precision, leaving her drained and shaky.
“Dinner’s ready,” he said. Then he turned and hightailed it back to the kitchen.
Wondering what was wrong with the man, and what was wrong with her for caring, Kaitlin gently tugged Caleb to his feet. “Let’s go see what your daddy whipped up for dinner.”
* * *
Slade ladled the vegetable soup the day nurse had made earlier into bowls to go along with the sandwiches. “Hope you like soup. Terri is a great cook. She let this simmer all day.”
Not one for sparkling conversation, he decided to just give Kaitlin the soup and let her eat. After that scene in Caleb’s room, he felt overwrought and disoriented. Truth was, seeing his son smiling and laughing with a pretty woman tore at the hole in his heart. He really should take one of the casserole girls up on attending the church social. Just to get out of the house more. Papa was always telling him he’d never find a woman if he didn’t ever bother to be around available women. Why his dad worried about such stuff was beyond Slade.
Well, they both wanted Caleb to find a mother figure he could trust and love again. Slade didn’t think he needed to be concerned about a female companion for himself, however. His job kept him occupied.
“Smells great,” Kaitlin said. “Makes me think of my grandmother’s kitchen.”
“Where’d you grow up?” Papa McNeal asked, his hands pressed together.
“In Mesquite, just outside Dallas.” She glanced at Caleb, then lowered her voice. “Just my mom and I, but my grandmother lived close by. My father had to...uh...leave when I was a baby and...my mother...passed away when I was a teenager. Then it was just Grandmother and me. But Grandmother had a sister here in Sagebrush, so after I left for college, she moved here to be closer to Aunt Tina. They both passed away just years apart.”
Slade nodded, understanding she had chosen her words carefully because of Caleb.
“You all alone?” his son asked, clearly deciphering what “passed away” meant.
Slade hoped the boy didn’t start asking about his mother. It was hard to explain over and over that she’d never come back to them.
Kaitlin glanced at Slade before answering. “I don’t have any family nearby, but...I have Warrior and I have people I work with and go to church with. So no, I’m not alone.”
Caleb’s gaze moved from Kaitlin to Slade. “And you have us. Right, Dad?”
Slade felt as helpless as a new puppy. He grunted a reluctant, “Yeah, sure.”
Warrior, having heard his name, did a little “Yeah, sure” of his own. That dog was a lot braver than Slade right now.
Papa, looking amused, took his soup from Slade and waited for him to sit down. Then he reached for Kaitlin’s hand on one side and Caleb’s hand on the other. “We say grace before our meals,” he explained.
Kaitlin took his hand, then realized she’d have to take Slade’s on her other side. She shot him a look that shouted “Oh, no.”
So she was afraid of him? Maybe disgusted with him? She probably thought he was the world’s worst parent. Or maybe the world’s worst law-enforcement officer since he couldn’t settle a five-month-long case.
He stretched his hand toward her, all the while preparing himself for the current of awareness he always felt when he was around her. Did she feel it, too?
She took his hand, then quickly lowered her head and shut her eyes.
Slade remembered having her in his arms earlier, remembered seeing that gun pointed at her temple, too. The first memory warmed his soul while the last one stopped him like a cold bullet.
He jerked his hand away before his daddy said Amen.
When he ventured a glance at the woman sitting at his kitchen table, he saw confusion and hurt in her pretty eyes.
Well, that was the effect he had on most women.
* * *
The house was quiet now.
Kaitlin lay on the comfortable bed in the spare room and listened, unable to sleep. Every creak settling in the walls, every twig brushing against the house, caused her to wake with a start. She hadn’t tasted this kind of fear in a long, long time.
She thought about the man who’d brought her here. She should feel safe with him in the house and she did. But she couldn’t get that masked man out of her head.
After dinner, Slade told her he had to finish up some paperwork. Mr. McNeal went to bed when his night nurse, Jasper, arrived. The big male nurse apparently slept in Mr. McNeal’s room. Kaitlin, left sitting, offered to get Caleb ready for bed.
No one argued with her. She enjoyed helping Caleb with his bath and putting on his superhero pajamas. Then he insisted on showing her his favorite hiding place—a big plastic toy box that looked like a miniature house centered underneath the bay window in the dining room. Slade told her it was where Caleb and Chief apparently played and sometimes fell asleep. After demonstrating how he and Chief could both fit inside the little house, Caleb asked her to read to him. So she snuggled up against a Texas Rangers baseball pillow with Caleb and read several books. It wasn’t long before Warrior joined them, content to curl up at Caleb’s feet and stare with adoring eyes at his new friend.
A girl could sure get used to that.
But not this girl and not with this family. Slade McNeal practically shouted “Off limits” each time he looked at her. The man had pulled away from her during the dinner blessing. Did he find her that distasteful to touch? Did he wish he hadn’t brought her into his house? Kaitlin had no answers. None at all. She knew how he’d made her feel earlier today when he’d comforted her after that attack...but she’d never know how Slade felt, good or bad. That man wore a coat of armor like a true knight. And he was good at rescuing damsels, no doubt.
But he needed to work on the Prince Charming factor a little more. Not that it mattered to Kaitlin. She’d given up on men a long time ago, since her work took up most of her time. She poured all of her love on the animals she trained. Maybe she was a lot more like Slade McNeal than she realized.
Now, wide awake and restless, Kaitlin got up and tugged her terry cloth robe over her flowered pajamas. Her throat burned like a parched desert. She needed a glass of water.
Opening the door slowly, so she wouldn’t wake the whole house, she sent Warrior a command to stay. The big dog gave her a reluctant look, then curled back into a ball of fur.
Moonlight guided her up the wide hallway toward the kitchen. Remembering where Slade had put the glasses, Kaitlin found a juice glass in the cabinet and then ran some water from the sink. She quenched her thirst and turned to stare over at the big plastic storage box under the window.
And heard a definite clearing of someone’s throat behind her.
* * *
Slade watched as Kaitlin pivoted, the glass in her hand, and stared out into the darkness. “Who’s there?”
Hating the quiver in her voice, he
