Free Lauri Robinson by Testing the Lawman's Honor Page A

they deserved.
    “Della—Mrs. Cramer,” Spencer said, leaning forward. “There’s more.”
    She started to shake, and willed for the power to stop. “More?”
    “There’s a man in town.” Spencer handed her a sheet of paper. “He brought this.”
    The paper, thick and crisply folded, rattled and quivered between her fingers. Words, hereto and therefore , floated before her eyes. One word stuck, making her tighten her grasp and focus her vision.
    “Eviction?” she whispered.
    “The circuit judge is due tomorrow. We’ll have him review it.”
    Della didn’t know who made the statement. Her mind couldn’t get past that one simply penned word. Eviction. “How can this be?”
    “It appears Isaac lost your home in a poker game, and the winner—” Spencer pointed a finger at a name printed near the bottom of the page “—Mr. Lance Westmeier wants to claim his win.”
    “Can he do that?” Della asked.
    “I’m afraid so,” Spencer replied, “but we’ll have the circuit judge review it.”
    Now the need to scream of injustice erupted, making her insides flare. It shouldn’t shock her. One of her greatest fears was Isaac returning and telling her he’d sold the house. He’d borrowed against it before, and she’d paid the debt—more than once over the years—but lost it ?
    Memories—old but powerful—bloomed inside her. Some people didn’t know how it felt to lose a home, but she did. Would never forget it.
    Survival instinct, one that she’d learned early in life, made her spine stiffen and drew her to her feet. “Thank you for coming to tell me.”
    “Della?” Florie laid a hand on her arm.
    Della shook her head. It was all too much right now. But she needed to find the strength. She wouldn’t allow her daughters to experience the fear of not having a home.
    “I need to…” The knots in her throat made speaking impossible. The paper slipped from her fingers. She had no idea what she needed, but she wouldn’t fall apart here. Not in front of Spencer. “Excuse me,” she muttered, hurrying from the room.
    Spencer rose, the desire to follow Della had his feet moving. Cord, his best friend and boss, grasped his arm and shook his head.
    The need to protest tore at Spencer. Della shouldn’t be alone but, he admitted to himself, she wouldn’t want him at her side. He bent down and picked up the piece of paper she’d dropped. He’d wanted to ball it into a wad and toss it across the office this morning and wanted to do so again now. Isaac Cramer had been a fool, but then all of El Dorado already knew that. The man had never worked a day in his life, yet had managed to swindle half of the town out of their hard-earned money.
    Once again, the sickening guilt he hadn’t stopped Della from marrying Isaac years ago swirled inside Spencer like a dust devil.
    “I’ll stay,” Florie said. “You two go back to the jail, see if there’s anything that can be done.” She leaned over and kissed her husband’s cheek. “Della needs some time to herself.”
    The dust devil inside Spencer turned into a twisting ball of barbed wire. Watching Cord and Florie every day, with their love-filled gazes and tender touches, was like staring at a rainbow. Something he would never be able to possess.
    “I’ll be back soon,” Cord said. “Don’t wear yourself out.” His hand went to rest on his wife’s stomach. “You’re carrying a precious bundle.”
    Spencer’s ears burned and he pulled his gaze away. It wasn’t like him to gawk at intimate moments between married couples, but lately, an intense want had grown into a mountain he couldn’t ignore, and he caught himself imagining what it would be like to have what others had. He moved to the door, pushed it open and took a deep breath.
    Remorse was a hell of a companion. One he’d had for twelve years.
    He crossed the yard and stopped near the lone pine tree. The exact spot he’d told Della not to marry Isaac all those years ago. At twenty-two,