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Josie had to chuckle, though. The Blue Bonnet Inn was an upscale place inside an old historical home. The rooms were decorated to match Texas flowers. It was better suited for a granny on vacation than a lawman. Heath Grayson would stick out there like a rooster in a henhouse.
She rested her elbows on the counter and cupped her chin in her hands. Today she’d have to ask Flint exactly how long his friend was going to stick around and be a pest in Haven. Heath had given her the vague answer of November, but she had a hard time believing that an investigation into a few missing items, a lost therapy horse last month and the calf incident would hold the attention of a Texas Ranger for long. At least after speaking with Flint, Josie would have an end date to look forward to. Not that she particularly minded Heath—not him personally. Oh, he was nice enough and not bad to look at.
But he was a Texas Ranger. They sought out danger. That was their job. Even if he insisted on stopping by her ranch and doing chores in the morning, which it looked like was his plan, she couldn’t get used to it...to him. Heath would leave soon and rush off somewhere that meant risking his life. It was best not to get attached to him in any way, even simply as a friend.
Really, it would be better if she got rid of the overly helpful man. At least in her personal life.
After changing into fresh clothes, braiding her hair and straightening the kitchen, Josie made her way outside and entered the barn. She found Heath sitting on a stool, hunched over the water troughs, scrubbing them out with all his might.
He glanced her way. “Animals are fed. Bedding’s changed. I spotted a few fence posts that could use reinforcing.”
How did he know how to take care of a ranch? It wasn’t like a Texas Ranger had a lot of free time on his hands to care for animals and land and everything that went along with ranching.
“You don’t need to do that.” She paused in the doorway. “Actually, you don’t need to be doing any of this.” She crossed her arms. “Why are you here?”
“I thought I could help.”
She propped her shoulder against the doorjamb. “I don’t need any help.”
Straw dust danced between them in the morning rays of light bleeding into the barn. Heath’s eyes met hers across the space and he held her gaze. Raised his eyebrows.
Josie shook her head and walked forward. “I don’t need your help.”
“What if I said I was hoping to get more breakfast out of the deal?”
Even though he said it with a straight face, Josie was smart. She knew the man was trying to save her pride. Allow her to hang on to the idea that he was working for a good meal instead of pitching in because she was a lonely, pregnant woman. He could get a huge breakfast at the inn every morning if he wished and he was choosing not to.
Fine, then. She’d play along. Because that was better than admitting the truth.
“Oh. I see how it is.” Josie clucked her tongue. “You’re like some homeless dog. I made the mistake of feeding you and now you’ll just keep on coming back?”
He dragged the first trough back to its corresponding enclosure. “Something like that.”
Josie spun around and called over her shoulder, “Wipe your boots before coming into my house.”
“Will do.”
She went back inside and muttered to herself as she set the griddle on. She leaned her hip into the counter and braced her hand along her side. It was a blessing not to have to do all the chores this morning. Over the past week, her lower back had been hurting more often than not.
When the griddle was warm enough for a pat of butter to sizzle its way across the surface, she mixed the liquids and soaked six large pieces of fluffy bread. French toast and bacon. She’d make him some food, explain to him that he couldn’t just show up here and take care of all her chores every day—even though she really did appreciate it—and then she’d ask him to leave again. No getting attached. Easy peasy.
Heath entered as she was filling cups with orange juice.
“All set.” She gestured to the plate.
“Looks great. Smells even better.” He nodded. “Let me just wash my hands.”
Once he was back at the table, he said grace for them again and they both dug into their food. This morning Josie was glad to be heading into her third trimester—no more morning sickness. Food was her friend again.
“I didn’t get to mending the fence posts today. But I will by the end of this week.”
Josie’s curiosity was piqued. She had to find out how he knew so much about ranching. “To be a Ranger, you’d have had to have worked for the state for a long time before then, right?”
“Eight years in investigations with the state before you’re even allowed to fill out an application.”
“So your entire adult life has been dedicated to police work?” He sounded a lot like Dale. Living...breathing the job.
His head bobbed. “I served as a soldier right out of high school and then went straight into the force.”
“Did you ever see action?”
He looked down at his plate. “A tour in Iraq.”
“Was it scary?”
Heath shrugged. “To be honest, I didn’t have a lot going for me at the time and I wasn’t afraid to die. I know that sounds bad.” He moved his cup in a slow circle so the orange juice swirled around and around. “My father had passed away a few years before that, and my mom remarried pretty quickly. I’m afraid to say my stepdad and I butted heads from the get-go. More than anything, I joined the service to escape.”
