The Soldier's Sweetheart by Deb Kastner Page B

independent—probably too independent. More of a curse than a blessing. But there comes a time and place where you need to let other people in, you know? Allow them to help when they offer.”
    Samantha moved to a grassy knoll under a sturdy oak tree and dropped to the ground, sitting cross-legged on the cool lawn. Will followed, crouching next to her.
    “I hear what you’re saying,” she admitted as her eyes met his. “But I have my reasons for keeping this to myself. It’s a family thing, you know?”
    “I respect that.”
    She expected him to say more. Instead, he held her gaze without speaking, his brows dipping low over the unreadable depths of his eyes.
    “What?” she asked when the silence grew too much for her.
    “You’re stronger than you know.”
    She stared at him for a moment, figuratively openmouthed if not literally, and then she nodded, reluctantly accepting the compliment. Will was a rough-and-ready Army guy who’d been in active combat for his country. If anyone knew strong, he did.
    “Me, not so much,” he continued, his deep gaze shifting to somewhere over her right shoulder.
    “How do you figure?” she asked. “You were career military until your wife passed away, right?”
    He quirked his lips and nodded.
    “Something noble and courageous compelled you to join the military.” She held up her hand to stop his argument. Fleeing his childhood was hardly the most patriotic motivation for enlisting, but that didn’t matter. Anyone who spent any length of time with him could see that he was Army through and through. “You re-upped at the end of your first tour, so serving your country was obviously important to you. And yet you gave up everything to take care of your little girl. That seems pretty brave to me.”
    He shook his head fiercely, denying her words. “I did what I had to do. You don’t know the whole story.”
    He paused and scrubbed his scalp with his fingers. His expression was hard, his gaze haunted and bitter.
    “I’d like to know more about you,” she replied. She honestly wanted to know what made the silent ex-soldier tick. He had depths to him that she had yet to understand.
    “No, you don’t.” He scoffed, turning his face away from her. As low and gruff as his voice had become, she barely heard the ending to his statement. “I’m not the man you think I am.”
    * * *
    Will didn’t know what had come over him. He had just blurted out a bunch of personal stuff he barely acknowledged himself, much less shared with another person. But there it was.
    There she was.
    Samantha.
    Brave. Fierce.
    Vulnerable.
    His respect for her deepened to the point where—what? Unquestionably, he felt a deep desire to protect her, especially now that he knew the enemy she was single-handedly facing. The Howells must be feeling quite overwhelmed by now, Samantha most of all.
    He desperately yearned for those qualities he knew he would never possess—certainly not the way Samantha did. Honesty and integrity came naturally to her.
    She wrapped her arms around her knees and looked at him with a question in her eyes, no doubt waiting for an explanation for what he’d just blurted out.
    Only he didn’t know how to give it.
    “I wasn’t a very good husband,” he admitted. Regret clogged his throat, making his voice low and raspy. “And I definitely wasn’t a good father to Genevieve.”
    “How can you say that? I’ve seen the way you look at her, the way you interact with her. She’s your world. And you are most definitely hers.”
    “It wasn’t always that way. I was caught up in my job. I was away from my family when they needed me most.” Will sat on the ground next to her, propping one elbow on his knee.
    “How is that your fault? Being away from home a lot seems like a given in your profession. Was Haley unaware that you were going to join the Army when you married her?”
    “She knew. She’d always known what I was going to do with my life. We dated in high school.