by Elle James
A young couple entered the diner with their daughter who appeared to be a couple years older than Lyla.
“Find a seat. I’ll be right with you,” Daisy called out.
Daisy topped off Chuck’s coffee before she moved on to the newer customers.
“See anyone who looks like they could give us a headache?” Kate whispered.
“No,” Chuck said, but he wasn’t letting down his guard.
“Should I make a list of the groceries we need?” Kate asked. “I don’t know what kind of meals you like to eat.”
“I eat anything I don’t have to cook.”
Kate chuckled. “That narrows it down.”
“I don’t expect you to do all the cooking.” Chuck lifted his chin. “I can cook a handful of meals. Nothing fancy. Chili, spaghetti, grilled anything and eggs.”
“Good. Between the two of us, we won’t starve or resort to eating out every meal.” Kate twisted her lips into a wry grin. “At the grocery store, you can pick your ingredients, and I’ll pick mine. I have a limited repertoire. I can make a mean lasagna, gumbo, pot roast and chicken salad.”
Chuck nodded. “Point is not to get wrapped up in meal prep. Whatever is easy is fine with me. We can buy lunch meat and hot dogs, and I’ll be fine.”
“You’re on.” Kate finished her yogurt and fruit.
Lyla played with her doll, forgetting to eat her cereal.
“Lyla, sweetie, finish your cereal so we can get back to the cottage and you can play with Sarah.”
Chuck winced. How could he tell a little girl she couldn’t name her doll Sarah? Hell, he couldn’t. Lyla had every right to name the doll anything she wanted. Just because it made a grown man want to cry every time he heard the name wasn’t reason enough to force a three-year-old to change the doll’s name.
He glanced up and caught Kate’s gaze. His eyes narrowed. Had she seen him wince? Vowing to do a better job of hiding his emotions, Chuck shuttered his eyes and dug out his wallet. He tossed bills onto the table, enough to cover their meals, and stood. “Ready?”
Kate turned to Lyla. “Did you eat enough?”
“Yes,” Lyla rubbed her tummy. “I’m full.”
They left the diner and headed for the hardware store first.
There, Chuck purchased deadbolt locks for the front and rear doors. He bought replacement locks for the windows that needed them. He also picked up a couple of security devices to attach to the windows and doors that made piercing noises when set off. They weren’t a real security system that connected with the sheriff’s department, but they might scare off a would-be intruder.
While he hurried down the aisles of the hardware store, he made Kate and Lyla stand at the end of each aisle he was on. That way he could keep an eye on them. Others might have laughed. What could possibly happen in a hardware store?
While he found hardware, Kate found a pair of denim overalls in Lyla’s size, a pink blouse and a pint-sized pair of cowboy boots to fit her as well.
Chuck insisted on paying for the purchases. He didn’t want Kate’s credit cards to show up in Eagle Rock and alert anyone who might be tracking her.
Chuck wasn’t taking any chances. No one was looking for him, so using his cards posed no threat. He just had to keep Kate from alerting anyone to her whereabouts until her sister could be found and the situation resolved.
Chapter 5
Kate didn’t like it, but it made sense for Chuck to pay for their purchases. When she could, she’d pay him back any money he spent on them. She had employed him. He shouldn’t have to pay for anything. Hopefully, he’d put all his receipts on an expense report, to be paid when the situation was resolved.
Kate couldn’t believe how everything seemed to be upside down in her life. From a neat, orderly existence to utter chaos. For now, all she could do was go with the flow.
She sat back in her seat and stared at the road ahead as Chuck drove them to the grocery store.
Once inside, Kate said, “Lyla’s getting tired. We can cover more ground if we split up. I’ll take Lyla with me. You get the juice, milk, eggs and cheese. I’ll find the meats, cereal and spices.”
Chuck hesitated for a moment, his gaze moving around the store’s interior.
“Look, the store isn’t that big. We won’t be out of yelling distance if anything should happen,” Kate insisted.
He sighed. “Okay. But I’ll make it fast and join you as soon as I have my items.”