Heath wasn’t afraid to die? She wanted to ask him about that statement, but she didn’t really have a right to. Policemen and soldiers were alike in that way, weren’t they? They always knew that not coming home was a possibility. But that didn’t mean they weren’t afraid of the possibility. Did Heath enjoy an adrenaline rush? Or was it something else?
Josie laced her fingers together and looked down at her palms. She didn’t need to know because she wasn’t getting involved with him. Not even as friends. He’d be around for a month and then be gone.
Ask him something else. Anything else.
“Did you grow up on a ranch?”
“No, a quiet patch of suburbia.” He stretched out his legs under the table. “My dad was in law enforcement.”
“Ah.” Josie nodded. A lot of families were like that... Being on the force seemed to run in the blood. She cradled her belly. Not you, little one! I won’t allow it. “Well, when did you learn all this stuff?” She motioned over her shoulder, in the direction of her barn. “How to take care of cows and pigs and fix fences? Last I checked they don’t teach that on the force or in the army.”
“They sure don’t.” He chuckled and set his napkin on the table. “My uncle Blaine has a ranch not far from here, near Waco. I moved in with him when things went south with my stepdad. Blaine put me right to work.” Heath rubbed his hand over his smile. “He says there’s no such thing as hands that aren’t working on a ranch.”
“Good for your uncle.”
“I’m glad he did.” Heath steepled his fingers. “If he hadn’t done that, I wouldn’t be any help to you now.”
“What are you doing in Haven anyway?” Josie asked between bites. “Besides bugging me at my ranch, that is. And the calves mystery.” She rolled her eyes. Not because she wasn’t still scared about the possibility of a stranger having been hiding in the barn with her, but because it still seemed silly that a Texas Ranger was working the case. “We both know you didn’t take a month off to investigate that.”
Heath finished a piece of bacon. “Visiting Flint, mostly. And checking out the boys ranch, of course.”
“Do you know someone who might need to go there?”
“Having resources for troubled youth stored up here—” he tapped his forehead “—is good in my line of work.” He rested his forearms on the table. “How about you? Why do you volunteer there?”
Josie shrugged. “Everyone in Haven pitches in.”
“Did your husband?”
Not at all. Dale always gave the place a wide berth. “Why do you care—”
“I’m sorry.” He held up a hand. “Forget I asked.”
Josie plowed on anyway. “I’m a member of the Lone Star Cowboy League. We support the boys ranch. I’m there because I want to be, but also because it’s my duty as a member of the League. My husband wasn’t a member. You have to be a rancher to be involved... Dale wasn’t one. I only just joined. After.” She looked down.
“You didn’t have to answer,” Heath said. “My question was out of line. Job hazard. I’m used to asking whatever I want to know.” He smoothed his hand down his jaw. “How about this... Who’s your favorite kid on the ranch?”
She shifted her cup around and around in her hands. “I don’t have a favorite.”
“Of course you do.” His voice was gentle. “Who is it?”
“I guess, if I absolutely had to pick... I’d probably say Diego. He’s had a hard road in life. He’s this bright little guy who always has a serious expression on his face. Like he’s working out a math puzzle at all times.” Josie pulled a face, imitating Diego. Heath answered with a soft grin.
“His hair is almost black and his eyes are dark and soulful.” Josie found she was smiling but couldn’t help it. “He and I get along really well because he loves the cattle. He’s always the first one at the barn waiting for me and wants to pitch in on anything having to do with the calves. You could say I have a soft spot for him.”
Heath leaned forward. “What’s Diego in for?”
“In for?”
“All the boys there, they’re troublemakers. They wouldn’t be sent to the ranch if they weren’t. What’s Diego’s issue? What’d he do wrong?”
Josie bristled. There was nothing wrong with Diego. Nothing at all. Sometimes a child needed special attention. Sometimes they needed a change from normal life in order to work through something. But living at the ranch certainly wasn’t a punishment.
“You still don’t think well of them. Even after our talk yesterday?”
Heath’s expression became unreadable. “I know good, well-adjusted kids don’t end up there. Normal kids are at their homes...with their parents. I know bad things have happened at the boys ranch in the past.”
“With that attitude, it’s a wonder you’re willing to help Flint solve his case at all.” She scooted out of her seat and collected both of their plates.
“Attitude?” Heath turned in his chair so he could continue facing her as she moved to the sink. “That’s not attitude. It’s the truth.”
Josie dropped the dishes into the sink with a loud clang and turned around. “Those boys are flesh and blood with feelings and dreams and they just want to be loved and accepted. Same as you and me.” She laid her hand along her collarbone. “If you can’t see that, Officer, then you aren’t that great of a detective after all.”
