A loving touch, and worries initially soothed (6)
I believe the answer is:
caress
'a loving touch' is the definition.
(I've seen this before)
'worries initially soothed' is the wordplay.
'worries' becomes 'cares' (I've seen this in another clue).
'initially' indicates taking the first letters.
The first letter of 'soothed' is 's'.
'cares'+'s'='CARESS'
'and' acts as a link.
(Other definitions for caress that I've seen before include "pet" , "Expression of affection" , "Pat" , "Stroke lovingly" , "Scares with loving stroke" .)