Gun-Shy Bride by B.J. Daniels

you anything about these guys he owes the money to?”
    “No.” But Luke could imagine.
    “He seems to think they won’t find him here. Or maybe he thinks we’ll protect him.” Buzz had always protected his son, to Eugene’s detriment. Luke saw there was both regret and determination in his uncle’s expression. “I don’t have the money to give him either.”
    Luke wasn’t sure where this conversation was headed. “He has to stop gambling, get a job—”
    “Don’t you think I know that?” Buzz snapped. “But fifty thousand? It would take him years to make that much at a job in Whitehorse. Meanwhile, these guys aren’t going to wait on their money.”
    Luke shook his head, hating the desperation he heard in his uncle’s voice. Eugene would be even more desperate and probably do something crazy, knowing his cousin.
    “I need to get going,” Luke said finishing his coffee and rising to take the mug back into the kitchen.
    As he came back out, he heard the sound of a vehicle engine. Shielding his eyes from the sun, he saw a white pickup pull in, a sheriff’s department emblem on the side and a set of lights on top.
    Luke heard his uncle swear as Deputy Sheriff McCall Winchester climbed out.

Chapter Five
    McCall had hoped to catch Buzz Crawford alone. The last person she wanted to see was Luke. But unfortunately as she pulled up to the lake house, his pickup was parked outside.
    No way to make a graceful escape even if she could let the coward in her win out.
    As she neared the house, she saw the two Crawford men on the deck, Luke standing as if about to leave and Buzz sprawled in a lawn chair as if he didn’t have a care in the world.
    She stopped at the bottom of the stairs to the deck, shading her eyes to take in the two. It hadn’t escaped her notice last night that Luke had changed. He’d filled out, looking stronger, definitely confident and as always, handsome in an understated, very male way.
    She could see that Luke didn’t like the idea of leaving her alone with his uncle given the family history. Of course he would be protective of the uncle who’d raised him and by now he would also know about his cousin’s arrest last night and who Buzz would blame.
    McCall smiled to herself at the indecision she sawin Luke’s expression. But was he afraid to leave her alone with Buzz because of his fear of what his uncle might do? Or her?
    “I’d like to speak to Buzz alone,” McCall said flashing her badge. She heard Buzz curse loud enough for her to hear.
    “You coming out to arrest me as well as my son?” Buzz snapped.
    Luke started down the steps to the shore. As he stepped past McCall, he said under his breath, “You sure this is a good idea?”
    “I can handle Buzz.” The nearness of Luke Crawford was a whole other story, she thought as he brushed on past her.
    “And I can handle the deputy,” Buzz said from his lawn chair.
    McCall listened to the crunch of Luke’s boot heels on the rocky shore before ascending the stairs to the deck.
    Buzz was a big beefy man with ham-sized fists and a predilection for violence—much like his son Eugene. As the former county game warden, he’d made more than his share of enemies since he had a reputation for being a heartless bastard who would have arrested his own mother.
    McCall had heard stories about him roughing up poachers, claiming they’d resisted arrest when they swore they hadn’t.
    “What do you want?” Buzz demanded scowling at her now as he got up and went through the open door into his house.
    She stepped cautiously to the doorway and peered into the dim darkness.
    The place wasn’t much larger than her cabin on the river and even more sparsely furnished. The only thing on the walls other than deer and antelope mounts were framed yellowed articles from newspapers and magazines featuring Buzz when he was a game warden.
    He saw her looking at the write-ups about him and chuckled. “That’s what a real officer of the law looks