Page 13 of Combust
“Hope you saved some of your cinnamon rolls for me,” he rumbled, releasing Mom with visible reluctance. “I might be bringing around a guest shortly, and I want him to taste the best this town has to offer.”
Mom blushed, a dark pink flush rising up her fair skin from her pale neck to her cheeks. “You’re so sweet.” Then she tilted her head inquiringly at him. “Who’s the guest?”
“Our new ranch foreman, Cade.”
Her father’s words hit Maggie like a bombshell. And shefinallyremembered where she had heard Cade’s name before last night.
It can’t be!The half-emptied tray of cookies fell out of her shock-numbed fingers and crashed to the tiled floor.
Mom gasped and whirled around. “Oh, no! Maggie! I just spent two hours making those!”
“S-sorry,” Maggie stammered. She stared at her dad, who gazed back at her with concern. Hoping against hope, she asked, “Not CadeHunter?”
Dad frowned, puzzled. “Yes. You know him? Grandma Elle and I hired him last month to fill in while Matt’s in California.”
Matt was Maggie’s older brother. Last year, he’d mated Maggie’s best friend—former best friend, she reminded herself with a burst of pain.And it was all my fault, because I was the one who almost ruined everything for them.
When Sophie had received her acceptance to medical school at UCLA, Matt and Sophie’sothermate, Chris Langlais, had both followed her to Los Angeles. In one fell swoop, Maggie’s big brother and two of her closest friends vanished from her life.
Dad continued, “Cade’s a bear shifter, seems very capable, and comes with glowing references from the Barenbach Ranch in Amarillo. The Barenbach family practices the same kind of sustainable agriculture we do, so he seemed an excellent fit for our operation.”
If he’s the new foreman, then Cade’s going to be living at the ranch with us?Maggie didn’t like the idea at all.
The notion agitated her bear, too.
“Maggie?” her mom asked. Then her eyes widened. “Last night—the guy who fought Andrew—thatwas the new foreman?”
Maggie nodded. Then came the realization that drove her worries back down into the burrow from where they’d slithered out.
Cade had been arrested, along with Andrew. There was no way that Dad and Grandma Elle would hire Cade now. He was trouble.
Her bear stirred restlessly.Right. We’re both relieved.
Dad frowned. “I heard that Cade got himself in a spot of trouble over a woman last night. That was you?”
“Yes,” Maggie said.
She wondered how much of the story had filtered to her dad. The town’s gossip network was terrifyingly efficient, but Dad wasn’t good about checking his phone, especially while he was out doing his morning chores.
“I see,” Dad said. “Before I go bail him out of jail, care to tell me what happened, Maggie-may?”
* * *
Cade had never been in jail before, but it seemed positively luxurious compared to all the places he’d had to sleep rough in his younger years.
His cell was spotlessly clean, the blanket and pillowcase on the narrow cot smelled freshly-laundered, and the plumbing worked, though without the privacy that he usually preferred when answering nature’s call.
To Cade’s relief, Andrew was placed in a cell on the opposite end of the basement, instead of the one right next to Cade.
However, that didn’t stop the other man from bellyaching about pretty much everything. Cade gritted his teeth and made an effort to ignore the non-stop stream of grumbling.
After a while, Andrew apparently got the message and piped down.
Once blissful silence descended, Cade stretched out on his cot. It was comfortable, but he didn’t think he’d be able to fall asleep in this big metal cage.
Then the weariness from his long drive and busy evening washed over him like a warm wave and pulled him under.
He was startled out of a deep sleep sometime after dawn, when Officer Jacobsen came downstairs, tailed by a female cop.
