Let New York Times bestselling author Sherryl Woods sweep you away to Texas with this acclaimed tale of bending the rules…

Texas-born-and-bred lawman Justin Adams had always been a by-the-book kind of guy. Until one day the deputy caught a petty thief in the act of stealing a bottle of baby medicine. And when Justin looked into the imploring eyes of desperate single mother Patsy Langhorn—not to mention those of her feverish little boy—he decided to bend the rules, just a little.

Patsy Langhorn was wary of men in general, and one who’d sworn to uphold the law should have had her running for cover. But somehow this man had her wondering if maybe the time had come to stop running—if maybe, finally, he was what she’d waited her whole life to find.

Dear Reader,

It’s the most festive time of the year! And Special Edition is celebrating with six sparkling romances for you to treasure all season long.

Those MORGAN’S MERCENARIES are back by popular demand with bestselling author Lindsay McKenna’s brand-new series, MORGAN’S MERCENARIES: THE HUNTERS. Book one, Heart of the Hunter, features the first of four fearless brothers who are on a collision course with love—and danger. And in January, the drama and adventure continues with Lindsay’s provocative Silhouette Single Title release, Morgan’s Mercenaries: Heart of the Jaguar.

Popular author Penny Richards brings you a poignant THAT’S MY BABY! story for December. In Their Child, a ranching heiress and a rugged rancher are married for the sake of their little girl, but their platonic arrangement finally blossoms into a passionate love. Also this month, the riveting PRESCRIPTION: MARRIAGE medical miniseries continues with an unlikely romance between a mousy nurse and the man of her secret dreams in Dr. Devastating by Christine Rimmer. And don’t miss Sherryl Woods’s 40th Silhouette novel, Natural Born Lawman, a tale about two willful opposites attracting—the latest in her AND BABY MAKES THREE: THE NEXT GENERATION miniseries.

Just in time for the holidays, award-winning author Marie Ferrarella delivers a Wife in the Mail—a heartwarming story about a gruff widower who falls for his brother’s jilted mail-order bride. And long-buried family secrets are finally revealed in The Secret Daughter by Jackie Merritt, the last book in THE BENNING LEGACY crossline miniseries.

I hope you enjoy all our romance novels this month. All of us at Silhouette Books wish you a wonderful holiday season!

Sincerely,

Karen Taylor Richman

Senior Editor

Natural Born Lawman
Sherryl Woods

www.millsandboon.co.uk

SHERRYL WOODS

can’t be far from the sea without getting downright claustrophobic. She’s lived by the ocean on both coasts and now divides her time between Key Biscayne, Florida, and her childhood summer home in Colonial Beach, Virginia. She spends much of her time writing books about falling in love and living happily ever after. Natural Born Lawman is her fortieth novel for Silhouette! She loves to hear from readers and can be reached at P.O. Box 490326, Key Biscayne, FL 33149.

Table of Contents

Cover

Back Cover Text

Letter to Reader

Title Page

About the Author

Adams Family Tree

Chapter One

Chapter Two

Chapter Three

Chapter Four

Chapter Five

Chapter Six

Chapter Seven

Chapter Eight

Chapter Nine

Chapter Ten

Chapter Eleven

Chapter Twelve

Chapter Thirteen

Chapter Fourteen

Chapter Fifteen

Copyright

Chapter One

Patsy Longhorn held her fussy two-year-old son in her arms and tried to soothe him back to sleep. He was exhausted, feverish and hungry, had been for most of the day, and she was getting desperate. Driving nonstop with a cranky toddler was beginning to take its toll.

She hadn’t intended to take another break yet. She’d wanted to put as much distance between herself and Oklahoma as she possibly could today, but she hadn’t been able to ignore Billy’s whimpers a second longer. She’d pulled into a rest stop and taken him out of his car seat, praying that holding him and rocking him a bit would accomplish what her pitiful repertoire of lullabies hadn’t.

So far it wasn’t working. Worse, he felt warmer, as if his fever had gone up a little more.

“Come on, sweetie, go to sleep. You’ll feel better after you’ve had a little rest.”

At least she prayed that was all it would take. She didn’t have money left for medicine and a doctor at this point. Even juice was stretching her tight budget. She’d been giving him sips of cool water and praying that would do the trick.

Billy shifted restlessly, still whimpering, his dark, dark eyes staring back at her, accusing her. Guilt, never far away, washed over her again.

Had she made a mistake leaving Will? Was she crazy to have walked out on her marriage? Walked out with only clothes for the baby and herself and a few hundred dollars from the checking account she had opened several months earlier and had kept secret from her husband?

Though she’d had every right, she hadn’t touched a dime in their joint account for fear Will would accuse her of theft. With her name on the account the wild charge wouldn’t stick, of course, but she hadn’t wanted to give the police any excuses at all to chase after her. It was terrifying enough that Will was likely to go ballistic.

That, she reminded herself staunchly, was exactly the reason she had left. She’d had no choice. Will’s temper was out of control. He never talked anymore. He shouted, he threw things. A vase had whizzed past her head, just a few nights ago, only inches from making contact. The violence in his eyes had terrified her. He hadn’t hit her or their son yet, but she’d heard enough about abuse to know that it was coming. She wasn’t going to stick around and wait for it, not when each scene was already escalating to a more dangerous level.

Nor was she going to waste time trying to convince Will to seek counseling. His pride and his very visible career would never allow him to admit he needed help. For once in her life, she was doing the smart thing. She was going to cut her losses before tragedy struck.

She hadn’t been so smart when she’d impetuously moved to Oklahoma City and almost immediately begun an affair with Will Longhorn. Barely nineteen, she’d been so anxious to get away from home and her overly protective parents, to be on her own. The irony was that she’d spent hardly a minute truly on her own before becoming entangled with Will.

He had been her first boss, a twenty-six-year-old attorney in the town’s top law firm with a dazzling career ahead of him. Everyone had said so. He was a Native American with the whole world spread out before him. There’d even been talk of a run for political office, first in Oklahoma, then for Congress. Will Longhorn had charisma. He was smart. He had unblemished integrity, as well, a rarity in politics.

And before too terribly long, he had a beautiful, blond-haired, all-American wife at his side and a baby on the way. The image had been set, the campaign posters all but printed.

At first Patsy had been thrilled to be a part of it all. She’d been caught up in every girl’s dream. She had been so proud of her handsome husband, so in love with him.

But all too soon, behind the public displays of affection, behind the jovial smiles for the camera, there had been the private dissension. Even as he showcased his trophy wife and beautiful baby boy, privately Will seemed to resent both Patsy and their son. And because she had given up her job to be a stay-at-home wife and mom, she was totally dependent on Will for everything. It was what he’d wanted, but he’d thrown that back in her face a time or two, as well.

In general the abuse was subtle and mostly verbal, but it was signal enough to her that it was time to go. She might have married in haste, but she had no intention of paying for it for the rest of her life. And no one was going to harm her son. No one.

Protecting Billy became her first priority. Already in his young life, he had heard too much fighting, witnessed too many vicious arguments. If she and Will couldn’t live together peacefully, if not lovingly, then it was time to go.

She had fled first to her parents, but Will had followed and the scene he’d caused had terrified all of them. He’d bashed the headlights on her car, dented the hood with a blow of his fists. He’d threatened her, accused her of trying to ruin his career, their future. He’d threatened her parents, blamed them for harboring his wife when she belonged at home with him. Her parents were just old-fashioned enough to agree that a wife’s place was at her husband’s side, no matter the circumstances. She had seen the unspoken agreement in their eyes, but still she had balked at leaving.

And then Will had sealed her fate. He had calmly vowed to take Billy away from her if she didn’t agree to come home with him.

