Long, Tall Texans_ Boone (Long, Tall Texans #35) - Diana Palmer Page 0,18

Keely. She had to bite her lip to keep from laughing as the cowboy passed on down the aisle, muttering about his freshly laundered clothing having to go right back into the washing machine. He headed out the back door of the barn toward the bunkhouse beyond.

“Poor guy,” Keely said. She looked up. “Your brother has a very nasty temper.”

“Yes.” He drew in a breath. “Well, it wasn’t as bad as I expected it to be,” he added, smiling. “Let’s go for a nice ride and pretend that my brother likes you and can’t wait to welcome you into our family!”

“Optimist,” Keely said and grinned.

* * *

BOONE WAS GONE when they came back from the lazy ride around the ranch, but Winnie was just putting her car into the garage. She drove a cute little red Volkswagen Beetle, her pride and joy because she was paying for it herself.

She came out of the garage frowning. She didn’t even notice Clark and Keely at first, not until she’d passed right by the barn.

“What’s wrong with you?” Clark called to her.

She stopped, glanced at them and looked blank. “What?”

“I said, what’s wrong with you?” Clark repeated as he and Keely joined his sister near the corral.

“Bad day at work?” Keely asked sympathetically.

Winnie was tight-mouthed. “I had a little upset with Kilraven,” she muttered.

Keely’s eyebrows arched. “What sort of upset?”

Winnie grimaced. “I didn’t mention the ten-thirty-two involved in a ten-sixteen physical,” she said, describing a possible weapon involved in a domestic dispute. “The caller said her husband was drunk, had beaten her up in front of the kids and was holding a pistol to her head. The phone went dead and I dispatched Kilraven. I’d just managed to get the caller back on the phone and I was listening to her while I gave him the information, and the caller was hysterical, so I got rattled and didn’t tell him about the gun. When he got to the address I gave him, he had a 45 caliber Colt automatic shoved into his face.”

Keely gasped. “Was he shot?”

“No thanks to me, he wasn’t,” Winnie said miserably. “I was also supposed to put out a ten-three, ten-thirty-three, calling for radio silence while he went into the house. I messed up everything. It was my first shift working all alone without my instructor, and I just blew it! My supervisor said I could have gotten someone killed, and she was right.” She burst into tears. “Kilraven called for backup and talked the man out of the gun, God knows how. After the man was in custody on the way to the detention center, Kilraven called me on his cell phone and said that if I ever sent him on a call again and left out vital details of the disturbance, he’d have me fired.”

Keely hugged her, muttering sympathetic things, while Clark patted her on the shoulder and said that it would all blow over.

Winnie blew her nose and wiped her eyes. “I’m going to put in my resignation at the police station and at 911 dispatch and come home,” she sobbed. “I’m a menace! Kilraven said I was taking up jobs that some other woman needed desperately, anyway. He said rich women who got bored should find some other way to entertain themselves!”

“That’s harsh,” Clark muttered. “I’ll have a talk with him.”

Winnie looked up at her sweet brother through tear-filled eyes. “Are you kidding? Kilraven makes Boone look civilized!”

“Well, we could ask Boone to speak to him,” Clark compromised.

Just as Winnie was starting to answer him, a Jacobsville police car came flying up the long driveway and skidded to a halt in front of the barn. A tall, black-haired, powerful-looking policeman got out and stalked toward them.

“Uh-oh,” Winnie whispered, going pale.

“Who is that?” Clark asked.

Winnie took a breath. “Kilraven,” she said heavily.

CHAPTER FOUR

WINNIE LOOKED LIKE a professional mourner. Her long, wavy blond hair was ruffled by the wind and her dark eyes were red from crying.

“It’s all right,” she said, trying to deflect trouble as Kilraven came to a stop, towering over her. “You didn’t need to come all the way out here to tell me I’m fired. I’m going to put in my resignation first thing tomorrow morning.”

He propped his hand on his holstered gun and stared down at her with glittering silver eyes. “Who asked you to quit?”

“You said I should,” she accused, and dabbed at new tears. “You said I needed to leave law enforcement to people who were qualified to work in