Taming a Texas Devil - Katie Lane Page 0,40

expected you to be. The people of his small town had seen him as a trailer-trash troublemaker. His mother’s boyfriend had seen him as the devil’s spawn. Even his mother had seen him as a delinquent that was headed for jail. If not for his grandmother and Chester and Lucas believing that he could be whatever he wanted to be, he might’ve ended up becoming exactly what those people thought he was. Instead, he had worked hard to prove the naysayers wrong.

Now he had become one of those naysayers.

He had labeled Dixie. Instead of helping her like Chester and Lucas had helped him, all he’d done was belittle her. It sounded like Dixie was trying to prove her worth to a father who wasn’t going to be happy until she was home and under his thumb. Well, Lincoln could no longer be party to that. He didn’t know why Dixie had chosen this profession. But if that’s what she wanted, he was going to help her achieve her dream.

“I’m sorry,” he said.

Dixie blinked. “Excuse me?”

“I’m sorry. You’re right. I haven’t been a very good leader. I shouldn’t be telling you to quit. I should be helping you to become the best deputy you can be.”

She looked stunned, which made him feel even worse. “Oh . . . well, I think you have more important things to do than help me—”

He held up a finger. “First rule of being a good law enforcement officer, accept help. It’s better to be heroes together than a dead hero by yourself.” He held up another finger. “Second rule, when you have leverage over someone, go in for the kill and get what you want—whether it’s information from an informant or a confession from a criminal. I more than owe you for being such a jackass the last few weeks. What do you want?”

Her eyebrows lifted before a provocative smile tipped the corners of her mouth.

It was annoying how just a little smile could have desire sizzling through his veins. “Anything but that. We’re never going to cross that line.”

The smile got bigger. “I think we already did, but I’ll let you pretend like our amazing kiss didn’t happen if you’d like.”

He’d like. Just the mention of the kiss had him growing hard beneath his zipper. Unaware of his reaction, she tapped those full sweet lips that he ached to taste again.

“Hmm, let’s see. What do I want from you that doesn’t include sex?” Her eyes lit up. “I know. I want you to let me be on the Sam Sweeney case with you.”

Damn. He had walked right into that one.

“No.”

“You said anything.”

He still might’ve refused if she hadn’t had that pleading look in her green eyes. She wanted this. She wanted it badly. And he knew what it was like to want something badly. He’d wanted to become a law enforcement officer in a bad way and more than one person had given him a hand up to achieve that dream. It was his turn.

“Fine. But you need to remember I’m in charge and you need to do what I say.”

She smiled. “Yes, sir.”

Why did he have the strong desire to hear those words whispered against his lips? Or better yet, moaned as he bent her over the desk? He shook the image away and tried to refocus. “You can start by letting me take a look at Sam’s missing case file.”

“Okay, but it’s just the sheriff’s rambling. There’s no real evidence or witnesses he talked to.” She swiveled the chair and turned on the computer. “So why does he dislike you so much that he’d want to pin a murder on you?”

“He was a young deputy when we were at the Double Diamond that summer and I think we intimidated him. I think he hates me even more because I became a Texas Ranger.”

She glanced at him. “And because you’re everything a lawman should be—smart, intuitive, and caring.” The compliment made his cheeks warm and she laughed. “Ahh, so it’s compliments that get you flustered.”

“Just pull up the file. It should be right there since Willaby was looking at it.”

Dixie turned back to the computer and her brow knotted. “He wasn’t looking at Sam Sweeney’s case file.”

Lincoln got up and moved closer to the desk. “Then what was he looking at?”

“I’m not sure. It looks like a list of deserted cars that were towed. But why would the sheriff sneak in here to look at—”

Sam’s truck.

Lincoln should’ve thought of it before. He’d checked