She looked up from the cradle of his protective hold. Their faces were so close together. She’d never dreamed a man would put himself physically between her and harm. Even if he was just doing his job, it was more than anybody else had ever done for her.

“I’m sorry about your car.”

Kay looked back and gasped. The cables holding her car had snapped. Now her sedan was completely in the ditch, tilted drunkenly on its side. This time when Eli picked her up, she didn’t protest.

As he carried her away, she couldn’t tear her eyes away from the sight of her totaled car.

*   *   *   *   *

ELI PULLED UP to his parents’ house and turned off his truck. He’d already called his mom so she knew to expect them. He just wasn’t sure what to expect from himself.

He hadn’t asked Kay’s opinion about what to do or even entertained the idea of taking her to her parents’ house. His brain had been taken over by some dominant instinct to protect her. That meant he wanted her where he could keep an eye on her.

Kay took her seat belt off and turned to face him. He braced himself. She had every right to yell at him. They didn’t even get along. He certainly had no right to make decisions for her.

“Eli, thank you for coming to get us. I honestly wasn’t sure what I was going to do.” She leaned over and squeezed his arm.

He looked down at her hand in surprise. She quickly took it back. “Sorry. Anyway, I just wanted to say thanks.”

After a few moments of awkward silence, he could only respond with “You’re welcome.”

Kay pushed open her door and hopped down. There was a muffled curse as she half slid, then fell. He pushed open his own door and rushed around the truck to help her.

“Be careful. It’s pretty high.”

“Yeah, and I’m vertically challenged. I know.” She shrugged and pulled open the back door. “Can you get her down? I don’t want to take a chance that I might fall while holding the car seat. It’s pretty hard to carry as it is.”

Eli reached up into the truck and unhooked the car seat from its base. When she caught sight of him, Hope’s eyes lit up and she let out a rousing squeal. Eli laughed, unable to help himself. When was the last time anyone was that happy to see him? He tickled her under the chin and lifted her down.

It was still startling to see how much Hope had grown. He was used to thinking of her as “the baby.” But now she was so much bigger, with round cheeks and laughing eyes. Her brown skin was the same warm shade as her mother’s, and her short, silky black hair had transformed into a wild curly mass. He’d always found it fascinating how quickly babies changed. How they looked at birth was usually nowhere close to how they looked just a few months later.

Just as they reached the steps, the front door flew open and his mother rushed out. Eli immediately felt bad. His mom must have been really worried the whole time he was gone. He opened his arms as she approached, but his mom bypassed him completely and enfolded Kaylee into a hug.

“You poor thing! We were so worried.”

Kaylee looked just as shocked as he did, but she allowed his mom to fuss over her.

Eli just shook his head. “Gee, thanks for the concern, Mom.”

Julia just sent him a chastising look. “Oh, hush. I knew you were perfectly fine. Now come in out of the cold.”

As they bustled into the house, his mom shut the door behind them, cutting off the whistling sound of the wind. Julia took Kay’s coat and then pulled her into another hug. After a moment, Kay melted into the embrace and let out a soft sigh. The sound hit Eli right in the center of his chest. It sounded like she’d had the weight of the world on her shoulders and just gotten out from under it.

He’d made the right decision to bring her here. If you needed comfort, there was nowhere else in the world better than his parents’ house to get it.

“Now, let’s get you settled.”

“Thank you. I’m really sorry to barge in on you this way,” Kay said.

“Oh, honey, you’re not barging. You needed help. Everybody needs a little help sometimes,” Julia replied.

Eli set Hope’s baby carrier down gently. “Mom, can you get the baby settled while I show Kay to her room?”

Just as he expected, his mother’s eyes went bright with happiness at the sight of the baby.

“Of course I can. I can take care of this little angel.” She knelt next to the baby and tickled her belly while undoing the car-seat restraints.

Eli grabbed Kay’s hand and pulled her down the hall that led to the bedrooms. He stopped at the first one on the left and pushed the door open. A light was already on next to the bed, casting a soft glow over everything. His mother had probably started tidying the room as soon as he called.

Kay sat on the edge of the bed gingerly. “This is your room?”

Eli shrugged. “It used to be. We all come home for Christmas and stay in our old rooms. It’s nice for us all to be together again.”

Kay picked at a small corner of the blanket. “Sounds nice. Having everyone together like that.”

“Since Bennett lives in a converted barn out back, Mom offers his old room to guests. Mara’s boyfriend surprised her with a trip to New York for Christmas so Matt and Penny are using his room this year. They’re planning to head to Penny’s parents before the New Year. According to Matt visiting his parents as well would have been more family time than he can handle. Last year, my mom’s friend Miss Doris stayed over because her husband was in the hospital during the holidays. Mom didn’t want her coming home to her empty house after visiting him each day.”