At His Command
In one short month, cheerful army nurse Madeline Bright has become the darling of Prairie Springs, Texas.And if ex-pilot Jake Hopkins isn't careful, she might just conquer his heart. She's young, pretty and blithe-spirited…he's older and jaded. But being around Maddie brings back too many painful memories. Jake still feels guilty about failing to save Maddie's brother in an army helicopter crash years ago.So no matter how much Maddie wants to be in his life, for her own good, Jake can't allow that. He'll never have a normal, stable life. And sweet Madeline deserves nothing less.
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Maddieâs eyes glowed with happiness.
âIâve been house-hunting.â
House-hunting. Jake almost groaned aloud. Why couldnât she just stay on post where she belonged? If she moved into town, Jake would bump into her even more often than he did already.
Just yesterday heâd seen her at the offices of Children of the Day, an international Christian charity founded five years ago by Prairie Springs resident Anna Terenkov to assist innocent victims of war. He liked Anna, but lately sheâd been getting on his nerves because she couldnât stop talking about her new friend Maddie. She was so sweet, Annaâd gushed. So eager to help everyone. It had been pointed out on more than one occasion that a man would have to be dead not to notice how pretty she was.
Jake definitely wasnât dead.
Homecoming Heroes: Saving children and finding
love deep in the heart of Texas
Mission: MotherhoodâMarta Perry
July 2008
Lone Star SecretâLenora Worth
August 2008
At His CommandâBrenda Coulter
September 2008
A Matter of the HeartâPatricia Davids
October 2008
A Texas ThanksgivingâMargaret Daley
November 2008
Homefront HolidayâJillian Hart
December 2008
BRENDA COULTER
started writing an inspirational-romance novel the same afternoon she finished reading one for the first time. Less than a year later, she had a completed manuscript and an interested publisher. Although that first book went on to win both a HOLT Medallion and a Romantic Times BOOKreviews Reviewersâ Choice Award, it took three rejected manuscripts before Brenda figured out what she had done right the first time. She did it again, resulting in another sale to Steeple Hill Books. That second novel was a finalist for Romance Writers of Americaâs prestigious RITA>® Award.
Married for over thirty years, Brenda and her architect husband have no pets because, after bringing up two rascally boys, they have earned a rest.
At His Command
Brenda Coulter
Published by Steeple Hill Books>â¢
Special thanks and acknowledgment to Brenda Coulter for her contribution to the Homecoming Heroes miniseries.
You turned my wailing into dancing; you removed
my sackcloth and clothed me with joy, that my heart may sing to you and not be silent. O Lord my God, I will give you thanks forever.
âPsalms 30:11â12
With gratitude to every hero who stands ready
to protect the freedoms I enjoy as an American, and with love to James E. Riley (U.S. Air Force, 1951â54), Kenneth D. Coulter (U.S. Air Force, 1947â51) and John Stokes (U.S. Marines, 1943â45; U.S. Army, 1947â49).
Contents
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven
Chapter Twelve
Chapter Thirteen
Chapter Fourteen
Chapter Fifteen
Chapter Sixteen
Questions for Discussion
Chapter One
Texas attorney Jake Hopkins was severely allergic to two things: peanuts and a sweet young army nurse named Madeline Bright. Travis Wylie, Jakeâs law partner, took the peanut problem seriously because heâd once had to call 9-1-1 when Jake suffered a life-threatening anaphylactic reaction during dinner at an Austin restaurant. But while Travis readily acknowledged that certain women possessed a knack for turning a man every which way but loose, he steadfastly maintained that Jake couldnât be allergic to a member of his own species.
Jake knew better. There was nothing imaginary about the symptoms he suffered whenever he was in close proximity to Maddie. All he had to do was clap eyes on the chestnut-haired, blue-eyed beauty and his pulse raced, his throat closed up and his brain stalled out. Since that was pretty much what happened whenever Jake got too close to a peanut, he figured the evidence spoke for itself.
It had been four years since the sudden onset of his peanut allergy, and in that time heâd learned to give a wide berth to foods containing even a trace of the offending legumes. In the past month, heâd trained himself to be just as assiduous about avoiding Maddie.
âMadeline,â he said aloud, correcting himself as he swung his black BMW convertible into the grocery-store parking lot. Using her nickname was flirting with emotional intimacy, and Jake wasnât that kind of man anymore.
Maybe he never really had been that kind of man. His wife had hinted at that more than a few times when she was alive. Or maybe he and Rita just hadnât been a good match to begin with. Jake had known she was dissatisfied, and sometimes he wondered if she would have gone so far as to divorce him if a freak boating accident on Lake Travis hadnât ended her life.
Poor Rita. For three years sheâd clung to the stubborn belief that being married ought to temper Jakeâs passion for flying helicopters. Sheâd wanted him out of the army and out of the sky, but Jake was a second-generation West Point graduate, and a life without flying wasnât any kind of life at all.
Heâd had to adjust his thinking on that after heâd awoken at a combat support hospital in the Middle East and learned heâd never walk again, let alone fly. Heâd been transferred to the Army Medical Center in Landstuhl, Germany for more surgery, and a week later theyâd drugged him up and loaded him on a hospital plane headed for Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington, D.C.
