Fire and Ice (Death and Destruction #10) - Patricia Logan Page 0,3

into a blistering kiss. When they finally pulled apart, they were both smiling broadly and panting hard. Thayne took his husband’s hand and led him out of the kitchen, headed for his very favorite place, their bedroom, where all thoughts of lambs and church would be forgotten for the time being.

****

Thayne was dressed in his best suit, wearing the green, red, and white Christmas tie that Jarrett had bought him a few years back. He stood outside the church in the parking lot an hour before the Nativity was scheduled to begin. The new manger had been built by church volunteers and all the ruined costumes had been redone. The only thing missing were the children who were inside the church getting dressed in their costumes and the damn lambs that Jarrett had gone to pick up.

He checked his watch, wondering where in the hell Jarrett was. All weekend, his husband had been placing calls to Marine Corps buddies to find him a lamb for Tessa’s Nativity play. By the time Sunday afternoon rolled around, he was desperate. When Tate Heston finally returned from a weekend vacation and called late that day, Jarrett had been ready to pull out his gorgeous white hair. Tate had a friend who worked in animal husbandry and sciences at Pierce College in Woodland Hills. They had a large farm and a few animals on the premises. Jarrett had been promised two of the lambs just in time for Christmas. They were both relieved.

Thayne tapped his foot, checking the church parking lot entrance over and over until he finally sighed with relief as a large truck—hauling a trailer—rumbled onto the premises. Tate was at the wheel and Jarrett sat beside him in the front cab. The choir director and Megan Harrison walked out of the church at just that moment. Tessa, wearing her white satin angel costume minus the sparkling glitter halo Thayne had helped her construct out of tinsel garland and bent coat hangers, ran to Thayne with a gleeful cry. He squatted to accommodate the ten-year-old, scooping the dark-haired girl up in his arms, and kissing her rosy red cheek.

Tessa was still small for a ten-year-old, having been starved for the first half of her young life. She seemed to love being picked up even now. Many times, they’d both struggled with the thoughts of how their beloved little girl had lived with little to no affection, knowing only deprivation during her early years. Tessa wrapped her delicate arms around his neck and squeezed before looking straight at him with a serious gaze.

“Uncle Thayne, is Uncle Jarrett here yet?”

Thayne grinned at the cherub he adored, marveling at how her ice-blue eyes danced. If he didn’t know better, he would have pegged her as Jarrett’s daughter with the same eyes. He was constantly charmed by her and it made him long for children of his own… children he and Jarrett would never have as long as guns and danger were a part of their world. They’d made a conscious decision that starting a family when either or both of them could be incapacitated or killed on the job would be the most selfish thing they could imagine. Instead, they had this little beauty to love and someday, hopefully, Jarrett’s brothers would add children and families of their own. For now, they were both happy to be uncles.

“He just arrived, sweetie,” Thayne said, jostling her into one arm and pointing to the trailer driving slowly onto the lot. Her face lit up with a giant grin and Thayne leaned in and pecked her on the cheek once more before setting her back on the ground. He looked over to the truck slowly circling the rows of cars in the parking lot, and then glanced down when he felt Tessa’s little hand creep into his. He felt a shiver of happiness as his much larger hand closed around her delicate fingers. He and Jarrett were both goners when it came to Tessa. He looked to his other side as another small hand slid into his. Kayla, Tessa’s adopted sister, dressed in a matching angel costume, smiled up at him.

“Hey, baby,” Thayne said, grinning down at the ten-year-old. Not for the first time did he thank Mrs. White, the county child social worker who’d been on the scene when Tessa was rescued. In Megan Harrison and her husband, she’d chosen the exactly perfect family for the little girl, one with a girl her own age and an