Free Lonestar Sanctuary by Colleen Coble Page A

their bunks, Allie will take the girls inside."

    "Gracias." Emilio turned to the huddled teens who were trying to
look bored. "You heard the boss man. Boys, come with me."
    "Why do the Betties get to stay in the house?" The boy who
objected looked like he'd seen one too many tattoo parlors. Skulls and
crossbones covered both arms, and he had rings in his ears, eyebrows,
and lower lip.
    The bright red hair matched his eyebrows, so Allie decided it must
be natural.
    The other boy shoved him. "To save them from dudes like you."
Thin to the point of emaciation, the second boy picked up his backpack and turned to go.
    "Are you going to introduce us?"Allie asked.
    Emilio took a tighter grip on his briefcase. "Tattoo boy is Devin."
He pointed to the skinny boy. "Leon. The girls are Latoya and Fern."
He nodded toward Allie. "Go with the lady, girls. We'll be back as
soon as we get things stowed, and you can see the ranch."
    "Peachy," Devin said in a mocking voice. His untied shoelaces
dragged in the red dirt as he slumped after Emilio and Leon.
    Elijah went down the steps. "I will check on Cupcake. You can
handle this, Allie."
    Allie forced a smile. She wasn't used to being around teenagers
much. "You both share a room beside mine." The girls followed her
into the house.
    Were these kids part of the foster care system? She'd heard Elijah
had great success with troubled kids and had headed here without
knowing more than that.
    "Wow," Latoya breathed. "Cool digs."

    Shapely with perfect dark skin, Latoya held her head high and surveyed her new domain. Allie could see she'd have her hands full with
the young woman. Fern kept her head down, and only the pink of her
scalp showed in the part between two yellow braids.
    Why were they here? Drugs? Prostitution? For the first time, Allie
realized she might have brought Betsy into contact with characters
who might not be the best influences. She'd assumed the kids would
all be younger, with problems similar to Betsy's. When she thought
about it, though, she realized internal scars were the most profound.
    She showed the girls their room and pointed to the dresser. "You
can put your things away there."
    The girls began to unload their backpacks. Latoya brought out a
delicious color of hot-pink nail polish.
    "Ooh, that's pretty." Allie picked it up. "Sparkles." She glanced at
her bare nails. It had been all she could do not to bite them with no
polish on them.
    "Try it." Latoya put her hand over her mouth and exhaled. "Girl,
I've got the dragon. My teeth feel like slime. Where's the bathroom?"
    "At the end of the hall."Allie picked up the bottle of polish when
Latoya went out. Why not? She sat on the edge of the bed and uncapped it, then slicked a thin coat over her nails. Holding out her left
hand, she showed Fern. "What do you think?"
    Fern barely glanced at her hand, but her head bobbed. "Pretty."
    Latoya came back in with gloss on her lips. She pooched her lip out
at Allie. "Minty fresh." She peeked at Allie's nails. "That's so you, girl."
    "It's fresh," Allie said. "I like it "
    "It's yours." Latoya leaned over and pressed the bottle into Allie's
hands.
    "Oh no, I can't take it." Was the girl trying to bribe her? Allie stared hard at Latoya, but the teenager just smiled back. "I'll borrow
it sometime." She put the bottle back on the dresser. "Let's go find the
guys." They all trooped back downstairs. She was careful with her wet
nails when she peeked out the back door to check on Betsy. Her
daughter lay in a hammock on the back porch with three kittens
snuggled around her. They were all sleeping.

    She and the girls tiptoed past the little girl into the backyard and
headed toward the barn. Rick's familiar battered cowboy hat moved
into her line of vision. He stood by the paddock with one boot on the
bottom rail and his hands gripping the top. Funny how the same pose
she'd seen Charlie take looked so much better on Rick.
    Emilio and the boys clustered