Seeking the Sheriff (Masterson County Book 1)

by Calle J. Brookes

  “I’ll let him know in the morning.”

  “Thank you, Sheriff. Phoebe Kate, get yourself inside. I want you to go to bed early. You need the rest. Sheriff, we’re about to settle down to dinner. You’re welcome to join us. It’s not fancy, but we have enough to share.”

  Joel didn’t see how he had any choice. Turning the offer down would be a blow that Phil Tyler didn’t deserve. There was such pride in the man’s face, such wariness on the daughter’s. Such fear. He accepted the offer.

  Chapter 10

  Phoebe didn’t want him at her dinner table. But that was exactly where he was. He took the chair to her left, where Phoenix usually sat. Pip was on his left, thankfully. Pip was quiet and accepting enough of anything and anyone that having the very man who’d arrested their brother next to her wouldn’t rock Pip’s boat.

  Phoebe definitely couldn’t say the same. She could even smell the scent of him right there next to her. She’d never smelled her brother when he sat next to her. At least, not in a good way. Not like this. And whenever he moved, the brush of his arm against hers sent shockwaves from her skin to her brain.

  Turned her already aching brain into total mush.

  She disguised her response by focusing on her brothers. Parker and Patton were terrified of the sheriff in their midst. Their father and brother—and even Perci and Phoebe—hadn’t had many positives to say about the man who’d occupied that position before this sheriff had been elected in his place. He’d harassed her family off and on for years before losing in a landslide election to this man.

  Sheriff Clive Gunderson had made no secret of the fact that he considered all Tylers worthless troublemakers.

  Yes, that was true for a lot of her cousins—her father was one of twelve children, mostly boys; she had a lot of cousins roaming the county—but it wasn’t true of all of them. It definitely wasn’t true for her branch of the Tyler family tree. Sheriff Gunderson hadn’t ever been able to understand that.

  Unfortunately, that experience had left its mark on her entire family.

  No one wanted the sheriff right there in their home. No one. Thankfully, Perci was the only one to say anything even remotely antagonistic.

  The sheriff just ignored her. Perci had long had an issue with her boss at the hospital. She’d told the entire family about him, repeatedly. None of them had realized he was the sheriff’s brother, though. Until yesterday. After everything that had happened with Phoenix, Perci was doubly hostile.

  If Phoebe’s head wasn’t hurting so badly, she probably would be, too.

  As it was, they made it through dinner. The sheriff was polite, appreciative, and well-mannered. He smiled at the children several times, and he listened to them when they did speak.

  He engaged Pandora in a light conversation about working online. He was kind to Pip and seemed to understand that the younger twin was extremely shy. He did nothing to overwhelm. He even seemed to find some of Perci’s pointed barbs humorous.

  It was the way he looked at Phoebe that had her on edge.

  She was ready for the sheriff of Masterson County to just get gone.

  Chapter 11

  Joel drove Phoenix Tyler back to the Tyler Ranch the next morning. He was met at the front porch by Phoebe and her youngest sister. She had lighter red hair than Phoebe, was about four inches taller, and twenty-five pounds heavier. She had the same sweet heart-shaped face and slightly darker blue eyes.

  If she was old enough to drink, he’d eat his white hat. The two women watched their brother warily like they expected him to erupt right there in the midst of him.

  Instead, Phoenix just looked at his eldest sister and the bandage still on her forehead. “I’m sorry. It was stupid what I did. Didn’t mean to hurt you.”

  Phoebe came down the steps quickly. She hugged her brother. “I know. I’m sorry about all this, too.”

  The boy’s chin rose. “I’m not. Time I left this place behind. I can take care of myself.”

  Joel bit back a snort. Sure the kid could. While still living on Daddy’s back forty. With those four pretty sisters of his probably bringing him Crock Pots’ full of food each week.

  Sure the kid could.

  Hell, by the time his youngest brother Levi was nineteen ten years ago, Joel was already working as a deputy, Nate was through with med school, Matt was through with veterinary school, and Levi was set to take over the day-to-day operation of the Masterson spread. After they were done with the day at their full-time jobs, Matt, Joel, and Nate had been out there right next to Levi helping run the place.

