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Safe In The Lawman's Arms
Patricia Johns
Close to homeMontana sheriff Mike Cruise never pictured himself as a father. But with temporary custody of a toddler, he has to learn the ropes fast. Thankfully, new nanny Malory Smythe fits right in, and Mike begins to believe he can make this family thing work. Although he knows it can’t last for ever…After her cheating ex left her pregnant and alone, Malory can’t risk repeating her past mistakes with men, especially with a child on the way. When their makeshift family is threatened, will it drive Malory and Mike apart…or will it bring them together for good?
“Katy needs to be as far from the Cruises as possible.” Mike clenched his jaw.
“I mean, would you just walk away once she was placed with someone else?” Malory asked.
He sucked in a deep breath, then slowly let it out. “Emotionally, I’d have to, but I’d still keep an eye on her … make sure she stayed hidden.”
She nodded. He’d made his decision before she’d ever arrived, and she wasn’t about to change his mind.
His dark eyes moved back up to meet hers, and for the first time his guard was dropped. This wasn’t the sheriff looking down at her, this was the man— strong, solid, uncertain. She had to stop herself from stepping closer still.
“I should, um—” She blushed. What she wanted right now was to slip into those muscular arms and rest her cheek against his chest. She wanted to tell him that everything would be okay because she could help him, and he wouldn’t be facing this alone.
But that wasn’t true, and this was dangerous territory.
Safe in the
Lawman’s Arms
Patricia Johns
www.millsandboon.co.uk (http://www.millsandboon.co.uk)
PATRICIA JOHNS writes from northern Alberta, where she lives with her husband and son. The winters are long, cold and perfectly suited to novel writing. She has a BA in English Lit, and you can find her books in Mills & Boon’s Love Inspired and Mills & Boon Cherish lines.
To my husband, who inspires my romantic side. After ten years of marriage, he still makes my heart race.
Contents
Cover (#u64873c7a-9820-56f2-9253-630752f75ce4)
Introduction (#ubf1c9b3b-0ccc-5687-8e17-7da00abe3eaf)
Title Page (#u1d3745fc-e166-5acc-8241-ca0b36e71053)
About the Author (#ua26917ed-7164-5fd7-b9b9-43725ed94ae7)
Dedication (#u28150332-34e2-5ce7-980a-471973e332ff)
Chapter One (#uad4c9678-9348-51f9-911c-b0cbe01d2871)
Chapter Two (#u0dce712f-1d9c-509e-b81c-ef19aa009dc0)
Chapter Three (#u490dd5ba-77b4-5ebf-a104-1f9772d24024)
Chapter Four (#u78655c58-c523-5667-aafe-e94c547060ea)
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)
Chapter Eleven (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Twelve (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Thirteen (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Fourteen (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Fifteen (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Sixteen (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Seventeen (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Eighteen (#litres_trial_promo)
Extract (#litres_trial_promo)
Copyright (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter One (#ulink_566b1fd3-53a0-55b7-8268-cf365e5b541c)
The small girl looked up at Lieutenant Mike Cruise with unblinking blue eyes. One sticky hand clutched his badge—the gold six-pointed star that identified him as a sheriff in Hope, Montana. Her flaxen hair was still tousled from sleep, since she wouldn’t let him comb it that morning, letting out a shriek as loud as a siren every time he came near her with a hairbrush.
He wasn’t used to combing the silken curls of little girls. He was used to pushing himself to the brink on the weights at the gym, patrolling the streets of Hope and breaking up fights outside the local saloon. He was not used to this—a tiny person with more grit than he saw in the toughest ranch hand drinking away his paycheck.
“Katherine.” Mike squatted down next to the little girl. “Can I have that, please?”
She shook her head, small pink lips pursed in disapproval.
“That isn’t a toy, Katherine.” He held out his hand, and the preschooler took a step back. “Please, give it to me.”
Again, she shook her head, then wiped her nose down her sleeve, leaving a snail trail across her cheek.
Yuck. He still had to figure out how to get this child into a bathtub.
“Katherine...” He reached to take the badge from her and she opened her mouth, her shrill wail mingling with the sound of the doorbell. He heaved a sigh and pushed himself to his feet, forfeiting his badge for the moment.
He needed a nanny. Today.
Katherine watched him distrustfully as he turned toward the front door, then stepped over a pot, a sieve, an empty plastic juice jug and a small teddy bear—her favorite toys of the day. He could feel her gaze boring into the back of his T-shirt. Katherine hadn’t warmed up to him and it had been two days already—two very long days.
Mike opened the door. A young woman stood on the stoop, her sandy blond hair pulled away from her face in a ponytail. A smattering of freckles across her nose brought out the chocolate brown of her eyes, making her look a little more girl-next-door than he’d been expecting of a nanny. She wore a loose pink tunic-style top and a pair of blue jeans.
“Hi,” Mike said. “Miss Smythe?”
“Call me Malory.” She shook his hand firmly. “Do you have my résumé?”
“Yes, the agency emailed it.” He stepped aside and gestured her in. She paused in the doorway and looked around the sitting room in silent appraisal, her gaze falling on little Katherine. She bent down to the girl’s level.
“Hello, sweetie,” she said quietly. “What’s your name?”
