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“The stars look so near,” she whispered. “I feel as if I can reach out and touch them.”
“Want me to get one for you?”
She turned her head the slightest bit, bringing her face close. Her full, bowed lips lifted in a soft smile.
“Would you?”
He was a missionary, a man not given to impulse, a man very careful not to overstep his bounds, but he wanted to kiss the lovely Sam.
He shifted around toward her, lifting one hand to brush a stray lock behind her ear. As he’d expected, her hair was silk. In the moonlight, their eyes met and held.
Then the sweep of car lights found them and Eric moved away, both thankful and sorry for the interruption.
“There’s my ride,” Sam said. Eric leaped to his feet and helped her up. Her skin, even after a hard day’s work, was as silky as her hair. Regretfully, that would change by the time her mission team left Africa.
They walked to the car, still holding hands.
“Thanks for your help today.”
She shook her head. “No. Thank you. I learned so much. I never—” Her voice choked. Eric moved closer, but Sam backed away and reached for the car door. “Bye, Eric. Today was wonderful.”
As the car pulled out, Eric raised a hand. “See you tomorrow.”
But he didn’t. In fact, Samantha never returned to the orphanage again. Eric was not only disappointed, he was bewildered to learn that Sam was not a part of the missions’ team. The team didn’t know her any more than he did.
No one could figure exactly what had happened. One thing for certain, she’d made an impression on him.
Eric spent a couple of days talking to God about the incident. Because for that one, beautiful day, he had almost believed in love at first sight.
And he didn’t even know her last name.
Chapter Two
Present day, Chestnut Grove, Virginia
His dream was coming true.
Eric Pellegrino sat at the desk inside the offices of Tiny Blessings Adoption Agency reading the home study of a prospective adoptive family.
Last year, after much prayer and counsel, he’d resigned his work in Africa to take the job as assistant director in charge of developing an international adoption program for Tiny Blessings. Now that the director, Kelly Van Zandt was pregnant and had cut back on her hours, he was heavily involved in all aspects of the agency, but his dream of finding permanent families for the orphans of Africa never left his thoughts.
Matunde and Amani were waiting. And the paperwork to make them his official children now awaited approval from the South African government. If all went well, other orphans would also soon be crossing the waters to loving families.
He completed his notes on the prospective parents and slid their information into a file. They, too, were interested in adopting from Africa.
As much as he missed the children, he liked his job here, although he sometimes chafed at wearing a suit and living by an alarm clock.
The Tiny Blessings agency was a good one, committed to doing Christ’s work, though an ugly scandal had rocked the place over the last couple of years. Kelly, with her meticulous organizational skills had nearly killed herself to set things right. Or rather someone had tried to kill her to keep things quiet.
Thank God, the insane woman had been caught and dealt with. Kelly, Pilar and all the other staff members worked diligently, not only to move new adoptions forward, but to right the wrongs of the past.
But every time they doused one firestorm of trouble, another seemed to flame up. Someone still didn’t want Kelly’s husband, Ross, to investigate the old falsified adoption records and had recently sent a threatening letter to the agency.
As a newcomer, Eric often had trouble keeping up with events that had happened before he’d arrived. But he’d been blessed with a great new church and new friends, and was knee-deep in fund-raising efforts for his African projects. Life was good. Different but good.
Anne Williams, the agency’s bookkeeper, appeared from the back of the long, narrow building. Eric liked the shy gentle woman, and he was glad she had married an old missionary acquaintance of his, Caleb Williams. In fact, Caleb, now a youth pastor, was the man who had recommended Eric for his current position.
A newspaper tucked beneath her arm, Anne said, “Andrew Noble called while you were conferencing with that new family.”
Eric reached for the telephone. “Should I call him back?”
Anne shook her head. “He only wanted to thank you again for chairing the youth-group committee for the upcoming fund-raiser.”
Every year the Noble Foundation held a picnic to raise funds for charitable groups. Eric was thrilled because this year the fund-raiser was earmarked for orphanages in Africa.
“Considering it’s a project close to my heart, I’m glad to do it. And the kids at the youth center are full of ideas. A good bunch, too.” He already knew most of them from his Sunday school class at the Chestnut Grove Community Church. Grabbing a pen, he scribbled a note to get snacks for tonight’s meeting. Teens worked better when food was part of the deal. “Did Andrew mention if he or Rachel had found a cochair?”
