Through the Sheriff's Eyes
Love comes before duty… Faith refuses to be with a man who feels a sense of obligation towards her. She’s been through some traumatic events that have left her a little shaky. That doesn’t mean she needs Sheriff Ben hovering. She’ll be fine…on her own.Despite her protests, however, Ben won’t budge. He insists they share a romantic connection. She’ll admit she finds him attractive, but how can she be close to a man who might view her as a duty? It’s not until she catches a glimpse of herself through his eyes that she discovers what he feels for her is very real.
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âDo you know what Iâd like to do right now?â
Faith shook her head in response to Benâs question. Her teeth closed on her lower lip, betraying nerves.
âI want to take you home with me and tuck you into my bed for a nap. I want to lie there next to you.â Ben wouldnât even have to be touching her. Heâd be satisfied to watch her sleep.
Color touched her cheeks and he thought he saw yearning in her eyes before they shied from his. âThatâs just weird.â
He smiled at her. âMaybe. Of course, thatâs not all I want, but it would be a start. Just ⦠knowing you were sleeping soundly, right there next to me.â
âI donât understand you,â Faith whispered.
His own voice low and husky, Ben said, âIâm willing to give you a chance to, any time youâre ready.â
Dear Reader,
The relationship between twins is a fascinating one often explored in fiction. The extremely close bond that sometimes exists, especially between identical twins, is hard for those of us not born a twin to understand. I, of course, like to focus on relationships that have gone bad. It intrigued me to imagine twin sisters with completely different needs. One craves the closeness born in the womb. The other is, almost from birth, horrified to see this other person who is a reflection of her. How can they help but hurt each other, no matter how much they also love each other?
And whatâs going to happen to these two women, whose ability to love each other has been damaged, when later they fall in love with the heroes? Wonderful questions I loved exploring.
Because Charlotteâs and Faithâs lives are so entangled, their stories had to be as well. Iâm just glad the two books are coming out in back-to-back months! The first THE RUSSELL TWINS story, Charlotteâs Homecoming, was released in July 2011 and now you have Faithâs story.
Enjoy!
Janice Kay Johnson
About the Author
The author of more than sixty books, JANICE KAY JOHNSON writes novels about love and familyâabout the way generations connect and the power our earliest experiences have on us throughout life. Her 2007 novel Snowbound won a RITA>® Award from Romance Writers of America for Best Contemporary Series Romance. A former librarian, Janice raised two daughters in a small rural town north of Seattle, Washington. She loves to read and is an active volunteer and board member for Purrfect Pals, a no-kill cat shelter.
CHAPTER ONE
BEN WHEELER HATED TO fail at anything.
He hadnât made a habit of it in his seventeen-year career in law enforcement. Oh, thereâd been screwups, sure. Like the one that had landed him in the ICU for a week with a bullet hole in his gut. But that time, heâd taken down the guy who shot him and a second one whoâd been about to shoot him, so he couldnât exactly call it a failure. Heâd lived, theyâd died. And naturally, there were casesâparticularly in Homicideâthat had gone cold, which he hated.
But failing to find an ordinary guy ⦠Not a professional hit man or anything like that, not someone who knew how to disappear as a career skill. Nope, just a sleaze whoâd abused his wife and, now that sheâd left him, wanted to teach her a vicious lesson. Ben couldnât think of an excuse in the world for his failure to locate Rory Hardesty and put the son of a bitch behind bars.
His fingers flexed on the steering wheel despite the brief glower he gave them. He wished like hell there was a different, logical route to take into West Forkâone that wouldnât add fifteen minutes or more to the drive.
One that wouldnât take him past the Russell Family Farm, coming up on the right once the highway rounded a curve that followed the river.
Every time he saw the damn farm, he was slapped in the face with the reminder that heâd failed. Was still failing.
He should have been able to keep Faith and Charlotte Russell from being terrorized and hurt.
Heâd spent this afternoon in Everett helping train volunteers for a program that kept first-time juvenile offenders out of the court system. He was giving his time generously because he believed in preventative law enforcement. Nip crime in the bud, so to speak. Make teenage offenders whoâd surrendered to an impulse to shoplift or threaten someone face sober citizens from their own community who could assign real-life punishment while also offering the kind of attention and caring the court system couldnât. The kids who took the opportunity seriously wouldnât have the crime on their records. Ben liked the concept.
Heâd keep his gaze straight ahead as he passed the farm, he told himself. Allow no more than a brief glance, to be sure there wasnât an ambulance or police car with flashing lights there to signal trouble. Not that there would be at this time of dayâHardesty liked the midnight hour.
Less than half a mile past the Russell farm, the highway led into the small town of West Fork in the foothills of Washingtonâs Cascade Mountains.
