”
“Your hesitation could have gotten Tessa killed,” Seth snarled.
“Things were under control,” the officer protested as Logan Randal jumped out of the police car.
He ran toward them, his expression hard and grim. “What happened?”
“We’ve got him.” Seth gestured to Andrew.
Andrew’s gaze was still on Tessa from behind the window of the car, his hatred palatable. It took every ounce of training and common sense that Seth could muster to keep himself from yanking the guy out of the cruiser.
“Looks like you took a shot in the process,” Randal said.
Seth shrugged, pain shooting through his shoulder. Not the best place to be shot, but at least it hadn’t hit something vital. “I’ll live.”
“You’ve been shot?” Tessa gasped, her gaze dropping to his coat and the blood seeping through it. “You need to sit down.”
“You worry too much,” he murmured, pulling her into his arms. She fit perfectly there, her hands resting on his waist, her head tilted so that she could look into his eyes.
“You don’t worry enough. At least, not about yourself.” She slid an arm around his waist and led him toward the truck. “Sit down. Let me look at your shoulder. We need to try to stop the bleeding while we’re waiting for the ambulance.”
“I’m fine.” But he could feel that she was right—blood was pulsing out with every heartbeat.
He settled on the driver’s seat and allowed Tessa to ease his coat off. She smelled like sunshine and summer rain, and if his arm had been cooperating, he’d have pulled her closer.
It wasn’t.
His brain wasn’t cooperating, either. His thoughts were muddy and muted, his movements sluggish as he brushed her hand away from his shoulder. “Let the doctor deal with it.”
“If it isn’t dealt with now, you’re going to bleed to death,” Tessa muttered, her hand shaking as she pressed the sleeve of Seth’s coat to the wound.
“I’m not going to bleed to death.” He covered her hand with his, trying to still her trembling.
“You’re in shock. You don’t know how badly you’re hurt.” Her voice broke, and a single tear slipped down her cheek. He slid his good arm around her waist and tugged her down so she was resting on his knee. She balanced there, one hand tentative on his uninjured shoulder.
“I’m not in shock, and I’m not that badly injured. I promise.” He looked into her eyes and saw fear, worry and sadness.
“This is all my fault,” she whispered, her voice raw with emotion.
“None of it is your fault. Andrew is nuts. He’s not worth being upset over,” he said.
She nodded, but another tear escaped.
“Why are you crying?” He brushed the tear away, his palm resting on her cheek. His shoulder throbbed and his thoughts were muddled, but his love for her was as clear to him as daylight.
“Because I’m the reason Daniel and all those people died, and all I can think about is how much I don’t want to lose you.”
“You aren’t the reason, Tessa. Andrew is. And you’re not going to lose me,” he promised as an EMT edged in.
“Ma’am? Can you step to the side and let me take a look?” the dark-haired man said, his hazel eyes filled with compassion.
Tessa didn’t want to move. She was so afraid that she’d walk away and never see Seth alive again.
“Go on. I’ll be okay,” he whispered, kissing her gently.
She nodded and did what she’d been asked to do, moving to the side, watching as the EMT pressed gauze to Seth’s wound. Within minutes, he was on a gurney, being wheeled into the ambulance.
She followed, anxious to be beside him again.
“I’m sorry, ma’am. We don’t have room in the ambulance. You’ll have to follow us to the hospital,” the EMT said as he climbed into the ambulance and closed the door.
The engine roared, sirens blared, and Seth was gone, carried off to a hospital that was supposed to be able to keep him alive.
Go on. I’ll be okay, he’d said.
Would she remember those words the way she’d remembered Daniel’s last words to her?
Would they fill her mind as she worked, ran, went about her days?
Please, God, let him be all right. Please, don’t take him from me when I just finally found him.
The prayer welled up from the depth of her heart, spilling out with all the desperation she felt. She’d been so close to having everything she’d ever wanted. So close to believing that her dreams would come true, that she really would have the desire of her heart.
Would it be snatched away again?
Have a little faith.
The words seemed to come from nowhere and everywhere.
Seth’s words.
God’s words.
Her words.
