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Her Family's Defender
Kim Findlay
He has home advantage…But she's got a strong defensive play.Hockey star Troy Green never gives up. Not on the ice. Not when he battled cancer last year. And not when it comes to his new neighbor, Michelle Robinson. Troy only wants to help the struggling single mom and her sweet kids, but soon he’s falling for her. Is Troy finally ready to trade in his bachelor life and become a family man?
He has home advantage...
But she’s got a strong defensive play.
Hockey star Troy Green never gives up. Not on the ice. Not when he battled cancer last year. And not when it comes to his new neighbor, Michelle Robinson. Troy only wants to help the struggling single mom and her sweet kids, but soon he’s falling for her. Is Troy finally ready to trade in his bachelor life and become a family man?
KIM FINDLAY lives in Toronto, Canada, with her husband, two sons and the world’s cutest dog. When she can get time away from her accounting business, she can be found sailing, reading or writing, depending on the season, time of day and her energy level. You can find her at kimfindlay.ca (http://www.kimfindlay.ca), on Twitter, @missheyer74 (https://twitter.com/missheyer74/), or on Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/KimFindlayAuthor/).
Also By Kim Findlay (#u943ef691-6190-54df-bace-46f4776070ea)
A Hockey Romance
Crossing the Goal Line
Discover more at millsandboon.co.uk (http://www.millsandboon.co.uk)
Her Family’s Defender
Kim Findlay
www.millsandboon.co.uk (http://www.millsandboon.co.uk)
ISBN: 978-1-474-08499-4
HER FAMILY’S DEFENDER
© 2018 Kim Findlay
Published in Great Britain 2018
by Mills & Boon, an imprint of HarperCollinsPublishers 1 London Bridge Street, London, SE1 9GF
All rights reserved including the right of reproduction in whole or in part in any form. This edition is published by arrangement with Harlequin Books S.A.
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, locations and incidents are purely fictional and bear no relationship to any real life individuals, living or dead, or to any actual places, business establishments, locations, events or incidents. Any resemblance is entirely coincidental.
By payment of the required fees, you are granted the non-exclusive, non-transferable right and licence to download and install this e-book on your personal computer, tablet computer, smart phone or other electronic reading device only (each a “Licensed Device”) and to access, display and read the text of this e-book on-screen on your Licensed Device. Except to the extent any of these acts shall be permitted pursuant to any mandatory provision of applicable law but no further, no part of this e-book or its text or images may be reproduced, transmitted, distributed, translated, converted or adapted for use on another file format, communicated to the public, downloaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of publisher.
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www.millsandboon.co.uk (http://www.millsandboon.co.uk)
“Let your mom have some caffeine first!”
Troy passed Michelle a cup of coffee. The tree had more presents underneath it now than it had when she’d finally gone to bed last night. She glanced up at him. He met her gaze with a big grin and grabbed her free hand.
“I know you don’t want charity, but I’ve got more money than I need and no one to spend it on. You guys have had a tough time, and I know you wanted to make this Christmas special for the kids.”
His eyes were warm, and his expression sincere.
“Plus, this should get me out of doing dishes, shouldn’t it?” His eyes sparkled as he broke the serious mood.
Michelle took back her hand, reluctantly. It had felt better than it should have. She’d invited Troy for Christmas, thinking she was paying him back for all he’d managed to do for them. But somehow, he’d turned things around again, and she was even more in his debt.
Dear Reader (#u943ef691-6190-54df-bace-46f4776070ea),
I’m thrilled to be here with my second Harlequin Heartwarming book, and that you’re here, as well!
We met Troy in my first book, Crossing the Goal Line. He wasn’t exactly hero material. But what if he lost some of his macho attitude? What if he got sick, and couldn’t have kids? How would that affect him?
Then I considered what kind of woman could match him. She’d need to be strong. And who would be stronger than an army veteran? Enter Michelle, widowed, newly discharged, with two kids. The trio push Troy out of his comfort zone, and inspire him to be a better man.
I’d love to hear from readers. You can find me at kimfindlay.ca (http://www.kimfindlay.ca), on Facebook under KimFindlayAuthor (https://www.facebook.com/KimFindlayAuthor/) or on Twitter, @missheyer74 (https://twitter.com/missheyer74/).
Kim
To Victoria, Claire, Adrienne and Jessica,
who have made me believe I’m a writer.
