A Match Made in Texas Read Online Free PDF Page B

you figured out that I wasn’t sick.”
    There was a pause. “I guess I can’t point any fingers since I missed my fair share of family functions in the last two years. But I’ll be truthful with you, Brianne; you’ve got us all a little worried. What’s going on—?”
    Beep.
    Bri jumped on the excuse to cut their conversation short. “I’ve got to go, Beau,” she said. “I’ll call you later.” Hoping this was the last interruption, she pushed the button and Beckett’s teasing voice came through the receiver.
    “Hey, Willie.” He used the nickname he’d called her since birth. “You take any more naked pictures?”
    She laughed, relieved that this brother was much less suffocating than the other three. “Stop being a smart butt.”
    Beckett paused. “So what happened?”
    Bri leaned back on the bed and released her breath. “Bad decision making. Similar to the time you hacked into Billy’s e-mail and sent all those love letters to his ex-girlfriends. Fortunately, only I know about that. Everyone seems to know about my little mishap. Talk about a big black eye on the family name. I rank right up there with Great-Grandpa Cates and his love for a prostitute.”
    Beckett laughed. “Stop being so dramatic, Willie. It’s not that bad. So you decided to have sex on the beach—”
    “I was not having sex.”
    “So why was your top off?”
    For a moment, she considered telling Beckett the truth. But before she could, Baby’s breathy voice echoed down the hallway.
    “Minnie! Minnie! You aren’t going to believe who’s at the door.”
    Fear tiptoed up Bri’s spine as visions of mirrored sunglasses flashed through her mind. “I’ll call you back, Beck.” She hung up and jumped from the bed, glancing around for an exit. She had just decided on an escape route out the window when Baby continued.
    “It’s the King. The King has come to Miss Hattie’s!”

Chapter Four
    D USTY H ICKS BARELY WAITED FOR R ALPH to pull up in front of his office before he opened the door and jumped down from the tow truck.
    “You sure you don’t want to go to the doctor’s for your allergies, Sheriff?” Ralph asked. “I’ve never seen a nose or eyes so red in all my born days.”
    A wall of anger welled up inside of Dusty, and he gritted his teeth. “It’s nothing that a little Claritin won’t take care of. Thanks for coming out to get me, Ralph. Give my best to the missus.”
    “Will do, Sheriff. And I’ll try to get your car back to you by next week.”
    “No hurry. The county still hasn’t auctioned off my old squad car, and I figure it will do for the time being.” He glanced back at the battered car hooked to Ralph’s tow truck. With an oath, he slammed the truck door and turned to his office.
    It was a pathetic, old building with sagging walls and cracked and peeling stucco. After the jail roof leaked so badly during the last rainstorm, Dusty had petitioned the town for money to build a new jail and sheriff’s office, but Culver, Texas, was one of the towns hardest hit by the recession. Not only was there no money for improvement, there was talk about moving his headquarters to Austin.
    Dusty wasn’t moving to Austin. Or any big city, for that matter. There was only one reason he’d live in urban craziness, and that reason had been taken away from him.
    He tipped his hat at a woman walking by pushing a baby stroller before he pulled open the glass door. A blast of cool air hit him in the face, and he was relieved that the air conditioner wasn’t on the fritz again. For October, it was hotter than blue blazes.
    “Good Lord in heaven, Dusty,” Cora Lee, his receptionist, greeted him before the door had even finished closing. “What happened to you?”
    He could’ve lied like he had to Ralph, but he trusted Cora Lee to keep things confidential. “I got pepper sprayed.”
    The creak of vinyl cushions had Dusty turning to the small waiting room.
    His bad day suddenly got much worse.
    A grinning