Shelley Galloway - Austin - Second Chance Cowboy

“Do you? Maybe you’ve gotten too used to only looking for the worst in people, now that you’re the sheriff and all.”

That hurt. And, with Austin, she feared it might be true. “Let’s talk about something else.”

Flynn popped two more fries in her mouth. “All right.”

“Tell me about everything at work. Have any puppies been brought into the clinic lately?” Even though Flynn and Ace specialized in equines, every so often someone would come in with a litter of puppies.

Flynn’s eyes narrowed, but after yet another sip of her chocolate shake, she smiled. “As a matter of fact, a family brought in a litter of eight beagle pups last week.” She chuckled. “Oh, Dinah, you should’ve seen Ace! He’s so used to working with horses and cows, he hardly knew what to do when those brown, black and white fur balls got loose.”

Dinah smiled at the idea of her confident, capable brother chasing wayward pups. “I bet they were cute.”

“Cute as all get-out!” Patting her swollen stomach, she said, “If we weren’t fixin’ to have our own bundle of joy, I swear I’d have been badgering Ace to let us keep one.”

Imagining a puppy of her own, something soft and sweet to cuddle, she asked, “Whose puppies were they?”

“The Morans. Do you know them?”

“I know of them, but we haven’t had much of an occasion to talk.”

“Are you thinking about getting a puppy? Because if you are, you should stop by Angie and Duke’s place, too. I hear someone left Angie a basket of mongrel pups that are adorable. The price is right, too. They’re free.”

Getting a puppy was a pretty bad idea. And if she got one, it should be something dignified and policeworthy, like a German shepherd or something. After all, Duke had Zorro, and he was a great dog. But beagles were sweethearts…and abandoned mixed-breeds? They needed someone to love them. She could do that. “Maybe.”

“I’ll text you Kim Moran’s phone number if you want. You could give her a call. Or get Duke to take you to his house and look at the free puppies. I’m sure Angie would love to visit with you a bit.”

Ouch. There was another not-too-subtle reminder that she wasn’t doing a very good job of keeping in touch with the family.

Smiling sweetly, Flynn said, “You know what, Dinah? I think a sweet little puppy might just be the thing for you.”

“Because?”

“Because everyone needs someone to love.” Looking like the loved woman she was, Flynn’s eyes sparkled. “Even you, Dinah. Even a tough-as-nails sheriff like you.”

Even her. Thinking about that, her heart sank. Somehow, along the way to being respectable and upstanding and respected…she’d lost a little bit of her softness.

Suddenly, she ached to get it back.

Chapter Four

“Hey, Duke?”

Her deputy spun toward her on the stool he’d just discovered in the back storage closet of their hole-in-the-wall office. “Yep?”

“Tell me the truth. Do you think Austin Wright is responsible for the string of burglaries?”

As was his nature, Duke pondered that one for a moment. “I don’t want him to be. But what we want and what actually is don’t do either of us a lot of good, does it?”

After crossing the room—which meant she took five steps to the left and scooted around a line of metal filing cabinets—she slumped down in her chair. “No, it doesn’t.” Drumming the tips of her fingers on her desk, she looked at him sideways. “How do you want to handle things?”

“I already took a picture of the saddle you saw at Wright’s and sent it to Kevin Johnson. It’s his wife’s. And it had been stolen.”

She was afraid of that. Before she thought the better of it, she blurted what was first and foremost on her mind. “For the life of me, I just can’t imagine Austin stealing that saddle and then sticking it in his store.”

Duke chuckled. “That does sound pretty gutsy, even for Austin.”

It sounded stupid, too. And though Austin might have a lot of problems, stupidity had never been one of them. But she felt honor bound to play devil’s advocate. “I guess there’s always a chance he could be working with the thieves…”

After giving Zorro a brief scratch behind his ears, Duke turned to Dinah. “Want to know what I think?”

“Of course.”

“I think Austin bought it off a guy like he said he did. The people selling the merchandise are smart, Dinah. They’re not stealing and selling it to the public directly.”

“I hear you.” But like a dog with a bone, she couldn’t seem to move from her train of thought. “However, Austin could be more involved than he’s letting on. It’s a possibility.”

“But doubtful.” He paused. “You don’t think he had anything to do with Midnight being stolen, do you?”

She shook her head in a kind of knee-jerk reaction of sorts. “Austin wouldn’t do that. He wouldn’t steal our family’s prize stallion.” Her brother Ace had bid on Midnight at a horse auction a few months back, and nothing around Thunder Ranch had been the same ever since. Midnight had proven to be ornery and proud and wonderful.

Her brother Colt had shown them all that Midnight had a lot more rodeos left in him, too. And then the thieves had struck their ranch, stolen her dad’s beautiful saddle, some of Colt’s bridles…and Midnight had gone missing.

Duke relaxed. “Boy, I’m glad to hear you say you don’t suspect Austin of horse thieving. I can’t see him doing it, either, but I wanted to hear the words from your lips.”

She rolled her shoulders uncomfortably. Her feelings about Austin were knee-deep and confusing as all get-out. But there were some things she couldn’t bear to even imagine him doing.

Stealing Midnight was one of them.

“I’ll follow up on some of the leads we talked about before accusing Austin of anything.”

“That sounds like a good plan to me.”

Realizing that Duke didn’t sound all that interested in the conversation, she looked up from her notes. “Duke, you look pleased about something. I know it’s not saddles. What’s up?”

“Angie and me are going away this weekend.”

“What?”

To her amusement, her cousin’s cheeks flushed. “Remember, we discussed calendars a couple of weeks ago? Luke is going to stay the weekend with the family at the ranch. Beau wants to spend some time with him. While they’re bonding and such, I’m going to take Angie down to Casper, Wyoming.”

“What a great idea.” Both Duke’s trip with Angie and Beau spending time with Luke sounded nice. Since Beau and Duke were twins, Dinah was glad that the wilder of the two brothers was taking so much time to get to know his nephew.

“Oh, it’s not much, but it will be nice to get away. They’ve got a fall festival that’s real popular.”

“I’m sure anything you do will be fun.” Dinah knew Duke loved Angie’s little boy as completely as if he’d been his own son. But that didn’t mean he never craved a little alone time with his new wife. “Have a good time.”

“Oh, we will. And, Dinah?”

“Yeah?”

“I mean this in the best possible way… Don’t call me.”

She chuckled. “Don’t worry, Deputy. This sheriff should be able to handle things just fine for a few days on her own. Let’s just sit tight on this case for a couple of days.”

“Roger that. Besides, I don’t want you to deal with Austin on your own if we figure he is the man behind all our headaches.”

“That sounds good. There are plenty of other things going on.” Looking at the list of messages on her desk, Dinah knew that was practically an understatement.

There had been a rash of problems with some of the high school kids in the area. Nothing too serious—just some graffiti painted on the back of the bleachers of the football stadium, and a couple reports of underage parties in outlying areas.