The Counterfeit Cowgirl Read Online Free Page A

they could both enjoy themselves by trading insults.
    “I just thought I’d return your two missing schnauzers,” Felicity called cheerfully. “They were hiding in a closet.”
    “Oh, thank you!” Deborah cried. “Thank you. Thank you. Joey, Pete, I told you never to leave Uncle Aaron’s backyard.” She reached her sons and fell to her knees, hugging them. “We were so worried about you.”
    Aaron smothered an exclamation of disgust with himself. He knew Lureen’s front door lock was broken. She had told him so last month. But he never thought the boys would defy his orders and enter her house without permission. He stood behind Deborah, scowling and considering the best way to handle the situation. There was no question he owed the feisty Miss Clayton a debt of gratitude.
    She must have read his mind. She tossed him a sassy smile that almost blinded him with its brilliance. “I’m lending them the helmets, shields, and swords for the night since I’ll be eating out this evening. I’ll need the energy, because it’s going to take a while to get all the Elmer’s Glue off the woodwork.”
    “Elmer’s Glue?” Aaron was certain he’d missed something in the aftermath of that smile.
    “Your schnauzers glued my bedroom windows shut. It seems Jason, whoever he is, told them a ghost can come through any little crack, so they tried to glue up all the cracks in my bedroom. That means the windows, the door, the keyhole, the woodwork, the floor planks … ”
    “What?” Aaron found himself totally baffled.
    Deborah ceased kissing her sons’ small faces to look up at Felicity through tear-filled, smiling blue eyes. “Jason is their cousin. He’s a year older than Pete.”
    “Jason knows a lot about ghosts,” Pete, the older boy, said. “They can come in through any hole, even a little bitty one.”
    “Honey, there are no such things as ghosts,” Deborah said.
    Three-year-old Joey waved the table fork. “I’ll get that bad old ghost. I’ll poke holes in him and let out all his air.”
    Aaron noted the carefully suppressed smile twitching Felicity’s full mouth. He reminded himself this captivating woman had controlled poor old Lureen’s house and bank account, refusing to give the old lady enough money for basic household repairs. If he didn’t bear those things in mind, he might pay too much notice to those enchanting lips.
    Before she died, Lureen had shared with him that Felicity refused to fix the lock on the front door. Therefore it was Felicity’s fault that the boys had gotten inside.
    “Why don’t you ask your uncle for a garlic necklace?” Felicity asked.
    Pete was all ears. “A garlic necklace?”
    “Everyone knows a garlic necklace repels vampires, but not everyone knows it also repels ghosts.” Felicity demonstrated with her hands, and Pete’s unblinking blue gaze followed her gestures. “Get a piece of garlic from the kitchen and hang it on a string around your neck. No ghost can touch a person who’s wearing a garlic necklace.”
    Aaron stared, fascinated, at Felicity’s highly visual demonstration of making a garlic necklace guaranteed to repel ghosts, vampires, and the evil eye.
    Pete’s face brightened. He tucked his fork into his waistband. “Let’s go see Polly and get some garlic right now, Joey.”
    “Are you sure it won’t let the ghost get us?” Joey asked.
    “No ghost can get you with a garlic necklace around your neck,” Felicity promised, with a wink. “By the way, Pete, why is this ghost after you?”
    “I’m going to have a little talk with Jason,” Deborah said sternly. “He has no business frightening the boys with nonsense like this.”
    Felicity smiled at Pete. “Did Jason tell you a ghost was after you?”
    “No, ma’am.” Pete looked trustfully up at her. “I heard Mama and Uncle Aaron talking.”
    Deborah gasped. “Why didn’t you ask us what we were talking about, Pete? It certainly wasn’t about any ghost.”
    Pete’s blue eyes were