The Sheriff's Son Read online

“Might. Depends on how your mom says you behaved between now and then. C’mon, I’ll drop you both off at home.”

  “We can go with Logan,” she said quickly.

  He tilted his head and looked at her through narrowed eyes. “You might want to ride with me.”

  “Thank you, but no.” She stood and pushed her chair firmly under the table.

  “All right.” He rose to stand beside her, a smile—or, more correctly, a smirk—on his face. “I’ll walk you out, then. Got a few things you left in the cruiser last night.”

  “A few…?” Oh. Lord. No. With every word, her spirits plummeted.

  Her dress. Her bra. Her panties.

  She’d escaped from his car in such a hurry the evening before, and later thrown his sweatsuit into the hamper in such a huff, she hadn’t given a thought to the wet clothes she’d left on the floorboard in back.

  Tanner couldn’t humiliate her by handing her clothing to her in front of everyone. He wouldn’t.

  But that smirk told her he could. And he would.

  Sweat broke out on her brow. Her stomach heaved, unsettling the barbecue she’d just eaten.

  “We’ll all walk you out,” Doc said, unknowingly adding to her misery.

  “Surely,” said Mrs. Gannett, piling on the panic. “We’re ready.”

  Ready to watch Tanner embarrass her beyond belief.

  They all moved toward the front of the diner.

  “Oh, Tanner,” she said in a tone as calm and sweet as she could muster.

  He looked over his shoulder. Still smirking.

  She gritted her teeth in a forced smile. “On second thought, why don’t Kevin and I ride home with you, after all?”

  SARAH BREATHED A sigh of relief when Tanner pulled to a stop in front of the bookstore. She’d given Logan a key, and he had already parked his car and gone into the house.

  As Tanner turned off the engine, she opened the passenger door and slid out. Kevin followed her.

  “You go ahead, Kev. I’ll come up in just a minute.”

  He looked from her to Tanner and back again, obviously wanting to rebel. Then he hesitated, maybe recalling her lecture—and Tanner’s sharp words—about his backtalk. “Okay, Mom. Night, Deputy.”

  “So long, Kevin.”

  The minute the door closed behind her son, Sarah whirled to face Tanner. “All right, where are they?”

  “They, who?”

  “Not funny.” She had looked over the back of the seat before getting into the sedan, and knew he had moved her belongings. “Hand them over.”

  “Yes, ma’am,” he said and saluted before marching away.

  He’d teased her the same way last night when she’d sat—half-naked and shivering for a multitude of reasons—in the backseat of this very car.

  Heaven help her, she started to shiver again.

  Wrapping her arms around her, she followed on his heels. She didn’t trust him not to pull her loose clothing out of the trunk, flaunting it in front of anyone who might drive by. Or anyone who might look down from an upstairs window. Cringing, she shot a glance over her shoulder to the house.

  He popped the lid on the trunk and pulled out a neatly folded pile of fabric. Her dress.

  “You could at least have put everything in a sack.” Frowning, she grabbed the pile and pawed through the folds.

  “Hey,” he protested. “It’s all there.”

  “Humph.” After finding the bra and panties, she stomped away, clutching the bundle of clothing to her.

  He slammed the trunk lid. “What did you think,” he called after her, “I kept them for souvenirs? Wanted to hang ’em from the rearview in my pickup?”

  “Hush.” She quickened her pace, only to hear his rapid footsteps behind her and then feel his hand on her elbow.

  “Hold on. Can’t walk you to your doorway when you’re marching double-time.”

  She pulled her arm free. “That’s not necessary.”

  He followed her down the steps. “I’m not talking necessary. I’m talking nice.” Before she could reach for the doorknob, he turned her to face him. “C’mon, Sarah. You could try being nice, too.”

  Narrowing her eyes, she glared up at him. “If that’s a backhanded way of asking for a repeat of last night, forget it. That’s not going to happen again.”

  “Why not?” He smiled down at her, and her unwary heart throbbed painfully. “We’re two consenting adults.”

