A Hero for Tonight Read Free Page B

the room in his uniform. Not so much his deputy uniform, as in his marine fatigues, and especially his dress blues. Yep, she was as a pathetic as any other woman; Corporal Shane Donovan was one good-looking marine.
    Down in the basement, she grabbed the bag of containers she’d recently bought along with the cinnamon. Her late mother had been Mary’s best friend. The two women started the small seasonal fruit stand the year Krista turned ten. That apple season after her mother died of breast cancer, Mary hadn’t wanted to do it anymore; it had been Krista who asked if they could continue the tradition, together. In Mary’s typical way, she couldn’t say no, even though Krista was barely fifteen at the time. Hard to believe her mother had been gone ten years last month.
    Her father remarried a year ago to a woman with three young kids, and agreed it was smarter to live in Patricia’s bigger house.
    She’d made the decision to stay put and let her father start his new life alone. Though she had a great relationship with her new step-family, she enjoyed them far more if she didn’t have to live with them.
    Up in her bedroom, she grabbed a pair of yoga pants and a sweatshirt. The nights were getting cooler, and if she ended up out late, she didn’t want to be shivering in her shorts.
    Back downstairs, she shut the front door and drove the short distance back to Mary’s to put in a long night of apple cooking.

Chapter Two
    It was barely six the next Saturday morning when Krista pulled into the farm market. Over the years, the building that had started as a simple stand had been added onto until it was now a completely enclosed store that sold everything from apples to homemade quilts every fall.
    The Apple Basket was set at the end of a long driveway lined with hay bales and pumpkins. On Saturdays during good weather, complimentary hayrides were given by Shane or his father. Krista was proud of all that she and Mary had accomplished in the past six years. She only hoped her partner would be excited when she shared her idea for keeping the market open year round. Not that she expected Mary to work it all year. Her partner was usually more than happy to be done with it after Christmas. Over the last two years though, Krista had been thinking she’d like to have the business open year round, or at least from April through December.
    As she unlocked the door and flipped the lights on, warmth enveloped her. The furnace had kicked on automatically a half hour ago so the building was already warm and cozy. Moving around the shop, she performed the morning rituals automatically—started the coffee pots and turned on the two oversized ovens in the kitchen.
    Within an hour, she had apple muffins and bread baking, and her third cup of coffee was almost gone. A glance at the clock showed there was still over an hour and a half before they opened. She settled behind the counter and flipped on her laptop. Plenty of time to work on the new website. She’d been toying with the idea of taking orders online for their apple products and having them ready for the customers when they arrived. Hopefully next year.
    She was so engrossed in the new project that she literally jumped when the door burst open. Her heart beat erratically, and her hand automatically went to her chest in reaction.
    Relief mixed immediately with annoyance as Shane’s tall frame filled the doorway.
    “You scared the crap out of me, slamming the door open like that.” Shaking her head, she went back to her computer screen.
    “This door needs to be locked when you or Mom are out here alone, especially at this hour.”
    Her gaze slipped to the clock on her screen. “It’s after seven.”
    “I forgot, rapists and psycho killers clock out at six-thirty. Good to know.” He strode to the coffeepot in the corner. “Makes my job much easier.”
    “Your job couldn’t get much easier,” she muttered half under her breath.
    “Look who’s talking as she plays on