If You Know Her: A Novel of Romantic Suspense

he found himself thinking—
morning sickness
.
    It had been his first thought, but Lena had already shot that idea down. It was the first thing the doctor had checked when she’d been seen. He was fine with that, too. He wasn’t exactly
opposed
to having kids. He just wasn’t sure he wanted them
now
. They’d just gotten married. Still getting used to each other.
    And here he was, getting used to a new job, doing one thing he hadn’t thought he’d be doing again.
    The weapon he wore at his side weighed on him. A lot.
    It was a burden he hadn’t planned on taking back upagain, but when he’d been approached about taking Dwight’s place, for some reason, he’d been unable to say no.
    Not that saying
No
was hard for him. Ezra was just fine saying no when it suited him. When it felt right.
    This time, it hadn’t felt right.
    As a matter of fact, saying yes had felt about as right as anything he’d ever done—almost as right as when he’d asked Lena to marry him. Even though this was a burden he hadn’t planned on carrying, it fit.
    It was one he was suited to, one he was meant to carry, he supposed.
    It was a hell of a lot more laid-back than anything he’d done before he’d been injured. The job with the State Police, the crime rings he’d dealt with, stolen property—chasing after leads, dead ends, all that shit, sometimes spinning his wheels for twelve, eighteen months at a time, all for nothing. No, this was better.
    A lot better. And the “staff” meetings Lena had been ribbing him about were a lot easier to swallow. Not that this was a real staff meeting, although they had those, too. Every couple of weeks, he’d meet up with the rest of the staff and just talk.
    It had started out informally—and it was still informal, but Dwight Nielson had cast a long shadow here; taking his place wasn’t easy. There were more than a few deputies who felt they should have gotten the job that had been “given” to some outsider.
    Trying to establish an environment where they could all work together wasn’t easy and this was one way of moving forward. Trying to win them over one at a time.
    Those who didn’t like it, as far he was concerned, they could kiss his ass.
    He wasn’t going anywhere and he wasn’t playing by the good ol’ boy rules they seemed to think they couldlay out, either. Ezra was in this for the long haul—they needed to deal with it.
    Fortunately, the hard cases were the minority.
    By the time he made it to the café, it was hopping. Along the back wall, he saw his men, and only two empty chairs. Keith was there, along with Ethan Sheffield, Walter Manning, his deputy sheriff Steven Mabry along with his brother Kyle, Kent Jennings, several of the guys from the night shift … Ezra smiled.
    More than the last time. He had to make his way through the maze of tables—like most mornings, the café was packed.
    The mayor was at a table with several of his cousins—Carter was there, Remy and Hope, Angie Shoffner and her husband Bill. She’d been a Jennings until she married him. Ezra assumed half of the people at the table were probably from the Jennings clan, too, but he couldn’t be sure. He was still learning names.
    Jennings—seemed like they owned most of the damn town.
    Lucy Walbash was there, having breakfast with two of her grandsons—Ezra couldn’t remember their names for the life of him. She beamed at him and he smiled, but was glad the crowd kept him from getting to her easily. Lucy had been one of his grandmother’s best friends and he adored her, but she could talk like nothing he’d ever seen.
    He dropped into one of the spare chairs and glanced back at the crowd. “Did you all have to threaten to arrest people to clear a table or what?”
    “No.” Keith smiled from behind his coffee cup.
    Ethan smirked. “He’s messing around with Natalie lately—she kept the table open for him.”
    “You and Natalie?” Ezra cocked a brow at his right-hand man and tried to wrap his mind around thatpicture—it wasn’t quite coming together in his head. Keith had plenty of women who flirted with him—all but threw themselves in his path sometimes, but Keith was oblivious. Maybe that was why the picture didn’t work. The guy just never seemed to notice women.
    But now he had a red flush creeping up his neck and had developed a very strange obsession with his coffee cup. “You know, that takes balls,” Ezra said, unable to resist teasing him. “I don’t know if