At Home in His Heart. Glynna Kaye

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СКАЧАТЬ all I can say—” Devon fixed Sandi with a playful look “—is if she’s not fast on her feet, Sergeant First Class Bryce Harding will be off the market in no time. I haven’t been in town but a few hours and I’m already hearing he’s the hottest item on this summer’s menu.”

      Sandi’s mind again rushed to the man who, prior to that first encounter last winter, she’d seen only in photographs. A man who’d had the nerve on that snowy day to stop her on the street, introduce himself and express his long-overdue condolences. She’d no idea he’d come back to town. Was so shocked at his unexpected introduction that she hadn’t handled their meeting well.

      At all.

      Hadn’t done so hot last night, either.

      It had been no easy feat avoiding him since that first ill-fated encounter months ago. Not only did he escort his grandma to church on Sundays—looking as uncomfortable there as might be expected, given his lifestyle—but now he lived above the Canyon Springs Historical Museum. Right above her home away from home since Keith’s untimely death five years ago.

      With considerable effort, she directed a wink at her husband’s little sister. “Help yourself to him, Dev. You’ll have no competition from me.”

      No chance of that. Not in a million years.

      With a sassy grin, Devon brushed a hand through her dark, shoulder-length hair and struck an alluring pose. “Maybe I will.”

      “Don’t even think it.” LeAnne tapped a well-manicured fingernail on the tabletop, a habit that set Sandi’s teeth on edge. Click. Click. Click. “You girls know how I feel about that man. Not someone I’d want either of you getting involved with. I don’t care if he was Keith’s friend.”

      Devon made a face. “Oh, Mom.”

      “He was obstinate and uncooperative as a kid and I doubt that’s changed. A bad influence on Keith from the beginning. And his questionable reputation continues to precede him.” LeAnne glanced around and lowered her voice to a whisper. “Besides, it’s no secret his mother never married his father.”

      Sandi’s sister-in-law smirked. “Like that’s his fault?”

      “He’s too old for you, Devon.” Click. Click. Click.

      “He’s Keith’s age.”

      “Thirty-three to your twenty-three.”

      “I can do the math, Mom.”

      LeAnne turned to Sandi, putting a halt to her daughter’s impertinence. “I suppose you’ll be working the holiday weekend. But is it a good idea for Gina to spend so much time with that Diaz boy? All that tree climbing and rough-housing and—”

      “Come on, Mom,” her daughter cut in. “Now look who’s nagging.”

      “I’m not nagging. I’m concerned.”

      “About what?” Devon wadded her napkin and tossed it on the table. “That the kid might be having fun?”

      Sandi glanced at her watch and rose. Time to make her exit before these two got into it full-scale as they’d been known to do. She forced a lighthearted lilt into her voice. “Thank you for treating me to a birthday dinner. And on one of the nicest days weather-wise we’ve had this year. It’s been fun.”

      She loved them both to pieces, but there was only so much Bradshaw fun she could take at a time.

      “You’re leaving already?” Devon wouldn’t relish lingering alone with her mother.

      As she’d done most of her married life, the now-widowed elder Bradshaw retreated to the family’s mountain home each year to escape the ovenlike temps of Phoenix—the Valley of the Sun. Devon, on the other hand, popped in on occasional weekends and only for as long as she and her mother could tolerate each other. It looked as if this might be an ultrashort weekend.

      Sandi pulled her purse strap over her shoulder. “I’m filling in at the Warehouse a few hours this week. Kara Dixon’s juggling the family business, working part-time with an affordable housing group and helping her fiancé at his High Country Equine Center. Grand opening’s Memorial Day. Since Gina went to swimming lessons with a friend last evening and is at a sleepover tonight, I don’t mind.”

      LeAnne sighed. “Is it necessary that you work at all in the summer, Sandi? Keith’s daughter is at an age where she’ll need a firm, guiding hand when school lets out next week.”

      Keith’s daughter. She always threw that in there when she wanted to emphasize her daughter-in-law’s mothering inadequacies.

      She gave LeAnne a smile intended to reassure, not challenge, but explaining about the necessity for the job would ruin the surprise. Besides, it was already her intention to spend more time with Gina in the coming months. “I’ll only be working part-time—afternoons several days a week—and Meg Diaz is as good of a mother stand-in as I could ever hope to find. Her stepson, Davy, is a wonderful little playmate for Gina, too.”

      “I’m not being critical, darling, it’s just that—”

      “Mom.” Devon’s voice again sliced into the conversation and the pair sat glaring at each other.

      Definitely time to go.

      Sandi bent to give each a speedy hug. They said their goodbyes with promises to get together soon, and with a sense of relief she headed down the street, drinking in the signature scent of Canyon Springs’s ponderosa pine.

      Although she and Keith’s mother had settled into a fairly comfortable peace after his death, it was no secret her mother-in-law hadn’t started out as her greatest fan. From the day Corporal Keith Bradshaw brought his bride home to meet the family, she hadn’t pretended approval of the match.

      After all, Sandi not only didn’t hail from the country-club crowd, but had put herself through a less-than-prestigious Midwestern college on scholarships, student loans and minimum-wage jobs. To add to her unsuitable pedigree, her “introduction” to Keith came via a letter written in support of the troops while he was stationed in Iraq.

      Not at all what Mommy envisioned for her youngest son.

      As much as Sandi disliked the association, she and Bryce Harding had one thing in common: LeAnne Bradshaw’s disdain of their dubious influence on her beloved baby boy. But in Bryce’s case, her mother-in-law’s perceptions were right on target.

      A niggling unease swam up through the murky darkness of Sandi’s subconscious. The same apprehension that assaulted her when she’d run into Bryce last winter. And again last night.

      How much had her husband shared with him about their relationship? About her? About the quarrel that had haunted her for too many long, lonely nights in the wake of Keith’s death?

      And did she really want to know?

      Chapter Two

      “You’re not real talkative tonight.” Grandma Mae, her silver-gray hair tightly wrapped in pink plastic curlers, sat at the kitchen table across from him peeling potatoes into a pan nestled on her lap. Gnarled fingers clasped СКАЧАТЬ