by Diana Palmer
One afternoon, John walked in the back door with Chief Graves, who was grinning from ear to ear.
“We have company,” John told her, pausing to kiss her warmly and pull her close at his side. “He has news.”
“I thought you’d like to know that Mr. Tarleton got five years,” he said pleasantly. “They took him away last Friday. He’s appealing, of course, but it won’t help. He was recorded on DVD agreeing to the terms of the plea bargain. I told you that judge hated sexual assault cases.”
Sassy nodded. “I’m sorry for him,” she said. “I wish he’d learned his lesson the last time, in Wyoming. I guess when you do bad things for a long time, you just keep doing them.”
“Repeat offenders repeat, sometimes,” Graves replied solemnly. “But he’s off the street, where he won’t be hurting other young women.” He pursed his lips. “I also wanted to thank you for the gift you brought back from Mexico. But I’m curious.”
“About what?” she asked.
“How did you know I could play a flute?”
Her eyebrows arched. “You can?” she asked, surprised.
He chuckled. “Maybe she reads minds,” he told John. “Better take good care of her. A woman with that rare gift is worth rubies.”
“You’re telling me,” John replied, smiling down at his wife.
“I’ll get back to town. Take care.”
“You, too,” Sassy said.
He sauntered out to his truck. John turned to Sassy with pursed lips. “So you can read minds, can you?” He leaned his forehead down against hers and linked his hands behind her. “Think you can tell me what I’m thinking right now?” he teased.
She reached up and whispered in his ear, grinning.
He laughed, picked her up, and stalked down the hall carrying her. She held on tight. Some men’s minds, she thought wickedly, weren’t all that difficult to read after all!
All the characters in this book have no existence outside the imagination of the author, and have no relation whatsoever to anyone bearing the same name or names. They are not even distantly inspired by any individual known or unknown to the author, and all the incidents are pure invention.
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First published in Great Britain 2013
by Mills & Boon, an imprint of Harlequin (UK) Limited, Eton House,
18-24 Paradise Road, Richmond, Surrey TW9 1SR
ROUGH DIAMONDS © Harlequin Enterprises II B.V./S.à.r.l. 2013
Wyoming Tough © Diana Palmer 2011
Diamond in the Rough © Diana Palmer 2009
eISBN: 978-1-472-01714-7