Free The calamity Janes by Sherryl Woods

and the gun had gone off.
    “Where did the bullet go?”
    “It broke the light in the ceiling fan.”
    Emma made a note to ask Ryan if the bullet that hit the fan light had been recovered. “And then what?”
    “Donny was groggy from falling down. I thought I could get the gun away from him and he would just fall asleep like always, but he didn’t. He chased me outside. I tried to go back in and lock him out, but he was too fast. He caught me and slapped me. Then he knocked me down and kept on hitting and hitting. He had the gun in his hand. I kept trying to knock it away, but he wouldn’t let go.” Tears welled up in her eyes again. “And then the gun just went off. For a minute, I waited to feel the pain, but there was nothing. And then there was all this blood.”
    She wrapped her arms around herself and began rocking back and forth, her stare vacant. “So much blood,” she whispered. “So much blood.”
    Emma hunkered down in front of Sue Ellen andclasped her hands tightly. “It’s going to be okay, Sue Ellen. I swear to you that it will be okay.”
    Sue Ellen regarded her with a defeated expression. “I can’t pay you. Maybe you should just let the court appoint somebody.”
    “No. Unless you don’t want me, you and I are in this together from here on out.”
    “But you live in Denver.”
    “I can be here whenever I have to be,” Emma reassured her. “You’re not going through this alone. I’m a member of the Wyoming bar, thank goodness, and I’m going to provide a first-rate defense for you, Sue Ellen.”
    Suddenly she recalled the way Ryan had looked at the baseball game when he’d first talked about Sue Ellen’s plight and begged Emma to intercede, and again tonight when Emma had shown up at the jail. Despite what he’d said earlier about it being an open-and-shut case, Emma had a feeling that when push came to shove, the sheriff would be in Sue Ellen’s corner as well.

Chapter 5
    F ord hated crusading feminists. There wasn’t a doubt in his mind after the scene at the jail that that was exactly what Emma Rogers was. She had reaffirmed his first impression from the night of the reunion dance when he’d found her sleek, cool appearance all too reminiscent of some women he’d run across in Atlanta and Chicago. Barracudas in the courtroom. No personal lives to speak of. Ice in their veins.
    Of course, he had caught a glimmer of heat just now when Emma had turned on him to keep him away from her client. It had been an interesting little hint of passion, reminding him of the sparks that had sizzled between them when they’d danced. Too bad tonight’s evidence of that passion was so misguided.
    Sue Ellen Carter was guilty as sin, no matter what had driven her to the fatal deed. Since it was too late for major coverage of the killing in this week’s paper, he intended to lay out all of the facts proving the crimeon next week’s front page. He wouldn’t have to convict her in an editorial—the truth would do that very nicely. There wouldn’t be a word in the article that Emma could argue was inaccurate.
    Not that he expected her to praise the piece he was already beginning to compose in his head. Their earlier conversation about libel came back to haunt him, reminding him to report only the facts that weren’t in dispute.
    “Any idea why Emma’s taking this case?” he asked Ryan when they were in a booth at Stella’s, coffee cups in front of them.
    A surprising number of locals had, indeed, turned out despite the early hour, drawn by the desire for information on the tragedy that had occurred overnight. Sorrow seemed to cast a pall over the place. Conversations were quieter than usual, silences longer.
    “Loyalty,” Ryan said succinctly. “That’s the kind of person she is.”
    “But I thought she specialized in corporate law.”
    “The way I hear it, that’s what pays the bills. She takes on cases like this pro bono. ”
    “Why this particular kind of case? I got the feeling