Mountain Country Cowboy. Glynna Kaye

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       Chapter Two

      Lorilee hadn’t wasted any time.

      Muscles tensed, Cash stood between Joey and the two men facing him across the parking lot, his instincts at peak alert. Like the last time, would he be arrested? What would happen to Joey? Would they haul his boy off to social services or deliver him to his irresponsible mama’s doorstep—wherever that might be?

      Please God, this can’t be happening. Not again.

      And not here, not smack in the same place where his father’s sorry behavior had gotten the whole family kicked off the Hunter property. Cash had taken a big risk accepting a position where people would remember his dad and judge him by that long-cast shadow. But this was by far the best job offer he’d gotten. Did the deputy, not much older than Cash, come from around here and recall the legacy of Hodgson Herrera?

      Heat coursing up the back of his neck, aware that Rio and his son were watching curiously, he forced himself to take a calming breath as he strode across the parking lot to where the men stood.

      As he cautiously neared, a grin suddenly appeared on the red-haired deputy sheriff’s face. The man thrust out his right hand.

      “I’m Braxton Turner, friend of your buddy Will Lamar.”

      Cash’s gaze flicked from one man to the other. Both the deputy and Luke Hunter were smiling, with no undercurrent of anything that might threaten him or his boy. He shook the man’s hand with a firm grip that didn’t acknowledge a need to show deference to the badge.

      “I was chattin’ with Will last night,” the deputy continued, “and he mentioned you’d be in my neck of the woods. That I should come on over and introduce myself.”

      This was a social call?

      Or was Deputy Lamar—his friend and ally since that last arrest—having second thoughts concerning him moving so far from his oversight? Was he passing the baton, so to speak, to another officer of the law?

      “Will roped you into checking up on me?”

      The deputy laughed. “Actually, I was bemoaning to him the bad habits of a mare I recently picked up at a bargain price. Wild Card’s living up to her name, a real handful. Rio won’t touch her with a ten-foot pole, but Will said you’d be the man to see.”

      Was that the truth? That’s all this was?

      The tension in his shoulders eased slightly. He scuffed a toe in the dusty gravel, anchoring his mind to the present, reining it in from alarmist excursions. The man wasn’t here to arrest him for child abduction. To take Joey away.

      Cash offered what he hoped was a relaxed smile. “Bargain price, was she?”

      The other man chuckled. “For good reason, I soon found out. Think you could give my new nag deportment lessons?”

      Cash rubbed the back of his neck, kneading still-tight muscles. Always enjoying an equine challenge, he’d love to get his hands on the ornery horse. Success there might further enhance his growing reputation as a horse trainer, as well. But first things first. He got the distinct impression his primary mission would be proving himself to Rio Hunter. “I arrived this morning, so my time’s not yet my own. You probably should talk to Rio about my availability if the horse needs attention right away.”

      The deputy glanced in her direction and, if Cash wasn’t mistaken, there was a glimmer of interest in the lawman’s eyes he didn’t much care for. Not that it was his business, but an unexpected protectiveness welled up for the sassy little girl he’d once known. He didn’t know her now, though. And, like Lorilee, it appeared she might have a string of love-struck males queued up awaiting her beck and call.

      The man’s smile widened. “I just may have a word with her, then.”

      Cash, too, glanced back to where Rio now crouched next to his son. Having gotten the German shepherd settled down between them, she was talking quietly to the boy as they patted the animal, effectively distracting Joey from what was going on with the deputy and his dad. His heart swelled with gratitude.

      But what was she finding to talk to the boy about? With prompting, kids could be blabbermouths. He didn’t need the whole world knowing that up until now he hadn’t played as much of a role in his son’s life as he’d have liked. Even now he was clueless as to where to start.

      “So what do you think of mountain country, Cash?” Drawing his attention СКАЧАТЬ