Free Montana Midwife by Cassie Miles Page B

get her deeper in trouble.”
    “It won’t,” Tab said emphatically. “She’s innocent.”
    “I’ll talk to her.” He glanced up at Misty’s second-floor bedroom window at the far right end of the house. The lights were still on. “Looks like she’s still awake. I’ll catch her before she goes to sleep.”
    “I have a question,” she said. “Does Clinton stay here with Misty?”
    “No.” Aiden had laid down the law on this topic. “Unless they get married, Clinton doesn’t live here.”
    “Well, aren’t you the old-fashioned one.”
    “I don’t have a problem with Clinton visiting and even spending the night, but there’s a commitment that comes with having a baby, and they both need to step up, make plans and act like grown-ups.”
    “Does he have a job?”
    “My mom hired him.” He didn’t like that arrangement, but the economy was tough, and Clinton hadn’t been able to find other employment. “But he doesn’t stay in the bunkhouse. He lives in Henley with his parents. The Browns are good folks, and they agree with me.”
    “But how does Misty feel about the arrangement?”
    Most of his sister’s feelings and attitudes were incomprehensible to him. She’d laugh when she ought to cry. She could handle a big trauma but would blow up over breaking a heel on her shoe. “I think she gets it. There’s a reason she hasn’t married Clinton, and it’s not because he hasn’t asked. He did the honorable thing and came to me for permission.”
    “Another old-time tradition,” she said. “Is the Gabriel ranch in some kind of time warp?”
    “Would that be such a bad thing?”
    “Not for you,” she said. “For someone like me, it’s a different story. I’m half Crow and half white. I’m pretty sure I wouldn’t fare well in the Old West.”
    “A beautiful woman like you always has an advantage.”
    “Thanks, but—” with a flick of her slender wrist, she brushed his compliment aside “—there’s a lot more expected from a modern woman than being pretty. What’s it going to take for me to drag you into this century?”
    “Go ahead.” He grinned. “You can try to change my mind.”
    “Challenge accepted.”
    They stepped onto the porch, and he made a point of opening the door for her. There was nothing wrong with his supposedly old-fashioned view of life. His father, his grandfather and his great-grandfather had raised cattle on this land, built a small empire and made a good life for their families. Not a damn thing wrong with that.
    In the front room, the sheriff paced with his cell phone to his ear, still irritated and hostile. Misty occupied a big leather chair near the fireplace with her feet in fuzzy slippers up on an ottoman. His mom and Blake were opposite her on the love seat.
    His mom rose and came toward them. She took Tab’s hands and smiled. “Maria was exhausted. I told her to go to bed.”
    “I appreciate that, Sylvia. Grandma needs her sleep.”
    “Come here.” Sylvia pulled her into a warm hug. “There hasn’t been time for us to say a proper hello. I’m so glad to see you.”
    “Same here.”
    Over his mom’s shoulder, Tab gave him a wink. He wondered how long it would take for his mom to start fitting her for a wedding gown. For a woman so dead set on matchmaking, his mom was doing a good job of holding Blake at bay. Tab had included him in her hugging, and they resembled the beginnings of one big happy family.
    He couldn’t join in, not yet. Aiden had a job to do. He needed to mend fences with Sheriff Fielding who had just ended his phone call. Like it or not, the sheriff was his best source of information.
    Aiden cleared his throat. “Your deputies did a fine job in arresting those two. They were thorough.”
    “Did you expect anything less?”
    “You know how much I respect you and your men.” And that was the genuine truth. More than once, the idea of becoming a lawman had crossed his mind. “We’ve worked together on rescues and searches.