Imperfect Justice (2 page)

“I’m fine.” The sheriff’s voice sounded sure and strong but her sensitive nose detected the smell of whiskey on his breath. It was an aroma she knew all too well, although she was more than a little shocked to find it circling a man who as far as she knew never drank to excess. “I’m waiting for a taxi.”

At least he’d had the sense not to drive, but then he was the sheriff. Unfortunately he wasn’t thinking straight about the temperature.

“You can’t wait out in the cold. You’ll freeze to death. How long have you been out here anyway?”

His broad shoulders lifted inside his heavy wool coat. “I’m not sure. Ten minutes? What are you doing out this time of night?”

“Driving back from Seattle,” Misty replied impatiently, scanning the deserted street. “There’s no sign of a cab and it would have been here by now. Why don’t I give you a ride home?”

She thought he was going to turn her down but a huge gust of wind blew ice cold air into their faces, taking their breath away. He nodded and stood, pulling his hat down again. “That sounds like a good idea. Thank you.”

Instinctively she reached out her hand to steady him but he was already shaking off her help with a brusque, “I’m fine. Let’s get out of the wind.”

Fine
. If he wanted to fall on the ice and bust his ass then he could go right ahead. Misty had only been trying to help and Lord knew she’d had plenty of practice with her own mother.

“The door’s unlocked.”

He didn’t reply and he didn’t walk around to the passenger side. Instead he walked to the driver’s door and for a moment she thought he was going to try and get behind the wheel before she realized he was holding open her door.

Like a gentleman.

She didn’t get much of that behavior in this town. Not because of who the men were but because of who she was.

“Thanks.”

She slid into the vehicle, closing the door against the wind. He joined her seconds later and she fired up the engine and turned the heat on full blast. The car was already warm from her long drive and the hot air streamed from the vents onto her numbed flesh. The sheriff pulled off his gloves and held his hands out as she backed out of the parking lot and onto the main thoroughfare.

She’d just extended her night by at least a half hour by the time she drove him to his house and then reversed directions and drove back. But it was a small price to pay so he wouldn’t wake up dead in the morning, frozen and stuck to the bench in front of the B&B.

“What were you doing in Seattle?” he asked once they were on the road and thawed out. “Wait, that isn’t any of my business.”

Misty peeked at his profile and inwardly winced. She knew what the townsfolk said about her trips out of town. She’d heard the gossip of big city lovers and clandestine meetings in seedy motels near the airport. She didn’t help things by not discussing the more private parts of her life, but then she doubted they would be believed. People rarely changed their minds about things.

“I went for business. I’m moving there as soon as my lease is up here.”

That day couldn’t come soon enough. She was finally getting out of Fielding. For good. No looking back and no regrets.

He turned to her and scowled as if what she said didn’t make any sense. “Leaving? Why?”

Misty sighed and drove down the dark, deserted road as fast as she dared with the head lawman sitting next to her. Sheriff Jared Monroe wasn’t a stupid man by any stretch of the imagination but the troubles of a single young woman probably hadn’t been high on his radar.

Instead of giving him an honest answer she re-directed. “Lots of people leave small towns for larger cities. I’m certainly not the first.”

“That’s true,” he conceded, his expression brooding. He was an incredibly handsome man with his square jaw, dark hair, and piercing blue eyes. She’d had a crush on him when she was a teenager, but then pretty much every female in Fielding did at one time or another. It was practically a rite of passage. Last she’d heard he was dating Alexa Dorning, a young divorcee from the next county over. Misty had never seen the woman but the gossips had been busy extolling the woman’s beauty and wondering if she’d finally be the one to lasso Jared Monroe. “I guess I’m just not a big fan of cities. Too many people in a small space. I like having some elbow room.”

Fielding probably looked a hell of a lot different from his perch far above it. He was the crown prince of one of the leading families in this area while Misty was the daughter of the town tramp. Her experiences as a child with the closed-minded citizens had led her to dream of leaving since she was old enough to know that staying wasn’t a requirement.

“I’m looking forward to it. Something new and different.”

Relieved he didn’t respond, she turned onto the private drive of the Double M ranch. The gravel road was dark and there wasn’t a street light for miles. She slowed the car to a crawl and turned on her high beams.

“The road is going to fork here in a minute so veer to the right.”

She was concentrating so intently his voice made her jump. “I thought the house was near the lake.”

“I don’t live at the main house. I have my own.”

Just as he said the road forked and she stayed to the right, holding the steering wheel with a death grip to keep the wind from knocking the car around. It had really picked up in the last few minutes. When a house appeared in her high beams she almost screamed with relief. She brought the car to a halt and turned to the sheriff.

“Home safe and sound. Let me know if you need a ride into town tomorrow to get your truck.”

She almost smacked herself upside the head as she heard herself offering to help. Yet again. She had a bad habit of that, always trying to make things easier for people even if it made things difficult for her.

“I’ll find a ride,” he assured her. “Drive careful and thank you again.”

“You’re welcome.”

He pushed open the door, letting in another burst of cold air that made her shiver. The temperature was definitely dropping. He got to his feet and managed to get about a yard but the wind seemed to be playing havoc with his compromised balance. The sheriff wasn’t falling down drunk but he’d had a few too many.