“You won’t even get weekend visitations by the time I’m through. I can do it,” he’d said with cool cruelty in his eyes. “You know I can.”

She hadn’t doubted it for an instant. She had gone with him simply to keep her baby and to get Will away from her frightened family.

Satisfied that he’d gotten his way, Will had promptly gone back on the campaign trail in the mayoral race that was to be the stepping-stone to his entire political future. And the low-key pattern of denigration had begun again—the sarcastic barbs, the ruthless demands, the never-ending criticism. She had taken it for six more humiliating months while she secretly made her plans. And all the while she watched Will, waiting for an explosion of temper that always came.

This time when she’d left, she had known that wherever she went, she was on her own. A local shelter had provided a safe harbor for a day or two. Then she had turned the car toward Texas, hoping that simply crossing the line into another state might offer her some protection. Too many cops, too many judges, too many politicians in Oklahoma owed favors to Will or to the partners in his law firm. Even though she’d worked there, if it came to a choice between her and Will, she had no doubt which of them would receive the partners’ backing.

The memory of that violent explosion in front of her parents’ home in full view of the neighbors had kept her on the run for a week now, trying to decide where it would be safe to settle down and begin an anonymous life. While in Oklahoma, she hadn’t dared to stay even in a cheap motel for more than a good night’s sleep.

As of today, her options were running out. Her pitiful savings were pretty much wiped out and she didn’t dare phone her parents for help. For all she knew Will would have bugged their phone. It wasn’t beyond him to use the law to his own advantage, especially when her second disappearance at the height of his first campaign for office was no doubt causing him a great deal of public embarrassment.

This time she was truly on her own, for the first time in her life, and the decisions she made were critical not only to her own future, but to the baby’s. This was the ultimate test any woman could face. How she handled it would prove what she was made of. So far, she feared, she was falling pitifully short, but she was determined to pull it together. She might be almost out of money and be running low on ideas, but the one thing Patsy Gresham Longhorn had was gumption.

Billy whimpered, reminding her that she was going to have to come to a decision in a hurry. He needed food and, quite possibly, medical attention, though she was pretty sure the fever was little more than a summer cold.

With the two-year-old still cuddled in her arms, she tried awkwardly to unfold the road map she’d picked up at an earlier highway rest stop. Dallas was close, but was a big city the best choice? Wouldn’t the police there be on the lookout for her, if Will had spread the word that she was missing?

A small town with more casual, less experienced law enforcement seemed a safer bet. If her logic was faulty, so be it. She felt more at ease with the thought of trying to make a home for herself and Billy someplace quiet and peaceful, someplace where they’d never heard of Will Longhorn. Her gut instincts had gotten her this far. She might as well trust them a little longer.

Staring at the choices on the map, all of them unfamiliar, she finally zeroed in on a tiny speck in the southwestern part of the state: Los Piños. It was only a couple of hundred miles away. The name suggested forests of pine trees, which appealed to her. She craved the serenity such a setting suggested. It reminded her of the town where she’d grown up, the town she’d been in too much of a hurry to leave. Funny, what a difference a few agonizing years could make. She would have given almost anything to be able to go back there now. Since she couldn’t, it would have to be Los Piños.

The decision made, she got back on the highway, then took the next exit and stopped at a minimart to buy milk and some cereal for the baby and a readymade sandwich and soft drink for her. After filling the car with gas, she had ten dollars left, that and whatever change might be buried in the bottom of her purse and in Billy’s diaper bag.

Despite the dire circumstances, Patsy felt almost upbeat as she drove into Los Piños a few hours later. She gazed around at the small downtown area with its quaint shops and family-owned restaurants. Though the buildings were old, everything was freshly painted and brightly lit. There was no mistaking that this was a town that took pride in itself. For a second she allowed herself to envision being a part of it, to imagine belonging. For a moment anyway, despair vanished. A feeling of contentment, mixed with a rare smidgen of hope, stole over her.

“We’re here, Billy,” she whispered to the now-sleeping boy. “We’re home.” Whatever it took, she would find a way to make that true.

She reached into the back seat and touched his cheek to seal the vow, then drew back in shock. He was burning up with fever. Hope gave way to panic and desperation.

“It’ll be okay, baby,” she promised. Whatever she had to do, it would be okay.

* * *

“Dadgumit, Justin, if you’d been the law around here when we were kids, I’d have spent my entire teens in jail,” Harlan Patrick Adams grumbled, standing on a corner in downtown Los Piños just before dinnertime.

Justin grinned at his cousin. “Probably should have,” he said.

“You were no better than me,” Harlan Patrick reminded him. “If I belonged in a cell, you surely belonged right there next to me. What happened to you? When did you turn into a saint?”

“Hardly that,” Justin said. “It’s just that there’s right and wrong. Somebody’s got to see to it that folks remember the difference.”

“Yeah, but that kid you just threatened with jail time threw a gum wrapper on the street. He didn’t rob the savings and loan.”

“Stop the little crime and you’ll have less trouble with the big stuff,” Justin retorted. “That’s what that mayor up in New York says and it’s worked.”

“It makes my blood run cold hearing you talk like that,” Harlan Patrick taunted. “Guess that means you won’t be playing poker with the rest of us out at White Pines later tonight, seeing as how gambling’s illegal. Or were you thinking of coming along and arresting Grandpa Harlan when he rakes in his first pot?”

Justin scowled at him. “Very amusing. I’ll be there and I intend to take every dime you lay on the table, cowboy.”

Harlan Patrick didn’t appear unduly worried. “Just as long as you leave that gun locked up at home,” he said. “It makes me very nervous to know that you’re carrying a weapon. You never could shoot worth a damn.”

Justin grinned and fingered his holster. “I’m better now. Want to see?”

Harlan Patrick shuddered. “I think I’ll pass, thanks.” He gave Justin a mock salute. “Later, cousin.”

“Yeah, later.”

After all their years of troublemaking, Justin got a kick out of watching Harlan Patrick squirm at the sight of his uniform. No one in the family, least of all his own father, quite understood what had motivated him to become a sheriff’s deputy. Jordan Adams had saved a spot in his oil company for Justin and he was mad as hell that his son had turned it down. Justin figured his brother-in-law would settle into the position just fine and sooner or later everyone would get over his defection.

Ironically, it was the family’s very own values that had taken root in Justin’s heart and made him long to keep the whole community of Los Piños as safe and secure as his family was on their various ranches. In the cutthroat oil business, his father had a straightarrow reputation for honesty and never cutting corners. Grandpa Harlan’s instinctive decency and tough-love brand of justice were as ingrained in Justin as breathing. Even as a kid, when he and Harlan Patrick had played cops and robbers, he’d always, always wanted to be the good guy. To him, becoming a cop was less a surprise than a destiny.

He stood on the sidewalk in the middle of town after his cousin had gone and surveyed his domain. Not a bit of trouble in sight. Not even a gum wrapper on the sidewalk, he observed, smiling at the memory of that kid’s expression as he’d snatched up the offending piece of paper and thrown it into the litter basket on the corner. His actions had been accompanied by a stern lecture meant to put the fear of God into the boy.

Yep, Justin thought, all was right in his world. Maybe he could actually get fifteen minutes to himself to grab a burger at Dolan’s before it closed for the night. He radioed Becky at the station.

“I’ll be at Dolan’s, if you need me. Want me to bring you anything back?”

“A hamburger, double fries and a milk shake,” the very pregnant receptionist said with heartfelt longing.

Coached on her dietary restraints by her worried husband, Justin asked, “How about a tuna on rye and a diet soda?”

Becky sighed. “It’ll do.”

