“Where’s Phoenix?” she asked Perci.
“The sheriff had one of his deputies meet us here. He took Phoenix to jail—on assault charges,” her sister said. “Don’t you remember?”
Phoebe shook her head gingerly.
“The sheriff tried to catch you. I think he knocked you a little bit—otherwise you would’ve hit the edge of the table, Phoebe. Phoenix could’ve killed you. He’s gone too far this time.”
Phoebe sighed. “And the sheriff?”
“He just scooped you right up and carried you out to his SUV. And here we are.” Her sister helped her off the table at Phoebe’s insistence. “You should stay.”
“We can’t afford it, Perci. You know that. We just…can’t. Let’s go. You can take care of me at home.” A thought occurred to her. “How are we going to get there?”
He was growing impatient—with the hospital. With his own brother. Nate was head of the small County Hospital. He appreciated Nate handling Phoebe’s care personally, but he wished Nate would just hurry it along.
The storms had finally broken free and ranged from Della near the south-eastern state line all the way up to where Masterson County met Montana in the northwest part of the state. Joel’s cell was already ringing off the hook, demanding his attention. He couldn’t stick around the hospital too much longer.
He wanted to. The girl hadn’t felt all that substantial when he was carrying her. Not at all. She’d been small, feminine, and far too vulnerable for his liking.
He should have known that idiot brother was too drunk to make rational decisions. He’d practically put her in a position to be hurt himself.
The guilt was what was keeping his ass in the hard orange waiting room chair.
Nate came out of the exam room, a look of consternation on his face.
“What? The Tyler girl?”
“She needs to be watched tonight. But she is refusing to stay.”
“Why the hell for?”
“Because she’s a Tyler and they’re stubborn as all hell? Because she can’t pay the bill, Joel. She was very clear on that. Her sister’s helping her dress now.”
“Damn it. Doesn’t she have insurance?”
“Not on herself, apparently,” Nate frowned. He glanced over his shoulder toward the exam room. And then he sighed. “For some, it’s cheaper to pay the fine for not having the insurance on their taxes then come up with the monthly premiums. And what the state now offers isn’t that great of an alternative. She’s young and unmarried, but too old to be on her father’s insurance policy. She may not qualify for the income guidelines, but the premium could eat up available reserves. I’ve seen it before. I’d say your girl slipped through the cracks somehow. Most likely deliberately.”
“The sister’s a nurse, right? What do you know about her?”
“Young, experienced, proud, difficult. Damned difficult. The list goes on. I’ve dealt with Persephone Tyler before. I don’t like this—at all. She is gambling with her life here, Joel.”
Neither did Joel, but… “It’s her choice. I need to drive them home, but I should have been out in front of these storms hours ago.”
“I’ll drive them home. I’m on my way out now, anyway.”
It was the only solution Joel really had.
He waited until the woman and her slightly taller sister reappeared.
Joel told her exactly what he thought of her stupidity—then he left her for his brother to deal with. He had a county to take care of.
Chapter 7
Dr. Masterson chose to force his way into their house, and he stayed. Supposedly because of Phoebe’s concussion. Phoebe had her own theories—Perci had a way of drawing men to her at times.
Perci and the doctor argued from the moment he’d told them he was giving them a ride home, to the moment he asked her father if he could stay on their couch to make sure Phoebe didn’t need help in the middle of the night.
It was the strangest house call Phoebe had ever heard of. As for Perci…It was very clear that she and the doctor hated each other. And had tangled many times before. Whatever was there between them, it was a big problem.
One that had her head hurting worse than ever before.
She still had to find a way to deal with Phoenix. They couldn’t leave him in jail.
Pip, usually ran ragged during the day as it was, somehow also took over the three younger boys’ homeschool. The ranch was too far from the county school sixty miles away. Like a lot of families in Masterson County, they homeschooled. It was only Phoenix in his senior year—though he was nineteen and a year behind because of the wreck that had killed their mother—who attended the county high school.
Because he’d insisted. And their father had given in. Honestly, it was easier to have him gone during the day than at home. There was far too much work to do to deal with Phoenix.
Dr. Masterson refused to let Phoebe out of bed for the entire day. Before he left after breakfast, he gave very clear instructions to Perci and told her to take the day off to stay with her family. That—and the killer headache—nearly drove her insane.
Phoebe had too much work to do to stay in bed all day. With Phoenix gone, that meant there were even more chores to do. The three younger boys did their best to help out, but the ranch was taking everything they had to keep going.
Phoebe lay back against the pillows and fought crying. It seemed like there was always just one more chore to be done. And it never ended.
She closed her eyes, hoping sleep would help her escape for just a little while.
Chapter 8
Joel managed four solid hours of sleep, at least. It was the best he was going to get, and he knew it. He was at his desk when his brother came in. Nate settled his big body in the chair opposite Joel’s and pulled his Stetson from his head. “I stayed at the Tylers’ place last night. Kept an eye on that girl for you.”
