B.J. Daniels - Outlaw's Honor

“Sheriff?” Finn Marsh said in surprise as she looked up.

He hadn’t realized she was back in town since, not only had he gone to school with her, she’d also dated his brother Hawk. “Finn, I didn’t know you were working here.”

“Again,” she said ruefully. “Just like in high school.”

He knew she’d gone away to college and gotten a job. He couldn’t remember doing what. Strange that she was back, he thought. “I know you’re busy. I just need to ask you if you remember selling three local girls these shoes?”

Finn smiled and nodded. “Funny you should ask. They bought them at the same time. The reason I remember is that Tori and Wendy used their mother’s credit cards and the other girl paid with what looked like her piggy bank money—mostly small bills and coins. It was painful to watch.”

“Is that unusual for a kid to pay with money they’ve saved?”

“No, but it was strange. I got the feeling that Tori and Wendy were forcing her to buy the shoes.” Finn shook her head. “I know it sounds crazy, but I was thinking they might be bullying her since the girl wasn’t one of them, you know what I mean?”

“Who was the girl?”

“Laralee Fraser.”

He knew the Fraser family. The father was a truck driver on the road a lot. The mother took in laundry. The family barely scraped by. So what was Laralee doing buying expensive tennis shoes with Tori and Wendy? He didn’t like the sound of this at all given that the shoe prints had turned up at three of the four break-ins. This sounded like the three were in some kind of cahoots. Or that the two were setting Laralee up to take the fall for the break-ins.

He thanked Finn and walked back up front to replace the tennis shoe he’d borrowed.

“I don’t think they have those in your size,” said a familiar female voice behind him. He turned to find his ex-wife, Celeste, smiling up at him.

One of the things that had attracted him to her in the first place was that she was adorable, from her button nose and her big green eyes to her bow-shaped mouth and her blond bob. Celeste had been a cheerleader, one of the popular girls in school, the girl most likely to marry well.

Her only misstep had been marrying him. But she’d rectified that by having an affair with Wayne Duma, one of the movers and shakers in town. The now Mrs. Wayne Duma was the last person he wanted to see.

“Celeste.”

“It’s good to see you, Flint. I’ve been thinking about you a lot.”

This was definitely not what he wanted to hear.

“I didn’t like the way we left it, the last time we saw each other,” she said, actually sounding nervous. But that, like so much of her, could be an act.

Keeping his voice down, he said, “The last time we saw each other, I made it clear I wanted nothing to do with you.”

“I know you were angry—”

“Celeste, why can’t you leave me alone?”

Her eyes filled with tears. “You really don’t know?”

“I know you can’t stand the thought that I might move on, might find some happiness with someone other than you.”

“You can’t think you’ll find happiness with Maggie” She scoffed at the idea.

What had it been about Maggie that had made Celeste come after him again? He’d dated other women and Celeste hadn’t seemed to care one way or another. But Maggie had set her off. Was it because she saw that he had true feelings for the woman?

“I’m not discussing this with you. I can be with anyone I want.”

“But Maggie? She’s so wrong for you.”

He glanced toward the owner of the store, knowing she was probably listening to all of this. He lowered his voice. “It’s none of your business, but I’m not seeing Maggie anymore.”

Celeste looked as relieved as if he’d told her his cancer was in remission. “I think that’s for the best.”

He shook his head in disgust. “I don’t care what you think. It’s none of your damned business.” He’d raised his voice again. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw the owner shoot them a glance.

“See, now you’re getting angry again.”

“Celeste.” He wanted to wring the woman’s neck. “Leave. Me. Alone. Stay out of my business. Stay out of my life.” He turned and stormed out of the store, but he could feel her gaze boring into his back—along with that of the owner of the store.

Just saying Maggie’s name made his heart hurt. He hadn’t seen her for months—as badly as he’d wanted to. He couldn’t explain it to himself. It wasn’t because he still felt anything for Celeste other than a growing hatred and fear. Fear of what Celeste might do if he were to start seeing Maggie again.

The thought made him wonder if he was as crazy as his ex-wife. What did he think Celeste would do?

But look what she’d done in the past. Interrupted his last two dates with Maggie and come between them. He feared there was something terribly wrong with his ex-wife and he didn’t want her near Maggie.

Or was that exactly what Celeste wanted him to believe so she could control him and keep him away from the one woman he might find happiness with?

* * *

THE WORKDAY PASSED quickly since it was summer and the saloon was busy the whole time. Darby did his best to watch Mariah and still hold down the bar. What he did see was efficiency. She was even better at this than Kendall, which was saying a lot. He couldn’t help being impressed.

“Do you have a tip jar behind the bar?” she asked as she handed over the money with her first order. Clearly she knew he didn’t trust her and wanted to make sure every transaction was taken care of right away. She wasn’t going to give him any reason to mistrust her.

When it got so busy even he was having trouble keeping up, Mariah came behind the bar and got her own beer and even helped make a couple of the more time-consuming drinks.

When he did have a moment to think, he thought about what she’d said about stealing from a Romani.

“You’re really good at this,” he said as the last patron left and he was able to bolt the door closed for the night and turn out all but the lights behind the bar.

“Thanks.” She sighed as if tired. He knew he was. But she didn’t look tired. She looked...beautiful. A lock of her dark hair had fallen down to curve around her high cheekbone. It made her eyes look even darker. For a moment, their gazes met. He felt his breath escape him. That feeling he’d had at the Chokecherry Festival of being shot through the heart was mild compared to this one. He was right. The woman had put a curse on him, he thought as he dragged his gaze away.

“Give me a minute and I can settle up with you on the tips.”

“Don’t worry about that tonight.” Her voice was low, sultry in the empty bar, darkness deep against the windows. “But I would love a glass of wine. Red. Something cheap and sweet would be wonderful.”

He laughed as he looked at her again. “I took you for something more exotic. Champagne, maybe.”

“Really?” She moved with fluid grace to the bar, slid up on a stool and, dropping her elbows to the bar top, cupped her chin in her hands as she settled her gaze on him. “Was it my backpack with my entire life in it? Or my bike?”

“I haven’t seen a bike like yours before.”

“You know motorcycles?”

“I know horses, but I can appreciate a vintage bike like that,” he said as he poured her a glass of wine and himself a diet cola.

“It was my father’s. It has a 750 cc V-twin engine so it moves. Gets good gas mileage. I can go over three hundred miles on a tank of gas.” She shrugged. “It gets me where I want to go.”

“And where is that?” he asked, seeing her obvious love of the bike that had belonged to her father.