Free Montana Skies (You, Me and the Kids) (Harlequin Superromance, No 1395) by Kay Stockham Page A

the diner when his cell phone beeped at him. He checked the number and groaned. It had been a long day and all he wanted was to go home and spend some quiet time with Caroline before having to spend the following two or three evenings cleaning the house before Marilyn’s next weekly visit.
    Dave was supposed to come with her, but Jonas knew his ex-father-in-law would cancel like he always did. Other than a weekend visit here or there, Dave stayed in Helena and let Marilyn do her thing on her own. Jonas figured it was Dave’s way of getting some peace and quiet himself once a week.
    He flipped the phone open with a sigh. “Taggert.”
    â€œYou at the diner, Sheriff?”
    â€œYeah, why?”
    â€œMrs. Keenan called. Said there’s a disturbance at the library.”
    He turned to look out the windows of the diner. A group of kids stood clustered inside the large windows, and from across the street, he spied Caroline’s thick, curly mass of hair. “I’m on it.”
    Rissa came out from behind the swinging door with a takeout bag, but hesitated when she saw him. “What’s wrong?”
    Jonas slipped the phone back in its place. “A problem at the library with some kids. Hang on to that for me, will you? I’ll be right back.”
    â€œThe library?”
    He nodded distractedly and headed for the door, made it across the street and inside the library before he realized Rissa had followed him into total chaos. A half dozen girls stood circled around two rolling on the floor. Both screeched, cursed and swore like pros.
    â€œBreak it up!” Jonas grabbed the spectators by their arms and pulled them out of the way until he got to the middle of the group. There he found some girl who looked like she’d come from an episode of The Munsters and Mandy Blake going at it like prizefighters. Just that morning he’d gotten a call from a concerned parent warning him there was a new girl at school who looked like a member of a cult, one who they felt needed to be closely watched. This was definitely her.
    â€œKnock it off!” he roared when the girls kept swinging and screeching. A quick glance showed Caroline standing quietly in the windowed alcove, her hands over her mouth in wide-eyed upset.
    Jonas separated the girls and shook them to get their attention before he glowered at the rest of the group taking it all in. “Go home. Now. ”
    The girls began to disperse. They whispered amongst themselves and shot speculative glances over their shoulders.
    Jonas gently shoved Mandy into one of the nearby chairs, the girl in black in the other. “What—”
    â€œ — is going on?” Rissa demanded hotly from behind him.
    Jonas turned. Rissa looked primed for a fight herself due to the girls’ antics, but when she noticed him staring at her, she bit her lip and a deep red flush crawled up her neck into her face.
    â€œRissa, go back to the diner. I’ll take care of this and be there to get my food after I’m done talking to these two.”
    Her shoulders slumped slightly. “I can’t do that.”
    Something about her expression warned him he wasn’t going to like her answer to his next question. “Why not?”
    She glared at the girl in black. “Because you’re about to talk to my daughter and I want to hear what you have to say.”
    Jonas turned to stare down at the frightening face of the girl in black, and tried to put two and two together. Chalky white makeup covered her skin, her black lipstick and blush smeared. Rissa’s daughter? “What’s your name?”
    â€œSkylar.”
    â€œHow old are you?”
    â€œToo young for you, perv.”
    Her smug look and cocky response had his hands clenching into fists.
    â€œSkylar!” Rissa groaned softly. “She’ll be fifteen in September.”
    Less than a year older than Caroline. He would’ve guessed her to be much older. His