Her Kind Of Hero. Carol Steward

her scratchy voice would again give her away.

      “How long until you’re off?”

      She’d walked to work this morning, not concerned with walking home alone midafternoon. Now she couldn’t deny the fear. Calli wanted company, even if it was Luke. “About an hour.”

      “I want to make sure you get home okay. Will you wait so I can get these groceries home and let my son know I’ll be out for a while longer? He was still asleep when I called.”

      Calli assessed him openly, her doubts softened by the silver cross dangling from the chain around his neck, and the surprising news that Sergeant Luke Northrup was a father. “I’ll wait. I don’t want to walk home alone after this.”

      The hard-edged cop again faded, replaced with a caring, gentle man. “I’ll hurry back.”

      Surprisingly enough, she wanted him to do just that.

       Chapter Seven

      Before she had time to consider leaving without Luke, he appeared in the employees’ locker room. When he gazed at her, she fought to conquer the involuntary nervousness that overcame her.

      “The manager told me where I could find you.”

      She smiled weakly. “Hi. I really don’t need a police escort.”

      “Good, because this isn’t official.” He tilted his head to one side. “To be honest, it wasn’t a coincidence that I came here.”

      She’d been unable to take her mind off Luke Northrup since he stepped into her checkout lane. This guilty feeling was due to the joy of his return. “Oh, really? Isn’t it a little unethical to use police records for personal interests?”