Heaven's Touch

More relaxed, her smile easy and wide. Her cornflower-blue eyes sparkled as she talked with her morning regulars at the swimming pool.

Whatever happened, he’d be seeing her again regularly. But they were strangers now. There was no going back to their high school days, when they’d been practically inseparable. When he’d loved her with his whole heart. When he’d believed they were soul mates.

No such thing as soul mates, Ben told himself as he turned away from her. Failure became a tight vise in his chest until it hurt to breathe. He’d failed at every major relationship he’d ever started, and he knew he’d failed Cadence the most.

A soft lilt of laughter had him turning once again, his soul recognizing Cadence before his mind could. The instant his gaze found hers, she looked up. Their eyes met….

JILLIAN HART

makes her home in Washington State, where she has lived most of her life. When Jillian is not hard at work on her next story, she loves to read, go to lunch with her friends and spend quiet evenings with her family.

Heaven’s Touch

Jillian Hart

www.millsandboon.co.uk

What is important is faith expressing itself in love.

—Galatians 5:6

Dear Reader,

The McKaslin family story continues when brother Ben returns from active duty in the Middle East. He’d been injured in combat and he’s not sure if his injuries will heal enough for him to return to the career he loves and feels called to do. As courageous as he’s been as a pararescueman defending our country, he finds real peril returning to his hometown in Montana—the danger of opening his heart to his high school sweetheart, Cadence. God is always gracious and gives him a little help along the way.

Thank you for choosing Heaven’s Touch. I hope you enjoy Ben’s story as much as I’ve enjoyed writing it.

I wish you joy and the sweetest of blessings.

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

Chapter One

Ben McKaslin climbed out of his pickup, fished his debit card out of his wallet and hit the gas tank lever. His back complained. His leg complained.

He ignored both, because he was no longer in Florida. Gone were the stifling heat and the cloying humidity and the scents of moss and dampness and heat of the Gulf coast he’d never gotten used to. How could any place on earth be as good as Montana?

The sight of rugged amethyst peaks and green rolling meadows touched him deeply. It was good to be going home. There were lots of things he’d missed. The natural beauty of the state was one of them. He swiped at his scratchy eyes.

Well, he wasn’t home yet, but ever since he’d crossed the Montana state line, he hadn’t been able to drive fast enough. He hadn’t wanted to stop for any reason and had kept on driving.

Except for the fact that the truck was on Empty. This stop would be a quick break to gas up and he’d be back on the road. As he glanced around the outskirts of Bozeman, he realized he was exactly fourteen minutes from the sleepy rural town where he’d grown up. Fourteen minutes from the house he’d grown up in.

He grabbed his crutches from behind the seat. The annoying sticks had gotten wedged beneath his stuffed rucksack, so he had to wrestle them out. If his leg could have supported his weight without pain, he’d have left them there, but the streaks shooting up his femur were a little too strong to ignore. Not that he was supposed to put his full weight on his leg much at all, but he fudged it a lot.

He wasn’t the only one at the truck stop, and that surprised him, it being as late as it was—nearly midnight. Of course, this place was visible from the interstate, and the last pit stop for gas and food had been a good thirty miles back. He apparently wasn’t the only one low on blood sugar and running out of gas.

His stomach might be growling like a bear, but he figured on waiting to raid his sister’s fridge, since he knew Rachel would have stocked up for his benefit. He wouldn’t want to let her down, right?

He leaned on the crutches, looking through the dark for danger. It was habit, ingrained from boot camp on through his PJ training, honed in jungles, deserts and mountains around the world. Even here in the good old U.S.A. he couldn’t break the habit as he listened, senses alert, while crossing the short distance from the cab to the gas tank.

On the other side of the pump was a family vehicle, and the pleasant-looking middle-class woman in a loose pink T-shirt, cutoffs and flip-flops measured him suspiciously. She latched the lock on the handle pump, leaving the nozzle in the gas tank, and slid away from him.

