The Texas Lawman's Woman

by Cathy Gillen Thacker

  Bastard. “So he lied.” No wonder Shelley was so reluctant to get involved with any man again.

  “Yes, Tully lied.” Shelley continued clutching the bedspread to her breasts. “In addition to forging my signature on the power of attorney for the loan documents.”

  Colt studied her. “So now what? Do you still want to sue the bank for wrongful foreclosure?”

  “Liz thinks my best chance for success is in going after Tully, since he is really the culprit here, not the bank. Their loan officials were deceived as surely as I was.”

  Aware the clock was running out faster than she seemed to realize, he warned, “You’ve only got two days before the eviction happens.”

  Shelley stiffened at the reminder. Turning her back to him, she began to put on her blouse. “I know that, Colt.” Her mouth took on that stubborn line Colt knew so well. “Which is why I called Tully again and made it clear that I will take him to civil court over this, if I have to.”

  “You know...it’s not too late to file criminal charges for fraud,” he reminded her.

  Shelley whirled around. “Weren’t you listening the first time? I want Tully to make amends, not go to jail.”

  Pushing aside his disappointment, Colt didn’t know what else he could possibly say on the matter.

  “But you don’t agree with me,” Shelley guessed, propping her hands on her hips.

  He shrugged, thinking of another woman in his life who had refused to emotionally let go of her ex. “It’s not my place to disagree or agree.”

  “On that, we do concur.” As another tense silence fell, she instinctively knew that something else seemed to be weighing on his mind. “So what else are you thinking?”

  She wasn’t going to let it go. Colt knew that he probably should shrug it off, but he couldn’t. “That I wish you had wanted to hook up with me tonight for some other reason than just needing an escape.”

  Shelley’s eyes narrowed. Although she didn’t outwardly disagree with his assessment, she strode forward to show him out. “And you know what I wish?” she huffed when they had reached the front door. “I wish you didn’t always want everything to be so darn perfect.”

  Chapter Seven

  Colt was on his way to Ben Shepherd’s office for what seemed like the millionth time in the past week and a half when he caught sight of Shelley standing in the hallway outside Ilyse Adams’s office. Clad in a flowery knee-length skirt, flats and scoop-necked pink T-shirt, her auburn hair in a graceful ponytail at the nape of her neck, she looked absolutely gorgeous. The little boy she had perched on her hip looked pretty cute, too.

  “I just wish you would stop calling and emailing me,” Shelley was saying to Ilyse, as Colt approached.

  Austin lit up when Colt neared. “My deppity!” the toddler exclaimed, launching himself at Colt so swiftly that Shelley nearly lost her hold on him.

  “Mine! My deppity!” Austin twisted toward Colt, little arms outstretched.

  Colt grinned at Shelley. “May I?”

  Looking as if she might just have forgiven Colt for rebuffing her the other evening, she returned with a grateful glance. “Please.” She transferred her little boy to Colt.

  “And while you’re at it, Colt,” Shelley continued, as Austin immediately snuggled up to Colt’s chest, laying his head happily on Colt’s shoulder, “maybe you can explain to Investigator Adams that I’ve already told you everything there was to tell about the accident, week before last.” She turned and shot him a beseeching look. “I really have nothing else to add.”

  Ilyse Adams interjected pleasantly, “We just want to make sure all our paperwork is in order.”

  What the internal affairs officer really wanted, Colt mused, was for Shelley to somehow implicate him for wrongdoing.

  “Well, if you have questions about the report I gave, then you need to talk to Colt since he’s the officer who took my statement. The only thing I’m interested in right now is stopping the eviction that is set to happen tomorrow morning, unless someone around here—” Shelley’s glance encompassed the sheriff’s station “—comes to their senses and reverses the order.”

  “That’s not our job,” Ilyse Adams returned with measured calm.

