Page 133 of Blue Moon Mistress

“I knew it was too good to be true to think he’d actually leave me alone. That would be asking for a miracle.”

Thomas glares into the mirror too as he pulls off the side of the road and waits for the sheriff to make his way to the window.

“How many times has he pulled you over?”

“Enough.”

I can’t say more before Thomas has to roll the window down.

“Miss Mathis I don’t know why—Oh, hello Thomas.”

“Sheriff.”

But he leans down to look at me, across Thomas. “We need to talk about your dog.”

“I’m not sure how many times I have to tell you this, but I do not have a dog.”

“I saw it in your back seat again.” He looks at the back seat with a scowl. “I don’t know where you’re hiding it.”

“I’m not hiding a dog from you.”

Thomas shifts in his seat so he’s turned toward the sheriff.

“I can assure you, there hasn’t been a dog in this car.” He pauses and then looks up at the sheriff with a harder glare. “So you want to tell me why you’re actually harassing my girlfriend?”

Brows pinching, the sheriff looks confused. And I can’t decide what part of the encounter has caused it.

“I’ve had complaints.”

“What kind of complaints?”

“About that damned dog she keeps saying she doesn’t have.”

“Since she doesn’t have a dog, maybe you need to deal with the people filing false reports.”

The Sheriff shakes his head as if it’s gone foggy. “I can’t just take your word for it. You have certain biases.”

“Okay. But you’re taking Connor’s word for it? What evidence have you found that this non-existent dog actually exists?”

He blinks and this time, I definitely see the faint slick across his pupils. He’s definitely been bewitched, but it’s not a strong enchantment… and I wonder if this is Aphrodite’s way of keeping me busy to keep me out of her business.

“Derek,” I say, drawing his attention. “You do know that Connor’s been harassing me to sell him my land, right? I filed a complaint with your office last year that he was tearing down my fences and trying to move them back so he could pretend his property line was further west than it is.”

Mouth screwed in a line, the Sheriff looks like he’s thinking real hard.

“Maybe my biases aren’t the ones you need to worry about, Sheriff.” Thomas looks at him with a hard glare and it takes a moment, but the man straightens and seems to shake something from his shoulders.

“I guess we’ll just have to see, won’t we?”

He hits the top of my car twice, the metal making dull thud under his hand, and heads back to his own.

“I thought he was a decent guy… Looks like I was wrong.”

“How he is normally varies, but he’s bewitched… didn’t you see him acting like he was waking up? He’s fighting the spell, but he’s not strong enough to break free of it entirely.”

“Should we try to get him free?”

“Yes… but his fixation seems to be on me and I can deal with the harassment for the moment.”

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