“Deal.” Kate took one of the shopping carts and lifted Lyla to sit in it.
After a few minutes, Kate had selected the items on her list—hamburger for Chuck’s chili and cereal with marshmallows for Lyla’s breakfast. When she rolled down the candy aisle, Kate paused in front of the nuts and raisins.
Lyla pulled her legs out of the holes in the cart and stood up.
“Lyla, sit down,” Kate admonished. She tried to get Lyla to take her seat again, but the child was having none of it.
“I want candy,” Lyla said. “Please.”
“No, sweetie. Candy is bad for your teeth and will make your tummy hurt.”
“I want candy,” she said, her voice rising. She leaned out of the cart.
If Kate hadn’t grabbed her, she would have fallen to the floor. Once Kate had her in her arms, she struggled to hold onto the squirming child.
“Lyla, please. I can’t hold you when you wiggle so much.”
“Want down.”
Kate set her on her feet. Before she could grab her hand, Lyla snatched a package of candy and darted away.
Kate lunged for her but missed.
Lyla disappeared around the end of the aisle with Kate chasing after her.
“Lyla!” Kate called out. “Chuck!” She needed help. One three-year-old couldn’t be so fast she could get away that quickly, but she had.
Kate cleared the end of the aisles but didn’t see Lyla anywhere.
Chuck burst from a couple aisles over. “What’s wrong?”
“Lyla got away from me.” Kate didn’t wait for him to catch up to her. She swung right and ran past the next aisle. Lyla wasn’t in that one either.
Kate kept going. When she rounded the end of the one, she spotted a flash of blond hair.
Kate ran to where Lyla stood in front of another little girl and her parents. “Lyla, sweetie, you scared me.”
“I found a friend.” Lyla pointed to the other little girl who was a little older and a foot taller.
“We wondered where her parents were,” the mother said. “Hi, I’m Becca, this is my husband Daniel and my daughter Mary.” She held out her hand. “We’re new in town.”
Kate let go of the breath she’d been holding since Lyla ran off. “Thank goodness she didn’t get far.” Kate took the hand the woman extended and shook. “Thank you for being here to stop her. I’m Kate and this is Chuck, my…husband and my…daughter, Lyla.”
“You have no idea how glad I am to meet someone else with a child,” Becca said. “I was afraid Mary would get lonely here. I haven’t seen a whole lot of children.”
“Me either,” Kate admitted. “Please, don’t let us keep you. I don’t know what got into Lyla to make her run off like that.”
“Three can be a difficult age.” Becca smiled down at Lyla. “Some children like to think they’re independent. They can be stubborn or unruly. Sometimes it just takes a firm hand and structure to guide them,” Becca said. “Mary’s terrible twos lasted until she was almost four.”
Kate’s eyes narrowed. “I don’t remember telling you my daughter was three.”
Becca’s eyebrows rose. “No? Well, I guessed based on her size and vocabulary.”
The woman’s explanation wasn’t great, but it was plausible. Kate turned to Becca’s child. “How old are you, Mary?”
At first the little girl didn’t answer.
Becca gave her a nudge. “Tell Miss Kate how old you are.”
The little girl had dark braids and big, brown eyes. She turned those eyes up to
Kate and held up her hand with all her fingers extended. “I’m five.”
“Nice to meet you, Mary,” Kate said. “We hope to see you around town.” She glanced back at Chuck.
He moved forward and extended his hand to Becca. “Nice to meet you.” Then he held out his hand to Daniel. The two men shook hands and exchanged nods.
“If you’ll excuse us, we need to get going,” Chuck said. He lifted Lyla into his arms, removed the package of candy from her fingers and stared into her face. “No candy,” he said firmly. “You can have a banana when we get back to the house.”
Lyla puckered up as if to start crying. “But, I want—”
Chuck shook his head once. “No.”
Lyla sniffed, her eyes wide, but she didn’t argue. Instead, she laid her head on Chuck’s shoulder and wrapped her arm around his neck.
