Lois Richer - North Country Hero

The Soldier’s Homecoming

Back home to heal, army veteran Kyle Loness can’t wait to leave the town that holds such sad memories. He never expects beautiful newcomer Sara Kane to enlist his help with the town’s new youth center. What does he know about helping kids? But the more time he spends with the troubled teens—and Sara—the more the jaded soldier feels his defenses crumbling. It might take Sara—and the kids—to open his guarded heart to love again.

Northern Lights: On the edge of the Arctic, love awaits.

“I’m not the kind of person

men want to marry.”

“You’re not?” Kyle’s eyes did a head-to-toe scan of her. “Why?”

“I’m not pretty,” Sara admitted, embarrassed. “I don’t know anything about fashion or how to dress. I certainly don’t know anything about love or, uh, romance. I’ve never even dated.”

“Sara, not every man is concerned about glamour or looks. Not that you have to worry. You’re a very beautiful woman.” He touched her arm as if to reinforce his words. “But what matters most is that you have a generous, tender heart that cares for people. That’s the most attractive thing about you.”

Inside her heart the persistent flicker of admiration she always felt for him flared into a full-fledged flame. But Sara didn’t know how to respond. If she wasn’t careful, his kindness would coax her into confessing the ugliness of her past and then he’d see that she wasn’t any of those things he’d said.

LOIS RICHER

began her travels the day she read her first book and realized that fiction provided an extraordinary adventure. Creating that adventure for others became her obsession. With millions of books in print, Lois continues to enjoy creating stories of joy and hope. She and her husband love to travel, which makes it easy to find the perfect setting for her next story. Lois would love to hear from you via www.loisricher.com, loisricher@yahoo.comor on Facebook.

North Country Hero

Lois Richer

www.millsandboon.co.uk

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For Jehovah hears the cries of his needy ones

and does not look the other way.

—Psalms 69:33

I wrote this story after losing my father last September.

I dedicate this book to his memory.

I love you, Dad.

Contents

Chapter One

Chapter Two

Chapter Three

Chapter Four

Chapter Five

Chapter Six

Chapter Seven

Chapter Eight

Chapter Nine

Chapter Ten

Chapter Eleven

Chapter Twelve

Chapter Thirteen

Chapter Fourteen

Chapter Fifteen

Epilogue

Dear Reader

Questions for Discussion

Chapter One

“I’ve already told you, Marla. I don’t want to get involved with this ‘Lives Under Construction’ place.”

The anger in the man’s voice and the mention of her new employer piqued Sara Kane’s interest so much, she stopped reading her book on the northern lights.

“Yes, Marla,” he said with a weary sigh. “I know you told me I need to get involved, that you believe it will facilitate my recovery. And I will get involved. Eventually. But I told you I’m only going back home to Churchill to settle things. I’m not looking to get involved and I’m certainly not staying.”

Sara suddenly realized she was listening in on someone’s private cell phone conversation. Shame suffused her, but it wasn’t as if he was whispering!

Sara tried to refocus on her book but couldn’t because he was speaking again.

“Fine,” he agreed with some exasperation. “I promise you I will touch base with Laurel Quinn while I’m there, since you’ve already told her I’m coming.”

Did that mean this man knew Laurel? Maybe he, like her, was one of Laurel’s former foster kids, Sara mused.

“But touching base is all I’m going to promise you, Marla. You’ve been a wonderful therapist, and I appreciate everything you’ve done for me. But I have to stand on my own two feet now.” Though he barked out a laugh, Sara heard an underlying bitterness. “Two feet—get it? That was supposed to be a joke.”

Sara didn’t understand what was so funny, but then that wasn’t unusual. At twenty-two, there were a lot of things she didn’t understand. But she would. She was going to Churchill, Canada, to work, but while she was there she intended to do all the things she’d missed during the ten miserable years she’d been in foster care.

First on her to-do list was finding her birth mother.

“I don’t know what my future plans are, Marla. That’s what I need to figure out.” The man’s voice suddenly dropped. “Everything I loved doing is impossible now.”

The words brimmed with such misery, Sara had to force herself not to turn around and comfort him.

Don’t give up, she ached to tell him. Life will get better.

“You’re breaking up, Marla. I’ll call you after I get to Churchill. Bye.”

Churchill, Manitoba. Her new home.

A wiggle of satisfaction ran through Sara. This was her chance to start over. This was her opportunity to figure out how to be like everyone else instead of always being the oddball, and how to have the life she’d dreamed of for so long. Most of all, it was her opportunity to find the love she craved.

For Sara, Churchill would be a beginning. But for the man in the seat behind her, it sounded as if Churchill was going to be an ending. She couldn’t help wondering why.

The train rumbled along. People went to the dining car to eat their dinner. Forewarned by Laurel, Sara had brought along a lunch so she could save her money. The thermos of homemade soup was warm and filling. She’d just sipped a mouthful when he rose behind her. His hand pressed the seat back near her head, dragging on it as he stood. A moment later he walked past her down the aisle, paused politely for a woman with a child to precede him, then followed her into the next car. Sara’s curiosity mushroomed.

When the angle of his body and the dim overhead lights didn’t give her a good view of his face, Sara decided she’d pay more attention when he returned. That way she could ask Laurel about him when they arrived in Churchill.

But though she waited long hours, the man did not return. Frustrated that her formerly fascinating book on the northern lights no longer held her attention because he kept intruding into her thoughts, she finally exchanged that book for another in her bag, a romance about a hero determined to find the love of his life, who’d disappeared five years ago.

Yet even that couldn’t stop Sara’s mind from straying back to him. He was returning to Churchill. Because someone he loved had lived there, someone he’d had to leave behind? For a while she let the romantic daydream she’d been reading become his story. What would it be like to be loved so deeply that someone actually came to find you?

The train seemed to hum as it rolled along the tracks. Outside, darkness began to drape the landscape. Weariness overcame Sara. She leaned back to rest her eyes and again her thoughts returned to him. She’d heard deep longing in his voice when he’d mentioned settling things, as if he ached for someone.

Sara didn’t understand a lot of things, but she understood that feeling.