“How is she?” He tried to shove the guilt away, but it wouldn’t go anywhere. He should’ve secured the brother better. Phoebe could have seriously been hurt because of his misjudgment. He’d never forget that. Or the way she felt as he’d held her. How pale she had been when he told her how stupid he thought she was for not staying at the hospital. How proud she’d been when she’d asked him if the sheriff’s office was going to pay the bill. Told him if not, she wasn’t any of his business any longer.
He owed her an apology, and probably more than one. He hadn’t exactly handled himself well last night. Not at all. Even thinking of her disconcerted him. It had been blue eyes that he’d dreamed about in the four hours he had slept.
“She’ll recover. Most likely. She has one hell of a headache right now.”
Nate looked back toward the rear of the station—where the cells were. “Seen a lot of Tylers come to the ER. Trouble; at least ninety percent of them. Didn’t realize Persephone Tyler had so many sisters or brothers, though. Don’t think I’ve ever met any of them before. Just her.”
“I checked police reports, Nate. Nothing on this Phil Tyler or his kids. Except for that one back there. Apparently, he’s the worst of the lot. Not even speeding tickets.”
“Hmm. Just give them time, I bet. Tylers are always trouble of some sort or another. Persephone certainly is.” Nate leaned back. “The Tyler boy still back there?”
“Yes.” Joel was trying to decide what to do with the kid. He was too old for juvenile detention, and unless the sister pressed charges for assault, he hadn’t done anything serious enough for Joel to keep him. Technically, since Joel had witnessed the assault, the boy should face charges regardless. But since Joel was the only witness, he didn’t want to force the issue unless he had to.
Assault charges would stay with the boy for a long, long time.
“You might tell him that not only did he just cost his family a couple grand or more in ER bills, but half an inch toward the left, and it could’ve killed his sister outright. Something for him to consider. Damned lucky it didn’t.”
“I grabbed
her. Last second. I pulled her closer just before she hit.” Joel fought back a sudden rush of nausea at how close it had been.
“You saved her life, then. Lucky girl.”
Lucky? It never should have happened. He was equally as guilty as Phoenix Tyler.
Joel would never forget that.
Chapter 9
Joel couldn’t deal with the Tyler boy until late the next day. When he finally did, it was to find the boy sullen and morose in his cell.
“Tyler? You doing all right?” It was a small prison, located in the northern part of the county building that also contained Joel’s office and the entire sheriff’s department. It wasn’t anything much, just an older facility used to house temporary prisoners and low-risk offenders. A boy in the drunk tank fit right in.
Tyler looked like a pitiful little boy pouting in the corner. All alone in the world. It was hard for Joel to look past that for a moment.
And then he remembered what Nate had told him. Half an inch difference and the boy would have been facing manslaughter charges for the death of his own sister.
How small and vulnerable she had felt when he’d carried her semi-lucid into the ER settled in his mind again. She had clung to him, crying silently.
Phoenix Tyler needed to be taught a lesson. Immediately. Before his stupidity next time did get someone else killed.
“I’m fine. When am I getting out of here?”
“Now, see, that depends.”
“On what?” No attitude this time. Nothing but a strange apathy. Did the kid truly not care? What was broken in this kid to cause all of this?
“On your sister. Personally, I’d charge you with assault myself. That sister of yours could have been seriously hurt. Could have lost the rest of her hearing, did you know that? Not to mention that you could have killed her if I hadn’t managed to grab her a bit there as she fell. The doctor says half an inch to the left, and it could have been fatal. And for what? Because of some drunken fight with Tom Rutherford?”
Now that name got a real reaction out of the boy. And not one Joel was expecting. Fear ran through the blue eyes so like his sisters’. “Rutherford’s a dick!”
“Whatever. I don’t care what’s between you. You had no right to act that way with your family. What if your sister was seriously hurt? Wait a minute—she was. A concussion is no laughing matter. She’s stuck in bed right now. She should be in the hospital, but for some reason refused to stay. Because she doesn’t have health insurance and is terrified of another bill. You do, I checked. So if you were the one with a massive headache right now, you’d be getting all the right medical attention. But she’s not; did you know that? If something happens, she’s forty minutes from help. Except for your sister, who had to take the day off of work to take care of her.” Joel repeated everything Nate had told him with force, wanting to make his point very clear to the boy. “Now, let me ask you something, Mr. Tyler...if your sisters were already struggling to find money to feed your younger brothers, how can they afford for one to take off from the only paying job they have?”
“Screw you.”
It wasn’t a surprise, the teen’s words. He’d been hoping differently, of course. But there was something broken in Phoenix Tyler right now. Anyone could see that.
Joel just didn’t know if he could fix it. Or if he should even bother trying.
Until Tyler turned to look at him out of those blue eyes that were just like his sister’s.
That woman...
Something about her had stayed with him from the moment he’d left her in the ER in his brother’s care.
She hadn’t deserved what had happened.
The least her brother deserved was an object lesson for what he had done. “As soon as she’s recovered enough to get out of her bed, I’ll stop by. Talk to her. See what she wants to do. In the meantime, can I get you something to read while you’re here? We have Crime and Punishment or the Bible. Your choice.”
“Go to hell.”
“Nope. Right now...I’m going to go see your sister.”
