Heartfire

Published by Karen Rose Smith for Kindle

Copyright 2011 Karen Rose Smith

Revised and Updated Edition

Original Copyright 1993 Karen Rose Smith

Original title:  Homefire, Heartfire

All Rights Reserved

No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.

This is a work of fiction.  Names, characters and incidents are either the product of the author's imagination or are used fictitiously.  Any resemblance to actual events or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

www.karenrosesmith.com

Prologue

The May breeze wafting through the kitchen window ruffled Tessa Kahill's brown curls as she stared at Max Winthrop's broad back.  He peered out the back door, watching his son play on the swing set in the yard.  His shoulders were so straight and stiff, so stoic as he kept all of his emotion tucked securely inside.

Tessa didn't know whether to go to him or not.  Long ago she'd blocked out the memories of the summer they'd spent together before she'd taken off for New York, before he'd gotten to know Leslie.  All these years, Tessa had relegated him to being her best friend's husband.  And for the most part, she’d stayed away.  That had been best.

Now Leslie was gone.  During the past month since Leslie's death, Tessa had been in Jenkins, Connecticut, staying with her best friend's parents, trying to give them comfort.  Throughout her college friendship with their daughter, they’d been kind and supportive of her.  She would have tried to give Max comfort, too, but he'd isolated himself during her stay, though she'd tried to help with Ryan.  He was a proud man, insisting on handling his responsibilities himself.  She wished he didn't disapprove of her lifestyle so.  She also wished he could accept more of her help.

Crossing to the door, she stood beside him.  "Max?"

He stared straight ahead.  "Ryan's only four.  What's he going to do without her?  What am I going to do without her?"

Tessa couldn't keep from reaching out to him.  She couldn't keep from laying her hand gently on his arm.  "You're strong, and Ryan's resilient.  You'll get through this.  You'll go on with your lives."

Max turned to her then, his whiskey-brown eyes moist.  "I miss her."

His unexpected openness and sadness released Tessa's grief, and her throat tightened.  At one time, she and Leslie had depended on each other.  Tessa had been closer to Leslie than she’d ever been to anyone.  "I do, too."

Tessa didn't know how it happened, but suddenly Max's arms surrounded her and she held him tight.  As her hand rested on the warm skin of his neck, as she felt his heart beating under hers, as she felt his strength and comfort, she unexpectedly felt something else, too.  She tried to push it away, but it came back.

Max needed her comfort so she didn't pull away.  But she held perfectly still and didn't breathe in his male scent.  She shut out the sound of his heart.  She blocked out the wonderful feel of his muscled arms surrounding her.  And she told herself she was just lonely, grieving, missing the one person in the world she'd felt closest to.  This moment would never happen again.

She had to get back to work.  The assignment waiting for her in Italy would help her heal.  Traveling around the world had made her a person who belonged everywhere rather than someone who belonged nowhere.

Max would heal, too.  All he needed was time.

Chapter One

Three Years Later

Tessa stood at the bottom of the ladder, looking up.  "Max?"

A shingle came sliding down the garage roof and landed on bushy stalks of yellow pincushion mums.  Max's voice carried over the edge with it.  "Tessa!  I thought you were arriving next week."

"I finished my assignment and decided I could use some R and R now."

"I'll be down in a minute."

Tessa never waited if she could help it.  Her sneakers made no sound as she climbed the ladder tilted against the detached garage.  Her jeans rubbed the rungs while her oversized red-striped shirt blew away from her back and puffed behind her as she reached the top rung.  She stopped.  Max was shirtless, his jeans riding low on his hips.

When he saw her, he shook his head and gave her a wry smile.  "I thought I told you I'd be down."

No one had answered the front door to Max's Cape Cod.  On an Indian summer Saturday afternoon in Connecticut, she'd known Max and Ryan wouldn't be cooped up inside.  "I wanted to see the view.  Look at the orange, red and yellow trees against the blue sky!  Don't you wish you could take a picture in your mind and keep it forever?"  She started to climb the slight incline to reach the peak where he stood.

Max gave her one of his penetrating looks.  "You might be used to mountains, but I don't want you falling from my roof."

