The Lawman's Christmas Proposal
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Barbara White Daille
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Prologue
“Don’t look now, but here comes trouble,” Jedediah Garland said to his old friend Paz.
He had driven her into town to pick up a food order for the Hitching Post, the hotel he owned and where she worked as his cook. On the way, they had made a quick stop for coffee at SugarPie’s, Cowboy Creek’s popular sandwich shop. As usual at this early hour, they found the place filled to capacity.
The woman approaching their table owned SugarPie’s, which consisted of both the shop and the adjacent bakery.
Paz looked over her shoulder, then turned back. “Why do you say trouble, Jed? Sugar is smiling.”
“That she is. And that smile’s telling me she’s got something more than today’s menu on her mind. Haven’t you?” he asked as the woman came to a halt beside their table. He gestured to an empty chair. “Take a seat, and let’s hear whatever load of gossip you’ve got for us this morning.”
Sugar grinned at him. She plopped into a pink-cushioned chair beside Paz, who scooted her chair over to allow the sturdy businesswoman a little more elbow room.
“Now, Jed,” Sugar said in her soft Southern drawl, “how did you ever know I had something to say?”
He shrugged. “That not-so-sugar-sweet smile on your face is a dead giveaway.” He crossed his arms over his chest. “Let’s have it.”
“Well...” After a quick look around the crowded shop, she leaned forward and said, “Lyle stopped in this morning.”
Jed nodded, knowing she meant Lyle Weston, Cowboy Creek’s sheriff.
“Is there something wrong?” Paz asked.
Sugar shook her head. “No. Well...there is and there isn’t. Mitch is home.”
Attention caught, Jed leaned forward. “Home? You mean to stay?”
Sugar shrugged. “Lyle doesn’t know for sure himself. But he’ll settle for having the boy here till the holidays.”
No wonder the woman had been grinning like a fool. Mitch was the sheriff’s oldest son, now an officer with the Los Angeles Police Department. While Lyle was fit to bust with pride over all the boy’s commendations, no one in town liked the idea of him living so far away.
Trouble was, nobody knew what had been to blame for Mitch’s departure. And at the moment, Jed didn’t know what had led to the boy’s return.
One of the waitresses signaled to Sugar from over near the kitchen. She hustled away, leaving Jed and Paz staring at each other.
“Oh, Jed,” Paz said in a low voice. “I know that look. You’re at it again.”
His grin must have rivaled Sugar’s, and no doubt Paz had accurately read his mind.
A self-proclaimed matchmaker, he’d had some success bringing two of his granddaughters together with the men meant for them. “Well, why not?” he demanded. “The Christmas season’s almost upon us—and isn’t that the time for miracles? Besides, no sense putting myself out to pasture when I’m on a winning streak on the track. And when I’ve got one granddaughter still unattached.”
“But, Jed...you can’t think Andi is ready for a relationship yet.”
“I don’t think she knows what she’s ready for.” He looked down at his coffee cup rather than meet Paz’s eyes. He couldn’t admit she had a point.
As her gaze caught his again, the tears in her eyes told him he didn’t have to confess a thing. She was as much a part of his family as Tina, the granddaughter they shared and who was now happy and settled, thanks to their efforts.
Paz knew as well as he did that the entire family feared his widowed granddaughter, Andi, would never be happy again.
