Renee Ryan - Homecoming Hero

“But—”

“It’s not safe. Your brother didn’t want you in danger.”

She heard the plea in his voice. “But mission work is dangerous. Clay knew that. I know it, too.”

“I don’t care how prepared you think you are, you can’t go there alone.”

She touched his shoulder, surprised at the tension she felt under her hand. “I won’t be alone. I’ll have others with me. And, of course, I’ll have God.”

His shocked gaze locked with hers. “The Lord can’t protect you from roadside bombs.”

Looking into Wolf’s angry expression, Hailey knew words wouldn’t get through to him now. But maybe a firsthand account would.

“Come to church with me this afternoon,” she said. “A couple who are permanently based in the Middle East are visiting,” she explained.

“You’re not going to listen to another word I say unless I agree to this, are you?”

“Nope.”

“You are one hard-headed woman, Hailey O’Brien.” His tone held a hint of admiration.

“So I’ve been told, Captain Wolfson.”

grew up in a small Florida beach town. To entertain herself during countless hours of “lying out” she read all the classics. It wasn’t until the summer between her sophomore and junior years at Florida State University that she read her first romance novel. Hooked from page one, she spent hours consuming one book after another while working on the best (and last!) tan of her life.

Two years later, armed with a degree in economics and religion, she explored various career opportunities, including stints at a Florida theme park, a modeling agency and a cosmetics conglomerate. She moved on to teach high school economics, American government and Latin while coaching award-winning cheerleading teams. Several years later, with an eclectic cast of characters swimming around in her head, she began seriously pursuing a writing career.

She lives an action-packed life in Lincoln, Nebraska, with her supportive husband, lovely teenage daughter and two ornery cats who hate each other.

www.millsandboon.co.uk

Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.

—Matthew 11:28

To First Lieutenant Erik J. Anthes. I’m humbled by your continued dedication to our country.

Thank you for your service, my friend.

May God keep you safe and in His arms always.

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

Epilogue

Letter to Reader

Questions for Discussion

U.S. Army Captain Ty Wolfson stared at his friend’s childhood home in stunned silence. He’d been so focused on getting off post he hadn’t considered what he might find once he arrived in Savannah. The possibility that he’d be standing in front of a two-hundred-year-old house in the heart of the historic district hadn’t crossed his mind. Not once.

But here Wolf stood, confronting generations of tradition, wrapped up neatly in what the historical marker deemed O’Brien House.

As he read the story of the O’Brien family history, guilt twisted painfully in his gut. It should be Clay preparing to climb up these steps. Not Wolf. Not like this, under these terrible circumstances. And yet…he would walk inside that house. To fulfill the promise he’d made to Clay on that Iraqi roadside.

Determined to accomplish the difficult task before him, Wolf started forward, but a jolt of sorrow knifed through him. The feeling was so strong, so visceral he had to stop and swallow several times to get the emotion under control.

Breathing hard, he lowered his gaze to the grainy photograph he’d kept with him for the last six months. The sight of Clay’s little sister grinning back at him made Wolf’s heartbeat quicken with anxiety.

Dressed in a traditional graduation gown with the requisite mortarboard scrunched on top of her head, Hailey O’Brien looked far too young, and far too innocent to have set such a dangerous course for her life.

Whatever it took, Wolf would stop her. He owed that much to Clay. And the friendship they’d shared in Iraq.

Blinking the grit out of his eyes, he stuffed the photograph back in his pocket and studied Clay’s childhood home a moment longer. He knew he was stalling, but he needed a chance to take it all in.

The three-story brick mansion filled an entire city block. Each floor boasted rows of tall, double-glass doorways leading onto cast-iron balconies. A fence in the same ornate design ran along the perimeter of the manicured lawn, encircling tall trees and large bushes that reached halfway to the second floor.

With his gaze tracking the adjacent streets, Wolf experienced a sense of claustrophobia. There were too many trees in this part of town and the houses were too close together. He’d lived too long in the desert not to feel pinned in now.

Shivering, he blew into his cupped palms. The temperature had dropped to a sharp, bitter cold that turned his breath to frost. Clay had prepared him for the heat, with his constant griping about the Savannah humidity. But he’d said nothing about this bone-rattling cold that made Wolf’s leg ache more than usual.

A light mist swirled in the gray, depressing air. The perfect accompaniment for all the regrets he harbored in his heart. Duty was all he had left. Duty and this one goal, the fulfillment of his promise to a fallen friend.

“Might as well get this over with,” he muttered.

Gritting his teeth, Wolf set out across the street. He hid the pain in his left leg behind an even gait and stone-cold determination.

After three sharp raps of the ornate knocker the door swung open. Wolf jerked in surprise. With her dark hair, big green eyes and curvy figure, Hailey O’Brien was not the teenager he’d prepared for in his mind. She was a woman—a throat-clogging, heart-stopping, beautiful woman.

He knew he was staring. How could he not? Clay’s sister was nothing like the fuzzy graduation picture her brother had kept on the dash of their Humvee and Wolf now had in his pocket.

Wolf tried to speak. Even managed to open his mouth, but memories got in the way and he pressed his lips tightly together. His head filled with contrasting images of Clay kicking around a soccer ball with some local kids outside the forward operating base. Clay blinking up at him on the Iraqi roadside as he was bleeding out.

Clay issuing the request that had brought Wolf to this house today…

You gotta keep Hailey out of the Sandpit, Wolf-man. No mission work. Not here. Promise me you’ll stop her.

Wolf hadn’t hesitated in his response. I won’t let you down.

The memory of his own words pushed Wolf into action. “Are you Hailey O’Brien?”

She nodded. Slowly. And it finally registered that she’d been standing there speechless, just like him. Even now, she simply stared at him with her beautiful, unguarded, attentive eyes. Waiting. Watching.

“I…” Wolf cleared his throat. “I was a friend of your brother’s.”

Instant pain filled her gaze and the wall went up. Wolf hadn’t expected that.