A Love Worth Fighting For
When Slade McKennon comes looking for Mia Cooper, the Dawson sheriffâs only mission is to keep her safe. But the wounded DEA agent isnât ready to trust the man whose past is so entwined with hers. Slade lives by his own code of honorâone that prevents the widowed father from pursuing the woman heâs known most of his life. But for the first time in ages, Mia feels safe. And sheâs finally starting to seal up the scars on both her body and her heart. Can Slade and his sweet but aching son provide the healing touch of love?
Cooper Creek: Home is where the heart is for this Oklahoma family
âMia.â Sladeâs voice was soft.
âSlade, please stop. Iâm good.â
âYouâre always good, arenât you? You can conquer the world on your own, right? You donât need us mere mortals to lean on.â
âI do. But I donât want to cry over it.â
âYouâre more than this job.â
She knew that. She had the list. Daughter. Sister. Granddaughter. âSo Iâve been told. But could someone please tell me who I am?â
He smiled at her, an easy cowboy smile replacing the soft look of sympathy. Heâd always had that easy charm.
âMia, you have to figure out who you are without the job. I can tell you who I think you are. You are the strongest woman I know. Youâre so strong, youâve never seemed to need any of us. You plow through life taking on the worldâs problems.â
âIâm not that strong.â She wasnâtâshe just pretended, and somehow managed to convince herself.
BRENDA MINTON
started creating stories to entertain herself during hour-long rides on the school bus. In high school she wrote romance novels to entertain her friends. The dream grew and so did her aspirations to become an author. She started with notebooks, handwritten manuscripts and characters that refused to go away until their stories were told. Eventually she put away the pen and paper and got down to business with the computer. The journey took a few years, with some encouragement and rejection along the wayâas well as a lot of stubbornness on her part. In 2006 her dream to write for Love Inspired Books came true. Brenda lives in the rural Ozarks with her husband, three kids and an abundance of cats and dogs. She enjoys a chaotic life that she wouldnât trade for anythingâ
except, on occasion, a beach house in Texas. You can stop by and visit at her website, www.brendaminton.net.
And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.
âRomans 8:28
To my kids, because they remind me daily
that without them, Iâdâ¦have a clean house. And be very lonely living in it.
Chapter One
Mia Cooper stood on her porch surveying the quiet landscape of Dawson, Oklahoma. Leaves were turning, the grass had long since dried from lack of rain, and the neighborhood kids had gone back to school weeks ago. She felt alone in the world.
It shouldnât bother her. She knew how to handle loneliness. Even as a Cooper, surrounded by family, she had sometimes felt alone. She also knew how to adjust. Sheâd been told recently that her strongest skills were her ability to readjust or reinvent herself.
And her biggest detriment.
She just had to decide who she would be now that she was back in Dawson, at her momâs insistence. Okay, she admitted she had been easy to convince. Sheâd been ready to come home. Her apartment in Tulsa had been too quiet, too private, even for her.
She adjusted the sling that kept her right arm close to her chest, swallowed another gulp of water and jogged down the steps. She could run. She could take to the streets of Dawson, smile and wave to neighbors who might be out. She could pretend that everything would be okay.
But Butch Walker was dead.
That would never change. Butchâs wife, Tina, would raise two children alone. Mia would forever remember his face as he went down. She would always live with shooting too late, with not being able to save him.
Her arm might ache. The possibility of not being able to go back to work hurt. But Butch goneâthat hurt worse. She could take the pain of running.
She hit the pavement, taking it slow, breathing deep and easy as she lengthened her strides. She swallowed past the tightness in her throat and ignored the pain in her arm and shoulder.
Donât ignore the pain, her doctor had warned her after surgery a month ago. How could she ignore it? It was a constant reminder.
A car came up behind her, and she stepped to the side of the road. Her heart jumped a few paces ahead as she glanced back to make sure it was someone she knew. In Dawson it was rare to see a stranger. Even people you didnât know well werenât considered strangersâthey were just people you should get to know better.