A Perfect Match

He whirled to Julia. Her golden hair swirled about her like a halo, and his breath caught before he could speak. He forced words through his tight throat. “You’re wrong.”

“Am I?” she asked, sounding genuinely surprised. Or confused.

He wanted to take her into his arms and prove it, but he could hardly act on those feelings. Nor could he leave it quite alone.

He reached out and gently swiped a thumb down her cheek. “You are wrong about love. And if it takes me forever, I’m going to prove it to you.”

DEB KASTNER

is the wife of a Reformed Episcopal minister, so it was natural for her to find her niche in the Christian/Inspirational romance market. She enjoys tackling the issues of faith and trust within the context of a romance. Her characters range from upbeat and humorous to (her favorite) dark and brooding heroes. Her plots fall anywhere between, from a playful romp to the deeply emotional.

When she’s not writing, she enjoys spending time with her husband and three girls and, whenever she can manage, attending regional dinner theater and touring Broadway musicals.

A Perfect Match

Deb Kastner

MILLS & BOON

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For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast.

—Ephesians 2:8-9

A big thank-you to Pam Hopkins for all she’s done for my career. You’re my own “perfect match” for a literary agent. What can I say? You’re the best!

To Melissa, editor extraordinaire.

Thanks for all your hard work and enthusiasm. You encourage me with your kindness.

To the Love Inspired Ladies.

Your love, integrity and work ethic inspire me to new heights.

Love always and forever to Joe, Annie, Kimmie and Katie.

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

Letter to Reader

Chapter One

“You marry a man, not an occupation.” Lakeisha Wilson made her point, loud and clear.

But it wasn’t as if Julia Evans hadn’t already considered every angle of her Great Scheme. It was simply a matter of helping her dear friend grasp the concept.

“He is a man,” Julia reasoned aloud, though softly. She didn’t want Thomas and Evy Martin, sitting across the round table from them, to overhear the private conversation. Goodness knows she didn’t want her exceptional ideas exposed to the eyes of the whole waiting world.

It was enough that Lakeisha was going to give her a hard time about it. And if her dear friend of twenty-four years didn’t understand, no one would. It was a wretched way to begin.

Smothering a half smile, she coolly shifted her gaze to the subject in question—the Object of her Affection.

Well, not affection, precisely, but be that as it may…

Father Bryan Cummings.

Tall, dark and handsome.

More to the point, ordained to the ministry and headed for a great career in evangelism, maybe even internationally.

He didn’t know it yet, but she’d chosen him for a very special project.

Marriage.

Sunshine glistened off his straight, dark hair, and his smile was perfect and white. Practiced, even.

He’d told her once that image was everything. If he smiled to himself in the mirror to get it just right, no one was the wiser. And Julia would never tell.

Father Bryan was surrounded by a raucous group of young men dressed in everything from khakis and polo shirts to little more than patchy fluorescent swimming trunks and bare feet.

Though he stood on the opposite side of the swimming pool from where Julia sat sipping her iced tea, she could tell he was in the middle of a heated theological discussion with his friends.

In Julia’s experience with him, Bryan didn’t speak about much else besides the tenants of the faith. His idea of polite conversation was debating the merits and nuances of each of the five points of Calvinism. With Scriptural proofs.

That, Julia supposed, was part of the allure. She glanced back to Lakeisha and chuckled at the stunned look on her childhood friend’s face. Lakeisha had obviously followed the direction of Julia’s gaze, and followed her thoughts, as well.

“I take it you don’t approve of my Great Scheme.”

Lakeisha snorted. “That’s the understatement of the year.”

Even as she shook her head disparagingly at Julia, Lakeisha smiled pleasantly at a couple of working associates who’d stopped to say hello. Julia recognized the women as being from the accounting office at HeartBeat, and cheerfully pointed them in the direction of the iced tea and cookies.

