One Texas Cowboy Too Many (Burnt Boot, Texas #3)(16)

“I’m sure she will. Like I said, don’t leave town.” He turned and slammed the door behind him as he left.

“Wouldn’t dream of it,” Rhett mumbled.

“You’re wadin’ into some mighty deep water,” Sawyer said when the sheriff had left.

“I can swim,” Rhett said. “Is there any of that chocolate cake left, Jill? I’m hungry, and it’ll take the taste of the smoke out of my mouth.”

“Yes, half the cake is left, in the kitchen. Rhett, were you really talking to Leah that long?” Jill asked.

“Yes, I was, and, yes, we did wind up at the same spot and went fishing together, and, no, we were not making out but we did share one very brief and very sweet kiss. We didn’t mention it when we were talking though, and I’m afraid it was too soon and spooked her more than a little bit so I will go slower from now on,” Rhett answered on the way to the kitchen.

*

Mavis Brennan was sitting at the dining room table with Sheriff Orville Dawson when Leah made it downstairs to breakfast the next morning. She caught the faint whiff of smoke and frowned.

“Orville, what brings you out this early?” She headed toward the buffet where breakfast had been set up and kept warm.

“The Gallaghers’ school burned last night. Didn’t you hear the sirens?” he asked.

“No, I was on the phone with a friend until late, and then I took a long shower and had music playing. I guess it muffled the sounds,” she said.

“Who was the friend?” Orville asked.

Leah smeared cream cheese over a bagel and laid it on a plate along with a piece of sausage and two strips of bacon. “Why?” she asked.

Orville picked up his coffee and sipped it. “Rumor has it that you were down at the river all afternoon yesterday with Rhett O’Donnell. I reckon the Gallaghers think you done went into cahoots with that wild cowboy and y’all conspired together to burn down their school.”

Leah didn’t flinch. “Yes, we did wind up at the same fishing hole and we did talk last night, but we did not burn down anything.”

Her grandmother’s eyes flashed with anger, and Leah expected a tongue-lashing right there before she could even eat her breakfast. But Mavis turned her gaze to Orville.

“Anything else, Sheriff?” Mavis asked.

“Yes, ma’am. I want to know what you were doing between eight and midnight last night.”

“Me or Leah?”

“Both,” he answered.

“I was right here in this house. My door was open and Russell was in the office until midnight. I was in and out of that room until maybe eleven, when I went to bed. That enough of an alibi for you?”

Orville leaned across the table as far as his gut would allow. “I know the Brennans did this. Maybe it wasn’t Rhett O’Donnell and Leah. Maybe you didn’t do it yourself, Mavis, but you sanctioned it, and some of your other relatives did the dirty deed.”

“Prove it,” Mavis said.

“What will the Gallaghers do about their kids and school?” Leah asked.

“They’re going to send them to public school this year and decide later what to do about putting up a new building,” he answered. “If I ever find enough proof, Mavis Brennan, to justify a warrant or an arrest, your family is going to spend some time behind bars.”

Mavis pointed a long finger at Orville. “Find the proof before you come back here accusing my family of anything.”

The minute he was outside the house, she turned to Leah. “I meant what I said yesterday. This is your last warning, Leah.”

“I’m almost thirty, Granny. I reckon I can make my own decisions about who I talk to and who I go fishin’ with,” Leah said.

“And I will judge who lives in this house and on River Bend,” Mavis shot right back at her.

“Guess we’ll have to abide by each other’s right to do that, won’t we?” Leah said.

“What happened to you this week, Leah? You’ve always been the good granddaughter, the one with her head set solidly on her shoulders. Don’t let some wild cowboy ride into Burnt Boot on a damn motorcycle and turn your thinking into mush,” Mavis said.

“Maybe the good granddaughter is tired of being good,” Leah whispered.

“Well, she’d best learn that her granny has spoken, and when I speak, it’s the law on River Bend. You cut that cowboy loose, or you’re going to be finding another place to live and another job too.”

“You’d fire me from the school as well as kick me out?” Leah asked.

“Now you’re finally beginning to understand,” Mavis told her.

“I can’t believe you’re threatening me, Granny. Rhett is a good man and he’s a rancher. Kinsey is dating a lawyer and Honey has dated all kinds of men. You haven’t acted like this with them,” Leah argued.

“I’m still mad that Sawyer O’Donnell swept in and took Jill away from us. We could have had Fiddle Creek if he’d kept his sorry ass in Comfort, Texas. Or better yet, if his cousin, Finn, hadn’t come to Burnt Boot. That’s what started all this, anyway. Now there’s a third one of them O’Donnells in town and I’m not havin’ one of them in the Brennan family. And that’s not a threat, Leah. It’s a promise. You either back away, or I’ll make good my word.”