The new international adoption program was taking a lot of his time. Add his already busy schedule, church and an occasional night out, and Eric wasn’t sure he could swing the full responsibility of organizing the youth’s portion of the fund-raiser. He hoped that Andrew and his cousin Rachel would soon pick a cochair for the event.
“Andrew says Rachel has someone terrific in mind and is awaiting a call back.” Even though the pregnant Rachel was on bed rest, she remained involved with foundation work by telephone and computer.
“Did he say who?” Not that it mattered. Eric would work with anyone who desired to help his kids.
“You’re going to like this.” Anne placed the newspaper on the desk in front of him and tapped a picture. “If Rachel can convince her, this is your cochair.”
Eric looked down at the newspaper photo. All the air whooshed out of his lungs.
Samantha Harcourt. The woman he couldn’t forget even if he wanted to. The woman who disturbed his dreams and whose memory sent waves of humiliation flowing over him. He’d nearly made a fool of himself in Africa. Had actually prayed for God to send her back after that first amazing day. Had spent many late nights standing outside the orphanage, listening to the call of the jackal, and wishing he could forget her.
But how could he?
Now that he was back in the States, he found her picture was literally everywhere. Billboards, magazines. Sam Harcourt, ad model for Style Fashions, the hottest trend in America.
As a man who’d lived most of his adult life in Third World countries, he’d had no idea the sweet missions’ worker was a top fashion model.
Once he’d discovered her identity, he’d felt like a total idiot. He’d also understood why she’d never returned to the orphanage. She wasn’t a missions’ worker at all. Like celebrities everywhere, she loved publicity and what better press than to say she’d worked among the poor, starving orphans of Africa?
Wasn’t this photo proof enough? He remembered when she’d asked one of the kids to take it. She had both arms wrapped full of children, Matunde and Amani in her lap. The unfinished orphanage served as background.
A souvenir, she’d claimed. Yeah, right. Publicity, plain and simple.
He hissed in a slow, anxious breath.
Sam Harcourt was back in town.
Lord forgive him, but he prayed Sam would be too involved with herself to serve as his cochair.
Eric faked to the left, then bounded down the court, dribbling past two boys, both determined to slay him in their weekly game of Eric and the girls against the guys. Tonight was the first meeting of the picnic committee, but important things like basketball had to come first. He was ready to go up for the short jumper when the girls on his team suddenly gasped and stopped playing.
“It’s her,” Gina squeaked. “It’s Samantha Harcourt.”
Eric’s heart stumbled. So did his feet. Sam was here.
He hoped that didn’t mean what he thought it meant.
“Walk!” Caleb Williams blew his whistle, clapping his hands for the ball, but Eric forgot all about the game.
He stared at the entrance of the Youth Center. A tall, gorgeous blonde had come into the room, accompanied by her sister, a young mother Eric knew from church.
“I didn’t know she was back in town,” Gina gushed, eyes sparkling with admiration. Every teenager in the place was staring, drop-mouthed. Eric worked hard not to do the same.
Get it together, Pellegrino. You know what she really is. Another rich girl gone slumming.
Wasn’t that what everyone back in his college days had said about Katrina before she’d dumped him for the country-club set? The same warning applied here.
“Is she going to help out in the center?” Nikki, another of the youth group, asked with that same sound of adulation.
Eric’s lip curled, even while his traitorous heart slammed against his rib cage. “I think she’s here for the meeting.”
“No way,” one of the kids said in hopeful disbelief.
“Way,” he admitted, trying not to show his reluctance. “Rachel Cavanaugh asked her to work as my cochair.”
He was not too happy about it, but he knew better than to say anything negative in front of a bunch of teenagers. In truth, he was ashamed of his negative reaction, but he’d been burned before. With Sam, he’d had no warning and she’d left her mark on him.
Gina, the shy, quiet one of the bunch, stared at Eric. “You know her?”
Though the rest of them were sweating like pigs, the slender teen wore a baggy sweater.
“Know her?” He shook his head. “Not really.”
Which was perfectly true. The beautiful, compassionate woman he’d met in Africa clearly did not exist, and he felt like an idiot for building up this fantasy that she was his one and only, sent by God. Man, what a joke.
