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“Are you okay?”

Halting in fear, Katherine was sure the voice was directed her way, and she whirled around to scan her surroundings. But no one was there.

“Are you hurt?” came the same voice, this time closer and more clearly. That’s when Katherine realized it was coming from the opposite side of the brick wall. The same direction as the swing set.

“Do you need help?”

The tone of the stranger’s voice was filled with concern, and Katherine instinctively knew that whoever it was wouldn’t give up. She would have to say something.

“No—” As she tried to speak, her voice broke on the one syllable. Taking a deep breath, she tried again. “I’m fine!”

Then, without warning, a man’s face rose up from the other side of the long brick barrier, followed by a set of broad shoulders and two strong arms that came to rest on top of the wall.

Surprise and admirationcame the moment Katherine’s gaze focused on the man above her. He was handsome in a rugged sort of way. The dark whiskers of his five-o’clock shadow, pearly white smile, and bright blue eyes were a stunning contrast to his warm complexion. His dark hair, cut short and tidy, was long enough to detect a bit of curl to it.

“Hello,” he said, peering down at Katherine with a wide grin and friendly wave of his hand as the deep, soothing resonance of his voice warmed the air around them.

“Hello,” Katherine responded, suddenly very aware of the difference between his natural good looks and her thrown-together-just-rolled-out-of-bed appearance.

“Whoa!” he said with a deep chuckle, swaying to one side before looking down at his feet to steady himself. “I don’t think plastic buckets were made for standing on.”

“Probably not.” Katherine blushed, imagining his lower half as strong and appealing as his upper half. From what she could see, he was solid, like a rugby player.

“So, you’re okay then?”

Craning his neck from the left to the right, he searched neighboring yards for someone before turning his attention back to Katherine.

“I thought for sure I heard someone crying.”

“Oh, totally,” Katherine blurted out, immediately embarrassed by her awkward response. “I mean, I understand. I can see how you might have thought someonewascrying. Backyard injuries happen all the time. In fact, I just read anarticle that said approximately seventy-five people are killed and nearly twenty thousand injured every year on riding lawn mowers and garden tractors alone.”

“That’s a terrifying statistic.”

“Right?” Katherine felt her cheeks growing hotter by the minute. “Anyway, I was just about to do a little light gardening. And you can hardly consider a hand trowel to be a pain-inflicting weapon of mass destruction.”

When Katherine gestured towards the ground at her feet without looking, she was pointing at nothing more than an empty patch of grass. In her fear of exposure, she’d forgotten that she hadn’t made it to the tool shed for her clippers, weeder, or hand trowel.

“See… no cuts, not even a scrape,” Katherine said nervously, lifting her arms to show the stranger she was okay, even turning both hands, front to back and back to front, to prove there was no reason for concern.

“I’m glad,” he finally said as the warmth of his voice turned Katherine’s insides all hot and gooey like the center of a molten chocolate cake. Between the fullness of his bottom lip and the striking blue of his eyes, a wave of relief washed over her.

“Maybe I should introduce myself,” he added as Katherine felt her legs start to shake. “My name’s Matthew. Matthew Brandon.”

“Oh…” Katherine blinked in confusion, then blurted out. “My friend told me about someone named Brandon moving to Windsong.”

“So, then, you’ve heard about us?”

“Us?” Katherine said, desperate to recall details of her conversations with Beth Ann and Kimmie.

“Yeah,” he said, motioning toward to house behind him. “My wife and I bought this place from the Kendalls.”

Instantly, Katherine felt her heart sink. Beth Ann and Kimmie hadn’t mentioned a wife in either of their stories, and she wondered what else the dynamic duo had left out.

“Wow!” she hurried to say, hoping her response sounded more happy and friendly than annoyed and disappointed. “Welcome to the neighborhood.”

As Matthew thanked her, Katherine felt guilty that she’d been wanting this handsome stranger to be the very knight in shining armor Beth Ann had described.

Why couldn’t she have stayed rational long enough to stop herself from dreaming the impossible before he could even mention whether he was married or not? Because, of course, there was always the chance the new man in town could be married, but obviously, she and her love-sick, matchmaking friend never consideredthatpossibility.