Natural Born Lawman

“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.