Loving a Lawman by Amy Lillard Read Free Book Online

leave, she wasn’t ever setting foot in Cattle Creek again.
    â€œMama.” The rich timbre of his voice wrapped aroundthe single word and held it in the air between them. So much went without saying, and that one word conveyed it all: if it hadn’t been for his mother’s illness, he would be there still.
    But Evelyn Duvall Langston had been diagnosed with breast cancer, and Seth had come home to Texas.
    â€œDo you miss it?”
    â€œSometimes.”
    â€œWas there someone special there?”
    He waited so long she knew the answer. Tony Bennett might have left his heart in San Francisco, but Seth Langston’s was a little farther south.
    â€œYou don’t have to answer that,” she finally said. If coming up with a response was taking him that long, then he surely didn’t want to talk about it. Perhaps that California filly had broken his heart.
    â€œGo to sleep, Jessie James.”
    She undid the top button of her jeans for comfort’s sake and pulled her knees up. “Fine,” she mumbled. “But how many times do I have to say it? Don’t call me that. . . .”
    *   *   *
    I t seemed as if she had just drifted off when she felt the featherlight brush against her cheek. Probably a mosquito that had found its way onto the porch through the little hole in the screen. She was going to have to fix that.
    She tried to muster up the energy to brush it away, but she was just so darn tired. And it was late. Or maybe it was early. And she slept like she was in a borrowed bed.
    The light touch whispered across her skin once again, and she finally gained the strength to reach up and shoo the pesky little vampire away so she could go back to sleep.
    But instead of a fragile little bloodsucker, her fingers encountered . . . skin. Human skin. Most likely
male
human skin.
    Her eyes flew open, her mind taking a full two minutesof staring at the strong jean-clad thighs and uh-hum . . . other things in front of her before she finally remembered where she was and whose strong, jean-clad thighs and uh-hum . . . other things she had locked in her sights.
    The night before came crashing back to her. Chase’s truck, jail, and . . .
    â€œSeth.” Her voice was raspy with sleep. And fatigue. And lack of coffee.
    She swung her legs over the side of the cot, belatedly remembering the top button of her jeans was undone. Even worse, the zipper had worked its way down during the night, and the bottom of her shirt had worked its way up, leaving part of her belly bare and showing the lacy edge of her yellow cotton panties. She pulled the tail of her shirt down to cover herself, then pushed her hair out of her face.
    â€œRise and shine, Jessie James.” Seth thrust a chipped mug full of black coffee into her hands and walked to the door of her cell as if he couldn’t get far enough away from her fast enough to suit him.
    She didn’t even bother asking him to cut it out with the nickname and instead concentrated on the strong brew and the positive effects caffeine had on her at . . .
    â€œWhat time is it?” She blew across the top of the mug before taking as big a swig as she dared. What she thought had been black coffee turned out to be coffee with about half a pound of sugar in it. Really bad coffee with half a pound of sugar in it.
    â€œA little before six.”
    Jeez, no wonder she was so tired.
    â€œChuck called and threatened to cut me off at lunch if I didn’t have you to work on time.”
    â€œI hope you saved some of Darly Jo’s casserole,” she said, then took another restorative sip of coffee.
    â€œNope.”
    Jessie raised her gaze to his. “You’re going to let me outta here?”
    Seth nodded, his dark hair glistening under the lights of the office as though it was damp. He’d made coffee, obviously had a shower and shaved, and was way too awake for so