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  Love’s Leading

  A First Street Church Kindle Worlds Contemporary Romance Novella

  Kate Cambridge

  Edited by

  Meg Amor

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  SCRIPTURE

  “He guides me along the right paths for his name’s sake.”

  Psalm 23:3b

  Contents

  1. ONE

  2. TWO

  3. THREE

  4. FOUR

  5. FIVE

  6. SIX

  7. SEVEN

  8. EIGHT

  9. NINE

  10. TEN

  11. ELEVEN

  12. TWELVE

  13. THIRTEEN

  14. FOURTEEN

  15. FIFTEEN

  16. SIXTEEN

  17. SEVENTEEN

  18. EIGHTEEN

  19. NINETEEN

  20. TWENTY

  21. TWENTY-ONE

  22. TWENTY-TWO

  THE END

  MORE FROM FIRST STREET CHURCH

  ABOUT KATE

  1

  ONE

  It was the last place she wanted to be.

  Athena Gregory looked to her side, not able to stop the smile tugging at her lips as she watched her new little ward, Mackenzie Applegate singing Our God is an Awesome God at the top of her lungs; sometimes on key, and sometimes not.

  A scowl formed on her new employer’s face as his eyes connected with hers and his forehead creased in a deep frown, as though he were scolding her, as though he disapproved of smiling in church.

  It took all her willpower not to roll her eyes. She was tired of churchgoers who pretended to be saint-like, followers of God even, who discouraged people from being real in the house of God. It made her blood boil.

  Did they not look at the world around them? God made the flowers, trees, sunsets, sunrises—monkeys for God’s sake—and every single one was different from the other! They were never boring. Surely a God who created unpredictable, always changing, no-DNA-the-same, and magnificent works of art like this would not scowl at unfiltered emotion in the place people gathered to worship and learn about Him.

  This was exactly why she preferred not to attend church, but it was a condition of her employment—the good doctor wanted the nanny for his daughter to set a good example—and this was day one.

  There was a lot to learn about her new employer; of that there was no doubt. She’d read up on him prior to arriving for her interview—one that took over four hours. Doctor Thor Townsend Applegate was a renowned psychiatrist, and worked part-time for the government. For some unknown reason he’d chosen to settle with his daughter in Sweet Grove a year after the tragic death of his wife.

  Athena had applied to his ad for a nanny on a well-respected and nearly impossible to get into national nanny service. The ad was detailed, which she appreciated. She wanted to know exactly what was expected of her and how much time it would demand from her true purpose in considering Sweet Grove as her new home. She was beginning to suspect that the detail behind the ad said a lot about her new employer. Would she have applied if she’d known? That remained to be seen.

  At the moment, she was stuck in the First Street Church; it was her first Sunday in church in a very long time. She considered herself to be a Christian, but she’d found most churches to be filled with hypocrites and people who acted anything but like Jesus. So she’d made the decision to worship God in her own way rather than in a traditional church-going-kind-of-way years ago. But for this job—attending church was something she could endure.

  She responded to his scowl with a sweet smile, and nudged Mackenzie to sit as the song came to an end. Mackenzie looked as though she’d been shaken from a trance, and Athena found herself wondering at the joy and light that shone from the little girl’s eyes. She felt wistful—she’d felt that way once, too. She’d been nine-years-old when she had accepted Jesus as her savior—but the innocence of child-like faith felt far removed from her now.

  Athena put her arm around Mackenzie, as though to protect her from the real world, from knowing how harsh and non-God-like it could be. She found herself wanting to shield her—protect her—to keep her in that place of innocence as long as possible. She kissed the top of her head, and little Mackenzie wrapped her hand around hers, and in that moment she fell in love.

  She felt Dr. Applegate’s eyes on her, analyzing her, and realized her thoughts had probably played their story on her face. Athena felt heat creep into her cheeks, but met his eyes dead on, both eyebrows lifting in a challenge before she turned her attention back to the pastor and his message. Her stomach flipped—he might be a well-respected psychiatrist, but she wasn’t going to let him psychoanalyze her. She was here to do a job—to take care of his daughter and to do it well—but she’d be darned if she were going to let him into her life any more than that.

  She couldn’t get distracted from her goal, and this job was going to provide her with the time needed to make it happen. Her mind wandered, walking her through how she would accomplish it step-by-step, imagining exactly how she would spend her days off and time away from Mackenzie.

  Before she knew it, the pastor was inviting people to bow their heads and close their eyes—and she had absolutely no idea what his sermon had been about.

  2

  TWO

  “Zee, come on, it’s time to wake up,” Athena encouraged as she tousled Mackenzie’s hair.

  “Go away. I don’t want to.” The little girl grumbled.

  “But I made your favorite breakfast, and if you want time to eat it, you’d better get up now, little one.”

