The Sheriff's Son (11 page)

Roy glanced at the boy. “Have you ever had your eyelashes singed?”

Charlie's head swung back and forth. “Nope. But Mommy has. She got too close when she was building a fire in the fireplace.”

“Your mommy needs to be more careful. We wouldn't want anything to happen to her.”

Justine's heart felt as if it were tearing into jagged pieces. As she took in the sight of her son and his father, it almost seemed as if the three of them were a real family. But they weren't, and she'd be crazy to ever think they could be.

Misty-eyed, Justine continued to watch the two of them until the fire was burning and they started back into the house.

Quickly stepping away from the door, she went over to the cabinet counter and began opening the cans of beans.

“Is everything going all right in here?” Roy asked.

Sniffing, she plastered a smile on her face, then glanced over her shoulder at him. “Sure. Did you get the fire started?”

Charlie, who'd sidled up to Roy, gave his mother a proud nod. “We sure did.”

Roy patted the top of his head. “My sidekick here did most of the work.”

As Charlie continued to beam from ear to ear, Justine knew that this outing today with Roy was one her son would never forget. And she was glad that he was having this bit of time with his father, even if it might be the only time.

“Will it be long till the food is ready?” Charlie asked.

Justine nodded. “You'll have to find something to do until the steaks cook.”

“I'll go play with Levi.”

“Wait a minute,” Roy told him. He walked over to the cabinets and pulled a mangled rubber ball from a drawer. Handing it to Charlie, he said, “Levi loves to play fetch. The farther you throw it, the better be likes it.”

“What if I throw the ball so far Levi can't find it?”

Roy chuckled and gave Justine a sidelong wink. “Don't worry, partner, Levi has a nose like a hound. He'll sniff the ball out no matter where you throw it.”

“Boy! He must be some dog. I'm gonna try it!”

“Just stay away from the river,” Justine cautioned him.

“I know, Mommy. I will.”

Charlie raced out the screen door and off the deck. Justine gave Roy a wry smile. “I guess you can tell he's enjoying himself.”

“He doesn't appear to be bored.”

Now that Charlie had gone outside, the kitchen seemed much smaller. Her heart began to thud faster, and every nerve in her body tightened with anticipation. Of what, she didn't quite know. She only knew that the sight of Roy's hard, masculine body standing so near to her was a temptation she wasn't used to dealing with.

“Charlie loves doing anything outdoors,” she told him. “Especially if it involves horses or dogs.”

A faint smile touched his face. “You know, I never thought I liked children that much. I didn't know what they
were like, and I wasn't sure I cared to know. But after being around Charlie and the twins—”

He took a deep breath, then let it out slowly. Justine got the impression he was embarrassed by his newfound feelings. But that wasn't surprising. Roy had always been… maybe not a macho man, but a tough man's man. She supposed it was a surprise to him to discover he had a soft spot for little ones. It certainly surprised her.

“You realize how special they are,” she finished for him.

He nodded. “Yeah. I guess that's what I'm trying to say.”

Not stopping to question herself, she closed the small space between them and laid her hand on his forearm. “Feeling tender toward children doesn't make you any less of a man, Roy. Only more.”

He looked down at her small, soft hand, curled around his arm. It felt so good to have her touching him like this, to know she'd done it of her own accord and not because he'd riled her into it.

“Well, I don't figure it makes much difference. I doubt I'll ever have any children of my own.”

Now is the time, Justine, a voice inside her whispered loudly. Tell him about Charlie. Tell him that he already has a son.

As the urging of the voice swirled around in her head, something else hit her, something so strong and overwhelming, she couldn't stop herself from inching closer and lifting her face up to his.

“Roy, I—” She stopped as all sorts of words tangled in a confused wad on her tongue. She was full of the need to give to him, yet terrified that she had nothing he wanted from her. “Kiss me, will you?”

She could see a look of surprise flicker in his eyes, and then, suddenly, it didn't matter that she was behaving recklessly. His mouth settled over hers, and sweet contentment
poured through her body, urged her onto her tiptoes and her arms around his lean waist.

