Love Inspired Suspense April 2023--Box Set 1 of 2 by Laura Scott

Author:Laura Scott
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Harlequin
Published: 2023-05-15T00:00:00+00:00

* * *

Jude drove them back to Felicia’s house. Felicia was silent and he wished she would say something, anything. Think about what she’s just heard about the woman who is likely her mother. Get over yourself, why don’t you? She doesn’t have to deal with things the way you do.

Or didn’t, maybe? Felicia’s accusation still stung. You’re afraid of becoming your father. He’d kept his own father out of his mind through iron will. But not wanting to repeat his dad’s mistakes didn’t mean he was fearful of actually turning into the man. Distracted, he saw a cardboard box with “Gracie” written on the side on Felicia’s front porch as they drove up.

Gracie started to run with Stretch to check it out, but Jude got there first. Eyes riveted on Jude, Felicia took the leash from Gracie. “Gracie, wait. We’ll let Sheriff Duke carry that, okay?”

“She can call me Jude,” he said, hefting the carton.

Gracie didn’t respond and he figured she didn’t want to call him anything, since he’d stepped between her and her toys. Sorry, kiddo, he thought, hoping he hadn’t been gruff. After the two went inside, he put the box on the porch step and quickly went through it.

It felt strange, pawing among the small treasures: a ratty bunny rabbit, a set of books about horses, a framed photograph of a toddler Gracie, Keira and a tall, lanky man with a broad smile who must be Luca. The three of them looked as though they belonged together, a happy family. For a split second he imagined what it would be like to stand in a photo with his own wife and child, but the vision wobbled, and instead he pictured his father, smiling, charming, lovable, until he’d gambled away his mother’s savings and, worse, taken up a series of relationships with women half his age. Disgust tasted like acid in his throat, and he felt again the sting of Felicia’s words.

But she was wrong. He would never be anything like Ron Duke. He simply had a healthy disregard for his dad’s failure, and there was nothing wrong with that. Jude was gruff, blunt and too old for Felicia Tennison, but he wasn’t and would never be Ron Duke. Case closed.

He finished rummaging through the toys and found nothing unexpected, so he carried the box inside and placed it near Gracie, who was folding paper napkins for lunch. She hastily put the napkins on the table and knelt on the floor to look inside the box. Stretch sat with her, his attention torn between the contents of the box and the smell of peanut butter.

Jude’s stomach growled so loudly it made Stretch bark. “Sorry.”

“No need to be sorry,” Felicia said. “You’ve been with us all day. The least I can do is make you a peanut-butter-and-jelly sandwich.”

A snack before he hit the road. “That’d be nice. Give me a minute to fill Fox in and I’ll join you.” He made the phone call, got Fox’s voice mail and left a detailed message.

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