The Sheriff Wins a Wife by Jill Limber

Author:Jill Limber
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Harlequin
Published: 2013-10-15T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter Ten

Jenn walked with Zack into the pig barn to get Kelly for the quilt judging. Her niece was talking to a sandy-haired boy Jenn didn’t recognize.

Immediately Jenn stiffened with suspicion. The boy looked at least sixteen. Had he been the one to drive Kelly to the party?

Kelly had been contrite about her behavior, but she had stubbornly refused to name any of her friends or tell Jenn how she had gotten across town to the Simon house that night.

Jenn understood the teenagers’ unwritten law: you never ratted on your friends. Still, she worried about Kelly hanging out with someone who was willing to pick her up in the middle of the night.

Kelly spotted Jenn and blushed.

“Hey, Kelly,” Jenn looked pointedly at the boy.

Kelly smiled, the first happy expression Jenn had seen on the girl’s face in days.

“Hey, Aunt Jenn.” She hesitated a moment and glanced shyly at the tall young man standing beside her. “This is Ryan.”

“Ryan, nice to meet you.” She put her hand on Zack’s head. “This is my son, Zack.”

“Nice to meet you, too, Mrs.—”

“It’s Miss. Miss Williams. What’s your last name?”

“Stone.”

Jenn must have looked puzzled as she searched her memory for a family named Stone, because Ryan supplied, “We just moved to Blossom on Saturday.”

Okay, so he wasn’t the one who’d taken Kelly to the party. That was a point in his favor.

“From where?” Jenn could see Kelly starting to fidget, and she knew her niece was embarrassed by Jenn’s questions.

“Near Houston. My dad wants to live in the country.” He looked as if he wasn’t at all sure his dad hadn’t lost his mind.

“Ryan thinks he might want to join 4H and raise a pig,” Kelly said.

Jenn glanced into the pen, where Petunia’s piglets were scattered around like pieces of pink cordwood, sleeping and snoring with little piggy grunts.

“Well,” she said in a dry tone, “I know where you can get one.”

Ryan laughed.

“Kelly, are you finished here? We need to get over to the quilt judging.”

Kelly snuck a glance at Ryan. “I’m done.”

Ryan stuck his hands into his pockets and gave Kelly a shy look. “Will you be here tomorrow?”

Kelly sighed. “I’ll be here every day until the final judging.”

He shrugged. “Okay, then. I guess I’ll see you tomorrow.”

Kelly matched his casual shrug, as if she really didn’t care. “Okay.”

Ryan turned to go, and Jenn saw Kelly’s face change as she watched him walk away. The expression on her niece’s face brought back a stab of memory so sharp and sweet Jenn closed her eyes for a moment. How many times had she looked at Trace that way?

“Aunt Jenn?”

Jenn opened her eyes. “Yes?”

“Do you think he’s cute?” Kelly asked on a sigh.

Jenn nodded. “Oh, yes, sweetheart, he’s definitely cute.”

The fortune-teller’s words predicting love for Kelly echoed in Jenn’s head. One love will last all your life. The other will become a pleasant memory. Well, time would tell.

When they got to the building where the quilts were being judged, Jenn put her hand on Zack’s shoulder to settle him down.

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