The sight charmed him. So did she.

A knot formed beneath his rib cage. The thing had started up recently, replacing the burn in his belly, though this was almost as annoying. Almost but not quite. The knot said Sophie was nearby. The woman had him twisted in knots.

He lifted the brass knocker and gave three strong taps. A sharp gust of wind whipped around the corner of the porch and shoved cold fingers beneath his jacket. Being from Chicago, he ignored the chill. He'd been colder.

He probably should have phoned first.

He waited a couple of minutes, but Sophie didn't respond so he knocked again. Part of him wanted her to open the door. Being in her presence pushed the shadows away and made him feel normal again. More than normal.

The sensible part of him said he should hit the road and leave her alone.

He snorted softly. He was a mess. A certifiable mess. Kade lifted the knocker and tried again. Sophie even had him thinking about his faith, or lack thereof. He wondered if God ever thought about him. Probably not much.

She wasn't home. Might as well move on.

Disappointed, he'd turned to leave when he heard the metallic click of the doorknob.

"Kade!"

He spun around. Sophie, smile as bright and cheerful as a Christmas gift, was framed in the doorway like a picture. She had a pink towel wrapped around her head.

"Got a minute?" he asked.

"Sure. Come in." She stood aside and allowed him to pass before shutting out the swirling wind. "Sorry I took so long to answer the door. I was washing my hair."

"I see that." He motioned to her head, the scent of wet hair and shampoo strong. She looked pretty with her face scrubbed clean and her eyebrows dark and damp. "Go ahead and do what you need to. I'll wait."

She removed the towel and shook out her hair into a mass of wiggling snakes. "How's this?"

He grinned. "I'm not answering that question."

She laughed, a full, delighted sound. "Smart man. Let me grab a brush and I'll be back."

While she was gone, he glanced around the small, jam-packed living room. Decorated for Christmas, the space sparkled. He could smell the fresh little tree standing in one corner with a mound of gifts beneath it. Nearly a dozen were the size and shape of footballs. Must be for the boys in her class.

A Bible and some sort of book were neatly stacked on an end table next to the telephone and a notepad. A simple silver cross hung above the television. He expected her blatant displays of faith to make him uncomfortable, but they didn't. He felt...comforted. Sophie was Sophie, sweet and real. Her quiet, living faith was who she was.

Where that left him, he still didn't know.

Not ready to go there, nor the least bit comfortable with that line of thought, he resumed his perusal of her cheerful house. His gaze had reached a grouping of framed pictures when she returned.

"There. Tell me I look better." She'd combed the wet hair straight down to touch her shoulders. The color was dark and rich and glossy. Kade secretly thought she would look beautiful no matter what, but he nodded. "Looks good."

Her grin was disbelieving. "Where's Davey?"

"Ida June. Something about GI Jack, Popbottle Jones and a goat."

Sophie chuckled, a motion that crinkled the corners of her eyes and displayed a tiny dimple on one cheekbone. Weird that he'd noticed something that random.

"They have a goat named Prudence," she said. "She's a hoot. Loves people, but has a strong personality. She also makes great cheese. Davey will have fun."

He'd been to GI Jack's place a couple of times. The mishmash of discarded, recycled flotsam and jetsam was interesting to say the least. A little boy would have a fine time exploring. "I thought so, too, though I didn't have much say in the matter. When Ida June speaks I've learned to go with her decision or suffer the quotations."

"I know what you mean," she said, nodding sagely. "Ida June is as much a hoot as Prudence."

"Yeah. Quite a gene pool I come from." He motioned toward the table of photos. "Is that your family?"

"Those are my gene pool. The Bartholomews."

"You look like your mother."

"Really?" An emotion, a little sad and a little proud, echoed from that one word. "She's beautiful."

Her gray eyes narrowed, but her lips curved. Full, pretty lips on a mouth that loved to laugh. "That sounds suspiciously like a compliment."

"It was." Okay, so he'd told her she was beautiful. That was enough. He didn't have to tell her the rest. The only way to keep his sanity and keep her safe was to keep his mouth shut. His gut threatened, just enough to let him know Vesuvius was still in there, waiting for a chance to make him suffer. Keeping things inside was killing him, but Sophie was worth the price.