  “What? You made pancakes?” Mackenzie’s sleepy eyes opened, suddenly shining and very much awake as she sat up in her bed.

  Athena smothered a smile. “You’ll find out once you’re downstairs—fully dressed, young lady. Got it?”

  “Got it,” Mackenzie grumbled. “Hey! How come you call me Zee?”

  “Why do I call you Zee?” Athena corrected with a smile tugging at her lips.

  “Why do you call me Zee?” She echoed, her cherub face curious, the lopsided grin bringing out the dimple in her right cheek. The child was stunning with blonde hair that hung in ringlets around her face, and sea-green eyes. Athena had never seen anything like it—her mother must have been gorgeous—or maybe her eyes were a combination of arctic-man and her mother. She smothered a smile.

  Her breath caught at the innocence and openness of her ward—no wonder her father was so protective—she couldn’t believe the connection she was already feeling with this child after just two days.

  “Because you seem like a Zee to me. You’re happy and full of life and joy. Is it okay if I call you Zee?” She watched Mackenzie carefully. There was so much still to learn about this little girl—what she had gone through, how she had dealt with her mother’s death. The last thing she wanted to do was to cause her more angst—she might be calling her a pet name that h
er mother used, or a name her new little ward didn’t like.

  “Okay…” Mackenzie said, her eyebrows knitted together in deep thought. “Then I shall call you Thea,” she declared as her whole face lit up.

  “Really? Where did that come from?”

  “Dad and I looked up your name, Athena was the goddess of wisdom and warfare—she was fierce! You don’t seem so fierce, so you need a nickname, too. It will be Thea,” Mackenzie declared with all the authority she could muster in her five-year-old body.

  No one had ever called Athena a nickname before. Her parents hadn’t allowed it at home, and it seemed like most kids didn’t quite know what to do with it, so she’d always gone by her given name. “I like it, Zee. Thank you. It’s the first nickname I’ve ever had.”

  “Me, too!” the little girl exclaimed as she jumped out of bed, and gave Thea a spontaneous hug as she raced to her adjoining bathroom.

  The smile on Athena’s face stopped short when she turned and saw Dr. Applegate’s imposing frame in the doorway of his daughter’s bedroom. A streak of pain coursed across his face only to be masked by the intense scrutiny she was growing accustomed to from his arctic blue eyes that rarely, if ever showed emotion. Was he a robot, she wondered? No—that had been pain she’d seen in his eyes, there was no doubt about that.

  She moved toward him, but he had already moved away with the grace of a panther and was halfway down the hall before she even reached Mackenzie’s door.

  An odd one, she thought, as she scurried toward the kitchen to begin cooking the pancake batter. She’d made it that morning, when the sun was just beginning to kiss the horizon in Sweet Grove, Texas.

  She couldn’t wait to see the expression on Mackenzie’s face when she saw them piled high on her plate with a pat of butter and delicious maple syrup coursing over the sides.

  A smile danced on her lips as she moved around the beautiful kitchen, turning the Wolfe gas stove top on to get the cast iron grill to the perfect temperature for the pancakes. She’d only been here two days, but already it was beginning to feel comfortable. It was a dream kitchen—the walls were all painted white with a beautiful gray and white quartz backsplash behind the stove. The stainless appliances were top of the line, and the furnishings minimalist with clean lines—everything except the table, that is.

  It was a long, rustic farm table that was marked with scratches and carried with it the worn look of a well-loved family heirloom. Athena wondered if it had been his wife’s, and if the marks came from family gatherings, holiday parties, and intimate dinners with just the three of them.

  She didn’t know what had happened to his wife, or how she had died, but she could tell it must have been very painful for the doctor, and she was fairly certain he was still in love with his dead wife.

  Mackenzie preferred to eat at the large kitchen bar, so Athena set a place for her there and flipped the final pancakes just as she came flying through the door.

  “Are those all mine?” she asked with eyes as big as saucers.

  “Hey now, you don’t think you get to eat all of those, do you? What about me?” her father asked with a lopsided grin, following close behind.

  This is such a different side of him, Athena thought. He’s so different around Mackenzie—so normal, even. It was a nice break from the intensity he always directed at her.

  “Oh Daddy, I’ll let you have a bite or two if you’re lucky,” she teased, giggling as he picked her up, swung her around and set her on the bar stool, then took the seat next to her. “You’re missing a plate, Daddy, I guess you don’t get to eat.”

  They both looked at Athena so expectantly that she burst into laughter, putting a plate with two pancakes in front of Mackenzie and one with four in front of Dr. Applegate.

  “Hey, that’s not fair!” Mackenzie exclaimed as she dove into her first pancake.

  “What do you mean? I’m bigger than you are, and it takes more to fill my belly.”