  “I haven’t given my consent.” Not yet, a voice inside her whispered. Not ever, she yelled back. “And I have no interest at all in kissing you.”

  “You sure about that?” He wrapped his fingers around her upper arms, tilted his head down close, and pressed his mouth against hers.

  The bright porch fixture above them dazzled her. Yes, she blamed it all on that light for making her dizzy. Weak. For causing her to close her eyes and part her lips and slip her tongue into Tanner’s warm, moist mouth and—

  He pulled away.

  Her eyelids shot open.

  He shook his head. “Hmm. I don’t know, Sarah. You seem a lot more interested than you thought.”

  “I’m a good actress.” Turning, she fumbled for the doorknob, shoved the door open and jumped at the loud clanging of the bell overhead.

  Behind her, Tanner chuckled.

  She stepped inside and slammed the door closed, then slumped back against it, her heart racing. She had to calm down before she could go upstairs and deal with Kevin. Or face Logan.

  Oh, that Tanner made her so furious.

  Made her do things she didn’t want to do…

  Well, no, she couldn’t lie about it. She wasn’t any kind of actress at all. Lord help her, she did want to do those things.

  Clutching the pile of clothes to her, she stared unseeingly into the store.

  She would have to be strong whenever he was around, as she knew she could be. Stand on her own, as she had done since she’d come back to Dillon. Turn down his offers of help and resist the attraction she felt for him. It wouldn’t be easy, when his nearness set off sparks inside her, his touch started fireworks. When she longed for more.

  From the man who’d once thrown her aside. Who’d left her hurt and vulnerable.

  And pregnant.

  After she’d made that discovery, she’d said nothing to her relatives until she noticed the changes in her body, and worried they would see them, too. When she did share the news with her cousin’s family, their reactions stunned her.

  No concern for Sarah. Not a single kind thought of the baby. Just the immediate assumption that she would give up her child. And the never-ending drumming into her head that this would be the best solution.

  As alone and helpless as she felt, she’d come so close to giving in.

  But, one night, just weeks before the birth, she packed her bag and stowed it safely in her bedroom closet, ready for her escape before dawn the next morning, when she headed back to spend her life in the town she had always loved.

  Without Daddy. Without Tanner. But with friends who cared about her, a bookstore to run and a baby to love.

  She let folks assume that, in her months away, she had made a bad marriage and a quick divorce.

  She swore she would never be vulnerable to anyone again, never get into a situation where others could control her.

  And she struggled to forget all her dreams of a man she would never have.

  Chapter Twelve

  Twenty-four hours later, almost to the minute, Tanner strolled along Main Street, heading in the direction of Sarah’s house.

  For as long as needed, he would skulk in the shadows outside the bookstore. He’d left the cruiser in Delia’s lot to keep Sarah from spotting it and maybe deciding not to leave for her scheduled tour on the citizen’s watch.

  Too damned independent for her own good.

  Up ahead, the bookstore’s front door opened.

  By the time Sarah climbed the steps, he’d come within a few feet of her. “Evening, Sarah.”

&n
bsp; At the sound of his greeting, she jumped. Turned. And looked less than pleased to see him.

  He swallowed a smile. Didn’t matter what she looked like, what she said, how she acted. The way she’d started kissing him last night proved otherwise.

  “Kevin’s not here,” she said flatly.

  “That’s good.” He stopped beside her. “I’m not planning on hanging around the place, myself.”

  “Oh.” Now, she looked relieved. That expression, he believed in.

  “Good night, then.” She marched past him.

  He fell into step beside her.

  She sighed but kept walking. “Tanner, please. I’ve had a long day and could use some time alone.”

  “It’s dark out here, Sarah.”

  “I noticed.”

  “You have no car.”

  “I figured that out, too.”

  “No way you ought to go wandering around town at night.”

  “It’s fine.”

