Like father… She nearly bit her tongue, afraid the words that popped into her mind were going to pop out of her mouth. “He doesn’t want to do anything you say?” “I think he only listens so he can do the opposite,” he said wryly. He tugged at the faded blue T-shirt, and she caught a glimpse of lean, flat stomach. And another scar on his left side, just above the low-slung waistband of his jeans. This one was tidier, and there were marks from stitches or staples, but also an odd rounded indentation in the middle. How on earth did a paper pusher end up with scars like that? And, almost reluctantly, it occurred to her that perhaps Wyatt Blake had reason to be the way he was. It seemed he’d been through his own kind of hell. And now here he was, back again, hiding. Trying to keep his son out of the same kind of mess. Become a fan of Harlequin Romantic Suspense Books on Facebook: www.facebook.com/RomanticSuspenseBooks and check us out at www.eHarlequin.com! Dear Reader, As a writer, I lug an incredible number of fragments around in my head. Bits of conversation overheard, faces I’ve seen, even little vignettes, bits of human action that my mind needs an explanation of, or a story for. Some of these things fade after a while. But some of them stick around, resurfacing occasionally like a dolphin for a breath. Some are urgent, demanding that explanation now. Others float around, patiently awaiting the right story or characters or inspiration to be brought to life. Always a Hero is one of the latter. The idea, the basic concept, has been in my head literally for years. But it burst to life when, in the produce section of the market, I overheard a child telling his mother that his father’s job was soooo boring and uncool. The mother simply smiled and said, “If you only knew…” So amid the onions and the sweet corn, this story was truly born. And I still wonder about that boy’s father, and remember the smile on his mother’s face. Happy reading! Justine Davis JUSTINE DAVIS Always a Hero Books by Justine Davis Romantic Suspense *Lover Under Cover #698 *Leader of the Pack #728 *A Man to Trust #805 *Gage Butler’s Reckoning #841 *Badge of Honor #871 *Clay Yeager’s Redemption #926 The Return of Luke McGuire #1036 **Just Another Day in Paradise #1141 The Prince’s Wedding #1190 **One of These Nights #1201 **In His Sights #1318 **Second-Chance Hero #1351 **Dark Reunion #1452 **Deadly Temptation #1493 **Her Best Friend’s Husband #1525 Backstreet Hero #1539 Baby’s Watch #1544 **His Personal Mission #1573 **The Best Revenge #1597 **Redstone Ever After #1619 Deadly Valentine #1645 “Her Un-Valentine” Always a Hero #1651 Desire Private Reasons #833 Errant Angel #924 A Whole Lot of Love #1281 **Midnight Seduction #1557 Silhouette Bombshell Proof #2 Flashback #86 Silhouette Books Silhouette Summer Sizzlers 1994 “The Raider” Fortune’s Children The Wrangler’s Bride JUSTINE DAVIS lives on Puget Sound in Washington State. Her interests outside of writing are sailing, doing needlework, horseback riding and driving her restored 1967 Corvette roadster—top down, of course. Justine says that, years ago, during her career in law enforcement, a young man she worked with encouraged her to try for a promotion to a position that was at the time occupied only by men. “I succeeded, became wrapped up in my new job, and that man moved away, never, I thought, to be heard from again. Ten years later, he appeared out of the woods of Washington State, saying he’d never forgotten me and would I please marry him. With that history, how could I write anything but romance?” To all of those who, in whatever kind of uniform, stand between us and the dark side. Contents Chapter 1 Chapter 2 Chapter 3 Chapter 4 Chapter 5 Chapter 6 Chapter 7 Chapter 8 Chapter 9 Chapter 10 Chapter 11 Chapter 12 Chapter 13 Chapter 14 Chapter 15 Chapter 16 Chapter 17 Chapter 18 Chapter 19 Chapter 20 Chapter 21 Chapter 22 Chapter 23 Chapter 24 Chapter 25 Chapter 26 Chapter 27 Chapter 28 Chapter 1 “I hate you! I hate this place. I want to go home.” “I know. Just do it.” Jordan Price threw down the rake, scattering the leaves he’d just gathered. His father chose not to point out that he’d just guaranteed himself more time spent in the task he loathed. “I’m never going to be such a jerk to my kids.” Wyatt Blake smothered a sigh, but managed to keep his tone reasonable; he remembered thinking much worse thoughts about his own father. And at younger than thirteen, too. So that’s how you want you and Jordan to be? Like you and your father? He fought down his gut reaction and spoke calmly. “If you don’t learn to finish what you start, your kids won’t listen to you anyway. If you can even find a woman who’d have them with a man who doesn’t keep his word.” Yeah, right. You’re such an expert on keeping promises. “I don’t know why Mom married you anyway.” “It’s a mystery. Finish.” The grumbling continued, with a couple of words muttered under the boy’s breath that Wyatt decided not to hear. He had enough on his plate at the moment, trying to keep the kid out of serious trouble, without expending energy on his language. If he didn’t straighten around soon, a few obscenities would be the least of his problems. Later, when after another battle Jordan had gone to bed, Wyatt went through his nightly ritual at the computer that sat in the corner of the den. Jordan wasn’t allowed to have it in his room, another bone of contention. But tonight something disrupted the usual process; a message alert window popped up. One he had hoped he’d never see. He went still. Maybe it was a mistake, a computer glitch. They were prone to that, one-time, inexplicable weirdness. For a long moment he did nothing, postponing the inevitable. A measure of how far he’d come, he supposed, that he didn’t dive in instantly. Finally, knowing he had no choice, he began the digging process that would take him to the program buried deep within the computer’s file structure. There was no convenient icon for this one, no listing on the menus, no easy way to get