  “Yea, but Thea said she was making pancakes for me; how’d you end up with more?”

  “There’s plenty for both you and your dad, Zee. Don’t let the amount worry you, okay?”

  “Okay, Thea. These are really good. Can I have one more?”

  “I think this one has your name on it.” She grinned as she placed a pancake with an embedded chocolate chip smile in front of Zee, who squealed and dug in with a vengeance.

  “These are delicious, Athena, thank you.” Dr. Applegate nodded in approval.

  “You’re welcome, doctor.”

  “It’s Thea, Dad.”

  “Thea?” he asked as though he hadn’t overheard their conversation that morning.

  “Yes,” she declared emphatically. “Thea gave me the nickname of Zee, but she doesn’t look like a goddess of war. She’s really pretty, right, Daddy?” But she didn’t wait for her father’s answer, and Thea decided she didn’t want to know what he thought.

  She turned back to the stove as Mackenzie bantered on about the meaning of Thea being “godly” and that Thea was the goddess of light and mother of the sun, moon, and dawn. “Isn’t that cool, Daddy? Isn’t that a better name for her than a war person?”

  “I think both names are wonderful, sweetheart. Is it okay with Athena that you’ve given her a nickname?”

  Athena’s skin prickled, and she could feel his scrutiny. More than anything, she wanted to keep her back to them, rather than endure his intense focus, but the right thing to do was to let Mackenzie know she loved her new nickname.

  “Thea?” Mackenzie asked, uncertainty filling her voice.

  Athena turned and moved directly in front of Mackenzie. “I love the nickname, Mackenzie. It’s the first nickname I’ve ever had, and I love what you chose and why,” Athena assured her.

  She was rewarded with a smile that stretched from ear-to-ear.

  “Are you done with your breakfast?”

  Mackenzie nodded and rubbed her belly. “Yup. There’s no more room. And my name is Zee!”

  “Then scoot.” Athena laughed. “We don’t want to be late for school.”

  As Mackenzie scampered away, Athena reached for the plates.

  “I can pick up,” the doctor insisted. “The Jeep keys are hanging on the hook next to the garage door, and it’s yours for the day. If you come back after dropping her off, I’ll give you a card to use for any necessary purchases, and we can review the contract.”

  He wasn’t asking.

  “Of course. I’ll come back right after dropping her off.” She wanted to argue the point about who was going to pick up, but it wasn’t worth it.

  She was seriously going to have to get a grip on her reaction to him if she was going to continue working for him. It wasn’t that she was interested in him, she told herself. Although he was attractive—or was it that his six-foot height, jock’s body, closely trimmed beard, arctic blue eyes, and pure intensity simply made him impossible to ignore? Regardless, she wasn’t planning to be in a relationship with any man for a very long time—if ever—and that wasn’t going to change.

  3

  THREE

  When Athena returned from dropping Mackenzie at school, she took her time taking off her jacket and shoes, making sure they were neatly placed under the entryway bench. She hung the Jeep keys back on the key rack and admired the shiplap entryway decorated with very little, except a few pieces of art.

  She walked into the kitchen, saw that everything had been put away, and it looked spotless, and her heartbeat increased as she faced the fact she couldn’t delay meeting with him any longer. With a fortifying breath, she turned and walked toward his office. The door was slightly ajar, and it sounded like he was talking with someone. She paused to listen.

  “Yes, we’re very happy here, thank you.” During his pause, it sounded like a female voice on the other end. “No, no it won’t be necessary, Daisy, really. I can’t today, I’m heading into a meeting and then out of town… No, no we’re all set, and Mackenzie has a nanny now so that won’t be nec
essary… I see. Well, let me get back to you, and thank you for calling, Daisy, we appreciate everything you’ve done to make this transition go smoothly.”

  Athena head a click as the phone rested back on the hook, and then a deep sigh. She waited a few seconds, and then knocked.

  “Come in.”

  “Should I come back later?”

  “No, this is a good time. Come in and sit down,” he invited, as he moved around his desk and pulled out a chair across from it, gesturing for her to take the second one.

  She paused, taking in her surroundings, appreciating the masculine and exquisite taste he had in furniture. It wasn’t dark and foreboding as some offices tend to be, but rather the furniture matched the rest of the house—modern without being cold, yet minimalist and comfortable. Whoever had chosen the décor for their home had done an excellent job of creating simple and uncluttered spaces that somehow made you feel comfortable and at-home almost immediately.

  His office had a fireplace, and her eyes gravitated to the portrait hanging above it—it took her breath away. There was Mackenzie as a toddler in the lap of a woman. The woman holding her must have been her mother—she was stunningly beautiful with blonde hair falling in ringlets around her face, and vibrant green eyes that radiated happiness and love toward the daughter she held.