The Sheriff's Son

It was true Chloe had a feisty temper. She got along with her horses far better than she did with men. Still, it went against everything inside Justine to ask Roy for anything.

“I don’t know why you two are doing this to me,” Justine said wearily.

“Because you’d have a far better chance of persuading the sheriff than Rose or I,” Chloe insisted. “Come on, say you’ll do it. Please!”

If her sisters only knew, Justine thought sickly. What would they think if she told them that Sheriff Pardee was Charlie’s father?

Closing her eyes, Justine pinched the bridge of her nose and shook her head. “We’re already shorthanded here on the ranch. You and Rose work like dogs from sunup to sundown. How are you going to take care of two demanding babies?”

“I’ll manage through the day,” Kitty spoke up. “Charlie is big enough to fetch things for me. Besides, since Tom died, the house seems so quiet and empty. The babies will put a little life back into things around here.”

Justine groaned. Rose smiled and nodded, while Chloe clapped her hands together.

Chloe pressed on. “That’s right. The babies will help take our minds off all the problems we’ve been having lately. And it will be good for Charlie to have other children around.”

Justine let out a long sigh. How could she say no, when the whole family was counting on her? “It could only be temporary,” she pointed out.

“Temporary is a start,” Rose said quietly.

Justine tossed her hands resignedly up in the air. “All right, okay. I’ll call him. But don’t get your hopes up. Sheriff Pardee doesn’t strike me as a warmhearted man.” In fact, Justine didn’t think he had a heart at all, but she couldn’t express that thought to her sisters. Not without raising some eyebrows. As far as they knew, he was just an old acquaintance, not the only man she’d ever loved.

Normally, Justine helped with cleaning the kitchen after the evening meal, but this time, both sisters shooed her out of the room.

“We’ll take care of this mess. You go call the sheriff,” Chloe told her.

Knowing her sisters wouldn’t let her put it off any longer, Justine walked down to her bedroom and shut the door. If she had to talk to Roy, she wanted to do it in private.

As a nurse, Justine had been schooled to remain calm in a crisis. She’d seen people broken and bleeding and dangerously close to death, but she’d forced herself to be collected and focus on her job. Yet just the act of dialling Roy’s number had her hand shaking and her breaths coming in shallow little jerks. It wasn’t right that one man could have so much of an effect on her, she thought with self-disgust. Especially when he’d been out of her life for years now.

It rang four times, and Justine was on the verge of hanging up when he answered.

“Sheriff Pardee.”

“Roy.”

He knew instantly that it was Justine. No other woman had ever said his name quite like she did. He closed his eyes and gripped the receiver.

“Yes.”

“This is Justine.”

“I know.”

Her shaky legs forced her to take a seat on the edge of the bed. “I—I’m calling about the twins.”

“I didn’t think you were calling to ask me for a date,” he said dryly.

Her nostrils flared as she closed her eyes. She wished she could get her hands around his throat! No—she instantly changed her mind. She didn’t want to touch him. Ever! If she did, she didn’t know what she’d do. Kiss him? Claw him? Break down in tears? She wasn’t going to test herself.

“I don’t know how you ever won the sheriff’s election,” she muttered.

To Justine’s amazement, he chuckled. The sound sent little shivers of nerves tumbling through her stomach.

“I won it because the majority of the people in Lincoln County like and trust me.”

Even if you don’t. Justine could hear the unspoken words hovering on the line between them.

Knowing she’d never get anywhere with him if she allowed her temper to get the better of her, she said, “I heard you got ninety percent of the vote. Are you sure you had an opponent?”

“Somebody mentioned there was another guy running for the job. I didn’t notice.”

His cockiness had Justine rolling her eyes. “Well, I’m glad to hear you’re so liked and well-thought-of around here,” she said, “because I’m going to…ask a favor of you.”

Roy had been lying back in his leather recliner, but now his boots hit the floor with a loud thud. In his wildest dreams, he’d never expected Justine Murdock to want or need any sort of help from him. He didn’t know whether to tell her to go to hell, or silently thank God. In fact, for years now Roy had never been quite able to decide if he hated Justine or loved her.

“A favor,” he repeated, his voice gone husky. “What kind?”

She drew in a shaky breath. “It’s about the twins. Do you think it might be possible for us…I mean, my sisters and me…to keep them here until…you locate the real parents?”

“Why would you want to do that? I’m sure you and your family have plenty to keep you busy besides two demanding babies.”

“Of course we do. But my sisters are infatuated with the babies, and since…Daddy’s death, well, I think it would be good for all of us to have them around.”

Roy knew that Justine had been very close to her mother and father. She was probably still grieving over Tom’s death. If the babies could help ease the ache, what the hell, he thought. Even though she’d made his life miserable, that didn’t mean he wanted to rub salt in her wounds.

“You don’t have to sell me on the idea, Justine. I know I can trust the twins’ welfare to you and your family.”

She couldn’t believe he’d so readily agreed to her request, and for a moment she didn’t know what to say.

“Justine? Isn’t that what you wanted to hear?”

“I—Uh, yes,” she finally managed to answer. “Is that all we have to do? Is your permission enough to keep them here?”

“Legally, no. I’ll have to get a court order from Judge Richards. But he and I are good friends. He’ll go along with my feelings on the matter.”

“That’s all there is to it?”

“You sound surprised.”

She was. She’d expected Roy to resist everything about the idea. Now, because of who he was and what he was, he was going to make it legally possible for her family to keep the babies. She didn’t know what to think.

“I guess I expected it to be a lot more complicated.”

“Well, since it’s only a temporary situation, there’s not that much legal red tape.” He paused, then asked, “Justine, you do understand that once this case comes to some sort of end, you’ll have to give the babies up?”

“Yes. I understand. I don’t know if my sisters will. But I do.”

“Then, for their sake, you’d better remind them.”