He was referring to her trip covering the latest women’s team who'd climbed Mt. Everest.  "Max, you worry too much."

She couldn't keep from staring at his bronze shoulders gleaming with sweat in the late-afternoon sun.  Since the day when she and Max had comforted each other, Tessa had kept her distance from him, though not from Ryan.  She loved her godson, and as she had every September since he'd been born, she'd come back to Jenkins for his birthday.

Suddenly, a zooming ball of motion sped into the yard from alongside of the house.  "Tessa!  Tessa!" Ryan shouted as he saw her travel bag and laptop computer on the ground and her on the roof.  "You're here!  My birthday's not till
next
Saturday.  Hey, Dad, did you know she was coming today?"

At the sound of Ryan's voice, Tessa spun around and her foot slipped.  Before she could take a breath, Max caught her around the waist.  Suddenly she smelled hot musky male, and she knew if she turned her head, her nose would brush the soft dark brown curls on Max's chest.  The roof whirled, colors blurred, and she put her hands on his arms to steady herself.

"Will you get off the roof now?" he asked in a low, controlled tone.

She didn't think it was the roof that was making her shaky.  "All right."  She called to Ryan.  "I'll be down in a minute."

Max took his arm from around her waist.  "Let me go down first so I can hold the ladder."

She smiled and teased to cover the disturbing sensations that lingered.  "I'll let your macho tendencies dictate...this time."

He returned a slow, reluctant smile.  "But I'll pay for it in the future?"

"You bet."

Max inhaled a deep breath and climbed over the top rung of the ladder, feeling as if he’d been caught up in a whirlwind.  Tessa always demanded notice.  It was her verve, her energy, her intensity.  Yes, he'd been attracted to her once...before she'd left him for her career.  Before he'd become involved with Leslie.  He'd always been thankful Leslie had worked at the resort with Tessa that summer in the Poconos, thankful for his marriage, thankful for the wonderful result—Ryan.

Tessa didn't wait until Max was on the ground before she started down the ladder, and he shook his head with exasperation.  She was almost in front of him, almost between his arms, before he could move away.  He felt the backs of her thighs against his chest and momentarily lost the urge to step aside.

She paused to look at him over her shoulder.  "I'm okay now."

Startled by his unexpected reaction to her, Max moved to the left and held the ladder with one hand.

When Tessa was finally on the ground, seven-year-old Ryan wrapped his arms around her legs and squeezed so hard she almost lost her balance.  Smiling, she squeezed him back.  "Hi there, pancake.  I've missed you.  What have you been up to?"

"I was nex' door playing with Scruffy.  Flo says she can't throw the ball as good as she used to.  You
are
gonna stay 'til my birthday, aren't you?"

His next-door neighbor was in her sixties and owned a mutt Ryan loved to play with.  But Max forgot about Flo and her dog to listen to Tessa's answer to his son's question.

"I sure am.  But I have to call a motel so I don't have to camp in your backyard tonight."

"Aw, Dad, can't she stay here?  It'll be great.  Like a sleepover.  I can't go with her like I used to and stay at Nana's house anymore."

Max thought of Leslie's parents—the only caring family Tessa had ever experienced.  Five months ago they'd moved to Arizona to find relief for Ryan's grandfather's arthritis.  They'd hated leaving their grandson, but he and Ryan were supposed to visit them next summer.  Max wondered if they could also somehow manage a visit to
his
parents' farm in Nebraska.  It was important for Ryan to stay in touch with his extended family.

"I don't want to put your dad out," Tessa said softly.

"But we can't make pancakes in the morning if you're at a motel," Ryan wailed.

"We could go out for breakfast instead," she offered.

"Dad..."

Max met Tessa's gaze.  She'd never stayed in his house before.  But it would be stupid for her to rent a motel room.  After all, she'd been Leslie's best friend, especially during those  months before his wife died.  Tessa had called or e-mailed every day and visited whenever she could.  More than once, he’d overheard Leslie pouring out her fears to Tessa, her concern about her son.  Why shouldn't Tessa stay?