Page 11 of Blood Sweeter than Honey (Fated to the Cowboy #1)

GIDEON

I t takes me damn near two hours to reach Sheriff Harlan’s office, thanks to the downpour.

Apparently, the matter is so delicate he couldn’t give me any details about it until I showed up in person.

Which meant the whole ride here, my gut was twisting itself into knots as my mind conjured the worst.

Someone’s gotta be dead.

I have no idea who, because the only people I’d call friends are safe at the ranch, and the only blood relatives I know are gone.

Sheriff Harlan Clayton is standing at the front desk talking to his secretary, Deedee, when I burst through the door. Both gazes snap in my direction, and their relief is palpable at the sight of me. It only makes me more nervous.

Emblazoned with a gold sheriff’s badge, Harlan tips his Stetson at me in greeting as he pulls a gnawed-to-shit toothpick from his mouth. “Appreciate you comin’ all this way. Hope that storm out there didn’t trouble ya none.”

I have too much tension in my body to reply properly, and I’m not pleased with the fact he refused to tell me what the fuck is going on, forcing me to stew in anxiety for the last two hours. With a grunt, I follow him behind the counter and into a hall that leads to a singular interrogation room.

A room I’ve sat in on more than one occasion.

He stops in front of the interrogation room door, lifting both his hands in a placating gesture as his voice drops to barely above a whisper.

“Now look, I know this is a big ask, and I know you like to keep to yourself up on your ranch and all, but I just… I couldn’t really think of a better option.”

My chest is about to explode from the weight of anticipation, fear, and not-knowing what the shit is going on.

“Christ almighty, Harlan, would you just spit it out already?”

Harlan scrubs a hand down his face. “I found a woman lyin’ on the side of the road right beside Agamemnon National Reserve.”

My brows dip low, and Harlan raises his hands again, lowering his voice even further. “I thought she was dead… She looked like she’d been mauled by a fuckin’ bear.”

Gut twisting into yet another knot, my gaze shifts to the interrogation room window. The blinds are closed, but I can make out a silhouette. “And you brought her here? Why isn’t she at the hospital? And what the hell do you expect me to do about it?”

Harlan’s eyes go wide with urgency as his whisper almost seems reverent. “She healed, Gideon. She fucking healed. Right before my goddamn eyes.”

My eyes narrow at him. “Is this a joke or some shit? I gotta be?—

Harlan’s baritone voice rises to a shout—something I’ve never seen him do. The man’s about as good-natured and even-keeled as any decent man could ever aspire to be. “No, god damn it, boy! That woman went from half dead and lookin’ like a shark’s chew toy to skin as fresh as a baby's bottom!”

Harlan stops himself, red-faced, and takes a deep breath as he raises a shaky hand to scrub at his trim beard. “Now, normally, as you know, protocol would have me call in an ambulance and just wish her well, but…”

“But what?”

“Well, for one, she quite obviously doesn’t need an ambulance, and I have a feeling it would set in motion a chain of events that I’m not sure I could ever forgive myself for when she ended up as some government science experiment.

And two, when I asked her where she was from, she gave the name of some place I can’t pronounce. ”

“So, what? She European or somethin’?”

With comically wide eyes, Harlan shakes his head, voice dropping to a whisper again. “She said it’s another realm.”

I can’t manage to do anything other than blink.

Once.

Twice.

Before bursting into fucking laughter.

Harlan scowls down at me like I’ve just pissed on his Bible.

“Laugh all you like, boy. You’ll see.”

I’m only ten years his junior, but I have too many tears spilling from my eyes to bother reminding him. “God damn, it feels good to laugh. This almost makes the two-hour drive worth it.”

Harlan’s frown deepens, shaking his head. “Prepare to put your foot in your mouth, asshole. Now calm the fuck down, can’t have you meetin’ her like this, or she won’t feel safe leavin’ with you.”

The abrupt halt of my laughter makes me feel like I just stepped off the edge of a cliff.

“Say what now?”

“Well, I can’t exactly bring her home with me unless I want Leanna to put me in an unmarked grave, and there ain’t no one else I’d trust to take proper care of her.”

Now I know why he refused to tell me until I was face-to-face with him. He knows damn well I’d have said fuck no.

The scowl on my face could sink ships, but Harlan only gives me a frustrating smirk.

“Saddle up, boy. It’s happening.”

I huff a disbelieving laugh. “The fuck it is. The last thing I need is some crazy-ass homeless woman fuckin’ with my ranch and?—

“Would you shut the hell up and pick that sorry bottom lip up off the floor before you trip over the dang thing with all this complainin’? Ain’t shit to fuck with on your ranch other than interruptin’ your dick-tuggin’ schedule.”

Before I can even muster a reply, Harlan turns and grips the door handle, mumbling a string of curses I can’t make out other than, “… ungrateful titty-baby…”, before he swings the door to the interrogation room open.

With no choice but to follow, lest I defile the scarce few morals I still hold, my eyes land on the woman sitting on the other side of the table, and my jaw drops so hard it nearly hits me in the dick.