He kissed her not for just a moment, but for a long time. With one hand on her face and the other threaded through the hair above her ear, he tasted every curve of her lips, explored the sharp edge of her teeth with his tongue.

Justine's palms slid up his chest, then settled around the hard muscles of his neck. He felt warm and wonderful and so right. And as Justine gave her mouth to him, she realized she'd only just now come home to the Hondo Valley. She knew in the deepest part of her that Roy was the only man who could make her feel this way, the only man she would ever want to love her like this.

Roy finally lifted his head and gazed down at her. Caressing her cheek with his thumb, he said in a thick voice, “It's been a long time since I've had an invitation like that from you.”

Now that there was a bit of space between them, the reality of what she'd just done hit Justine like an avalanche. She'd more or less told him she wanted him. Dear Lord, what must he be thinking?

Color swept across her cheeks, and her eyes dropped to the center of his chest. “Yes. A long time,” she agreed, her voice low and husky.

“You probably don't want to tell me why, do you?”

“Why?” she asked shakily.

His thumb slid beneath her chin and tilted her face up to his searching eyes. “Why you wanted me to kiss you.”

Now that sanity had crept back in, Justine felt like an idiot. So what if she still loved Roy? That didn't mean he had any sort of feelings toward her. Other than friendship, she told herself. But friends didn't kiss. Not the way Roy had just kissed her.

“No,” she said.

He grimaced, and she threw up her hands in a gesture of surrender. “Oh, all right. You're a good-looking man,
Roy. You know that without me telling you. And I was simply tempted by the sight of you.”

He didn't appear to be a bit convinced. “My looks are the same as they were a few days ago, and you sure as heck weren't inviting me to kiss you then. In fact, you insisted you didn't like my company.”

Annoyed with herself more than with him, she twisted away from the hold he had on her waist and walked over to the screen door. “I know you're the sheriff, but do you interrogate every woman who invites you to kiss her?”

Frowning, he said, “I know you won't believe this, but you're the only woman who's issued such an invitation to me.”

She grunted mockingly. “You're right, I don't believe it.” Whirling back around to him, she said, “Roy, I wish you'd forget the whole thing. Women have urges, just like men do. I had an urge, nothing more.”

She knew she was making herself sound cheap, but that was better than confessing that she loved him. He didn't want to hear it, and she didn't want to give him the opportunity to throw her heart back in her face.

Roy didn't believe her. Justine wasn't the sort of woman who kissed a man without some sort of feeling behind it. But he wasn't going to push the issue any further. He wasn't sure he wanted to know what had motivated her to suddenly melt in his arms. He liked being around Justine and he liked being around Charlie. But he didn't want to get to liking their company too much. Marla had betrayed him. Justine had walked out on him. He didn't ever want to go through that much pain again. But, dear God, a moment ago it had felt like heaven to have her back in his arms. He hated these swiftly changing feelings he'd been having ever since he'd seen Justine again.

“Don't worry, Roy,” Justine went on, when he continued to remain silent. “I promise not to get any more urges around you. It was just a onetime thing.”

Roy wasn't at all sure that was the sort of promise he wanted from her. “You certainly know how to toy with a man's ego. First you ask him to kiss you, and then you tell him it'll never happen again. I feel like a balloon that's lost its hot air.”

Relief swept through Justine. Apparently he'd decided not to take her kiss seriously. Smiling now, she said, “I'm sure your ego is just fine. Now, don't you think we should check on the fire? I'm sure the steaks are thawed and ready to cook.”

Seeing she was determined to drop the whole thing, he nodded. “You're right. Charlie's going to be yelling he's starving.”

Roy stepped past her and out the door. Closing her eyes, Justine remained where she stood and tried to collect her scattered senses.

Kitty was right. She still loved Roy. So what was she going to do now?

More than an hour later, the three of them had finished a meal of steak, beans and tossed salad. Beneath the shade of a cottonwood, Justine and Roy sat in lawn chairs, drinking coffee. Charlie sat on the ground near their feet as he painstakingly pulled sandburs from Levi's fur.

