The Ranger's Texas Proposal

“Absolutely. They wouldn’t do something to put the calves in harm’s way. Even if one of them were upset.”

“Did the person recognize you?”

“No. Maybe? How would I know? I didn’t recognize them. But I talked... I said my name.” She licked her lips, remembering that detail. She’d called out to the person... It’s Josie. If one of the boys had been in distress, she’d wanted to be able to help them.

Heath leaned forward.

Josie pressed on. “The person took off toward the open pasture and I couldn’t chase them.” She gestured toward her abdomen. Pregnant women didn’t run. Hopefully, Heath picked up on that without her stating it. “And as they took off, all the calves spilled out of the barn and started running around the ranch—into the darkness. I couldn’t catch them all, so I called for help and all the boys and the house parents came out and helped corral the calves. We caught them all and were finally able to locate all the boys, too.”

“Locate the boys?” His head tilted, just by a fraction. “So someone was missing?”

“Stephen.” Should she have told Heath? She didn’t want him to grill the teen. Stephen had been aloof recently, but he was still on track to go home next month. “He’s seventeen. But he’s a good kid. He didn’t do it.”

“How can you be certain?”

“He had a book with him. He’d been out reading.”

Heath frowned. “Outside? In the dark?”

“It wasn’t him.”

Heath’s brow dived. He used his pointer finger to rub under his chin. “How long were you outside before this all happened? Roughly.”

“Fifteen...maybe twenty minutes maximum.”

“Alone?” His eyebrows inched closer together with each question. “What were you doing out there for so long?”

She’d been focusing on how lonely she was. She’d been crying, not looking forward to the quiet back at her cabin. She’d foolishly asked God for a second chance at life and love.

Josie hid her shaking hands under the table. “Does that matter to the case?”

“It might.”

Calm down. “I was thinking. Thinking and watching the sunset. That’s all.”

He touched the tips of his fingers together. “I ask because I have to determine the suspect’s most probable time of entry into the barn. You didn’t hear someone accessing the barn before then?”

“Not at all. I’m the one who locked it. All the doors were locked. And that was at least an hour before then.”

Heath rocked forward. “More than likely the perpetrator was camped inside already when you locked the doors.”

“He was in there with me?” That idea made her skin crawl. She’d locked up alone and it wasn’t like she walked around the boys ranch armed.

“That’s my guess. It could change depending on other information.” He leaned back in his chair again and tapped one finger on the table a few times. “Then again, it’s most likely one of the boys, so there was probably no danger.”

“It wasn’t one of the boys. They were all accounted for.” Besides Stephen, but it wasn’t him.

Heath pressed back from the table and crossed his arms. Leveled her a doubtful look. “Those boys are at that ranch because they’re trouble. They wouldn’t be there if they weren’t. I wouldn’t put it past any of them to cause problems. They’ve done worse.”

Josie pressed back from the table. How could Heath say those things? Peg the boys as bad eggs before he’d even met them? Was he one of those cops who had seen so many horrible things that he automatically assumed the worst about everyone? She had watched Dale grow bitter about the world, more so each year on the job.

She shouldn’t press Heath. Then again, Josie had promised herself after Dale passed away that she wouldn’t allow anyone to push her around ever again. Not that Heath was being pushy. But from now on, she was going to be strong. Ask questions. The old Josie always swallowed her thoughts and opinions... No longer.

A breath. “I’m sorry, but your tone. You...you don’t like them—the boys—do you?”

“I don’t know them. I’ve only been to the ranch a few times and last time was years ago at the old location.”

“Yet you’re judging the boys anyway.” She shouldn’t be talking to him like this. Heath was almost a stranger, and here she was challenging him. But it grated on her to hear someone misjudge them, and so quickly. The Lone Star Cowboy League had worked hard to try to weed out the rumors in town that the boys at the ranch were trouble, yet still some of that belief lingered.

Heath scooped his hat off the back of the chair and worked it around in his hand. “See, that’s where people get it wrong, though. Using good judgment isn’t the same thing as being judgmental.”

A fire lit in Josie. She wanted Heath to see the boys differently. But how to do that? “How long are you around, doing this favor for Flint?”

“For November.”

She had a month to change his opinion, and she knew just how to do it. “You should volunteer at the ranch. Get to know the boys.” It would be good for him. Besides, the boys would be floored if a big, important Texas Ranger started hanging around them.

Heath’s eyebrows formed a V. “Why?”

Think like a lawman... What will convince him?

She took a deep breath. “For starters, your presence will prevent anything else from happening. Also, if you really think it’s one of them, that’ll put you in close proximity. You’ll be able to get to know them and talk to them. Someone might even confess. Or you may see that they’re wonderful and realize you were wrong to judge them.”

Heath rubbed his thumb over his nose. “You know what, that’s not a half-bad idea. It would help my...investigation. You’re right about that. I’ll talk to Flint about it tomorrow.”

Josie’s heart tripped over itself at the thought of spending more time with Heath. Of course she wanted him to change his opinion about the boys, and time at the ranch was the best way for that to happen. But what if it changed her opinion about men in law enforcement?

Her eyes skirted over the lines of his strong jaw, his shoulders. He’d given up so much time to help her this morning and he hadn’t talked down to her at all. Maybe he wasn’t like Dale. Maybe...

The baby inside of her moved, rolled. Josie loved that feeling. She hugged her stomach. Above everything, she had to protect her child from hurt. That was her duty as a mother.

No lawmen.

If God did choose to give her a second chance at love, He’d have to bring a nice insurance agent or IT man her way. Someone who worked a boring, safe job all day, tucked away behind a desk. One whose greatest career danger was an ink stain.

Not someone who carried a gun for a living.

Chapter Three (#u094ce821-c6be-5ca6-991e-808464985ed0)

The loud noise outside sent Josie reaching for the closest heavy object.

A frying pan.

She pulled back the curtain over her sink and peered outside. Heath’s large Ford pickup was parked near the river, dwarfing her vehicle. He’d unlatched and opened the barn—which explained the noise—and had already headed inside. A minute later he was leading out the cattle.

“That man,” she grumbled and set the pan back onto the stove. “What is he up to?”

He’d left soon after their brunch yesterday. Said even though his apartment was only forty-five minutes away, he needed to check into the Blue Bonnet Inn in town because he preferred to stay close during an investigation. He explained that if something happened at the boys ranch, he wanted Flint to be able to call him and be only minutes away. Which made sense. Flint’s place at the boys ranch wasn’t that big and his young son lived with him—so asking Flint to host him for a month, even though Heath and Flint were close friends, was probably asking too much.