I pulled his business card out of my briefcase and punched in his number.

“Peter O’Keefe please.”

“May I ask who is calling?”

“Jade Roberts from the city attorney’s office.”

A few minutes later, “Peter O’Keefe here.”

“Mr. O’Keefe, hi, this is Jade Roberts at the city attorney’s office. I’m calling about Talon Steel.”

“Yes, what can I help you with?”

“I’ve been going over the file, and I don’t think there’s any reason to take this to trial. The people are willing to plead down to reckless endangerment and a five hundred dollar fine plus restitution to the alleged victim.”

“That’s a generous offer, Ms. Roberts. I think I can probably sell that to my client.”

“Great. Let me know.” And please do sell it, I added myself.

Now, to convince Talon. I checked my watch. It was almost five. Larry had left an hour ago to take his grandkids for dinner and ice cream. I’d put in a full day, so I gathered my things. I said a quick good-bye to Michelle and left.

When I walked out of the building, there stood Talon.

My breath caught. I would never grow tired of looking at him. He wore a black cotton shirt, short-sleeved, his forearms tanned and sinewy. His denim jeans hugged his hips and thighs. He was rugged through and through, all the way down to his black cowboy boots. A black felt Stetson sat on his head, and I thought I might swoon. He looked every bit the cowboy today, and I wanted to launch myself into his arms.

“What are you doing here?” I asked.

“I came to plead guilty.”

I let out a sigh. “Haven’t we been through this?”

“I changed my mind. I want to plead guilty to a lesser offense. I…don’t want to be locked up.”

“Well then, you’re in luck. I just talked to your attorney on the phone. I’m offering a plea of guilty to reckless endangerment and a five hundred dollar fine, plus any restitution Colin demands.”

“Your boss will go for that?”

“My boss has no choice. He gave this case to me even when I told him I shouldn’t take it.”

“Why shouldn’t you have taken it?”

“I have a major conflict of interest. The alleged victim is my ex-fiancé, and the defendant—that’s you—well, you’re my best friend’s brother, and you and I are…”

His lips trembled a bit. Only a bit, but I noticed. He looked down and mumbled something I didn’t understand.

“What? I can’t hear you.”

He looked up, his dark eyes burning into me. “Thank you,” he said softly.

Those two words permeated my soul and lifted me high. Instinctively, I knew saying them had been difficult for him.

“You don’t have to thank me, Talon. I’m doing my job.”

“Blue eyes, your job is to prosecute me, not get me off.”

“Actually, you’re wrong. Colin is not my client. The city is. My job is to do what’s in the best interest of the city of Snow Creek. And quite frankly, it’s my professional opinion the interests of the city are best served if we don’t spend the taxpayers’ money to prosecute this case.”

“What if you’re wrong? What if I should be prosecuted? What if I beat the shit out of someone else?”

“You won’t.”

“How do you know that?”

“Because, Talon, I won’t let you.”

To my surprise, he nodded. “What do I do now?”

“Your attorney will call you and give you the details. There will be a hearing sometime soon, and we will present the plea to the judge.”

“All right.” He dug his hands into his pockets and looked down again. “For what it’s worth, Jade, I’m…sorry.”

I smiled. More difficult words from him. “Sorry for what? For beating Colin?”

He let out a chuckle. “Only for taking it as far as I did. The jerk deserved a good ass whooping for what he did to you.”

“I can’t say disagree with you there. And Talon, I’m sorry too. I’m sorry that Colin put you in a position to do what you did. He should never have come here. I didn’t want him to. It’s over between us. I hope you understand that.”

He didn’t respond. Not that I thought he would.

“Well,” I said, “I guess I’ll get back to the ranch.”

“I thought maybe…”

“What?”

“You might like to have dinner or something?”

“Are you asking me out?”

“Well…you’re here, and I’m here, and it’s almost dinner time…”

I couldn’t help a laugh. He was something else. “Talon, I would love to have dinner with you. Where do you want to go?”

“Follow me.” And then he smiled.

My heart nearly burst right there. The man had a beautiful smile. I just wished I could see it more often.

We walked a couple of blocks to the greenbelt area. A path of bricks led about a quarter mile into the park under a big shaded oak tree. A red-and-white checkered cloth had been set out along with a picnic basket and a bottle of wine. My breath caught, and I silently thanked God that I had worn pants instead of a skirt to work this morning.

“Did you do all this?” I asked.

“Well, no. Felicia made the food. I just brought it here and set it out.”

Tears emerged from my eyes. Talon Steel was a man of many facets, and I liked almost every single one of them.

To keep him from further embarrassment, I walked forward. “What’s for dinner?”

“Good ol’ country food. Felicia’s famous fried chicken, potato salad, and fresh fruit salad.”

I laughed. “No Steel beef?”

“Steaks don’t make for an easy picnic, unless we grill them here, but grills aren’t allowed in the city park.”

Talon opened the basket and pulled out a corkscrew. He deftly opened the bottle of red wine and poured two glasses, handing one to me. He looked at me for a moment, and I almost thought he was going to propose a toast of some sort, but he didn’t. He simply took a sip, so I followed suit.

Then he opened the basket and pulled out a couple of plates.

“Here, let me help you.” I pulled out the container of fried chicken and opened it. “I like thighs. What do you like?”