  “Uh-uh. Listen, I’m starting to think some of the older kids are roping in younger ones just to give their mischief a wider range. To up the excitement level. They’re all bored here, with no way out—that, I’m sure of.” He stared off for a minute, his jaw tight. “Still, with taking down Charlie’s fence, they graduated to some serious vandalism. And it might be closer to you than you think. Somebody’s helping Kevin, maybe aiming at you through him.”

  “That’s ridiculous, Tanner. You’ve been out in the big, bad world too long.” She shook her head. “All right, I’ll admit the problem’s gotten worse. But I’m daring to hope someone’s involving Kevin. That’s better than thinking he’d come up with that prank with the glue on his own. But no one has anything against me. And we don’t have vendettas in Dillon.”

  He honestly didn’t believe in the idea himself. But it wouldn’t hurt to play devil’s deputy. “How about your front window?”

  “Not that again. I thought we decided it had to be kids playing around.”

  “You decided, as I remember. And your car?”

  She stared at him. “It stalled from the rain.”

  “Nope. The mechanic called me this morning. Not stalled, sweetened. Somebody dumped sugar in your gas tank.”

  “Oh, no!”

  Before she turned her head away, he saw the tears in her eyes. She hurried her steps.

  “Just another prank,” she muttered. “The station wagon’s old, it doesn’t have an inside flap release or a locking gas cap. It was just a convenient car to vandalize, not a direct threat against me.”

  “Could be.” He’d allow that.

  She wouldn’t listen to a different idea from him, anyhow. She didn’t want anything from him, not his advice or his concern or even his kisses.

  At least, she tried to make believe she didn’t, just the way he’d pretended he hadn’t seen her tears.

  That didn’t matter, either, because he knew now he’d have to take care of her, in a way he never did before. To pay her back for the wrong he did years ago, leaving her to fend for herself.

  His cellphone vibrated against his belt. He stayed in step with her as he took the call.

  “Trouble?” Sarah asked.

  “Yep. Complaint about some prowlers. I might finally catch a few culprits in the act.”

  “We might. It’s my night for citizen’s watch.”

  As if he hadn’t known that.

  “I’m going with you,” she said.

  “If you insist. So long as you remember I’m the professional lawman here and follow my orders. My car’s down at Delia’s.” He grabbed her hand and flashed a smile. “C’mon, Sarah Lindstrom. I’m taking you to Paradise.”

  IF SHE’D KNOWN ahead of time where they needed to go, Sarah might not have insisted on joining Tanner.

  As he drove the short way to Paradise, the old dance hall at the edge of town, she tried to keep her mind on the purpose behind their visit, and not the history attached to the place.

  “Was it Jeb Carter who called about the prowlers?” she asked. “He’s not the most reliable witness.”

  “Drinking his own moonshine, huh?”

  “No, he closed down his still a while back. Or maybe Deputy Worth closed it for him.”

  His laugh sounded derisive. “Deputy Worthless, you mean?”

  She frowned. “He’s a good man.”

  “And a careful one, from what I hear. All the years he’s been with the County and he’s still a deputy here in Dillon.”

  “Not enough ambition for you?”

  “Let’s just say I won’t be a deputy forever. I’ve got bigger dreams.”

  “Haven’t you always?”

  He glared at her, then looked back to the road. “Anyway, according to Dispatch, old Jeb put the call in. From the safety of the local saloon, where he said he planned to settle for the night.”

  “Good.” She shivered. “We wouldn’t want him shooting first and asking questions after he’s plugged us full of buckshot.”

  A few minutes later, as they neared Jeb’s property, Tanner slowed. “No sense advertising our arrival.” He braked to a stop and turned off the headlights, plunging the road into darkness. He slipped a large, heavy flashlight out from under his seat and rested it across his knees. “No sense rushing in to things, either. Let’s give our eyes some time to adjust. Then we’ll go forward on foot.”

  “Okay.” She shifted, slipped out of her seat belt and waited, trying not to think of Tanner so near to her in the darkened car. Trying not to think of what lay ahead of her in the unlit building. Vandals, maybe. Kids, more than likely.

  And her past.

  “Hard to believe how long ago prom was,” Tanner murmured.