“If she helps with the fund-raiser, maybe we can get her to stick around here and help with other things.” As youth director, Caleb was always on the lookout for more adult volunteers.
Eric stifled a protest. More time with Sam was the last thing he wanted. If he wasn’t so committed to the work in Africa, he’d drop out of this fund-raiser himself.
“Maybe she’ll start a fitness class,” Gina said hopefully. “Models are usually great at staying in shape, and some of us need to work out more.”
Eric found the remark amusing. Gina didn’t have an ounce of fat on her.
“Whoa baby!” seventeen-year-old Jeremy murmured. “If Sam starts a class, I’m joining.”
To everyone’s amusement, Gina elbowed her boyfriend in the ribs.
When the nonsense died down, Caleb nudged Eric. “Are you going to welcome your helper?”
“Do I have to?” he asked and instantly regretted the reflexive response.
His friend shot him a strange look. Eric flushed, embarrassed to have Caleb see him so discombobulated. He needed to lope out the side door and get his head together.
“Eric,” Sam called, the perfect smile lighting her face as she crossed the distance between them. “It really is you. I couldn’t believe it when Rachel said we’d be working together again.”
Eric’s stomach sank to his toes. So, it was true. She had agreed to cochair. Dandy.
“Hello, Sam,” he said coolly, mouth tight. “How’s the modeling business?”
Samantha’s smile faltered. She felt the chill of Eric’s greeting clear to her bones. Disdain, cold and condemning filled his dark chocolate eyes, eyes that had followed her all over the world. But those same eyes that had once admired and welcomed her had grown icy. Her fear in Africa had been justified. Now that he knew who she was and what she did for a living, he didn’t approve. She wasn’t surprised, but she was disappointed.
“I’m sorry we didn’t get a chance to say goodbye in Africa. Our shoot wrapped early and we had to catch a plane.”
Her reasons, apparently, didn’t impress him much. She tried again. “I’ve thought a lot about Africa since then.”
“I’ll bet you have.”
Now what did he mean by that?
After one life-changing day at the orphanage with Eric, she’d thought of little else. She even dreamed about the profound despair and the selfless missionary with the teasing smile and the handsome face. Her life since that day had seemed empty and unfulfilling. Most people would think she was crazy, but with her career at its zenith, she’d come home to rethink her future. What did she want to do with the rest of her life?
“I’m on hiatus,” she said, straightening her smile so that only she knew it was no longer real. Obviously, Eric wasn’t as pleased to see her as she was to see him.
“That’s nice.” Eric glanced toward the clutch of gathered teenagers and motioned toward an open door. “Head for the meeting room, guys. Time to start planning.”
And then he turned his back on her and walked away.
The next two hours were both miserable and wonderful for Sam. She liked the kids in the youth group. At first, they seemed intimidated or awed by her, something she hated. But after a bit, they opened up and began tossing out ideas in earnest, no longer focused on the celebrity in their midst.
Scribbling the latest brainstorm on a yellow pad, she glanced at Eric from the corner of her eye. He had not warmed up in the least. With the kids, he was friendly and funny just as he had been in Africa, but with her he was as cold as Antarctica. What had she done, other than be who she was, to warrant his unfriendliness?
“Let’s see, we have nominations for a concession stand, a space walk and pony rides. Does anyone know where we could get ponies?” Eric pointed a pencil at Caleb, who’d sat in on the meeting. “You know most of the townsfolk better than I do. Any ideas?”
“I’ll ask around and get back to you.”
“We have to choose something simple that can be put together easily but will still make plenty of money,” Sam said.
“The concession sounds easiest to me,” Eric answered. “We could make a schedule, work shifts, assign different ones to collect the supplies.” He looked around the table. “What do the rest of you think?”
“Sounds cool to me,” Nikki answered. Of all the teens, Goth girl Nikki was the most outspoken. “I’ll make the schedule of workers.”
Several of the others groaned. Nikki was a tough taskmaster.
“Is there any reason why we can’t run two activities?” Sam asked as an idea hit.
All eyes turned to her, including Eric’s dark chocolate ones. “What do you have in mind?”
“How about a dunk tank?”
“Yes!” Jeremy said and punctuated his approval with a fist in the air. “I can think of a million people I’d pay to dunk. Starting with the school principal.”