  Now Levi had expanded that spread twice in the last five years.

  Nothing at all like this kid, was it?

  He waited while the kid and the youngest sister packed the boy’s belongings. Phoebe handed the kid keys. “Dad said…you’ll need the truck. To get to school and back. You have to keep up your grades, or it’s no deal.”

  “I can handle myself just fine, Phoebe.”

  “I know. But…you’re my brother. I guess I never imagined one of us would eventually move out. Silly, huh? Figured we’d all stay here forever. At least until someone got married, anyway.”

  “Have to date to get married first,” the youngest sister said.

  “Hush, Pan.”

  The taller girl just waved nonchalantly. There was a bite in her tone when she spoke to her brother. “See you around, Phoenix. Don’t forget to write.”

  “Yeah, you, too. Keep an eye on this place, will you?”

  “Always do.” Pan patted her brother on the shoulder then took off around the back of the house. Her action told Joel one thing—she wasn’t the least upset to see her brother go.

  Within two minutes the boy climbed into the truck that was older than he was, and was gone.

  Leaving Joel right there next to Phoebe.

  Alone.

  When she sighed and turned toward him, Joel looked down into those soul-stealing blue eyes. Those suspiciously wet blue eyes. “Hey, it’s not like he’s moving to Michigan or something. He’s what? A few miles north of here?”

  “You have a large family, Sheriff?”

  “Hmmm. I have my mother—who is off somewhere in an RV taking travel photos while on sabbatical from the hospital—and I have my three younger brothers. Several cousins.”

  “Like we Tylers.”

  “Honey, I don’t think there’s a bigger family in the county than you Tylers.”

  “Yes, there are a lot of us. But in this branch, we’ve had each other’s backs for the past two years. Especially Phoenix’s. To have him leave, even though it makes things easier, hurts. What if your brothers left?”

  “It would hurt. We share the family homestead—when we’re not all off working. We don’t tend to work traditional hours, I’m afraid. Only Levi, the youngest of us, works the ranch full time.”

  “Then you do understand. I’ve taken care of the kids in this house since before my mother died. To see one of them go like this…I understand why my father is doing this.” She touched her head again almost unconsciously. “I really do. It’s just…”

  “He’s your brother, and you love him.” Joel brushed a hand over her back softly. She didn’t pull away. “But he’s not really that far away. And I’m sure you’ll be checking on him a dozen times a day for a while, right? So why did you take care of the kids back then? When did your mother pass away?”

  “Two years ago. In a car…accident. But after she had Parker she had a rough time recovering. I was able to come home from college and help out. Patton was only two, and Pete six.”

  It sank in then. They were more her children than her siblings, weren’t they? No wonder she seemed so much the heart of her family. She did the cooking and the cleaning and raised the children, while the rest of their family did what they could to bring in the money for them all to survive. Each and every Tyler was so integral to the others, it was no wonder seeing one on such a destructive path as Phoenix hurt her.

  Joel shocked the he
ll out of himself when he wrapped his arms around her and hugged her. “It’ll be ok, honey. All of us have to learn to be adults sometime. Now is as good a time as any for your brother. And if it’ll help, I’ll keep an eye on him myself when I can. I promise.”

  He smelled like woods and sun and man. That overrode all sense of shock she felt. It had been a long time since Phoebe had been close enough to an attractive man to notice how good he smelled. How strong his arms were. To hear the steady beat of his heart beneath her cheeks. She was pressed full-length against the sheriff. How had that even happened? Phoebe didn’t know, but she wasn’t sure she liked it.

  Or sure that she didn’t like it, for that matter.

  Sometimes it was nice to be held by someone who wasn’t seven years old and covered with grape jelly.

  She pulled back a little and looked up at him. “Sheriff…I…”

  “It’ll all be ok, honey. I promise…” He lowered his head a little. Just enough to brush his lips over hers slightly.

  The wooden screen door slammed open behind her, and someone called her name. It was enough to have her springing from his arms and heading back toward the house.

