Read My Kind of Trouble for Free Online

As he neared the
kitchen, he heard a low murmur of female voices inside, one being
Julie Beth's. His footsteps faltered, and then he stopped right
outside the door to listen for a second. Julie Beth was in her
fifties and was probably the head engineer on the Bowie gossip
train.
     
    "Yeah..." Julie Beth said a little above a
whisper. She craned her neck to make sure nobody was listening and
then said, "She told him to go fuck himself, and then threw water
in his face!" The other woman, an administrative assistant from the
mayor's office the next floor up, gasped then covered her mouth
with her hand and chuckled.
     
    With a groan, Luke slapped his hand to his
forehead. It took less time than he'd anticipated for the events of
last night to travel. Hell, it had probably been spread to half the
town by midnight last night. This town didn't need a newspaper with
all the mouthy women--and men--it had carrying the news like
pigeons.
     
    "Oh and did you hear that Cassie Bellamy is
back in town?" The other woman shook her head negatively, which was
Julie Beth's 'go sign'. "Well yeah, you know her Daddy fell off a
horse and broke his leg. She's back to take care of him and help
with the ranch til he's back on his feet. The old man must be off
his rocker, because he has over five hundred head of cattle out
there and a hundred acres of cotton." Julie Beth shook her head and
took a deep breath. "I don't know how the heck he thinks that
city-slicker girl of his is going to hold it together for him.
Bud's been asking around town for extra hands to help out, but so
far he's only found one."
     
    Luke knew Bud was Carl's ranch manager. He
also knew the man would be hard-pressed to hire extra help right
now. It was calving season, and most of the cow hands around town
had already signed on with other ranches. Julie Beth was right
about one thing, there was no way that Cassie was going to be able
to handle it on her own.
     
    One of the jobs he'd had in college was
being a cowhand at a local ranch. The other had been at a horse
farm, shoveling shit, cleaning stalls and feeding and exercising
horses on the weekend. Neither of the jobs was pleasant, but he did
them so he could go to school at night and get his degree in
criminal justice.
     
    Once he got his degree and had gone to the
police academy, he left all that behind though, and swore he'd
never go back. This time he'd make an exception for two reasons.
Cassie needed his help, and he was going to finish their unfinished
business. Once and for all.
     
    The three weeks vacation time he had coming
couldn't be put to better use, Luke thought and spun around without
going into the kitchen to head back to his office. This place could
run on auto-pilot without him for a few weeks. Bowie wasn't crime
central of the country, for sure. Hell, most of his calls were
either for bar fights or cattle on the loose. Cole Jackson, his
best friend and second in command, could certainly handle it by
himself for that long.
     
    Walking behind his desk, he picked up his
phone and buzzed his friend. "Hey, you got a sec?"
     
    "Yeah, something up?" Cole asked
gruffly.
     
    Cole was not a morning person, and it took
at least half a pot of coffee for him to function. He was probably
only on cup two or three right now. "I need to talk to you...grab
your coffee and get in here."
     
    "Yes, sir." Cole agreed sarcastically and
then slammed the phone down.
     
    Luke chuckled and sat back in his chair,
tenting his fingers over his chest to wait. Within a second or two,
his slightly rumpled best friend and deputy walked in frowning.
     
    "What's on fire?"
     
    "No fire--just some smoldering ashes."
     
    "Cryptic this morning aren't you?" Cole
walked to the chair in front of his desk and plopped down. "Spill
it...coffee hasn't kicked in yet, so go slow."
     
    Luke just stared at Cole for a moment,
trying to frame what he was going to say. Cole wasn't going to like
what he had in mind, he knew that for sure. After all,