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To Save a Family
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To Protect the Child
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The Perfect Daughter
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Amelia gets some bad news about the damage to her house, but will she look to Dillon for support? Find out in Chapter Two!

"Hello." Amelia Reed's too-handsome-for-her-piece-of-mind husband returned.

Dillon looked so good. He always had—six-foot-plus of dark haired, lean-muscled man that still took her breath away, just as he had when they were in high school. Amelia fought the urge to launch herself into her husband's arms the way their son had. Tyler was practically dancing at the man's feet now. She made herself stay in her chair.

She'd been so busy distracting Tyler so that he wouldn't run back next door to help the firemen, she hadn't seen Dillon drive up. A part of her had been wishing her husband was there, taking charge in that solid way of his. But when he'd actually come barreling through the Jacksons’ hedges, her joy at seeing him had been an unwanted reminder of just how dangerous her proximity to Dillon Reed was. At least, the firemen seemed to have whatever was still going on at the house under control, so Dillon could head back to work soon.

"Sheriff, it's good to see you." Elderly Lily Jackson shook his hand with feminine gusto. "Could you do something about those hoses running through my rose bushes? The fire chief won't listen to me, and I'm hoping to enter my American Beauties in the State Fair this year."

Amelia swallowed her smile as a telltale muscle ticked in Dillon's cheek. He rested a foot on the bottom porch step and rubbed the underside of his jaw, his chest expanding on a calming breath.

"Mrs. Jackson, I'm sure the firemen are being as careful as possible."

"We'll have our equipment out of your yard as soon as we can, ma'am," Chief Flanders said as he and one of Dillon's deputies joined them. "We're clearing out now."

"What happened, Ralph?" Dillon asked before Amelia had a chance to speak.

"The smoke seemed to be coming out of the laundry room off the kitchen," she interjected, standing and stepping to the edge of the porch.

The chief gazed between Amelia and Dillon. With a wry smile, he gifted her with his full attention.

"Yes, ma'am, best we can tell without more time to investigate, there was a short in the electrical box in your utility room."

"What does that mean?"

"Looks like a spark from a loose wire set the fire off, maybe from the line leading to the dryer—"

"Did the breakers trip?" Dillon asked.

"Seems that way, but only after the spark ignited the wall between the kitchen and the smaller room." Ralph pointed behind him with his thumb. "We've turned the power off at the pole for now. You'll have to get an electrician out here to tell you where to go from there."

"But the house is safe, isn't it?" Amelia asked as her son fiddled with the equipment hanging from the fireman's belt. "Tyler, baby, come up here with me."

"Well, it's livable, if you don't mind the smoke damage in the kitchen, but…"

"There's no power, Amelia." Dillon's level gaze held hers as what the men were saying sunk in. "No lights, no hot water, no refrigerator. You and Tyler can't stay there until we make some repairs."

Until we make some repairs. How could a word as tiny as "we" have the power to make Amelia want to burst into tears?

"That's no problem," Deputy Rowdy Lewis said from beside his boss. "The sheriff's got plenty of space at his new place. You and Tyler can stay with him there."

Lord deliver them from the town full of well-meaning people determined to keep throwing her and Dillon together until they reconciled.

Dillon silenced Rowdy with a look that had claws.

"Yipee!" Tyler jumped up and down, landing more than once on Amelia's sandaled feet. "We're moving in with Daddy!"

"What a wonderful idea," Mrs. Jackson beamed.

Not her, too.

No way would it be a wonderful anything for Amelia and Tyler to move into the tiny house Dillon rented across town. She and Dillon had quit trying to work things out three months ago, when he'd moved out, and it hadn't been a moment too soon. Tyler hadn't needed to see his parents fighting all the time, and she couldn't have stood another moment of watching the man she loved falling out of love with her.

"Actually," Amelia hedged. "We'd probably be better off staying with a friend—"

"Mom!" Tyler complained as he stopped bouncing.

"But it would mean so much to the child," her meddlesome neighbor tut-tutted.

Rowdy had the nerve to smile as if he were enjoying the mess he'd caused. It was no secret that just about everyone in the department wanted her and Dillon back together, if for no other reason than to get their once easy-going sheriff off their backs.

And from Dillon, there came only a deafening silence, once again making Amelia the bad guy.

"I said no, Tyler," she affirmed. "We're not staying with Daddy tonight. It would only make things harder for everyone."

"Harder for everyone?" Dillon finally said, in that calm way of his that made it impossible for her to guess what he was really thinking. "Or harder for you? "

To be continued…

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