Cowboy Logic - B.A. Tortuga Page 0,66
for you.” Mal sighed. “So romantic. And if he hurts you, I’ll rip out his heart.”
“You’re my hero.” He leaned back in the seat. “What am I going to do, Mal? Seriously? I need to write. I need to get out of here. I need to come home.”
“What would Wyatt do?” Mal asked him that a lot when he was dithering. His main character, Wyatt, never dithered.
“Wyatt would put Leon over his saddle and ride off with him, possibly hog-tied.” He really hadn’t decided that part.
“Ah, he’s the Leon, is he?” Mal chortled. “Well, about coming home, you just need to kick this stalker guy’s ass. Or get him to do something so public that Daddy can’t buy him out of jail. Then you can go all cave Wyatt.”
“Yeah. Yeah, I’m hoping today will take care of things. I hope I scared his daddy bad enough that he ropes him in. We’ll see how it goes.”
“I hope so too, honey.” Mal was rooting for him, and he knew it.
“I know. I really do. One way or the other, I’ll be home soon. I can’t stay here like this.” He sighed. And if Jericho didn’t want to come now, then they could be long-distance for a little while. He was good with words. He could work on the man.
“We’ll go to dinner and you can tell me all. I love you, man.”
“Love you. I’ll talk to you soon. I need a cup of coffee.” He’d grab one for Jericho on his way back into town.
“Get something decadent like a chocolate croissant. In fact, I’ll go get one too. Bye!” Mal hung up, always hating to be the one to get clicked off on. Silly man. Logic did love him.
Lord have mercy.
He sent Jericho a text.
He didn’t get an answer, but his cowboy was out working cattle, he knew. He sighed and crawled out of the truck.
He’d grab him a venti caramel macchiato. An iced one. No pastry, because abs, but he’d grab stuff for everyone, then he’d head back to the ranch.
He’d have to see if Deputy Dave was at the house. Maybe he’d bring one for Bailey’s man too.
Chapter 21
Jericho put his back into loading the trailer, needing to get the feed out to the near pasture. It had been pretty dry, then wet, then dry, and he needed to feed supplementally. It kinda felt good to work up a sweat.
He was about to hop on when he saw a vehicle he didn’t know bumping along his road toward the house. Well, shit.
He wasn’t needing company today, and he sure as shit wasn’t needing to see strangers.
Still, he couldn’t leave whoever it was hanging around his front porch. The kids were at school, but what if it was some friend of Morrow’s? Or worse?
He headed up to the house and around the side to come face-to-face with Brenda Shields, one of the Delta County CPS agents. He’d gotten to know her when Naomi was alive, gotten to know her better with his wife passed, but he hadn’t seen her for years. Hell, he wasn’t even getting WIC for Ellie anymore. “Brenda! What’s up?”
“Hey, Jericho.” She gave him a wry kind of smile. “House looks good.”
“Uh, thanks.” What the heck?
“Do you mind if I come in?”
“Are you here for coffee or to ask me why I’m not remarried?” He wasn’t sure what was going on, but he didn’t like it.
“I think we know why you’re not remarried, Jericho.”
“Okay. Well, come on in. There’s no coffee on, but I can offer tea or Coke, milk and juice.” Let her see his shiny kitchen. He liked to keep it uber clean because he and Logic liked to cook as much as they liked to order takeout.
“Thanks.” She looked around, checking everything with a glance, like she wasn’t even aware she was doing it. “I’ll take water.”
Jericho tugged a bottle of water out of the fridge. “You got it. Why not cut to the chase, B? Why are you here? The kids are doing great at school. They have clean clothes and plenty of food.”
She sat and sighed. “I’m supposed to be here making sure your new friend isn’t corrupting or harming anyone.”
“My new—you mean Logic? Jesus.” Oh, holy fuck. Conor goddamn Morrow.
“I know. I know, man. I had to say I came, you know that. It’s people stirring the shit pot. I figured at least you knew me.”
“He’s a good man, Brenda. He would never