Much Ado About Marshals (Hearts of Owyhee) (2011) by Jacquie Rogers

some others I could mention. You’re late for supper, but now I understand why. Not to worry, I’ve kept it warm for you. Deposit your prisoner and come right over.”
    “I’ll be there, Prunie.”
    She turned on her heel and hurried off, presumably to get things ready for her guest.
    Cole looked at Bosco. “Prunie?”
    “Prunella, but that’s too long to wrap my lips around.”
    “Speaking of wrapping your lips around things, I thought you already ate at the Widow Proctor’s.”
    “Yup. Looks like I’ll be eating again, don’t it. Like I said, this here town feeds you good. Wouldn’t mind staying for a while.”
    “Looks like it.” But don’t count on it.
    Diverting his attention from Bosco’s woman problems, Cole had to think of his next step. The miners could probably identify him and Bosco, too, so he had to get the brothers to the county jail in Silver City as soon as possible, which might prove a bit touchy since they only had custody of one brother.
    “Can you get Porker into the jail cell?”
    Bosco rolled his eyes, hitched up his britches, and hefted the prisoner over his shoulder. As he trudged to the marshal’s office, Cole knew he’d insulted his friend. Bosco liked to act tough, but he was a tender soul.
    Daisy stood silently, her lower lip trembling just a bit. Damn, this innocent woman had just been through a grueling ordeal, and he’d ignored her! He felt like a big galoot. He put his arm around her shoulders and pulled her close. “Are you all right, Miss Daisy?”
    One tear ran down her cheek, nearly ripping out his heart. “That c-c-couldn’t have been my biscuit.”

Chapter 6
    The first rays of sunshine peeked through the marshal’s office window and glared in Cole’s eyes. He flopped over in his cot and punched the pillow for the three-thousandth time. His wound ached only mildly, doing nothing at all to assuage his physical frustration.
    He was frustrated because he couldn’t have the woman he wanted, and frustrated because he wanted a woman he couldn’t have.
    And he was tired. Between Porker’s hollers echoing from the jail room and Bosco’s snoring, not to mention the never-ending fantasies of Miss Daisy’s sweet kisses, his hands massaging her backside while he kissed her naked breasts… Lordy, he’d had barely slept a whit. When he did doze off, his Colt poked him in the side and woke him up all over again. Besides, he couldn’t stop thinking of how to rid the town of the stranger who called himself Sidney Adler.
    Bosco snorted and smacked his lips, then rolled over and continued his rhythmic snoring. Few people made as much noise when they slept as Bosco, but it didn’t seem to bother the prisoner, who also finally snoozed.
    Cole wished he’d never seen the innocent little city of Oreana , or its most alluring resident, Miss Daisy Gardner. The very thought of disappointing her brought waves of guilt and he couldn’t do a damned thing about it.
    But what galled him most was Gib Rankin. He’d spent the night gambling and drinking instead of trying to bust his own brother out of jail. What kind of brother was he? So Cole’s plan to arrest Gib for aiding an escaping prisoner had fallen through, at least for that night, and now he and Bosco had to stay in Oreana yet another dangerous day.
    And that might be one day too long, considering Miss Daisy would certainly poke her cute little nose into discovering his true identity now that another man claimed to be Sidney Adler. If she did, and she would, he and Bosco would hang for sure. The Sinker Creek ranch would go to rack and ruin, and his brother and family would be destitute, all because of his own fit of temper two years before.
    He threw off the covers and sat on the side of the bed, noting that the pull in his groin didn’t hurt nearly as much. Always a fast healer, the two weeks since he’d been shot had been the longest he’d ever been laid up in his life, and that was damned well long enough. He pulled his