CHAPTER ONE

The back of his neck prickled.

Every muscle in his body tensed. Caleb Henderson had lived with that feeling, night and day, on patrols and in base camps around the world. In dead-cold winters and desert-hot summers. Surrounded by rocks, in places where everything was some shade of ugly brown and all but smelled of danger.

This tingle just under his skin, though, wasn’t quite the same.

Standing on the porch in this quiet neighborhood near Scottsdale—where the desert landscaping only reminded him of where he’d been—he sensed someone behind him. Caleb spun around.

And there she was.

“Daisy?” When he’d left to join the military, she’d still been a teenager with gangly legs and doe eyes. “Daisy McCall.” So she was still here.

“And you are…?” she said.

That stopped him.

She looked him over, from his short-cropped hair to his cowboy boots. The roping heels added another inch to his six-foot height. Everything on the outside looked the same, even after his years in black-ops. As for the inside…he didn’t want to go there.

“It’s me,” he finally said. “Caleb. Henderson.”

She grinned. “I was kidding.” Then she threw her arms around his neck—stepped back just as fast—and the prickling went away. “What are you doing here? I can’t believe it’s you!”

He shrugged. “I’m on leave. Passing through. Your brother around?”

She shook her head. “Jared’s in California. On business.”

“Oh.” If you ever need a place to stay…Long ago Jared had promised him a bed, a hot meal, even a beer or two. Anytime.

“He’ll be home for Thanksgiving.”

Caleb stared.

She waved a hand in front of his face. “You know, the holiday? Harvest home. Kick-off for the Christmas season.” She kept going. “Turkey Day. Stuffing and cranberries. Pumpkin pie.”

“Oh,” he said again. “Right. We always have turkey dinner—even when the bullets are flying.” Which was one reason for this leave. Maybe he’d had enough. Maybe it was time to get out, retire from his elite, top secret black-ops team, but that would mean making another hard decision.

“Well, I’ll…you can…just tell Jared I said hey.” He headed down the steps, his shoulder brushing hers as he passed, sending another wave of awareness through him.

That was something new and more dangerous than an ambush. In his line of work Caleb didn’t see many women. The few he did encounter either weren’t his type or were not the kind a guy took home to meet his mama. As if he had a mother or a home.

And wasn’t he the guest of honor at his own pity party?

Halfway down the front steps, he felt her hand on his shoulder.

Caleb whirled.

Her eyes wide with alarm, Daisy backed up, fell off the step then landed hard in the gravel.

He reached out a hand to help her up. Her arm had connected with a barrel cactus and the skin was now flecked with fine, hairy spines. He wanted to shout medic! But he managed to control the urge.

“I was going to say ‘wait,’” she murmured, pushing her hair behind one ear. That beautiful shade of brown shot through with gold. She had warm brown eyes, which he remembered too well.

“Sorry, I’m a bit jumpy. You’re hurt.”

“It’s nothing. I’ve done worse while I was gardening—or pushing one of my patients to try harder.”

“You’re a doctor now?”

“Manager,” she said. “I run the Sonoran Desert Rehab Center.” She smiled. “‘You can do more than you think you can.’ That’s our motto.”

She was still smiling, but her lips had turned white.

“Let’s get you into the house,” he said. “You have a pair of tweezers?”

“Yes. But—”

“Let’s go, soldier.”

He guided Daisy inside, sat her on the living room sofa then followed her directions to the bathroom, where he found a small first aid kit.

“Don’t fuss,” she said as he re-examined her arm. “You live in Arizona, you learn to deal with cactus spines.”

“Don’t be stoic. If it hurts, you can yell. I’ve heard plenty of yelling.”

Every guy he’d ever known who’d stepped on an IED or been shot by a sniper, first thing he’d done was cry for his mother. It was a reflex or some kind of primal instinct. Caleb had always wondered whom he’d yell for when his time came. But then, it never had. Not yet.

“Hold still.”

“You don’t have to tweeze them all. They’ll sting for a while, but I’ll be fine.”

He didn’t stop. Once he’d gently swabbed her skin with antiseptic, he peered closer, looking for stray cactus spines. “Think I got ‘em,” he said. “You okay?”

“Perfect.”

Caleb raised an eyebrow. “Are you still this cheerful all the time?”

“It’s still my nature.” She drew her arm from his grasp. “Are you making fun of me?”

“Would I do that?”

She grinned. “I don’t know about now but you used to. You and Jared.”

“You were a girl. It was our duty—our obligation—to make life difficult.”

“To tease,” she said. “You guys were merciless.”

“Yeah.” Which didn’t seem to bother her. If only life had stayed that simple, that…he couldn’t say good. Except for Jared and Daisy, it hadn’t been so good then either.

