studied the trim, fit man leaning against Ida June’s mustard-colored wall. In long-sleeved Henley shirt and blue jeans, dark brown hair combed messily to one side, he could be any ordinary man, but she suspected he wasn’t. Kade McKendrick was cool to the point of chill with a hard glint to wary eyes that missed nothing. He was tough. Defensive. Dangerous.
Yet, he’d responded to Davey’s need with concern, and he had a wry wit beneath the cynical twist of that tight mouth. He didn’t smile much but he knew how. Or he once had. Her woman’s intuition said he’d been through some trauma himself. Her woman’s heart wanted to bake him cookies and fix him.
A little troubled at the direction of her thoughts, she raised her coffee mug, a shield to hide behind. She didn’t even know this guy.
“What could be so terrible that a child would stop speaking?” she asked. “I can’t imagine.”
Something flickered in the stolid expression, a twitch of muscle, the narrowing of coffee-colored eyes in a hard face.
“I plan to find out.”
“I heard you were a cop.”
“Listening to gossip?”
She smiled. “Not all of it.”
The admission caught him by surprise. He lightened, just a little, but enough for her to see his humor. She didn’t know why that pleased her, but it did. Kade needed to lighten up and smile a little.
“I am.” He went to the sink and dumped the remaining coffee, rinsed the cup and left it in the sink. “A cop, that is. Special units.”
“You don’t want to hear about the other rumors?”
He made a huffing noise. “Maybe later. You don’t want to hear about the special units?”
“Maybe later.” She smiled again, hoping he’d smile, too. He didn’t. “The important thing is Davey. Your police experience should help us find his family.”
“Us?”
“Well …” She wasn’t a person to start something and not follow through. She’d been there when Davey was found and she didn’t intend to walk away and leave him with all these unanswered questions. “I know the community really well. People trust me. They’ll talk to me. I don’t know the first thing about investigating a missing boy.” She stopped, frowned. Davey wasn’t missing exactly. “Or rather, a found boy, but I know how to deal with people.”
Kade raised a palm. “Let’s not get ahead of ourselves. It’s early yet. Someone may come home from work tonight, find their son gone and call in. Problem solved.”
“Do you think they will?” she asked hopefully.
“To be honest?” He dropped his arms to his sides, shot a look toward the living room. “No.”
Something in the sudden clip of his voice chilled Sophie’s bones. She frowned and leaned forward, propping her arms on the metal dinette. Ida June must have had this thing since the 1950s. “Have you worked in Missing Children before?”
She was almost certain he flinched, but if he did, he covered the emotion quickly.
“In a manner of speaking.”
Sophie waited for an explanation, but when none was forthcoming, she asked, “Do you have any ideas? Any thoughts about where he came from or what happened?”
“A few.” He crossed his arms again. She recognized the subconscious barrier he raised between them. What had happened to this man to make him so aloof? For a people person, he was a challenge. For a Christian, he was someone to pray for. For a single woman, he was dangerously attractive. What woman wouldn’t want to delve behind those dark, mysterious eyes and into that cool heart to fix whatever ailed him?
“Care to share?” she asked.
He cocked his head, listening. “Davey’s awake.”
Sophie hadn’t heard a sound, but she pushed away from the table and hurried past Kade to the sofa and the little boy who’d had her prayers all day. Behind her, a more troubling and troubled presence followed. She was in the company of two mysterious males and they both intrigued her.
“Hi, Davey.” She sat on the edge of the couch, the warmth of Davey’s sleep-drenched body pleasant against her leg. Kade’s big dog, a golden retriever, slid off the sofa and padded to her master. He dropped a hand to her wide skull and stood like a dark slab of granite watching as Davey looked around in that puzzled “Where am I?” manner of someone waking in a strange place.
“Remember me? I’m Sophie. My students call me Miss B.”
The towheaded child blinked stubby lashes and rubbed the sleep from his eyes. He sat up, the blanket falling to his waist.
Sophie grinned up at Kade. “Your shirt?”
A wry twist to one side of his mouth, Kade nodded. “My sweats, too. His clothes are in the dryer.”
Davey pushed the cover away and stood. The oversize black pants puddled around his feet. Sophie laughed. “I need a camera.”
Davey looked down, and then, too serious, glanced from Sophie to Kade and back again, eyes wide and uncertain.
“Guess what? We have some great new clothes for you. You want to look through the bag and find something you like?” She dragged the bag from the chair with a plastic thud against green shag carpet and pulled open the yellow tie. “There’s a very cool sweatshirt in here. And wait till you see this awesome jacket with a hood and secret zip-up pockets.”
She was rewarded when Davey realized her mission and went to his knees next to the bag. Sophie held up a T-shirt. “What do you think?”
He nodded eagerly, then plunged his hands into the sack and removed a pair of cowboy boots. His whole body reacted. He hopped up, stumbled on his long pants and would have gone down if Kade, swift as a cat, hadn’t caught him. “Easy, pard.”
“I think he likes his new duds.”
Davey held the boots up for Kade’s inspection. Sophie watched with interest as the man pretended to consider before nodding his head. “Shoulda been a cowboy myself.”
Davey’s face broke into a wide smile. He plopped onto the floor and shoved at the too-long pants to find his feet. Sophie’s smile widened. “Here, Davey. I think you could use some help.”
Kade moved into action. “Why don’t we find some jeans first and then try the boots?”
But Davey was already shoving his small feet into the brown-and-white-stitched footwear. His foot went in with an easy whoosh of skin against leather. Thrilled, smile wide enough to crack his cheeks, he leaned in to hug her from the side. Sophie’s heart pinched. The boots were obviously too big, but Davey behaved as though she’d given him the best Christmas present of his life.
He levered himself up with her shoulder and attempted to clomp around, still grinning. The sweats puddled on the floor and tripped him up again. Kade reached out to steady him, expression inscrutable. “Grab him some jeans.