“It was nice to meet you,” Kate repeated to Becca. And she hurried off to find her cart and Chuck’s. A few minutes later, they’d purchased their groceries and loaded them into the truck along with a car seat they were lucky enough to find for Lyla. When Chuck buckled her in this time, Kate felt a lot better about the child’s safety.
Once they were all settled into the truck, Kate leaned back against the seat and let go of a long breath. “I never knew how hard it was to raise a child. I think I lost a year off my life with the scare she gave me.”
A chuckle rumbled beside her. “You’ll get used to it. Most children come as infants. That gives you the time you need to adjust as they grow.”
Kate turned to Chuck. “Why are you so good with Lyla?” Then a thought occurred to her and her face heated. “Oh my God. You’re married, aren’t you? And you must have children of your own.” Holy crud, she’d been lusting after a married man.
Chuck’s jaw tightened, and he got that same look he’d had when Lyla had named her doll Sarah. He looked as if he was in pain.
Kate held up her hand. “I’m sorry. It’s none of my business. Forget I said anything. This is all just a job. You don’t owe me any information about you and your life outside the Brotherhood Protectors.”
A minute passed, stretching into two as he navigated the streets of Eagle Rock. He didn’t say anything, and Kate had decided to forget she’d asked.
It wasn’t until they’d carried all the groceries into the house and closed the door behind them that Chuck spoke. “I’m not married,” he said.
A rush of relief washed over her, making her lips curl upward. She stopped short of saying Thank God.
“I was married many years ago. And I had a daughter.”
He’d had a daughter. Kate shot a quick glance his way. His gray eyes seemed darker, and his lips pressed tightly together. “Had?” she asked, and then wished she hadn’t.
The raw pain in his gaze nearly took her breath away.
“My wife and daughter were killed in an automobile accident when our little girl was only two.”
Kate’s heart dropped to the pit of her belly. “I’m so sorry,” she said, a sob choking her words.
“Don’t worry about it. That was a long time ago.”
“Maybe so, but I can’t imagine anyone really gets over something like that.” She touched his arm. “Was your daughter’s name Sarah?”
He nodded.
Kate closed her eyes to the man’s agony. “Is that why you didn’t want to work with us?” She knew the answer before he responded.
“Yes.”
She tipped her head and frowned. “Wow. Then why did you agree to help?”
He nodded toward Lyla who’d curled up on the floral couch with her doll named Sarah and had fallen asleep. “Because of her. I knew Hank didn’t have anyone else experienced at working with children.” He gave a twisted smile. “I couldn’t walk away. She needed me to help look after her.”
The man was breaking Kate’s heart. “You must have loved your family so very much.”
He nodded. “At the time, I had wished I could have died with them,” he admitted. “But they were in Virginia. I was in Afghanistan on a mission. I didn’t know until two days after they’d died. I flew back in time to attend the funeral.”
Kate could imagine his heartache at seeing his wife and little girl lying in eternal repose in caskets. Her own heart ached for him.
“How long ago did it happen?” she asked so softly he could ignore the question if he wanted.
“Fourteen years, two months and…six days.”
“And you haven’t remarried,” she stated.
“I couldn’t. As a Navy SEAL, I couldn’t do it again. I wasn’t there for my wife and baby. I refused to subject another woman to that kind of responsibility and loneliness.”
“Or yourself to more heartbreak,” Kate concluded.
Chuck drew in a deep breath. “Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have work to do to make this place a little more secure.”
She stepped back. “Thank you.” Kate didn’t say more.
By the tightness of his jaw, Chuck had withdrawn, choosing to handle his grief in stoic silence.
He deserved to be left to his own personal space.
Kate fought the urge to wrap her arms around the big man and hold on tightly until all his pain went away. But that would be silly, and the gesture would be unwanted. They’d only just met. A big, tough guy like Chuck wouldn’t appreciate sympathy or empathy. A former SEAL probably powered through everything life had to throw at him.
From her own experience, it could be lonely shouldering through life by yourself. Now that she had Lyla, Kate realized not only the level of responsibility, but also the capacity for love.
Her gaze shifted from Lyla’s sleeping form to follow Chuck.
