three nine-year-olds were a study in contrasts. Faith was blue-eyed and fair skinned with a cap of dark, curly hair. The twins were tan, blond and brown-eyed. They took after their mother, and were identical. But they’d confided to Jensen how to tell which was which. Stacey had an almost invisible scar at the edge of her hairline caused by a run-in with the corner of a table when she was a toddler. S for Stacey and scar. With bangs over it, no one could see, or tell her from her sister.
“Hi, Jensen,” they said in unison.
“Hi,” she answered, folding her arms across her chest.
“Hi, Daddy,” the two girls said together.
“Hey, you two.” He pulled them close, one on each side of him. “Hi, Faith.”
“Daddy, we have a completely brilliant idea.”
“Beyond brilliant,” Kasey added.
“Is that right?” He sat down on the bleacher bench and settled the girls, one on each knee. Their friend stood watching.
“Dad, you’re squishing me,” Stacey complained.
“Me, too,” said her sister, squirming.
“Sorry.” The sheriff loosened his grip slightly.
Jensen studied him with his children. Was it just her imagination, or was he hanging on to them for dear life? As the girls chattered, she noticed that he scanned the crowd like a secret service agent protecting the president of the United States. This behavior was a complete contrast to the laid-back lawman he’d been a few minutes before receiving the papers.
If she was a betting woman, she’d wager that summons had something to do with his children.
“So that’s why we think it would be a good idea for us to spend the night at Faith’s house,” Kasey finished.
“What?” he asked, turning his attention to the eager little girls.
“Weren’t you listening, Dad?” Stacey brushed her hair off her forehead. “We want to spend the night at Faith’s house.”
“No,” he said sharply. “I want you home.”
Identical faces creased with disappointment. “But why?” they said together.
“My mom said it was okay,” Faith added.
Jensen studied the girl and somehow knew that the little schemer was fibbing. She couldn’t be sure whether or not it was a conspiracy.
“That’s right,” Kasey said. “We asked Maggie and she said it was okay with her if it was okay with you.”
“She did, Dad,” Stacey piped up. “Honest.”
Aha, Jensen thought. Collusion. With malice aforethought, if the knowing glances exchanged by the three amigos were anything to go by. He was being tag-teamed big-time. She recognized the technique because she and Taylor had done the same thing to their father until tutoring from their mom had wised him up. Did Grady have a clue what they were doing?
“I’ll just go talk to Maggie and see what she has to say.”
A superhero, able to leap conniving kids in a single bound. That was refreshing. Or maybe dealing with crackpots and criminals gave him the edge of cynicism he needed to keep their feminine wiles-in-training from overpowering him.
“Kasey, Stacey,” Faith said, “I’ll see you guys in a little while. I hafta go check in with my mom.” Before Grady could stop her, she turned and raced down the stairs.
The twins started to wiggle off his lap, but he held on.
“Not so fast.” He checked the arena, then looked at Jensen. “The final events are about to start. I have to go make sure that my staff is in place. It’s been nice talking to you. I’ll take the girls with me.”
“Aw, Dad. We can take care of ourselves. It’s so dumb hanging out with you when you’re working. We’ll die of boredom.”
Which twin was it? Jensen wasn’t sure. The speaker brushed her hair off her forehead and she identified Kasey.
Grady looked at the girl and tucked a strand of blond hair behind her ear. “Kase, I don’t want you unsupervised. There are a lot of strangers here.”
“So.” The girl looked around. “We talked to a nice man just a little while ago. Remember, Jensen?”
“What man?” Grady asked sharply.
Jensen shrugged, trying to recall. “I was sitting here with the girls feeding them junk and braiding their hair and a man walked up to us.”
“What did he say?”
“Small talk,” she said. “He wanted to know if the girls were mine. He asked about you, where you were.”
“What did you tell him?” he asked, frowning.
“That you’re Destiny’s sheriff.”
“Anything else?”
Jen shook her head, but she’d been around the legal system long enough to know when she was being officially questioned. “You joined us right after that and he disappeared. I haven’t seen him since.”
“I want you guys to stay with me,” he told the girls.
“Aw, Dad…”
“There’s too many wackos and weirdos around,” he said sternly.
“Dad, this is Destiny. Nothing bad happens here,” Kasey said.
A muscle in his jaw contracted, but when he spoke, his tone was calm. “Mostly that’s true. But sometimes stuff happens even here.” He looked at each of his daughters in turn.
“We could hang out with Faith and Maggie,” Stacey suggested.
Grady shook his head. “Maggie’s busy with her booth. If she doesn’t have customers, she’ll be packing up. I can’t take a chance.”
Interesting choice of words, Jensen thought, noticing that the worry creases in his forehead deepened. What was going on?
Identical pairs of brown eyes focused on her. “Can we stay with Jensen?”
“I can’t ask her—”
“Of course I’ll keep an eye on them,” she volunteered.
“Awesome,” the two girls said together.
“Wait a second. I didn’t give the all clear,” he reminded them.
“But you’re gonna. Right, Dad?”
He met Jensen’s gaze. “You don’t have to do this. I don’t think boredom killed anyone yet.”
When he looked like that, she wondered how she could say no to anything
