Leaving Liberty, a Western Romance (Book 5) (Texas Hearts) Read Free

different. She may be damaged goods, but she wasn’t dead inside and she still had stirrings that made her notice a handsome cowboy.
    “Lib?” Cole was staring at her.
    “He’s coming back.”
    Cole simply nodded and dug his hands in the pockets of his coat. “Then I suppose I should get out of this suit so I can tend to the animals. Tomorrow, we should look into getting you some help around here.”
    “Why would I need anyone else around here? We’ve been doing just fine on our own.”
    “Lib?” She heard the same warning in his voice that he’d given her for the past few weeks. “We talked about this. And now the ranger is snooping around, wanting to dig deeper.”
    “Don’t worry. He’ll be leaving soon.”
    “But what if he doesn’t?”
    “Tomorrow,” she said, shaking her head. She didn’t want to deal with any more today.
    She heard the front door close as Cole walked out of the house. And then she was truly alone in her father’s house for the first time in her life.
    If Jackson Gentry got too close to the truth, she’d be alone on this ranch as well. All the more reason to get him to leave Liberty as soon as possible. This home had dealt with tragedy before. Her family had weathered many storms through the years. She was all that was left. Just her and this ranch. But if Libby was anything, she was a survivor. And she would survive long after Jackson Gentry left Liberty.
    # # #
     
     

Chapter Two
     
    There were days he hated his job. After his encounter with Liberty Calvert, Jackson decided today was one of them. He glanced over the paperwork he’d collected over the last couple of days on Buck Calvert’s death. Accidents happened every single day. Sometimes they couldn’t be explained. Everything pointed to Buck’s death being an accident except for the fact that he’d been killed from a shot at least fifteen feet away from the weapon. Add the fact that Cole River’s fingerprints were on the very gun that killed Buck and things didn’t add up.
    Although Texas Rangers had worked on many high profile cases throughout history, including aiding in stopping Bonnie and Clyde, and stagecoach robber, Sam Bass, most of the work Jackson did was follow-up for local law enforcement when they’d hit a dead end in their investigation, and needed reinforcements to close a case. Sometimes it was easier to have a fresh set of eyes from the outside.
    Right now his eyes were failing him. Pinching the bridge of his nose, he closed his eyes, hoping to ease the strain he felt.
    In this case, the local sheriff had called him to investigate Buck Calvert’s death. The math analogy he’d given Libby earlier wasn’t his. It was exactly what the sheriff, Levi Nolan had said on the phone when he’d called three weeks ago.
    “One plus one shouldn’t add up to three,” Levi had said. His deputy, Dane Bancroft, didn’t think the math was a problem and had voiced his opinion on the matter during their first phone call. That kind of disconnect was enough for him to get in his truck and check things out for himself.
    Now he was stuck in Liberty, Texas under delicate circumstances doing math that didn’t add up. What’s worse was the fact that he had taken a liking almost immediately to Liberty Calvert, making it harder for him to put on his usual pressure during questioning.
    She hadn’t seemed as broken as she’d been the first day he’d met her. His first few days in town he’d spent looking over files and getting to know who Buck Calvert was to the community. Experience had shown him getting familiar with all the principals of the case first would tell him what questions to ask without rattling too many cages.
    Libby Calvert seemed unflappable. Even though he could have pushed her more today, he’d pulled back. He saw the same stubborn determination in her as he’d seen in his brother Cody his whole life. In Cody’s case, it had taken the loss of his eyesight to break through the rough exterior. That