Her Cowboy Knight Read Free

to retort, but the wiry old man behind her cleared his throat warningly, and she subsided.
    The sheriff continued. “Susan, since there’s no damage to your truck, I think we’ve had enough of a statement from you. Why don’t you go on now.” He turned her toward her vehicle and released her with a swat to her behind and a warning. “No more fighting… and watch your language in public from now on or I’ll cite you for public profanity!”
    Susan scurried to her car, but gave Gabby one more dirty look over her shoulder as she pulled away.
    The sheriff shook his head as she pulled away, then turned to Gabby and said, “Now as for you, what are we going to do about you? First off, what’s your name?”
    Gabby said, “Gabriella McGrath. I’m on my way to work for a Mr. Jedidiah Harris?”
    Rufus let her go at that and spun her around. “You William McGrath’s girl?”
    Gabby nodded and Rufus said, “Well, shoot, we served together. You can’t be Gabby?”
    Gabby smiled and said, “Yessir, I am.”
    Rufus said, “Rufus Sawyer, and this is Dave Sheridan. Dave, this here is the daughter of an old buddy of mine.”
    The sheriff shook her hand and said, “It’s nice to meet you, Miss McGrath. I must say though, I doubt Mr. Harris or your father either would be very happy about your getting involved in a fight or the language I heard a few minutes ago. We don’t really allow that kind of thing in public in this town, so keep that in mind while you’re here, and we’ll get along all right. I know Susan provoked most of it, so I’m not going to write any tickets or anything, just take it under advisement.”
    Gabby colored under the scolding, and dropped into her automatic ‘dealing with cops’ mode, learned over years of being an outsider. She put on her blank face and said, “Yes, sir.”
    Dave said, “Do you want me to call a tow truck for your car?”
    Gabby looked at her beloved little car and wanted to just cry. She didn’t know what else to do, and the last thing she wanted to do was call her dad, so she just looked at the policeman with her ‘cop face’ and repeated, “Yes, sir.”
    He sighed and said, “Do you need a ride somewhere in the meantime?”
    Dave got tired of waiting and said, “Tell you what—I’m going to take you to Jed’s place and let him sort it out.”
    Gabby stood silently for as long as she could, realizing that she was about to have her first ride in a police car. Could this day get any worse?
    She nodded and said, “Yes, sir. Just let me get my suitcase and backpack.”
     
    * * *
     
    The sheriff didn’t visit Cooper very often, so when the police cruiser pulled up in front of the barn, it caught Cooper’s notice. The sheriff stepped out. “Howdy, Coop.”
    “Hey, Dave. What brings you around?” He shook Dave’s hand as it was offered.
    The sheriff gestured to the backseat of his car. “Well, this girl claims she hired on here with Jed. That true?”
    Cooper eyed the girl in the backseat. “Yes, sir, I think it might be. Why don’t you let her out.”
    Dave opened the back door, and a girl with dark curls climbed out. She brushed at her clothes, but that only smeared the dirt and didn’t do much for her torn sleeve and untucked shirt.
    Dave cleared his throat. “Uh, Cooper, this is Gabby McGrath. Gabby, this is Jed’s nephew. By the way, where is Jed?”
    Cooper kept his eyes on the girl. “He’s out of town for a few days.”
    Dave shook his head. “Well, I was hoping to talk to him about this one, actually.”
    Dave saw the girl stiffen and her face hardened. She crossed her arms.
    Cooper said, “What about her?”
    Dave rubbed the back of his neck. “Well, to be honest, it wasn’t all her fault. She had a bit of a run-in with Susan right off the bat, but seeing as Jed is to be responsible for her, I figured he’d like to know about it.”
    Cooper looked at the girl, who looked about ready to shoot flames out of her dark brown eyes, she was so