Harlequin Love Inspired Suspense March 2021--Box Set 2 of 2 Dana Mentink (e books free to read TXT) 📖

worn space, but he felt like a different person, looking at a woman who was both the same woman he’d married and completely new to him, so strong, so incredibly brave.

When the meal came to an end, he didn’t want their time together to cease. They washed up the dishes, side by side, and tidied until there was nothing left to do.

“Thank you for the pancakes,” she said. “Muffin approves.”

He dared to reach out and stroke her hair, soft as downy feathers. “I forgot.”

Her breath had gone shallow. “Forgot what?”

“How soft your hair is.”

She leaned in and then stopped. “Maybe this isn’t a good idea.”

He closed the gap between them and kissed her. He felt her warm to the kiss, her lips the same perfect fit he remembered.

She broke off and looked at him searchingly. “You seem different, Beckett.”

“How so?”

“I don’t know exactly. It’s like you believe all of a sudden.”

“Believe what? That I’ll be cleared of this mess? We’re a long way from that.”

“No, it’s like you found a part of yourself that you lost a long time ago, back in high school.”

He didn’t want to move. Instead he wanted to stay there, drinking in her eyes and the small hope that burned deep down in them. “I…I’m trying.”

She cupped his cheek. “Keep trying,” she whispered. “No matter what happens. Remember that you are who God says you are.” And then she kissed him again, a quick kiss, but so much the more meaningful because she’d initiated it. She turned to go and stopped quickly, bent slightly.

He was next to her in a flash. “What? What is it? What’s wrong?”

When she straightened, tears glazed her cheeks. “I…I felt the baby move.” Her tears continued to stream unchecked as he embraced her, and he added a few of his own. Heart thumping in a joyful cascade, he saw her safely to the cabin.

You are who God says you are.

It was time to make things right.

He picked up the phone and made a call to arrange a long-overdue meeting.

CHAPTER SIXTEEN

She awoke a few hours later. A residual glow from the pancake dinner still kindled in her veins. And to think that the first time she’d felt their baby move, Beckett had been there with her. What did it all mean? Was God telling her to open her heart again? Could she even if she decided to? Like Beckett, she had her own invisible wound, a scar left when her foster family had made it clear they were not the forever family she’d craved.

They’d stopped wanting her, and she’d told herself that Beckett had too. But the man she’d shared pancakes with, who’d nearly sacrificed his life for hers at the borax works, was not that same man. Had he changed, or had she? Though she prayed for clarity, none came.

She went to the window, expecting to see Beckett snoozing under the quilt. Instead she found Officer Norris sitting with his gaze fixed out into the night. She opened the door.

“Hello, Officer. I didn’t expect to see you here. Where’s Beckett?”

“He called and asked for someone to hang out here until he got back.”

“Got back from where?”

“I don’t know, ma’am, but he called to tell me he’s on his way. He’ll be here in about a half hour.”

“All right. Thank you.” Puzzled, she closed the door. What errand would have been so important to take him away from the hotel, especially while they were eagerly awaiting word from Rita?

She kept watch for his arrival. Just before nine, he pulled up and parked, shook Norris’s hand, and the officer drove away. She pulled on a sweater and her roomiest sweatpants and opened the door. Admiral cracked a sleepy eye, slogged off the bed and followed.

He greeted her, startled. “I thought you’d be asleep.”

“Me too. Where did you go?”

“I…”

Admiral let out a bark and trotted off as fast as his stubby legs would carry him.

“No, Admiral, stop,” Laney cried. The dog disappeared between the lodge and the west wing of rooms. Beckett and Laney followed, but Admiral was spry for an elderly canine, and he made off into the woods behind the property.

Laney clapped a hand to her forehead. “Oh, he’s simply fixated on this tree full of squirrels that live on the far side of the woods.”

“That same tree he was fascinated with back in the winter?”

She quirked a smile, pleased that he remembered such a small detail. “Yes. He’ll keep going until he’s half dead of exhaustion, unless I stop him.”

“I’ll take the truck and drive around to the road. You shouldn’t be out here at night.”

“I’d better go with you. No offense, but he’s not going to come when you call.”

Beckett laughed. “Now, that I believe. We’ll go together, but you’re not getting out of the truck. I’ll call Levi too and have him help out if we need to widen the search party.”

The night was shifting from slate gray to black, the stars beginning to poke through the velvety sky. She wanted to ask him about his mysterious errand, but she had to keep her eyes peeled for any sign of her AWOL companion.

They reached the small bridge that separated the hotel property from the vast wild expanse behind theirs. At the far side of the stone structure was the sprawling ancient oak, home to Admiral’s rodent nemeses. She rolled down the window and yelled.

Hearing no reply, she hollered again. Admiral zinged out from the shrubbery, whining pitifully. Her skin prickled. “Admiral, come here, baby.”

But the dog turned back into the shrubs.

“Naughty thing,” she breathed.

Levi rode up on his mare, a flashlight in his hand. Willow followed him on a smaller horse. “We were watching a movie,” she said. “Figured a double set of eyes would be better. Levi can’t always find the milk in the fridge, so I figured…”

Levi smirked at her. “Thanks, sis.”

“You’re welcome. Found him yet? I heard whining when we got close, or maybe that was Levi.”

Laney would have laughed at the sibling gibes, but