The Cowboy Lawman. Brenda Minton

back lightly.

      “Yes, I did.” She always locked her doors. Out of habit she reached for her sidearm. But she didn’t have one. She stepped toward the door, listening. She leaned against the door frame, motioning her grandmother back. Her weapon was in the house. Locked up, but if a person didn’t mind breaking down a front door, he wouldn’t have a problem breaking into a gun cabinet.

      “Mia, I’m calling 911.” Her grandmother’s voice shook as she whispered from a few feet away.

      Mia eased through the door. “Stay here and don’t touch anything.”

      She could hear her grandmother already talking to the 911 operator. Mia stepped farther into her living room.

      The cushions were off the sofa and the end tables had been ransacked. She stood in one spot, listening. Nothing. She eased through the house, room by room. Whoever had been here was gone now.

      But someone had definitely been in her house, in her sanctuary, the place she’d kept separate from her job, that life. This had been her place of light, away from the dark world that always felt too much like her childhood.

      A world she kept going back to, even though she’d escaped from it.

      A car pulled up. A radio squawked. Mia walked out the front door and met a county deputy coming up the sidewalk.

      “The house is clear.” She motioned him inside.

      “You went in?” He stepped to the door, pushing it open with his gloved hand. “No sign of forced entry.”

      Another car cruised down the road and pulled in. She smiled at Caleb, standing next to her, thinking to reassure him. He appeared to be having the time of his life. At five, everything was an adventure. She did have a moment’s hesitation when she thought about explaining this to Slade.

      The second car was unmarked. The trooper nodded to Mia’s grandmother and to Caleb.

      “I’d like for you all to take a seat in my car until we’ve looked the house over.”

      “Jim, the house is clear.” Mia protested and the trooper shook his head.

      “Mia, I’m asking you to let us do our job.” He pointed to his car. She sighed and headed that way with her grandmother and Caleb. “I’m going, but not because I want to.”

      He laughed as he walked through her front door. “Mia, I wouldn’t expect anything else from you.”

      “What’s going on?” Caleb slid into the backseat of the sedan.

      “Just being careful, Caleb.” Mia stood outside, peering in at her grandmother and Slade’s son. She had put them in danger. She should have gone to the ranch after church, then none of this would have happened. She could have come home alone, noticed the unlocked door and handled things herself.

      The boy leaned forward, watching her house through the window. “But why?”

      Oh, yes, the questions. She remembered that with Bryan, her youngest brother and with a few foster children the Coopers had taken in over the years. She knew he wouldn’t stop until he had answers.

      “Because my front door was open and because it’s always good to be careful.”

      “Oh.”

      She stepped away from the car door. “I’m going to make a phone call.”

      Her grandmother peered a little too closely. Mia never liked that look. It felt too much like her grandmother knew what she was up to. And Myrna Cooper usually did.

      Mia dialed her phone as she walked away from the car. She waited and finally a soft voice said, “Hello.”

      “Tina, it’s Mia. I wanted to check on you.” She watched as another vehicle came up the road. Slade’s truck. She hadn’t wanted this. He should be in Grove at the hospital.

      “Mia, I...”

      “Tina, what?” Mia’s back tingled and she waited, holding her breath. “Are you and the kids okay?”

      “Of course. Yes, we’re fine.”

      Mia stood there for a long moment. She watched Slade get out of his truck and walk to the car where Caleb still waited, jumping out when he saw his dad. She watched Myrna explain what had happened. Slade looked her way, his eyes narrowing, his mouth tightening in a firm line. He took off his hat and ran a hand through his short, dark hair.

      The tightness in her chest eased and she breathed a little easier. Because Slade was there? She shook it off and returned to Tina and the conversation that had lagged.

      “Tina, maybe you should come visit me.”

      “No, I don’t think so, Mia. I’m fine. Really I am.”

      “I’ll stop by and see you in a few days.” Mia waited and knew that Tina would protest.

      “You really don’t have to do that.”

      “I know I don’t, but I have a doctor’s appointment and I’ll be in Tulsa. I think it would be great if we could have lunch, maybe take the kids out.”

      “That would be good. We’ll talk then.”

      Slade had put his son and her grandmother back in the patrol car. He stood in front of her, hands behind his back, handsome cowboy face a mask of concern. Her eyes connected with his. She wanted to look away because if anyone could read her, it was Slade. She looked away as she finished the conversation.

      “We’ll talk, Tina. And call if you need anything. Anything at all.” She hung up, but made a mental note to call her boss in Tulsa.

      “What’s going on?” Slade asked the minute she slipped the phone into her pocket.

      “How’s your mom? You should be with her.” Mia watched as the officers went back into her house.

      “My mom had a heart attack. Mild, but she’s going to need to rest. My sister is with her now.” His gaze shifted, taking in his son. Mia knew this would be hard. Slade’s mom had been the person filling in since Vicki’s death.

      “I can watch him for you.” The words were out, no taking them back.

      Slade turned, looking at her. “What?”

      “Caleb.” Mia hesitated as she looked at the child sitting next to her grandmother. “If your mom needs to rest, she isn’t going to be able to do that with a five-year-old child in the house. I can watch him for you.”

      “I don’t know.” He glanced at her arm but she thought that was just an excuse.

      “I can handle a kid in my house.” She looked up into his silver-gray eyes.

      Friendship. Easy. Uncomplicated. No problem.

      The officers approached, both looking more relaxed now that they’d been through her house and found it safe. She could have told them it was safe. She was injured—that didn’t mean she’d forgotten how to do her job.

      “We bagged some evidence.” The trooper shrugged. “But it isn’t much. We got a partial print.”

      “I told you...”

      Slade touched her arm, stopping her.

      “Mia, they’re doing their job.”

      “Any idea who or why?” the deputy asked.

      Mia shook her head, but she did have ideas. And she had a really sick feeling in the pit of her stomach that it had something to do with Tina.

      But who did she trust with that information? Her eyes sought Slade’s. He was watching her, suspicious, curious, concerned. Maybe all three.

      She knew she could trust Slade.

      * * *

      Slade watched the patrol cars leave and then he walked with Mia, Myrna Cooper and Caleb