“Ten-four.”

As he walked down the block, he spotted the dusty, expensive car with the out-of-state tags. Los Piños didn’t get a lot of tourists. He glanced around for some sign of strangers, but everyone out in the heat of the day was familiar. He shrugged and walked on after making a mental note of the tag number.

Inside the drugstore, he glanced at the counter, expecting to see Harlan Patrick’s sister, Sharon Lynn. His cousin had taken over a job once held by her mother and now was thinking of buying out Doc Dolan so he could finally retire. If she actually went through with it, she would hire a new pharmacist and continue running the rest of the store as she had been for the past couple of years anyway.

“Hey, Sharon Lynn, you in here?” he called out, even as he dragged a notebook from his pocket and wrote down the Oklahoma tag number.

“Back here, Justin,” she replied from the back of the drugstore. “I’ll be with you in a sec.”

He’d barely settled on a stool at the counter, when he heard what sounded like a whispered argument. His cop’s instincts, already alerted by the out-of-state car, kicked in. Drawing his gun, he moved silently down the aisle in the direction of the voices.

At the end of the row of shelves, he spotted Sharon Lynn and another woman, her blond hair scooped up into a careless ponytail, damp tendrils curling and clinging to her neck. The desperate expression on the stranger’s face spelled trouble.

She was talking so fast he couldn’t make heads or tails of what she was saying, but he didn’t waste time trying to figure it out. While she was distracted, he moved in beside her and laid a restraining hand on her shoulder. Though she was dressed in expensive, tasteful clothes, she was so thin he could feel her bones. At his touch, she jolted as if she’d been shot, her panicked eyes clashing with his. It all added up to the kind of vulnerability that could make a man lose sight of the job he was being paid to do.

Keeping her firmly in his grip, he glanced at Sharon Lynn. “Everything okay?”

The stranger’s eyes pleaded with his cousin. Sharon Lynn touched her hand gently.

“It’s okay. Justin’s my cousin. He’s not going to hurt you.”

“That all depends,” Justin said, contradicting her. “What happened?”

“I needed some children’s Tylenol,” the woman said in a voice barely above a whisper. “My son’s sick.”

Sharon Lynn sighed. “I caught her trying to slip them into her purse,” she admitted with obvious reluctance.

Justin tried not to react to the tears that were welling up in the woman’s eyes, turning them into huge pools of green light, like sunshine reflected in a pond surrounded by tall pines. She was little more than twenty, it seemed to him, and fragile as a bird. He had a feeling if she was shoplifting Tylenol, then she hadn’t had much to spend on food lately, either. Just because her clothes were pricey didn’t mean she wasn’t truly down on her luck. At the thought of the sick child, his rock-solid value system shifted ever so slightly. He felt justice clashing with compassion. Because he had a sudden, uncharacteristic instinct to bend some rules, his next words came out more harshly than he’d intended.

“Where’s the boy?” he demanded gruffly.

“In the car.”

He fought to hold his temper in check. “You left the baby in the car by himself? As hot as it is out there today?” And why, he wondered, hadn’t he spotted the kid if he’d been securely strapped into a car seat as he should have been? He hadn’t even checked inside the car. Obviously he was slipping.

“He’s okay. I left the windows open a little. He’s sound asleep. Besides, I knew I’d only be gone a minute.” She stared at him defiantly. “You don’t have to tell me all the terrible things that could happen. Believe me, I know. I weighed every one of them and decided he’d be safer there than with me. I didn’t want him to cry and draw attention to me.” Her shoulders sagged. “It didn’t matter. I really am no good at this.”

“Get him,” Justin said tightly. “Now.”

The instant he released her, the woman scooted past him and out the door.

“She’ll run,” Sharon Lynn said, staring at him in astonishment.

“No, she won’t,” Justin said.

“How can you be so sure?”

He held up the package. “Not without medicine.” He handed his cousin a ten-dollar bill. “Pay for them out of this, okay?”

Sharon Lynn gaped. “Are you all right?”

“Just take the damned money.”

She grinned. “Yes, sir.”

“And then fix a couple of milk shakes. I’ll grab some juice for the baby.”

“Uh-oh,” Sharon Lynn said. “What did it, Justin? Those big green eyes or the tears?”

“Go to hell.”

“You ought to be nicer to me,” she taunted. “I can tell this story far and wide by morning. Grandpa Harlan will know every touching detail by the time you get there tonight for the poker game. Your life won’t be worth living by the time they finish teasing you about letting a nasty, evil shoplifter off the hook just because she was beautiful.”

“You know, Sharon Lynn, there are things about you that old Kyle Mason doesn’t know about,” he said grimly, referring to her fiancé. “That man’s been dangling on the hook for the past fifty million years, it seems like, waiting for you to marry him. Could be I know just the way to cut him loose before the latest wedding date next month.”

“You wouldn’t dare,” she breathed.

He could see her calculating the risks and twisted the knife a little more. “Wouldn’t dare tell him that you were the party girl of your senior class at ole Los Piños High? Wouldn’t dare mention that you landed in jail on your senior trip?” he taunted. “Try me.”

“Kyle knows all that,” she said airily. “He loves me anyway. Besides, you know perfectly well what kind of party girl I was, all talk.”

“So you say.”

Her gaze shifted toward the front window. “If you ask me you’d do a whole lot better to be worrying about why your suspect appears to be about to pull out of the space in front and hightail it out of town.” She shot him a smug look. “Just the way I predicted she would.”

Justin looked up in time to see a car shoot backward into traffic amid a squeal of tires. As he’d expected, it was the fancy car with the out-of-state tags.

“Well, hell,” he muttered, and took off running, the carton of juice he’d just grabbed still clutched in his hand.

“If you catch her, tell her I’m not pressing charges,” Sharon Lynn shouted after him, laughing.

“If I catch her, I’m throwing her in jail,” he vowed. “You give me a reason, even an itsy-bitsy reason, and you’ll be in the cell right next to her.”

Chapter Two

Patsy wasn’t sure why she’d run. Obviously she hadn’t wanted to be hauled off to jail, something that the sheriff’s deputy had seemed perfectly capable of doing. But it was more than that. Fleeing had been instinctive, which told her quite a lot about the damage even a few days on the run had done to her normally assertive personality.

Seeing the judgment in the deputy’s eyes, the disdain, ordinarily would have infuriated her enough to make her stand her ground. She was capable of holding her own in an argument, or at least she had been until living with Will had taught her that silence was often the only way to escape from escalating tensions.

One look at the deputy had told her that arguments would be wasted on him, too. There was an unyielding air about him, the kind of steadfast determination that would be great if he were on your side, not so terrific if he weren’t.

She had been startled when he’d released her and sent her after Billy. Grateful for the unexpected opportunity to escape, she had seized it, not pausing to consider just how incensed the deputy might be by her actions.

Maybe the woman in the store could calm him down and keep him from chasing after her, she thought hopefully. Patsy had seen the compassion in the woman’s eyes, had known that she was only a hairsbreadth from getting both the medicine and her freedom when the man had turned up. Though she hated taking advantage of anyone’s kindness, she had been relieved that Billy would have the medicine he needed. That was all that really mattered.

Now, not only did she not have anything to bring her son’s fever down, but she was a criminal, with an attempted shoplifting charge pending if that deputy decided to pursue matters.

For all she knew there were kidnapping charges on file back in Oklahoma, too. Will was perfectly capable of doing something so despicable just to make a point to her, to prove that he was the one with all the power. What would turn up if the deputy happened to catch her tag number and run it through his computer? There was no telling.