Contents
Cover (#ub88d4e13-308f-5825-9b37-e4dce20d2ca0)
Back Cover Text (#u697d89ca-8777-571b-b09e-4995a5651abe)
About the Author (#u4fa07229-e5fb-5a4b-b41a-578ee98a39a6)
Booklist (#u97ad91eb-1a70-54a7-b50d-c096717ccb4e)
Title Page (#u12c5abf9-efb1-5309-8c63-6fb09717367b)
Copyright (#u2f3dbb5f-67c5-5511-96c3-5b16cbeaf02b)
Introduction (#u6b85bf1d-eeb5-5bb2-8e38-e907868f100c)
Dear Reader (#ue6b91a8a-dbbb-50fe-a505-b3e0daa3de64)
Dedication (#u8528d5fa-dc94-5db7-87d8-23fc73b19439)
CHAPTER ONE (#ud725f549-401d-5eaf-afe9-70c23e441aeb)
CHAPTER TWO (#ud3a14045-7ff0-52f2-814b-28780e0daccd)
CHAPTER THREE (#u6d40852f-1655-508d-8c2e-eeeec6e8760a)
CHAPTER FOUR (#litres_trial_promo)
CHAPTER FIVE (#litres_trial_promo)
CHAPTER SIX (#litres_trial_promo)
CHAPTER SEVEN (#litres_trial_promo)
CHAPTER EIGHT (#litres_trial_promo)
CHAPTER NINE (#litres_trial_promo)
CHAPTER TEN (#litres_trial_promo)
EPILOGUE (#litres_trial_promo)
Extract (#litres_trial_promo)
About the Publisher (#litres_trial_promo)
CHAPTER ONE (#u943ef691-6190-54df-bace-46f4776070ea)
TROY HAD NEVER realized that the carpet in the hallway of his condo building had green in the pattern. But then, he’d never had his nose shoved into it before. As he breathed in the musty odor, he tried to assess just how much trouble he was in.
A crazy fan had somehow flipped Troy over, pinned his arm behind his back and sat on him. Not good. On the other hand, he was bigger than she was, and he should be able to get free; he just didn’t want to do any damage to his arm while he did so. Training camp was starting soon, and after missing all of last year, he needed to be healthy and ready to play.
Troy was a professional athlete, he was single and, in his opinion, pretty good-looking. He’d been a key part of the hockey team who’d won the Cup in a hockey-crazy city that hadn’t won that prize for more than fifty years. So he had fans. But he’d never had one go so overboard that she’d snuck into his condo building, followed him into the elevator and then somehow dropped him to the floor. He’d be happy not to have another.
Why hadn’t he paid more attention to the woman who’d followed him into the elevator? He’d been thinking of the day he’d spent on the water, wondering if he should get a boat for himself instead of checking her for her ranking on the crazy meter.
Which would be in the red zone.
He hadn’t really noticed her until he was ready to get out on the penthouse level. There were only two condos on this floor: Troy’s and Mrs. Epps’s. Mrs. Epps was about eighty, Troy estimated, and she was away, so she wasn’t inviting guests over. The only place this woman could be going was Troy’s.
Troy enjoyed being popular with fans. He especially enjoyed being popular with female fans. A couple of them had become very popular with him. But he preferred to be the one choosing, and even if she’d been one of his leggy blondes, he didn’t want a puck bunny tonight.
So when the door pinged open on the penthouse floor, and she started to exit, he put his arm across the open door to block her progress.
“Sorry, sweetheart. You’re not getting out—” he told her, adding a hint of a smile to soften the blow.
The next thing he knew, he was examining the pattern on the carpet while the elevator doors softly closed behind him.
“Do you have a problem?” Troy asked, calling on his reserves of patience. He’d seen the movie Misery. He couldn’t wait too long to get up if she was a real nutcase. But maybe he could convince her to get off him. And more important, protect his arm from any real damage.
“I don’t have a problem now,” the woman responded. “But you will when the police arrive.”
Police? He’d welcome them, or even building security. What kind of crazy was this woman?
“I’m not the trespasser here, so you go ahead and call the cops and give yourself up,” he said as assertively as he could while breathing in who knows what from the carpet. He was going to have to talk to someone about the cleaning in this building.
“I’m not trespassing,” she argued, rustling through her bag with one hand while keeping the other on his twisted arm.