  Where her family waited.

  Chapter 12

  Parker was the one who found the blood. It scared the little boy so much that it took Phoebe more than an hour to calm him down—and alone the rest of her family. Who would do such a thing? Why? And what was it? It wasn’t one of her goats. She and Pan had gone outside with their father’s rifles and counted. No, all forty of her little drove were still safe.

  It had to have been a cat or a squirrel. Or something like that.

  That wasn’t the worst part.

  It was the chilling message, written in the animal’s blood, that told them so much. That had her ordering Pan to call the sheriff’s office and request Joel Masterson personally. It still took the sheriff two hours to get to them. By the time he finally arrived, she was sick, angry at the monster who’d done it so near her little brothers, and terrified.

  She went to the front door to meet the sheriff. Phoebe shaded her eyes with one hand and watched as the long, tall sheriff climbed out of the SUV. Joel—hard to think of a man as the sheriff when he’d kissed her in her front yard—was well over six-foot-something tall, broad-shouldered, lean, and—well—beautiful with his dark hair and dark green eyes.

  “What’s happened? Why’d you call my office? Is it Phoenix?”

  She shook her head, unsure what to say next. “You’ll need to come with me. This way.”

  She didn’t want him there, didn’t want him specifically seeing this; too much family history with the sheriff’s office of this county made her leery of asking for help from Masterson County. This put him in an official capacity. No matter if he had kissed her just eight days ago.

  She was a Tyler, and in this part of the country, that meant something, and not always in a good way. Had someone mistaken their ranch for one of their cousins’ or uncles’? It was possible. She knew the reputation her uncles and cousins and even her grandfather had, but not her family. Her family kept to themselves. They didn’t deserve to be treated like this.

  It was hard to forget that if she had called Sheriff Gunderson about this, she would have been kept waiting possibly indefinitely. She didn’t think this sheriff was like that, though. It was still hard to trust him. If she just knew what it was the man wanted from her…knew why he’d kissed her that way…then she could deal with that, and separate the sheriff from the man. Right?

  “It is about blood. Threats.”

  “What the hell are you talking about?” He strolled up to her, and she could see the visible impatience in his movements. It took everything she had not to back away from the large animal stalking toward her. “Honey, you're not very clear. And I got a lot going on back in town right now.”

  “I’m sorry. I…Come with me, you’ll see for yourself. My youngest brother found it. It took you two hours to get here.” Two hours when she had forced herself not to freak out because she and Pan were alone in the house with two of their brothers and that mess was out on her porch.

  “I was clear across the county, on a drug bust. No one told me your call was urgent.”

  “Good thing I know how to shoot a rifle. Because if anything ever happened, God knows we’re too far away to count on your office for help.” She shivered as that sank in yet again. She and Pan and the boys had been alone while that monster was out there, so close…

  Phoebe turned her back on him and walked around the house to the back where it was. He needed to do whatever it was he was supposed to do, and then get gone. She’d need to decide how to tell her father so it wouldn’t upset him. And then she, the twins, and Pan would have to decide what to do about this. The way they had handled everything life threw at them since the moment they’d lost their mother. “This way.”

  Chapter 13

  The woman just got better every time he looked at her. Joel didn’t see that changing anytime soon. The clothes were cheap and faded from lots of washing, but they didn’t hide the truth. She had her dark red hair pulled up in an intricate French braid. This Tyler of Tyler Township, though small and as fiery as all those cousins of hers, was damned beautiful.

  And frightened. He’d seen her frightened before. It was not an expression he was going to forget anytime soon.

  Joel took a look around the ranch in the daylight. They’d started painting it sometime in the last week. They were making improvements, though it was going to take them time. It was obvious they didn’t have two dimes to rub together for much of anything else, but they were hardworking and determined.

  There was strain around her eyes, a strain that shouldn’t be there for one so young. The curtain moved, and he looked up to see two young boys staring out the window at him. “No school?”

  “Homeschool. We’ve finished for the day. I’d just sent Parker outside to play after his math when he came running back in. He slipped in the blood. He’s not quite eight.”

