A Randall Thanksgiving by Judy Christenberry

Author:Judy Christenberry
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
Publisher: Harlequin
Published: 2006-09-27T04:00:00+00:00

Chapter Nine

Harry’s heart began to thud. Was he dreaming this? “Melissa?” he croaked out in a raspy voice. “Is everything all right?”

She giggled softly. “Yes, of course. Mom has dozed off already, and I thought maybe I could come visit you for a while.”

“That wouldn’t be a good idea, Melissa.” It pained him to admit it. “I’m on duty and—”

“When do you get off duty?”

“At nine, but I’ve got a guest tonight.” Damn. Now for sure he disliked Dale Henry.

“A guest? Is it a female?”

“No!” he barked into the phone. Then he tempered his tone. “No, the new deputy sheriff is here with no furniture, so he can’t move into the apartment Mike rented for him because he’d have to sleep on the floor. I offered him my sofa tonight.”

“Oh.”

“Why did you think it might be a female? Do you think I go around kissing a lot of women at once?” he ventured.

“It seems to be a major talent you have.” He could hear the smile in her voice.

“Only when I’m kissing you. You have the greatest lips in the world.”

“Ooh, I like that,” she crooned.

Harry could feel himself getting hard, and desperately tried to think of anything but Melissa. When he heard the office door open, and realized the guys had returned, he said, “I have to go now. The other deputies are back.”

“Okay,” Melissa said, but Harry could hear her pout.

“I’ll see you tomorrow,” he whispered, and hung up the phone.

He stood as the other two men sat down at their respective desks. “So how did the tour go?”

“It was fine,” Dale said. “For a small town, you’ve got just about everything a guy could need.”

“That’s true. Is the town shutting up, Steve?”

“Yeah. We only have another hour on duty.”

The phone rang once more and Harry answered it, wondering if it was Melissa again.

He was disappointed.

“It’s Mike,” the sheriff said in a low voice. “I need you and anyone else you can round up. We’ve got the rustlers pulling another raid.”

“Give me your location,” Harry stated. “And do we come in hard or soft?”

“Soft, unless you hear from me. You’ll have your cell phone, won’t you?”

“Yeah. We’re on our way.”

As soon as he got off the phone, he ordered Steve to call the closest deputy on night shift and get him in to answer the phones. Then Harry looked at Dale. “Do you want some action tonight? We’ve got cattle rustlers pulling a raid.”

“Yeah, I want in, but I only have my hand pistol with me.”

“No problem.” Harry crossed the room and opened a locked gun case. He pulled out two shotguns and two 30-30 carbines.

Steve hung up the phone. “Fred will be here in five minutes.”

“Let’s roll,” Harry called as he headed for the front door where the other SUV was parked. He handed Dale one of the shotguns and Steve one of the carbines, along with bullets. He kept the other two guns.

As they started off, Harry said, “The boss said to come in soft unless he notified us.

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