Read Online Defender for Hire by Shirlee McCoy - Free Book Online Page A

into Seth Sinclair’s face.
    “Didn’t mean to startle you, Tessa,” Seth said as Tessa opened her window. The last thing he’d wanted to do was scare her.
    “What are you doing here?” she mumbled, her eyes cloudy with sleep. She looked tired, her skin a shade too pale, the bruises on her neck muted shades of blue and green.
    “I attend church here.” He reached in the window and flipped the door lock. “And it’s potluck night.” He held up a foil-covered casserole dish that he’d picked up at Catherine and Darius’s place.
    “You cook?”
    “Does heating up soup from a can count?”
    “No!” She laughed, closing the window and getting out of the car. “If you can’t cook, where did you get the casserole?”
    “It’s meatballs. Catherine made them, but she can’t make it tonight. Morning sickness in the evening, Darius said. He asked if I’d drop them off.”
    “Because he wanted you to check up on me?”
    “Something like that.” Seth didn’t bother to deny it. He’d been working through the exercises Tessa had given him when the phone rang. Truth be told, he wasn’t a potluck kind of guy. It just wasn’t the kind of place a single guy hung out.
    Unless he was looking for a single gal.
    Which he wasn’t.
    “You don’t seem like a potluck type of guy.” Tessa echoed his thoughts, and he laughed.
    “Truer words were never spoken. Maybe we should ditch this place and go get some real food,” he suggested, surprising himself with the invitation.
    Maybe he had come looking for a single gal—a very specific one.
    One he hadn’t been able to stop thinking about, no matter how many times he told himself he needed to.
    Tessa hesitated, then shook her head. “It’s probably best if we just do what we’re supposed to.”
    “You sound like you’re heading to the gallows.” He took her arm and led her through the parking lot, automatically scanning the area for any sign of trouble. He didn’t expect there to be any, but Darius had asked him to keep an eye on Tessa, and that’s what he planned to do.
    Of course, he would have done it, anyway, even if Darius hadn’t asked him to.
    “I don’t mean to sound that way. It’s just that going to church without Daniel seems strange.”
    “Daniel? Your husband?”
    “Yes.” Her cheeks heated. “That probably sounds silly. It’s been five years—”
    “You don’t have to explain yourself, Tessa.” He opened the door and she walked into the large vestibule ahead of him. “It took me nearly four years to feel comfortable going to family functions without my wife. After she died, I avoided them like the plague when I was home on leave.”
    “I didn’t realize you’d been married.”
    “I was. Julia was killed by a drunk driver while I was in Afghanistan”
    “I’m so sorry, Seth.” She touched his wrist, her fingers barely brushing skin. Somehow, that was all it took. Heat raced up his arm, lodging somewhere in the vicinity of his heart, and suddenly all he saw was Tessa. Her deep-green eyes and fair skin, the freckles that dotted her nose and cheeks, the burnished red hair that curled against her neck.
    Surprised, he took a step back. “Thanks,” he managed to say. “Come on. Fellowship hall is this way.”
    He led her through the crowded hall and into a large room set up for the potluck. Dozens of tables filled the space, most of them already occupied by families or groups of friends.
    He scanned the room, looking for an empty table.
    “Seth! Over here!”
    A small blond woman with a perky smile and bouncing curls nearly dislocated her arm trying to get Seth’s attention. He wanted to ignore her, but he knew she’d persist. Peggy Sue Tanner was nothing if not determined.
    “Peggy Sue.” He offered the brief acknowledgment, hoping that would keep her away.
    He should have known better. One of several women who considered Seth prime relationship real estate, she’d spent the past few months trying to convince him that