She couldn’t take any chances that he might find something damaging. She would just have to drive faster and more cleverly than she ever had before. Suiting her actions to her thoughts, she skidded onto the highway and headed north, back toward Dallas, after all. She would exit a few miles ahead, then take back roads to elude any pursuit.

Though her plight was increasingly desperate, she reminded herself that she still had a bank card with her. Though there was a risk that Will would use any transactions with it to track her, she would use it to get cash if there were no options left to her. She could get enough money to last a few more days, until she could find another town, maybe get a job and find a safe place for herself and Billy. It might even be smarter to abandon the car and fly to another state. If she used cash for the tickets, it would make the job of tracking her more difficult. It was a huge country and Will’s reach surely couldn’t extend to every corner of it.

When the car sputtered then chugged to a stop barely ten miles outside of Los Piños, she realized that in her rush to get away from the deputy, she’d made a terrible miscalculation. The blasted car was out of gas. It hardly mattered that she had the credit card or a few dollars left in her purse. She hadn’t passed a gas station heading out of town. It was impossible to know how far ahead the next one might be.

That was the only reason, she assured herself, that Justin whoever-he-was-lawman caught up with her. He found her on the side of the road, cursing a blue streak about the gas-guzzling car Will had insisted she have, and rocking the fussy toddler in her arms. His reflective sunglasses prevented her from getting a good look at his eyes, but his I-told-you-so smile said it all. He’d never doubted for a moment that he’d catch up with her and haul her into custody.

“Get in,” he ordered, gesturing toward the patrol car.

“You’re arresting me?” she asked, as if it were the most ridiculous notion she’d ever heard. Will had been a master of haughty indignation and she had learned by example.

Their gazes clashed, hers defiant, his unreadable.

“No,” he said finally with a heavy sigh. “I’m taking you back into town. Unless you’d prefer to stand around here and wait for someone else to come along and offer you a lift. I’ll tell you right now, though, that it’s a very long way to the next town and hardly anybody uses this particular stretch of road.”

Patsy had guessed as much. Not a single car had passed by while she’d been standing beside the car, cursing her lousy luck.

“Sooner or later…” she began, thinking anything would be better than going someplace with this hard, no-nonsense man.

“Are you willing to take that chance? If your son’s sick, this heat won’t help.”

Her resolve wavered. “But the car…”

“Isn’t going anywhere,” he said. “I’ll have someone bring out some gas and drive it back into town.”

“I could wait,” she suggested hopefully.

“I don’t think so.”

“Then you are arresting me.”

“Dammit, no. Like I said, I am just trying to get you and the baby out of this blazing heat.”

“Oh.”

He opened the door to the front seat, which reassured her slightly. If he were arresting her, surely she’d be locked securely in the back. He tossed the bottle of Tylenol over to her, then indicated the carton of juice on the seat. “I brought those along for your boy.”

So he did have a heart, after all. Patsy swallowed hard against the tears that threatened. It was enough lure to get her inside. “Thank you.”

He closed the door, then went around to the driver’s side. When he was behind the wheel, he said, “There’s a milk shake in the holder there. You look as if you could use it.”

Patsy shook her head, unwilling to be too indebted to this man who so clearly—and justifiably—disapproved of her. “No, thanks.”

He rolled his eyes at her deliberate contrariness. “Suit yourself.”

The drive into town was made in uncomfortable silence. She waited for another explosion of temper or a stern lecture, but instead he glanced over at Billy, who was belted into the seat with her, no doubt a bending of the rules he was so fond of enforcing. He hadn’t argued with her, though, or insisted she get his car seat and put him in the back.

“Is he okay? Are you sure you don’t want to get him to a doctor?” he asked. “There’s a hospital in Garden City. I could run you over to the emergency room there.”

“No,” she said in a rush. When he shot a sharp-eyed look at her, she explained, “He’ll be fine, once his fever goes down. He’s just tired and fussy. I think he’s getting a bit of a cold.”

“Okay, if you’re sure.”

“I am.”

The same uneasy silence fell again. Billy squirmed in her lap. “Mama?”

“Yes, baby.”

Billy stared back at her with fever-bright eyes, then looked over at the man behind the wheel. “Who’s that?”

“He’s a policeman. He’s helping us.”

“Nice ’liceman,” Billy murmured approvingly and fell back asleep.

Patsy glanced up just in time to catch a fleeting smile at the corners of Justin’s mouth.

“At least the boy knows when someone’s on his side,” he commented.

She regarded him doubtfully. “Are you on my side, Deputy…?”

“Adams,” he supplied. “Justin Adams. And as long as you don’t break any laws, yes.” He gave her a sharp look. “So far you haven’t, at least not technically.”

“Just because I got caught.”

“Be grateful that my cousin has a forgiving nature. She won’t press charges.”

“Is that the only reason you’re letting me off so easy?”

“Yes,” he said curtly.

Patsy studied him intently, then shook her head. Her opinion of the man had undergone several drastic shifts since he’d turned up with the juice and medicine. “I don’t think so. I think that under that by-the-book exterior beats the heart of a genuinely nice guy.”

She was almost convinced he was a man she could trust. Even after he’d caught her stealing, even after she’d fled, he had thought first of her sick child. She could see, though, that the compliment made him uncomfortable. Maybe the leniency didn’t fit his own image of himself.

“What’s wrong, Deputy? Afraid if word gets out, it’ll ruin your reputation?” she asked, daring to tease him, hoping to catch another glimpse of that potentially devastating smile again.

“Something like that,” he conceded, unsmiling.

Patsy felt an odd little shock of disappointment, then cursed herself. Was she so desperate for a friend that she was willing to trust this stranger who had the power to give her whereabouts away to her husband? He was clearly a man with a strong sense of right and wrong, a commitment to duty. He would be the worst possible choice for a friend. When it came to a choice between obligation and friendship, there would be no contest. He would choose obligation every time.

She withdrew into silence once again.

“Where are you two heading?” he asked eventually.

The question seemed innocuous enough, no more than casual conversation, except the man was a cop. Patsy hesitated.

He glanced her way and she cursed those reflective sunglasses that prevented her from getting a good look at his eyes.

“Don’t you know?” he demanded. “What kind of mother leaves home with a sick baby if she doesn’t have to?”

Her temper flared and she clutched Billy a little tighter. “He wasn’t sick when we left home.”

“When was that?”

“A few days ago,” she conceded.

“And the baby’s father?”

She’d known the question would come up sooner or later. She’d been praying for later, long enough to have manufactured a believable story. Forced to improvise quickly, she said only, “He’s not around.”

“I see,” Justin said slowly, his expression thoughtful. “You know, if you don’t have a place to go, Los Piños isn’t a bad little town.”

Startled by the suggestion, she stared. “You wouldn’t object? Under the circumstances, I was sure you’d want us as far from your town as possible.”

He glanced over at her. “You ever stolen anything before?”

“No.”

“Why should I believe you?”

“Because it’s the truth,” she said fiercely. “If it hadn’t been for Billy getting sick, I wouldn’t have done it this time. I would have come here, found a place for us to stay, gotten a job. We’re looking for a fresh start, Deputy Adams, not trouble and definitely not a handout.”

Even from behind those damnable sunglasses, she could feel his penetrating gaze. It was enough to make a liar squirm. Patsy sat perfectly still and withstood it.

“What’s your name?”

“Patsy Gresham,” she said, resorting to her maiden name. If he checked the car tags, he’d know better, but if not, if luck was on her side, she could preserve the illusion for a little while at least.

He nodded. “Okay, then, Patsy Gresham. I suppose having you stick around won’t be a problem. Just know I’ll be keeping an eye on you.”

She could just imagine. He’d probably spread the word from one end of town to the other that Patsy Gresham couldn’t be trusted. What kind of life could she make for herself with a cloud of suspicion hanging over her head?