What had Ida June said about a good woman and the price of rubies? He thought he was beginning to understand.

Sophie crossed the small carpeted floor and detoured around a canvas bag overflowing with schoolbooks to take up a framed photo. "This is the last picture with all of us as a family before Mom left."

Sadness shadowed her beautiful gray eyes. Even now, the separation bothered her.

"Divorce is tough." His parents were still together, but he had buddies who suffered through the humiliation and pain, even though a broken home seemed to go hand in hand with being a cop. Women couldn't take the strain. Or was it the men who buckled beneath the pressure of dealing with the dregs of humanity day in and day out? He had.

He wondered what had happened to Sophie's parents but didn't pry. No use giving her an opening to ask questions he didn't want to answer.

"I was angry at my mother for years," she said softly as she rubbed an index finger over the face in the picture. "Until yesterday."

"What happened yesterday?" There he went, right where he'd vowed not to, sticking his nose in her private life. "You don't have to tell me."

"No, it's all right. I don't mind. In fact, getting over my anger is such a big relief..." Her voice trailed off. She put the photo back on the table and returned to the small couch. A love seat, he thought. A cushy blue-gray love seat that nearly matched Sophie's eyes.

A soft fragrance wafted to him as she twisted one leg beneath her and settled. Either she washed her hair with coconut or the woman was a walking macaroon. Sweet and delicious.

Kade cleared his throat and scooted to one end. Sitting on something called a love seat with Sophie gave him ideas he shouldn't have.

"So what happened?" he pressed, mostly to take his mind anywhere but on clean-smelling Sophie.

Serene and apparently not as affected by his nearness as he was to hers, she told him about the sudden, stunning, unexpected divorce and her mother's secret infidelity.

"She hurt you," he said, anger rising at a woman he didn't even know.

Sophie placed her fingertips on his arm. "She did, but I hurt myself worse."

"I don't get it."

"By not forgiving her. I know it doesn't make sense," she said.

"No, it doesn't. She made the choice to leave. Not you."

"That's what I thought, too. Then. But my dad taught me something. Being a slow learner I didn't figure it out until last night. Forgiveness is always right. My faith teaches that, but I didn't want to forgive her, so I let the anger fester. She wasn't miserable. I was."

Moved by her generosity, he said softly, "You're a bigger person than most, Sophie B."

"I don't know about that, but I do know I feel much better now that I've resolved things with my mother."

"You told her?"

"Yes. Last night, after Dad and I talked, I called my mom. We had a long, honest conversation. When I told her I forgave her and I loved her, she cried." Sophie plucked at the nap on the love seat. "She cried."

He could see how emotional the issue was for her. She was amazing, his Sophie B. Full of love and forgiveness and decency.

"What about you? Did you cry?"

She looked up, eyes shining with unshed tears. "I did, but they were happy tears that washed away a hard place inside me that I didn't even know was there."

Kade couldn't resist then. He touched her smooth, velvet cheek with the knuckle of his index finger. "There's nothing hard about you. Never could be. You're the softest, kindest-"

He was talking too much. He had to stop before he spilled his guts.

But there was Sophie, gray eyes gentle and accepting, and he felt a wonderful sense of rightness in being with her, here on her love seat on a quiet Sunday afternoon.

"Kade," she whispered, her breath warm against his fingers, "I wouldn't care a bit if you kissed me."

His heart expanded to the point of explosion. He was only a man after all, and he was half-nuts about a woman who'd just asked him to kiss her.

Hadn't he been thinking about exactly that?

He moved in closer, gaze locked on hers, full of wonder and terror and stupid happiness. When his lips touched hers, some of the hard pain inside him melted like wax. She was everything he'd known she would be. Everything he'd dreamed in his restless sleep and waking imaginings. Sweetness, purity, warmth and glory. A fierce emotion burned in him, protective and stunning.

Right before his brain shorted out, he had one sane thought. He was falling in love with a woman he didn't deserve. And he didn't know what to do about it.

Chapter Ten.

The next morning, Kade was still reeling in the wild sensation of kissing Sophie, not once but several times. He shouldn't have. He should have cut and run for her sake, but he'd had no self-discipline yesterday afternoon.

