Page 56 of Finding Amanda

"Everything okay?" Her voice shook, and he nodded, forcing his smile to spread.

"Yes, everything's fine. I checked in every room, behind every door, inside every closet and beneath every bed. There's nobody in there."

"Then what in the world?—?"

"Did you lock the door when you left?"

She thought back. She'd bolted down the stairs and sat on the bottom step to slip on her sneakers. When she'd yanked the door open, she'd been frightened by the unexpected, low tone sounding from the alarm. She'd entered in her code. She remembered sprinting to her car, but . . . "I don't think so."

"It was open."

"Open?"

"Just a crack."

"How'd you even see it?"

He shrugged and slipped his gun into the waistline of his jeans. "Let's get the girls."

"Put that thing away first."

He smirked. "That thing? If there'd been someone in the house,that thingwould have saved your life."

She stepped away from her car and slammed the door before covering her face with her hands. She did not need asthma attacks and loaded guns in the midst of the craziness shewas dealing with these days. She needed normalcy. She wanted to get the girls, put them to bed. Go to bed as if everything were fine.

And everything was fine, right? The color had returned to Madi’s cheeks. The house was empty of intruders. She dropped her hands to look at him. "We're safe now, right?" He nodded. "Then please put the gun away. It scares me, and the girls don't need to see it."

He took a few steps toward her, between her driver's side and his passenger's. She pressed her back to her car, and he turned sideways to slide past her.

Face to face, separated by inches, he stopped. In that instant, she was a student again, he the stranger who'd tracked her down. He'd smiled that day as he met her on the sidewalk.Thank God I found you.She'd loved his mouth first, even as they formed those first words. His strong jaw, his broad shoulders and intense brown eyes. His were not the pretty features of movie stars. Mark was Superman handsome. A man beautiful in the face and the body and, she'd known that day, deep in his heart. She fell in love during their first date. Or maybe with those words.Thank God I found you.

Mark leaned almost imperceptibly forward, head cocked, reading her mind. She blinked and swallowed.

Then he continued past her.

Where she'd been warm a moment before, now she shivered, missing him though he stood only a few feet away.

His car door opened, then closed again, while she stood motionless, staring at the crescent moon through the trees, wondering what those feelings meant.

"We can go inside now," he said.

"Oh. Right. I'll get Madi."

Five minutes later, Amanda smoothed blankets over Sophie and kissed her on the cheek. She stepped into the hallway. Markhad gone into Madi's room, so Amanda crept to the door and watched him. Kneeling beside her bed, his head bowed, he rested one of his hands on the edge of her mattress, the other covered their baby's tiny chest.

Tears dripped down her cheeks. Why would seeing her husband praying for their child release such an onslaught of emotions? Except that . . . her tough, ex-marine husband, the one she'd just watched search her house, gun in hand, looked so vulnerable on his knees.

He turned to see her standing in the doorway. After placing a kiss on Madi's forehead, he scooted past Amanda and down the stairs.

She followed silently, wiping the moisture away. Downstairs, he headed straight for the door. She stopped on the far side of the dining room table, leaving a good five feet between them. A buffer zone.

"I'll stop by tomorrow morning with the girls' stuff." He turned after he grabbed the knob. The light inside the entryway was on from when they'd entered a few minutes before, and in the artificial glow she could clearly see the worry etched on his face. "Are you going to wake them for school?"

She considered the question. "They're exhausted. I'll let them sleep in."

"Okay. I can leave their stuff on the front step if you're still asleep."

"You know me. I'll be up."

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