It was late, it was dark, she was alone with kids—the dome light revealed two little ones fast asleep in their car seats. It showed good sense on the mother’s part. Ben couldn’t deny that he did look disreputable. Then again, he was paid by the government to be disreputable.

He slipped his card into the slot and waited for the screen to request his pin number, which he punched in lickety-split. His gaze swept the pump piles, which were flooded with bright light. A couple of big rigs were fueling up at the diesel pumps, designed for truckers. A late-night RV ambled in and parked on the other side of the semi’s triple trailers.

The machine beeped, demanding he lift the nozzle and start pumping. He put in plain old unleaded. He was no longer a poor kid growing up in tough circumstances, but old habits died hard. He screwed off the gas cap, and as he was latching the handle lock, a small gray domestic sedan pulled up to the pump behind him.

It was a woman. When she opened her door and the dome light splashed on, he noticed her sleek dark locks of hair, thick and straight, and a heart-shaped face that could only be described as sweet. Or maybe that was his own interpretation.

Wait a minute—he knew that face. Her delicate features had matured, but it looked like…

No, it couldn’t be her.

Yes, it was. He blinked his eyes, staring. It really was her. Someone he hadn’t seen in person since he was a wild and woolly eighteen-year-old with an attitude and a talent for trouble.

Incredibly, Cadence Chapman emerged into the night. She was still tall and straight and slender—as graceful as a ballerina as she walked without watching where she was going. She dug through a well-worn leather wallet and withdrew a ten-dollar bill. She still had that saunter that made her look as if she were walking a few inches above the ground.

I used to love her. His heart wrenched and left him in pain, watching as she headed straight for the cashier inside the attached quick mart.

Her long dark hair fluttered behind her, midway down her back. A small brown leather purse swung from her shoulder. He wasn’t in love with her anymore, but seeing her sure felt surreal, as if it was a dream or something.

He’d pinch himself, but he already knew he was awake and not dreaming. Who would have thought—Cadence Chapman? Hadn’t she moved away right out of high school, with a big college scholarship and even bigger goals?

What was a world-class athlete doing in central Montana? He’d have to ask her when she came back to her car, if she recognized him.

A cell phone somewhere nearby jangled a snappy electronic tune. The woman with the kids. The tune died, and he could hear the faint murmur of her voice from the direction of the driver’s seat. She must have the driver’s door open, so she could listen for the pump. It gave a distinct snap, shutting off. As she spoke to someone—her husband by the sounds of it, Ben tuned her out.

The rush of gas through the pumps served as background noise as he leaned against the side of the truck bed. He had a perfect view of Cadence through the quick mart’s open door. She still had that cool way about her, the one that had often annoyed him so much.

But there was something fundamentally different about her. He couldn’t put his thumb on it as he watched her slip the money on the counter and exchange pleasantries with the clerk, who was a middle-aged man watching her a little too closely, as if he were getting up the nerve to flirt.

But like the old Cadence he used to know in high school, this woman didn’t return the obvious interest and snapped out of the store. She had an athletic stride, and her long lean legs were tanned from the hem of her shorts all the way down to her feet. She wore practical flat sandals.

Not at all like the Cadence he remembered. That girl loved glitter, fancy shoes and designer names. She wouldn’t have been caught in public wearing bargain department-store shoes.

Before he had much of a chance to wonder about that, the air changed from calm to charged, the way it did before lightning struck. He could smell danger even before the woman on the other side of the fuel pump gasped. He leaped to render aid even before the bright flash of fire hissed like a striking snake.

Time slowed as he felt the radiant blast of heat against the right side of his face. In a blink he’d crossed the meridian and was beside the woman before she could scream. This was what he was trained for, and the more the danger, the calmer he became. He was used to the kick of adrenaline that supercharged him. He didn’t feel the shatter of pain in his leg or the sizzle of heat against his skin.

“Release it. Let go. Do it now.”