As she looked around, she realized nearly every employee of the HeartBeat Crisis Pregnancy Center was here for this Labor Day gathering at the Martins’ home. The sun shone brightly, which, with the fickle Colorado weather, was a blessing in itself.

People crowded around the pool, though no one was swimming. Julia had never quite become accustomed to the city version of a pool party. In the eastern Colorado country town where she was from, a pool party meant everyone went swimming. People brought along their inner tubes and blow-up balls. Old and young alike played water volleyball and Marco Polo.

Here, people came to a pool party to schmooze, not swim. They brought their business cards, not their beach towels. It was a different world.

She leaned back in her chair and smiled. She’d dreamed of this world all her life. A challenging ministry in a fast-paced atmosphere. Those around her were her colleagues in ministry.

Ministry.

The word alone made her shiver in delight. She didn’t know many names of people here, having only been with HeartBeat for a few months, but a lot of the faces were familiar. Many volunteered their time to the center. Others, like Julia, worked full-time for the crisis center.

There was Mr. Movie in his fancy sunglasses, who worked on the camera side of the video department where they developed audiovisual materials for and about the center; Merry Maid, the administrative assistant who always picked up after everyone else in the office. In the far corner was her boss, Sarah Straight-Arrow, the artistic perfectionist, speaking to Little Miss Muffet, a counselor ever on a persistent insect-killing mission at the center. Julia’s toes curled at the very thought of spiders.

Lakeisha probably knew all the names and backgrounds that went with all these faces, instead of the safe but not very effective stereotypes Julia tended to slap on people.

“I’m not finished with you, girlfriend,” Lakeisha said, interrupting her thoughts. “Because I’m not getting the point of your little plan at all.” She waved one hand and slammed the other down on the glass tabletop. “You’ve gone completely out of your mind, girl, and I’m not following.”

“Who’s gone crazy around here?” Thomas Martin asked with a laugh as he turned around to face them.

“Me,” Evy Martin groaned, rubbing a gentle hand over her burgeoning pregnancy. “Or at least I will be crazy, if this kid doesn’t stop using my ribs as monkey bars.”

Julia laughed. “Do you feel him move a lot?”

Evy pointed to one spot on her rib. “This bump right here is his heel. He likes to kick the same spot over and over.”

Julia ran her hand over her own trim abdomen. She couldn’t even imagine how it felt to be kicked from the inside, to have the blessing of a little life inside her.

“It’s a boy?”

Evy shook her head and laughed. “Oh, no. We don’t know yet. We want it to be a surprise. But we decided early on that it or he or she wasn’t working for us. We settled on the generic form of he when we speak about our baby.”

She smiled softly at Evy. Someday, maybe, she’d be ready for a baby of her own. At the moment, she was still working on the marriage part of the equation. And that required the ungender-neutral form of a he.

“Let’s walk,” Thomas suggested, holding out his hand to Evy.

Evy flashed her husband a grateful look, then turned to explain to Julia and Lakeisha. “Sometimes it helps to walk out my cramps. And the rocking motion of walking puts this little fellow to sleep.” She patted her stomach once again.

Thomas hovered over her, leaning into her ear to whisper something that made Evy laugh.

Thomas took such good care of Evy, and there was no doubt she and their baby were the center of his world. Deep down, Julia had to admit to being a little jealous of such a close, loving relationship.

“You’ll never have that kind of commitment if you keep pushing this Great Scheme of yours,” Lakeisha commented wryly, as if reading Julia’s mind.

Julia bristled. “It’s not like I’m picking a name out of a telephone book, or putting my face on a billboard to advertise my dilemma.”

“Oh, no, of course not. Your system is sooo much better. Excuse me, sir. May I see your résumé? You’ve had how much education? Years of experience in ministry?” Lakeisha’s high, squeaky tone suggested her cynicism.

Julia laughed. “It isn’t as coldhearted as all that. I simply feel that I’m ready to move to the next level, you know? I’m twenty-eight years old, and I don’t even feel like a grown-up.”