“I won’t tell a soul about what happened today, if that’s what’s worrying you,” he said, his expression softening as if he’d read her mind and wanted to reassure her. “You’ll move into town with a clean slate.”

“Why are you being so nice?”

Once more, the suggestion that he was anything other than a tough, by-the-book lawman seemed to make him uncomfortable. “Damned if I know,” he said eventually. “Just don’t make me regret it.”

If Patsy had her way, not only wouldn’t he regret it, he’d never set eyes on her again. Even in a town the size of Los Piños, it ought to be easy enough to disappear if she wanted to make it happen.

Then she took another long look at the man beside her. Of course, Justin Adams struck her as the kind of stubborn, determined man who could find whomever he set out to find. She’d just have to make darned sure he never had any reason to hunt for her.

* * *

Justin was losing it. He knew because there was no way in hell under normal circumstances he would have let a criminal off the way he was letting Patsy Gresham go free, despite what Sharon Lynn wanted.

What was it his cousin had asked? Was it the green eyes or the tears that did it? Neither, he had wanted to shout. Now he wasn’t so sure.

Every time he glanced into the woman’s sad, wary eyes, he felt some subtle change deep inside him. He wanted to strangle whoever had brought such sorrow into her life. She was entirely too young to look so beaten. And yet there was a surprising strength and feistiness about her. She might be down, but she definitely wasn’t out. He found such resilience admirable.

On the way back into town he’d reached a decision. Until he knew more, he wanted Patsy Gresham right where he could keep an eye on her. He could just imagine the kind of razzing he’d take for that. No one in his family would believe for an instant that his motives were altruistic. He could explain from now until every head of Adams cattle was counted that he was being cautious, trying to prevent a more serious crime from taking place, but they wouldn’t buy it. Not once they got a look at Patsy, anyway. They’d blame it on his hormones and his good nature and nothing he could say would change their minds.

She was a beautiful woman, all right. Fragile and road weary as she was, there was a delicacy about her that brought a man’s protective instincts surging to life. And her mouth, those luscious, sensual lips, well, it was the sort of mouth just made for kissing. Justin’s gaze had been drawn to it again and again, wondering what those lips would taste like.

Right. Like he needed to get mixed up with a woman who might be an everyday, common thief. No, what he needed to do was to send Patsy Gresham packing, send her into some other jurisdiction where she’d be another lawman’s problem.

The words had been on the tip of his tongue, too. He’d been ready to tell her that the second her car was brought back into town and filled with gas, courtesy of the deputy sheriff, he wanted her gone.

Instead, he’d encouraged her to stay. There were names a whole lot stronger than fool for the kind of man that made him. Jerk and idiot came to mind. It was also pretty clear which part of his anatomy had been doing his thinking.

“Do you have any money at all?” he asked, trying to stay focused.

“No,” she admitted after a long hesitation. “At least I won’t have any once I buy gas. But I’m willing to work for room and board. I just need a break, that’s all. I don’t want charity.”

To his dismay, he realized what he was going to do the second he crossed into the town limits. A few minutes later he pulled to a stop in front of the house that belonged to his sister, Dani. She still operated her veterinary practice from one side of it, but the living quarters had been empty ever since her marriage. If he asked, Dani would agree in a heartbeat to let Patsy and the baby use the house.

But before taking Patsy Gresham and her baby inside, there were a few more questions he needed answered.

“That car of yours is pretty expensive,” he said carefully, watching her intently. “Also, I’m no fashion expert, but I have enough female cousins with expensive taste to know quality when I see it.”

Her chin tilted up a notch. “So?”

“The two things combined make me wonder why you appear to be in such dire straits.”

“Haven’t you heard? Appearances can be deceiving.”

“Meaning that those things aren’t expensive or meaning that you’re not in dire straits? Maybe you didn’t need to steal that Tylenol. Maybe you were just doing it for kicks. I’ve heard there are rich ladies who get their thrills that way.”

Indignant color flared in her cheeks. “Of course not. You’ve seen for yourself. Billy is sick.”

“And you don’t have the money for the medicine.”

“Right.”

Her lower lip quivered and she looked as if she were about to cry. Justin really didn’t want to deal with a flood of tears, but he had no choice.

“Hand me your purse,” he said quietly.

She stared at him. “Why?”

“So I can see for myself what shape you’re in financially.”

She hugged the white leather bag almost as tightly as she clutched her son. “I don’t think so.”

“I’m ordering you to.”

“And I’m telling you, you’ll have to get a search warrant if you want to go poking through my things.”

To his regret, she had a point. He had been hoping it wouldn’t come to that, that she’d cooperate voluntarily.

“Look, if you’ll just get my car back here and loan me the money for some food, I’ll buy my own gas with the money I have left and be on my way. I can see that staying here isn’t such a good idea. For all the pretty words, Officer, it’s clear you don’t really trust me.”

“If you’d let me take a look in your purse, it would go a long way toward changing that,” he cajoled.

“Not a chance,” she said, her gaze clashing with his.

Justin debated the meaning of her resistence. She could just be a woman who knew her rights and intended to protect them. Or else she was hiding something. Maybe both. He was going to have to decide quickly whether it would be smarter to encourage her to leave town or to stay right here where he could keep an eye on her until he knew more. He gambled on the latter. It was probably better that he not examine his motives too closely.

“Okay, come with me.”

Her gaze narrowed suspiciously. “Where?”

“We’re going to talk to my sister Dani about using the other half of this house. It’s fully furnished and, other than crashing here occasionally after a late night with an injured animal, she doesn’t use it.”

There was no mistaking the quick survey she did of the white house with its neat lawn, nor the flaring of hope in her eyes. The house was small and tidy. Something told him it was nothing at all like what she was used to. He waited to see how she’d react.

“Do you really think she’d let me use it for a few days, just until I get on my feet?” she asked eagerly.

Her reaction went a long way toward reassuring him. “If I know Dani, she’ll insist on it.”

“Maybe you should go ask her first. It’ll be easier for her to say no if I’m not standing there with Billy staring her in the face.”

Justin grinned. “Which is precisely why I want you to come along. One look at you and the baby and she’ll be running out to stock the refrigerator for you. Dani is a very soft touch when it comes to taking in strays. You’ll see what I mean when you keep tripping over all the kittens underfoot.”

“Kitty?” the boy echoed happily, coming awake again. “Where kitty?”

Justin reached down and took him from his mother’s lap. The boy came to him eagerly. Justin grazed his cheek with his knuckles and noted that whatever fever he’d had seemed to have come down. “Inside, son. Want to see?”

His dark eyes regarded Justin somberly, but he nodded at once. “See kitties.”

Justin started up the walk, leaving Patsy no choice but to follow.

“Hey, sis, you around here someplace?” Justin called out, striding straight through the crowded waiting room and into the back, where there was a cacophony of sound from the animals being boarded here while families went on summer vacations. A cat promptly wound between his legs, almost tripping him.

“Dani, dammit. Get these cats away from me.”

His sister poked her head out of one of the tiny examining rooms. “Justin, why are you raising such a ruckus?” she demanded, then spotted Billy. “Oh, my, isn’t he darling? Where’d you find him?”

Justin nodded over his shoulder. “He came with her.”

His sister’s gaze shifted at once to Patsy. “Ah, yes, I see,” she murmured.

Justin regarded her suspiciously. “What does that mean?”

“It means Sharon Lynn mentioned you were hot on the trail of a woman and a baby.”

“Sharon Lynn has a big mouth.”

“I had to pry it out of her,” Dani assured him. “After I’d heard about it from three other people.”

