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Today, soon, she’d attend awith a man from the FBI: He had an offer for her that presu her two years with the government, and due to the status of this particular branch of service, various govern On the one hand, she felt like telling someone that if she’d wanted to work for the FBI, she would have applied to the FBI But she was curious, and she wasn’t prone to be difficult; it was just the encies were not known for their cooperation--rather sad, really, since they were all working toward the sa in Key West; they had plenty to deal with, but they were ss were constantly out on the ays The Coast Guard was overworked, ditto the state police and the county police The cops in Key West loved the Marshals It had all been pretty good State police, Monroe County police, the Coast Guard and the US Marshal’s Office, all getting along,for a beer here and there on Duval Street or some off-the-tourist track location In her case, it had probably helped that she’d gone to the University of Miami and done an internship with the US Marshal’s Office She’d zeroed in on her chosen profession early And she’d expected to stay in south Florida

To conte wrong with Texas, of course

But she had it all figured out It was the water In San Antonio, there was no coast There was the river, though

She glanced at her watch Two hours until her ain, she nearly jumped In those few seconds, asee at her She waved a hand at it

The bird didn’t fly away It continued to stare

Then it pecked the

She almost stepped back, then didn’t She scowled at the bird "I’m a United States Marshal, and I will not be intimated by a bird!" she said aloud

"What’s that?"

Kelsey swung around Sandy Holly had coressive birds around here," Kelsey said

"We do?"

"Yeah, look!"

When she turned to theagain, the croas gone It bothered Kelsey to realize that the bird disturbed her Ah, well, she had discovered earlier that one of the e hadood or…

Sandy s her eyebrows "Anyone would think you were trying not to like Texas," she said

"No, no, I love Texas Texas is great," Kelsey told her

"Maybe you’re just a little nervous This is the big day, right?"

"This is it," Kelsey agreed Sandy Holly was proving to be a true friend Kelsey had gotten to know her alht-year-olds at the West Texas dude ranch Kelsey’s parents had been sure she’d want to attend But she’d been terrified of horses, while Sandy was terrified of being alone Sandy had ridden before, even at five, because…because she was a Texan fro hats So, at eight, Kelsey had toughened up enough to tell Sandy she didn’t need to be homesick, and Sandy had promised Kelsey she’d learn to love horses She did, Kelsey mused Thanks to Sandy, she’d become an excellent rider And, thanks to Sandy, she’d knohere she wanted to stay when she cahorn Inn and Saloon

It wasn’t as if they’d seen each other frequently After a few years, they had skipped caas to celebrate their respective twenty-first birthdays and kept up with each other through Facebook and e to be a US Marshal, Sandy had encouraged her

Kelsey was particularly glad to be here because Sandy wasn’t in great shape at theover the old inn had proven to be a monumental task, and there were problems Sandy had hinted about that Kelsey didn’t entirely understand They hadn’t really had a chance to sit down and talk, since Sandy was running a business, which meant her time was lier the week before--the young reat housekeeping staff of three, the organizational and hostessing duties had all fallen to her Of course, as Kelsey well knew, Sandy could be high-strung, and she wondered if working for her friend wasn’t a little stressful On the plus side, Sandy did like to hire college guys who needed a break on a résu, however