Lakeisha laughed. “And that’s bad?”

“Depends on your perspective, I guess. Right now, marrying a decent, godly, professional man is a critical part of my impending equation. What in the world is wrong with that?”

As soon as the question was out, Julia regretted asking. It was like inviting a politician to share her views on the economy.

“Impending equation?” Right on cue, her friend grinned like the Cheshire cat and raised her eyebrows so high they were lost underneath her wiry black bangs. “Okay, first of all, what is wrong with this little scenario of yours is that you can’t just choose a man at random—by whatever means—and then expect him to agree to meet you at the altar.”

Lakeisha had a point, Julia acknowledged. But that wasn’t an insurmountable difficulty. She’d simply get to know Bryan a little better. He’d notice her, and…problem solved.

Okay, a lot better. But it could be done. She could show what a great partner in ministry she would be. She’d just do something to get him to notice her, and that would be that. Wouldn’t it?

“You think just because you made a unilateral decision that Bryan meets your marital requirements, that he is going to ask you to marry him?”

“Not right away, of course, but—”

“What about sparks and fireworks, Julia? Don’t you want to fall in love?”

Julia shrugged. Sparks and fireworks were highly overrated commodities, in her mind. She could live without them, and good riddance.

“Look around you, girlfriend. Right here in this backyard. This place is swarming with young, eligible, handsome Christian men. Bulging biceps and bulging portfolios, my dear.”

She gestured toward the jostling group of men surrounding Bryan. “So why settle for Father Bryan? You’ve been working with the man on a regular basis for months, and I’ve never heard you say a single word about being attracted to him, or that something was developing between the two of you.”

“That’s just it, Lakeisha,” Julia argued, wishing she could easily explain what she held deep in her heart. It was crystal clear in her mind, but she knew how shallow and stupid it sounded when she talked about it out loud. “The thing is, I’m not attracted to Father Bryan. At least not in the way you mean.”

“Then why in the world would you…?”

“Marry him? Because he’s a man with a future. Bryan knows exactly where he’s going and how he’s going to get there.”

Lakeisha took a deep swig of her iced tea before answering. “Charisma? Under normal circumstances, I would expect you to be telling me how handsome he is. How kind and generous. How he makes your heart flip over when he looks at you.”

“What, and major on the trivial?”

“Trivial?” Lakeisha gave her a long, pointed look, then shook her head as if conceding. Or more accurately, giving up on her hopeless roommate.

“I’m not like you, Lakeisha,” Julia said softly, a catch in her voice. “I’m not a romantic. I just want stability, security and ministry.”

“Hogwash!” Lakeisha exclaimed. “Not a romantic? What if there’s someone special out there you’ve yet to meet, someone God made just for you? What if you’re too busy with your own plans to see God’s plan?”

Julia raised an eyebrow. “Oh, right. Mr. Perfect, stamped Made for Julia Marie Evans. Bring him on, Lakeisha.”

“Well…” Lakeisha paused just as a large shadow passed over them. Seeing the source of the shadow, she grinned impishly. “How about Zeke Taylor?”

“Paul Bunyan?” Julia spouted a laugh that she quickly covered with her palm. “I always picture that man in the company of a big, snorting blue ox.”

“Julia!”

“Well, I do.”

Zeke Taylor was a local carpenter who volunteered his time to the shelter. Well over six feet tall, he was blond, bearded and always wore flannel shirts and steel-toed boots. A lumberjack wasn’t such a big stretch.

“Zeke!” Lakeisha called, to Julia’s immediate distress.

The big man turned and strode back to where they sat, then crouched beside them with a smile. Julia had to admit he had the biggest, bluest eyes she’d ever seen.

His kind, friendly gaze looked directly at her, and she felt as if he were really seeing her, not merely giving her a polite perusal. She swallowed dryly and struggled to erase the imprint of his smile in her mind.

