Page 4 of Wild Justice

“How many years has it been since there was a murder in Harper?” she asked with a roll of her eyes. “I think we were kids.”

“Don’t tempt fate,” Henry warned. “Next thing you know, you’ll be saying shit like ‘How could it get any worse?’ or something like that. The universe is listening, you know.”

“If I know my sister, she’ll just tell the universe to kiss her ass,” Chase laughed. “How about we all go out for dinner tonight as a celebration? My treat.”

“You’re paying? I’m in,” Lulu replied. “Be warned. I’m bringing an appetite.”

“I’m in, too,” Henry said. “One big celebration before Lulu gets down to work.”

If Lulu’s dad had his way, there wouldn’t be anything to celebrate. He’d have her back on a plane to Seattle before nightfall. But she wouldn’t have gone without a fight.

Something deep inside of her was saying that she’d made the right decision. This was what she’d been meant to do.

Helping people. Keeping the peace.

She was going to be the best damn sheriff Harper, Montana had ever seen. Except for Seth Reilly, of course.

Those were some mighty big shoes to fill, but she was going to try.

“Seth, talk to me.”

Seth wasn’t proud of himself at the moment. He’d chided Lulu about not acting like an adult, and what had he done?

Acted like a child, stomping his feet in protest when she wouldn’t do what he wanted. She’d been a grown-up for a few years now, so he didn’t know why he’d expected her to simply fold under his pressure. She never had before, even when he’d been paying her bills. Now that she was independent, she wasn’t going to be any easier to deal with.

“She’s going to get herself killed. Are you truly supportive of this?”

“Let me ask you a question first,” Presley said, her soft gaze on him. She was taking in everything about his reaction - rigid spine, gritted teeth. Nothing ever escaped her notice. “Is your phone in your hand because you’re thinking about calling the town council and getting them to rescind the job offer?”

His phone was in his hand. He’d been thinking about calling one or all of them. He couldn’t deny it. He was livid with every single one of them. They’d told him they’d found a replacement, but they’d conveniently left out who it was. They knew he would have gone through the roof. They’d colluded with his daughter to keep this secret from him. Frankly, he was shocked that they’d pulled it off. This town council seemed to have their shit together more than the others in the past.

“They shouldn’t have kept this from me.”

“True, but you can’t go back in time. They didn’t tell you. You found out today. Now we deal with it.”

“I tried to deal with it,” he said, throwing up his hands again in frustration. “You told me not to. You said to back off.”

“Yes, I did. Why do you think that is?”

His beautiful wife was gazing at him, her arms crossed over her chest. As always, he was blown away by how gorgeous and amazing she was. He’d hit the jackpot the day he’d been assigned to protect her. Here they were, a bit more than thirty years later, and she was sexier than the day they got married. How did she do it? He’d once thought that maybe she’d put him under some sort of spell, but later he’d decided that he was fine with it. As long as he got to be her husband, he was a happy man.

He’d seen that look on her face before, of course. They’d been married a long time and not every day had been sunshine and roses. With three kids and two careers, they’d often butted heads.

Like today. He wanted to put a stop to Lulu’s foolishness, and Presley wanted him to roll over and play dead.

“I don’t know why.”

“Yes, you do.”

“Because she’s a grown woman, and can make her own decisions?”

“You made that sound like a question. Is she not a grown woman?”

“She is,” he growled, not happy in the least that his young daughter wasn’t a child anymore. “It was easier when they were little, babe. We kept them safe. That was our job.”

“And now our job is to step back, shut up, and just keep loving them.”

“I don’t like it.”

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