Page 44 of The Cowboy Comes Home

“Guess we’ll find out, huh?” the boy asked happily.

“Uh…I don’t know.”

She shifted her gaze to Tucker, who slowed on the now barely discernable trail so he could look at her. Because it was only polite, of course, to look at someone when they spoke to you. Not because he just liked looking at her…

“I’m not really prepared for a wet dog,” she said.

He couldn’t help but chuckle at that. “Don’t worry. We’ve learned. There’s a whole stack of towels in the back.”

She smiled back at him, and annoyingly his pulse gave a little skip. “Oh. So is this place a swimming hole?”

“It’s a good place for it. Pretty, too, with the water coming down the chute and over the ledge.”

“It’s a waterfall,” Jeremy exclaimed proudly. But then he frowned slightly. “It’s not as big now. But Nic says it’ll get big again, after summer.”

“I’m sure it will,” Emily said with a wide smile at the boy. “And I’m glad you’re not afraid of the place after you got caught there by the storm.”

“Nah,” the boy assured her, a little bit of ego sneaking into his voice. “That was like Uncle T says, just wrong place wrong time.”

“I’m sure he’s right.”

No matter how hard he tried, he couldn’t read anything beyond reassurance to Jeremy in her voice.

The boy and the dogs were scrambling out of the car the instant he unlocked the doors after he got the car parked, out of the way but still close. They ran over to the pool of water beneath the low but wide waterfall, which was about half what it had been the night of the storm, from what Jackson had told him when he’d first brought him here on a tour of the ranch. He grabbed the cooler Nic had handed him, with chilled sodas he had the feeling they’d be grateful for.

“It’s pretty,” Emily said, clearly meaning it as she looked at the stream flowing over the low, limestone edge, gathering into the pool below before tumbling over the rocks at the other end and continuing on its way.

“It is now. Jackson said it’s a lot more imposing when the stream’s at full flow, coming down out of the chute.” He gestured up toward the narrow miniature canyon formed by some large boulders above the pool, through which the stream flowed. “The falls cover the whole ledge.”

“And that’s what it was like that night?” She paused long enough to look, as if to assure herself that Jeremy was engrossed in his play with the dogs, Maverick already flank-deep in the water, Lobo being more cautious in this new place. “When Jeremy got lost?”

He appreciated that she was concerned about Jeremy hearing that word. “Yeah. Although as he always insists, he wasn’t lost. He knew where he was and how to get home, he just couldn’t because of the storm.”

“Good point,” she said. “I’m glad he had the sense to realize he should shelter in place.”

He gave her a considering look. “This really is a different sort of town, when the chief of police rolls out to find a missing kid.”

“It is, but that’s Shane Highwater,” she said. “He’s a big reason Last Stand is what it is.”

He believed it. The guy stood out like a beacon. He was just glad there was only respect and admiration in her voice. Which warned him he was straying into dangerous territory again. She was a police officer, with all that came with that job, and he needed to remember that.

“Lobo seems to be liking it,” he said abruptly, watching as the black dog waded in farther and began to nose at the water.

“He’s probably liking the cool, if nothing else.” She let out a chuckle. “I have to say my air-conditioning bill’s gone up a bit since I got him. I’m used to some heat, but he needs it a bit cooler with all that fur.”

“And black fur at that.”

He could handle this. As long as they kept the topic to Jeremy and the dogs, he’d be fine. He just had to be careful not to stray into anything more personal.

Which did not explain why he abruptly asked, “Where’s your place?”

“On the north side of town, up above the hospital. And,” she said, looking at Lobo with an expression that was a combination of affection and resignation, “my interior is mostly white. To better show off the black fur he sheds.”

“Well, at least you know where he’s been.”

She let out a full-on laugh, one that made him glad he hadn’t reined himself in on the joking reply. Which was crazy. There was no way making her laugh like that should please him so much. But it did.

“Don’t you guys wanna come in and cool off?” Jeremy called out.

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