The Sheriff And The Impostor Bride

She sighed deeply. Even after all that, she was still shaking like a jackhammer, and her stomach was still rolling. Her legs finally buckled under her, and she slid slowly down along the door until she’d crumpled in a heap on the floor. Then she buried her face in her hands and bit back a groan.

She’d just told a pack of lies to a police officer! A really cute one! Now what was she going to do? More to the point, what on earth would bring a really cute police officer to Sabrina’s mobile home in the first place? Why were the illustrious Wentworths of Freemont Springs looking for her, to the point of siccing the police on her?

Rachel covered her mouth with a loose fist and replayed the scene that had just transpired between her and Sheriff Gorgeous, feeling sicker and more confused with every passing moment. Could one of the Wentworth grandsons be the father of her sister’s baby? she wondered. If so, it would answer at least a few of the questions spinning around in Rachel’s muddled brain. Hadn’t Sabrina just said on the phone that the baby’s father came from “a prominent Oklahoma family,” one that had a lot of money and power and influence? And Sabrina lived in Tulsa, not far from Freemont Springs at all. It was certainly possible that she had crossed paths with one of the Wentworths.

That had to be it, Rachel thought. That was the only explanation that made any sense. Somehow, Sabrina must have become romantically involved with one of the Wentworths, and had gotten pregnant as a result of the relationship. And now, evidently, the Wentworths had found out about the baby, and they were looking for the baby’s mother.

Boy, the twin sister was always the last to know.

Then Rachel remembered something else her sister had said on the phone. That the baby’s father’s family was trying to take the baby away from her. Oh, no. Oh, jeez. Oh, man. No wonder Sabrina was on the run. No wonder she was hiding out and didn’t want to tell anyone where she was. Just what had Sabrina gotten herself into?

And just what had Rachel gotten herself into? Not only was she now a part of this whole thing, but she’d just lied to the law like a big dog. That was probably illegal, and was certainly immoral. And no doubt ineffective to boot, because she was a terrible liar, always had been, always would be.

Hoo boy, was she in it now. Deep.

It was just that she hadn’t known what to do. Even on her best day, when she wasn’t worried sick about her sister’s welfare, Sheriff Riley Hunter was the kind of man who would send Rachel into a tailspin. For Pete’s sake, he’d been sooo handsome. And charming. And sexy as all get-out. The moment he’d entered Sabrina’s trailer—or rather, mobile home, she corrected herself— he’d taken over the place, filling it physically, spiritually, completely. And Rachel just hadn’t known what to do. So she blithered like an idiot, told one lie after another, and confused herself so badly that now she had no idea what to do.

She blamed her instincts, which were in no way reliable. Her first instinct had been to protect Sabrina and the baby at all costs—which, now that she thought about it, had probably been a pretty good reaction to have. But her second instinct had been to play her hand close, to feel the sheriff out and see what kind of light he might shed on the situation. Which, too, now that she thought about it, probably hadn’t been such a bad thing to do, either, all things considered.

So it must have been her third instinct that had tripped her up, the one that had urged her to keep mum about her own nebulous part in whatever was going on. Which, on second thought, hadn’t really been all that dishonest, because she didn’t know what was going on anyway.

Okay, so maybe her instincts weren’t that unreliable, after all, she amended. Still...

She really hadn’t known what was going on, she tried to reassure herself. Not when she’d started lying anyway. And by the time she’d begun to get some kind of fuzzy picture regarding Sabrina’s situation, she’d been too far gone into Fabrication Land to find her way back. And now, even though things were starting to fall into place, she wasn’t altogether certain that she should start telling the truth. The father of Sabrina’s baby appeared to be a member of one of the most powerful, most influential families in the state. And evidently, they wanted possession of that baby, to the point of bringing in the law.

Contrary to the act she had attempted to play with Riley—however badly—that she’d never heard of the Wentworths, Rachel, like everyone else in Oklahoma, knew exactly who they were.

Who knew what motivated them, or what lengths they would go to to get their hands on Sabrina’s baby? Who knew who they had on their payroll, or how successful they’d be in their efforts? Oh, sure, they seemed like a nice enough family—on the outside, at least—from what scraps of gossip and chitchat she had heard about them over the years. But the Wentworth kids had been in and out of minor trouble a lot, too, from what she’d also heard over the years. And who could tell what people were capable of? Especially rich people. They always acted as if they were above the law.

Or, at least, Rachel assumed that rich people always acted as if they were above the law. That was what she’d always heard, anyway. She didn’t actually know too many rich people herself. Or any, for that matter. Still, one heard stories about such things. As far as she knew, the Wentworths might very well be manipulating the legal system, and who knew what—or who—else, to further their own interests.

