One Good Man. Charlotte Douglas
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about Brittany?”
“Cut her some slack. You’ve instilled good values in her. She knows what to do.”
Jodie wished she had Brynn’s certainty, but said no more, because Jeff had apparently assured the teens they weren’t needed, and Brittany and Daniel were returning to the table.
“Mom, Daniel says there’s a creek up the mountain that’s full of tadpoles. Can we check it out?”
Jodie bit back the no that sprang instantly to her lips and met Brynn’s pleading gaze. “Okay, but stay within shouting distance. We’ll be leaving soon.”
With whoops of delight, the teens turned and raced like children toward the worn footpath that led into the forest behind the farmhouse.
Jodie sank onto a bench. “I hope I’m not making a mistake.”
“I’ll wander up and check on them in a few minutes,” Brynn promised.
Jodie stowed the empty Crock-Pots in the van, but left the remaining food in coolers. As hard as the men were working, they’d be hungry again soon. True to her word, Brynn followed the teens up the mountain. Ricochet’s cleanup left Jodie nothing to do, so she returned to the bench beneath the canopy and watched the massive dorm take shape.
The framers and Marines were manhandling the roof trusses, when one of the heavy beams slipped and landed a glancing blow on Gofer’s foot. A blue streak, a virtuoso performance of profanity, colored the air, and, in addition to her concern for the man’s injury, Jodie was glad Brittany was out of earshot.
“Got a first-aid kit?” she called.
“On the porch,” Jeff directed.
With his arms around Jeff and Kermit’s shoulders, Gofer hobbled toward the canopy.
Jodie ran across the yard and up the porch steps, grabbed the kit and returned to the canopy. Jeff and Kermit had eased Gofer to a bench, and Jeff was removing his buddy’s boot.
“Guess I owe the pot a fortune,” Gofer said between gritted teeth.
Jeff nodded but didn’t take his eyes from the injured foot. “At a dollar a word, to use your favorite expression, I’d say you went for broke.”
Gofer drew in a breath that hissed between his teeth and looked up at Jodie. “The team’s trying to clean up its vocabulary, to set an example for our teens.”
Kermit hovered, looking over Jeff’s shoulder to assess the damage to Gofer’s foot. “We made a pact,” he explained to Jodie, “a dollar a word for any curses. Gofer, old bud, you just filled the jar. That fu...dging foot must be hurting like...heck.”
“I’m okay,” Gofer grumbled. “I don’t want to slow you guys down. The framers quit at four whether the damn, uh darn thing’s done or not.”
Jeff stood. “The building can wait until I’m sure you’re okay.”
“I’ll take care of him,” Jodie offered.
“Yeah,” Gofer said, “she makes a much prettier nurse than you, Lieutenant.”
Jeff paused and studied Gofer as if to assure himself the man would be all right.
“Thanks, Jodie.” Jeff threw her a look that melted her insides, and, with Kermit, hurried back to the site to help retrieve the fallen truss.
Jodie knelt in front of Gofer and gingerly finished removing his bloody sock. “No wonder you swore. The beam split your big toe. You ought to have stitches.”
“Just a scratch, ma’am,” the Marine said without wincing, although his face had the pinched look of a person in agony. “I’ve had worse.”
Jodie cleaned the wound with peroxide, slathered it with an antibiotic cream that also killed pain and bandaged the toe. “You should stay off it.”
She expected protests, but Gofer merely nodded in agreement, and leaned back, elbows on the table, breathing hard. “You an old friend of the lieutenant’s?”
Jodie recognized that he was trying to focus on something besides his throbbing foot.
“Jeff’s several years older than me.” She couldn’t admit that the man whose team worshiped him like a hero hadn’t had any friends. “He graduated high school with my brother.”
“The vet I met this morning?”
Jodie nodded. “Archer Farm’s going to keep Grant busy. Jeff has quite a menagerie.”
“Horses, goats, cows, chickens, ducks and pigs. For the teens to take care of. Teaches ’em responsibility. Might even teach some of them how to love.”
“You a psychiatrist?” Jodie asked with a smile.
“Psychologist,” Gofer answered.
“Really? They taught you that in the Marines?”
He shook his head. “I’d almost finished graduate school when I decided to fight terrorism. I immediately joined the Marines. After leaving the service last year, I completed my Ph.D. And signed on with Jeff as Archer Farm’s resident counselor.”
While talking with Gofer, Jodie had observed Jeff leaving the work site and disappearing into the woods behind the house. He returned with Brynn in tow and approached Gofer.
“Officer Sawyer’s going to drive you into town, Gofer,” Jeff said. “You could have broken bones. I want that foot X-rayed.”
“No need, sir. I’m fine.”
Brynn placed her fists on her hips. “You resisting an officer, soldier?”
Gofer looked from Brynn’s determined expression to the set of Jeff’s firm jaw and grinned. “You’re an officer who’s hard to resist, ma’am.”
“Please, call me Brynn. Or Officer Sawyer. Anything but ma’am. It makes me feel old.”
Gofer’s grin split his face. “You don’t have to worry about age, ma’am.”
“Want a couple of guys to carry you to the car?” Jeff asked.
“If Brynn will give me a hand,” Gofer said, “I can manage.”
He pushed gamely onto his good foot. Brynn slung his arm around her shoulder and steadied him as he hopped to her car where she helped him into the front seat.
“I’ll bring him right back,” she called. “See you soon.”
Jodie found herself alone with Jeff. His face knotted with worry as he watched Brynn drive away.
“He’ll be okay,” Jodie assured him.
Jeff nodded. “Gofer’s a good man. He gave up joining a lucrative practice to work here. I hate to see him injured on top of his other sacrifices.”
Jeff’s concern was genuine, and for an instant Jodie fantasized what having Jeff care for her that deeply would feel like. The former Marine towered beside her, arms and chest bare where he’d stripped off his sweater in the afternoon sun to expose tanned muscles that sent her hormones into chaos. She tried to focus instead on the tattoo on his biceps, the Marine Corps emblem emblazoned with Semper Fi. But his tantalizing smell distracted her. So much for deodorant ads, she thought in desperation. Sweaty with his hair flecked with sawdust, he probably hadn’t a clue that his masculine scent was driving her wild.
Time to deliver herself from temptation. Besides, Brynn had left Brittany alone in the woods with Daniel, a situation that raised the hair on the back of Jodie’s neck.
“I’ll find Brittany.” She silently cursed the breathlessness in her voice. “And we’ll be going. I’ll leave the leftovers. There’s probably enough for supper, at least for your team.”
Jeff gazed down at her, his gray eyes exuding a warmth