Branded by the Sheriff

by Delores Fossen

  As if she knew what he was thinking, Faith tossed him a glance from over her shoulder.

  Despite the vigor of her pacing, she was exhausted. Her eyes were sleep-starved, and her face was pale and tight with tension. On some level he understood that tension.

  Her daughter might be in danger, and she was waiting for the little girl to arrive with her nanny and the Texas Ranger escort from the Austin airport. Beck hadn’t had the opportunity to be around many babies, but he figured the parental bond was strong, and the uncertainty was driving Faith crazy.

  “You’re staring at me,” she grumbled.

  Yeah. He was.

  Beck glanced back at his desk, but the glance didn’t take. For some stupid reason, his attention went straight back to Faith. To her tired expression. Her tight muscles. The still damp hair that she hadn’t had a chance to dry after her shower.

  Noticing her hair immediately made him uncomfortable. But then so did Faith. Dealing with a scrawny eighteen-year-old was one thing, but Faith was miles away from being that girl. She was poised and polished, even now despite the damp hair. A woman in every sense of the word.

  Hell. That made him uncomfortable, too.

  “I figure you’re having second thoughts about accepting the ADA job,” he grumbled, hoping conversation would help. It was a fishing expedition since she’d kept her thoughts to herself the entire time she had been waiting for her daughter and the nanny to arrive.

  “You wish,” she tossed at him. “The DA and the city council want me here, and I have to just keep telling myself that not everyone in town hates me like the Tanners.”

  Okay. No second thoughts. Well, not any that she would likely voice to him. She had dug in her heels, unlike ten years ago when she’d left town running. Part of him, the part he didn’t want to acknowledge, admired her for not wavering in her plans. She certainly hadn’t shown much backbone or integrity ten years ago.

  She flipped open her cell phone again and pressed redial. Beck didn’t have to ask who she was calling. He knew it was the nanny. Faith had called the woman at least every half hour.

  “How much longer?” Faith asked the moment the woman apparently answered. The response made her relax a bit, and she seemed to breathe easier when she added, “See you then.”

  “Good news?” he asked when she didn’t share.

  “They’ll be here in about fifteen minutes.” She raked her hair away from her face. “I should have just gone to the airport to meet them.”

  “The Texas Rangers didn’t want you to do that,” Beck reminded her, though he was certain she already knew that. The Ranger lieutenant and her new boss, the DA, had ordered her to stay put at the sheriff’s office.

  The order was warranted. It was simply too big of a risk for her to go gallivanting all over central Texas when there might be a killer on her trail.

  “So what’s the plan when your daughter arrives?” Beck asked.

  “Since the Texas Rangers said they’ll be providing security, we’ll check in to the hotel on Main Street.” She didn’t hesitate, which meant, in addition to the calls and pacing, she’d obviously given it plenty of thought. “Then tomorrow morning, I can start putting some security measures in place.”

  He’d overheard her conversations with the Rangers about playing bodyguard and the other conversation about those measures. She was having a high-tech security system installed in her childhood home. In a whispered voice, she’d asked the price, which told Beck that she didn’t have an unlimited budget. No surprise there. Faith had come from poor trash, and it’d no doubt taken her a while to climb out of that. She probably didn’t have money to burn.

  She made a soft sound that pulled his attention back to her. It was a faint groan. Correction, a moan. And for the first time since he’d seen her in the shower, there was a crack in that cool composure.

  “I have to know if you’re a real sheriff,” she said, her voice trembling. “I have to know if it comes down to it that you’ll protect my daughter.”

  Because the vulnerable voice had distracted him, it took him a second to realize she’d just insulted the hell out of him.

  Beck stood and met her eye-to-eye. “This badge isn’t decoration, Faith,” he said, and he tapped the silver star clipped to his belt.

  She just stared at him, apparently not convinced. “I want you to swear that you’ll protect Aubrey.”

  Riled now, Beck walked closer. Actually, too close. No longer just eye-to-eye, they were practically toe-to-toe. “I. Swear. I’ll. Protect. Aubrey.” He’d meant for his tone to be dangerous. A warning for her to back down.

