Lakeside Hero (Men Of Millbrook Lake Book 1) by Lenora Worth Page A

not at all, usually on his shiny Harley, and usually with a white toy poodle tucked against his chest. Or he’d do his usual thing and sneak up on them without making a sound. The man could move through a room like an unseen shadow. Alec didn’t know the full story on Hunter, but he figured if Hunter wanted to talk he would, sooner or later.
    Preacher took the old steps two at a time. “How ya doing tonight, Caldwell?”
    “I’ll be doing fine if you brought that barbeque you promised me when you called.”
    “I brought the drinks,” Preacher replied, holding up some liquid refreshments. “Food is in protective custody with one of Millbrook’s finest.” He glanced over his shoulder with a wink.
    “I’m coming,” Blain called, both hands full of take-out bags. “Man, these ribs smell real good.”
    “Let’s eat out here,” Preacher suggested. “We haven’t done this in a while.”
    “Yes,” Blain replied. “A rare weekend off with fishing in the forecast and less humidity in the wind.”
    Alec smiled at his friends. “Where’s Lawson?”
    “Who knows,” Blain retorted, already reaching for a sauce-covered rib. “Let’s eat.”
    “Grace,” Preacher said with a mock slap on Blain’s hand.
    Blain frowned and lowered his head. Alec did the same. While Preacher asked for God’s love, forgiveness and continued blessings and added a special prayer for the safety for armed forces all over the world, Alec slid in his own short prayer.
    Please help me to deal with my feelings for Marla in a positive, sure way, Lord
.
    He didn’t realize Rory was done with the blessing until Blain cleared his throat. When Alec opened his eyes, both his friends were staring over at him.
    “Sorry,” he said, one hand scrubbing across his scar. “I had a lot to pray about.”
    “Talk,” Blain said, passing coleslaw and baked beans as he eyed Alec.
    “He’s not one of your suspects,” Rory reminded him with his ever-present good-natured smile. “If he doesn’t want to talk about it, we can’t make him.” Then he withheld the box of ribs.
    “Okay, all right.” Alec filled his plate and held his hands together. “I think Marla and I are finished.”
    “Did you ever get started?” Blain asked between bites of tender smoked meat.
    “We were kind of started, but we both have so much going on and, as you both know... I have a lot of excess baggage. I think I scared her.”
    “Scared her?” Rory asked, holding his half-eaten rib in the air. “In what way?”
    “Not the way you think,” Alec replied. “She’s been great with my physical problems. But she’s got a four-year-old daughter who was with her father when the family jewelry store was robbed, over in Tallahassee. They walked in on the robbery in progress but the little girl didn’t see her father get gunned down, thanks to a sales associate shielding her. But she heard everything—guns going off and her father telling the clerk to take his daughter and run. Now she’s scared of most men.”
    Blain dropped his rib bone and wiped his fingers on a paper towel. “I remember that case—Hamilton’s Jewelry Store?”
    “Marla’s husband was the owner,” Alec said, shaking his head. “Marla’s Marvelous Desserts?”
    “I can vouch for that,” Preacher said between bites. “She is one marvelous cook.”
    Blain nodded, his dark eyes sparked with interest. “That case made all the news stations in Florida. We were alerted with an APB on the suspects. Charlie Hamilton—his family owned several stores throughout the state but after he inherited, he kind of let things go, management-wise, and lost or had to sell most of them.”
    Alec leaned back. “Do you have any of the details?”
    Blain nodded. “Yeah, but not much more to tell now. He fell in with some bad people who set out to rob him. He was killed at the scene and it only came out much later—after the perpetrators were behind bars—that his little girl had been with him when he returned