“What can I do for you ladies?” His voice was the low, rich bass she expected it to be. Julia had the uncomfortable notion the question was directed at her. He was looking at her, even though Lakeisha had been the one to call him over.

“Julia and I have just been discussing true love,” Lakeisha began, despite Julia’s stricken look in her direction. “We were wondering your opinion on the topic.”

Zeke laughed, and she was struck again by how genuinely friendly he appeared. “That’s an awfully big topic.”

Julia just barely restrained herself from saying that he was an awfully big man. But Lakeisha clearly captured her train of thought, and they shared an amused, meaning-filled glance.

“Let me narrow it down for you,” Julia said, deciding it was better to take the bull by the horns, so to speak, than to sit there and let Lakeisha dictate the conversation. “Do you believe there is a Mr. Right?”

Zeke slapped his palm against his broad chest. “For me, I’d have to say no.”

Lakeisha roared with laughter, and didn’t stop even when Julia pinned her with a glare.

“That’s not what I meant and you know it.”

Zeke nodded, his amused glance sliding over Lakeisha and landing squarely on Julia. “I didn’t believe it was. I was just joshing you.”

Her eyes widened. “Oh.”

He cleared his throat. “I know I sometimes come off gruff, because of my size….” He ground to ahalt, and then continued tentatively. “People often mistake my meaning. My humor is a little cockeyed at times.”

“You didn’t answer the question,” reminded Lakeisha, who was obviously having difficulty composing her features. “Do you believe God has one special someone out there for you?”

“One special woman,” Zeke said slowly, catching Julia’s gaze with his own. “‘This is now bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh….’ She’s out there, Lord willing.” His voice got lower and richer with every word he spoke.

“Waiting for you?” Julia queried softly.

Zeke shook his head. “No. Not waiting for me.” He ran a hand over his beard and smiled. “Working. Serving the Lord wherever she’s at.”

Julia tried to swallow and couldn’t. Why did that sound so romantic?

“You’ll excuse me,” she said, her words tumbling one over another. “I need to go ask Father Bryan about something.”

It was true—she did need to speak to Bryan about the upcoming ad campaign at HeartBeat. So why did her words feel so much like a lie?

She hurried away from Zeke and Lakeisha as fast as she could without looking rude, glancing back only once to see Zeke following her progress with his gaze.

Flustered, she spoke to everyone she passed, trying to make up for what felt like rudeness by being extra kind to everyone she met.

When she reached Father Bryan, she laid an arm on his shoulder to get his attention, and then waited quietly while he finished his conversation with his seminary buddies.

She didn’t understand half the words they were saying, and wondered if, as a pastor’s wife, she’d have to get a seminary education herself, just to communicate with her husband.

Husband.

She glanced up at Bryan, picturing them together in her mind. Helping others, like the desperate, pregnant mothers who came into HeartBeat. Like the people in his congregation, wherever God led. Who knew what else they could accomplish?

She waited, but there was nothing. Not a single emotion.

But marriage wasn’t about emotion. Weddings might be, but she’d seen firsthand how quickly those feelings faded. Wasn’t her way better?

“Julia?” Bryan looked a little put out, and she wondered if he’d tried more than once to get a hold of her wandering attention.

“I’m sorry. I was wool-gathering.”

“Not a problem. I should be the one apologizing for making you wait.” He flashed her a toothy grin.

Julia wondered if that was what his true smile looked like.

“I just wanted to chat with you about the new ad campaign,” Julia began, though Bryan’s attention, or at least his gaze, was wandering elsewhere. “If now is a bad time…”

“Not at all.” His gaze returned to her, and he smiled squarely. “I’ve assembled some Scripture passages we can use on the brochures, but I’m still working up something for the full-page magazine ad.”

“That’s fine, but we need a mock-up of the ad by Thursday noon at the latest.”

His gaze shifted to somewhere over her left shoulder. “I’ve got class Wednesday, but I’ll try to fit it in on Tues— What is that?”