“I’m sorry.” He looked down, studied the table. “Perhaps you’re right. After everything, I guess it’s hard to see them any other way.”
“After everything? What’s that supposed to mean?”
“My dad was a Texas Ranger. I don’t think I told you that before. But he was.”
He’d said his dad worked in law enforcement...but they were both Rangers? That was amazing. “You followed in his footsteps?”
Heath nodded. “I wanted to honor his sacrifice.” He looked down at his hands as if the lines on his palms were the most interesting things in the world. “Fifteen years ago, my father was working a case at your boys ranch.”
Josie’s heart sunk. She sucked in a loud breath. As someone who’d lost a loved one to the thin blue line, she knew where his story was going.
“They found him dead. Three bullets. Near the main barn on the old property.”
“Oh, Heath.” Josie crossed the kitchen and laid a hand on his shoulder. She squeezed. “I’m so sorry.” She blinked against the burn of tears, his words dragging up the ache of her loss.
“My dad’s murder is still a cold case. Unsolved.”
His hand came up and covered hers. It was warm and comforting. Josie’s throat spasmed. She missed the friendly touches of her past life...a quick hug, a shoulder brushing against a shoulder, holding a hand. She missed it so much she ached.
She drew her shaky hand out from under his. “Now that you mention it, I remember hearing about it on the news when it happened. It was a big deal in a town like Haven.”
He swiveled in the chair in order to make eye contact. “I’d like to solve the case, if I could.”
“That’s why you’re here, isn’t it?”
“Among other reasons.” He shrugged. “But I’d like to keep that private as much as I can, if you don’t mind.”
“Of course.” She nodded. “My husband was a deputy.” Josie dropped into the seat beside Heath. Close enough that their knees bumped. “It started as a routine traffic stop and turned into him never coming home.” She got the words out before her throat clamped up again. But her voice pitched higher at the end, betraying her.
Heath reached over and took her hand. He held it between both of his. For a minute they sat in silence. Allowing each other to deal with their loss. Finding comfort in the fact that someone else understood.
Finally, Heath cleared his throat. “I’m sorry you had to go through that. No one should have to lose a loved one that way.”
She dabbed at her eyes and nodded. Staying in the pain, reliving everything, wouldn’t help her or her child. If Heath was still hanging on to the pain of losing his father, he needed to move toward letting that go, as well. But Josie knew how hard that could be. Still, she racked her brain for a way to encourage him.
She squeezed his fingers. “I know you said you would yesterday, but this is one more reason why you should volunteer at the ranch. There are ranch hands still working there who would have been working fifteen years ago. Someone might know something, Heath. Don’t you see?”
Heath looked off to the side for a second. Josie had noticed he did that when he was considering something.
“Some of the ranch hands are still there?” He captured her gaze again. His dark eyes swirled with questions. “Are you sure about that?”
“Very sure. I’ll have to talk to some of the old-timers, but I think I can get you a list of the names of people who still live in town who worked or volunteered when it happened.”
Heath rose to his feet. “Get your shoes on, Josie. Let’s head to the ranch.”
* * *
One hand on the steering wheel, the other cocked on the open window, Heath maneuvered his truck toward the boys ranch.
He stole a glance at Josie.
She’d wriggled more personal information out of him in the past two days than he’d told his coworkers in the nine years he’d worked for the Texas Department of Public Safety. They were the branch of the government that the Rangers functioned under. In order to be considered for the position of Ranger, Heath had worked as a state trooper for eight years first, in their investigative unit. Still, he was one of the youngest guys to be made a Ranger in a long time. He had a hunch that those in upper management remembered his father and that had paved his way. After all this time, he should be used to keeping a tight rein on his personal life, but Josie had somehow slipped under his defenses.
The woman should consider going into detective work.
She caught him looking at her and hugged her stomach. “My truck is just fine, you know. I could have driven myself.”
They’d gone toe-to-toe over her truck. She’d called him overbearing and he’d insisted on having the vehicle checked out before she continued to drive it. Texan winters weren’t bad, but still, anything could happen. And that thing wouldn’t be able to handle another accident if she did get caught in bad weather at some point. She’d said that was what caused the last fender bender, a storm. It was raining and she missed the stop sign. Ended up broadsided by a sedan.
Heath’s stomach tightened. The idea of Josie and her baby in an accident didn’t sit well with him. Not one bit.
He forced his fingers to relax his grip on the wheel. “Like I said before, let me take a look at it tomorrow. I know a little about cars.”
“You know a little about everything, don’t you?”
He popped his gaze back to her for a second, fighting a grin. This woman had exercised his smile muscles more than he cared to admit. “I’ve picked up things here and there.”
