Free Devil in Texas (Lady Law & The Gunslinger Series, Book 1) by Adrienne deWolfe Page A

with his legs stretched out, his back against the wall, and his coffee cup balanced on his lap. "Why, that's mighty fine, Sid." He took another sip of bellywash. "What'd the law wrangler say about springing my ward?"
    "Ward, my ass," Collie muttered.
    "Nuthin'," Sid said gamely.
    "Nothing, huh? Now that can't be right. Why don't you read that high-falutin' paper again?"
    "Mr. Cassidy," Poppy intervened impatiently, "my husband is waiting for us outside the bank."
    Cass's coyote instincts were on the alert: they'd noticed a peculiar phenomenon. Whenever Poppy mentioned "my husband" in an official capacity, she seemed to be referring to herself.
    "Mrs. Westerfield," he drawled, "I'm beholding to you, ma'am. Really I am." He flashed his most ingratiating smile. "But you see, Collie's my charge. My responsibility. Surely a genteel lady like yourself, who cares about doing good Christian works and helping folks get out of jail, can understand why I can't leave an impressionable boy of 15—"
    "Seventeen," Collie growled.
    "—In the hoosegow by his lonesome," Cass finished smoothly. "Sid's likely to arrest some cutpurse or road agent! And then all those good Christian morals I've been trying to instill in the boy would get snuffed out like a candle in a hurricane."
    Cass couldn't say who looked more annoyed by his speech, Collie the Thief or Poppy the Barracuda. But civility—or at least the appearance of civility—was more important to a senator's wife than to an authority-hating youth.
    "Of course, Mr. Cassidy," Poppy said briskly. "I quite see your point. I shall have my attorney correct the oversight. Release the boy, marshal."
    "But is that legal, Mrs. Westerfield?" Cass gushed in his best greenhorn's voice.
    "My husband will make it legal," she retorted, tossing another double eagle on Sid's desk. "I trust that will cover the expense."
    Collie shot him a warning look, and Cass winked. Why, any fella with eyes could see Poppy was eating out of the palm of his hand!
    Sid unlocked the kid's door. Collie gathered his hat and boots. As he reached for his knapsack, he leaned his blond head close enough to the cells' shared bars for Cass to whisper:
    "Find Sadie."
    Collie nodded, donning his poker face beneath his curtain of shaggy hair. Most of the time, Collie eyed women the way he eyed rattlers. Cass figured Sadie's loins-stirring smiles and seductive shimmies would be wasted on the kid—which would be a well-deserved comeuppance for the Devil's Red-haired Daughter. After the way she'd kicked him in the gut, Cass wanted nothing better than to tie his born-again lover to a bedpost and paddle the stuffing out of her.
    Too bad Sadie would like it so much.
    Grunting farewell to Sid, Collie stomped past Poppy with callous indifference. Vandy flashed his fangs at the senator's wife before scampering into Fourth Street.
    Now it was Cass's turn. Unfolding his long legs, he settled his Stetson on his head and reached for the gun belt Sid was extending to him.
    "Much obliged."
    "I certainly hope so," Poppy breathed.
    Cass hid his amusement. He'd been speaking to Sid.
    As Poppy hustled him into the bright, cloudless morning, heat waves were already undulating off the sun-bleached planks of the boardwalk. Dia de los Muertos —the Day of the Dead—was only a few days away, and Gringo curiosity-seekers were entertaining themselves in the Public Square by inspecting Tejano handcarts piled high with sugar skulls and ritual toys. As Cass passed street vendors, he could hear haggling in broken English.
    Lampasas was a railroad boomtown, thanks to the Gulf, Colorado, and Santa Fe, which had completed its feeder line out of Belton only months ago. The result had been to end cattle droving in central Texas and populate nearby hills with tents.
    Lampasas, with its famed mineral springs, was perfectly positioned as a vacation resort, since the governor was talking about calling a special session of the legislature in January, to discuss the