The Sheriff’s Runaway Bride

by Arlene James

  “Come on inside.”

  Curious, Zach allowed himself to be steered into the building.

  They walked through a short hallway, flanked on one side by a neat but crowded office and on the other by a neat but crowded storeroom, then between two long, low glass display cases. The interior of the store offered a mishmash of apparel, tools, leather goods, novelties, seed packets, wheel-barrows and any number of items that Zach couldn’t identify offhand. Lynette Jones sat at a desk placed in a corner below two huge whiteboards with the quantities and prices of various bulk feeds written in red and black markers. While talking to someone on the phone, she typed figures into a computer. After ending the call, she rubbed out the quantity figure available for purchase on the whiteboard and wrote in a new number.

  Zach, meanwhile, gravitated toward a display of straw and felt cowboy hats. Choosing an attractive tan felt, he checked it for size, price and weight. “You like that?” Mariette asked, appearing suddenly at his side.

  “Good hat for the price,” he said, putting it back.

  “We’ve got some better deals,” she told him, showing him a heavier felt. “Our customers just want work hats mostly. Can’t hardly give these away.”

  Zach was impressed, but before he could try on the hat, her mother sauntered over. “How much do we owe you, hon? You put in nearly a full day’s work for us. The least we can do is pay you.”

  “Oh, no, ma’am,” Zach refused, shaking his head. “Today cost me nothing.”

  “Maybe he’d rather have a hat,” Mariette suggested, bouncing on her toes.

  “No, no, I couldn’t—”

  “Be doing us a favor,” Gene interrupted. “Those things have been sitting there taking up valuable space for months. I’m ready to let Kylie pass them out at the diner.”

  “We even put some up on that online auction site,” Lynette said, “but by the time we shipped the things, we were losing money.”

  “Easier just to give them away,” Gene muttered.

  “And I know for a fact that you want one,” Kylie said. Zach turned to find her standing behind him. His stupid heart did a double backflip at the smile on her face. “Go on. Try one on.”

  Zach delayed for a moment, trying to talk himself out of it, but then he picked out the right size and fit it to his head.

  “You’ve worn a hat before,” Mariette concluded. “Try just a little bit taller crown.”

  Zach acquiesced, allowing her to pull out hats for him to try.

  “Oh, that’s the one,” Kylie said when he put the third hat on his head.

  Doing his best to sound casual, he murmured, “You think?”

  He watched in the mirror as the sisters looked at each other and said as one, “That’s it.”

  “I’ll take it,” Zach decided. He tried to pay, but the Joneses wouldn’t hear of it until he warned that such a gift could be seen as a bribe. Finally, they agreed on a very good price, leaving Zach the proud new owner of a buckskin-tan, 30X-weight, beaver-felt hat with a four-inch brim and a four-and-a-half-inch cattleman crown.

  He was about to take his hat and go show it off to his sister when Lynette remembered that a package had come in the mail for Kylie. The latter looked at Zach and said, “I didn’t order anything.”

  Before he could think better of it, he heard himself drawling, “Must be your secret admirer again.”

  “What secret admirer?” Mariette demanded, avid for every detail.

  Kylie reluctantly explained as she opened the padded envelope. It bore no return address but did have a Clayton postmark. She shook out a small box wrapped in pink paper. Eying the thing as if it were a snake, she carefully pulled away the bow and peeled back the paper, then lifted the top from the box. A turquoise brooch nestled against a white velvet lining. A card tucked into the lid of the box read, “A beautiful jewel for a beautiful woman. Thanks for the other night. XOXO.”

  Kylie dropped the whole thing as if it had burned her fingers. “This is not from Jasmine,” she declared as the brooch clattered against the glass top of the display case. “The flowers might have been but not this.”

  “What’s it mean by ‘the other night’?” Mariette asked, wrinkling her nose.

  Kylie hugged herself. “I don’t know. I spent my one night off last week with you, if you recall, and I sat down with Jasmine for a couple hours Saturday between shifts at the diner. Other than that, I haven’t seen anyone.”

  “Except me,” Zach said.

  “Except you,” she agreed quietly, holding his gaze.

