The Fireman Finds a Wife

Her Unexpected Hero

Widow Summer Spencer is eager for a quiet life—without the worry of loving a man who lives life in the fast lane. But when fire chief Cameron Jackson starts to woo her, it’s tough to resist his charms. Chief Cam can’t ignore the sparks between him and the stately beauty. But when he learns she’s from the richest family in town, he’s not sure he can ever measure up to her expectations. Can he set aside his fears and give true love another chance?

She wasn’t at all surprised to find Cameron at her side.

They’d worked as a team today at the soup kitchen. It gave her a new insight into the fire chief. Most men would have bolted after a woman’s rejection of a date.

She studied him for a moment. Cameron wasn’t just trying to get to know her. She’d seen him talking, then praying with a couple of people after the meal began. Many of them knew him and called him Chief Cam.

Just who was Cameron Jackson?

“I’m going to let Pastor Hines know that the soup kitchen needs some volunteers,” Cameron said.

“I’m just glad you and your friends came to the rescue. Thank you.”

At some point during the meal service, Summer had decided that a date with a

man who would give the homeless almost seven hours of his day was a date she’d like to go on.

Summer let Cameron escort her out the back door and toward her car in the parking lot.

“If the offer is still open,” she said, “I’d like to have dinner with you.”

FELICIA MASON

is a journalist who writes fiction in her free time. Her Love Inspired Suspense novel Gabriel’s Discovery was a finalist for the 2005 RITA® Award from Romance Writers of America. She has been a college professor, a Sunday school teacher and a member of several choirs. When she is not writing, she enjoys reading, traveling to new places, scrapbooking and quilting. She resides in Virginia.

The Fireman Finds a Wife

Felicia Mason

When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and when you pass through the rivers, they will not sweep over you. When you walk through the fire, you will not be burned; the flames will not set you ablaze. Do not be afraid, for I am with you.

—Isaiah 43:2–5

For Pastor Matt Sabo,

who took a photograph of three ministers and provided the connecting thread that would bring together an idea that had been brewing with me for many years. Thanks, Matt, for prompting the idea for the Common Ground ministry that would connect three diverse fictional congregations.

Acknowledgments

A thank you to Melissa Endlich at

Harlequin Enterprises, who welcomed me back into the Love Inspired family after an extended hiatus.

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

Chapter Seventeen

Chapter Eighteen

Chapter Nineteen

Chapter Twenty

Chapter Twenty-One

Epilogue

Dear Reader

Questions for Discussion

Excerpt

Chapter One

“I’m glad you made me do this,” Summer Spencer said.

Her older sister gave her an odd look as she sliced a sliver of cheesecake from the small wedge on her plate.

“Cheesecake, especially your raspberry cheesecake, is always a good idea,” Spring said.

The sisters were taking a break in the sunroom off Summer’s large, light-filled gourmet kitchen. Smiling, Summer put her own fork down, rested her elbows on the table and her chin in her hands.

“Not this,” she said, clarifying with a nod toward the table. “I’m glad you made me come home to Cedar Springs. This was a good move for me. The only downside has been dealing with Ilsa Keller at Manna. I volunteered at the church’s soup kitchen to help people, not to be in a constant turf battle with her.”

“Ilsa can be...” Spring paused, looking for the right word. “Territorial.”

Summer grimaced. “Dictatorial is the word I’d use.”

With a nod, her sister conceded the point. “She means well.”

“We’re already shorthanded,” Summer said. “And three more volunteers have quit. One came to me in tears asking if I could do something, and another stormed out the back door five minutes before the evening meal service after a screaming match with Ilsa right in the dining room.”

“It sounds like the two of you need to have a heart-to-heart talk.”

Summer shuddered. “I think I’d rather have a root canal without any anesthesia. You know I don’t like confrontation, Spring. Besides, it’s not my place to tell the director how to operate the place. I’ve only been volunteering at Manna for a couple of months myself.”

“Mmm-hmm,” Spring said. “Long enough to see that if things continue the way they’re going, there may not be a soup kitchen at Common Ground if Ilsa chases or scares off all of the people who are running the place. No one gets paid to be there. Just like no one gets paid at any of the other church ministries. I probably put more hours in at Common Ground’s free clinic than I do at the hospital. You know how mom is about the homeless shelter. And you do remember that quote about what happens when a good man—in this case, a good woman—does nothing.”