Holidays on the Ranch (Burnt Boot, Texas #1)(29)

His lips found hers at the same time she uttered the last word. The feud, the shooting, and all thought of the two feuding women left her mind immediately. She pressed her body tightly to his, wanting to keep the heat going, to take it further, but it ended and gave her something more to be angry about.

“I’ll see you at dinnertime,” he said.

All she could do was shake her head and then he was gone.

Leaving the gun on the table, she plopped down on the sofa, and Angel hopped up into her lap. Pistol was too chubby to get from floor to sofa so she had to help him, and soon he and Angel were both sound asleep. She rubbed Pistol’s ears and then Angel’s, giving them equal time.

Her phone rang and she pushed the two animals to the side, hurrying to the kitchen table, where she’d set her purse. Thousands of images ran through her head. Martin had a broken nose and two black eyes from fighting with some kid like Keith. Or Finn had fallen and broken a leg out there on the slippery grass.

She grabbed it and answered without even looking at the caller ID, only to hear it still ringing. “Well, shit!” she said.

The house phone and her cell phone had the same tone. She trotted across the kitchen and picked up the receiver from the old land line hanging on the wall in the utility room.

“Hello,” she said.

“I just heard that you tried to kill Honey and Betsy.” Gladys laughed.

“Like I told Honey, if I’d have wanted her dead, she would be stretched out on the undertaker’s table. They were going at it in the front yard, and I gave them a little frozen tree bark bath is all,” Callie said.

“Well, you might be interested to know that the sheriff is on the way to talk to you. Honey called him,” Gladys said. “Looks like it’s going to be a good day in the store. Nothing like the feud firin’ up to bring in customers. Talk to you later.”

The phone went dead and the doorbell rang at the same time.

She sighed as she padded to answer it. Sure enough there stood an officer with a box of doughnuts in his hand.

“Yes, sir?” she said.

“Mind if I come inside?” he asked. “It’s pretty cold out here.”

His voice was high-pitched, but it matched him to a tee. His round baby face was red from the cold and probably a dose of high blood pressure. There was definitely a spare tire around his middle, probably from too many sweets, too little exercise, and way too much sitting behind a desk.

She stood back and opened the door wide for him. He quickly removed his hat, revealing a narrow rim of light brown hair circling a bald head above it. His green eyes darted around the room when Joe yelled, “Cat. Cat. Run.”

“It’s the parrot,” she said.

He unzipped his jacket and said, “Birds and me don’t get along too good, and I’m allergic to cats.”

“There’s one of them around here, too, but she’s skittish around strangers,” she said. “Would you like a cup of coffee? There’s some made.”

“I’d love one. I got two doughnuts left in this box. We can share.”

“No, thanks, but you’re welcome to have one.”

“Gun?” he said.

“It’s registered and I have a permit to carry,” she said quickly.

“Then I guess you really did shoot at them women?”

“No, I shot at a tree to scare them. They were rolling around in my front yard acting like a couple of idiots. I didn’t feel like going out there in my bare feet and pulling them apart.”

He grinned. “Last time I got in the middle of the feud, I got a bullet in my leg. So nowadays when I get a call to come up here, I take my time and have a few doughnuts before I leave Gainesville. If they kill each other, well, they shouldn’t be feudin’. Let’s have a cup of coffee and visit a spell and then I’ll be on my way.”

“And your report?”

“What report?” He grinned.





Chapter 8


“Hey, Callie.” Finn pushed his way inside the house. “Is that kidney bean soup I smell? It’s my favorite.”

She turned around at the sink and nodded. “It’s ready to dip up a bowl, and we’ve got hot biscuits to go with it.”

“Now that’s a treat. Give me two minutes to wash up. It’s blowing like crazy out there and supposed to get worse. Could I get you to help me feed this afternoon? I promise we’ll be finished by the time Martin gets home. Where did that box of doughnuts come from?”

“It’s an empty box, so don’t get your hopes up,” she said.

“But where did it come from?”

“Remember the fight this morning?”

Joe chose that moment to imitate the noises he’d heard when Callie fired at the tree. “Cops! Cops! Hide!” he yelled in a deep voice.

He hung his coat on the back of a chair. “How could I forget it? Are you telling me that Honey or Betsy brought a peace offering?”

“No. Honey called the sheriff after the shooting. My gun was on the table, but we just moved it aside so he could eat his last two doughnuts. I think he was flirting with me.” She laughed.

“He’d have to be stone-cold blind or crazy as bat shit not to flirt with you,” Finn said. “Now about helping me feed?”