One Good Man by Alison Kent Read Free Book Online Page A

the most pressing items on her desk before heading home.
    Where Kell was waiting.
    She had tried—and failed—to forget he was at her cottage, sitting at her kitchen table with his laptop, pacing the short hallway while making his calls, perched on the edge of the sofa watching cable news while adding details of their trip to his BlackBerry.
    All of that was her imagination, of course, because she had no idea how he’d been spending his time. The only thing she knew for sure was that he’d be staying the night. Just the thought had her slowing her steps as she crossed Brick Avenue and continued her walk to Lamplighter Lane.
    As Jamie Danby, she’d had very few men in her life. For a year she’d dated Stuart Pearson who managed the Village Greenhouse Co-op south of town. Stuart had been nice, a great guy, patient and kind, and because he’d been all of those things, Jamie hadn’t thought it fair to load him down with her baggage. They’d parted amicably and remained friends; she took the fact that the breakup hadn’t caused more than an uncomfortable twinge as a sign she’d done the right thing for both of them.
    Things had been much different when she’d still been Stephanie Monroe. During those days, girlfriends, boyfriends and her social life had been her number-one priority. She’d never spent a Friday or Saturday night alone, and spent more weeknights partying than in study or sleep.
    It was hard to believe she’d been that girl, to think back on the number of friends she’d had then when she had so few now. And as far as not having men in her life, or even one good man to make her forget those who’d come and gone, well, at least as Jamie she was safe.
    Or she had been until Kell Harding had walked into the clinic. Now she didn’t know what she was. There wasn’t a doubt in her mind that he would do his best to make sure she came to no harm. The doubts crept in when she began to wonder if his best was good enough.
    Would anyone’s best be good enough? Or was her best bet for keeping danger at bay to continue as she had been, relying on herself and her mother and their combined instincts for survival?
    It was the thought of Kate Danby that had Jamie’s steps slowing. As much as she owed it to herself—and to the families of those who had died the night she had lived—to help close the Sonora Nites Diner murder case for good, she owed it to her mother most of all.
    Kate had given up everything to keep Jamie safe, including the Sonora veterinary practice where she’d gone to work after graduating from Texas A&M, and where she’d eventually become a partner.
    For ten years, Kate’s life had been Jamie’s life, and it was time Jamie released her mother from the obligation to protect her Kate had assumed. Of course, Kate had done so out of maternal love; Jamie got that. But now it was time for the mother to let the daughter give back.
    That left only Kell. The part where he was going to work her case wasn’t an issue; she was committed to following his lead, his suggestions, his orders. He was a professional, unsolved crimes his business.
    No, she found herself dreading the next couple of days in his company because having accepted her fate as a singleton, it wasn’t easy to come face-to-face with what she was missing in such a very big way. In such a fit and gorgeous and amazingly kind way.
    When she turned the corner onto Lamplighter Lane and saw his big four-wheel-drive vehicle hulking in front of her cottage, she stopped walking and stood there, imagining for a moment what it would be like to come home to that sight every day. Come home to him every day.
    Was it something she would ever grow used to? Or take for granted? Having a man like Kell Harding in her life? Being resigned to living alone, she couldn’t imagine doing either one, but he wasn’t in her life, not in that way, and her daydreaming wasn’t productive. She shook it off, continuing down the sidewalk to her back door.
    That was