“Charlie, I think you and I should help Roy clean the table, then go home,” Justine told him. “It's going to be time for you to help Aunt Chloe with the chores.”

Twisting around, he frowned at his mother. “Aw, Aunt Chloe is all fired up over the twins. She won't even notice I'm not there.”

With arched brows, Justine studied her son. As yet, he hadn't shown any jealousy over the twins. He seemed to adore them. Wanting to stay here with Roy was more likely the reason her son was whining.

“You know that isn't true, Charlie. Aunt Chloe will be
expecting you to feed and water Thundercloud and help her with the other horses.”

The boy reluctantly got to his feet. “I guess you're right,” he mumbled.

He obviously wasn't ready to leave Roy's company, and Justine began to wonder if she'd only set her son up for future disappointment. Roy might not feel inclined to invite her and Charlie to his ranch again. And even if he did, she wasn't sure she should come back. With or without her son. Being with Roy was only going to feed her love for him.

Before she could go any further, Roy answered one of her questions.

“Maybe your mother will bring you back sometime soon, Charlie,” he suggested to the boy.

Charlie turned eagerly to his mother. “Will you, Mommy? Can we come back and see Roy tomorrow?”

“No. Not tomorrow. Maybe in a few days.”

Justine rose to her feet. As she did, a beeping noise sounded somewhere close. She watched Roy pull a pager from under the tail of his shirt and read the number. Apparently he'd been carrying the communication device with him all day but no one had tried to contact him until now.

“Looks like I have to go use the phone,” he told Justine. “I'll be back in a minute.”

He hurried on into the house. Justine went up on the deck and began to clear away the dishes on the table where they'd eaten their meal.

She was carrying an armload into the kitchen when Roy appeared from another part of the house. He was buckling his pistol around his hips, and the urgency of his movements sent a surge of fear through her.

“Is something wrong?”

He nodded. “A wanted fugitive was spotted traveling on the highway between Tularosa and Mescalero. A deputy tried to pull him over, and a high-speed chase carried them over into Lincoln County where both vehicles wrecked.
Now the deputy is injured and the fugitive is running on foot in the desert.”

“How awful!” Justine responded. “Is he armed?”

“From the brief report I got, he has some sort of handgun,” Roy answered as he hurried over to a metal cabinet jammed in a corner next to the refrigerator. Quickly he unlocked it, pulled out a pump shotgun and a box of shells. “I've got to get the hounds and get over there and find him.”

Justine crossed the room to him.
“You
have to find him? Why do you have to find him? I thought a sheriff just gave orders and the deputies did the legwork.”

He shot her an annoyed look of disbelief. “One deputy has already been hurt. I don't intend to let another be injured.”

Justine's eyes widened with fear. “But you might be shot at. You could even be killed by this lunatic!”

With a wry twist to his face, he started out the door. “That's what being the sheriff sometimes means, Justine. See ya later.”

By ten o'clock that night, Justine was pacing from one end of the house to the other.

The desert was always a dangerous place to be, especially at night. But Roy was out there tracking down a criminal with a gun. What was happening? she wondered. Was he still out there? Was the hunt over? Had Roy been shot at or hurt?

“Justine, you're walking a hole in the tiles,” Kitty said to her niece as she entered the living room. “Why don't you sit down with your sisters?”

Sighing, Justine went over to the couch and sat down beside Rose, who was reading a magazine.

The older Murdock sister glanced up as the cushion next to her sagged with Justine's weight. “You've been restless ever since you came home this evening. What's the matter?” Rose asked.

Chloe spoke up from across the room. “It's the sheriff. I think our sister has fallen for the steely-eyed lawman.”

“Hush, Chloe, you don't know what you're talking about,” Kitty said sharply.

Both Rose and Chloe looked at their aunt with curious surprise. “What's the matter? I was only teasing my sister a little,” Chloe said defensively. “Besides, she did spend most of the day with the man.”