Page 15 of One Last Promise

She turned in and found herself pulling up to a magnificent timber house with a large cleared yard, a garage wing and, from what she could see in the fading light, a view of the river.

A porch covered the entrance, up a short, wide flight of stairs, a light over the door, beckoning and . . .

This was a bad idea.

Who was this man? She’d pictured his house as a nice ranch-style house, or even a split-level in a suburban neighborhood, something modest and unassuming, like Moose.

But Moose was a lot more than she thought. He did own and operate a private search and rescue team, and that probably took money. And skills. And sure, she was already a little wowed by that, but . . .

But this . . .

Yep, very bad idea.

She turned her car off and stared at the house. A few other cars sat in the drive—a Jeep, a Nissan Rogue. And as she sat there, she heard music drifting into the night, and laughter and . . .

He had friends. And a life. And she just couldn’t bring trouble into it.

Except . . .Find me if you need me. And then, for a second, she was sitting in a booth with him, and he was telling her about his cousin who’d gone missing and how he regretted that, and . . .

And then Pearl reached out of heaven and down intoher heart and said . . .

“Trust.”

Right. For Pearl. For Hazel.

She got out of the car. Headed up the stairs. Stood at the door. Then closed her eyes and pushed the doorbell.

Managed not to run when she heard footsteps.

Bad. Bad idea?—

The door opened.

Silence. Moose stood there, a tall, gentle giant, his frame filling the door. He wore a flannel shirt, rolled up at the elbows, and a pair of jeans, and the slightest tousle to his hair, those gray-green eyes pinned on her, and he smelled weirdly delicious, as if he’d been grilling and . . .

No, this was a very?—

“Tillie.” He stepped out then, and maybe she’d stepped back—probably, because inside she was already running—but he caught her hand. “You’re hurt.”

She’d completely forgotten about her face, thanks to the horror in her chest, but she nodded, then shook her head and—shoot, now her eyes burned.

“Come in.”

He tugged her inside. Shut the door behind her. Then came to stand in front of her, so much concern in his eyes that standing there in the entryway, she knew it would be okay.

Somehow, they would be okay.

Even when she looked up at him and said quietly, “I need your help, Moose. My daughter has been kidnapped.”

And it wasn’t quite the truth, but close enough.

He just blinked at her, his expression hollow. Probably from the revelation of the fact that she had a daughter.Oops. But he said nothing. Just reached out and pulled her against him, his big arms around her, holding her tight. “Okay,” he said softly. “Okay.”

Oh, she wanted to lean into him, to put her arms around his neck and hold on, toclose her eyes, but . . .

But they had no time.

Still, just that moment was enough.

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