Harlequin Love Inspired Suspense March 2021--Box Set 2 of 2 by Dana Mentink (novels to improve english txt) 📗

a father. She started to turn away when the flood of tears started. “I don’t want to talk any more about this now.”

“Laney…”

“I’m tired.”

“Okay.” He sighed. “Good night.”

He left and she stood there, immobile, Admiral licking her ankle.

Why hadn’t she flat out said there was no future for them? Confusion? She’d not wanted to hurt him?

Or was she too considering a second chance? Maybe he was allowing God to change him in some fundamental way. But God would have to change her in a profound way as well, to overcome the chasm of mistrust in her soul. She would not restart a life with Beckett just because he wanted to be close to the baby.

The conversation twisted round and round in her mind, leaving her unable to sleep. Her stomach called. Ice cream. Nature’s perfect food. She crept out of bed and headed for the mini fridge and freezer where she kept her supply of chocolate ripple. Realizing she had left the shades open, she went to close them, startled to see Beckett laid out on the hard wooden bench, one arm flung over his head in sleep. His tall frame was too long for the furniture, and he had to prop his booted feet on the bench arm.

He’d decided the tent was too far away to protect her properly. How comfortable could it be after the battering he’d taken at the borax mines? Gathering up a soft quilt and a pillow, she tiptoed onto the porch and unfolded it gently over him.

He stirred, eyes flying wide, mouth open to speak.

“Don’t talk,” she ordered. “Just follow directions.”

He raised an eyebrow. “But…”

“Quiet.”

He closed his mouth.

“If you’re going to be stubborn and sleep on the bench, at least lift up your head,” she directed.

He did so and she slid the pillow into position. He didn’t reach out to touch her, or talk, but his smile was stunning in the darkness, a silent thank-you that made him look like a love-struck teen.

Love struck.

He loves you? Or he wants you back because of the baby?

There would be plenty of time to think about that in the morning.

She’d had enough angst for one day.

* * *

Beckett folded the blanket and stacked the pillow neatly on top. Levi had kept an eye on the cabin while he’d showered, shaved, fixed a pot of coffee and checked on Rita, who was asleep on a sofa in the lodge.

In a dreamlike state, he remembered Laney draping him with a blanket and her response when he’d asked for a second chance.

Was it possible she might consider it? She was not the same woman he’d proposed to and married. She was stronger somehow; her first priority was the wee life tucked in the merest bump of her belly. He found this different Laney to be even more breathtaking than the one he’d known. And he was changed too, wasn’t he? Wasn’t God showing him that he could be a different man through Laney? He had let what happened in high school mold his perception of himself.

But Laney said there was no condemnation…not from God and not from her…for what he’d done to Dan. No condemnation.

Two words that gave him a sliver of hope.

Laney opened the door of the cabin, emerging in leggings and one of his oversize T-shirts that had to be the most fetching outfit he’d ever clapped eyes on.

“Are you staring?” she asked.

“No,” he said, handing her a cup of decaf. “I like the outfit, that’s all.”

She groaned. “I might have gained too much this week, on account of the shake and a few other snacks I won’t admit to. Dr. Irene will scold me.”

“She won’t dare.”

“She might. We’re good enough friends that we can tell each other things.”

He pulled at his baseball cap. “You’ve talked about me plenty, huh?”

She went pink and he hastened to reply.

“It’s okay. I’m glad you had someone. It must have been brutal when I was arrested.”

“It was brutal when you stopped taking my calls or letting me see you.”

He swallowed the shame. “I’m sorry.”

She sipped the coffee as they walked back to the lodge. A frown creased her forehead. Regret from what she’d said the night before? He couldn’t bear it, but he couldn’t stand not knowing either.

“Are you okay?”

She let out a sigh. “I always feel anxious on doctor appointment days, even when there isn’t a killer lurking and fires burning or…”

Or reliving her husband’s betrayal. He took her hand. “Muffin is strong, like her mama.”

She smiled. “You think it’s a girl too?”

“Man’s intuition.”

She fired a look of mock surprise at him. “Men have intuition? I didn’t know that.”

“We like to tell ourselves we do, anyway.”

In the lodge, Herm was sitting at the table, eating a plate of scrambled eggs and reading a fishing magazine. “Fix you something?” he asked, half rising.

“No,” she reassured him. “I have to fast for a blood test.” She peeked into the sitting room. Rita’s suitcase had been rescued from the smoke and delivered to the lodge, where it sat next to the door. “Where’s Rita?”

“Just stepped into the bathroom, I think. Clouder stayed with her until she fell asleep.”

“That was nice of him,” Laney said.

Beckett finished his coffee when Rita came into the kitchen looking rumpled and sleepy.

“I’m going to call a taxi to take me to town,” she said. “What’s the local company?”

“No need. I’m driving Laney to a doctor’s appointment at noon, but I can drive you before then or Herm might be up for it.”

“Course,” Herm said. “Happy to.”

She looked uneasy. “No, really, it’s fine. I’ll find my own way.”

“It’s the least we can do after what happened,” Laney said.

“No,” Rita snapped. She must have realized the abruptness of her tone. “Thank you, but I will find my own way.”

She looked uneasy as a chicken in a fox hole. Worried about Kenny? It still made no sense what had happened the night before. She had the answers and it was killing him not to interrogate her, and he could not hold back