The Sheriff and the Mayor by Starla Kaye Page A

priority for her.
    With
a sigh, she pushed the thought to the side for another time and rolled up the
window, and then pushed open her car door. She reached back across to the other
seat for her over-sized shoulder bag-catch-all. When she shifted to get out of
the car, she got a strange feeling. A sense that she was going to wish she
hadn’t come here after all this morning. She almost groaned because of it, but
held it inside.
    “A
bunch of us are throwing together a potluck dinner at the reverend’s house
after church.” Rachel made the announcement bluntly and looked determined. “You
should come, too. You don’t need to worry about bringing anything. There’ll be
plenty of food.”
    “I…”
What? She really didn’t have a good excuse for not going. With Dalton busy, she
just couldn’t get her enthusiasm up for doing anything else. How sad was that? 
“All right.”
    Rachel
came around the small car and slipped her hand into the crook of Cassie’s arm.
Her usual peppy mood returning, Rachel barely waited for her to shove the door
shut before she began tugging Cassie toward the church steps. “Karen and the
reverend have some interesting ideas for a few of the community events this
month. I’m sure you’ll love them.”
    Cassie
quietly sighed again. She should be glad that the new minister and his wife
were settling into the town and getting actively involved in what happened
here. And she was, really. But somehow she knew that her life was going to get
even busier, more complicated after this afternoon. She would have to take a
firm stand, let everyone know that she could only do so much. She was not Super Woman. Between her duties as the mayor, working on remodeling the house
she’d inherited, getting ready for her first show, and trying to spend as much
time as she could with Dalton… Well, she was stretched pretty thin.
    “You’re
going to be so…” Rachel rattled on, dragging her through the people mingling in
the vestibule, determined to get them to the usual pew near the front that her
friend sat in with her family.
    “I—”
Cassie attempted to interrupt, but was ignored.
    Giving
up, she just let Rachel continue with her excited prattling. She nodded and
smiled at the many familiar people they passed and quietly followed along. She
hardly heard a word of what was said. All she knew was that in spite of her
efforts not to, she would end up getting even more involved in things. Dalton
wasn’t going to be happy about it.
    As
she took her seat and waited for everyone else to as well, she straightened her
skirt and drew in a calming breath. She was the mayor. Part of her duties was
to be involved in community happenings. She didn’t need to feel guilty about
that, and she hadn’t until lately. Until Dalton had become obsessed with
wanting her to cut back. Actually, he’d wanted her to give up being mayor
because he wanted to focus on them . He wanted her to live with him
full-time, to marry him. She just couldn’t take that big step. Yet.
    His
pushing her was making her draw away even more from the idea and from him. She
felt weak doing so and she hated that. Dalton Reede was a good man. He’d
suffered in a bad marriage, too. Not with physical and mental brutality like
she had, but he’d suffered. The difference was that he’d healed and was ready
to move on with his life. He was ready for a family. She was, too…sort of.
    Aside
from all of that, as another important figure in the community, Dalton should
understand her position and duties. He should get involved with one or two
events, too, but he seriously balked at doing so. He constantly protested that
he was only filling in until another qualified man was found for the sheriff’s
position. And he’d reminded her over and over again that his real job
was being a rancher.
    She
worried her lip. Were they drifting apart? They disagreed on so much these
days. She’d gotten spanked more lately than she had in months. Burning her
bottom