Justin sighed. There were no secrets in Los Piños, not when it came to an Adams. “They need a place to stay.”

“And you were thinking that they could use this place,” she guessed.

He grinned sheepishly. “Well, you’re never here. Maybe Patsy could look after the animals for you at night. I’m sure your husband would appreciate having you home all night long for a change.”

“An interesting deal.” She glanced at Patsy, who was hovering in the doorway. “How do you feel about it?”

Justin waited uneasily. There was no predicting how she would react. Patsy had been surprising him from the second they’d met. So far he’d seen no evidence of uppity, high society ways, but maybe she’d draw the line at caring for a bunch of sick animals. A part of him hoped she would.

In fact, she seemed about to argue, then she glanced his way and sighed. “I’d be grateful,” she said with apparent sincerity. “And of course I’d be willing to look after the animals in return, at least until I can get a job and pay you rent.”

“No need to worry about that,” Dani replied. “We’ll try it for a few days and see how it goes.” She reached for Patsy’s hand. “Come with me. I’ll show you around.”

Justin would have followed, but Billy patted his cheek. “Want to see kitties,” he reminded Justin.

“So you shall,” he promised, pausing in the kitchen where several cats were sprawled in patches of sunlight. He hunkered down so Billy could see. The boy’s coal black eyes lit up.

“Kitties,” he whispered with obvious satisfaction. “Nice kitty?”

Justin nodded and set the boy on his feet. “You can pet them.”

Billy toddled to the closest one and bent down until he was practically nose to nose with it. “Kitty,” he pronounced, and petted it gently on the head. The cat, used to the comings and goings of Dani’s rambunctious stepsons, merely yawned widely and stretched before curling up again with its head resting on its paws.

Billy toddled on unsteady legs toward another and went through the same routine again. Not until he’d greeted every cat in the kitchen did he come back to Justin and hold out his arms to be picked up.

“Mama,” he whispered, as if he’d just noticed she was missing. Tears began to well up in his eyes.

“It’s okay, fella. Your mama’s right here. We’ll go find her, okay?”

A thumb went into his mouth and he nodded. “’Kay.”

His mother might be all bristly caution, but Billy was so thoroughly trusting it made Justin’s heart ache with unexpected longing. He’d never given much thought to marriage and kids. If he wanted to hold a baby, there were plenty to choose from in his family. If he wanted to be surrounded by laughter and love, he could invite himself to dinner at any number of homes.

There was something very different about holding a child that belonged to you, though. He’d seen it in the awed expressions of his cousins’ husbands. Something told him that it might feel a whole lot like the sensation rushing over him now.

And that, given how very little he knew about Patsy Gresham and her true circumstances, was a very dangerous reaction.

Chapter Three

Justin saw to it that Patsy Gresham and her baby were settled at Dani’s. He made sure her car was filled with gas and parked out front. He even had the Italian restaurant down the block send over dinner.

And then he washed his hands of the entire situation. He’d done his good deed for the week. Maybe even for the whole year. He predicted if word got around that he’d not only let a shoplifter get away, but that he’d taken her under his wing, he’d never hear the end of it.

As it turned out, it didn’t take long for word to get around. He was the butt of a fair bit of good-natured teasing from his uncles and cousins at the poker game that night at White Pines. Obviously Sharon Lynn had decided to spill the beans, after all. She must not have taken his threat to have a revealing talk with her fiancé all that seriously.

“Don’t pay any attention to them, son,” Grandpa Harlan advised, giving him a pat on the shoulder. “They’ve gotten so old now, they don’t recall what it’s like to be captivated by a pretty face.”

“Except for me, of course,” Harlan Patrick said. “I’m younger than Justin.”

“And you’ve never been known to miss a pretty face,” Justin retorted. “Is there a woman in this town you haven’t chased after at one time or another?”

“Not since I met Laurie,” Harlan Patrick said piously. “She’d poke my eyes out if she caught me looking at another woman.”

“She just has you thinking she would,” Grandpa Harlan corrected. “Laurie is the sweetest little gal you’ve ever brought around. She has a mighty nice voice, too.”

“Yes, indeed,” Justin agreed. “One of these days Laurie’s going to run off to Nashville and leave Harlan Patrick pining away back here.”

His cousin scowled at him. The remark had cut a little too close to Harlan Patrick’s greatest fear and Justin knew it.

“How’d we get on my love life, anyway?” Harlan Patrick grumbled. “We were talking about you and the shoplifter.”

“Don’t call her that,” Justin said harshly.

“Why not? Isn’t that what you and Sharon Lynn caught her doing?”

“She was desperate,” he countered defensively. “Besides, unless a person’s tried and convicted, you shouldn’t go throwing names around. She could sue you for slander.”

“And probably hire my wife to do it,” Grandpa Harlan warned. “Janet would just love to get her teeth into a case like that. She hates being retired from her law practice. One of these days she’s going to stir up a mess of trouble, just so she can get herself into the thick of it.”

“From what I’ve seen over the years, Daddy, you’re all the trouble Janet can cope with,” Justin’s Uncle Cody said.

Grandpa Harlan scowled. “Watch your tongue, boy. I’m not too old to throw you out of here. Maybe “I’ll cut you out of the will while I’m at it. White Pines can skip right past you and go straight to Harlan Patrick.”

Cody took the good-humored teasing in stride. “Daddy, you’ve been threatening to take this ranch from me since I can remember. One of these days I’m going to call you on it. I’ll hire Janet to contest the will.”

“Can’t do it,” Grandpa Harlan said triumphantly. “It’d be a conflict of interest.”

“Is anybody actually going to play poker tonight?” Justin inquired with a wistful glance at the hand he was holding. “I’m feeling lucky.”

Harlan Patrick shot him a knowing look. “I’ll just bet you are.” He tossed some money into the pot. “Okay, let’s see those cards you’re so proud of.”

“Oh, shut up,” Justin muttered, and slapped three aces on the table to take the pot from his mouthy cousin.

From that moment on, he tolerated the jokes and proceeded to whip their tails. He walked away from the poker table a good deal richer than he had been when he sat down.

What troubled him, though, was the fact that his first instinct was to give some of his winnings to Patsy Gresham to make sure she got by until she could find a real job.

Obviously he was turning soft, which was why half a dozen people got tickets for minor traffic violations before he stopped for breakfast the next morning.

When he saw who was about to start serving up eggs behind the counter at Dolan’s, he wished he’d stayed on the street and given out another dozen citations.

* * *

Patsy rose at the crack of dawn, still unable to believe her luck. The tiny house Justin had arranged for her to use was perfect for her and Billy. The furnishings were old, but cheerful with all the chintz upholstery. The rooms were bright and airy.

“I could be happy here,” she thought as she stretched and pulled on her robe. It was Dani’s doing, of course, and not her own, but the house felt like a home. It wasn’t as lavish as the one Will had insisted on buying, but it had a warmth and charm that the house in Oklahoma had lacked no matter how hard she’d tried to turn it into a home.

She checked on Billy, then went into the kitchen where she found cereal, milk and bread, courtesy of Dani, along with a note. “Make yourselves at home. We’ll talk later about what you can do to help with the animals. Dani.”

A nice woman, she concluded. She’d liked her instantly the day before, just as she’d been drawn to Sharon Lynn at the drugstore. It had been a long time since she’d had girlfriends. Will hadn’t encouraged her to have any life at all outside of caring for him and Billy.

Maybe these two women could become real friends in time, she thought wistfully. Maybe there would come a time when she’d be able to confide the truth about her circumstances to them, instead of living this lie. Maybe she could tell them about the fear that had been gnawing at her ever since she’d discovered her husband’s violent side.

