New Yorker Kate Norwood meets Jesse McCoy on her trip to Texas with her young nephew. She learns her plan to leave Nicky with his grandmother – Jesse’s mother – is hopeless, and faced with the improbable prospect of rearing the boy herself, she turns to Jesse for help. Kate and Jesse bond easily, but problems arise which may drive them apart and leave the child with the wrong person. With hearts full of love and hope, they work together to find the answers they need under THE STARS AT NIGHT.
EXCERPT
With narrowed eyes, Jesse McCoy
watched a black SUV fly by him. The guy's
going to kill somebody. He snapped the strap of the helmet under his chin
and adjusted his mirrored sunglasses. In a single motion, he kicked back the
stand with the heel of his boot, hit the starter, and put the motorcycle in
gear. The sleek, black machine roared to life as he raced onto the highway, spewing
gravel into the air behind him. Unconsciously, he flicked the switch to turn on
the sirens and the red and blue flashing lights.
Damn
fool must be going ninety.
The live oak and juniper trees blurred as he
revved up the big bike to catch the speeder. Once or twice, he lost sight of
the SUV as it sailed over a hill and left him in a swale, or it disappeared
around a curve. As an officer of the law in the Texas Hill Country, he knew
what he was doing, and without a doubt, he would catch the perpetrator.
• ♥ •
"Oh...darn." Kate
glanced at her young nephew, wishing she hadn't used the word, even though she
didn't classify it as a curse word. But you never knew what a kid would think.
"A cop. Nicky, fix your seat belt, honey.
Quickly, now. I know you keep slipping out of it, but please adjust it. Oh,
geez, now, I'm going to get two
tickets."
"I don't want to. I don't like it." Slumped in the front seat, Nicky
whined and kicked his heels back and forth on the edge of the soft leather.
Glancing in the rear-view mirror, she told him,
"I know, but shush, now, sweetie, and be still. Hurry and buckle up for
me."
Kate
brought the huge vehicle to a stop onto the wide shoulder. How fast had she
been going, anyway? Since she didn't own a car and had to rent one, she wasn't
as familiar with driving as most people were. The cruise control always acted
wonky, and she could never get it right. Before she knew it, her speed zoomed
way over the posted limit.
Now, so near her destination, a police officer
stopped her. Why hadn't she flown down here to Texas, anyway? The idea of an
adventure was turning out to be a bad idea after all, just like her mother
said.
She and five-year-old Nicky had been on the road
four days. Her nerves were shot, not only from driving on interstates, but also
from spending three nights in motel rooms with a child who only wanted pizza
and hamburgers, and stayed glued to the television.
The uncertainty of what she was doing, bringing
him to Texas to leave him, kept her awake at night, knowing in her heart it was
not right. Guilt ate at her every minute. But what else could she do?