She didn’t respond. Panic was curling through her, and it was her enemy, blocking all rational thought. He caught her by the arm to keep her from flinging the hose away in panic. He couldn’t let her spread the fire, over her, him or innocent bystanders.

“Drop it!” he commanded.

Only when her fingers released the handle did he shove her to the ground, rolling her on the concrete. This didn’t help douse the flames greedily devouring her loose walking shorts.

Suddenly another set of hands came out of nowhere offering a dripping-wet blanket. Perfect. Just what he needed. He ignored the woman’s cries of protest and smothered the flames. She was out of danger, and the identity of the person who’d come with the blanket didn’t register in his thoughts as he barked commands to keep the woman back—he was already on task for the next priority.

The kids. The vehicle wasn’t yet engulfed. Leaving the nozzle in the tank had bought enough time. Although he saw the first problem: the van had only one side door—on the pump side, where flames were visible through the closed window.

One toddler had started to cry. Ben dived into the driver’s seat, spotted a trucker running with a fire extinguisher and barked orders. “Hit the tank, and stay back.”

You’ve only got a few more minutes, so move, he told himself.

The air in the van was getting smoky. He twisted through the space between the seats, ignoring the awkward angle of his flexible cast. He unbuckled the crying kid, a little girl with red ringlet curls who seemed to have changed her mind about letting a stranger haul her out of her seat.

“I’ll take you to your mom, okay?” he said, hauling her little wiggly form against him. Someone was there—the RV driver, he realized—so Ben shoved the girl at him.

“Go!” he shouted, choked on a mouthful of smoke. The passenger window was open and the flames were roaring.

The sleeping baby was harder to grab. He heard the squeal of a siren, the shouts from bystanders telling him to hurry and the lethal roar of the fire gaining strength. The buckle gave, the limp baby tumbled into his hands and he pulled him against his chest. The baby stirred, waking with a cry, but he was moving fast, feeling the heat and counting the seconds.

Fresh air beat across his face, and he was free. He kept on going, feeling no pain, aware only of the eerie seconds stretching out like minutes. He shielded the little one with his body, keeping on his feet as the fire surged. He felt the heat burn into his back.

The kids were safe, but he was on fire.

He hated fire.

“I’ll take him.” It was a middle-aged woman—probably from the RV, and he handed over the little tyke.

“Go out toward the street. Go,” he told the woman and the man, who must be her husband. “No telling how dangerous this’ll be if it explodes. And get everyone back.”

He beat at his shirt the best he could, but he wasn’t sure about where he couldn’t see or reach. It couldn’t be too bad, though, or he’d be in serious trouble by now. He kept smacking at the worst of it—emberlike spots mostly—and didn’t give it any more thought. He had a medical situation to assess.

It wasn’t as if he hadn’t been on fire before. It happened to soldiers, and he was well trained.

The mom was sitting up on the ground, held back by the clerk from behind the counter. Her fear rose eerily into the smoky air. He saw Cadence kneeling beside the woman, wrapping her burns with dripping-wet rags. Cold water. The best way to cool down the fire-hot flesh. He dropped to his knees and peeled back an icy terry cloth.

Good. The water wasn’t merely cold, it was freezing. Melting chunks from bagged ice bobbed in a bucket. Nothing more than second-degree burns, from the looks of it. She was one lucky woman. But she was frantic, beyond panic, trying to get to her babies.

“They’re safe, I promise. I got them out.” He said it over and over again until the woman focused on what he was saying. “They’re safe, and let me take a look at your hand.”

“My babies. You’re sure? You’re sure they’re out?” She couldn’t believe him. She was in shock, and rightfully so. Worse, she probably didn’t feel pain from the burns, with all the adrenaline in her system. He knew about adrenaline. It was why he was moving his leg.

“I’m sure,” he told her. “See? There they are, safe with those people. Here are the fire trucks. It’s going to be all right. You just lie back and we’ll keep cold water on these burns.”

“Oh, thank God.” Reason returned. Her relief became grateful tears as she refused to take her gaze from the completely unharmed children being looked after by a grandparent-type couple.