First, though, she had to make amends to one of them. As soon as she got Billy up and dressed, she postponed breakfast and headed toward the drugstore, determined to get the apology over with. They were there as soon as the doors opened. Relieved that there was no one else around, Patsy faced Sharon Lynn uncertainly.

“I came to apologize and to thank you for not pressing charges,” she said. “I would never have done it, not in a million years, if I hadn’t been so worried about Billy.”

“I know,” Sharon Lynn said, and sounded as if she meant it. She also sounded as if that were the last word she intended to say on the subject. “How about some coffee? I could fix some cereal for Billy, if you like.”

Could it possibly be that easy? Patsy thought in wonder. Still chagrined by her uncharacteristic behavior the day before, Patsy started to refuse, but Sharon Lynn was already pouring the coffee and dumping cereal into a bowl.

“Dry or with milk?” she asked, taking the decision out of Patsy’s hands.

“Dry for Billy,” Patsy said. “He can eat it with his fingers. Otherwise there’s no telling where he’s likely to fling it with a spoon.”

Sharon Lynn set the bowl on the counter in front of Billy, then grinned as he grabbed a fistful and shoved it into his mouth.

“His table manners leave something to be desired,” Patsy apologized ruefully.

“How old is he?”

“He just turned two.”

“Then he’s got a few years before people start holding that against him. Besides, once you’ve been to a family dinner at our place, missile strikes would probably seem tame. There are a lot of kids. We’ve all been brought up to have endless patience. My grandfather, Harlan Adams, would rather have the chaos than a clean house any day.”

Patsy grinned. “Maybe he can say that because he’s not the one who has to clean it up.”

“Oh, I’ve seen him on his hands and knees chasing after cornflakes and toys a time or two. Of course, he’s in his eighties now and he’s not as agile as he once was, but he set a good enough example for his sons that they’re pretty decent housekeepers if the need arises. They all married women who see to it the need arises every now and then, just to keep them humble.”

“It must be wonderful to have so much family,” Patsy said, unable to hide the wistful note in her voice.

“Your own is small?”

“Just me and my parents.”

“And you couldn’t go to them for help when things got tough for you and the baby?” Sharon Lynn asked.

Patsy shook her head. “No, not this time,” she said, unable to meet the other woman’s gaze for fear all the tears she’d been bottling up would come pouring out.

“I see.” Sharon Lynn’s expression softened. “I hear Justin arranged for you to stay at Dani’s.”

Patsy knew enough about small towns not to be surprised that news had traveled so quickly, especially when it involved family members. “For the time being anyway.”

Sharon Lynn seemed startled by her reply. “Why on earth wouldn’t you go on staying there? It’s a great house. It’s small, but surely it’s big enough for just you and Billy.”

“Of course it is, and I’m truly grateful to her for letting us move in on such short notice.” Patsy couldn’t say that she was afraid she might have to move on, that her husband would discover her whereabouts and come after her. Instead, she said only, “But I need a job, and someone to look after Billy. I haven’t even had time to check the want ads yet to see if there are any openings here. I can’t stay in Los Piños indefinitely without work.”

“Then you have work,” Sharon Lynn said with no hesitation at all.

Patsy stared at her. “What?”

“You can work right here. I can use the help. The lunch counter’s busier than ever and so’s the pharmacy. The pharmacist can’t keep up with prescriptions and all the gift sales we’re making now that I’ve expanded that section.”

She smiled persuasively. “So, what do you think? Want to give it a try? I can pay you a halfway decent salary and you’ll get tips when you work the counter. I know Dani’s not going to charge an arm and a leg for the house. No one was using it anyway. And you’ll be able to eat here, so you won’t have grocery expenses.”

It was more than Patsy had ever dreamed of when she’d walked through the door a few minutes earlier. Though she’d trained as a secretary, she’d known she wouldn’t be able to find work in that field, not without being able to give references, and she surely couldn’t list Will’s firm on her résumé. This job was ideal. She didn’t have to think twice about it. “I’ll take it,” she said at once.

“You’re sure?” Sharon Lynn asked. “I have to warn you, it gets crazy in here sometimes and I’m going off on a one-week honeymoon at the end of the month. You’ll be on your own. Can you cook?”

“If you’ll go over the menu with me, I can do it,” Patsy assured her. She’d worked in a place just like this back home one summer while she was taking her secretarial training. This job would be a breeze. “And I’ve run a cash register before. I’m sure I’ll pick up the rest in no time.”

“You don’t have to sell me. I made the offer, remember?”

“I wouldn’t want you to regret it.”

“I won’t,” Sharon Lynn said with confidence. “When can you start?”

“What about now?” She glanced over at Billy, who was happily mashing cereal on the counter. “Unless you’d rather I make arrangements for him so he’s not in the way.”

“He’s not in the way. If he gets fussy, you can leave and take him home for a nap. Someone over at Dani’s will keep an eye on him for you.”

Patsy grinned at her enthusiasm and quick solutions to every possible problem Patsy suggested. “You must be really desperate for help.”

“Not today, but given the daze I’m in just thinking about everything that’s left to do for the wedding, desperation is not far off.” Sharon Lynn grinned ruefully and admitted, “And there are any number of people in town who’ll be relieved that someone else is going to help with the cooking in here. I’ve been a bit absentminded lately. It’s given the menu some interesting and not entirely successful twists.”

Patsy grinned back at her as she climbed off the stool and started to join Sharon Lynn behind the counter. “What do you want me to do first?”

“Sit back down and eat some breakfast.” Before Patsy could protest, Sharon Lynn added, “That’s not charity. It’s just common sense. You’ll be dead on your feet in no time unless you’ve eaten something. I think scrambled eggs, bacon, hash browns and toast ought to do it,” she decided, going to work before Patsy could argue.

Everyone she’d met so far had been so kind Patsy couldn’t quite believe her luck. Suddenly she regarded Sharon Lynn suspiciously. “Justin didn’t put you up to this, did he?”

“Justin didn’t put her up to what?” the very man in question inquired as he came through the door along with a gust of hot, dry air.

“Hiring me,” Patsy explained, meeting his gaze for an instant.

For once, with his sunglasses tucked in his pocket, Justin’s eyes were visible. She could read the shock registered there. Even though she knew it was justified, it hurt nonetheless.

“Really?” he asked, regarding his cousin warily. “Sharon Lynn, could we talk for a minute?” With a glance in Patsy’s direction, he added pointedly, “In the back.”

“No, we cannot,” Sharon Lynn told him. “I’m busy.” She flipped Patsy’s eggs on the grill, reached for the toast and buttered it, then placed it all on a plate and slid it in front of Patsy. “Enjoy. The crowd will start coming in in about ten minutes.”

Patsy nodded. “I’ll be finished.”

Justin slid onto the stool next to her. She wondered if he meant to intimidate her, but he merely advised, “If you gulp that down, you’ll have indigestion. Sharon Lynn doesn’t go light on the grease.”

She glanced at him. “Worried about my health all of a sudden?”

“Obviously she’s expecting to get a full day’s work out of you. I don’t want to see her cheated.” He regarded her meaningfully.

So, there it was, Patsy thought wearily. The trust he’d promised the day before had barely lasted overnight. She leveled a look straight at him and kept it steady. “I thought you were going to give me an honest chance to start over.”

He sighed. “You’re right,” he conceded grudgingly. “I was.”

“Has something changed since last night?”

“He probably had to answer a lot of questions out at White Pines last night at the family poker game,” Sharon Lynn chimed in cheerfully. “It’s made him edgy.”

“I am not edgy,” he retorted. “I’m just trying to look out for you. Obviously I’m wasting my time. You think you know it all.”