  Joel saw what she meant. The garish red across the fresh white paint was hard to miss. Time to pay up. You little sluts are going down.

  Written in blood. Of that, he had no doubt. Part of the animal’s entrails was sitting there on the welcome mat. Joel didn’t know whether to be sick or pissed.

  Pissed won. Joel swore under his breath.

  “Where is your father?” Joel was surprised the older man wasn’t nearby, a rifle at the ready to defend his family if needed.

  “He and my sisters are in the back pasture bringing down some horses. We have potential buyers coming out this afternoon. Dad doesn’t know about this. Neither do Pip or Perci. I’d like to have it taken care of as soon as possible.”

  “Who are the buyers?”

  “I’m not sure, Pip handles everything to do with the horses. The goats are mine. My father handles everything else with the ranch. We’re doing the best we can, but it’s slow going. My sister put an ad up somewhere, and a man called yesterday wanting to see the cutting horses she’s trained.”

  “You vet this guy? Sure he’s legit?”

  “I’m sure Pip did. We’re not stupid, Sheriff. Even if we are Tylers.”

  “I never said anything about you being Tylers.” Tylers had an illustrious history going back at least two hundred years, Joel understood that. But damn it, it was just a last name. Not a predisposition to strife. Whenever there was a Tyler involved, the rumor had, there was bound to be trouble, though.

  The woman in front of him was certainly trouble. To him, anyway. He hadn’t been able to forget her in the week since he’d said to hell with everything and kissed those pretty lips of hers.

  “Where’s Phoenix at today?”

  “He’s been cooperating. He goes to school. He tends to that corner of the property. And that’s it. My father will not allow him back in the house for anything. He didn’t have anything to do with this if that’s what you’re thinking. Just forget that. Phoenix would never harm an animal.
Besides, he’s really squeamish. Even the sight of a paper cut bleeding is enough to make him gag. Phoenix wouldn’t do this.” She crossed her arms over her chest, which wasn’t very big but still drew his eyes, and glared up at him. She looked like an enraged fairy. It was the fear in her blue eyes that kept eating at him. He couldn’t stand to see a woman afraid.

  “Do you have any idea who would?”

  She shook her head. “No. To be honest, we stick to ourselves. We know what it means to be a Tyler in this county. Former Sheriff Gunderson made that all very clear to us years ago. My father made a vow when he was not much older than Patton, who is eleven, that he would not end up like his brothers. He stuck to that. He’s raised us not to be like them, either. We work hard, we take care of each other, and we try not to make trouble. That’s it. This…” She waved a hand toward the porch. He watched the shiver go right through her, and before he realized he was even moving, Joel put his hand on her shoulder and squeezed. Just to comfort. To let her know that she wasn’t alone. She felt so small beneath his touch. How much of this family did she carry on her shoulders? Who did she really have?

  Yes, there were a lot of Tylers. Her father? He just seemed like a man that was overwhelmed by everything, working hard to make the ranch profitable. But everyone knew that ranching around these parts was not a magic bullet or lottery ticket. Very few succeeded more than just eking by. Her sisters? They were even younger. How much help could they really be? Wouldn’t the all naturally look to her as the eldest for advice, for help?

  They were just learning their own way in the world, too.

  Four boys? Seems like she was raising three of them herself. “Tell me about this place, honey. Seems like you have a lot of irons in the fire.”

  “Hopefully, they’ll start paying out soon. I have forty Angoras. We shear them ourselves and sell the mohair for custom yarn making. Or I use the yarn myself. I weave and sell my creations online. Pan manages my site and all sales. Pip is busting her rear to start her own breeding program for cutting horses, American Quarter horses. She trains them, too. We’re going to try to sell off two of them today, to pay my hospital bill. And beef up our savings account. Perci helps, her paycheck. It’s needed. And then when she’s not at the hospital, she’s out helping Pip. Or helping my father, with the cattle. I handle the goats, the boys, and the house. See, we’ve not done a damn thing to hurt anyone. We’ve done nothing that would explain this.”