A Love Rekindled (A Town Called Hope, 2) - Softcover

Daley, Margaret

Softcover

ISBN 10: 037387734X ISBN 13: 9780373877348

Verlag: Love Inspired, 2012

Inhaltsangabe

"Do You Want My Help Or Not?"

Kim Walters wants Zane Davidson's help all right. Her family is struggling to rebuild their home after a hurricane, and Zane is a successful contractor. But the fifteen years that have passed since they were high school sweethearts aren't about to magically melt away. Nothing can erase Mr. Walters's clear message—Zane wasn't good enough for his daughter. But now the Walters fortune is gone, and the town is reeling from the recent natural disaster. Can Kim and Zane find the faith to believe that some things work better the second time around?

Über diesen Titel

Über die Autorin bzw. den Autor

Margaret Daley, an award-winning author of eighty-three books, has been married for over forty years and is a firm believer in romance and love. When she isn’t traveling, she’s writing love stories, often with a suspense thread, and corralling her three cats that think they rule her household. To find out more about Margaret visit her website at http://www.margaretdaley.com.

Auszug. © Genehmigter Nachdruck. Alle Rechte vorbehalten.

Clasping the strap of her purse so tightly pain zipped up her arm, Kim Walters zeroed in on Zane Davidson, the man she had avoided for the past three years since he had returned to Hope, the man who had broken her heart. The man she wished she never had to talk to again. But he was her last hope to get her house repaired at a price she could afford.

Before she lost her nerve, she crossed the parking lot of the hurricane-damaged school building where she was a third-grade teacher. I can do this. But her step faltered the closer she came to Zane. The fingernails on her hand around her purse strap dug into her palm.

This is crazy. Maggie is wrong. My cousin is an eternal optimist. Surely there's another solution to getting our home restored. Kim halted, chewing on her bottom lip.

I can't do this.

Before he saw her, she started to turn to leave. But she was too late. His dark blue gaze—that used to draw her in and hold her captive—snagged hers from across the parking lot. He said something to one of the workers next to him, then strode toward her.

She froze, wanting to leave, knowing she couldn't now. She wouldn't show any emotions to him. She didn't want him to realize his leaving Hope fifteen years ago had crushed her. Shifting, about to face him head-on, she squared her shoulders and lifted her chin, hoping to give the illusion she was taller than her five feet four inches.

"It's nice to see you, Kim." He stopped a yard away from her, a neutral expression on his face.

"It is?" she asked before she could censor her words. Open hostility was no way to get him to agree to what she wanted—especially since she'd visited all the contractors in Hope she trusted and they couldn't do her repairs for months.

"I've been back three years, and this is the first time you and I have talked."

"We move in different circles." As a teenager, she remembered her father kept telling her that she and Zane were from different social classes and a relationship would never work between them. They were too mismatched.

The hard line of his jaw attested to the effect the reminder of the gulf between them had on Zane. He drew in a deep breath that released the rigid set to his shoulders. "How's your dad?"

Surprised for a few seconds at his question, she averted her gaze, trying to formulate an answer. Zane and her father had never gotten along. Fifteen years ago, she'd been ready to defy her father for Zane. But then he'd left her without an explanation, taking the decision out of her hands. "Since you've been in Hope for a while, I'm sure you've heard about his illness."

"Yes. I knew a guy with Parkinson's disease in New Orleans. It's tough. How's he coping?"

"He's hanging in there." She didn't want to talk about her father and needed to steer the conversation quickly to what she wanted to discuss—her family home, Bienville, restored. Memories of Hurricane Naomi hitting Hope almost three months ago flashed into her mind, battering at her composure like the storm had her home. "I need you to give me an estimate on repairing Bienville. The hurricane flooded the first floor of the house and did extensive wind damage to the roof. We have done what we can, but there's still a lot that needs to be done by a professional."

"I thought you had someone working on your home."

"Henderson Roofing and Construction left town."

"When are they coming back?"

"Never." She gritted her teeth to keep from explaining further. It was bad enough her father and family had been taken by a crook, but she didn't want to admit it to this man.

Zane's eyes narrowed. "I hadn't heard that. Is there a problem?"

"It just happened yesterday. The problem is our gaping roof."

"Most of the town needs repair."

The wind off the water not far from Jefferson Elementary School chilled Kim, reminding her of the cold, damp rooms in her family home. "I realize that, but Henderson Roofing removed part of the old roof to replace it, making the problem worse since they skipped town. I need that repaired immediately before it rains again. My father isn't doing well and—" she swallowed hard, fighting the tears swelling into her throat "—I know you probably have more work than you need, but. .but we're only living in a few rooms right now."

"My crews are stretched as thin as possible. I just don't see—"

"I understand. Thank you." Whirling around, she marched toward her eight-year-old sedan. She couldn't stay another second or she would cry in front of Zane Davidson, and she'd promised herself she would never let him be the reason she shed a tear again.

Somehow she made it to her car and slipped inside. Tears flooded her eyes as she started the engine. When she spied him coming toward her, she gunned the Lexus and sped away from the school. Heat flamed her cheeks at the same time wet tracks streaked down her face.

Zane stared at Kim's car as it sped away. He'd seen the sheen of tears in her eyes and wanted to dismiss their effect on him.

He hadn't been prepared to talk to Kim again. He wasn't sure he ever would be, and since returning to Hope, he had purposefully stayed away from any event she might be attending. When he'd been approached about repairing the hurricane-damaged school he'd attended as a child, he'd almost turned it down because Kim was a teacher there now. Hope, Mississippi, was a small town of twenty thousand, and he shouldn't have come back home, but he had something to prove to the town.

Fifteen years ago he hadn't been good enough for Kim Walters. Now the same people who had taken pleasure in pointing that out to him were the very ones who wanted to do business with him. But he'd never wanted to prove his worth at the expense of a hurricane destroying much of the town. Even though Hope had managed to get back on its feet, parts of it still looked as if the storm had struck only yesterday. In the three years since he'd returned, he had come to care for the people as he hadn't when he'd lived here as an angry teenager. However, seeing and dealing with Kim on a daily basis was a whole different story.

Shaking the memories from his thoughts, he strolled toward his mobile office at the school site. He didn't allow himself to think about the past often. All it would do was stir his anger, and since he'd found the Lord, he knew there was a better way. But now he wondered if God was testing him when He put Kim in his path.

"Boss, the rest of the floodlights have arrived. This should help us make our three-week deadline," his secretary said.

"Thanks, Susan. I don't know what I would have done if it weren't for you. Everyone wants everything done yesterday."

"Yeah. There aren't enough hours in the day to do what you need to do, but then work is about all there is to do here."

He sat in his desk chair and looked across the trailer at his right-hand woman. "It's been three years. I thought you would be settled in by now. Do you regret following me to Hope?"

Susan Fayard twisted her mouth into a thoughtful expression and tapped the side of her chin. "Well, there are days like this one I long for the quieter pace of New Orleans."

"New Orleans quieter? That's the first time I've heard that."

"I thought you were only going to build the hotel and pier in Gulfport. That was three years and several major projects ago. Are you ever going back to New Orleans?"

"Maybe, but Hope is halfway between our New Orleans and Mobile offices. Good location to manage both. Do you want me to transfer you...

Details zur Ausgabe

• Verlag: Love Inspired
• Erscheinungsdatum: 2012
• Sprache: Englisch
• ISBN 10: 037387734X
• ISBN 13: 9780373877348
• Einband: Taschenbuch
• Anzahl der Seiten: 224
• Kontakt zum Hersteller: Nicht verfügbar
• Verantwortliche Person: Nicht verfügbar