  Zach nodded, the knot in chest loosening. “Must be Vincent.”

  “But why?” Kylie wanted to know.

  “Maybe he thinks he’s turning potential suitors away by making it look like you’re already dating someone,” Lynette suggested.

  “Makes sense,” Gene said, “but what about the truck?”

  “What about the truck?” Kylie demanded. That necessitated an explanation of the vandalism.

  “Vincent must’ve seen the truck parked outside of Zach’s house,” she deduced. “His place is just up the road, after all.”

  Zach had come to the same conclusion, but he felt duty bound to point out that Vincent had an alibi. As usual.

  “I’ll bet he does,” Lynette fumed. “Just like his grandpa taught him.”

  “Now, sugar baby…” Gene admonished.

  “I’m not judging,” Kylie’s mom insisted. “I just know what I know.”

  Mariette picked up the brooch and examined it. “I’ve seen pins like this one next door at the flower and gift shop.”

  Kylie took the brooch, looked at Zach and said, “Come on.” She took off without waiting for a reply. Zach nodded apologetically at her parents and hurried after her.

  “I’ll do the talking,” he said as they strode across the graveled lot to the shop next door.

  “Fine.”

  But the point proved moot. The proprietor agreed that the brooch resembled other pieces of jewelry for sale in her shop, but she flatly denied having sold anything to Vincent Clayton. She didn’t know who had ordered the flowers, and the only pin she’d sold had been to old Mrs. Rader.

  “Sherilyn’s grandmother,” Kylie pointed out needlessly as soon as she and Zach left the building.

  “I doubt it would do any good to talk to her,” Zach said. “Her mind’s none too sharp so far as I can tell.”

  “But she’s a link to Vincent.”

  Zach clapped a hand to the back of his neck, shaking his head. “I doubt that would convince the sheriff. It’s not like anyone’s been harmed, after all.”

  “So Vincent’s going to get away with this?” Kylie demanded.

  Zach sighed. “For the time being, I suppose he is, but I’ve put him on notice. He knows I’m watching.”

  “He’ll just get others to do his dirty work,” she scoffed.

  Unfortunately, Vincent probably would do exactly that, but until something more concrete turned up, Zach’s hands were tied. Suspicion and probability with a single tenuous connection through a doddering old woman did not add up to an actionable offense. Unfortunately, that did not reduce the potential for more trouble if he let himself fall in love with Kylie Jeanne Jones.

  Chapter Nine

  The measure of Zach’s determination to put some distance between himself and Kylie could be found in the fact that he considered staying home from church on Sunday. He’d kicked around the idea of begging off his shift at the help line on Thursday for the same reason. His sense of duty wouldn’t allow him to shirk his responsibilities, however. Fortunately, duty had called him away on Thursday evening within the first half hour of the shift. A fire on the mountain had prompted the fire brigade to ask for roads to be closed, which had sent Zach barreling off with lights flashing.

  Kylie and he had not been in the same building at the same time since. At least keeping his distance had apparently kept Vincent from harassing her—and Zach from making a fool of himself. Both reasons seemed to be l
egitimate excuses to stay home from church. One glance at the hat hanging on a hook on the closet door illustrated the fallacy behind such excuses, however.

  He prized his new hat. He felt like a new Zach every time he put it on. Miami and all that had happened there felt part of the distant past when Deputy Sheriff Zach Clayton put on his hat. He even slept better lately, his dreams of Miami replaced by nebulous, indefinite vignettes, which he quickly forgot. He felt as if he donned all of Colorado and its history when he fit that buckskin beaver to his head. But he never put on the hat without being reminded of Kylie.

  He never drove past Waxwing Road without thinking of her. He never looked through his office window without daydreaming about her. He never watched Brooke and Gabe together without conjuring up her beautiful face. She stayed with him every moment of every day, and he could sit home and think of her, or he could go to church where he belonged and submerse himself in worship.

  Longing for the peace and renewal of worship, he decided against staying home. Besides, he’d have to see Kylie on Thursday evening for their shift on the help line anyway. What difference would a glimpse of her on Sunday make?