  She didn’t. “Good.”

  Faith actually sounded relieved, which riled him even more. Hell’s bells. What kind of man did she think he was if he wouldn’t do his job and protect a child?

  Or Faith, for that matter?

  And why did it suddenly feel as if he wanted to protect her?

  Oh, yeah. He remembered. She was attractive, and mixed with all that sudden vulnerability, he was starting to feel, well, protective.

  Among other things.

  “Thank you,” she added.

  It was so sincere, he could feel it.

  So were the tears that shimmered in her eyes. Sincere tears that she quickly blinked back. “For the record, I’m a good lawyer. And I’ll be a good ADA.” Now she dodged his gaze. “I have to succeed at this. For Aubrey. I want her to be proud of me, and I want to be proud of myself. I’ll convince the people of this town that I’m not that same girl who tried to run away from her past.”

  She turned and waved him off, as if she didn’t want him to respond to that. Good thing. Because Beck had no idea what to say. He preferred the angry woman who’d barked at him in the shower. He preferred the Faith that’d turned tail and run ten years ago.

  This woman in front of him was going to be trouble.

  His brother had once obviously been attracted to her. Beck could see why. Those eyes. That hair.

  That mouth.

  His body started to build a stupid fantasy about Faith’s mouth when thankfully there was a rap at his door. Judging from Corey’s raised eyebrow, he hadn’t missed the way Beck had been looking at Faith.

  “What?” Beck challenged.

  Corey screwed up his mouth a moment to indicate his displeasure. “I took a plaster of one of the footprints like you said. It’s about a size ten. That’s a little big for one of the Kendrick kids.”

  Beck had never believed this was a prank. Heck, he wasn’t even sure it was a scare tactic. Those rocks had been meant to send Faith running, and Beck didn’t think the killer was finished.

  “I’ll send the plaster and the two rocks to the Rangers lab in Austin tomorrow morning.” With that, Corey walked away.

  Realizing that he needed to put some distance between him and Faith, Beck took a couple of steps away from her.

  “My brother wears a size-ten shoe,” Faith provided.

  He stopped moving away and stared at her again. “So does your sister’s ex, Nolan.”

  She blinked, apparently surprised he would know that particular detail.

  “Even though the murders didn’t happen here in my jurisdiction, I’ve been studying his case file,” Beck explained.

  Another blink. “I hope that means you’re close to figuring out who killed my mother and sister.”

  “I’ve got it narrowed down just like you do.” He shrugged. “You think it’s Nolan. I think it’s your brother, Darin, working with Nolan. The only other person I need to rule out is your daughter’s father.”

  She folded her arms over her chest. Looked away. “He’s not in the picture.”

  “So you said in your statement to the Rangers, but I have to be sure that he’s not the one who put those rocks through the window.”

  “I’m sure he has no part in this,” she snapped. “And that brings us back to Darin and Nolan. Darin really doesn’t have a motive to come after me—”

  “But he does,” Beck inter
rupted. “It could be the house and the rest of what your mother owned.”

  Faith shook her head. “My mother disowned Darin four years ago. He can’t inherit anything.”

  “Does your brother know that?”

  “Darin knows.” There was a lot emotion and old baggage that came with the admission. The disinheritance had probably sparked a memorable family blowup. Beck would take her word for it that Darin had known he couldn’t benefit financially from the murders.

  “That leaves Nolan,” Beck continued. “While you were on the phone, I did some checking. Your sister, Sherry, lived with Nolan for years, long enough for them to have a common-law marriage. And even though they hadn’t cohabited in the eighteen months prior to her death, they never divorced. That means he’d legally be your mother’s next of kin…if you and your daughter were out of the way.”

  Her eyes widened, and her arms uncrossed and dropped to her sides. “You think Nolan would kill me to inherit that rundown house?”

  “Not just the house. It comes with three acres of land and any other assets your mother left. She only specified in her will that her belongings would go to her next of kin, with the exclusion of Darin.”

