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She’s on her way to the top, Denny had written.
He walked to the stable and pulled open the heavy doors. He didn’t mind taking over this task while C.J. was gone.
C.J.’s neighbor to the east was taking care of the cattle. Cash need only worry about the horses.
He fed them, then turned them loose in the corral.
Still no movement in the house that he could discern. Too early for her to be up, maybe. He returned to the stable to muck out the stalls, enjoying how his muscles burned at the effort, how this activity differed from sitting behind a desk writing reports.
When he finished his chores he washed up at the sink in the barn then grabbed a pressed, beige uniform shirt from his truck and changed out of his flannel shirt in the meager warmth of the stable. He’d head straight into Ordinary for work from here.
He slipped into his sheepskin ranch coat and pinned his Sheriff’s badge to the outside. He traded his old work boots for his polished cowboy boots.
There’d been no flicker of light in the house. Odd. He hadn’t taken her for a lazy woman.
He pulled onto the highway for the drive to town and had gone no farther than C.J.’s neighbor’s land when he saw Shannon jogging along the shoulder toward him.
Facing traffic. Smart girl.
The rising sun highlighted one side of her body.
She wore a snug long-sleeved t-shirt under a quilted vest, and tight jogging pants that hugged mile-long legs. Her calves and thighs looked strong.
She’d pulled that pretty blond hair into a ponytail that swung with each step. She looked young and stunningly beautiful.
The breath lodged in his throat.
He pulled over and rolled down his passenger window. She approached, panting steam into the cool air.
“You always run this early?” he asked.
She nodded, her cheeks pink from exertion. “It’s the most beautiful part of the day.”
She looked across the fields and the early-morning light turned her hair and skin to gold. Her face was relaxed, unlike he’d seen it last night.
Cash imagined how tempting she must look waking up in bed before crawling out for her run. He would have trouble letting her go.
“It’s gorgeous out here, isn’t it?” She smiled at the scenery and he wished he’d put that smile on her face this morning.
She’s on a fast track to the top.
Cash cleared his throat. “How long was your run?”
“I just finished five miles.”
Fit, all right. And ambitious. A real go-getter.
He wouldn’t be dating her.
Just Cash’s luck. He finally meets the perfect woman and she’s off-limits—and not only for her ambition. His first instinct about her being a cop was the right one. Cash didn’t sleep with co-workers. Ever. His father had done enough of that and look what happened to him. Disgrace. Public humiliation.
Dad had worked tirelessly, had investigated every angle, had spent weeks on end ignoring his family while he worked cases, on his way up to Commissioner of the San Francisco police force. Always the big shot. Dad hadn’t walked. He’d run. And strutted.
Cash valued his job and his relationships in this town. He would fight for them tooth and nail, against any enemy, even a green-eyed girl who was already turning him inside out. Cash set his jaw hard to ignore his frustration.
He had to keep his distance.
She reacted to his frown and backed away from the car.
“See you around,” she said.
In his rear-view mirror, he watched her run away from him. A sudden groin-stirringimage of her naked legs wrapped around his waist jumped to mind.
“Hell.”
This attraction was wrong.
He didn’t need his dying Dad coming around telling Cash he was late getting a wife and family, nor did he need a stunning DEA agent visiting town to wreck his stable life. He needed to reconnect with his priorities, his goals. He wanted a family. He wanted it here in Ordinary, where people appreciated and respected him. Where life was sane.
He whipped out his cell phone and called Timm Franck.
“Ordinary Citizen.” Timm published the town’s newspaper.
Without preamble, Cash said, “You know Angel’s been trying to hook me up with Danielle Beacon?”
“Good morning to you, too,” Timm answered with laughter in his voice. “Sure, I remember. You ready to take the plunge?”
“Yep. How soon?”
“You’re serious! Okay. How about tonight?”
“Can’t. It’s Austin’s movie night.”
“I forgot. Let’s double date tomorrow night then, at Chester’s.”
“Have Angel call Danielle then tell me what time to pick her up.”
Cash hung up and chuffed out a frosted breath in the cold truck. He closed the passenger window and pulled out onto the highway.
He needed to rub the image of the prettiest woman this side of the Rockies out of his mind, even if she did have slim, strong legs that went on forever. Another woman could help him do that.
So you say.
Yeah, so I say.
All the way into town he told himself that a little determination could go a long way.
CHAPTER THREE
WHEN CASH ARRIVED in Ordinary, he glimpsed Austin Trumball, his Little Brother, sidling into the laneway at the edge of town, his manner secretive.
Twelve-year-old Austin was a good kid, but lost these days. Cash was always on the lookout for him. He had a bad feeling about Austin, that without a little guidance, he could end up in trouble.
The only place that laneway led was the alley running the length of Main Street behind the businesses.
Why was Austin going back there? Over a year ago Cash had caught him dumpster-diving, starving and scrambling for food thrown away by the restaurant. Cash had applied to become his Big Brother the next day. He tried to feed him a couple of real meals a week.