“There are two people living on this floor. I’m one and an eighty-year-old woman is the other. Since she’s away and not getting too many visitors right now, you’re going to have trouble selling that story.”
“Mrs. Epps is letting us stay in her place while she’s on vacation,” the woman responded. She’d stopped groping around in her purse. Troy wasn’t sure if that was progress. He’d hoped she was searching for her phone to call the cops. Now she had both hands free to use on him. He wished he’d looked at her a little closer. He was starting to entertain the notion that she might be dangerous. She’d appeared harmless, but she obviously had some skills, since he was incapacitated on the floor, and she’d done enough research to have discovered not only where he lived, but also that Mrs. Epps was his neighbor and currently on vacation. It was adding up to stalker in his books.
“Nice try. Why don’t we call security and ask them about this?” he suggested. Crap. He was going to sneeze. Would she break his arm if he did?
“How do you think I got into the building? Security let me in,” she retorted.
He was going to have to talk to security, as well.
He spoke in a quiet, soothing voice as if she was a nervous dog prepared to attack. “Okay, then, if you really are staying here legitimately, and everything is on the level, why did you attack me?”
“I didn’t attack you!” Her voice rose. “You attacked me and I defended myself!”
“Attacked you? I didn’t touch you! I just tried to keep an unauthorized person from following me to my place!”
“You tried to keep me in the elevator using force.”
“That wasn’t force. You need to chill out.”
“Easy for a man to say,” she responded with rancor, but she released his arm and stood up. Troy carefully tested his arm and, finding it a little sore but undamaged, got carefully to his feet.
She took a few steps back and Troy got his first good look at her. She was shoulder height to him, about his age, but fit and held herself erect. Her hair was dark and long and tied back in a messy ponytail. She had no makeup on, and she was wearing a rumpled T-shirt and shorts. And she was majorly pissed at him.
She had let him go, but she was still on guard, and it bothered Troy. Wasn’t he the one who’d been upended here? She looked like she’d been hiding behind a dumpster for a few days. She didn’t appear to belong in his upscale building, let alone the penthouse. But he didn’t attack women. Had he done something she could consider threatening?
“I wasn’t trying to attack you.” He tried a smile, one with a little extra charm in it. “But I think I’d know if my neighbor was letting someone stay in her place. The condo board here is pretty strict, so people don’t just drop off their keys to strangers. You’ve got a good story, but you should just walk away now.”
Apparently, the charm in his smile wasn’t working on her. She narrowed her eyes and put her fists on her hips. “Do you even read your condo notices?” she said witheringly. “The board sent one out to inform residents that we were going to be staying in Mrs. Epps’s place. But go ahead and call security if you want. Just do it fast. I’ve had a tiring day, and I don’t want to be standing around any longer than I have to.”
She gave him a long stare, stepped back another few feet and reached into her bag again. He tensed, but when she pulled out her hand she had only grabbed her phone. She swiped it, tapped, and started opening something on the screen. She found what she wanted and held it up to him. “This is a copy of the condo letter.”
She must have decided she was either out of danger or that she could handle whatever threat he posed, because she crossed over to him and held the phone out. He reached for it, but she held on. As if he’d try to steal it.
Reading the screen, he recognized the condo logo on top and scanned enough to verify that Mrs. Epps had asked the board to let someone stay in her condo, and that the board had agreed.
The brunette stepped back once he raised his eyes. Darn, he was in the wrong. She’d nailed it when she’d guessed he never read those condo board letters. They were usually about some stupid rule, and no one expected him to follow every rule.
He should apologize, but it stuck in his throat. He was a big guy, and made his living dominating his opponents physically. This woman had dropped him to the carpet without breaking a sweat. That was troublesome. She had no idea who he was, and that made him all too aware of the year he’d missed playing, and what else he could still miss. And certainly the way she was looking at him like he was a creep wasn’t helping.
But fair was fair. She did belong here, and he’d missed the memo. He probably had more paperwork about the whole deal that he’d ignored.
“Okay. I’m sorry I tried to block you from getting off the elevator. But you didn’t need to pin me to the ground. Maybe say something next time.”
“You think I overreacted?.” She eyed him levelly. “Have you ever been assaulted?”
He squelched the glib response that tried to work its way up. A lot of guys came after him on the ice. He was assaulted pretty well every hockey game. But he was paid for that, and knew what he had signed up for. What she was talking about couldn’t compare. And if she had been attacked herself at some point...
