Page 1 of Kissing the Sheriff
CHAPTERONE
Cassie Laine didn’t like change.
She and her father the sheriff had a daily routine after her mother died. She made Pa breakfast while he fed the chickens, and she ate with him before he went to work. During the day she took care of the mending, the cleaning, made her father lunch and delivered it to his office. In the afternoon, they’d have a cup of coffee together and chat. She’d tidy up the office and sometimes the jail cells. In the evening she made dinner, ate with Pa and chatted some more, then spend time in front of the fire reading or playing cards. Life was peaceful if a little dull, but she liked it.
In a blink of an eye, everything changed. Three men came to town and spent the night in the hotel. They paid a visit to the bank the next morning and robbed it. Within an hour her father had formed a posse and lit out after them. After several more hours, Rudolf Miller the bank teller came with the news that her father had been shot and killed with the rest of the posse.
No, Cassie didn’t care for change. So when six brothers rode into town and decided to stay a while, well, that was not part of the routine. Nor were six Englishmen helping more than a few townsfolk. It wasn’t normal and made her feel unsettled. When one of them, Conrad Darling, showed up on her doorstep with a bag of nails and a bucket of tools, she thought she might scream. “What are you doing here?” she asked instead.
“I’ve come to work on your place.” He started to examine the front porch. “Dear me, this could take a while.”
“I thought you were coming tomorrow.” She took a step toward him, hoping he’d back up and leave.
That wasn’t the case. “If the rest of your place looks like your porch, I might need some help,” he muttered more to himself than her.
Cassie examined her porch boards. Okay, so a few had seen better days and did need repair. Pa meant to fix them, but never got around to it. Like her, he stuck to his normal routine and little things like fixing the porch, repairing the roof, and seeing to the rickety chicken coop were too out of the norm to take care of. Pa wasn’t lazy, just practical. Why do today what you can put off ‘til tomorrow?
Okay, so he was alittlelazy …
“Do you mind if I have a look around?” Conrad asked.
Cassie sighed. “Mr. Darling …” She stopped and eyed him. “Can I call you Mr. Darling or do you prefer Conrad? I noticed Letty’s on a first-name basis with all of you.”
“Isn’t that what friends do?” He stomped his foot on a porch board a few times, sending up tendrils of dust. A small “crack” sound made him cringe. “These should be replaced.” He started counting boards, pulled out a pad and pencil from the pocket of his waistcoat and scribbled something down.
“What are you writing?” She studied her porch.
“Making a supply list,” he said. “May I see the inside of the house?”
Her heart skipped a beat. “You may not.” She shut the front door, then faced him. “You’re here to fix the porch. Maybe the roof. And the chicken coop.”
“But Letty told me that the inside …”
“Letty doesn’t know what she’s talking about,” Cassie shot back. “She hasn’t been here for a while. So how would she know?”
He scratched his head and smiled. “Then I can only assume she’s going by what she saw the last time. That said, has anything changed?”
Cassie stared at him, mouth half-open. “Oh, well, no.”
“Then as far as I’m concerned it still needs fixing. She gave me a list.” He reached into another pocket, pulled out a folded piece of paper and handed it to her.
Cassie read it. “Letty!”
“Cares about you,” Conrad tacked on. “Otherwise, she wouldn’t have gone to the trouble. Now if you don’t mind, I’d like to see what needs to be done. I’ve only so much time, you know.”
Cassie stared at him then blinked a few times. She never realized how handsome he was. As she recalled, all the Darlings were. That they were British only added to their allure. But no one was alluring her – she’d see to that. Especially not this one, the big flirt. Okay, so he wasn’t flirting at the moment, but he’d get around to it.
“Miss Laine? Do you mind?”
She rolled her eyes. “Oh, very well. Follow me.” She opened the front door and led him inside.
The parlor was drab, dingy. She hadn’t done anything with it since Pa died.Theyhadn’t done anything with it since Mama died. “Here it is. In all its glory.” She waved at the room. “I don’t know what’s to be done about it.”
Conrad frowned. “I’m going to need Phileas. He’ll have to put off the hotel for a few days.”
“That sounds like an insult.”
“It’s nothing of the kind, but if you recall Letty’s house, you’ll have noted the improvements.”
