Iron Cowboy Read Free

bodyguard was part of the mob, it must be the Southern branch. She chuckled. But now she didn’t know what to do. Should she call him tomorrow before she started out, to let him know how much he owed? Surely his bookkeeper didn’t work weekends.
    â€œYou look unsettled,” Dee remarked as she started for the front door. “What’s wrong?”
    â€œI have to take the ogre’s order out to him tomorrow morning.”
    â€œOn your day off.” Dee smiled. “You can have a half day next Wednesday to make up for it. I’ll come in at noon and work until closing time.”
    â€œYou will?” Sara asked, beaming.
    â€œI know how you look forward to your drawing time,” Dee replied. “I just know you’re going to sell that children’s book you’re working on. Call Lisa Parks and tell her you’ll come next Wednesday to draw her new puppies instead of tomorrow. They’ll make a gorgeous page in your story,” she added.
    Sara grinned. “They’re the cutest puppies I’ve ever seen. Their father was one of the puppies Tom Walker’s dog Moose fathered, and their mother is Cy Parks’s collie, Bob.”
    â€œBob is a girl dog?” Dee exclaimed.
    â€œYes. The puppies look like both their parents. Tom asked for one of them. He lost Moose just last month,” she added sadly. “They have another dog a little younger than Moose, but Tom loved that old dog. He had him cremated and put in an urn. He’s still grieving, though. Lisa e-mailed a picture of the puppies to Tom and said he could have one. He and his oldest daughter went over to pick it out. They’ll be ready to go to new homes in a week or so. They’re just precious at this age. I’m going to draw them in a big Easter basket.”
    â€œYou could sell drawings,” Dee said.
    â€œI guess so. But I’d never make a living at it,” she replied, smiling. “I want to sell books.”
    â€œI think you’re going to be selling your own books pretty soon,” Dee told her. “You have a wonderful talent.”
    Sara beamed. “Thanks. It’s the only thing I inherited from my father. He loved the work he did, but he could draw beautiful portraits.” She grimaced. “It was hard, losing him like that.”
    â€œWars are terrible,” Dee agreed. “But at least you had your grandfather. He was your biggest fan. He was always bragging about you, to anybody who’d listen.”
    â€œI still get letters from Grandad’s former students,” Sara said. “He taught military history. I guess he had every book ever written on World War II. Especially the campaign in North Africa.” She frowned. “Funny, that’s what the ogre likes to read about.”
    â€œMaybe the ogre is like that lion who got a thorn in his paw, and when the mouse pulled it out, they were friends for life.”
    Sara glowered at her boss. “No mouse in his right mind would go near that man,” she said.
    â€œExcept you,” came the amused reply.
    â€œWell, I don’t have a choice. What do we do about the check?” she asked Dee. “Do I call him before I go over there, or…”
    Dee picked up the slip of paper with his phone number on it. “I’ll call him in the morning. You can put the books in a bag and take them home with you tonight. That way you won’t have to come in to town.”
    â€œYou’re sweet, Dee.”
    The older woman smiled. “So are you.” She checked her watch. “I’ve got to pick Mama up at the beauty parlor and take her home, then I’m going to do paperwork. You know my cell phone number. Call me if you need me.”
    â€œI won’t, but thanks all the same.”
    Dee looked uneasy. “You need to have a cell phone, Sara. You can get a prepaid one for next to nothing. I don’t like you having to drive home after dark on that dirt