  “The land, the house and the furniture are worth a hundred thousand, tops,” she pointed out.

  “People have killed for a lot less. That’s why I alerted every law-enforcement agency to pick up Nolan the moment he’s spotted. I want him in custody so I can question him.”

  That caused her to chew on her bottom lip, and Beck wondered if she was ready to change her mind about staying in town. “I have to draw up my will ASAP. I can write it so that Nolan can’t inherit a penny. And then I need to let him know that. That’ll stop any attempts to kill me.”

  Maybe.

  Unless there was a different reason for the murders.

  The front door opened, and just like that, Faith raced out of his office and into the reception area. Corey was at the desk, by the dispatch phone, and Faith practically flew right past him to get to the three people who’d just stepped inside.

  A Texas Ranger and a sixtysomething-year-old Hispanic woman carrying a baby in pink corduroy overalls and a long-sleeved lacy white shirt. Aubrey.

  Faith pulled the little girl into her arms and gave her a tight hug. Aubrey giggled and bounced, the movement causing her mop of brunette hair to bounce as well.

  Beck hadn’t really known what to expect when it came to Faith’s daughter, but he’d at least thought the child would be sleeping at this time of night. She wasn’t. She was alert, smiling, and her brown eyes were the happiest eyes he’d ever seen.

  “Sgt. Egan Caldwell,” the Ranger introduced himself first to Beck and then to Faith.

  “Sheriff Beck Tanner.”

  “Marita Dodd,” the nanny supplied. Unlike the little girl, this woman’s dark eyes showed stress, concern and even some fear. She was petite, barely five feet tall, and a hundred pounds, tops, but even with her demure size and sugar-white hair, she had an air of authority about her. “Aubrey’s obviously got her second wind. Unlike the rest of us.”

  “Ms. Matthews,” the Ranger said to Faith. “Could I have word with you?” He didn’t add the word alone, but his tone certainly implied it.

  “Of course.” After another kiss on the cheek, Faith passed the child back to the nanny, and she and Sgt. Caldwell went to the other side of the reception area to have a whispered conversation.

  Beck watched Faith’s expression to see if she was about to get bad news, but if her brother had been caught or was dead, then why hadn’t the Ranger told Beck as well? After all, Beck was assisting with the case.

  “I really have to go the ladies’ room,” Marita Dodd said. That brought Beck’s attention back to her.

  “Down the hall, last room on the right,” Beck instructed.

  But Marita didn’t go. She glanced at Aubrey, then at Faith, and finally thrust Aubrey in his direction. “Would you mind holding her a minute?”

  Beck was sure his mouth dropped open. But if Marita noticed his stunned response, she didn’t react. Aubrey reacted though. The little girl went right to him. Straight into his arms.

  And then she did something else that stunned Beck.

  Aubrey grinned and planted a warm, sloppy kiss on his cheek.

  That rendered him speechless and cut his breath. Man. That baby kiss and giggle packed a punch. In that flash of a moment, he got it. He understood the whole parent thing and why men wanted to be fathers.

  He got it, and he tried to push it aside.

  This was the last child on earth to whom he should have an emotional response.

  Aubrey babbled something he didn’t understand and cocked her head to the side as if waiting for him to reply. She kept those doe eyes on him.

  “I don’t know,” Beck finally answered.

  That caused her to smile again, and she aimed her tiny fingers at the Ranger vehicle parked just outside the window. “Tar,” she said as if that explained everything.

  “Car?” Beck questioned, not sure what he was supposed to say.

  “Tar,” she repeated. Then added, “Bye-bye.”

  Another smile. Another kiss that left his cheek wet and smelling like baby’s breath. And she wound her plump arms around his neck. The child obviously wasn’t aware that he was a stranger at odds with her mother.

  Beck was having a hard time remembering that, too.

  Well, he was until he heard Faith storming his way. Her footsteps slapped against the hardwood floor. “Aubrey,” she said, taking the child from his arms.

