Page 48 of The Cowboy Comes Home

“Yes,” he said. “He’d be my friend for that alone. She deserves to be as happy as she is now.”

Emily gave a nod of agreement, smiling back at him. But as they got out of the car he registered that there seemed to be something else in her expression, something that made him think of someone checking something off on a list. It was an odd impression to have.

“Wonder what he and your boss are talking about?” he asked as they started to head back toward the gathering.

“Maybe they’ve acquired a troublesome horse out at the ranch,” Emily said, grinning now. “Although it’s hard to imagine a horse Sage Highwater couldn’t handle.”

He remembered the name from before, that day when she’d buried him in an avalanche of information about the big names in Last Stand. “That’s his sister, right?”

She nodded, but he noticed now she was watching Lobo. The dog had zeroed in on the chief and was headed that way. When the animal reached him, he sat politely, looking up at his boss’s boss.

“Now that’s well trained,” Tucker said, almost laughing.

“Chance does for dogs what Logan does for horses,” Emily said, grinning again. “And I think Lobo learned from watching all us humans that that is a man to be respected.”

Tucker watched as the chief leaned down and gave the dog a scratch behind one ear. He said something to the animal that they were too far away to hear, but the dog’s tail swished slightly. Then he looked up and spotted them and smiled. He nodded at Emily, and the realization hit him that that respect went both ways.

Everybody deserves respect, son. Until they don’t.

He stopped dead in his tracks as the words played through his mind. He hadn’t heard that voice, had shut it down even in memory, for so long that it was like a hammer blow to hear it now. His stomach churned, and he felt a crazy sort of chill despite the heat of the day.

“Tucker?” He felt a gentle touch on his right arm. “Are you all right?”

He turned his head. Emily was there, looking up at him, with such concern that he couldn’t deny she was really worried. Which in turn told him what he must look like.

“Flashback,” he muttered.

He saw her look from him to her boss and back. “Your father,” she said.

It took him a moment to register he was surprised. Most people would have assumed any slaps of memory he had were connected to the brutal accident that had ended his rodeo career. But she had put it together, immediately. As if she’d been able to follow his thought process, from seeing her boss and the way they acknowledged each other and his subconscious letting a memory of another respected man surface.

No wonder the chief respected her, if she could read people like that. He considered briefly what a talent that must be for a police officer. Admitted it was probably way beyond useful. He just wasn’t sure if he liked her using it on him.

Or maybe it was that her being able to read him made him more than a little bit nervous. Because it seemed more than clever to him. It seemed almost…intimate. And he’d get back on the premier bucking bull before he’d let that happen. Not with a cop. Because he knew too well what caring about a cop would get you.

When he excused himself to go handle something—something that didn’t really need to be done—he knew he was running. It was the only thing he could think to do. He needed to be away from her, to think.

Or maybe to stop thinking, because his stupid imagination kept coming up with things that could never be.

*

“Chief?”

Chief Highwater tipped his hat to the lady he’d been talking to—or rather, who had been talking to him in an apparent nonstop stream—said a courteous “Excuse me,” turned and took a couple of steps toward Emily.

“Thank you,” he muttered, just loud enough for her to hear.

Emily smothered a laugh. “That bad?”

He grimaced. “She was about to launch into politics, and I just ate.”

She glanced past him and saw that the woman in question was some distance away now. “I think you’re safe. She’s got Mr. Diaz cornered now.”

“That ought to do it,” he said, smiling now. “So, did you just come to my rescue, or did you need something?”

“I would have anyway,” she said, “but I did have something I needed to ask you. It’s…sort of work-related, though, so it can wait until you’re back on duty.” She gave him a smile, adding, “That is, if you’re ever off.”

“More than I used to be,” the chief said with a satisfied smile.

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