Sighing in resignation, Misty turned off the engine and exited the vehicle determined that he wasn’t going to fall in the ice and snow on her watch. She hated this worry-wart-caretaker side of herself but there was nothing she could do about it now. She’d make sure he got in the house safe and sound and then be on her way.

But she couldn’t help but wonder…what would the good citizens of Fielding think about Misty Foster being in Sheriff Jared Monroe’s house? Even if only for a few minutes?

No one could ever know she’d been there.

Chapter Two

C
atching up to him easily, she wound her arm around his waist to steady him although his large frame overwhelmed her. If he went down he was taking the two of them.

“I don’t need any help.” The sheriff’s voice was gruff but she didn’t pay his stubborn self any mind.

“Apparently you do.”

They managed to stagger up the porch steps despite the strong gusts. When they arrived at the front door she expected him to unlock it but he simply wrapped his hand around the knob and gave it a twist, the door falling open.

“You should lock your doors. There are a lot of crazy people in this world.”

They both entered the house and he shut the door behind them. “Crazy enough to break into the sheriff’s house? I don’t think so. We’ve never had any problems on the ranch. If someone is lurking around here they’re more interested in the cattle than my flatscreen.”

He shrugged out of his coat and tossed it on the back of a chair. “Thank you for the ride home. I may sound ungrateful but you don’t have to babysit me. I’m fine.”

“You don’t look fine,” she shot back. “You look like you need some strong coffee and a couple of aspirin.”

Instead of denying it he nodded in agreement. “I think you’re right but the only thing I’m good for is lying down and sleeping.”

How many times had Misty fixed a pot of coffee in the middle of the night? If she had a nickel for every one she would have had the money to move to Seattle a long time ago.

“Lie down while I make you some coffee.” She shed her coat and was already heading to the kitchen, not bothering to listen to any of his protests. It was obvious he lived alone and he didn’t have anyone to take care of him.

The house was comfortable but definitely that of a bachelor with its brown and blue color scheme and spare decorations. There were no knickknacks on the shelves or matching dishtowels in the kitchen. Instead one wall was taken up with a gigantic entertainment center with a large television and shelves of books.

The kitchen was spotless as if it wasn’t used very often. The coffee pot sat on the counter and thank goodness it was a basic drip model, nothing complicated. The sheriff was still standing at the door as she pulled open cabinets. Finally he shook his head and dropped down onto the couch with a groan.

“Where do you keep your aspirin?” she called out as the coffee brewed, the smell beginning to waft around her. She loved the aroma of coffee but couldn’t stand the taste. She’d never understood the allure no matter how much sugar and cream she added.

“Drawer next to the silverware.” His arm was thrown over his eyes as he laid back on the couch, his boots still on and dripping on the crocheted afghan.

“You should take your boots off. You’re getting your couch wet and dirty,” she said as she filled a glass with water and found the correct drawer, shaking out two tablets. “You need to take these and drink this entire glass of water so you won’t be dehydrated in the morning.”

She stood over his reclining form and he pulled his arm away from his eyes and grunted.

“Damn, you’re bossy. I’m the one who usually gives the orders around here.”

He didn’t sound too put out about it though, not that she would have backed down. He was worse for drink and she was an expert on how to care for that.

“By tomorrow you’ll be ordering around the washing machine and telling the oven who’s boss, but right now you need to swallow these pills and drink this entire glass of water.”

Chuckling, his face split into a grin. “You’re brave—I’ll give you that. Most people wouldn’t dare talk to me that way.”

“Most people wouldn’t have offered to drive you home. They would have let you sit there as the temperature dropped and you turned into an icicle. A dead one. It’s hard to give orders with frozen lips.”

She held her hand out flat with the two tablets nestled there and the glass of water in her other hand. He reached for the pills, his fingers brushing her palm and her pulse leaped in response. She couldn’t remember the last time anyone had touched her bare skin. Months? No, probably years. College, when she’d had a steady boyfriend, except she’d never reacted so strongly when he’d touched her. Her skin still tingled where the sheriff had rubbed against it.

Balling up her hand into a fist she shoved it behind her back, determined to ignore the ricochet of pleasure a simple touch had evoked. The sheriff tossed back the tablets and gulped down the water until the glass was empty. He slapped it down on the coffee table.

“Happy?” he asked, an eyebrow quirked in question.

“I’m not unhappy. You’re the one that would be suffering tomorrow if you didn’t do it. I’ll go get your coffee.”

She turned but he caught her arm and gently tugged until she was sitting next to him on the couch. He’d propped himself up on a few pillows so they were almost eye to eye. A smile played around his mouth as if he found her amusing.

“Relax for a minute. You’re strung awful tight, woman. Are you always this prickly?”

Her hip was pressed close to his own and the warmth easily penetrated the heavy denim of her jeans. He hadn’t let go of her hand and she was having a hard time catching her breath as his thumb brushed back and forth over a sensitive spot on her wrist.

“I need to get your coffee,” she said, a note of desperation in her voice that she didn’t like hearing. Was she such a pushover with a handsome man that his mere nearness was affecting her this way?