The Colton Cowboy. Carla Cassidy
When Elle walked into the kitchen a few minutes later clad in her uniform and with the cradle in tow, it was like déjà vu from two years ago when Rosalie had appeared on his doorstep with a dark-haired, blue-eyed baby she’d told him was his. The only difference was the bulldog who walked close at Elle’s feet and the fact that they had no idea who baby Bonnie’s parents were.
At that time he’d not only opened his home to Rosalie and little Brooke, but he’d also opened his heart. He wasn’t about to make that same mistake again with Elle and Bonnie.
“Good morning,” he said.
“It’s always a good morning when you wake up to the smell of bacon,” she replied.
“I hope you’re a breakfast eater.” He pointed to the coffee machine. “Help yourself to the coffee.”
“Thanks, and yes, I’m a breakfast eater as long as somebody else is cooking it,” she replied. She placed the cradle in one of the chairs at the table and then scooted it in so it was secure. “Bonnie had her breakfast about an hour ago at five thirty, and right now I’m going to take Merlin out and grab his dog food and bowl.”
“How do you like your eggs?” he asked.
“Any way you want to cook them is fine with me. I’ll be right back.” She disappeared from the room and a moment later he heard the front door open.
Despite the smell of bacon and toast, he thought he caught a whiff of her fresh perfume. He hadn’t had a woman in the cabin since Rosalie. He’d forgotten how nice it was to smell a feminine fragrance, to have somebody here to share morning coffee and pleasant talk.
The baby made a noise and he turned from the stove and walked over to make sure she was okay. Her blue eyes gazed at him and she released a soft coo as her little arms waved in the air. And then she smiled at him.
It shot an arrow of warmth straight through to his heart. Did she know he was the man who had rocked her in his arms last night when she’d fussed? No, he told himself. He backed away from the table and returned to his breakfast work.
No, there was no way in hell he was going to allow her any access to his heart. Bonnie could look all cute in her little pink outfit and she could coo and smile all she wanted. He was not going to fall in love with her in any way until he found out for sure that she was really his. He was not going to get his heart ripped out again.
He was grateful when Elle returned. She carried a big dog bowl full of food and set it just inside the back door. As Merlin began his meal, Anders cracked four eggs into a bowl, added a little milk and shredded cheese, and then transferred the mixture to the awaiting skillet.
“It’s a beautiful morning,” Elle said as she poured herself a cup of coffee.
“Normally I would have left here an hour or so ago. I’d be on horseback and out on the ranch checking in on my men,” he replied.
“It’s much nicer for you to be here fixing me breakfast,” she said as she sat down at the table.
“I’ll make breakfast, but I definitely will demand you pay me back and cook dinner tonight.” He then shook his head. “That was silly for me to say. There’s no reason for me to think that you’ll still be here at dinnertime.”
“We’ll see what Finn has to say when we take Bonnie into the police station this morning.”
He took up the eggs, divided them on two plates, added bacon and toast, and then carried the dishes to the table. “Hmm, looks good,” she said. “Oh look, Bonnie found her thumb.”
Sure enough, the little girl’s thumb was in her mouth and she looked delightfully happy. “Should we stop her from doing that?” he asked worriedly. Didn’t that cause buck teeth?
“No, although we might want to buy her a pacifier.”
“How do you know so much about babies?” he asked. And how could her hair look so pretty in the sunshine, so soft and touchable despite the severe style of the low ponytail at the nape of her neck?
“When I was a senior in high school one of my close friends got pregnant. Her parents encouraged her to have an abortion, but she decided to have the baby. When the baby was born I spent a lot of afternoons and weekends with them helping her out.”
“What about the father?” he asked.
“Just another deadbeat dad,” she said in disgust. “He swore he loved her and then dropped her like a hot potato when she told him she was pregnant.”
“Was her family supportive?” he asked.
“Financially, yes. They didn’t kick her out of the house or anything like that, but they weren’t real emotionally supportive. The good news is last I heard she’d married a great guy and was finally living happily-ever-after.”
“That’s nice,” he replied.
“Anyway, I learned all kinds of things about babies when I was there with her, although she had a boy, not a girl.”
As they ate breakfast the conversation was light and easy. They didn’t talk about whether little Bonnie was a Colton or a Gage. They didn’t speak about the intruder from the night before; instead, they spoke about the weather.
She loved the spring and he liked the fall. They both liked winter if it involved a fire in a fireplace, cozy blankets and plenty of hot cocoa.
He told her a little about his normal day on the ranch and by that time the meal was over. They worked side by side to clean up the kitchen and then it was time for them to take the baby in to the Red River Police Department.
Immediately the first problem they encountered was they had no car seat for Bonnie. “There’s the discount store just before we get to the police station. If you’ll stop there I’ll run in and get a car seat,” Elle said. “In the meantime you’ll just have to drive very carefully.”
“I always drive carefully,” he replied. “In all my years of driving I’ve never had a single traffic ticket.”
“Then you’re either a good, law-abiding man behind the wheel or we just haven’t caught you yet,” she replied with a small grin.
Her humor surprised him. His initial assessment of her had been that she was a bit uptight and way too serious. But the impish grin proved him wrong.
Thirty minutes later Bonnie was secured in a new infant car seat and sleeping peacefully next to Merlin, who was probably slobbering up his back seat. Elle had also picked up a pacifier in the store and had tucked it into the tote bag for whenever Bonnie might need it.
The Red Ridge Police Department was a large one-story brick building. Anders had never been arrested nor had any run-ins with the law, although he’d been inside the building a couple of times in the past to bail out some of his men. The charges were usually the same—drunk and disorderly—and their pay was docked until they’d paid Anders back.
Of course he knew he’d been under a lot more police scrutiny in the past six months since Demi had disappeared. And now with the baby showing up, he’d probably be under even more. He didn’t care. He had nothing to hide. He had no idea where his cousin might be.
He parked in the lot and then went to the back seat and got Bonnie out. She rode on his arm in the carrier that pulled out of the car seat. Elle fell into step with him, carrying the tote bag and with Merlin by her side.
“Babies require a lot of equipment,” he said.
She released a small burst of musical laughter. “Trust me, this is just the beginning. There are bassinets and bouncy chairs and toys to aid in their development. Then a crib and another car seat and more clothes, diapers and toys.”
“Whoa,” he said with a laugh of his own. “Let’s take this one step at a time.”
They walked into the building where a receptionist sat behind the front