Bucking Bronc Lodge 04 - Cowboy Cop by Rita Herron Read Free Book Online

mother might not be dead.
    But now with the solace of the ranch life echoing around them and the sun highlighting her features, her beauty suddenly struck him—not that she was perfect or model-like, but she had a simple, natural beauty that radiated from her, a sweet tenderness that made his gut clench with emotions.
    And desire.
    He silently cursed himself. Good God, he couldn’t let himself be attracted to this woman. She was Timmy’s counselor. A woman he needed to help his son.
    Besides, what kind of man was he?
    Marie had only been gone a few weeks. Even though they’d had their problems, she had been the mother of his child and he’d vowed to try to make things work with her.
    Dammit. Her death lay on his conscience like a fire-breathing dragon that had to be reckoned with.
    Getting justice for her murder was the only thing that would help.
    That was where his focus had to be. Not on the fact that he’d like to throw Jordan down in the hay and pound himself inside her until she made the bad memories go away.
    Oblivious to his wayward thoughts, Jordan glanced up and spotted him and gave him a warm smile. “There’s your father now, Timmy.” She waved at him to come over. “Miles, Timmy was just saying hello to a few of the horses.”
    Miles forced thoughts of Jordan and her sexuality from his mind. This woman was off-limits and he couldn’t forget it.
    “Hey, sport.” Miles closed the distance between them and ruffled his son’s hair. “I know you’ve always wanted a horse of your own. Maybe after we leave here, we’ll find us a spread and you can pick out one.”
    Timmy turned his small face up toward him, and the hope Miles felt earlier slipped away like dust in the wind. His son’s eyes looked so tormented that Miles’s gut wrenched. And the fact that Timmy didn’t speak or hug him like he once would have spoke volumes for his state of mind.
    He glanced up and saw Jordan watching him, and a weight lodged in his throat.
    Maybe Jordan would be good for him. Maybe being here at the BBL would help.
    If it didn’t, he didn’t know what the hell he would do.
    He couldn’t fool himself into believing that everything would change overnight. Not Timmy’s condition. Or his own guilt.
    And he couldn’t forget for a minute that Dugan and his accomplice—or copycat—posed a threat.
    That getting sidetracked by Jordan wasn’t even an option.
    The only thing that mattered right now was keeping Timmy safe and pinning Dugan for the cold-blooded killer he was.
    * * *
    J ORDAN SPENT THE AFTERNOON working with three other boys, each with his own set of problems, but not as deeply embedded as the trauma Timmy had experienced. Still, they were here because they needed help.
    Rory Morton was eight. He’d been abandoned by his mother, who’d run off to Mexico after stealing money from her boss’s company. His father had never been in the picture.
    Six-year-old Wayling Gadstone had been abused by his grandfather, who’d taken him in after his parents died in a car accident. Wayling was now a ward of the state.
    And ten-year-old Malcolm Thornsby had been caught shoplifting and vandalizing property with his older brother Jerome, who belonged to a gang.
    She let herself in to her cabin, tossed off her jacket, needing to rest a few minutes before dinner. But as always she paused to study the picture of her brother she kept by her bed.
    He was eleven in the photograph, gangly, with dirty-blond hair and freckles and a skinned knee from in-line skating in the streets of San Antonio. He had been athletic and funny with a flair for wrapping her around his little finger.
    Then their mother had passed away, he’d hit puberty and it was almost as if some other kid had invaded his body. Before, he’d been a feisty, stubborn boy, but the next year he’d turned surly, become mixed up with the wrong crowd and...been murdered.
    Unable to help herself, she picked up the folder that held the articles about his death and the