  Famous last words. The instant he turned the Jeep into the parking lot at the church, he saw Kylie. Standing next to an unfamiliar car, she appeared to be in a conversation with the driver, that Janey woman from the diner and the Independence Day picnic. The discussion looked much too intense for picking colors and background music. It was none of his business, so he did his best to ignore it as he parked and made his way inside.

  He barely set foot in the building before Reverend West had him by the hand. “Zach, you’ll be staying for the Volunteer Appreciation Luncheon today, won’t you? I want to introduce our newest additions to the rest of the volunteer team. The ladies have put together quite a spread. I understand your cousin Arabella has baked a special cake.” He winked. “In fact, I think she told me it was your favorite.”

  Zach knew a trap when he walked into one. Since his return to town, he hadn’t spent as much time with Arabella and her girls as he’d have liked, but he’d been around her place enough to know that she made a killer German chocolate cake. He’d done his best to make himself sick on the same just this past week. His mouth watered now at the very thought of it. Arabella eked a living, such as it was, out of her baking, and she’d been tickled by his enthusiasm. Obviously, she’d made an effort to please him with today’s dessert selection.

  Knowing that he’d offend the pastor and his cousin if he skipped out on the luncheon, Zach smiled and said, “I’ll stay.”

  “Good man!” the reverend praised, slapping Zach on the back.

  Zach joined his sister and Gabe for the worship service. Kylie, as usual, sat with her family. Zach noticed that her friend Janey had not come inside, but he saw his Aunt Lisette slip in at the last moment and waved. Quelling his curiosity about Janey, he focused on worship, and the time flew by. Before he knew it, everyone was making for the doors at the back of the sanctuary. A good number of the congregation headed toward the Fellowship Hall in the Annex, including Brooke and Gabe and the three elder Joneses.

  Tables with pristine white cloths and folding chairs had been set up, and a lengthy buffet was quickly filled up with dishes of fried chicken, creamed potatoes, green beans, corn and a number of salads and casseroles. Zach glanced at the dessert table, where Arabella busily cut uniform pieces of her German chocolate sheet cake. Wedges of cherry pie and blocks of green Jell-O had already been dished up. Waving a chocolate-and-coconut-smeared knife at him, Arabella grinned. Zach blew her kisses from his spot in the buffet line, making her laugh.

  “Uh-huh, I see what’s going on here,” Gabe teased Zach. “It’s dessert nepotism, pure and simple. I voted for cheesecake. Have you ever eaten Arabella’s cheesecake? I’m telling you, the groom’s cake at our wedding better be Arabella’s cheesecake.”

  “Is that legal?” Zach quipped. “I think the wedding police may have something to say about that.”

  “Oh, I guess you’re the wedding police now, too, huh?”

  Brooke elbowed her fiancé, saying, “Uh, that would be me. Or Kylie.” She thumped Zach in the chest. “She’s an excellent wedding planner, you know.”

  “I know,” Zach grumbled. “She apprenticed in Denver.” And she meant to go back there as soon as possible.

  The pastor called for attention and gave thanks for the food, then those lined up on either side of the buffet began filling their plates. It didn’t take long for Zach’s party to get their turn.

  As soon as they picked a table to bear their overloaded plates, Brooke went to get A.J. from the church nursery while Gabe hunted up a booster chair for the boy. Zach sat down to “guard the goodies,” as Gabe jokingly put it. He was sipping from a glass of sadly weak iced tea when Darlene and Macy showed up with their own plates.

  “Are these seats taken?”

  “No, they’re not,” Zach replied, rising to pull out chairs for them. “Sit right down.”

  Macy, he noticed with a smile, took the chair next to his. Darlene got her daughter settled, then took her own seat. As Zach assisted her with her chair, she tilted her head back to look up at him.

  “Thanks. I’m really glad for a chance to talk to you today.”

  “Why’s that?” Zach asked as he resumed his own seat.

  Mother and daughter traded looks. “Well,” Darlene began, “we were talking to the pastor the other day, and he mentioned that in larger cities they have organizations that provide male companionship for fatherless children.”

  “You mean like Big Brothers?”

