Wife Wanted in Dry Creek Read Online Free PDF Page B

the music. “It’ll come back to you.”
    “I fell off my bicycle. Remember?”
    “Well, at first, but you got the hang of it,” his uncle said and then paused. “Later.”
    Katrina wondered if dance moves did come back. “I took some ballet in junior high.”
    Conrad shot her a look of pure terror. “I could never do ballet.”
    “Nonsense,” his uncle said. “You got back on that bike until you could ride it. And you suited up as a clown at the last rodeo. That takes more nerve than ballet.”
    “I only did it because the real clown didn’t show and the riders needed someone to be in the ring with them in case they needed help.”
    “So you’d risk your life to help an old cowboy,” his uncle said. “But when it comes to bringing a little pleasure into a beautiful woman’s heart, you fold.”
    “Well, I suppose I could dance if someone’s life was on the line,” Conrad conceded.
    “You never know what you can do until you have to,” Katrina agreed. She knew the two men were trying to keep her mind off her troubles and she appreciated it.
    “I ran into a burning building once,” Conrad offered.“Never thought I’d be able to do that. It was more of a shed than anything, but—”
    His face had more color now that they’d stopped talking about dancing.
    “That was a fool thing to do,” his uncle scolded. “That old cat never did appreciate it. She scratched you up good. You could have gotten an infection.”
    “Well, she’d gotten tangled up in some string and couldn’t get out. I couldn’t just let her die, now could I?”
    “No, I suppose not,” his uncle agreed. “I’ve done reckless things, too. I can remember when I went skinny-dipping at the church picnic when we all used to meet at the Big Dry Creek. I was a young daredevil of seven and I thought I was far enough away. Almost didn’t get my clothes on before some ladies came down to see how high the water was in the creek. And there I stood dripping wet in my shirt and pants. Looked like a fool.”
    No one said anything for a bit.
    “I never thought I’d have the courage to face getting arrested,” Katrina finally added to the list. “But here I am.”
    She looked around. Everything in the office was neatly squared off, the stack of invoices on the desktop. The white binders named with different motor companies. Even the way the file cabinets were arranged. The place was pleasantly warm, too, and she had one friend here. Conrad’s uncle seemed to believe she was innocent.
    “That sheriff won’t arrest you,” the older man muttered. “He has to stand for reelection in this town. I guess he could hold you for a few days, though.”
    “It’s okay,” she said. “He’s only doing his job,”
    Then the door from the garage opened and the sheriff came into the office. “I’m sorry. That took longer than I thought it would.”
    He didn’t close the door to the garage area.
    “Are the boys okay?” she asked as she stepped over to try and see them. The lights were off in the garage and only the subdued sunlight that filtered through the windows made it possible to see. The boys were sitting inside the car again. She could see the tops of their little heads.
    The sheriff nodded. “Yeah, they’re doing fine. That older one’s pretty sharp.”
    Katrina had no choice but to turn back and look at the lawman even if she wasn’t ready. He had a stern look on his face and it made her think he was expecting the worst. Well, she was expecting something pretty awful, too. And it would be happening to her, not him.
    She didn’t see Conrad take a few steps closer to her, but she heard him. She looked up and saw him standing next to her with the same resolve in his face as the lawman had on his. Only Conrad was directing his glare toward the sheriff instead of her.
    She took a deep breath. Maybe she had two friends to stand beside her.
    “It could be that the plates are stolen,” she said to the sheriff. She tried to keep her