The knock sounded again. “Who’s ever inside, you need to answer the door. You are trespassing on private property.”
She heard Ryan’s loud cry from upstairs. She ran to the stairs and called to her nephew. “Go back to your room, Ryan. It’s okay.”
When the boy disappeared, Shelby took a shaky breath and released it. She stood by the door. “What do you want, Sheriff?”
“Would you please step out on the porch? I need to speak to you.”
With trembling hands, she unbolted the door, but left the chain on, then opened it a crack to see the dark-haired man in uniform. Well, if you could call dark jeans, boots and a light blue shirt a uniform. Around his waist he wore a gun, and several other weapons.
“May I see your identification, Sheriff?”
He looked irritated, but pulled out an official ID. She read the name Cullen Brannigan. He was six feet one inch tall, his weight one hundred ninety, eyes, hazel, and hair, brown.
“Thank you.” She handed it back to him. “I’m not trespassing, Sheriff. I was hired to come here and cook for spring roundup. The job came with room and board.”
He frowned. “Who hired you?”
“The Donaldson family.”
He nodded. “May I see your identification?”
“Of course.” Shelby went to the table next to the door and got her wallet. She didn’t want to bring attention to herself. If Gil got news of her being here with a computer search... “All you have to do is contact Mr. Donaldson. He’ll tell you that we’re supposed to be here. But he talked with my sister, Georgia Hughes.” That had been what her new ID stated. She was supposed to have a chance to start over. She handed over her Kentucky driver’s license. “If there is a mistake, we’ll leave.”
“Where is your sister?”
Miss Townsend glanced away. “She died unexpectedly... We just recently buried her before we came here.”
Before she could say any more, a truck pulled up into the yard. Shelby stiffened and pulled her robe closer to her body as another man climbed out and rushed up to the porch.
“Hey, bro.” He turned that smile toward Shelby. “Hello, I’m Trent Landry.”
“I’m Shelby Townsend. I was just explaining to the sheriff, my sister and I were hired to cook for the roundup for Mr. Donaldson.”
Trent nodded. “I’m sorry, but the Donaldsons no longer live here. Since my mother’s passing, this property has changed hands. I’m surprised you haven’t been contacted by Hank.”
Shelby tried to stay calm given this new situation. Oh, God. Now, what was she going to do? “We were probably on the road by then.” Had Georgia known the change of plans and never got the chance to tell her? “I apologize for the mistake.” She opened the door and allowed both men inside. “As you can see, nothing was disturbed. We only arrived a few hours ago.”
Cullen watched as the attractive brunette fidgeted with the belt on her robe. Something told him she wasn’t telling him the entire story. He glanced around at the large room filled with sheet-covered furniture. The place was huge.
The woman started to speak when a child’s voice rang out from upstairs. “It’s okay, Ryan,” she said. “You can come downstairs.”
A little boy about five hurried down the steps and ran to her side. He looked scared, and Cullen hated that he’d caused the boy any more stress.
Trent spoke first. “Hello, there. I’m Trent. What’s your name?”
The boy looked up at his aunt. “It’s Ryan,” she said for him. “He’s five.”
“Good to meet you, Ryan,” Trent said. “Sorry if we scared you.”
“Don’t hurt Aunt Shellie,” he said slowly.
The woman stepped in. “No one is going to hurt anyone, Ryan. This is Sheriff Cullen.”
The boy’s eyes widened before he buried his head against his aunt’s waist.
“He’s very shy and a little frightened. I apologize for the mistake. If you give us about thirty minutes we can be packed up and out of here.”
Hell, he didn’t want to kick her out onto the street. Cullen spoke up. “Whoa, we aren’t kicking you out in the middle of the night.”
* * *
OUTSIDE THE HOUSE, Trent asked, “So you think it’s okay to let them stay?”
Cullen still wasn’t sure what came over him. He was usually the bad cop, the by-the-book guy. But the kid got to him with that look of fear on his face. “It’s nearly midnight. Do you really want her to drag the boy out at this hour? Besides, didn’t you do the same thing when Brooke came to town not too long ago? You offered her a place to stay, and look what happened.”
“Are you saying you’re attracted to Shelby Townsend?”
Cullen blinked. Where did that come from? “What? I met her two minutes before you did.”
A cocky grin appeared on Trent’s face. “That’s all it took for me when I first saw Brooke.”
“Well, I’m not you, soldier boy.” He called him by his old nickname. Trent had spent a dozen years in the military before coming back here. “Let’s get back to the problem at hand. Do you want to toss a woman and a child out at midnight? Besides, by the looks of her vehicle, she doesn’t have much extra money for a motel. Why don’t you see if you can get ahold of your last tenant, the Donaldsons, and see if they can check out her story?”
Trent shook his head. “I’ll call in the morning. Now I’m going home and climbing back into bed with my beautiful wife.” He grinned, and Cullen wanted to slug him. “We’ll talk tomorrow.”
Cullen pointed to the house. “What about the guests?”
“I’ll let you handle the pretty brunette. If they rob us blind, I’ll send the sheriff after them.” With a laugh his brother walked off to his truck.
Cullen just shook his head. When his father had first married Leslie, he and his twin brother, Austin, had been barely ten. And they hated Leslie’s thirteen-year-old son, Trent, on sight. It took a few years, but they all got over it, and with his stepmother’s love they’d all become somewhat of a family.
He looked up at the house. Did he trust the woman? He used to rely on his cop instincts, but these days he wasn’t so sure. He walked up the steps, knocked on the door and waited until she answered.
The door finally opened and Miss Townsend motioned him inside. “Please, come in, Sheriff.”
He stepped across the threshold and caught a whiff of her fragrance, soft and clean like soap. Damn, if she didn’t remind him the past year had been a long and lonely one.
“You and the boy can stay for the night and I’ll come by in the morning to see about making other arrangements.”
“That’s not necessary, Sheriff. Ryan and I are planning to head west.”
“Do you have somewhere to go?”
She hesitated, then shook her head. “But I have a laptop and I can look for a job.”
“The B&B Café is looking for a part-time cook,” he blurted out.
She looked surprised at his volunteering the information.
He shrugged. “I only know that because I was in earlier for supper and Bill told me he and Betty needed to cut down