He wasn't sure if that was a good thing or not, considering self-control had gotten him into the mess in Chicago. As an undercover agent-a narc-he'd played the part, done his job and lost his soul in the process. Sophie and Redemption-an aptly named town under the circumstances-had stirred a hope that he might actually find his way again.

His cell phone jingled. He plucked it from his pocket and answered. "McKendrick here."

"Mr. McKendrick? My name is James. You don't know me, but I got this number from a newspaper here in Potterville."

Kade sat up straighter in his chair, a tingle of excited hope racing over his skin. Potterville was thirty miles from Redemption. "I put an ad in that paper."

"Yes, sir. That's why I'm calling. I've seen that little boy you're looking for. He and his mama used to come into the grocery store where I work."

"You're sure it was him?"

"Pretty sure. Almost positive."

"Do you know where his mother lives?"

"Yes, kind of," the voice said. "They didn't socialize much, but I remember someone saying they lived in the old Rogers' place a few miles out of town."

"Give me your name again and how to reach you." Kade scrambled for a pen and paper, jotting down as much info as he needed. "Can you give me an address or directions to the house?"

"I think so."

Kade wrote quickly, his pulse pumping adrenaline so fast that his head swam. This could be it. This could be the break he'd been praying for.

Armed with all the information he could pump from the man named James, he rang off and grabbed his coat. On the way out the door, he called Chief Jesse Rainmaker. He had no jurisdiction in Oklahoma, but Jesse did.

Whoever the woman was who had kept Davey under lock and key and then dumped him like a sack of garbage was about to feel the full brunt of legal fury.

Sophie was beside herself with excitement. Kade had left a message on her cell phone saying he'd had a break in Davey's case and wouldn't be home after school. Would she look after their boy? Of course she would. He knew that. He also knew she'd say nothing to Davey until they had more information.

She touched her cheek, warm from frequent thoughts of the kiss they'd shared yesterday afternoon. Kade had stayed until church time, although he'd never told her why he'd come over in the first place. She'd fed him grilled cheese and he'd helped her wrap Christmas gifts, a hilarious project considering he made prettier bows than she did. They'd talked. And he'd kissed her twice more. Once when they'd been laughing at her pitiful attempt to tie a bow and then when he'd left.

She was still a little shell-shocked by that. Shell-shocked in a very good way. Maybe Christmas had come early for Sophie B.

No, not yet, because when church time had arrived, he'd gone home, refusing her invitation to come along. Disappointed but not surprised, she'd pressed for a reason. He'd given the usual joke about the church roof caving in.

Davey tapped her arm to get her attention. As she handed him the silently requested bakery box, she prayed Christmas was coming early for Davey whether it came for her or not.

A tiny selfish regret pinched her heart. She loved being with this sweet little boy, and she'd miss him terribly if Kade had discovered where he belonged. Although Kade kept his words few and his promises nonexistent, he would miss Davey, too. Hopefully Davey had a family who treasured him even more than she and Kade did.

She ruffled the top of Davey's hair and received his crooked smile as reward. Today turned out to be the perfect afternoon for him to hang out with her after school. Fifth grade had baked and decorated cookies all day.

Being too antsy to remain still, the cookies were a perfect reason for Sophie to keep moving and busy. Even her students had noticed her extra energy and had asked if she was excited about Christmas. She gave them an easy and honest affirmation, but nothing could compare with the gift of reestablishing Davey with his loved ones-if that's what was about to happen, and she prayed it was.

In a chef's apron and plastic gloves, and heedless of the drama being played out on his behalf, Davey stood at a table sorting sugar cookies. Sophie slid each colorful dozen into zip bags and placed them into a small, white bakery box before adding the labels her class had designed-a merry little elf holding a banner emblazoned with Fifth Grade and the type of cookie. Later, she and Davey would make deliveries.

"Just a few more and we'll be finished," she said. "Are you getting hungry?"

Davey's eyes cut from side to side before he grinned sheepishly and pointed at the bowl of broken cookies.

Sophie plopped a hand on one hip and pretended dismay. "Chef Davey, have you been filching cookie crumbs when I wasn't looking?"

He nodded, displaying those half-grown teeth stained with crumbs and food coloring.