Lone Star Nights by Delores Fossen Read Free Book Online

regular kind of lust.
    â€œTwo days is too long,” Lucky said, obviously still mulling this over and perhaps looking for an escape route.
    Two days, the exact amount of time she had to do something about those feather-chasing cats at the strip club. Cassie tried very hard not to think bad thoughts about her grandmother, but she wished the woman had gone over all these details before she’d passed away.
    â€œYou’ll need to work out something faster than two days,” Lucky insisted. “I’ve got to be at a rodeo day after tomorrow.”
    Yes, she had things to do, as well. Things she didn’t want to do, but she wouldn’t be able to wiggle out of them the way that Lucky was trying to wiggle out of this.
    â€œI can try,” Bernie said, not sounding especially hopeful. Too bad, because Cassie needed him to be hopeful. More than that, she needed him to succeed.
    â€œI’ll call the Bluebonnet Inn,” Bernie added, “and get the girls a room there.”
    Lucky seemed to approve of that, but Cassie wasn’t so sure. She, too, had planned to stay at the Bluebonnet Inn, mainly because it was the only hotel in Spring Hill. That meant Lucky would likely expect her to be with the children 24/7.
    But Cassie wasn’t having this all put on her shoulders. Nope. She was packing enough baggage and problems as it was so she’d also get Lucky a room at the inn.
    â€œWhere are the children?” Cassie asked.
    Bernie checked his watch. “They should be here any minute now.” He pushed a button on an old-fashioned intercom system. “Wilhelmina, when the Compton kids arrive—”
    â€œThey’re already here,” Wilhelmina interrupted. “Want me to send them back?”
    â€œSure.” Bernie took his finger off the intercom button and drew in a long breath, as if he might need some extra air.
    A moment later, Cassie saw why.
    The air sort of vanished when the door opened and Cassie saw one of the children in question. And this time, she wasn’t the one to say that one all-encompassing word. It was Lucky.
    Shit .
    They had apparently inherited custody of a call girl.

CHAPTER FOUR
    T HERE WERE ONLY a handful of times in Lucky’s life when he’d been rendered speechless, and this was one of them.
    The “girl” walking up the hall toward him was indeed a girl . Technically. She was female, nearly as tall as Cassie, and she was wearing a black skirt and top. Or perhaps that was paint. Hard to tell. The skirt was short and skintight, more suited for, well, someone older.
    â€œThis is Mackenzie Compton,” Bernie said.
    Cassie blew out a breath that sounded like one of relief. Lucky had no idea what she was relieved about so he just stared at her.
    â€œThis isn’t a child,” Cassie explained, relief in her voice, too. “So obviously there’s no need for us to take custody.”
    Right. “What Cassie just said,” Lucky told Bernie.
    However, Bernie burst that bubble of hope right off. “Mackenzie just turned thirteen.”
    Maybe ten years ago, she had. But she wasn’t thirteen now. “Can she prove that?” Lucky blurted out.
    Mackenzie didn’t say a word. Didn’t have any reaction to that whatsoever. She just stood there looking like a both-arms-down Statue of Liberty who’d been vandalized with black spray paint. She had black hair, black nails, black lipstick and stared at them as if they were beings from another planet. Beings that she didn’t want to get to know.
    Good. The feeling was mutual.
    But thirteen?
    â€œI can prove her age,” Bernie supplied. “I have her birth certificate and school records.” Bernie handed him a folder. “Her sister, Mia, is four.”
    Four. Well, hell. Now, that was a child, though he still wasn’t convinced Mackenzie was a teenager. Maybe if she scrubbed off that half inch of makeup, there’d be some trace of a