If Austin was looking for food, Cash needed to know. He’d give him twenty bucks to go to the diner for a burger.
He parked the truck in front of the cop shop and walked back to the alley.
He found Austin behind Chester’s Bar and Grill. Smoking. Damn.
Why couldn’t Cash protect the boy from all of the bad temptations in life?
When he saw Cash, Austin dropped the butt and stomped on it.
“Don’t move.” Cash grabbed him by the collar and eased him against the brick wall. He bracketed the boy with an arm on either side. The pungent scent of marijuana hung in the air.
Crap. It hadn’t been just a plain cigarette.
Puffs of air crystallized into vapor as the boy panted. He looked at everything but the sheriff towering over him. Cash could see that sharp little brain working—calculating the odds of getting away.
Cash thought they’d developed a real strong bond in the past year, but apparently not. Austin had been on a great upswing after Cash had taken him under his wing. Something had changed though. For the past month something had been wrong. Cash shook his head, so damn discouraged that he hadn’t gotten through to the boy.
“Where’d you get it?” Cash asked, angry that he couldn’t protect Austin better.
Austin, caged between Cash’s arms, looked up at him with all the defiance such a skinny boy could muster. He shook his head, the mulish jut of his jaw evidence that he wasn’t about to give Cash an answer.
Cash worked hard to keep himself from shaking the answer out of the boy.
With the unpredictability and speed of youth, Austin slipped under Cash’s arm to run. Cash snagged the tail of his filthy jacket and pulled him back. He heard Austin’s breath whoosh out of him. He didn’t want to hurt the kid, but needed Austin to understand how serious this was. Austin was headed down a road that would one day lead to a jail cell.
Cash leaned close and lowered his voice. “I know all the moves a kid like you can make.” His fear for the boy made his tone hard, unsympathetic.
He saw Austin’s dilated pupils, the dark bags under his eyes, and the sunken cheeks of his thin face. For a while under Cash’s care, Austin had begun to look good, but man, this was regression.
Austin had classic golden boy good looks and the smile of an angel the rare time one could be coaxed out of him.
“Where’d you get the marijuana?” Cash asked again, his tone more demanding.
A flash of fear lurked beneath Austin’s defiance. “I—I found it.”
“C’mon, Austin, you’ve never lied to me before. The truth this time.”
“Screw you, man.” Austin looked like he wanted to either fight or cry. Why was adolescence so hard for some kids? “Why don’t you leave me alone?”
Because the haunted look in your eyes tells me you want to be rescued.
Cash placed his hand on Austin’s shoulder, but Austin shrugged it off. The boy squeezed his lips shut and shook his head. Cash knew he’d gotten as much out of him as he was going to. For stubbornness, Austin was hard to beat. Except maybe by Cash himself.
An image of Austin’s mother flashed into Cash’s mind—a sweet but helpless woman who reminded Cash of his own mom—and Cash didn’t need a psychiatrist to tell him why he’d chosen this boy to care for.
Cash hadn’t given up on himself. Even during the toughest days, after Dad had lost his job as Commissioner of the San Francisco police force, his house and his car to bankruptcy, and his wife and son to separation followed rapidly by divorce, sixteen-year-old Cash had pulled himself and his mom through.
Later, after he’d studied to become a police officer, he’d left California. He couldn’t work where his father had hammered his sterling career into lead.
Austin deserved a chance at a good life, too. Cash wouldn’t give up on him.
He grasped the front of Austin’s thin ski jacket and shook him gently.
“Austin, get your shit together or you’ll end up a drug addict. Or unable to take care of yourself. Like your mother.”
Austin trembled, probably as much from fear as the cold.
“Is that what you want?” Cash asked, knowing Austin was terrified of exactly that fate.
“You’ve gotta stop pushing your luck.” Cash let go of Austin’s jacket, more frustrated than he could say. Maybe he should give Austin a taste of what jail time felt like, give him a really good scare. Yeah, putting him in jail was a great idea.
Decision made, he ordered, “Follow me.”
Austin’s gaze shot to Cash’s face. What was going on with him these days? Who was Austin hanging out with who were getting him into this kind of trouble?
“Where to?” Austin asked.
“To the Sheriff’s office.”
“Wh-why?”
“I just caught you in possession of marijuana, didn’t I?”
Austin nodded.
“I’m a cop, aren’t I?”
“Yeah, but you’re my Big Brother.”
“That doesn’t give you a free pass to commit crime. Is that why you wanted me in that role?”
Austin mumbled, “No.”
Cash hadn’t really thought so. At the beginning, they’d had too much fun together. Not lately, though.
Austin should be in school, but at the moment it was more important to teach him this lesson than to drive him there.
Cash herded him out of the alley and onto the sidewalk of Main Street.
Austin tried to wrench his arm free of Cash’s grip.
