“I’m never too busy for you.” Eric tugged her closer again. “But are you sure you’ve thought this through? Being a deputy isn’t a walk in the park.”
Stella straightened. Did he think she couldn’t handle the job? There weren’t too many female deputies in town, but it wasn’t like she’d have to break new ground.
“I work at the station, remember? I have a fair idea what it’s like.” At the refreshments table, Jed offered Virginia a piece of cake. Virginia stabbed a finger at a plate piled high with cookies, and he added several of them to the dish and handed it to her. Stella bit back a smile. She was fairly certain Jed had a crush on Virginia, despite the way they fought.
“You’re not exactly brawny.” Eric spanned her waist with his hands as a visual demonstration, pulling her back to their conversation. “I’m not sure you know what you’re getting yourself into.”
“Well, I’m sure,” Stella said crisply. So much for romance. Now she was good and annoyed. She didn’t need him talking down to her like that. She was a strong woman, not some debutante in a hoop skirt.
Eric must have sensed her anger. “Heck, Stella, sorry—that was out of line. You’re a smart lady, and I’m sure you know your capabilities. I’d be glad to help anytime.”
Stella relaxed a little and let him move her around the dance floor again. “I do know my capabilities,” she said. Now Virginia was supervising while Jed loaded up a plate of desserts for himself. She could see her giving him a lot of advice. He reached for something, and Virginia swatted his hand away. Her shrill voice carried over the music. “That cake’s filling has cream in it, and it’s sat out for far too long!”
Eric frowned. “You can’t blame me for worrying about you. I’m a man. Guess I like to think of myself as the protector in this relationship. If you’re a deputy, too…”
“Then maybe I’ll be the one doing the protecting,” she quipped. “Welcome to the twenty-first century, Eric. I’ll be fine.”
He growled in a playful way. “Every time I turn around something’s changing. Guess I’ll have to change, too.”
“Guess so.” She spotted her younger sister, Maya, heading over to the refreshment table. Was she doing refills or beginning to pack things away? “I’d better go help out a little. Maya’s looking for me.” She spotted her mother, Mary, and Enid Cooper coming to join her sister. They’d done a lot to help set up the wedding, and Stella was happy that the two of them had rekindled their old friendship. She hadn’t exactly patched things up with her mother, but she supposed she’d get there someday.
“Do you have to?” He made no move to let her go.
“I have to. See you around, Eric.” She disengaged herself from his arms, not giving him time to try to kiss her again or ask what she was doing later.
“Everything all right?” Maya asked when she joined her.
“Everything’s fine.” But as her gaze traveled over the assembled guests, Stella realized she was looking for Steel even though she knew he wasn’t there. Everything wasn’t fine. She was too smart to be pining for an unsuitable man. Steel was as much a thief as his father was rumored to have been.
And he’d run off with her heart.
Steel slipped away between the trees, satisfied that his sister was safely married and would be cared for by the man she loved. He would have liked to tell her how happy he was for her, but it would be a long time before he could talk openly with his family again. He’d worked too hard to get to this point in his investigation. People needed to place him firmly in the camp of the bad guys in their minds. That way the bad guys might finally see him as one of them.
It took him a long time to make his way across several ranches to the place where he’d hidden his truck. In the morning he’d get back to work searching for answers. Meanwhile, he’d drive back to Silver Falls, to his new base of operations.
Shortly before midnight, he was sitting in the doorway of the ramshackle trailer he’d recently purchased for a song, lost in thought, trying to calm his mind in preparation for sleep, when the wind shifted and a cool breeze ruffled his hair.
Steel straightened, but it took him a moment to realize what had roused him.
A smell. A certain heaviness to the air.
He looked to the sky again—to the west where clouds already obscured the stars. A storm was gathering. He watched it come his way.
And smiled as the first drops of rain began to fall.
Guests had already begun to head for home when the rain started, stopping all of them in their tracks. All around Stella, people tilted their heads back to feel the pitter-patter of drops hitting their skin, such a familiar feeling but one they’d missed for far too long.
Tears pricked Stella’s eyes, and she swallowed in a throat that suddenly ached—with gratitude. Finally, this crazy drought would end. It had been a long hot summer that had left the ground as hard and dry as concrete and everyone’s tempers stretched to the limits. Their crops had struggled. Their morale, too. Rain was just what the doctor ordered. She hadn’t realized how much the constant worry had affected her these past few months until the muscles at the back of her neck relaxed. She blinked back the sudden rush of emotion that welled inside her as the raindrops fell, but glancing around, she realized she wasn’t the only one affected this way. Jo Reed had stretched out her arms and was slowly twirling. Lisa Matheson looked like she was praying.
