Fighting Chance (Misty Grove Book 1) Read Free

and walked past his deputy, still bemused as he got into their cruiser. “What just happened, Brooks?”
    His deputy didn’t answer him for a while, as if trying to figure it out for himself.
    It wasn’t until they had left the ranch that Brooks turned to him. “Don’t do it, Sheriff.”
    “What?”
    “She’s bad news.”
    “What the hell are you talking about?”
    “Pretty little ass?”
    Shit. He did say that.
    “It just—” Trent coughed “—slipped out.” Very unprofessional, Stone.
    They drove in silence for a few more miles. She wasn’t his type anyway. He liked his women sweet and mild-mannered. He wasn’t attracted to ball-busters at all. Still, he couldn’t help asking, “Why is she bad news?”
    “I really didn’t mean it that way. I like Cassie,” Brooks said carefully. “But pursuing her is like hunting a unicorn.”
    Trent suddenly had a sinking feeling. “She likes women.”
    His deputy burst out laughing. “Cassie? No. I think she likes men just fine.”
    That didn’t sound any better, and common sense told him to leave it at that. He wasn’t interested.  
    Brooks angled his eyes at him, but before his deputy could say anything, their radio crackled. “Sheriff, are you there?”
    “Ten-four, Betty, what’s up?”
    “Before you go off duty, could you stop by the station? We have a situation.”
    “What situation?” Trent checked the clock on the dashboard. He’d been in this last shift for eighteen hours, and as much as this job had been an interesting challenge, he needed sleep.
    “Mr. Bowman wants to file an attempted murder charge on behalf of one of his men.”
    Jesus Christ. Arnold Bowman was the pain-in-the-ass real estate developer who was after a large swath of land in Misty Grove.  
    “Against who?”
    “Cassandra Reed.”

CHAPTER TWO

    “You don’t have a case, Bowman.”
    Trent eyed the belligerent man in front of him. He had met Arnold Bowman in one of the meetings with the Board of Supervisors and his opinion had not changed. Of medium height and build with slightly balding blond hair, Bowman was impeccably dressed in an expensive suit. A man of vast wealth who expected the whole county government to be at his beck and call. Well, not on his watch.
    “Excuse me? She shot Deuce with a shotgun.” Bowman waved his arm angrily toward his henchman seated in a chair in front of Trent’s desk. Deuce Walker was twice the size of Cassie Reed from what he could tell. He really didn’t blame the girl for shooting first and asking questions later. Deuce was also doing a piss-poor job of feigning injury. When he’d walked in with his boss, his limp looked exaggerated at best.
    “Look, I could be wrong and I can bring it up with the DA, but clearly, Deuce showed up unannounced at Montgomery Ranch.” Trent tried not to flinch because he and Brooks had done the same thing, and now after getting a picture of what had transpired right before they had arrived, Cassie’s actions toward them weren’t as out of place. “Georgia has a stand-your-ground law. She was fully within her rights to defend her property. The question now, Mr. Walker, is what you did to warrant such a response from Ms. Reed.”
    “Are you implying that it was my man’s fault he was shot?” Bowman snapped.
    “Mr. Walker, was the gate closed when you arrived at the ranch?”
    “Well yeah, but it wasn’t locked,” Deuce muttered.
    “Oh, was there an ‘enter as you please’ sign at the gate?”
    “Now, now, Sheriff, there’s no need to be sarcastic,” Bowman interrupted.
    “I’m trying to establish the scenario here.”
    “What you’ve only established is whose side you’re on,” the real estate developer fired back. He turned to his man. “Come on, Deuce, we’re not getting any action here. We’ll go straight to the prosecutor, and we’ll get you, Sheriff, that warrant to make the arrest.”
    This pissed Trent off. He stood up, bracing both hands on his desk, and glared at the