  “Yeah, I’m getting that.” Shelley held out her arms to Austin. He took one look at the distressed expression on his mother’s face and went right back to her. “Momma not happy,” he pronounced.

  “Isn’t that the truth,” Shelley muttered under her breath. “Anyway, unless you happen to have some sway with Sheriff Shepherd and can talk him out of carrying out the orders set for tomorrow morning, then please stop harassing me!” she told Adams.

  Then she turned on her heel and sauntered off, skirt swaying.

  Not about to let the chance to rescue Shelley go by, Colt lengthened his steps to catch up. “Let me get that door for you.”

  He reached her just in time and stepped with Shelley out into the sunlight. She looked so distraught his heart ached for her. “Are you okay?”

  “Yes. No. I don’t know.” She paused to peer up at him. “Unless you happen to know a way I can stop the eviction.”

  Which, Colt knew, was set for the following morning. He exhaled, as powerless as she in this instance. “Save a court order, reversing it seems like a long shot at this point....”

  Silence fell as she sat down on the stone ledge surrounding the courthouse, and settled Austin more comfortably on her lap. Picking up on her low mood, the toddler frowned and cuddled closer to his mother. Colt wished he could take Shelley in his arms and comfort her, too. The fact he was in uniform and still on duty kept him firmly in place. “I get off in a few hours. If you want me to come over and help pack...”

  “To go where?” Shelley rose and squared her shoulders. “I’m not giving up, Colt. Not now. Not ever.”

  * * *

  MINUTES LATER, COLT FOUND OUT why his boss had wanted to see him. He studied the orders, set to be enforced at ten the next morning. “For obvious reasons, I am tasking you to do this,” Ben Shepherd said.

  The brass wanted to see just how impartial he could be? “No problem,” Colt said. Although he wasn’t looking forward to it. Not one bit.

  As expected, Shelley did not make it easy on him.

  She answered her front door, the following morning, a mutinous look on her face. For once her son was nowhere in sight. “Ma’am.” Tipping the brim of his hat at Shelley, Colt adapted an extremely official tone. “I’m here to enforce the order of eviction.”

  Shelley cast a disparaging look at the moving truck coming slowly down Spring Street, then turned back to him. “Of course you are,” she drawled, her eyes a fiery green.

  Colt stood, clipboard in hand, methodically going through the procedure. “Have you removed all personal items from the property?”

  She folded her arms in front of her and sent him a withering glare. “You know darn well I haven’t.”

  “You have until 5:00 p.m. today to do so.”

  Shelley frowned as the truck turned into her driveway, and two off-duty deputies—both in street clothes—got out. Beginning to look a little nervous, Shelley turned back to him. “What happens if I don’t comply?”

  Wary of letting his personal feelings intrude, Colt kept a hard edge to his voice. “Then the sheriff’s department will do it for you, and all your belongings will be turned over for auction.”

  Shelley looked as if she wanted to smack someone. Namely, him.

  Colt did his best to be sensitive. “You can take your porch swing, too.” He knew how much that meant to her.

  She rolled her eyes. “Well, now I’m grateful.”

  “Fortunately,” Rio Vasquez said as he and Kyle McCabe walked up to join them, “you’ve got friends to help you.” The deputy paused, able to convey the sympathy that Colt cou
ld not, a fact for which he was extremely grateful. “Where do you want to start?” Rio asked.

  For the first time, Shelley’s lip trembled. She blinked furiously. Then she stiffened her shoulders and turned her back to Colt. “That’s the least of my problems, guys.” She sniffed. “Even if we get all the furniture out in time, I don’t have anywhere to store the stuff. Never mind stay...”

  “Actually...” Kyle smiled with an affable wink, letting her know, thanks to the cooperation of Colt’s buddies, it had all been worked out. “You do.”

  * * *

  HOURS LATER, EVERYTHING Shelley owned and/or had inherited was on the premises of Colt McCabe’s home. His two-story Craftsman-style house was packed to the gills with boxes and belongings. Her furniture filled his garage to overflowing.

