female who was speaking, but the shadows in the SUV were too dark to make out much. One of his deputies? She wasnât taking a very subservient tone for a subordinate.
The sheriff shook his head and tugged at his ear in frustration. He looked a little embarrassed. But he was still smiling. âIt has nothing to do with whether sheâs a man or a woman, Emma.â
âOh, really?â The female voice was equal parts amusement and sarcasm. âIs that so?â
With a sigh, the sheriff turned back to Sarah. âIâm sorry. I certainly didnât mean toâ¦to be patronizingâ¦I mean, to implyâ¦â He gave up, chuckling helplessly. âWell, anyway, welcome to Firefly Glen.â
Then, with a smile, he shifted his Jeep into reverse and prepared to exit the overlook.
He paused in a shaft of sunlight that spotlighted the most amazingly gorgeous man Sarah had ever seen. Black hair, blue eyesâ¦and that smile so sexy it had the power to transform a beleaguered woman into agiddy teenager. But, she saw now, it also had warmth. Warmth enough to make a total stranger feel suddenly befriended.
âIâm Sheriff Parker Tremaine,â he said. âAnd if you need anything at all while youâre visiting our townââ
The woman, a pretty twenty-something with hair as dark as the sheriffâs, leaned back, letting out a laughing groan. âOh, brother. Dudley Do-Right.â
The sheriff shook his head. âSorry. This is my sister. Sheâs a little crazy. Recently escaped. Iâm taking her in.â He lifted his right elbow to fend off a friendly blow from the woman. âBut donât let her scare you away. Most of us down there in the Glen are perfectly sane.â
Â
E MMA HAD ATTRACTED quite a crowd with her story, and Parker thought if she didnât shut up pretty soon he really was going to toss her in jail.
Not that they had any room in the jail. Suzie, his part-time clerk, had turned the one holding cell into a replica of the Bethlehem manger, complete with papier-mâché cows and a baby-doll Jesus that, if anyone touched him the wrong way, said in a rather disturbing, machinelike voice, âBetsy needs a new diaper.â
He had hoped that Suzie would take it down now that the new year was here, but she had bristled at the suggestion. Suzie, a seventeen-year-old high school junior, was gunning for an interior design scholarship to NYU, and she expected her manger to clinch the deal. She wasnât letting anyone dismantle a singlestraw of hay until she had good pictures for her résumé.
So Parker really had no choice but to let Emma keep regaling the customers of the Candlelight Café with her reenactment of Parkerâs rescue on the mountaintop.
âBut wonât you let me escort you down the mountain, miss?â Emmaâs voice was a syrupy, annoying imitation of Parkerâs own. âI am the valiant Sheriff of Firefly Glen. I can protect you.â
Parker growled. Even though Emma was now twenty-six and about to celebrate her first wedding anniversary, she would always be his annoying little sister. They had lost their parents in a car accident three years ago, and the tragedy had been one of the reasons heâd decided to come back to Firefly Glen. He hadnât liked the idea of Emma here without any family at all. But the move had certainly left him at the mercy of her irrepressible teasing and, even worse, her incessant matchmaking.
âDamn it, Emma, give it up. I just asked the woman if she needed help. Itâs my job, remember?â
Emma grinned and tucked into the pumpkin pie Theo Burke had just placed in front of her. âYeah, but if sheâd been a three-hundred-pound logger with a face like a gargoyle, Iâll bet you wouldnât have stopped.â She turned to her audience. âThis lady was gorgeous. Petite, honey-blond hair, great body. Dudley Do-Right here was practically