Howdy, from the Heart

*** Based on Christian Morals--Christian Romance ***

Book 6 in the Three Cross Faith Series: When private investigator Hannah Ace comes to Texas because of a treasure hunt for her client, she has no idea what to expect. Because she pulls her weapon at a presidential event, she's about to meet Dylan Thompson and the entire community in a big way, especially when he tackles her to save everyone else.

Excerpt

The crowd cheered, filling the area of the new Three Cross Revival Stage. No chairs had been set out, so people milled about on the concrete floor while watching the stage. Secret Service agents covered the perimeter, so Dylan Thompson stood back, waiting for President Richardson to give a speech. Governor Monty was warming up the crowd, but Dylan watched the people instead. Force of habit, he told himself.

Austin Cole approached Dylan, dodging the people standing around. "Can you believe this? There are more people here than in the entire county, I think."

The crowd cheered once more, so Dylan leaned a bit closer. "With a group like this, chances are someone's up to no good."

"Buddy, you're such a buzzkill." Austin chuckled. "I'm learning new phrases from Sarah." Sarah was his six-year-old daughter. "She's gettin' quite an education at school."

"Buzzkill? She learned buzzkill?" Dylan checked his watch, looking at the date. "She's out of school for the summer, right?"

"Yep." Austin pulled his phone from his pocket and hit a few buttons. "It's been 20 hours since school's been out. Seventy-six days until school starts again."

"A countdown already?" Dylan laughed. "That's pathetic."

"Yep. The school district put out an app for it, so parents know how much time is left until school starts again." He put his phone away. "Niki's teaching her a skill for the summer. Sarah's gonna learn how to run a house." Niki was Austin's wife, and with three kids at home, she had her hands full.

Dylan stepped back. "She's what. Six? Runnin' a house?"

"Yep." Austin laughed. "She has most of the skills down pat. She can cook a bit, she knows how to clean, and she's learnin' how do to laundry."

"What are the boys doin'?"

Austin sucked in a breath. "David's learnin' how to feed himself and Christian's learnin' quiet time."

Dylan just laughed. "That's a good skill for Christian."

"He's up to four and a half minutes of sittin' still."

Dylan chuckled. At the age of two, Christian was a handful, at least. It looked like David, who was almost eight months old, was going to follow in Christian's footsteps, too, once he could run around and talk like Christian. David was just starting to stand by himself, but could crawl fast, getting into trouble more often than not.

The crowd around them clapped and hooted again.

"Gov is done," Austin said in a loud voice as he clapped. "Time for the president."

"Yep."

Austin chuckled. "I hope Andy and Rosie aren't too nervous."

Dylan crossed his arms. At least Rosie would get kudos for saving the nation. Courage didn't begin to explain Rosie's character. She'd really become a great addition to the small Texas community over the past six months. Andy and Rosie were happy newlyweds, but it made Dylan jealous.

The thought of being jealous ticked Dylan off, too. God must think he was the worst person ever, from praying so much and apologizing for being so jealous. At least no one in the group knew he was jealous, because he kept it to himself. But he also kept himself scarce when it came to being around Andy and Rosie. It wasn't that he wasn't happy for them—because he was. He was just sad about his own life. He was the last one in the band who was single, with no decent prospects for a wife. Was it too much to ask God to help a bachelor out? He hated the thought that he'd be alone for his life. He didn't want to be the lone star, like the one on the Texas flag, but the older he got, the more likely that nickname might stick. Lone star Dylan just didn't have a good ring to it.

"Here come Andy and Rosie," Austin said. "Keep your jealousy to yourself."

He shot Austin a puzzled look. How did Austin even know?

Dylan had to deny everything, to throw the guy off. "I'm not jealous." But his tone defied him, so he had to explain. "She would've dated me if Andy just weren't so nerdy." There he went again, not filtering his thoughts before his mouth was in gear.

"Uh-huh." Austin wasn't listening. Instead, he stared at the stage. He never listened to Dylan's problems anymore, because Dylan had it all together—or so everyone thought. Only God knew the truth—Dylan was a mess and couldn't figure out how to fix his life. God was probably sick of hearing him whine about it.

The president walked out onto the stage along with Andy and Rosie. People cheered and seemed overly enthusiastic.

Dylan ignored what was going on at the front and watched the crowd standing all around them. He didn't want to see the happiness on the stage because it would just make him feel sorry for himself.

That's when he saw it. A very pretty long-haired blonde woman stood a few feet from him, staring into the crowd. All of a sudden, she drew a weapon. Her gaze was toward the back of the building and away from the president, so she wasn't a threat to the stage. Even so, she shouldn't have a gun here, of all places. She definitely wasn't Secret Service. He had to take action and knew it in his gut, almost as if a small voice was talking to him.

"Gun!" Dylan screamed. He ran and tackled the woman and removed the gun from her hand. Within a minute, the Secret Service joined him, grabbed the woman, and pulled her to her feet. They yanked her to the side and the event continued. It appeared as if most of the crowd didn't even know what had happened. The blonde woman tried to explain, but Dylan ignored her, since the agents surrounded the lady. He handed the gun to one of the agents, after making sure the safety was on.

"Good job," someone said to him. He turned, seeing an agent he hadn't met yet—and he thought he'd met them all, having helped with security. She was a very pretty brunette woman, dressed in a standard issue government suit. Her makeup was flawless, and she seemed to have everything together. She reached out and shook his hand. "We owe you a debt of gratitude."

"And you are?"

"Louise Alastair. I'm with the first lady's detail."

That explained a lot, in Dylan's mind. The first lady was always poised and dignified for the camera and demanded that all her staff be classy, as well. At least that's what the news had reported.