The man knew how to wear a pair of jeans. They hugged his hips like a second skin and pulled tightly across powerful thighs. His T-shirt stretched across impossibly broad shoulders, straining against thick biceps.
Rather than make him appear old, the gray hair at his temples made him look dangerously sexy.
Kate worked through the house, finding places for the groceries and cleaning supplies they’d purchased. Then she went to work making the two beds with the sheets and pillows and pillowcases Sadie had sent in the boxes. She placed towels in a neat stack in the bathroom and marveled about how the few things they’d added to the cozy cottage made it feel even more personal, like a home.
Her gaze wandered often to Chuck as he installed new deadbolt locks to the front and back doors. Making the beds with Chuck in the room working on the window latches was more exhilarating than Kate would have thought. Her heart beat fast, and her breathing became so erratic, she felt as if she’d run a marathon by the time he left the room.
If he wasn’t the hired help, and she wasn’t so worried about her sister, Kate might consider asking Chuck out for a drink. Maybe dinner and a nightcap.
She smoothed the sheets over the queen-sized bed and imagined what might come after the nightcap.
Kate shook her head and squared her shoulders. Her sister was missing, she had a niece to protect, and Chuck wasn’t on the market for anyone. Kate had to get a grip or risk a little frustration and possible heartache of her own.
She carried her suitcase into the bedroom and pulled out a T-shirt. She might as well get comfortable and do some cleaning. Maybe it would help get her mind off the sexy Navy SEAL.
Chuck hadn’t talked about his family with anyone for a very long time, preferring not to reopen the wound. But talking about his wife and Sarah with Kate hadn’t been as bad as he would’ve thought. Opening up had been more cathartic than painful. Perhaps the time lapse had helped to numb his response from a sharp pain to a dull ache. Either way, it felt good to get things off his chest with someone who wouldn’t judge him for hiding out the past fourteen years.
Feeling a little lighter and more optimistic, he worked his way around the interior of the house, tightening the locks on the windows, replacing the ones that were missing, damaged or broken. The deadbolts took a little longer, but he insta
lled them, and then went outside to look over the exterior of the house.
The day had warmed with bright sunshine, making him sweat.
The cottage appeared to be structurally sound with some areas of weathering that needed repair. Depending on how long they were there, he could knock out the repairs with a little manual labor, lumber, nails and paint.
As he passed the master bedroom, he could see Kate moving around inside, placing clothing from her suitcase into the dresser.
The woman was graceful, even when no one was watching. Every move flowed like a dance.
Chuck knew he should look away, but he was captivated by the sway of her hips and the way her hair fell over her shoulders and down her back.
She shook out a T-shirt and laid it on the bed. Then she unbuttoned her blouse and let it slide over her shoulders.
At that point, Chuck should have turned away. But he couldn’t. He remained riveted to the window.
He was captivated by the smooth symmetry of Kate’s back, the sleekness of her skin and the way her hair brushed across her shoulder blades and halfway down to her waistline.
Heat pulsed through his veins and coiled in his groin.
When she lifted the T-shirt over her head, she turned slightly, exposing the swell of her breast encased in a lacy, black bra.
A groan rose up Chuck’s throat. He swallowed hard to keep from emitting it.
All he needed was to be caught behaving like a peeping Tom. He could lose his job. And worse…he would lose Kate’s trust.
Though he desperately wanted to continue watching the woman, he turned away, walked to the covered patio and pulled out his cellphone.
Surprised to have any kind of reception in such a small town, he dialed Hank’s number.
“Chuck. Tell me what’s going on.” Hank never bothered with greetings. He always got right down to business.
“Have you found anything on Kate’s sister, Rachel?”
“I have Swede working on it now. He was able to hack into her phone records, but none of them led to Kate’s phone number.”
“Do you think she used a burner phone to contact her sister?” Chuck asked.
“That’s exactly what she did. We traced the phone number she used when she called Kate the night she dropped off Lyla. From what we could tell, it was purchased in Idaho a couple days ago. No credit card records, so she probably used cash.”