Must-Have Husband

a sporadic glow on their subject. She cautiously inched forward and gingerly lifted a branch.
    “Don’t get too close,” Linda warned.
    Connie stared in disbelief at two slightly worn hiking boots protruding from under the mass. “Oh my goodness.”
    “I knew it! It’s a bear!”
    Connie lifted another branch, then sucked in a breath. “It’s a man .”
    “A what ? What was he doing up there?”
    As if in answer, a long coil of rope spiraled down from the trees, dropping in a heap on top of the leafy pile. Linda reached forward and picked up the rope, which dangled in something like a hangman’s noose.
    “Oh my God,” Connie gasped.
    “Yeah. Totally.”

    Mac thought he’d heard talking beneath him, but that was unlikely in this part of the woods. Maybe he’d had such a long day he was hearing things. He had the rope almost set, but decided to prop it in the crook of a branch and leave it a sec to check out the noises below. Maybe some wildlife was searching for kibbles around the fire. He’d need to scoot down and shoo it away before finishing his work.
    He was halfway down the tree when his darned boots slipped again, causing him to skid. Maybe if he grabbed that branch over there to steady himself, he’d be able to ease down slowly. But no! The branch snapped unexpectedly, hurtling him into the darkness below.
    The next thing Mac knew, his back ached and his head was killing him. To make matters worse, there appeared to be whispering around him, as prickly prongs poked at him from every which way. Is it my imagination, or did something just kick my boot?
    This is one hell of a hangover , he thought before passing out again.

Chapter Two

    “Don’t kick him!” Connie yelped.
    “I’m just trying to see if he’s, um…with us.”
    “Alive, you mean? Good God, Linda. Let’s unbury him.”
    “Bad choice of words.”
    “Sorry.”
    They got to work quickly, casting aside the branches and leaves.
    “Wow, he’s a man all right,” Linda said as firelight from the campfire illuminated his handsome face. “A darned good-looking one at that.”
    “Linda! Now’s not the time to think about good-looking!” Although she had to admit her sister had a point. He was pretty hot. Even in that position.
    “Come on,” Linda said, “help me get him over to the fire so we can examine his wounds.”
    “You don’t move a man who’s fallen.”
    “You’re right.”
    Connie set her chin in one hand while resting her elbow in the other. “Maybe we should try talking to him? Getting him to come around?”

    A soft voice carried on the night wind, calling Mac out of his slumber. “Um, sir? Are you all right?” He awakened to find lovely blue eyes peering into his own. They were set in the face of an angel with short blonde hair and lovely pale skin. She radiated heaven’s glow, a soft ring of light from beyond framing her head.
    “You’re an angel?” he asked, scarcely able to believe it. He thanked the heavens for sending one approximately his age. That was what they called divine providence. Or so he thought. He couldn’t remember that far back in church school, not that he’d be mentioning this to St. Peter.
    She pursed her lips a beat and stared at him. “Um, no. Not really.”
    He got it. She was one of those messenger types. An angel wannabe, waiting to earn her wings. And, boy, how he wanted to help her, do any little thing she wanted… If only his head didn’t smart so much. He tried lifting it, then set it back down with a thunk, grimacing at the pain.
    “Do you think you can move?” she asked in a voice so sweet Mac thought he heard a chorus of harp strings.
    “I’m not sure,” he answered hoarsely.
    “Ask him if anything’s broken,” another voice said from nearby.
    Mac rolled his eyes toward the clearing, spying another angel, a bit smaller than this one… Wait a minute. Wearing a Los Angeles Dodgers baseball cap? Mac sat up with a start, and little birds began chirping all around him, darting through flecks of light. “I think I need to lie back down.”
    As his eyelids fluttered shut, Mac thought he spied flames lapping the darkness in the distance. He hoped that wasn’t a bad sign. He didn’t seem to be thinking too straight at the moment. The Dodgers. Well, I’ll be. I never knew God played favorites.

    Connie stared at her sister as the man passed out again. Thunder rumbled above and little flecks of rain began to strike the surrounding foliage.
    “Oh no. Not