All mixed up and jumbled togethe
r into that one thought.
Have a little faith that things will work out. That whatever happens, I will move forward with life, finding a way to make the best of what I have.
She’d nearly lost what faith she’d had when Daniel died. Slowly, she’d begun to grasp it again.
Or maybe, it had been thrust at her.
Maybe God had gotten tired of her fumbling attempts to draw closer to Him, and He’d dragged her in, pulled her back, shown her once and for all that He was there, just waiting for her to realize that He had always been as close as a prayer.
She wiped away tears. She was done crying. Done mourning for what she’d lost. God had given her what she needed. More than she’d needed. She was going to make the most of it, enjoy every minute of it. Live in the present rather than the past.
Be happy for the moment rather than worrying about what would happen when it ended.
“Are you okay?” Logan touched her shoulder, his hard face soft with concern.
“I need to get to the hospital,” she replied.
“I’ll have someone take you there.” He motioned for a uniformed officer who was exiting his patrol car. “Nate, can you give Tessa a ride to Sacred Heart? I’ll meet you there after I have a little talk with our perp.”
“Sure,” the officer smiled. With a shaved head and a tattoo peeking out from the collar of his uniform shirt, he looked more like a gang member than a police officer. But his smile was warm and his hand gentle as he steered Tessa toward his car.
“Your friend is going to be just fine,” he said as she slid into the passenger seat.
“I hope you’re right,” she murmured.
“Have a little faith, ma’am,” he responded, offering a quick smile as he closed the door.
* * *
Coming out of anesthesia stunk.
Seth had been through it enough times to know exactly how it felt, but that didn’t make it any more pleasurable.
He reached for a glass of ice water on the table beside the bed, wincing as the stitches in his shoulder tugged and pulled.
“Let me do that for you, Mr. Sinclair,” a pretty nurse offered, her quick smile doing nothing to cheer Seth.
“I’ll manage,” he grumbled, taking a sip of the water to wash away the remaining sting of the intubation tube. Thick bandages covered his shoulder. He hoped that meant that the surgery to remove the bullet had been successful.
Seth figured he should be happy about that, but aside from the nurse, the room was empty, and that wasn’t what he’d been hoping for when he’d opened his eyes.
“Is there anything else you need?” The nurse fiddled with the IV pole next to the bed.
“Yeah. I need Tessa.”
“Who?”
“Tessa Camry. Can you see if she’s around?”
“I’m not sure the doctor wants you to have visitors yet. You’re still in recovery. Once we wheel you down to your room—”
“That’s fine.” He sat up, his stomach heaving—a side effect of anesthesia that he knew well and hated. He ignored it. “I’ll find her myself.”
“You need to lie down. You just got out of surgery.”
“I’ll lie down after I make sure that—”
The door opened, the scent of summer sunshine drifting in. Tessa. He knew it before he saw her, and his pulse picked up in response.
She stepped through the door, her gaze settling instantly on Seth. Her hair was a wild halo around her head, and she still had that smudge of dirt on her cheek. She was the most beautiful thing he’d ever seen in his entire life.
“What’s going on?” Tessa asked, gazing at Seth who looked as if he was about to stand up and bolt from the room.
“I was just coming to find you.”
“You shouldn’t be going anywhere.” Tessa crossed the distance between them, her heart aching as she looked at Seth’s pale face, the thick bandages on his shoulder, the IV dripping fluids into him. “You just got out of surgery.”
“That’s what I told him, but I think he was pretty determined to find you.” The nurse smiled. “Since you’re in here, anyway, you may as well stay. Just try to get him to lie still. The doctor spent a lot of time stitching up the wound. We don’t want him to open it back up again.”
She walked out of the room, and Tessa turned her attention back to Seth. He was sitting on the edge of the bed, his face pale, his jaw dark with a five-o’clock shadow. He looked better than good—he looked like home and forever and all the dreams she hadn’t dared to dream.
He also looked as if he was about to fall over.
“Don’t even think about standing up,” she warned.
“Is that any way to talk to a guy who is convalescing?”
“It is when he’s about to undo everything the doctor just did.”
