The Sheriff's Son. Stella Bagwell
hoped the two of them didn’t show up until after the sheriff had come and gone. She didn’t want Charlie to see Roy. And she didn’t want Roy to see her son. Maybe that was selfish and ridiculous on her part. Roy would probably never make any sort of connection. Still, she wasn’t ready to take that chance. She wasn’t sure she’d ever be.
Grimacing, Justine sat down on the couch in front of the twins’ makeshift bed. More than likely, she thought, Roy had forgotten all about the brief affair they had nearly six years ago. Yet she hadn’t forgotten. She couldn’t. Charlie was a constant reminder of the time she’d spent with Roy.
As she watched the twins examine each other’s ears and eyes, a soft smile curved Justine’s lips. Having Charlie far outweighed the heartache and humiliation Roy had dealt her all those years ago. Her son gave her life meaning and purpose. She loved him fiercely, and would do anything to protect him. And knowing that only made her wonder how any mother had been able to leave these two babies behind.
It had been at least two years since Roy was on the Bar M Ranch. He’d stopped by on a trip to Picacho to see Tom. There’d been a rash of cattle thefts at the time, and he’d wanted to see if the ranch had suffered any losses.
Roy had always liked the older Murdock man, and had been sorry to hear of his sudden death a few weeks ago. Yet he’d not gone to the funeral. He’d known that she would be there and he’d decided that if or when he ever saw her again, he didn’t want it to be over her father’s grave.
That day, he’d chosen not to see Justine. But today he had no choice, and he didn’t know how he would feel to finally look at her beautiful face once again. And she would still be beautiful. She could only be twenty-five or twenty-six now.
He didn’t know exactly when Justine had returned home to Hondo. Quite by accident, he’d overheard someone in a Ruidoso café talking about Tom having his middle daughter back out on the ranch again. That had been several months ago, yet he could still remember how the snippet of news had stunned him. He’d come close to casually questioning the person about Justine’s coming home. But he’d stopped himself short of doing such a thing. When the county sheriff asked questions about anyone, it always started the gossip mill grinding.
Six years ago, he’d been a young deputy in the middle of a messy breakup with the sheriff’s daughter when Justine came into his life. The result had been a secret affair. To this day, he didn’t think anyone knew about the torrid liaison he’d had with the fiery-haired Murdock girl. Except him. And it annoyed the hell out of him, because he couldn’t forget.
The knock on the door startled Justine, making her hands jerk as she fastened the adhesive tab on the waist of the diaper.
“He’s not going anywhere.” Justine spoke in a hurried hush to the boy twin. “And I want to make sure your pants aren’t going to fall off.”
Her heart beating in her throat, Justine took another moment to check the fresh diaper she’d placed on the baby. Then, rising to her feet, she went to answer Roy’s second knock.
The thin strips of glass running the length of the oak door gave her a glimpse of a tall man dressed in blue jeans, boots and a khaki shirt. His head was turned toward the corrals and barns, but the moment Justine opened the door, it jerked around to face her.
For long seconds, Justine could only stare at him and wonder why, after all these years, he should still look so good, so sexy, to her. The years she’d been away had changed him very little, except to add a few sunlines to his face and muscular weight to his body.
“Hello, Roy.”
Beneath the brim of his black Stetson, his blue eyes flicked impassively over her face. “Hello, Justine.”
She didn’t realize just how much seeing him had affected her until she stepped back to allow him entry into the house. Her legs were trembling on weak knees, and for a moment she clung to the doorknob for support.
“Please come in. The babies are right here.”
He stepped past her. Justine shut the door and turned to him.
“Were you the only one here when you found the babies?” he asked.
No “How are you, it’s good to see you, how have things been?” Justine thought. He was going to be strictly business. That was good, she supposed. She didn’t want anything personal to pass between them. Still, his indifference hurt. She’d once given him so very much of herself. But she supposed Roy Pardee was like so many men in this world. They took a woman’s heart, then forgot all about it.
“It appears that way. My sisters must be out on another part of the ranch. And my—aunt has gone into Ruidoso.”
He was looking at the two babies now. Justine drew in a shaky breath and raked her fingers through her long, tangled hair.
“What time was it when you came home and found them?”
Justine glanced at the watch strapped to her left wrist. “I don’t know exactly. I got off work a little later than usual, then drove straight home. I’d say it’s been at least an hour and a half.”
“And how were they when you found them?”
Her brows lifted as he turned back to her. “How were they?” she repeated inanely. “They were fine. In fact, I’d say they’re both in perfect health.”
Roy’s eyes slowly drifted over her white nurse’s shift. “I wasn’t asking about their medical condition. I want to know where they were. In the house, here on the floor?”
There was a thread of impudence in his voice, a sound that said he was just waiting, hoping, for her to make some sort of foolish remark. A second time. Justine suddenly wanted to slap him.
She tried to count to ten, but her mind wavered. By the time she reached five, her attention had returned to his face, the chiseled mouth and the hooded gray-blue eyes, the sandy hair curling around his ears and the back of his neck. She’d once showered that face with kisses, she remembered, threaded her fingers though his hair and held his head fast to her breast.
He’d made her heart beat fast and wild then. She’d never loved anyone the way she loved him, and now, after all this time, she was afraid she never would again. This man had ruined her chances of happiness, and he didn’t even know it. Moreover, he didn’t care.
Her nostrils flaring, she lifted her chin. “The babies were on the porch by the door. In a laundry basket.”
“Where is the basket?”
“In the kitchen.”
“I’d like to see it.”
And she’d like to stuff it over his head, Justine thought. But the pistol strapped to his hips and the badge pinned to his breast reminded her of his authority in this county, even in this house. She didn’t want to test it at this moment.
“Follow me,” she told him.
Justine took him to the kitchen, where the basket was still sitting atop the table. Ignoring her, he looked inside.
“Was there any sort of note, anything inside other than this blanket?”
“The only things I found were four diapers, two bottles and two pacifiers.”
He looked at Justine, his lips thinning with obvious disapproval. “And you’ve handled them all?”
“Of course. I had to change the babies, and I didn’t want the formula to spoil. The two of them will eventually need to eat.”
He lifted his hat from his head and raked his fingers through his hair. Justine couldn’t help but notice that it was still thick and shiny.
“I don’t suppose you thought about getting fingerprints?”
She dismissed his question with a wave of her hand. “I’m not stupid, Roy. I think you and I both know that whoever left these babies doesn’t have a criminal record or have their fingerprints on