Glynna Kaye - Look-Alike Lawman

A Little Boy’s Hero

When big-city cop Grayson Wallace visits an elementary school for career day, he finds his heartstrings unexpectedly tugged by a six-year-old fatherless boy. Gray offers to mentor the child, but widowed mother Elise Lopez wants nothing to do with men in uniform. Now he can’t get the struggling Lopezes off his mind. All he can think about is what family means—especially after discovering the identical twin brother he hadn’t known he had in Grasslands. Maybe a trip to ranch country is just what he, Elise and little Cory need.

“Thank you again for going out of your way for my son,” Elise said. “But he needs to get to his homework and I need to get back to my job.”

Gray smiled down at the boy. “Can’t slack on the homework, mister. Wannabe police officers have to keep up their grades.”

The child groaned, then lifted a hand for a parting high five before trotting back to the house.

The officer turned to her, his probing gaze setting loose a truckload of battering rams in her stomach.

For a moment she thought Cory’s cop was going to say something else. But he merely motioned to her vehicle at the curb. “I’d better let you get on your way.”

She was unwilling to get too chatty with the more-than-attractive man. No, he hadn’t crossed the lines of propriety as some had done. Hadn’t asked her out. Nevertheless, she kept up her guard.

* * *

GLYNNA KAYE

treasures memories of growing up in small midwestern towns—in Iowa, Missouri, Illinois—and vacations spent in another rural community with the Texan side of the family. She traces her love of story-telling to the many times a houseful of great-aunts and great-uncles gathered with her grandma to share hours of what they called “windjammers”—candid, heartwarming, poignant and often humorous tales of their youth and young adulthood.

Glynna now lives in Arizona, and when she isn’t writing she’s gardening and enjoying photography and the great outdoors.

Look-Alike Lawman

Glynna Kaye

www.millsandboon.co.uk

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Trust in the Lord with all your heart

and lean not on your own understanding;

in all your ways acknowledge him

and he will make your paths straight.

—Proverbs 3:5,6

To my wonderful Love Inspired editors:

Melissa Endlich, Emily Rodmell and Rachel Burkot. Thank you for believing in me!

Special thanks and acknowledgment to Glynna Kaye for her contribution to the Texas Twins miniseries.

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

Chapter Sixteen

Chapter Seventeen

Chapter Eighteen

Chapter Nineteen

Epilogue

Dear Reader

Questions for Discussion

Excerpt

Chapter One

“My daddy was a policeman, too. A bad guy killed him.”

Grayson Wallace stared at the boy gazing up at him. The little chin jutted in evident pride, but the dark brown eyes searched his own for understanding. A connection. Acknowledgment. He was only a first-grader, not too much older than the son of Gray’s former girlfriend. Way too young to have lost his daddy, let alone lost him to a bad guy.

Gray massaged the shoulder of his own left arm, which was held close to his body in a sling. Hadn’t the division captain said, when asking for a volunteer, that visiting a Fort Worth elementary school’s career day was cushy duty? He could still hear the good-natured hoots and catcalls of his fellow officers when he’d raised his hand. Couldn’t blame them. He didn’t have kids of his own. Spent almost every waking moment trying to keep lowlifes off the streets. He wasn’t known for coaching T-ball, catching Disney matinees or reading bedtime stories in his spare time like many of the other guys and gals did.

But then, they weren’t aware of how close he’d let himself get to Jenna’s boy.

No, catering to kids might not be his gift, but hanging out with grade-schoolers for a few hours was better than another day sitting around the office shuffling paperwork as he’d done the past several weeks. This was a perfect task for a cop on limited duty, recovering from a shoulder injury sustained during an undercover assignment.

But now, looking into this child’s pain-filled eyes, it sure didn’t strike him as cushy.

Grayson crouched in front of the dark-haired boy, aware of other kids crowding close, and uttered the words he instinctively knew the youngster needed to hear. “It takes a lot of courage to be the son of a law-enforcement officer.”

The boy blinked back tears and nodded, his eyes reflecting gratitude that Grayson had taken notice of him.

Poor kid.

“What’s your name?”

“Cory Lopez, sir.”

Sir. Didn’t hear that a lot these days, even in the South. Gray held out his hand and clasped the small one offered. Gave it a man-to-man shake. “Good to meet you, Cory. Like your teacher said earlier, I’m Officer Grayson Wallace.”

The first-grader took a deep breath. “My dad is Duke Lopez. Did you know him?”

Cory’s gaze held steady in confident expectation.

Duke Lopez. Gray remembered the name, although he’d never met him. Lopez hadn’t been one of Fort Worth’s finest, but on a force in one of the outlying communities. Nevertheless, any time a cop went down in the line of duty, you knew about it. It impacted you. You never forgot.

“No, I didn’t know him, Cory.” The hope in the boy’s eyes dimmed, and Gray almost regretted admitting the truth. “But he was a brave man. I heard how he saved his partner.”

The boy took a step closer. “He was a hero.”

“Yes, he was.”

“When I grow up, I’m going to be a policeman hero, too.”

Gray flinched inwardly. His mother must love that. “That’s a fine thing to aspire to, Cory.”

“I’m going to be a firefighter,” a dainty African-American girl piped up, easing shyly closer to Gray. Like Cory, her outfit conformed to one of the acceptable variations of the Fort Worth Independent School District’s K-8 dress code—a collared navy shirt and khaki pants. The regulations helped keep kids from all walks of life on more even footing starting out and served to discourage gang affiliation and too-provocative clothing.

“A firefighter is a fine thing to be, too.”

The girl beamed and nudged a classmate.

“Did a bad guy hurt you, mister?” A blond boy pointed at Gray’s sling. Did he dare admit to kids this young that there were not-so-nice people in the world? Then again, in this neighborhood, that was nothing they didn’t already know.

And Cory knew it for sure.

“Okay, children.” Miss Gilbert clapped her hands to get the attention of the first-graders, her cheerful voice raised over the childish chatter. “Time to clean up.”

Gray glanced at the clock. He’d already been at the school several hours, rotating through the elementary classroom along with a fireman, doctor, veterinarian and a marine like his little brother Carter. Each told about what they did and answered eager—and sometimes amusing—questions. But it was now two forty-five on a Friday afternoon. He needed to get going. He had to report back at Division, then pack a few things and head out for a five-hour drive to a western Texas community called Grasslands.