Safe Hearts (Amish Safe House, Book 3) by Ruth Hartzler Page B

private
investigator to help find you. I’m thinking the price on your head
must be exorbitant. It’s probably enough for Glen to retire on and
to live his life on the run. With all the knowledge of WITSEC he
possesses, he’s no doubt learned a thing or two about hiding out
successfully.”
    Kate’s hand fell to her side, her
fingers still gripping the phone tightly. She looked back out at
the dark sky and took a deep breath, as her heart beat faster and
faster.
     

 
    2 Timothy 1:
7. For God
gave us a spirit not of fear but of power and love and
self-control.
    Chapter 8 .
     
    Kate was anxious and nervous that her
colleague, Glen Tryston, was stalking her, and had to force herself
to go about her normal chores. That was her best chance of staying
safe. Today, she was tending the garden. She had gotten quite handy
with such tasks since she had been sent to live among the Amish.
Before she wouldn’t have known how to keep anything alive, but now
she found the dirty work somewhat peaceful. It gave her a chance to
think.
    The sun had come up early and bright,
and now, just past noon it was as high in the sky as it was going
to get, and the heat was almost oppressive. Kate thought it was a
perfect place to stop for a moment, to go inside and make herself a
small lunch, and to scrounge up a cool drink.
    Kate went after the drink first,
pulling a tall glass from the hand carved cupboard which hung over
her sink. She filled the glass and drank deeply, realizing she was
hotter than she even thought. She carefully pulled the straw hat
perched on top of the kapp from her head and set aside as she
filled the glass once more and downed the cool water. She took a
nearby hand towel, and dabbed it at her forehead before pulling the
cap back on.
    Lunch was a simple thing, just a
sandwich made with thick slices of bread that Kate carved from a
fat loaf, and a few pieces of leftover ham from a recent dinner.
She ate slowly, standing over the sink, gazing out of the window
and into the back yard. It really was a beautiful place, and Kate
knew her time here was growing short. When she had first arrived,
it had taken her some time to grow accustomed to everything. It was
quite the culture shock. But now, she would miss the people, and
even the lifestyle.
    After the sandwich was gone, and the
few dishes she had dirtied were in the sink waiting to be washed,
Kate went back outside to the garden. She picked up the trowel she
had set aside when she had gone in for lunch, and knelt carefully
among the plants once more.
    Kate was lost in her work, and she
didn’t hear the engine of a car pulling into the gravel drive of
the house, but she did hear the door close after someone climbed
out. She turned and couldn’t help but smile when she saw Ryan
coming around the side of the house, toward her.
    “ Ryan,” she said simply as
she stood
    It was obvious he was hot as well; his
brow was sweaty, his hair damp, but like any look Kate had seen, it
suited him.
    “ You don’t mind if I keep
working, do you?” she asked, motioning to the flowers.
     
    “ No, not at all,” the
police officer said. “I could help if you’d like, Kate.”
    “ I wouldn’t have pegged you
as having much of a green thumb,” the pretend Amish woman
said.
    “ My grandmother taught me,”
Ryan said. “Whenever I went over to her house, we worked in her
garden, until it got too hard for her to do it. Then I took care of
it for her myself as a teenager.”
    “ I bet the other teenaged
boys found that to be a strange hobby,” Kate said as she knelt
again. Ryan knelt beside her and accepted a trowel from her. She
was planting a few new plants, so they got to work digging
holes.
    “ I never cared much about
what people thought of me,” Ryan said. “Still don’t.”
    “ That’s an admirable trait
to have,” Kate said.
    “ I guess so,” Ryan said
with a laugh. “It makes life easier, I suppose.”
    Kate found herself liking Ryan’s
company, and she forgot that