He made it to the Tyler ranch just as the sun was setting in the distance. He was met on the front porch by none other than Phoebe herself. She had the youngest boy by the hand. Joel took a close look at the kid for the first time. He looked very much like the rest of his siblings, though the hair was a bit blonder than dark red. He just stared at Joel solemnly.
Finally, the boy spoke. “You come to take my Phoebe to jail, too?”
“Parker, that’s enough, sweetie. Go back inside and let me talk to the sheriff, ok? Pip and Pan will have dinner finished in a bit. Why don’t you help set the table?”
The child obeyed. The older sister stared at Joel from the relative safety of the porch. Finally, he stepped over the faded stepping stones and stopped just in front of her. Where he could almost reach out and touch her. Even with her a few steps above him, she was short. Small.
He’d never found petite women attractive before. He’d always preferred women that were a lot closer to six feet. Easier to hold that way.
But he’d had his arms around her for a while the night before, and he hadn’t had a problem with her small size at all. He could lift her right up off her toes, and press his lips to hers easily enough.
If he wanted to, that was.
He cleared his throat and pulled his white hat off his head. He’d been raised to be a gentleman, after all. “Miss Tyler, how are you doing today?”
“Well, I’m out of bed. That’s an improvement. How’s my brother? When do we need to pick him up?” She was just as wary today as she was the night before. Joel couldn’t blame her. The white bandage on her temple was like a neon sign to his failure to protect.
“That’s up to you. I still intend to charge him for the underage drinking and assaulting a police officer. It’s up to you if you press charges against him for what happened to you.”
“Please, don’t.” She came off the steps and held up her hands between them. Damn it, Joel had to force himself not to touch.
“We can’t afford this. We just can’t. Phoenix...he’ll need a lawyer, and with the bill from last night, we just can’t do it.”
It was the tears that did it. Had him wanting to soften the blow. “Here’s the deal. I’m keeping the underage drinking charge. He needs to know that that is a problem. I’ll drop the assault charges. He goes to the free counseling at the clinic for anger management and alcohol abuse and keeps his nose clean for the next year. A type of probation, just between my office and your family. One screw up and I’ll tack on that charge.”
“Thank you. Our family...really appreciates it.”
“Look, I don’t want to cause trouble for your family. I truly don’t. I just want to help.” Joel stepped closer, almost without thought. He should be turning around and heading as far away from this woman as he could get. Instead, he kept moving away from his Denali and closer to her. Like a moth to the light of the moon, or something as equally stupid as that. Phoebe Tyler drew him right in. It had to be the blue eyes. “How’s the head?”
She grimaced, one hand brushing the bandage lightly. “Splitting.”
“Why are you up so soon? Shouldn’t you be resting?” He had to admit, she looked a little too pale for his liking. Where did this concern keep coming from?
“Sheriff, if I stay in bed all day resting because of a headache, then the work isn’t getting done. The kids needed to eat, do their school, do their chores, the goats needed to be tended, and Perci had to help Pip with a foaling. Dad’s up at the back pasture with Pandora and Patton. We just...have too much to do for me to lay around in bed. With Phoenix gone, there’s even more work. Even with Perci taking the day off.”
Joel knew as well as she did what she was saying. There was never truly an end to ranch work. There was always going to be just one more chore that could be getting done.
He put his cowboy hat back on his head, before he did something stupid, like offer to help her herd goats or something. “Jus
t take it easy, honey. You won’t do anyone any good if you hurt yourself more because you should have rested. I’m going to head out. I’ll be letting your brother out in the morning. I’ll see to it he gets a ride home.”
“No.”
Joel turned toward the man behind him that he hadn’t heard approaching. Phil Tyler stood there, an older Border Collie next to him.
“Mr. Tyler, I stopped by to let your daughter know about your son. He’s facing an underage drinking charge. Probation for everything else.”
“I heard. And I heard why you’re dropping the assault charges. I don’t want him here. Not long term. He can gather his things, then I want him gone. I stand by what I said. I won’t have him here; not until I can trust him to not hurt his brothers or sisters.” There was grief in the man’s face that Joel couldn’t ignore. He felt for Tyler, he had to admit that.
“Daddy, where will he go? We can’t just kick him out like a stray dog who got too close to the chickens. He’s...family.”
The older man stared at his daughter for the longest time. Joel watched as those eyes of hers worked magic on the older man. Just like they had him a few moments ago. They really were hard to resist, weren’t they?
There was serious power in those eyes.
Finally, the old man relented. “He can stay up at the cabin.” He turned to Joel. “We have a small line shack at the back of the ranch. Up the side of the mountain. Tell my son...he can get his things and the cabin’s his. He’ll tend the pastures and the head we have up that way. In exchange, he’ll get free room and board for the next six months. He keeps up his schooling, doesn’t cause any trouble, we’ll talk then of extending it. And he is never to do anything to endanger his sisters—or brothers—again.”
It was the best Phoenix Tyler was going to get. Joel just wished he wasn’t the one going to deliver the news.
Seeking the Sheriff (Masterson County Book 1) Page 3