“You did good work.” He removed the cloth and redunked it into the ice bucket, intending to thank the Good Samaritan who’d brought the wet towels. Not everyone helped in a crisis. But the instant his gaze met her face, the words lodged in his throat.

Cadence. He should have known it was her. She worked with her head down, intent on icing the mother’s burned knee, and he noticed Cadence’s slender hands. It had been more than a decade, but he would know her long sleek fingers anywhere, slender and soft. Her nails were short but painted a conservative pearled pink.

He took in the details. She wore more inexpensive items. Her cutoffs had been worn nearly white, and the T-shirt was faded from too many washings. It was hard to read the crinkled white letters proclaiming Swim For The Kids.

She was still the same old Cadence with her everything-in-its-place methodology, and she was still a bleeding heart. Swim-a-thon fund-raisers and offering aid.

Well, there was no ring on her left hand. That was something to think about as he turned to the young mother, talking to her above the screaming sirens and the air brakes of the fire trucks. The pain was probably starting to set in now. He thanked the clerk from the quick mart for a blanket and started wrapping her up.

“And you, ma’am.” He offered her one of his best grins and rubbed the tears from her cheeks, gently as if she were a child. “I’m going to turn you over to the paramedics. Look, they’re just pulling up now. They aren’t as good-looking as I am, I’m sure.” He winked. “But they’ll probably be able to take good care of you.”

“You’re trying to make me laugh.” She was sobbing harder. “You saved my babies. How can I ever thank you for that?”

“Ma’am, you don’t need to thank me. I’m your tax money at work. Just doing my job.” He saluted her, because it made the lines of concern wrinkling her brow ease. “You do what these men tell you, and take good care, okay? I’ll be praying for you.”

“Oh, thank you.” More tears streaked down her face.

Ben stood, aware of Cadence’s curious gaze, which he ignored. Duty first.

“What do we have here?” A young paramedic, probably around twenty by the looks of him, came up next to Ben and, with calm and knowledgeable eyes, surveyed the burned woman.

Ben filled him in quickly, so the medic could get to work. As he began to relax, he realized the fire trucks had parked and firemen were busy. The crowd had moved back to the curb, and more interested folks had gathered along the street to watch.

He was surprised to see such a peaceful scene, for he was used to patching up people with bullets flying around him. This was a piece of cake. And a happy ending all around, once the mother’s burns were healed. He was thankful she hadn’t been hurt worse.

But he wasn’t sure what to do about Cadence. She was still talking to the mom as the paramedics began their work. He backed away, turning to make way for the medical equipment and the gurney as more paramedics arrived.

Cadence was busy. And he didn’t want to talk to her. Maybe she hadn’t realized who he was, but if she did, she would not be glad to see him.

Frankly, he couldn’t blame her.

Failure was something he hated, and there was so much of it in his past. Add that pain to the way his leg was killing him and the heat blast from the fire that made his back sting like crazy. It was time to go.

That’s just what he did.

“Hey, wonder man, what about your burns?”

The question that came from behind him was spoken in a serene voice, as peaceful as a lazy summer’s day.

Cadence’s voice. The back of his neck prickled, as it did whenever he felt God at work in his life. The tingle shivered through his spine and into his soul.

She moved after him. “You’re on fire. Hold still, cowboy.”

She still hadn’t recognized him? He waited while she covered him with the charred remains of her stadium blanket. A few pats and the embers were out, and once again he was in Cadence’s debt. Maybe this time he was man enough to know what that meant.

“Are you hurt?” she asked without looking at his face. “Your shirt has a hole in it. You’ve got to be burned.”

“I’m okay.” He turned around and braced himself for the worst.

He watched her go from polite to wide-eyed surprise. So now she recognized him. He hadn’t been sure if she would. Not a lot of folks would these days.

Gone was the long hair of his rebellious youth, replaced by a military cut and discipline that had helped to give him an entirely new purpose to his life. When he’d known Cadence, he’d needed a purpose more than any teenaged boy wanted to admit.

