Jennifer Mikels - Big Sky Cowboy

“You, too.”

“I’ll be by the store soon,” she assured with a backhand wave.

Tessa looked in another direction. “That man.” With a nod of her head, she indicated Parrish. “Is he the one who was casting gloom around you?”

“Casting gloom around me?” She had a cute way about her.

“That’s what he was doing,” she said, deadly serious.

“Yeah, that’s Parrish.” Temptation slithered through him to reach out, thread his fingers through silky-looking black hair. He wondered if the strands felt as soft as they looked. “Warren Parrish,” he added and wondered if he was losing perspective, letting his attraction for her interfere with why he was with her. “Parrish came to town and claimed he was married to my aunt. Harriet had never mentioned him or being married.”

“Have you checked this out?”

“They’re doing that.”

She met his gaze. “The sheriff?”

“Holt Tanner, the deputy sheriff, is checking on him.” He didn’t like having to sit back and let someone else handle everything. “So far there’s no new leads, no real suspects. I’ll get the truck.” On the way home, he might stop at the vet’s. The mare was prime for breeding but still wasn’t pregnant.

“She is pregnant, you know.”

It took a second for her words to sink in. This was nuts. He didn’t believe she had some psychic vision about his horse. Over his shoulder, he leveled his best no-nonsense look at her. “No, she isn’t.” He’d been informed a week ago that the test had been negative. He kept walking without another look back. She’d heard he was concerned about the mare. She was trying to mess with his head. Well, she was wasting her time. He didn’t believe in psychics, karma, transcendental babble. He’d never even liked magic shows.

“Colby.” Henry fell in step beside him. “You need to know something.”

In no mood for conversation with Henry, he only slowed his stride instead of stopping. He wasn’t twenty feet from his truck. The conversation would be brief, he hoped.

“People aren’t too sure about her—that Tessa Madison.”

That stopped him. He’d never worried what other people thought about something that was his business. “I didn’t know you knew her well enough to have an opinion,” Colby challenged. He’d always favored the underdog. That was his father’s doing. Bud Holmes had studied law for a while before his father’s death had forced him to take over the family ranch. He’d taught his son to believe in honesty and a fair chance for everyone. Colby figured Tessa Madison deserved one, too.

“Just telling you what I heard. She was arrested last year while living somewhere else. You might want to stay clear of her.”

Colby drilled a hard look at him. “Sounds like gossip to me, Henry.” What could she have done to be arrested? Fraud? A scam?

Henry started to move away. “Don’t say you weren’t warned.”

Colby scowled after him, then unlocked his truck. Minutes later, with the help of the mayor, Pierce Dalton, he’d loaded the desk onto the bed of his truck.

“That was nice of the mayor,” Tessa said while settling in the passenger’s seat. “People really like him.”

He picked up on her small talk. “He’s with Chelsea, you know,” he reminded her.

She released a soft laugh, a soft and sensuous-sounding laugh. A laugh that sent a jolt through him. “Yes, I do know that. They’re planning a wedding. And no, I’m not interested in our mayor.”

Colby was surprised. A lot of single women in town were disappointed when Pierce got engaged to Chelsea. At the end of the block, Colby maneuvered the truck around the corner to her store.

“I have a furniture dolly at the store,” she said as he braked.

Colby flicked off the ignition. Before he could respond, she jumped out of the truck. Was she always so high-energy or was he making her nervous? Meeting her on the sidewalk, he held out a hand. “Give me the keys and—”

With an airy stride, she ambled ahead of him toward the back of the house. “Don’t need them.”

Okay, Rumor wasn’t the crime capital of the nation, but good sense made most people lock doors. “Why don’t you lock?”

“It doesn’t work.”

He said the logical thing. “Then buy a new one.”

She stilled, grinned at him. “Why?”

“Don’t you worry about a burglar?”

“Why should I? Only someone who believed in what I sell would be interested in my merchandise. At present, that number is few.”

Logic. Amazing. She’d made her point with logic. “A woman alone should lock the door.”

“I do plan to contact a locksmith,” she assured him with a more serious look.

Colby liked her smile. “Did you have fun at my expense?”

“A little.” She reached for the doorknob, opened the door but paused. “You’ve been warned about me, haven’t you?”

He’d never put much faith in anything Henry said. My mother thinks you’re the best thing that’s happened to this town.”

A smile sprang to her face. “You’re kidding?”

“A breath of fresh air.”

“If only everyone thought that way,” she said wistfully.

“Tessa, is that you?” The blonde with the singsong voice charged into the storeroom. The moment she spotted him, she skidded to a stop. “Oh, hi.”

Colby grinned. She looked surprised and flustered. Hi.” He’d had his share of rodeo groupies. It harmed no one for him to be pleasant.

Tessa lifted a brow but said nothing about her assistant’s reaction. “I didn’t think you’d still be here, Marla.”

“Jolie and I were talking after I locked up. She wants to know if you think her ghost will like—”

Another voice interrupted. “Oh, don’t bother her now.” A carrot-colored redhead stood in the doorway that connected the storeroom to the front of the store. “Come on, Marla,” Jolie said, and snagged the younger woman’s arm to pull her into the store.

Colby waited until they were alone. “Her ghost?”

“She has a friendly one.”

“Is there such a thing?”

“Some spirits are malevolent.”

“How do you know if…” He stopped himself, not believing he was having a conversation about ghosts.

“I hope Marla and Jolie didn’t make you uncomfortable. They aren’t too subtle about their matchmaking. And they’re always trying to find me my soul mate.” A hint of humor sparkled in her eyes. “Regina, Marla’s sister, assured me that love would only happen if it’s in the stars.”

In the stars. That kind of thinking belonged to a romantic. He wasn’t one of them. “Isn’t there some guy somewhere?”

“No, there isn’t. Do you want to get the desk?”

“Sure.” Before stepping away, he touched a corner of the old desk. “What about this one?”

“I’m moving it outside behind the store. The neighbor two doors down wants it.”

Colby spent the next few moments transferring desks. After moving the new one inside, he left to take the other one to her neighbor. The man rattled off a dozen thank-yous before Colby left. Returning to Tessa’s store, he found her on the phone, frowning.

She set down the receiver, offered a weak smile. “Thank you for helping with the desks.”

“It’s okay.” She had trouble, had no good reason to share it with him, but she looked as if she needed a sympathetic shoulder. “You have a problem?”

“You’ll probably hear about it.” She set a cup with a whimsical drawing of a black cat on the desk. “That was my landlady. Esther Dugan.”

Esther had been his fourth-grade teacher. Never had he heard her say a harsh word to anyone. “I didn’t know she owned the place.” He wandered to a counter. “Sweet lady,” he said, staring at a deck of tarot cards.