  She started, both at the unexpected sound of his voice and the uncanny echo of her thoughts.

  He chuckled. “We danced the night away, for sure.”

  They didn’t dance the whole night. Sarah remembered leaving the hall, moving outside to kiss beneath the twinkling stars.

  “You wore a green dress.”

  A pale-green satin gown with lace insets.

  “Made me wear a green flower, too.”

  A matching pale-green boutonniere and cummerbund.

  “You wore your hair loose.” A smile sounded in his voice. “One of the few times I’d seen you with your hair down since we were kids.”

  Another time was a week after graduation.

  You laughed, complaining my long hair tickled. I stretched out across you, both of us naked as the day we were born, on that blanket spread across bales of hay in your daddy’s barn.

  She’d known she had made a mistake in coming to this building tonight.

  Just like the dry, sweet-smelling hay tumbled around them then, the memories she had dreaded tumbled over her now, one after another. Heartbreaking recollections of all the long years they’d had together. Mocking glimpses of the shared lifetime they wouldn’t have.

  Because you left me, Tanner. We whispered sweet words to each other that night. We made promises for forever.

  We made a baby you never knew about.

  And how could she tell him now, when he’d made it all too clear he didn’t want to stay in Dillon? When he wanted to go someplace where he could realize his bigger dreams?

  She cleared her throat. “We’d better get going.”

  “Right.”

  They slipped from the car, closed the doors almost silently behind them.

  In one hand, he held the flashlight; with the other, he reached for her. She let him wrap his fingers around hers. He had focused all his concentration on the job now. Had turned serious. Intense. One word of protest from her, and he’d leave her behind.

  Again.

  She moved quietly beside him.

  Beneath her feet, the ground lay in an uneven jumble of weeds and chuckholes and large ankle-turning rocks. But her eyes had adjusted well enough to the moonlight, and Tanner’s must have as well, because he led her safely around the hazards.

  Up ahead, she could see
the dance hall. Moonlight streamed down on the once-elegant building, with its broad portico and tall, widely spaced columns. Patches of light reflected from the web-covered fanlight over the door.

  A noise broke the quiet, a screeching sound, as if a water-swollen window had been forced open.

  The noise had come from the rear of the building.

  Tanner tugged lightly, and she squeezed his fingers in acknowledgement. Then he let go, slipped his gun from its holster, and moved in front of her to lead the way.

  Her heart rose to her throat as she followed him.

  All of a sudden, their actions had become not only a literal trip down memory lane, but an entry into a possibly dangerous confrontation. She couldn’t help herself; she rested her palms lightly against his back, needing that brief touch as reassurance—both for herself and for him—before she dropped her hands to her sides again.

  They edged noiselessly around the front of the dance hall.

  As they neared the far corner of the building, she heard voices. Not-so-deep male voices, then a high-pitched giggle, a whispered, “Sh!”

  “Who’s gonna hear us, you idiot?”

  “County Sheriff. Hands up.” Tanner stepped around the building. Light flashed.

  She edged halfway around the corner.

  The strong beam of his flash had caught the speaker, a teenaged boy, with his mouth open. Two other teens hovered behind him. All three raised their hands above their heads.

  One of the boys made a sudden step sideways.

  “Freeze.” Tanner shot the beam directly into his face.

  She stepped out to stand beside Tanner. Stunned, she blurted the boy’s name without thinking. “Johnny?”

  “You know these desperadoes?”

  She nodded. “You do, too. Or you did, once.” Before you left us all behind. One by one, she pointed to them. “Johnny Kemper, Charlie’s boy. Lyle Short, from the ranch north of Charlie’s. Joe Ray Richards lives opposite Delia’s.”

  “Takes care of the introductions,” Tanner said.

  Nothing in his voice indicated he remembered any of the boys. He lowered his gun slightly, but she noticed he kept it aimed in their direction.

  He swung the flashlight toward Johnny again. “Charlie’s boy, huh? You and your sidekicks here happen to know anything about those rails sawed loose in his pasture?”