But the eyes of the Lord are on those who fear him, on those whose hope is in his unfailing love…We wait in hope for the Lord; he is our help and our shield.

      —Psalms 33:18, 20

      To Mom and Dad.

       You are amazing parents, cheerleaders and most of all friends. Thanks for setting an example of loving God.

      To the rest of the Johnson/Whitson Clan:

       Micah, Beth, Hannah, John and all the kids. Thank you for helping me leap those first obligatory hurdles and making me laugh along the way. I’m so thankful to be part of this family.

      And to my Monday night writing buddy

       Jessica Barnes and my first editor Kelly Blewett; the first draft (and every subsequent version) of this story would never have seen the light of day without you both. I treasure our friendship.

      A special thanks to Elizabeth Mazer, who took a

       chance on me and saw something worth her time. I’m a better writer because of you.

      CONTENTS

      CHAPTER ONE

      CHAPTER TWO

      CHAPTER THREE

      CHAPTER FOUR

      CHAPTER FIVE

      CHAPTER SIX

      CHAPTER SEVEN

      CHAPTER EIGHT

      CHAPTER NINE

      CHAPTER TEN

      CHAPTER ELEVEN

      CHAPTER TWELVE

      CHAPTER THIRTEEN

      CHAPTER FOURTEEN

      CHAPTER FIFTEEN

      CHAPTER SIXTEEN

      CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

      QUESTIONS FOR DISCUSSION

      ONE

      Mackenzie Thorn looked up just in time to see two men walk into her classroom. One of them, a guard, nodded at his coworker stationed inside the door, and kept his hand at the elbow of the taller man beside him. This man, clad in an orange jumpsuit sporting the initials ODOC—Oregon Department of Corrections—swaggered into the classroom, head held high, windswept brown hair falling over his collar. The intensity of his blue eyes struck Kenzie immobile for a moment as they approached.

      “Ms. Thorn,” the guard began.

      Kenzie shook her head to clear her thoughts before holding up one index finger to the guard. “Just a moment, please.” Turning to the two men sitting at the first table on her right, she said, “Mr. Ramirez, Mr. Chen, please pass out workbooks to everyone.” The two men began their task while she moved to meet her new student.

      “This is Myles Parsons. The superintendent’s office said to put him in this class.”

      The guard made no apologies for bringing in a new student five weeks into their six-week GED session. Decrees from Superintendent JB Ryker’s office were law inside these walls. The inmate would just have to try to keep up.

      The man’s piercing blue eyes bore into her face, seeming to study every crevice. She knew for a fact that her face was not that interesting. Mr. Parsons’s face, on the other hand, was well worth studying. The crooked bridge of his nose had been broken at least once, but the imperfection was intriguing rather than off-putting. His wide mouth and pink lips pulled into a smirk, exposing his arrogance. Running thick fingers through his shaggy brown hair, he continued staring back at her, something few of her other students had ever dared to do.

      Suddenly she realized how incredibly inappropriate she was being and ripped her gaze away from his handsome face. “Welcome to our GED prep class, Mr. Parsons.”

      “So you’re Ms. Thorn?”

      “Yes, I am. You seem surprised.”

      “I am.” The man certainly did not mince words. “I expected someone more…” He stretched to his full height, which was at least a foot taller than her. “The way the others talk, I expected someone more intimidating.”

      Despite her skittering pulse, she quirked the corner of her mouth into a partial grin. “Trust me, Mr. Parsons. My tests are plenty intimidating. You may take a seat now. Third row on the left.” Effectively dismissing him, she turned to the rest of the class and began teaching the basic fraction lesson.

      Myles Parsons gazed at Ms. Mackenzie Thorn. Obviously frustrated by her wild, curly hair, she shoved it behind her ears, giving herself streaks of white where the chalk from her fingers lingered in her curls.

      Her passion for the mundane principles of fractions astounded him. Her voice, like a melody, rose and fell as she singsonged through adding and subtracting the tricky numbers.

      He shook his head to clear away the distractions of her intense gray eyes. He chastised himself for his own bad luck to end up inside these walls. Her pretty face wouldn’t be enough to make his current mission worth it.

      Somehow, he’d let his FBI supervisor, Special Agent in Charge Nathan—Nate—Andersen, talk him into taking this assignment. An assignment that could be summed up in two words: Kenzie Thorn.

      When Nate received a tip two weeks before that the governor’s granddaughter was in danger working inside the Oregon State Prison Complex at Evergreen, Myles had wondered about the validity of the tip. But Nate believed it, and he’d assigned an agent to the inside to protect her. As the youngest special agent stationed in the office, and one of the few without a family, Myles was the obvious pick to go behind bars to protect Kenzie.

      Protect her from what, he wasn’t sure.

      But as long as he was on this mission, he’d keep an eye on her. He’d do his job and do it well.

      Kenzie—Ms.