A Lawman's Justice (Sweetwater Ranch Book 8) by Delores Fossen Page A

I’m just having a word with this idiot. Now call Cooper and tell him what I said.”
    Shelby did, and she kept the conversation with the sheriff short since she wanted to hear what Hance was going to say about this visit.
    “Special Agent Calder,” Hance greeted when Seth opened the door. He said Seth’s name as if it was some kind of disease. “I heard about the kidnapping and figured you’d be here.”
    “Why are you here?” Seth demanded. “Shelby has a restraining order against you.”
    “Don’t worry. I’ll only be a second. I know Shelby’s scared spitless of me, but I just want to talk to her.”
    That riled her to the core. She hated that this piece of slime could push her buttons, and even though she knew Seth wouldn’t like it, Shelby stepped into the doorway beside him. She wanted to let Hance see that the fear card wasn’t going to work. She aimed her hardest glare at him.
    Hance didn’t glare back. The corner of his mouth hitched into a smile that many people would have believed was genuine. A wolf in sheep’s clothing. Hance looked like a TV evangelist with his styled-to-a-T bronze hair, angelic expression and pricey gray suit.
    Shelby knew he was in his early forties, but he looked much younger. And he was strong. Beneath that suit was a muscled, violent man with a fierce grip. A former FBI agent who’d been trained to fight. Shelby had firsthand knowledge of just how strong that grip could be and just how vicious his words and threats were.
    “We have nothing to talk about,” she assured Hance. “But I know Sheriff McKinnon wants to talk to you.”
    “Yes, about the attack on you and Agent Calder.” He glanced at the road behind him. “I figure he’ll be here soon.”
    Neither Shelby nor Seth verified that, but as a former agent, Hance would know it was standard procedure to call for backup. And that he would be arrested for violating that restraining order.
    “What do you want?” Seth repeated.
    “Well, I’m not here about those scathing articles that Shelby wrote about me, even though my lawyers will soon have responses to those.”
    More threats. Hance was always claiming he was going to file a lawsuit against her for libel, but so far he hadn’t. Probably because he didn’t want to go another round with the legal system. He’d gotten lucky last time, but his luck might not continue to hold.
    Hance stared at her, no doubt watching to see if the threat bothered her. It did. But only because he was delivering it personally. However, Shelby made sure he didn’t see any discomfort in her expression or body language.
    Unlike Seth’s body language.
    No discomfort, but he kept shooting her narrowed-eyed looks, probably silent warnings for her to go back inside.
    She stayed put.
    “Earlier today I got a call,” Hance finally continued. “The person said I should go to the abandoned warehouse on Miller Road, that there’d be evidence I could use in the lawsuits I plan to file against Shelby.”
    An anonymous call like the ones Seth and she had gotten. Of course, Hance could be lying about getting such a call because he had arranged the ones to Seth and her.
    “You have proof of this call?” Seth asked.
    Hance nodded. “The number’s on my phone. I’ll turn it over to the sheriff once he gets here.”
    “That’s not proof,” Shelby fired back. “You could have hired someone to call you.”
    “True,” Hance readily admitted, adding another of those damnable smiles. “But the only reason I’d do something like that would be to cover up that I was the one who orchestrated the attack against you. I didn’t,” he added calmly.
    “You got proof of that?” Seth asked again.
    No smile this time. Obviously, this was a conversation Hance would have preferred to have without the armed FBI agent who was giving him another cold, hard stare.
    “Hard to prove something like that,” Hance answered. “But I wanted Shelby to know that I didn’t set this up. Just the opposite.