  “Yes. Exactly.”

  “So,” Macy said nervously, picking up the narrative, “we were wondering, if it wasn’t too much trouble, if you might be my ‘big brother’ like Gabe is. If you want to, I mean…”

  Zach relaxed back in his chair and tapped his chin with a forefinger. “Hmm,” he said, pretending ambivalence, “I already have two little sisters.” Macy dropped her gaze to her plate, biting her lip. Zach leaned forward and softly added, “I’d love to have three.”

  She launched out of her chair with a squeal and threw her arms around his neck. I had three little sisters once, Zach thought, swallowing a lump in his throat. It would be good to have three sisters again, even if one of them was only pretend. Caught up in the moment, he gave her a hug. She abruptly pulled away, declaring, “I’m gonna go tell Lily!”

  She rushed off before her mother could admonish her. Darlene gave Zach an exasperated look and pushed back her chair. “If I don’t go get her, she’ll forget all about her lunch.” Chuckling, he got to his feet again as she rose. “Thank you so much,” Darlene paused to say. “You don’t know what this means to us.”

  “My pleasure,” Zach told her, and she moved away. It was true. Macy had stolen his heart in ways he had not expected.

  “Well done,” said a familiar voice at his elbow. Steeling himself, Zach turned to face Kylie, who stood beside him with a plate of food in one hand and a plastic tumbler of iced tea in the other.

  She looked amazing in a muted green dress that perfectly matched her eyes. The armholes of the sleeveless, tailored knit sheath had been cut wide and high, calling attention to the little stand-up collar that lovingly circled her long, graceful neck. With her long, crinkly hair down and loose, just the sides caught together at the back of her head, pink lipstick and narrow gold hoops dangling from her tiny earlobes, she appeared both otherworldly and powerfully feminine. Just looking at her made him ache with longing.

  “You’ve taken quite an interest in that little girl,” Kylie said softly.

  “She’s a sweet kid,” Zach said, trying—and failing—to look away.

  “A sweet kid in need of more positive male influences in her life. Gabe’s great with her, but he’s also got his hands full with A.J.”

  “Yeah, I guess that’s why they asked me to be like a big brother to her.”

  Kylie smiled. “I think they chose well.”


  Pleased and a little embarrassed by that, Zach looked away. “I, uh, just hope I’m not too busy to give her the attention she needs.”

  “Another busy week then?” Kylie asked. “I thought as much. Haven’t seen you around. Just barely caught a glimpse of you on Thursday before you were called away.”

  Zach cleared his throat. “Sorry to have left you alone with that.”

  “Oh, it wasn’t anything I couldn’t handle,” she said. “But it was lonely.” She tilted her head, adding, “I’ve missed you.”

  He thought he’d melt right where he stood. She had missed him. He’d intentionally kept away, and she had not only noticed, she had actually missed him. Who am I kidding? he thought. His intention to keep his distance had less to do with Vincent than with his own fear of getting his heart broken. How stupid could he be? What difference did it make, really, if he got shot down? He had zero chance if he didn’t try. The time had come to stop behaving like a thirteen-year-old kid and act his age. He had finally met a woman who twisted his guts into knots then untied them again just by saying that she’d missed him. He had an opportunity here; he’d be an idiot not to take it.

  He quickly began shifting Brooke’s plate to the far side of Gabe’s. At the same time he said, “Want a seat?”

  She favored him with a bright smile. “Don’t mind if I do.”

  He jumped to pull out and hold her chair. Before he could sit down beside her, Darlene and Macy returned to the table. Gabe showed up in time to get Brooke’s chair and settle A.J. before the pastor claimed everyone’s attention to thank all the volunteers who kept the ministries of the church going. He then asked all of the new volunteers who had come on board since the last luncheon to rise and introduce themselves. Kylie and Zach rose together. He didn’t think a thing about it until Brooke and Gabe did the same. Of course, everyone knew that Brooke and Gabe were a couple. Maybe he and Kylie would be, too.

  That’s what Zach had in mind when Gene and Lynette came by the table a bit later. “We’re ready to head out, hon,” Lynette said to Kylie.