They might very well be looking for Sabrina just so they could take her baby away from her. They had money and resources, and no doubt friends in high places, where Sabrina had nothing but a bartender sister and truck driver father and a dream of self-employment that was anything but fulfilled. If the Wentworths decided to take her baby away from her, they could probably find some way to do it. Hey, it could happen. From outward appearances, they had far more going for them than Sabrina Jensen did.

At this point, Rachel simply did not know what to think or what to do. Without meaning to, she had become involved in this thing, almost as much as Sabrina was. All she could do now was try to see it through to the end, until Sabrina and her baby were assured a lifetime of love and safety and togetherness. Whatever she had to do to ensure that for her twin, Rachel would do it. Even if it meant lying to a cute sheriff. It was for a good cause, right? The ends justified the means, didn’t they?

So then, why did she feel so guilty for what she had done, for what she was about to do?

She pushed the thought away and herself up off the floor, then made her way to Sabrina’s front window. She glanced out just in time to see Sheriff Riley Hunter’s big utility vehicle—brown again, wouldn’t you know, with a beige star painted on the door—turning out of the trailer park...er, mobile home community...and onto the highway. Then she took a deep breath, raked both hands slowly through her dark hair, and reassessed her predicament.

Nothing was going to change the fact that she had just lied to a police officer, so she was just going to have to deal with that. And there was still that small matter of her having agreed to meet with said police officer at the station in an hour and a half, something Rachel was sure she wouldn’t be able to avoid. Not unless she grabbed her bag and returned to Oklahoma City, where she would be totally ineffective in helping Sabrina. If Rachel didn’t go down to the station as she’d promised, then Riley Hunter and his beautiful brown eyes and lush lower lip would just come back to the trailer park—er, mobile home community—to find her. Or worse, he would call the Wentworths and bring them into the whole sordid mess.

So she figured she had two ways she could go. Either she could meet with the sheriff as she’d promised and come clean with the truth—that she was really Sabrina’s twin, who didn’t have a clue what was going on or where her missing sister might turn up, and sorry about all those whopping fat lies. Or she could keep perpetuating the whopping fat lie that she was her missing sister Sabrina, in the hopes of learning a little bit more about the situation, and a little bit more about the good sheriff’s intentions.

If Riley Hunter was indeed nothing more than a small-town lawman who’d been pulled into this thing as innocently as Rachel had been, then maybe, eventually—once she knew she could trust him—the two of them could put their heads together and find Sabrina.

On the other hand, if Riley Hunter was a hired gun of the Wentworths who was supposed to find Sabrina and return her to Freemont Springs for the Wentworth’s nefarious intention of taking her baby away from her, then posing as Sabrina might buy her sister some time and throw her pursuers off her trail.

Because really, when Rachel got right down to it, just who was Sheriff Riley Hunter anyway? How was she supposed to tell whether he was a legitimate man of the law or the mysterious someone that Sabrina said was after her? Oh, sure, he was cute and everything, and he’d been totally polite and sweet, and it had just been so heart-melting, the way he’d kept calling her “Ma’am,” and—

Rachel stopped herself before her capricious heart had the two of them walking down the aisle to the “Wedding March.” It was bad enough that she’d almost kissed the man a few minutes ago. Kissed him, she recalled with mortification. This, when she didn’t even know if she could trust him. Honestly. No woman on earth was as weak-willed as she was when it came to the opposite sex. She didn’t even know who the heck Riley Hunter was, and already she was half in love with him. And that wasn’t going to do Sabrina one whit of good. Or her, either.

Be strong, Rachel, she commanded herself. You can ignore beautiful brown eyes and a lush lower lip. You can avoid going all gooey inside every time you hear him say, “Ma’am” in that smooth, deep, utterly masculine voice of his. Just remember Sabrina. And don’t look at Sheriff Riley Hunter unless you absolutely have to.

Okay, she finished up her little pep talk to herself. She could do this for Sabrina. She could pretend to be her pregnant twin, especially since Riley Hunter obviously didn’t know that Sabrina was seven months along, and thank goodness for that.

She squared her shoulders, inhaled a deep breath and expelled it in a rush of certainty and good intentions. Just this once, Rachel wanted to be the twin who did the right thing. Just this once, she wanted to be the one who got them out of trouble, instead of into it. Just this once, she’d like to do something to help out Sabrina, the way Sabrina had always been doing something to help out Rachel. Just this once, she needed to do something right.

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