  Colt was still up the street, finishing the job by putting a lockbox on all the doors to her home. The eviction and foreclosure notices that she had removed were also back up for everyone to see.

  Shelley had never felt so humiliated.

  Her only solace at the moment was that Austin had not been here to see any of it.

  Instead, her son was at his babysitter’s house, hanging out with her and her family. Shelley was inside Colt’s house, trying to shift the hastily packed boxes in a way that would clear a path, while Colt’s dog watched patiently from his cushion by the fireplace.

  Shelley glanced at Buddy. “I bet you’re wondering what the heck is going on here,” she said.

  The dog tilted his head to one side.

  In need of solace herself, Shelley kneeled down next to him. Was this why people had dogs? Because they looked at you with such innate understanding? All she knew for certain was that she was in need of a good confessional.

  She petted the soft fur on the very top of his head. “I don’t know why I wasn’t more prepared for what occurred this morning.” Buddy rolled over on his side so she could rub his belly. “I mean, I certainly should have been... But I just kept thinking that a miracle was going to happen, that Colt would be able to pull some strings with the sheriff’s department, or that Tully would come forward with the money to repay the bank.”

  Only none of that had happened.

  And now, thanks to her refusal to face reality, she and her son were homeless.

  “You have to know,” a low voice said from the open doorway, “I would have stopped it if I could.”

  “Colt.” Shelley got slowly to her feet, embarrassed at the way she had treated him. She drew a deep, enervating breath and walked toward him. “I’m so sorry I was rude to you this morning.”

  “Hey. Under the circumstances...” His eyes crinkled at the corners. “I’ve seen a lot worse.”

  Still in his uniform, he closed the distance between them and wrapped her in his arms. Hugging her close, he stroked a hand through her hair. “It had to be gut-wrenching to have to leave your home.”

  Too weary to resist, even if it was in their mutual best interest to do so, she asked, “Is that why you offered to let me store all my stuff here and handled the actual eviction yourself? Because you felt sorry for me?”

  He kissed her temple and moved back far enough to look into her eyes again as he confided in a low, tender tone, “I supervised the removal because I was assigned the task.” He paused a moment to let her digest that.

  Then continued huskily, “I made sure you had a rental van and help packing up because I know this whole situation sucks big-time, and I wanted to make it as easy on you and Austin as I could.”

  His compassion melted the rest of her defenses. More than anything, she wanted to be friends with him again. Close friends. “Still the softest heart in the department, I see.”

  He groaned as if that were the last thing he wanted to hear.

  Eager to get their relationship back on an even keel, she teased, “You know it’s true.”

  His eyes grazed hers before he turned away. “I do. I just wish it wasn’t.”

  “Don’t say that!” She moved close enough to take him in her arms and offer the kind of comfort he had just offered her. “Your kindness is what I love most about you.”

  He glanced down at the hand she had placed on his biceps. “Love?”

  Flushing, Shelley withdrew her palm. “You know what I mean.”

  He nodded and stepped back.

  Aware she’d touched a nerve without meaning to, Shelley hitched in a breath. Suddenly, she and Colt were a million miles apart again—at least emotionally. That disappointed her as much as the events of the morning. She hated the fact that their relationship had always been so complicated. Never more so, it seemed, than right now.

  She slowly withdrew. “Well, I guess I better find a place for Austin and me to sleep tonight. And then I have to go pick him up from the sitter.”

  Colt cut her off as she reached the door. “Why not here?”

  “You can’t be serious,” Shelley said, pivoting around to face him.

  He shrugged, his broad shoulders straining the tan fabric of his uniform. “I admit it’s a little crowded with all the boxes. But I’ve got room.” He gave her a long beseeching look, then gestured toward the second floor. “There are four bedrooms upstairs. Only two of them have beds in them. We could easily set up Austin’s crib in one of them. Maybe make a play area on the sun porch, off the kitchen.”

