Holiday in a Stetson: The Sheriff Who Found Christmas / A Rancho Diablo Christmas

“Probably,” he agreed. “So, will you stay a little longer?” he pressed, then felt it only fitting to explain why he was asking something so out of character for him. “Ellie seems to like having you around.”

There was more to it than that and they both knew it. “And you like having me here to deal with her, instead of you having to do so.”

Garrett looked at Lani darkly. He didn’t want her in his head. He had a hard enough time with her in his office and in his house.

“I didn’t say that,” he told her.

“You didn’t have to, Garrett,” she answered with that wide, annoying grin that irritated him to the nth degree. And then she partially redeemed herself by saying, “Yes, I’ll stay. For Ellie’s sake.”

Well, it sure as hell wasn’t for his sake. He’d been doing just fine without any company whatsoever, much less the company of a woman who never stopped talking. She probably talked in her sleep.

“That’s all I’m asking,” he retorted.

It didn’t escape him, even though he made no mention of it, that she had just called him by his first name rather than by his title.

He supposed that was because they were no longer in the office, but it still felt far too personal. However, mentioning it to her might seem as if he was nitpicking. Moreover, if he said something about it, she might leave, and though he really wasn’t thrilled about the fact, he did need her to stay. He wasn’t any good at dealing with someone who was a few years away from reaching puberty.

So he resigned himself to putting up with the lack of barriers around him—for now.

To be honest—and to give the devil her due—he had to marvel at how easily his deputy got along with the solemn little girl. He had the feeling that his niece seemed relieved to have a woman around to talk to. Though she was absolutely nothing like Ellen, Chisholm probably reminded Ellie of her mother, at least to some degree.

His conscience clear, Garrett eased out of the room and left the two females to whatever it was that they were doing together.

A few hours later, after an exhausted Ellie had fallen asleep, he told Chisholm she was free to go home. She left shortly thereafter.

It took him a while to empty his mind of all deputy-related thoughts, so that he could finally drop off to sleep.

THE NOISE CHEWED into his dreamless sleep like a rodent nibbling away at a cardboard box. Garrett’s eyes flew open.

Alert, he lay there in the dark and waited to hear if the sound was real, or just part of some peripheral brain activity.

He heard the sound again.

Whimpering.

For a second, still somewhat disoriented, Garrett couldn’t hone in on where the whimpering came from.

Was it from an animal?

Was some poor creature being dragged off by a hungry coyote?

Getting up, he crossed to the window in wide strides and scanned the area as far as he could see. But from what he could discern, nothing outside was moving. Even the wind, which at times could make a really mournful sound, was still tonight. None of the leaves on the trees were rustling.

About to go back to bed, he heard it again.

Cocking his head, Garrett listened more intently. Wait, that wasn’t whimpering. It sounded more like someone was crying.

Who?

And then he remembered. He wasn’t alone in the house, as he had been for so many years. Ellie was here. Lani had made up the sofa for her in the den, which was two doors down the hall from his bedroom.

Was that his niece crying?

Why?

Wearing a T-shirt and the worn jeans that served as his pajama bottoms, Garrett quickly padded barefoot into the hallway. Once there, he stood still and listened again for the sound that had roused him.

In the back of his mind, he debated what to do if he did hear his niece crying. He sincerely hoped it wasn’t her. She’d been here for three days, but he was no closer to having a clue how to talk to her than he had been that first night.

And then he heard the noise again, even more clearly. The sobs were so heart-wrenching he knew he couldn’t just ignore them—and her distress—and go back to bed. No one should sound so terribly unhappy, Garrett thought. If he heard such a mournful sound coming from an animal, he would take the creature into his house, to at least feed it and try to alleviate some of its distress. He couldn’t do any less for his own flesh and blood.

Moving slowly toward the crowded den, which his deputy, by working a little magic, had managed to transform into a semibedroom, he kept hoping that the crying sound would stop.

But it didn’t.

Bracing himself, Garrett slowly eased the door to the den open. There was some illumination in the room, thanks to the night-light that Lani had brought with her and plugged in. A night-light … How had she even thought of that? She seemed to be always a couple steps ahead of anything his niece might need or want. That alone proved to him that his annoying deputy was much better at this than he was.

The woman really did have her uses, he admitted grudgingly.

The last time he had even thought of a night-light, he had needed one himself. Not that his stepfather would have allowed him to have any sort of light to keep the “monsters” at bay. The man had snarled at him, ordering him to “grow up and be a man, you worthless waste of flesh.”

Garrett had been six when he’d asked for a night-light.

The same age his niece was now.

“Ellie?” he called softly as he slowly approached the sofa. He was aware how his deep voice rumbled, sounding like distant thunder in the bedroom.

The crying grew louder. At the same time the little girl seemed to grow smaller, as if trying to disappear into the sofa.

Her eyes were shut tight.

She was asleep, he realized. Asleep and in the throes of a really bad nightmare.

“Ellie, wake up,” Garrett urged her gently. “It’s all right, you’re just having a nightmare.”

But his niece didn’t waken, and her crying intensified. She seemed absolutely terrified of what she was dreaming about.

Trying to rouse her, Garrett put his hand on her shoulder—the way Chisholm had the other day, he realized abruptly.

Startled, Ellie jumped and jackknifed into a sitting position on the sofa. At the same time, she shrank away from his hand, as if she expected to be hit at any second.

That bastard had done that to her, Garrett thought angrily. Her father had taken his frustrations out on his daughter. Had he beaten her? Badly? There was no other reason for the little girl to act so terrified at feeling a hand on her shoulder.

“It’s okay, Ellie,” Garrett assured her. “You’re safe. You’re here with me and you’re safe,” he repeated, doing his best to calm her.

Dazed, his niece opened her eyes and stared at him, as if trying to make sense of the words he had just said. Her tears continued to flow, much to Garrett’s frustration.

She was shaking, he realized belatedly. And despite the barriers he normally kept around him, despite all the effort he put into keeping those same walls up, and even despite the sheer awkwardness he felt trying to comfort the little girl, Garrett forced himself to sit down on the sofa beside her.