“What is what?” Disheartened by her failure to attain Bryan’s attention, never mind his interest, Julia spun around to see where he was looking.

It didn’t take long to find the source of his surprise. A dirty brown-and-white Jack Russell terrier had somehow gotten through the high fence surrounding the backyard. She knew the Martins didn’t own any animals because of their traveling, ministry lifestyle.

At first it was amusing, watching the guests’ varied reactions to the filthy animal, but it was another thing entirely to discover the poor thing was limping, favoring its left back foot. Julia wondered uneasily if a car might have hit him.

With a spontaneous spurt of sympathy, she decided she should take care of the dog herself, especially since no one else appeared to be moving.

She turned to let Bryan know she was leaving, but his attention was elsewhere. He burst into laughter.

“Well, I’ll be doggoned,” he said, shaking his head. “Literally. What a crazy mutt.”

She whirled around. To her surprise, the Jack Russell somehow launched himself into the middle of the swimming pool.

“What a joke,” Bryan said from behind her.

A joke?

Maybe, under normal circumstances. But within seconds, it was clear the dog could not swim, perhaps because of his broken leg.

He flipped over once in the middle of the pool, not making as much of a splash as Julia would have expected. And then, in a single, heart-wrenching moment, the dog’s head popped under the waves and disappeared. He sank as if he were a rock.

Panic freezing her to the spot, she croaked Bryan’s name.

But it wasn’t Bryan who came running to the poor little dog’s rescue.

It was big, burly Zeke Taylor.

In a second, he was in the pool, pulling the dog to the surface and into his arms. He hadn’t waited even to remove his steel-toed boots. He’d simply reacted.

And saved the irascible puppy, who was wagging his tail in Zeke’s arms despite being wet and wounded.

Bryan was still laughing at the sight, which raised Julia’s hackles. She guessed it was funny, from one perspective, but she could have no reaction except one—blatant and sheerly feminine admiration for Zeke Taylor.

A true hero at work.

Chapter Two

Glancing at the sky, Zeke stopped pounding nails into a two-by-four wood frame and slipped his hammer into his belt. He swiped in a deep breath of sawdust-filled air, pulled a crumpled red bandanna from the back pocket of his faded blue jeans and mopped the sweat off his forehead and the back of his neck.

It was a brisk morning, typical of Colorado in the early fall, but the cool breeze didn’t do much for Zeke. He was pushing himself harder than usual, and every muscle in his body was groaning in protest.

He’d been working extra time at HeartBeat lately, and consequently was behind on this project. He was quietly determined to catch up, maybe get ahead, to make up for the time he spent in volunteer work.

There was so much need in the world, and so little hours in the day. He was compelled to do as much as he could for the pregnant women who came to HeartBeat for care and assistance. He only hoped it was enough.

It could never be enough.

Zeke blew out a frustrated breath and picked up his hammer, hoping to find solace in pounding nails. The familiar sound and feel of working with wood had often given him an odd sort of comfort in the past.

Lately, though, it seemed he was more inclined to concentrate on something far more pleasant than building with his hands. The silver-toned laugh of a certain blond-haired, green-eyed angel.

Julia Evans.

No matter how hard he tried, she was never far from his mind. He mulled over her every word, reconsidered every look and smile.

It wasn’t just that he was attracted to her beauty, though he certainly was. But Julia was different from the other women he knew. She seemed to know just what to do to make a hurting soul smile. She stood up to fight when everyone else was sitting down. She had strength of heart that surprised him, yet a quiet sense of vulnerability that made him long to protect her.

Which was ridiculous. He hardly knew her.

No. that wasn’t right. He knew her.

She didn’t know him.

He pounded five nails out quickly, slamming them neatly into a perfect row. The pressure of finishing the project on time only helped his strength, without marring his accuracy.

Even without this unusual, intense emotional current rushing through him, Zeke could pound nails with his hammer faster than a man with a nail gun.