Military Heroes Bundle: A Soldier's Homecoming / A Soldier's Redemption / Danger in the Desert / Strangers When We Meet / Grayson's Surrender / Taking Cover. Merline Lovelace

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СКАЧАТЬ minute you put her in the car with you, you kidnapped her.” She keyed her shoulder mike. “Micah? Ethan? I’ve got her. Leo’s here. I’m behind a building one block from the town center, uphill.”

      They rogered her simultaneously over the crackling radios.

      “Don’t you read the signs, Leo? You could have gotten her killed!”

      “I checked the place out. I’ve been here a while.”

      “Why? Why?”

      “Can I get up?”

      “You just stay where you are.” No way was she going to let him move until she had backup.

      He sighed and shook his head. “I was a bastard, Connie. I’ve had plenty of time to face that fact.”

      “Yeah, rehabilitated by prison. Next you’ll be thumping the Bible at me.”

      To her amazement, his face actually saddened. “Yeah,” he said quietly. “I found God. About time.”

      She hesitated, holding Sophie even tighter. “I’m supposed to believe that—when you kidnapped my daughter?”

      “She’s my daughter, too! I figured that one out, finally.”

      “You never cared before.”

      “I never did a lot of things before that I should have. Instead, I did a lot of things I shouldn’t have. I had this cell mate in prison. He was in for dealing. He spent the whole damn time whining about how much he missed his kids. At first it pissed me off. But then I began to realize something.”

      “Yeah?”

      “Yeah. I realized I’d thrown away the only good things in my life. The only things that mattered.”

      “Amazing conversion.”

      He shook his head. “I don’t expect you to believe me. But I’d never hurt a hair on Sophie’s head.”

      “Then why the hell didn’t you just knock on my door, instead of putting her and me through hell for a week?”

      “Because I knew you’d never let me see her. I tried to talk to you on the phone, but you hung up before I could say anything more than that you have a beautiful daughter.”

      That was true. The truth of it pierced her. But not enough to make her trust this man.

      Ethan appeared, his own gun unholstered, and took up position to one side. “Sophie, are you okay?”

      “I’m fine,” the girl said. “Why is everyone pointing guns at my daddy?”

      Connie answered. “Because he did a bad thing when he brought you up here.”

      “No, he didn’t. I wanted to talk to him. He’s my daddy!”

      Slowly, without permission, Leo rose and put his hands in the air. “So send me back to prison,” he said. “It doesn’t matter. I got to see her. And I’ll be gone in a couple of months, anyway.”

      Connie’s hand wavered, and she lowered her pistol. “What kind of crap is that?”

      “No crap,” Leo said. “You can check. Remember how you always said I should quit smoking? You were right. I got lung cancer. Nothing they can do.”

      That explained why he looked so worn and way too thin. And now, as she stared at him, she could see lines of pain around his eyes and mouth.

      Micah had appeared to one side, and now he spoke. “This isn’t a good place to talk. Let’s go back into town, where it’s safe and dry. We can sort it out there.”

      Connie slipped her pistol back into its holster and snapped the guard strap into place, then turned to squat and hug Sophie as tightly as she could. “Do you know how scared I was? Do you have any idea?”

      “I’m sorry.”

      “Next time, talk to me first. Please.”

      Sophie nodded, but she was watching Micah and Ethan walk her father away. “You won’t put him in jail, will you?”

      Connie hesitated, but as she looked into her daughter’s eyes, she realized there could be a worse crime than the scare she’d had this morning. The seeds of it were already in her daughter’s clear blue eyes.

      “Not if he’s been telling the truth. Fair enough?”

      That seemed to satisfy Sophie, for now at least. Taking her mother’s hand, she followed her back to the SUV.

Chapter 21

      Connie sat on the edge of Sophie’s bed, holding her hand. She’d never felt so tired in her life, but the strain was mostly gone. The threat to her daughter had been eliminated. All the adrenaline that had been keeping her going seeped away like gas from a punctured balloon.

      “I know he was bad to you,” Sophie said. “But he was nice to me.”

      “And I promised you could see him here, in this house, if his story checks out.”

      “I know. People can get better, Mommy.”

      Connie had her doubts, but she wasn’t about to share them with Sophie. People could change, she supposed. After all, that was the basis of her religion. The fact that it didn’t often happen didn’t mean it never could.

      The thought of Leo dying... Well, despite everything, that disturbed her. Saddened her. She didn’t have a lot of feelings about him one way or another anymore, but she could still be saddened by the news. As she would be for anyone.

      She only cared that he treated Sophie well. It would have been kinder if he’d stayed away, so Sophie wouldn’t have to suffer through his death, but that had become moot. In the meantime, she could only hope that Sophie garnered some good memories to make up for not having a father all this time.

      “Where’s Ethan?” Sophie asked.

      “Downstairs, I think.”

      “I want a good-night hug.”

      “I’ll call him.” She wished she knew if this growing attachment was a good thing. Ethan had proved himself to be a good and caring man, but if he moved on, and he most likely would, Sophie would suffer another loss. But she could no longer prevent that. Too late. Amazing how much had suddenly become too late, even as the pressure of the threat lifted.

      But life brought loss to everyone sooner or later. She couldn’t shield Sophie from everything forever. She’d learned that the hard way this week.

      Ethan came up in answer to her call and bent over the bed to give Sophie a warm hug. “No more shinnying out the window, Missie, or I’ll handcuff you to your bed at night.”

      Sophie giggled, the happiest she’d sounded all day. “I won’t, I promise.”

      “Sleep СКАЧАТЬ