Page 191 of Cowboy Daddies

That’s not quite true, though, is it?

No, because all evening Wyatt had kept talking about her, asking him if she would be all right and what she was doing.

Things Jeb couldn’t answer. And didn’t want to. Because she wasn’t his problem, and he hadn’t done anything wrong.

“I’m sure she’s long gone out of town and I have better things to do than talk about her. So if that’s all, I’ll⁠—”

“Actually, that’s not all,” Tex interrupted firmly. “She happens to be sitting in a cell in my jail.”

Jeb froze for a moment at those words. “In jail?”

“Yes. In jail. A young girl in her mid-twenties sat in my jail all night and I’d like to know why you messaged me about her in the first place.”

Tex’s voice was firm and slightly annoyed.

“I thought she was on drugs and hanging around a playground, annoying children.”

“You have proof that she was on drugs?”

“No, of course not,” Jeb said, irritated. “Why the hell did Happy arrest her? He must have his reasons. Why call me?”

“So, no proof, then. What was she doing that was so bad that you messaged me?”

Jeb ran his hand over his face. “I don’t know. She was acting strange. Being irrational. She gave Wyatt candy.”

“And you just stood there and let her?”

“I wasn’t there.”

“Right, who was with Wyatt so I can talk to them?” Tex said.

“No one. He left me at the diner and headed to the playground to go on his favorite swing.”

“Wyatt was there alone?” Tex asked without any judgment in his voice.

But Jeb heard it.

“Yes, I found him quickly. But she was there, giving him candy and talking to him. It wasn’t right.”

“Or maybe she stayed there because a child turned up on his own and she didn’t want to leave him alone.”

“She was on his swing and wouldn’t get off,” Jeb argued.

“Right. Sure.”

“Look, maybe she wasn’t on drugs and perhaps I shouldn’t have texted you. But she was a strange woman hanging around a playground and I thought Happy was just moving her on, not arresting her.”

“He did,” Tex said. “Until he found her later that evening while on patrol. Sleeping in her car.”

That wasn’t concern he felt.

It wasn’t.

Once upon a time, he would have been worried about her. He’d always been protective over women. It was the way that he’d been raised. A part of who he was.

Prior to things going wrong with Elise, he’d loved taking care of her. Being her Dom. Before Elise had started to find him to be too much. Too controlling and domineering.

So he’d pulled back that part of himself until they both grew apart. That’s when things had truly begun to unravel between them. He’d worked longer hours while she’d started drowning her issues in alcohol.