Katherine didn’t answer, big blue eyes fixed on Malory’s face dubiously.
“This is Katherine,” Mike said. “She’s three.”
“Katherine,” she said with a nod. “That’s a very big name for a very little girl. Can I call you Katy?”
A smile flickered at the corners of the toddler’s lips and she sidled closer to Malory, holding up Mike’s badge. Malory’s eyes widened in admiration and she let out an exaggerated gasp.
“What do you have there?” Malory asked, pointing at the badge. “Can I see it?”
Katy held out the badge and Malory took it, then looked up at Mike, one brow raised.
“Thanks,” he said sheepishly, accepting the badge from her. “I’ve been trying to get that back all morning.”
“Thank you, Katy. That was nice of you,” Malory said and stood up.
He sighed. She hadn’t used any special trick. The little girl already seemed to like this woman better than she liked him.
“Why don’t you come through to the kitchen and I’ll get you a coffee while we talk,” Mike suggested, and he led the way through the living room, past the fireplace. This room used to be his sanctuary—big-screen TV, a wall of bookshelves, a comfortable leather couch with a footrest where he watched the game with friends. Now it was covered in Katy’s playthings, snacks and half-finished juice boxes. The kitchen was spacious, and so far still in one piece. He gestured to a stool at the counter and headed for the coffeemaker. Katy followed them, her gaze still locked on Malory.
“I just got custody of Katherine—” he paused, accepting the new name for the little girl “—Katy—two days ago. She’s my cousin’s daughter.”
“What happened to your cousin?” Malory asked.
“Prison.” He shot her a tight smile. Crystal had been involved in a fatal holdup and she’d been the only one they could pin to the scene, so she’d gotten twenty years without parole. “So Katy has been left to me, the only family member who is stable enough to care for a child.” The old uncertainty swam through his gut and he sighed. “I’m a cop, as you probably figured out.” He put his badge down on the counter with a click. “And I need a nanny for her.”
“Understandable.” Her tone was low and compassionate. “That’s a lot of adjustment for both of you.”
“Afraid so.” As he put the coffee on, she pulled a sheet of stickers out of her purse and stuck one on Katy’s nose. The girl giggled with delight—a sound he hadn’t heard from her yet.
Katy obviously needed more than he had to offer.
“If her mom is in prison now, she may not have gotten all the care she needed,” Malory said. “How is she doing socially?”
“I’m not sure,” he admitted. “I don’t know what normal looks like in a kid her age.”
“Is she potty trained?”
Mike shrugged. “Sort of. There have been a lot of accidents. I wasn’t sure how to tackle that.”
She passed Katy another sticker, and the little girl held out her hands for more.
“How is she at bedtime? Is she anxious, afraid?”
“It takes her a while to settle down,” he said. “I haven’t really been enforcing much of a bedtime. I’ve only had her for a couple of days, and I’ve let her stay up with me until she falls asleep around ten or eleven, and then I put her to bed.” He caught a look of faint disapproval crossing her face. “Not a long-term solution, I know.”
“She needs routine and a proper bedtime, but I understand you’ve been thrown into the deep end here.” She smiled sympathetically. “Preschoolers can be a handful at the best of times.”
“Thanks.” He was mildly relieved to be let off the hook. “Your references are excellent, but I’ve got to ask, what made you decide to work as a nanny?”
“I love kids.” She met his gaze with a comfortable smile.
“Why a live-in position?” he countered. “According to your résumé, you worked as a preschool teacher before this. In Billings. You running away from something?”
It was the cop in him. He couldn’t help it. He suspected the worst in everyone, it seemed, and this fresh-faced nanny was no exception.
Her earlier comfort evaporated and she smiled sadly. “Running? No. Walking briskly. I needed a change, and this seemed like a good way to get it.” She gave him a crooked smile. “I’d give you my criminal-record check if I didn’t think you’d already run one.”
Mike chuckled. She had him there. He’d run a thorough check on her the minute the agency gave him a name.
“So what are you walking briskly from?” he asked.
“Oh, it sounds so trite when I say it out loud. I was in a long-term relationship, and we broke up. I needed the change of scenery.”
It did sound a little trite, Mike had to admit, but it was believable.
“Mommy?” Katy said shyly, lifting a sticker up for Malory’s approval.
“At this age, every woman is Mommy,” Malory said, smiling apologetically. Then she bent down to inspect Katy’s sticker. “It’s lovely, Katy. But I’m not Mommy. I’m Nanny Mal.”
“Nanny Mal.” Katy’s face lit up. “I have a bear.”
“Will you show me?” Malory asked, and Katy ran from the room exuberantly.
“I haven’t seen her so happy,” Mike admitted. “She really seems to like you.”
“Was she living with her mother until recently?” Malory inquired.
“Yes. But it wasn’t a good situation. Her mother was in rehab for drug addiction, then relapsed and got involved a crime ring. If I’d known, I would have stepped in earlier, but my family doesn’t have a lot to do with me.”
“Because you’re a sheriff,” she concluded.
“Exactly. Social Services took Katy and brought her to me. Her mother gave up all rights to her. Signed her away.”
“That’s tragic.” Malory sighed. “Are you going to raise her as your own?”
