“You’d better check your tone, girl,” he growled. “Don’t make me say it twice.”
She took a deep, shaky breath and let it out slowly. “Give me a job, then,” she said, her voice quaking. “The boys have gone to town for you. Why can’t I?”
“Because the boys don’t sass me every time they open their mouths,” Jeb drawled. “Now, I’m busy. Go tend to your chores.”
“They’re finished,” she shot back, daring to raise her chin at him.
But when he slowly got to his feet, his patience at an end, he was gratified to see her shrink into herself a little, cringing.
“I can take her to town before dinner, sir.”
Jeb sent an angry look over Sandra’s shoulder at his son Jeremy. “Don’t believe I was talking to you, boy.”
“Sorry, sir,” Jeremy said. “I have to go anyway to pick up the parts you need before the hardware store closes. I can drop her off on the way and pick her up when I’m finished.”
Jeb stared at his children, inhaling and exhaling with long, measured breaths. He didn’t like this one bit. It was one thing to send his sons to town without him, but his daughter… The girl was barely twenty-two and hadn’t been around others much except at church. He’d never bothered sending any of the children to school—his wife had taught them all at home with a curriculum he approved, not with the government’s indoctrination that passed for public education these days.
“Really,” Jeremy said with a shrug, “it’s no trouble.”
Jeb narrowed his eyes at the both of them. “Alright then,” he relented. “You go with your brother, Sandra. But I find out there’s something more to this, you’re both going to get the strap.”
Sandra gave him a relieved grin before turning and hurrying off to get ready, but Jeremy lingered a few moments, looking more than a little nervous. He shifted from one foot to other as if he had something to say.
“What is it, boy?” Jeb finally demanded, tiring of the boy’s indecision. Mark and Derrick were never so wishy-washy. They acted—without worrying about the consequences. He didn’t always agree with their decisions, but at least they’d had the balls to do what needed to be done.
Jeremy cleared his throat. “I think maybe Sandra is going to town to meet someone.”
Jeb’s hand clenched into a fist, but he managed to say evenly, “And you offered to give her an escort down the road to sin, is that it?”
“No, sir,” Jeremy said quickly. “I thought I’d find out who it is. Figured you’d want to know who she’s seeing on the sly.”
Something twisted in Jeb’s gut—a strange mixture of irritation and relief. “She’s not seeing anyone,” he spat, getting back to work. “When would she meet anyone? Only people she’s around are at church, and I know all those boys—so do you. None of them would dare to touch a hair on your sister’s head.”
Jeremy looked a little skeptical, giving away what he was thinking before he said, “I think there are a couple of boys who are more interested in the sins of the flesh than concerned about what might happen to them if they lead Sandra astray.”
Jeb’s relief was quickly replaced by fury. He punched his fist down onto his desk and ground out, “Who are they?”
“I don’t know,” Jeremy admitted, edging back toward the door. “But I’ve heard her talking to some of her friends when she didn’t think I was listening. Some of the things they’re telling her…”
Jeb nodded. “Well, we’ll put an end to this. You tell me who you see her talking to, and I’ll make sure they’re dealt with.”
*
“Gabe?”
Gabe looked up from the plate of sushi he’d picked part, meeting Elle’s gaze, his brows lifting by way of response.
Elle sighed. Clearly he’d been a mile away, as she’d suspected. “I’m sorry to say you haven’t been a very lively date this evening.”
He reached across the table and took her hand in his and brought it to his lips, pressing a kiss to her palm. “Sorry. Just going over everything in my head, trying to piece it all together, figure out something we might’ve missed that would implicate Monroe.”
She loved his doggedness, had always admired his inability to back off when he was on a case. It was what made him one hell of a deputy. But she’d suggested coming to the sushi place near her office so they could have a quiet dinner after the party, just enjoy being together like they had at the fair.
“You’re off the clock, Dawson,” she reminded him.
He gave her a terse nod. “You’re right. What can I do to make it up to you?”
She gave him her best sultry look. “Oh, I think I can come up with a few things.”