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

and the love of a special woman who’d helped pull Cody out of the hole losing his eyesight had made him fall into. Lyssa McElhannon had been a blessing to Cody and Jackson was thrilled when the two were married.
    But Jackson had a lot of work to do before he could enjoy a family reunion with his three brothers. Dropping the paperwork on the small table in his hotel room, he phoned his captain at the main office in Austin.
    Paul Townsend answered on the first ring. “I wondered when you’d check in with me,” he said after the initial greeting.
    “It’s not as open and shut as I thought it would be when I first got here,” Jackson said, scrubbing his face with the palm of his hand. “I’m going to need to dig a little deeper.”
    “I thought you said it looked like an accident.”
    “At first, it did. But the rifle was found on the ground at least fifteen feet from the body. Buck Calvert was a lifelong sportsman. He knew gun safety. It seems too clumsy a move for a man with his experience to place his rifle down so that it would discharge if it fell.”
    “What?”
    “He had another rifle beside him.”
    “This is Texas. Lots of ranchers carry more than one rifle with them when they’re out checking their property.”
    “Then why place one down and keep the other handy? See what I mean?”
    “Is there a motive for any wrong doing? How about the daughter?”
    “Liberty Calvert is…”
    What? Jackson couldn’t quite put the words to his reaction to Liberty. Somehow he didn’t think telling Paul that Liberty Calvert was beautiful and that he longed to see her smile. Every time he’d seen Libby she’d been stoic, dealing with her pain. Although, there had been a moment earlier when her eyes lit up and he thought he might actually get to see it.
    “Jack?”
    “Ah, sorry. I got distracted for a moment.”
    “Liberty Calvert is now sole heir to the ranch. Is that right? Would she have done something?”
    “No. She’s been completely broken up about her father’s death. And she seems…almost too fragile to have done something like this intentionally. Besides, her fingerprints weren’t on the gun.”
    “Did you find any other prints?”
    “I got prints that matched the victim but also another set from the ranch hand.”
    “Have you questioned him?”
    “I was going to today. But I walked in at the tail end of the memorial service.”
    Paul made a grunting sound. “Bad timing.”
    “You could say that. No one was in the mood to cooperate.”
    “Are you going to be able to wrap this up in a few days?”
    Jackson thought for a moment. When he’d first come to Liberty to investigate Buck Calvert’s death, he’d been convinced he was only going to be in town for two days. Three tops. It had been two weeks since he’d arrived.
    “If I can get what I need tomorrow then it should be finished by the end of the week.”
    Jackson hung up the phone and wondered why the idea of finishing his investigation left a sense of longing in him. He didn’t know Buck Calvert or anyone else in Liberty, Texas for that matter. Glancing at the names listed in his notes, his eyes settled on Liberty Calvert and he knew the reason he was hanging around.
    Liberty wasn’t just a beautiful woman. There was something about her. She was fragile and full of fire all rolled up into one. On the few occasions he’d had the pleasure of watching her, that much was clear. She’d be a challenge. But this was one challenge Jackson wanted to take.
    * * *
    As Libby had suspected, work was her savior. It had been a long time since she’d worked in the barn and she’d forgotten how much she missed simple dirty work. Hannah had always thought she was crazy whenever she said that. Well, it was no crazier than Hannah’s decision to up and join the army when Libby’s brother, John, was killed in Iraq after his truck had been hit by snipers.
    Losing her brother had been bad enough. Losing her best friend had been more than Libby could