  While Beck understood Faith’s displeasure at having him hold her baby, Aubrey showed some displeasure, too.

  “No, no, no,” Aubrey protested and reached for Beck again. She waggled her fingers at him, a gesture that Beck thought might mean “come here.”

  “This won’t take but another minute,” the Ranger interjected. He obviously wasn’t finished talking to Faith.

  Faith huffed. Aubrey continued to struggle to get back to Beck, and she clamped her small but persistent hand onto the front of his shirt. They were still in the middle of the little battle when the phone rang. The deputy, Corey, answered it, but immediately passed the phone to Beck.

  “It’s your brother,” Corey announced.

  Great. This was not a conversation Beck wanted to have tonight.

  Faith practically snapped to attention, and despite Aubrey’s protest, she carried the child back across the room and resumed her conversation with the Ranger.

  “Pete,” Beck greeted his brother. “What can I do for you?”

  “You can tell me if what I heard is true,” Pete stated. “Is Faith Matthews back in town?”

  Because he was going to need it, Beck took a deep breath. “She’s here.”

  With that, Faith angled her eyes in his direction. Hearing his brother’s voice and seeing Faith was a much-needed reminder of the past.

  “Why did she come back?” Pete didn’t ask in anger. There was more dread in his voice than anything else.

  “She’s the new assistant district attorney. I didn’t tell you sooner because I didn’t think she was coming until next month. It wasn’t my decision to hire her. It was the DA’s.”

  “It’s for sure? The DA actually hired her?”

  “Yeah. It’s for sure.”

  “Then I’ll have a chat with him,” Pete insisted.

  Beck had already had that chat, and the DA wouldn’t budge. Pete wouldn’t, either. His brother would talk and argue with the DA, too, but in the end the results would be the same—Faith would still be the new ADA.

  “In the meantime, you do whatever it takes to get Faith Matthews away from here,” Pete continued. “I don’t want her upsetting Nicole.”

  Nicole, Pete’s wife of nearly a dozen years. This would definitely upset her. Nicole was what his grandmother would have called high-strung. An argument would give Nicole a migraine. A fender bender would send her running to her therapist over in Austin.

/>   This would devastate her.

  “There’s a lot to be resolved,” Beck told his brother.

  “What does that mean?”

  Heck, he was just going to say it even though he knew Faith would overhear it. “It means Faith might change her mind about staying.”

  Yeah, that earned him a glare from her. He hadn’t expected anything less. But then she glared at whatever the Ranger said, too. Her glare was followed by a look of extreme shock. Wide eyes. Drained color from her cheeks. Her mouth trembled, and he wasn’t thinking this was a fear reaction. More like anger.

  “I’ll call you back in the morning,” Beck continued with his brother. “In the meantime, get some sleep.”

  “Right.” With that final remark, Pete hung up.

  Beck hung up, too, and braced himself for the next round of battle he was about to have with Faith. But when he saw her expression, he rethought that battle. No more shock. Something had taken the fight right out of her.

  Sgt. Caldwell stopped talking to Faith and made his way back to Beck. “I got a call on the drive over here. The crime lab reviewed the surveillance disk you sent us. The one from Doolittle’s convenience store. They were able to positively identify your suspect.”

  Beck let that sink in a moment. Across the room while holding a babbling happy baby, Faith was obviously doing the same.

  “So Darin Matthews was in LaMesa Springs?” Beck clarified.

  The Ranger nodded. “We can also place him just five miles from here. About four hours ago, he filled up at a gas station on I-35.”

  Everything inside Beck went still. “Any reason he wasn’t arrested?”

  “The clerk thought Darin looked familiar, but he didn’t make the connection with the wanted pictures in the newspaper until Darin had already driven away. But the store had auto security feeds to the company that monitors them, and that means we had fast access to the surveillance video. That’s how we were able to make such a quick ID.”

  So Darin had come back, and he might have thrown those rocks with the threatening messages through Faith’s window. “You didn’t see Nolan Wheeler on either surveillance feed?” Beck asked.