Free Shield of Refuge by Carol Steward Page B

was thinking of my parents’ house. They have several extra rooms. You’d be safe there. And they’re used to unexpected emergencies.”
    â€œNo offense, but I don’t even know you, let alone your parents. Thank you, but I’ll be fine. Let’s find something to close up the window for a few days.”
    â€œMy sister, then? I’d offer my brother’s place, but…”
    She spun around, disarmed to see the smile on his face. He had his arms folded across his chest and was leaning against the washing machine, just waiting for her to lose her temper. “You’re kidding me?”
    He chuckled. “No, I’m not kidding you, Amber. But I am trying to figure out what the chief’s going to say when I show up to put you into a jail cell because you’re refusing protective custody.”
    â€œI need to go to church tomorrow. I can’t be in protective custody. I have a wedding to plan for next weekend,” she said, rambling off a list of boring things in her hectic life.
    He stepped close, and the smile disappeared. “You really don’t have any other options, Amber. I’m not going to stay here with you alone, there’s a hole in your window and snow’s coming in. It’s freezing up there.”
    â€œBut…”
    â€œYou’ve already as much as admitted you don’t have to be here at three in the morning to bake, so you may as well be somewhere you can get some rest, knowing that someone else is watching out for your safety. My parents’ house has plenty of room—it’s no inconvenience to them. You’ll have privacy and protection. They go to church every week, so their schedule shouldn’t impact your plans, as long as you understand I’m going with you to church.”
    â€œBut…” she said, trying to come up with another plan. “I have lunch with my grandmother tomorrow.”
    â€œI’ll be a perfect gentleman, Amber. I like grandmothers. And generally, most of them like me, too.”
    That’s what I’m afraid of. “I don’t want Nana to know anything about this, though. And if you come along, she’ll be suspicious.”
    â€œShe doesn’t have to know I’m a cop. I could be a boyfriend.”
    â€œNo!” She hadn’t meant to say it so loud. “I mean, then she’d…no. You just cannot go to lunch with us.”
    Garrett laughed. “You’re afraid she’ll like me, aren’t you?”
    Amber struggled to keep the smile under wraps. “You know how grandmothers can be. She gets these wild ideas and there’s no stopping her….” She felt her heart race. He didn’t look sympathetic at all.
    â€œYou don’t think she’s going to read it in the newspaper? Amber, she lived here until, when? Last month? She knows what you’re living with.”
    â€œYes, she knows it’s a concern, but no, she didn’t hear anyone when she was upstairs. She’s not deaf, but she doesn’t hear well. She’ll blame herself for selling to me. Can’t you ask the police to keep it out of the news? It wasn’t a break-in—not really, I mean. No one got in.”
    He moved to the stacks of wood and thumbed through them. “We don’t know what it was yet, but I’ll try to convince them to keep the details quiet, for your safety, if you’ll cooperate….”
    She let out a sigh of exasperation, and Garrett turned toward her.
    â€œAmber, you can’t keep burning the midnight oil worrying about whether you’re going to wake up to someone in your shop waiting for you.”
    She wrapped her hands over her arms, hugging herself. She looked terrible after three nights without sleep, and she knew it. He was being nice. “If I agree to go to your parents’, will you drop the church service and lunch with Nana? Please.”
    â€œHow about if I’m an old friend who