Looking back wasn’t easy.

Nor was it easy to watch the surprise on Cadence’s lovely face turn to disdain. “Ben?”

“Yeah, it’s me.”

“I should have known where there was trouble, you would be nearby.”

“Hey, I didn’t start the fire. Blame it on static electricity.”

“So it’s still that way, is it? Always the other guy’s fault?”

He fidgeted, definitely uncomfortable. She hadn’t forgotten, that was for plumb sure, and there was no friendliness in her shimmering eyes or welcoming smile on her soft lips as she folded up the blanket.

“Your shirt’s no longer smoking, so I guess you’ll make it. You’ll still be here to torment decent folks for some time to come.”

“The good Lord willing.” He cracked her his best grin, the one that seemed to have an effect on women, but she seemed impervious to it.

She didn’t blink. Her stiff demeanor didn’t relax. Her mouth didn’t so much as twitch into an answering smile.

“What are you, a doctor?” she asked, watching him with a jaded eye.

So she wasn’t glad to see him. Well, he’d known that’s how she would feel, and he wasn’t so glad to see her either. A doctor? No. He didn’t answer, because the last thing he wanted to talk about was his life.

What about her life? What fancy city boy had she married? What was she doing here, of all places? Guilt and regret weighed on him as he kept walking.

Some good soul had pulled his truck away from the reach of the fire—he’d left the keys in the ignition—but the driver’s side was looking a little singed. Great.

Well, he didn’t have the energy to get upset about it. Long ago he’d learned that disasters happened, and so he’d taken out full coverage on his insurance. Good thing, because it was a brand-new truck and had four thousand, nine hundred and, oh, about thirty miles on it the last time he’d looked.

“Are you going to have someone look at that back?” Cadence asked.

“It’s nothing to worry about.” He took another step and gritted his teeth. Wow, his leg was hurting worse. As if the heavyweight champion of the world had decided to take a whole lot of warm-up punches on his calf.

“Did you forget something, wonder man?”

Then it hit him. “My crutches.”

“I thought you might need them. That would explain the cast on your leg.” Cadence had known Ben McKaslin most of her growing-up years. This didn’t surprise her. “Don’t tell me it’s broken and you’re walking on it?”

“Walk on it? I hiked ten miles to an LZ, a landing zone, and didn’t bat an eye.”

Good try, but you’re not impressing me, cowboy. Cadence folded her arms across her chest and did her best to glare at him. He was using that charming grin of his, the one he figured could make even the angels forget his every transgression.

She, however, was immune. Immunity gained long ago.

He reached one big hand for the crutches she held. “Contrary to popular opinion, if a fracture isn’t too severe, you know, like a compound with the bone sticking through your skin, you can walk on it. Some of us are tough enough to fight bad guys, secure a perimeter and treat wounded with all sorts of ailments in spite of an injury or two.”

Some things never changed, and that was Ben McKaslin. The grown man in his thirties standing before her was essentially no different from the eighteen-year-old she remembered. The one with an attitude and an overly high opinion of himself. Was she surprised? Well, she shouldn’t be.

She thrust his crutches at him to keep him as far away from her as possible. “You need to have the paramedics look at your back.”

“I’m good to go.” He took the crutches from her, and his nearness snapped between them like static electricity.

Like the tiny spark that had ignited the gasoline fumes from the van’s gas tank, the result shocked her. And had her stepping away from what had to be danger. “Your shirt’s started to smolder again.”

“I’ve had worse.” He said it as if he walked through flames every day.

Ben McKaslin was everything dangerous in a man. He was too handsome, too charming, too everything. She’d made sure their fingers didn’t touch as she handed off the crutches. The sticks of aluminum clanked as he took them in one hand, leaning now on his good leg as if the injured one was only starting to pain him just a bit.

Just like old times. Only Ben could turn a stop for gas into a three-alarm blaze, and it was never his fault. Where there was smoke, there was Ben.