  Shelley was so tempted. Yet she knew it was a big risk to take. “You know what people will think if I move in here...” she said, her gaze moving in the direction of the bedrooms.

  “Exactly what we’re worried about,” two voices said in unison.

  * * *

  “MOM. DAD,” COLT ANNOUNCED as he and Shelley turned to greet his parents.

  Wade nodded in acknowledgment. “Colt. Shelley.”

  Josie rushed forward to embrace her, much as her own mother would have done. “Shelley, honey, we heard what happened to you. And we’re so very sorry.”

  Aware of how much she needed a mother in her life again, especially now, Shelley managed a wan smile. “Thank you.”

  Wade hugged Shelley, too. As tender as his son, he groused, “I don’t know why Colt didn’t come to me if you needed help. He knows that I own a company that buys up distressed properties and resells them at a profit. Although in your case, because you are a friend of the family, I could see that margin was vastly reduced.”

  Colt looked away, his mouth tight. Shelley knew his family’s money had always embarrassed him. Made him feel apart from his peers. She lifted a delicate palm before Wade could say anything else. “Colt knows I wouldn’t feel right making my problem someone else’s.”

  Josie stepped forward, all maternal concern. “You’ve obviously accepted our son’s help.”

  “Just temporarily,” Shelley allowed, her discomfort increasing. She faced both of Colt’s parents. Their visit would have been insulting had she not known their offer came from love. In fact, Colt’s innate generosity was very much a family trait for all the McCabes. “Colt knows I’ll be out of his way in a day or two.” Colt blinked, as if this was news to him.

  His reaction confirmed Shelley’s hunch that he had been hoping she and her son would stay until everything was sorted out and she was back on solid financial ground again.

  But he had to know that if she did stay for a longer period of time, she would end up leaning on him in a way neither of them were prepared for. Josie smiled. “It could be even sooner, if you accept our offer of hospitality and come stay at our ranch. Now that the kids are all grown and out, Wade and I have plenty of room. You and Austin could have the run of the place for as long as you needed.”

  Colt’s face grew thunderous. “Mom, Dad...a word?”

  Josie and Wade exchanged glances. Clearly, they were not surprised by their hopelessly gallant son’s reaction. The three McCabes stepped outs
ide. Not wanting to hear what was said, Shelley went to the rear of the house. Eventually, doors opened and shut, and she heard a pickup driving away.

  Colt came out to the sun porch to find her.

  Her body stiff with tension, Shelley turned to face him. “So? What happened...?”

  “I told them they were out of line.”

  Shelley sat on the edge of an Adirondack chair with a dark plaid cushion. “They’re worried about you. They know how kind you are, and how needy I am at the moment.”

  “I wouldn’t call you that.”

  Times like this, she really missed the soothing sway of her porch swing, which was now stored along with many other precious items in Colt’s garage. She curved her fingers over the arms of the chair.

  “Why didn’t you tell me about the companies your father owned?”

  He pulled up a chair opposite her and sat so they were knee to knee. He took her hand in his. “Because if anyone loaned you the money to buy yourself out of this mess you’re in, it was going to be me,” he told her stubbornly.

  Did he even realize what he was saying? It seemed so...territorial.

  Shelley drew in a sharp breath. “Colt...” Accepting the Southern hospitality of a friend was one thing, accepting money quite another.

  Money, and the fights over it, had destroyed her marriage to Tully. She didn’t want financial matters destroying her friendship with Colt. A friendship that was just beginning to bloom again. Even if he had wisely nixed the idea of an affair.

  “I have a trust fund, Shelley. One that runs well into seven figures. I could easily buy your house at auction, and I have every intention of doing so, too.”

  He was moving from simply assisting to taking over. She knew, even if he didn’t end up purchasing her house, that a move like that would change the relationship between them irrevocably. Deep down, she didn’t want to be with someone who felt he had to bail her out.