Delores Fossen - Branded by the Sheriff

By Beck’s calculation, Faith had been pacing in his office for three hours while she waited for her daughter to arrive. Even when she’d been on the phone, which was a lot, or while giving her official statement to him, she still paced. And while she did that, she continued to check her delicate silver watch.

The minutes were probably dragging by for her.

They certainly were for him.

Beck tried to keep himself occupied with routine paperwork and notes on his current cases. Normally he liked keeping busy. But this wasn’t a normal night.

Faith Matthews was in his office, mere yards away, and sooner or later he was going to have to break the news to his family that she’d returned. Since it was going on midnight, Beck had opted for later, but he knew, with the gossip mill always in full swing, that if he didn’t tell his father, brother and sister-in-law by morning—early morning, at that—then they’d find out from some other source.

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.