Sharon Lynn grinned at him. “When it comes to Patsy, yes, I do think my judgment’s better than yours. After all, I am the one who predicted…”

Justin scowled. “Never mind.”

Patsy stared at the two of them, trying to guess what the unspoken hints were all about. “Predicted what?”

“Nothing,” Sharon Lynn soothed. “Justin’s just the family worrywart. Why don’t you get back here and fix him some scrambled eggs and a couple of pancakes? I’ll pour him some nice strong black coffee. That ought to improve his mood.”

To Patsy’s surprise, he didn’t argue. Instead he turned his attention to Billy.

“So, young man, what are you up to over there? Has any of that cereal actually made it into your mouth?”

Billy promptly abandoned the mess he was making and reached for Justin. “Up?” he pleaded

Patsy envisioned all the goo on Billy’s hands being transferred to Justin’s starched uniform shirt and winced. “No, baby. I don’t think so.”

To her amazement, Justin ignored her and accommodated Billy. He scooped him up, apparently oblivious to the mess the baby was bound to make of his clothes. Apparently a whole lot more bonding than she’d been aware of had gone on the day before.

“He’s fine where he is. You don’t have to do that,” she told Justin, eyeing him nervously as Billy patted his cheeks with sticky hands.

“It’s not a problem.”

“But—”

“I said it’s not a problem.”

And that, she concluded, was that.

After that, she didn’t have time to worry about it. As Sharon Lynn had predicted, the counter began to fill up with regulars eager for a little breakfast and a lot of chitchat over the latest local gossip. Several speculative looks were cast her way. Ignoring them and the gentle banter that ensued, she concentrated on filling orders as quickly as Sharon Lynn passed them to her.

Even though she never once looked back, she was aware of the precise instant that Justin Adams slid off his stool and left. The prickling sensation at the back of her neck vanished and the tension in her shoulders eased.

When the crowd began to thin out, Sharon Lynn introduced her to the handful of remaining customers. At the sight of a burly man in uniform, her nerves jumped.

“This is the sheriff, Tate Owens, Justin’s boss. Don’t mind the scowl. He looks less fierce once he’s had a couple of doughnuts.”

“I wish,” the man said, casting a longing gaze toward the already depleted display on the counter. “Juice and dry toast for me today. The doc put me on a diet yesterday. He’s grumbling about my cholesterol again.”

“How about some oatmeal?” Sharon Lynn suggested.

“Not without cream and lots of brown sugar,” he lamented. “No, I’ll stick with the toast today and some of that blackberry jam, if you have it.”

“I keep it back here just for you,” Sharon Lynn said.

Patsy noted where Sharon Lynn kept it, so she could supply it on request if she was here alone. She was about to gather up Billy and slip into the back room for a break, when the sheriff spoke directly to her.

“You’re new in town.”

She met his gaze evenly, fighting the sick sensation in the pit of her stomach. “Yes. My son and I got here yesterday.”

“Didn’t take you long to find work,” he observed.

“No. Sharon Lynn’s been very kind.”

He nodded. “Welcome to Los Piños, then. You run into any problems, let me know.”

The offer was made with such absolute sincerity that for a fleeting instant Patsy had the absurd desire to unburden herself to this man. Who knew, maybe she’d be lucky one more time and he would see what she’d been up against. Maybe he could protect her from Will. She sighed with regret. She couldn’t take a chance that it would go the other way.

Instead, she smiled noncommittally. “Thanks. I’ll remember that.”

“You’re from Oklahoma,” he noted conversationally. “What part?”

She named her old hometown, rather than Oklahoma City. “I doubt you’ve ever heard of it. It’s tiny, not even as big as Los Piños.”

“Must be,” he said, his expression thoughtful. “I grew up around Oklahoma City myself and I never heard of it. Of course, my memory’s not what it used to be, either. Haven’t been home in years, not since my folks died about ten years back.”

When he’d mentioned Oklahoma City, Patsy’s heart had slammed against her ribs. It hadn’t eased back into a normal rhythm until he’d said how long it had been since he’d been back.

Ten years ago Will had been just starting law school. His face—and hers—hadn’t been on the front pages of the local papers until much more recently. She doubted that a mayor’s race in Oklahoma City would make the local paper here in Los Piños.

“Do you still stay in touch with old friends?” she asked carefully.

“Nope. My friends and family are here now. Haven’t heard from a soul back that way. Skipped my high school reunions. Couldn’t think of what I’d have to say to people I hadn’t seen in years.”

“Too bad,” she said, though the relief that washed over her said just the opposite. “It’s always sad when we lose touch with old friends.”

“What about you? You still have family there?”

“Some,” she said.

Thankfully, he let it go at that. Much more poking and prodding, no matter how innocently intended, and she was pretty sure she would have cracked. She just wasn’t cut out for this much deception. It was a habit that had started when she and Will were first dating and trying to keep it a secret from their co-workers. She’d been lousy at it then, too. Their relationship had been discovered in no time, which was one reason they’d married in such haste. Will had wanted to quiet the gossip.

Tate Owens drew her attention again. “We’ll have to compare notes sometime. It’s been my experience that it’s a mighty small world. Maybe we’ll know some folks in common.”

“I doubt that,” she said. “Like I said, the town where I grew up was really small.”

He nodded. “Okay. Well, I’d better get out of here. If I don’t stay on my toes, Justin’s going to steal my job right out from under me.”

“As if he would ever try,” Sharon Lynn chided. “You were his mentor, Tate. And everybody knows you’re the best sheriff ever. You’ll stay in the job as long as you want it. Besides, something tells me half the town is going to be mad as heck at him this morning.”

Tate Owens moaned. “What’s he done now?” he asked in a resigned tone.

“Last time I saw him, he was handing out parking tickets all up and down Main Street.”

“Damn, I thought I’d broke him of that. The town doesn’t need the money, and I don’t need the aggravation.” He slapped his Stetson on his head and walked out the door.

Patsy watched him go, then turned to Sharon Lynn. “What’s with the parking tickets?”

“Tate tends to ignore minor infractions like that. He thought the parking meters were a nuisance in the first place. Justin goes crazy every once in a while and starts handing out tickets. Tate spends the rest of the day soothing ruffled feathers.”

Patsy shook her head. “I don’t get it. If the people are breaking the law, shouldn’t they get tickets?”

“Technically, yes. And Justin is a by-the-book kind of man, especially after he’s done something that makes him worry whether he’s listening too much to his heart,” she said with a look in Patsy’s direction.

“Am I supposed to understand that?”

“You’re here, aren’t you?”

“Yes,” she said, still confused.

“And not in a jail cell.”

“Oh.”

Sharon Lynn grinned, “Oh, indeed. Bottom line, it’s my guess that you’re the one behind today’s rampage with the parking tickets.”

Patsy would have chuckled if she hadn’t been able to imagine what everyone in town would have to say if they knew to blame her.

Sharon Lynn’s expression turned thoughtful. “Something tells me you’re going to be good for him,” she said quietly.

“Me? I don’t think so,” Patsy said at once. If Justin Adams knew the truth about her, he probably wouldn’t even blink before tossing her in that jail cell and throwing away the key.

Конец ознакомительного фрагмента.

Текст предоставлен ООО «ЛитРес».

Прочитайте эту книгу целиком, купив полную легальную версию на ЛитРес.

Безопасно оплатить книгу можно банковской картой Visa, MasterCard, Maestro, со счета мобильного телефона, с платежного терминала, в салоне МТС или Связной, через PayPal, WebMoney, Яндекс.Деньги, QIWI Кошелек, бонусными картами или другим удобным Вам способом.