The Colton Cowboy. Carla Cassidy
putting on display his firmly muscled chest.
“Looks like you’ve got yourself a baby,” she said in greeting.
He smiled. “Looks like you’ve got yourself an ugly, fat baby of your own.” He looked pointedly at Merlin.
Oh no, he didn’t, she thought with irritation. “My baby can protect me from getting killed. What can yours do?” she asked coolly.
“Touché,” he replied, and stood. His arms still rocked the baby with a gentle motion. “I’m not quite sure what to do with her. She’s awakened twice and started to cry, but if I rock her she goes back to sleep. Come on inside.”
She followed him into a homey living room with a beautiful natural stone fireplace and casual brown leather furniture. He placed the baby into a wicker cradle. He straightened and then motioned for her to have a seat in a recliner. “Even though my sister and your brother are together and I’ve seen you around, we haven’t ever officially introduced ourselves. I’m Anders Colton.”
She sat on the edge of the chair and tried to avoid looking at his broad chest. “I’m Officer Elle Gage and this is my partner, Merlin. Now, tell me about what’s going on.”
She listened as he told her about the thefts that had been occurring and then stepping outside to find the baby on his porch. While he spoke he buttoned up the blue shirt that mirrored the beautiful blue of his eyes. Thank goodness, she thought. She didn’t need to be distracted by the sight of his bare chest.
“These thefts...were they break-ins? Do you know how the person is getting inside the cabin?” she asked.
“I never lock my doors. I’m pretty far off the beaten path and I’ve never had a reason to lock up,” he replied.
“Even after the first theft you didn’t start locking your doors?” she asked in surprise.
He shook his head. “It was obvious the thief wasn’t after anything valuable. I figured if somebody was stealing food then they must need it. He or she only came in at night so I intentionally left the doors unlocked hoping I’d catch them. I just want to know who it is and if they’re in some kind of trouble.”
“And you have no idea who left the baby here?”
“Not a clue, but she had a note pinned to the blanket.” He pulled a small piece of paper out of his pocket and then walked over and handed it to her.
She’s a Colton.
Elle’s heart nearly stopped as her brain worked overtime. Demi Colton had been pregnant when she’d gone on the run to avoid being charged in Bo’s murder.
Was it possible? She stared at the sleeping baby. Suddenly the baby’s eyes opened and she began to fuss. Elle jumped to her feet and picked her up.
She held the baby close to her heart and breathed in the sweet baby scent. If this little girl was a Colton, then it was possible she was Bo’s baby. Bo and Demi had been engaged to be married for a week, and then he had dumped her for Hayley Patton, a K9 trainer.
Bo’s baby. For a moment she believed she felt his spirit swirling in the room, surrounding her with warmth and love. She stared down at the baby who couldn’t be older than a couple of weeks. A part of Bo...a gift from heaven. She looked up at Anders, wondering if he’d put it all together in his head.
“She may be a Colton but that means she’s also probably a Gage,” she said. “And if I find out that you’re helping Demi stay hidden on this property, I promise I’ll have you arrested so fast your head will spin.”
Anders didn’t know whether to be amused or irritated. Elle Gage was definitely a hot number in the neatly pressed uniform that hugged curves that were all in the right places.
Her honey-colored blond hair was caught in a low ponytail that shone with a richness in the artificial light. But her pretty brown eyes stared at him with more than a hint of distrust and dislike.
Still, her pronouncement about the baby possibly being a Gage had surprised him. He hadn’t considered that the baby might be Demi’s and that Bo was the father. But it was definitely a possibility.
He was so damned tired of people thinking he was hiding out Demi here, although he did believe in his cousin’s innocence. “I don’t know anything about Demi being here on the property. All I know is that I had a thief and now I have a baby.”
“But if this is Demi’s baby, then Demi has to be on the property someplace,” Elle replied. She studied him as if he were an insect under a microscope. If she was looking for signs of deception from him she wouldn’t find any. He hadn’t seen Demi anywhere around his ranch.
“It’s possible she was on the property about an hour ago, but who knows where she might be now,” he finally conceded.
“I know she was in touch with her brother, Brayden, declaring her innocence. She texted him on a burner phone that the baby was fine and that she’s working to find the real killer. If she’s so innocent, then why is she on the run? Why do so many clues point to her?”
She placed the baby back in the cradle and then faced Anders once again. “Demi isn’t exactly a shrinking violet. She’s a bounty hunter and is known to have one heck of a temper. She thought Bo was going to be with her, but then he dropped her to marry Hayley.”
Anders considered what he’d heard and read about the murder. There was no way his cousin was capable of such violence against another human being. “Despite some of the evidence to the contrary, I still believe she’s innocent, but I’ll leave the investigation to the authorities,” he replied.
“Right now this authority is going to take her partner and do a sweep of the area. We’ll be back when we’re finished.” She headed for the door with the sturdy brown-and-white bulldog at her heels.
Anders released a deep sigh as they went out the front door. Was it really possible the baby was Demi’s?
The answer was easy. Absolutely it was possible. Everyone knew that Demi was pregnant—and very likely with Bo Gage’s baby—when she went on the run six months ago, and the timing was right for her baby to have been born within the last couple of weeks. And even though Anders and Demi had never been close, she definitely would have trusted him to take care of the infant. Demi had been close with Anders’s sister Serena, and though Serena had sworn multiple times she hadn’t heard from Demi, who knew if she had or not? Serena was romantically involved with Detective Carson Gage, so it wasn’t as though Demi could ask Serena to hide her or for help with the baby. But if Anders’s name had come up in their conversations, Serena would have told Demi that if she needed someone to count on, Anders was the guy.
Unfortunately Elle was right about clues pointing to his cousin’s culpability in Bo’s murder.
The rumor mill was rife with stories that Demi had snapped in a fit of rage over being dumped by Bo. Anders didn’t listen to gossip, but he’d heard that Bo had written Demi’s name in his own blood at the crime scene. He shivered at the thought. Plus, a gold heart necklace with Demi’s engraved initials had been found near the crime scene and a witness had put her there, as well. When a warrant had been issued for her arrest, she’d run.
It was much easier to be on the run from the law without a newborn baby in tow. A surge of unexpected protectiveness welled up inside him as he looked at her. She was so tiny, so achingly vulnerable.
And it was also a possibility that the baby could be his. He’d always tried to make sure he had protected sex; however, he also had occasionally trusted when a woman told him she was on the pill and didn’t want him to wear a condom.
He would make a good target for a woman to trick. Although his uncle Fenwick Colton and his branch of the family were filthy rich, Anders’s father had done all right, too,