The Sheriff and the Mayor

Chapter One

It
had been a hell of a day and it had started before sunrise. What had kept
Dalton Reede going was the thought of coming home to Cassie. He had plans for
them tonight, for long into the night, and he didn’t care how damn tired he
was. His woman had a real knack for reviving him. He grinned to himself. Yeah,
his pretty little redhead had a real gift when it came to….

He
took a second to readjust his jeans that suddenly became pretty dang
uncomfortable. Then he walked from the garage into the mud room, stopping to
call out, “Cassie, darlin’! I’m home!”

He
stood still, listening. Disappointment curled through him when he didn’t hear
her familiar, “I’m here in the kitchen.” He didn’t smell supper cooking either.

Heaving
a sigh of regret, he hung his well-worn Stetson on one of the pegs. “Cassie?”
he called out again, a bit louder in case she was farther into the house. That
crazy little smart car of hers was in the garage so she had to be around
somewhere. “Cassie?”

Still
no response.

Maybe
she was in her art studio at the back of the house, working on another of the
leather paintings for her upcoming show in Dallas. Knowing her pretty well, she
probably had the radio cranked up high to her favorite country western station.
Sometimes she got caught up in a project and lost track of time. He didn’t mind
her not getting around to fixing their evening meal, the only meal besides the
occasional breakfast that they usually managed to share. He could cook, too, and
had no problem with it. But after his god-awful day he’d looked forward to one
of her special meals, like she’d promised him when he’d called earlier.

His
stomach growled. Yes, he was mighty hungry. But truth to tell he was
hungry
for a lot more than food. He was flat out ravenous for Cassie.

He pulled
off his service belt and then reached for the metal box he kept on top of a
high shelf. He took his gun from the belt and put it in there for safekeeping.
Not that there were any kids around who could get to it. Seeing as he’d just
turned thirty-six, the thought had saddened him a lot lately. He’d always
wanted a house full of kids, and he wanted them with Cassie. Yes, kids running
around and driving he and Cassie nuts sounded real good.

He
forced the notion away. Soon, though. Soon he hoped they would finally start
that family he’d spent years dreaming about having. First, he had to get his
stubborn lady to agree to marry him. No, before that, he had to make her stand
behind her recent agreement to cut down on the things that kept her from
staying home so she could be a wife and mother. Not that he minded her working.
He was real proud of her budding career as a leather artist. It was her being
the local mayor that he wanted her stop. That was just too much.

He
headed into the big country-style kitchen of the hundred-plus-year-old Colonial
home she’d inherited. He’d updated the kitchen with all of the latest
appliances for her birthday a few months back. They’d been slowly remodeling
each of the rooms, but it was hard going with them both being so busy.

A
glance at the restaurant-quality freezer made him wonder if he should pull out
a couple of steaks. Today had been pretty hot and the temperature still
lingered around a hundred degrees. Too dang hot for being only the first of
July. Grilling would be better than heating up the kitchen, though.

Cassie
interrupted his musings as she rushed into the room in her usual bustling
around manner. Mid-back length strawberry-blond hair fluttered over her almost
bare shoulders. “We need to hurry and get changed.” Her green eyes sparked with
excitement. “The party starts in just over an hour.”

When
he didn’t move, she cocked her head and gave a small frown. “You forgot, didn’t
you?” Her tone hinted at disapproval.

It
wasn’t so much that he’d forgotten about the kick-off event for a month of
community celebrations at the Community Center, more like he didn’t want to go.
He’d hoped she would change her mind. She hadn’t,
damn
. So much for his
plans for the evening.