The Cowboy Sheriff. Trish Milburn

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      Chapter Two

      Simon watched Keri as she and Ben’s parents handled the heartbreaking details of being next of kin. Her actions and responses were mechanical, like an autopilot program without a shred of emotion. He’d known her nearly their entire lives and felt he’d never known her less.

       Keri Mehler had always been one part girl, one part ball of fire. Didn’t matter if she was making moves on the basketball court in high school, yanking her younger brother into line or telling Simon to take a soaring nosedive off the nearest bridge, she always did everything full out. But now? Now the fire was nowhere to be found, replaced by a detachment as cold as the ice that coated the world outside.

       Would he be any different if he ever lost Nathan or Ryan?

       But Keri’s new reality was even worse. She’d lost almost her entire family. All she had left was a brother who was God only knew where and a baby who’d lived a miracle and a tragedy in the same moment. A baby who would grow up looking to Keri to be her mother.

       The door on the opposite side of the room opened and a woman who was probably with Child Protective Services walked in holding a sleeping Hannah. Keri stared without moving for so long that tension and awkwardness began to rob the room of air. The woman with Hannah in her arms shifted her gaze to him.

       “She’s been fed and changed,” she said. “And we have some supplies for you—diapers, wipes, food. Car seat, too.”

       He nodded then glanced at Keri again. He didn’t think he’d ever seen anything sadder, emptier. It was as though everything that made her who she was had simply disappeared as if it’d never existed.

       Not wanting the woman or anyone with Dallas P.D. to think Keri wasn’t fit to care for Hannah, he started toward the little girl. Keri moved in the same instant, crossing the room to take the only part of Sammi that remained. Though she ran her fingertips across Hannah’s cheek, Keri’s expression didn’t change.

       The other woman placed a hand on Keri’s shoulder. “I’m very sorry for your loss.”

       “Thank you,” Keri said, her voice as hollow as an empty bucket. She pulled Hannah closer and walked out of the room.

       The lady from CPS gave Simon a worried look. “Is she going to be okay?”

       He nodded. “Eventually. Just a shock.”

       “I can imagine. Does she have help?”

       He hesitated a moment. “A brother, friends.” Of course the brother was so off the radar that he didn’t even know his oldest sister was dead yet. But Simon was banking on Keri snapping out of her dazed state and giving her niece all the love and care she could muster. She’d never do anything less. Sammi wouldn’t have named Keri guardian if she hadn’t believed her sister could handle the responsibility.

       By the time he reached the corridor, Keri was already at the door to the parking lot. He grabbed the car seat sitting on the floor and followed her.

       Without speaking, they worked together to get first the car seat and then Hannah settled into the back of the Tahoe before she froze. As they snapped the seat belt into place, Hannah’s eyes opened. She blinked her bright blue eyes a few times before letting out a wail that would wake the comatose.

       Keri jerked back and stared at her niece. Simon was worried he’d been wrong about her being able to care for Hannah, but then something seemed to register in her mind. She dug in the diaper bag until she found a pacifier, a very girly pink one with a flower design on the end.

       “Look what I found,” she said to Hannah as she waved the pacifier in front of the little girl’s grasping hands. She allowed Hannah to snatch the pacifier and shove it into her mouth.

       Keri smoothed Hannah’s wispy blond hair with a gentleness he didn’t know she possessed. His breath caught midway through an exhalation. Why had that simple gesture moved something inside him, something way too darn close to his heart?

       He shook his head and made his way to the driver’s seat. “We better get to the hotel before the streets get slick again.” No way was he driving on frozen roads with a baby in the car, one who’d already cheated death once.

       They all were due some sleep. He’d slept like crap the night before, and he doubted that sorrow and anger had let Keri sleep, either.

       And it was the God’s honest truth that he needed to get away from her for a few minutes to let the wildly inappropriate and unexpected sliver of attraction he’d felt toward her fade away. To let his common sense make a reappearance and remind him that what he was feeling was no more than sorrow for her loss, for all her losses.

       Even the one for which she still blamed him.

      * * *

      KERI WANTED TO RUN AWAY. Maybe if she moved fast enough, she could outrun the past. And if she headed in the right direction, maybe she could bring Sammi back. Her mom. Her dad. Life before Carter went down the wrong path.

       Her jaw clenched at that thought, especially considering who was sitting next to her. She stared out the side window at the frozen landscape instead of at Simon Teague. If she looked at him now, it would only add to the pain ripping her to shreds inside. She felt like wailing but that would wake up Hannah, who’d fallen back to sleep as Simon eased the car along the dark and largely deserted streets. Ice hung heavy from trees and the edges of the buildings they passed, and she had no doubt that black ice lurked on the dark surfaces of the streets where what had melted during the day had refrozen.

       People with any sense weren’t out in these kinds of conditions. But then most people didn’t have to pick up their orphaned niece and make arrangements for their sister’s funeral.

       She swallowed the jagged, lemon-size lump in her throat, pushed away the need to fall completely apart. She didn’t have that luxury. Hannah needed her. Plus, Simon was the last person she wanted seeing her turn into a blubbering mess.

       The only reason she was allowing him to chauffeur her around was the complete and utter lack of options. Though it had galled her to accept his help, she’d convinced herself he was just doing his job, ensuring the safety of the citizens of Blue Falls. And despite the haze of pain, she had enough sense to know she shouldn’t be driving on icy roads in her current state.

       The Spencers had offered to let her stay with them, probably more because they didn’t want to be parted from Hannah than anything, but Keri couldn’t face being trapped inside four walls with that kind of deep sorrow. She had enough of her own to carry without exposing herself to even more. She couldn’t crack, and witnessing that kind of raw loss might just do the cracking.

       Some people looked to fate as a shining beacon of hope. She knew better. Fate was a cruel, heartless bitch who did nothing but take.

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