His gaze drifted over her, taking in the changes the years had brought. Her figure was slim, and her legs were no longer gangly. Nice, he thought.

Caleb jumped to his feet. “If you’re really okay, I better get going.”

“To where?” she asked.

He shrugged. “Into Phoenix, I guess. For tonight.”

“To a hotel?”

“Or maybe a motel near the airport,” he said. He was supposed to be in Virginia.

“I doubt you’ll find a room. This close to Thanksgiving, they’ll all be booked.”

“I should have given Jared a heads-up. My fault.”

“Don’t rush off. He’ll be back late Wednesday.”

“I’ll be gone by then,” he said.

She repeated her question. “To where?”

Caleb couldn’t answer. He didn’t know that, either. Since he’d taken leave—for the first time in a while—he’d wandered around until he thought of Phoenix. Jared McCall and his sister had been the closest he’d ever come to family.

As if she’d made some decision, Daisy stood up. Her arm from elbow to wrist looked as red as fire. Yet she kept smiling. He hadn’t seen anything like that in ten years…the last time he’d seen her.

Retreat, he ordered himself. But he couldn’t seem to move.

“We have a casita out back. It’s small but clean with a good bed and a kitchenette. You’d be comfortable there. Stay.” She tilted her head. “You haven’t become a serial killer, have you?”

As a woman alone in the house, she was right to wonder about that. Caleb pretended to examine himself. His clean new shirt, his pressed jeans—he’d pulled off the tags this morning—his boots. “Not the last time I looked.”

“Well, then. Let me show you the guest quarters.”

* * *

The man was a hot mess. And way too attractive for Daisy’s comfort.

She led him through the house anyway. How could she refuse?

He was obviously under stress, most likely combat-related. His deep tan couldn’t hide the darker shadows under his gray eyes and, if she didn’t miss her guess, he was about a blink away from falling apart.

Bad sign.

“My brother travels a lot in his job,” she told Caleb. “Kim goes with him sometimes. It made sense for me to give up my apartment and move back here—closer to my job. I’ve become the resident caretaker and the rent is free.”

“Didn’t know Jared was married. Who’s the wife?”

“A nurse,” she said. “Private duty, so she’s able to pick her own schedule. Jared met Kim when our mom was sick.”

“Wouldn’t have expected Jared to fall for a nurse,” Caleb mused behind her. “Remember how he used to be afraid of needles?”

“Getting him to the doctor was an ordeal.”

“What about you?” He glanced at her ring finger. “No husband?”

“I like being single.” Well, like wasn’t the word…and single hadn’t been her plan. Once, she’d had Bryan. Now all she had was her work.

“Me, too.”

She wouldn’t share the rest of her story with Caleb. He obviously needed a place to stay, but he wouldn’t stay long. That suited Daisy, even though she couldn’t take her eyes off him.

“With any luck, I’ll save enough while I’m living here for a down payment on my first house.”

Then she’d be able to make a fresh start, away from the memories she thought she’d left behind on Hayden Road in the apartment she’d shared with Bryan.

But now Caleb Henderson had shown up.

Frowning, Daisy opened the back door onto the enclosed courtyard. A blast of midday sun was a shock, like seeing Caleb after so many years, looking as if he expected to be shot.

She saw that expression often. A fair percentage of the patients at the center were veterans, trying to heal their bodies and reorganize their inner lives. Too many of them didn’t succeed. If she could help Caleb, she had to try.

“This is it,” she said, pushing open the casita’s door.

He looked around. Caleb picked up a pink coffee mug then set it down. He glanced at a flower arrangement on the table. Studied the lace curtains at the kitchen window. “It’s a girly place. Yours?”

“For the time being.” She swooped through the living area, gathering a soft blanket from the sofa, a stack of professional magazines from the table, a stray coffee mug. “I’m usually neat, but work’s been busy this week—the holidays aren’t a good time for some people—so I’m running behind.” She also had Jared’s house—their family home once—to clean before Thanksgiving.

“You can’t give up your space for me.”

“I can,” she said. “The guest bed in the house is too tiny for you.”

“Then it’s tiny for you, too.”

Caleb was a big man. Broad-shouldered. Dark-haired. Tough. Or so she was supposed to think. He had turned to face her, looking instead like the lost kid he’d been years ago, the boy her mother had taken in whenever he came home with Jared. And Daisy was her mother’s daughter. She tamped down the last of her doubts.

Yes, they’d lost touch over the years. But…he was here now.

“Let me do this,” she said.

Friends, she thought. That’s all they would be. Again.

Because, even though she wanted to help Caleb, in a purely professional way of course, he also reminded her of what she’d lost. She would have to be very careful. The last thing she needed was another man in uniform.