Free Maverick Sheriff by Delores Fossen Page B

gave her another jolt of panic and fear.
    “I can take Liam upstairs for his nap,” her mom offered. Jessa hadn’t told her mother about Cooper’s suspicions, but she obviously saw the tension between them. Anyone could have, including Liam, and even though her son was young, it wasn’t something she wanted him to sense. Especially since he was still recovering from surgery.
    Jessa didn’t stop her mother from leaving with Liam. She wanted a chance to talk to Cooper alone so she could beg him to, well, she wasn’t sure what yet, but she had to do something. It felt as if he was trying to snatch Liam away from her.
    “Hector’s on the way over here,” Cooper added before she could say anything. “He wants to talk to you.”
    Mercy, that didn’t sound good. She prayed he wasn’t coming to confess he’d done something illegal to secure Liam’s adoption.
    “I don’t trust Hector,” Cooper went on. “So while he’s here, I don’t want Liam or you alone with him. If he’s trying to cover up his part in the adoption, he might consider you both loose ends.”
    Hearing that spelled out turned her blood to ice, and she forced herself to remember another side of this. “I plan to go through all my recent cases to see if there’s someone who could be out for revenge. That might be all this is. Someone who wants to get back at me because I put him or her behind bars.”
    Cooper nodded, made a sound of mild agreement, but his attention wasn’t on her. It was on the two people who came out of the guesthouse about twenty yards away.
    Cooper’s sister Rayanne and his stepbrother, Seth.
    Like the other times Jessa had gotten a glimpse of Seth, he was dressed in a black suit. Very much FBI, and Jessa would have asked for his help if she thought she could trust him.
    She couldn’t.
    Even though Seth and Cooper were at odds, it didn’t mean the agent would be willing to help the A.D.A. who had put his adopted mother behind bars.
    Rayanne and Seth appeared to be involved in a heavy discussion, but that stopped when they got within earshot of Cooper and her. Cooper’s sister threw open the door to the sunroom, stepped in and aimed a glare at Cooper. The glare held when her attention settled on Jessa.
    She didn’t actually come inside. Rayanne stood in the doorway and ignored the steamy heat that was pouring in around her. “Are you plotting how to keep my mother in jail?” Rayanne snarled.
    Jessa wasn’t feeling her strongest, but that put some steel in her spine. She nodded. “Because the evidence points to Jewell’s guilt.”
    Rayanne’s eyes took on some steel, too, and she got right in Jessa’s face. Even though she was Rosalie’s twin, there was little resemblance between the two women. Rayanne’s eyes were harder, and it didn’t help that she looked ready to start a brawl.
    One that she could win.
    Jessa had heard rumors that Rayanne’s boyfriend had dumped her and then been killed. On the very day that she’d learned her mother was about to be arrested for murder. This wasn’t exactly a good time in Rayanne’s life.
    Just like the rest of them.
    Cooper stepped between his sister and her. “Jessa’s an invited guest in this house,” he told Rayanne. “You’ll treat her as such.”
    “Invited,” she grumbled. “And I wasn’t. If that was meant to insult me, big brother, it won’t work.” Her index finger landed against Cooper’s chest. “I’m staying to make sure you don’t team up with your invited houseguest here to put the screws to an innocent woman.”
    “Rayanne,” Seth warned. “Pull your claws back. This is a fight we’ll win in court, not here on the ranch. That’s the reason I’ve been telling you to move into the guesthouse, so you won’t be under their roof.”
    Now it was Seth’s turn to glare, but his went to Cooper. “Tell me what’s going on with the attempt to kidnap the A.D.A.’s son. Is it connected to our mother?”
    “Our mother?” Cooper repeated,