“In that case, I guess I’ll lie down.” He settled back onto the pillow. “I have everything I was going to look for, anyway,” he murmured.
She tugged the blanket up over his legs and leaned down so she was close to his ear.
“Me, too,” she whispered.
“I hope you mean that,” he replied, his good hand sliding along her arm. She felt his touch in her soul, felt a yearning so deep that she couldn’t deny it. When she was with Seth, she knew that she was exactly where she belonged. When she was with him, she felt like the best of herself, the most of who she could be.
“I do,” she responded, and she meant it completely, meant it forever.
“Good,” he murmured, tugging her down, sealing the words with a kiss that shook her to her core.
She broke away, breathless and flushed, her heart beating hard for him. “I don’t think the doctor would approve.”
“I don’t think I care,” he said, and tried to pull her back.
She brushed his hand away, a thousand butterflies taking flight in her stomach as she looked into his eyes. “Thanksgiving is only a couple of weeks away. I don’t want to do all the cooking myself, so you have to be better by then.”
“You’re planning to cook?”
“If you want me to.” Tessa pulled a chair over and sat next to the bed.
“I want whatever you want, Tessa. I always will,” he said softly, his words so sweet and so beautiful that Tessa’s eyes filled with tears.
“It’s not that easy, Seth.”
“It will be as easy as we allow it to be.” He kissed her hand, his lips warm, his hand cool, his heart shining from the depth of his eyes.
She saw the future there, a future she hadn’t been looking for, hadn’t expected, but that she’d hold on to for as long as God allowed it.
She wove her fingers through his, her heart full of love and hope. “How about you rest and get better so we can work on the rest of forever together?”
“I have a better idea,” he murmured, tugging her from the chair with a surprising amount of strength for a man who had just had surgery. “How about we start working on forever together right now?”
And, before she could protest, before she could think of one reason why it wasn’t a good idea, he sealed the deal with a kiss.
* * * * *
[Fluffer Nutter]
Keep reading for an excerpt from Lone Star Protector by Lenora Worth.
Dear Reader,
I’ve had more than a few fans of the Sinclair brothers ask when I planned to tell Seth Sinclair’s story. I finally have! A widower, Seth is working as a bodyguard and trying to dodge his family’s matchmaking schemes. Physical therapist Tessa Camry is his perfect match. Strong and independent, she’s a widow with a secret. One that just might get her killed. Neither is looking for a second chance at love, because neither expects to ever find one. But, there are no limits to what God can do, and as the two fight a hidden enemy, they discover th
at love is just as wonderful the second time around.
I hope you enjoy reading their story as much as I enjoyed writing it! And, I hope that whatever second chances you need, you will find them as you seek God’s perfect plan for your life.
Blessings,
Questions for Discussion
Tess Camry was a missionary to Kenya. What led her there?
What are some of Tessa’s regrets regarding her time in Kenya? What things do you think she would change if she could?
Have you ever thought you were following God’s will but found yourself in difficult or trying times? How did you react?
Describe Tessa’s relationship with Daniel. How was it affected by his brother Andrew?
Seth Sinclair was injured during a military tour, but the pain of that was nothing compared to the pain of losing his wife. How did that impact his life?
How big of a part does Seth’s tight-knit family play in his life?
Tessa has been running for a long time, never really finding a place where she wants to plant roots. What is it about Pine Bluff that makes her want to stay?
Tessa has kept a secret for years. What is it and why did she keep it? Do you agree with her reasons for keeping the secret? Would you have done the same? Explain.
Seth loved his wife, and he doesn’t think he’ll ever meet anyone that he can connect with in the same way. How is that belief challenged after he meets Tessa?
I have heard it said that God is the God of second chances. What second chances have you had in your life?
Do you think that a person can have only one great love in his or her life? Explain your answer.
What are the commonalities that make it easy for Tess and Seth to connect?
We hope you enjoyed this Harlequin Love Inspired Suspense story.
You enjoy a dash of danger. Love Inspired Suspense stories feature strong heroes and heroines whose faith is central in solving mysteries and saving lives.
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