LITMIR.BIZ

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him, she reached out and touched his arm. “It’s not your fault. Please don’t think so. You’re only trying to help me.”

      The touch of her hand on his bare forearm was as light as a butterfly and though her fingers were cool, Brady’s reaction was just the opposite. Heat flowed along his arm as though he’d been touched by a torch, and for a moment he was lost for words, lost in the gray depths of her sad eyes.

      “Don’t worry about me, Lass. I’ve got a thick hide.” At least, he’d believed he was tough-skinned, until she’d touched him. Dear Lord, he had to get out of here before he did something totally unprofessional. Like gather her into his arms and cuddle her against his chest. “And right now I have to get back to work.”

      Unable to tear his eyes away from her, he began to move backward toward the door.

      “What about tomorrow?” she asked in bewilderment.

      He flashed a smile. “Bridget will let me know when to be here to pick you up.”

      “But I—”

      Placing a finger against his lips, he said, “I promise, my folks will be thrilled to have you.”

      And so would he, Brady silently admitted. But how long would it be before the thrill turned into a problem? Before good intentions turned bad?

      Brady wasn’t going to let himself think about those questions. Right now Lass needed him. And that was all that mattered.

      The next morning Brady had been at his desk for over an hour when Sheriff Hamilton arrived at work. As the tall, dark-haired man sauntered through Brady’s small work area, he stopped in his tracks and stared at his chief deputy.

      “It’s not even daylight yet. What are you doing here?”

      Brady glanced up from his computer screen. Ethan Hamilton was a big man in stature and presence and held a lifelong connection to the area he served. Eleven years ago, when Roy Pardee had retired, Ethan had stepped into a pair of mighty big boots. Roy had been loved and revered, a living legend as far as citizens of the county were concerned and being the man’s nephew had only made it harder for Ethan to prove himself. Down through the years he’d done that and more. He’d married the county judge, Penelope Parker, and they were now raising twin sons, Jake and Jase.

      “I could say the same about you.” Even though Ethan was clearly the boss, the two men were longtime friends and they conversed as such. Now Brady swiveled the rolling chair away from the desk and stood facing the sheriff. “Is something going on with you?”

      “Penny’s still feeling puny and she was up early,” Ethan explained. “Once she gets up, I can’t sleep.”

      “Again? Maybe you should take her to a doctor. See what’s wrong with the woman,” Brady suggested.

      A slow smile spread across the sheriff’s face. “I don’t need to. She went to the doctor yesterday and he assured her everything would get back to normal—in seven months. Or as normal as it can be with another baby in the house.”

      Brady was stunned. Ethan and Penny’s twins were nearly twelve years old. After all this time, he’d never figured the couple wanting more children. “Penny is … pregnant?”

      “Yeah,” he said with a beaming smile. “Isn’t it great? We’d been wanting more children for a long time, but she’s had health issues. Her having the twins was a miracle, so we figured it would be a second miracle if she could get pregnant again. We’d almost given up, but now it’s happened and the doc says everything is going along fine.”

      The sheriff was a true family man and nothing made him happier than his wife and children. Brady could only wonder if he’d ever want to be that settled, that focused on one certain woman. So far he’d not found one that could hold his interest for more than a month, much less forever. Where women were concerned, Brady’s mother accused him of being a selfish alpha male who expected too much from a lady. But Brady would hardly classify himself in those terms. He’d rather think of himself as smart and practical. And he was smart enough to know that he wasn’t ready or willing to turn his life over to a woman. For that to happen, he’d have to be head over heels in love. And so far, that malady had never struck Brady.

      Shaking the sheriff’s hand heartily, Brady expressed his congratulations. “Wow! This must have been a pleasant surprise for the whole family! You must be walking on a cloud right about now!”

      The sheriff chuckled. “The whole Murdock clan has kept the phone lines hot with the news. And me, well, I’m not even complaining about having to cook breakfast for me and the boys for the past week. Penny can’t stand the smell of food early in the mornings. She won’t even let me make coffee. And speaking of coffee—” he glanced over his shoulder to a corner where the coffeemaker was located “—has anyone made a pot yet?”

      “Yeah. Me. I’ll get us both a cup,” Brady told him. “I need to talk with you.”

      “Fine. Bring it on to my office,” he said. “I want to see if Dottie has left any notes on my desk.”

      Moments later, carrying two cups steaming with coffee, Brady entered the sheriff’s office and took a seat in front of the other man’s desk.

      “So,” Ethan said as he sipped from the cup and rifled through the scraps of paper scattered in front of him, “you have something personal on your mind? Or business?”

      Feeling sheepish and not really knowing why, Brady cleared his throat. “A little of both, I suppose. It’s about the Jane Doe case. She’s getting released from the hospital today. And I … plan on taking her out to the ranch.”

      Ethan’s head shot up. “The Diamond D—?”

      “That’s right. Do you have any problems with that?”

      The sheriff rubbed a finger along his jaw. “Well, I don’t think there’s any law against it. But I … wouldn’t advise it, Brady. The county has places for people like her. They’ll look out for her until we get this thing straightened out.”

      Frowning with disapproval, Brady leaned forward. “Sure. In that women’s shelter down in Ruidoso. That wouldn’t be good.”

      “Why not?”

      Brady slowly sipped his coffee while he tried to gather all the legitimate excuses he could think of. “Well, it’s right next to the mission for people with addiction problems.”

      “She won’t have to mingle with those people.”

      Drawing in a deep breath, Brady tried again. “The women’s shelter is small and they rarely have enough room to spare. Lass wouldn’t have any privacy and she’d have to wear whatever she could find out of the charity box.”

      Ethan picked up another note and scanned the brief contents. “I could think of worse things.”

      Brady’s jaw tightened. “She doesn’t come from that sort of background, Ethan. She doesn’t belong there.”

      The sheriff shot him a wry look, before he carefully sipped his coffee. “None of the other women belong there, either, Brady. Bad circumstances put them there. Just like the Jane—” He suddenly paused, his eyes narrowing on Brady’s face. “Did I hear you call her ‘Lass’? Has she remembered her name?”

      Brady couldn’t stop a wave of red heat from crawling up his neck and onto his face. “No. Unless her condition changed overnight.” He made a dismissive gesture with his hand. “I gave her the name. We had to have something to call her.”

      “Yeah,” Ethan said dryly, “guess the name Jane wouldn’t work for that.”

      Knowing the other man could see right through him, Brady tossed up his hands in surrender. “Okay. Okay. So I’m a sucker for a stray. What can I say?”

      Ethan settled back in his chair and Brady could feel the full weight of the other man’s attention.

      “Like

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