The Ranger's Texas Proposal. Jessica Keller

“Should I put the hat back on?” He swiveled around to grab the Stetson.

      He had noticed her staring? How embarrassing.

      Josie swallowed hard and forced her eyes down to their plates. “No. You’re fine like that. Just fine.” She set the plate with double the amount of food in front of him and then took her seat across the table. “Would you mind saying grace?”

      “Of course.” Heath nodded and bowed his head. “Father, we thank You for the people we meet and the adventures You take us on. Bless Josie and her baby, keep them both in good health. Bless this food to our bodies, that we’ll use the energy to go out and do things that glorify You. And bless our conversation. In the name of Your Son, Jesus, we ask all these things. Amen.”

      “Amen,” Josie whispered. “Thank you.”

      “Sure.” Heath shrugged and gave her a look that said it was strange to thank someone for saying a prayer. They both dug into their food. Heath passed a compliment her way after every bite.

      “I haven’t eaten that well in...” He leaned back and rested his hands on his abs. “Well, suffice it to say it’s been a long time since this bachelor has had a good meal. I don’t think I’ve ever used the oven back at my apartment for anything beyond frozen pizza.”

      Living off frozen pizza? Josie shivered at the thought. “No Mrs. Grayson, then?”

      “There’s my mother?” He shook his head. “But no, she hasn’t been Mrs. Grayson in fourteen or so years. She’s Mrs. Nye these days.”

      “Dating?” Why was she grilling him?

      “No, ma’am. I’m not exactly the dating type.”

      She pointed her fork at him. “What did I say about the ma’am business?”

      He ran his hand over his hair. “Force of habit, I’m afraid.” Then he rocked forward, pushed his plate to the side and rested his hands on the table. “How about you tell me what happened at the barn last night—go ahead and go into detail, if you will.”

      “Right.” Josie clasped her hands in her lap. “It was just past sunset last night. I know that because the boys were in the dining room with their house parents—there are couples at the ranch who serve as counselors and role models for the boys living there. They had just finished dinner. I was heading out to my truck.”

      “That one out there?” He jutted his thumb toward her driveway.

      “The only one I have.”

      He laid a hand on the table, giving off a relaxed air that Josie knew—from Dale’s training—was all part of the tricks of the trade when it came to getting a witness to feel comfortable in an interview. “Is it safe to drive?”

      “Is this pertinent to my story?”

      “No.” He shifted in his seat. “I apologize. Continue, please.”

      “Well, I was about to unlock my truck but I froze because I heard a clanging sound, and I know that sound because it’s very distinct. I hear it every day.” Josie stopped clenching her hands together. Relax. She wasn’t on trial. Heath was here to help.

      She took a deep breath and continued, “It was the side door to the calf barn. The one I personally had locked before dinner. I’d asked one of the ranch hands—Davy—to grease the door so it wouldn’t frighten the calves anymore, but I guess he hadn’t gotten around to doing that yet. Good thing, too, because if he had, I might not have seen all of this and the calves would be lost.”

      “You’re positive it was locked?”

      “Absolutely. I sent the boys in to wash up for dinner and I stayed back and locked all the doors before I headed in.”

      “So you heard the door open?” he prompted.

      “Yes, and then I saw someone charge out of the barn.”

      “Could you describe them?”

      Of course he’d ask that. She should have used the past few hours to try to draw a better, clearer image from her memory.

      She shrugged. “Medium height, medium build. I’m sorry...that’s all I’ve got.” She blew out some air. “They were wearing a hooded sweatshirt and it was dark out. I never got to see his face.”

      “His? Are you certain it was a man?”

      Questions... Josie took a deep breath. It was Heath’s job to pick apart her story. That was how he found the truth. Josie knew that, but even still, it made her want to shrink. Dale had never been able to turn off his police brain. He spoke to Josie the same way he would a suspect. Maybe that was an across-the-board thing for all people in law enforcement.

      She picked at a chip in her table. “I guess I’m assuming that part.”

      “Do you have any idea who it might have been?”

      “No. I mean, at first I thought it might be one of the older teens from the ranch. They have setbacks sometimes. But it wasn’t one of them.”

      His chair creaked. “You’re positive?”

      “Absolutely. They wouldn’t do something to put the calves in harm’s way. Even if one of them were upset.”

      “Did the person recognize you?”

      “No. Maybe? How would I know? I didn’t recognize them. But I talked... I said my name.” She licked her lips, remembering that detail. She’d called out to the person... It’s Josie. If one of the boys had been in distress, she’d wanted to be able to help them.

      Heath leaned forward.

      Josie pressed on. “The person took off toward the open pasture and I couldn’t chase them.” She gestured toward her abdomen. Pregnant women didn’t run. Hopefully, Heath picked up on that without her stating it. “And as they took off, all the calves spilled out of the barn and started running around the ranch—into the darkness. I couldn’t catch them all, so I called for help and all the boys and the house parents came out and helped corral the calves. We caught them all and were finally able to locate all the boys, too.”

      “Locate the boys?” His head tilted, just by a fraction. “So someone was missing?”

      “Stephen.” Should she have told Heath? She didn’t want him to grill the teen. Stephen had been aloof recently, but he was still on track to go home next month. “He’s seventeen. But he’s a good kid. He didn’t do it.”

      “How can you be certain?”

      “He had a book with him. He’d been out reading.”

      Heath frowned. “Outside? In the dark?”

      “It wasn’t him.”

      Heath’s brow dived. He used his pointer finger to rub under his chin. “How long were you outside before this all happened? Roughly.”

      “Fifteen...maybe twenty minutes maximum.”

      “Alone?” His eyebrows inched closer together with each question. “What were you doing out there for so long?”

      She’d been focusing on how lonely she was. She’d been crying, not looking forward to the quiet back at her cabin. She’d foolishly asked God for a second chance at life and love.

      Josie hid her shaking hands under the table. “Does that matter to the case?”

      “It might.”

      Calm down. “I was thinking. Thinking and watching the sunset. That’s all.”

      He touched the tips of his fingers together. “I ask because I have to determine the suspect’s most probable time of entry into the barn. You didn’t hear someone accessing the barn before then?”

      “Not at all. I’m the one who locked it. All the doors were locked. And that was at least an hour before