pretend they didn’t know what was going on. Boone kept working. He figured he was already on the outside of the governor’s good graces. He couldn’t ignore Rhodes’s booming voice, though.
“Have you got the keys to your vehicle?” Rhodes asked Susannah.
“Yes, they’re in my purse.”
“Okay.” He nodded at a big man dressed in khakis and a button-down shirt. “Buster will take you out to your Suburban, and you can drive it home.”
“Okay. And Daddy, I’m sorry. I’ll pay you back...”
“You can pay me back by not getting into any more trouble en route to the house.”
“I think I can make it without breaking another law, even if that means innocent animals have to suffer for it.”
Rhodes frowned. “I’d like to believe that, Susie.” His facial features softened as he wrapped a big hand around her arm. “Despite everything, it’s good to have you home again.”
Her shoulders relaxed. Her lips trembled when she tried to smile. “Thanks for saying that.” She attempted to give him a hug, but he stood straight and rigid with his arms at his sides.
“When you get to the house, take a shower,” the governor said. “You smell.”
Susannah walked up to Boone’s desk. “Boone? Can I call you Boone?”
“Sure.”
“I’m sorry for the trouble I caused you today.”
He sat back in his chair and stared at her. She had plucked and picked just enough so he recognized a bit of the Susannah he remembered. Her hair, shorter now than when she was in high school, still reached just below her shoulders and was the same pretty, natural blond, kind of like Georgia wheat. Her cheeks were soft and porcelain-looking, and her lips were full and pink. Her nose was defined by a sprinkling of freckles. She had some Georgia left in her, after all. “All part of the job,” he said, though he’d decided this had been one crazy day.
“I’d like to guarantee you that we won’t run into each other again while I’m home,” she said. “But I’m afraid that’s not true. Our paths will definitely cross at a later time.”
Had the governor told her he’d hired Boone to watch over her? Or did she mean something entirely different? She sounded almost prophetic, as if she had her own agenda for seeing him in the future.
“Go on, now,” Rhodes said. “I’m staying behind to have a word with Officer Braddock.”
“I don’t think he can be bribed, Daddy,” she said.
“I don’t need to bribe him, Susie. I’ve bought and paid for two hundred chickens today just so you can go home and soak in a hot bath.”
“Put it on my bill,” she said, but not in a smart-alecky voice.
She and Bodyguard Buster left the station, and Rhodes pulled up a chair next to Boone’s desk. He clasped his hands on his lap. “Quite a spitfire that one,” he said.
“Yes, sir.”
“In case you’re wondering, I didn’t call in any political favors to get her freed, Boone. I just made a phone call to Old Man Jonas and agreed to pay him a fair price for his chickens.” Rhodes frowned. “More than fair. And Sam agreed not to press charges.”
“I suppose that would work,” Boone said.
“I know what you’re thinking,” Rhodes said. “People with money can buy their way out of almost any scrape.”
Boone was thinking exactly that.
“But in this case, I think Susannah had a point. If she truly did save those birds from drowning, then I should support her efforts.”
Boone leaned back in his chair. “I think she saved some chicks. So you paid her chicken ticket because you approve of what she did?”
“No, I don’t approve, but I can’t condemn. Her heart was in the right place. And there’s another reason...”
Boone waited.
“Truth is, I can’t have Sam Jonas telling the media about the governor’s uncontrolled daughter interfering with one of the staple industries of this fine state.”
Especially this close to an election, Boone thought.
“So you see how this went down, son. Chickens freed from an inhumane death and rumors squelched with a check payable to Sam Jonas. It’s a win for yours truly, as I see it. And a better ending than most political stories these days.” The governor smiled. “I hope this won’t affect your ability to look after her while she’s here. I’m still counting on you.”
Was he kidding? Boone assumed he was already fired. He’d arrested the governor’s daughter! But apparently not. Well, if the governor held some outlandish notion that he still wanted Boone for this assignment, Boone had figured out how he could logically back out.
“Pardon me, sir,” he began, “but I don’t think it’s a good idea for me to watch Susannah for you.”
“Why the blazes not?”
“I’m hardly her favorite person.”
The governor’s chest puffed out, straining the buttons on his shirt. “I don’t care if she likes you. I just care if you take care of her. And besides, Susie won’t hold this chicken business against you. Actually, you’re even more perfect for the job now. You’ve reacquainted yourself with Susie. You know the kinds of scrapes she might get herself into—all because of an innate decency that has been her downfall on more than one occasion.”
Rhodes slapped his hand on the desk. “No, sir, Boone, I want you and you only.”
Boone almost winced. Besides what had just happened between them, despite that kiss in the equipment room, he and Susannah had hardly said two words to each other growing up. He couldn’t convince himself that she would accept him shadowing her every move.
Undaunted, Rhodes went on. “But in all fairness, I should fill you in on a little of Susie’s background. She’s never been an ordinary child, though I can’t tell you how many times I wished she were. I would have preferred if she had been content to sit on the sidelines of issues and be a nice young Georgia lady. But that kind of life wasn’t for her. She’s always been a pot stirrer, stirring things up until lids were ready to explode.”
The question, which was certainly none of Boone’s business, popped out of his mouth before he’d thought enough to suppress it. “Is that why you sent her off to private school?”
The governor’s eyes darkened. “I didn’t want to do that, but I didn’t think I had a choice. Susannah’s mother took off when Susie was only thirteen. That’s a tender age, and Susie acted out. Guess I can’t blame her. After all, Miranda encouraged her free-wheeling behavior, telling her that she was creative and spunky.” The governor huffed. “What good is spunky for a young lady? So, yes, I picked an all-girls academy in Atlanta that was known for discipline and a thorough schooling of the social graces.”
Susannah
