Linda Conrad – Rancher's Perfect Baby Rescue (страница 4)
“Her name is Melody?” he asked, trying to make small talk and sound calm. “Pretty. How old is she?” He wanted to keep the woman talking so he could be sure she hadn’t passed out.
“Two weeks yesterday.”
“What’s your name?”
The woman groaned and pursed her lips. Apparently that was one question she didn’t want to answer. What the hell did he have on his hands? Who was she, and where had she come from? That she was running away from something seemed fairly obvious.
“You needed help, Nathan?” Maria, his family’s housekeeper, peered around the half wall. “Oh, my goodness. What on earth?” She made short shrift of the few feet between them.
“You bring the water with you?” He glanced over at Maria and saw the bottle in her hands. “Give this young woman a drink and then take the baby, please.”
Maria crouched to help the stranger take a sip of water. “Where’d you come from, Mrs.?”
The woman drank a few sips and then widened her eyes to stare at Maria. “Help my baby.” She grabbed hold of her arm in a deathlike grip. “Melody needs water, too, but I don’t know how to make her drink.”
Maria pulled her arm free and stood, then took the child from his hands. “Ah, a tiny one. You leave her to me, ma’am. I’ll have her taking water in no time.” Maria glanced up at him. “This child needs warmth and the comfort of the main house.”
He nodded at his housekeeper. “Thanks. I think I can carry the mother if you’ve got a handle on the baby.”
“Yes, sir.” Maria reached over and picked up the woman’s backpack with her free hand. “Looks like the pack is probably being used for baby’s things. I can carry it, too.” She walked away, still making cooing noises at the child.
Bending to scoop the stranger off the floor, Nathan thought he might have trouble hefting her. She jolted, and he could see her holding her breath. But actually her body came up in his arms almost too easily.
“You hardly weigh a thing,” he said while he marched toward the barnyard.
“I can walk. You don’t have to carry me.”
“Last time I saw you trying to stand you weren’t too steady. I think this is the safest way for now.”
“We’re going to your house? How far is it?”
“Not far. We’ll be there in a few minutes.”
“Do you own this farm?”
Tightening his grip on her, he exhaled and answered the slightly annoying question. “It’s a ranch. And my family owns it. For a trespasser, you’re just full of questions, aren’t you?”
She shut her mouth and narrowed it in a tight line.
“I’m Nathan Pierce, and I’ve answered all your questions. How about answering another of mine? What’s your name?”
Suddenly she looked terrified again. “Susannah. Susannah Paul.”
Her big eyes were pleading with him for some kind of mercy. And he didn’t have a clue what it was all about.
“That’s better. Nice name. And Melody is your baby. Where’s her father?”
“I really don’t know. He’s not around. We weren’t married, and he didn’t much want a baby.”
Her answer had come quick. Apparently the fact that she was on her own wasn’t the biggest problem. Something else must be frightening her.
He decided to give her a little time to rest before he questioned her further. Badgering new mothers for answers was not his style—especially ones as beautiful and fragile as this one.
He barged into the kitchen with her in his arms and found a small crowd around the table. The baby was the center of attention.
Maria looked over as they came near. “She’s taking a little water, ma’am. Is she on formula? I couldn’t find any in her bag.”
“I’m breast-feeding.” Susannah glared up at him. “If you’ll kindly put me down now, I need to take care of my daughter.”
“Here? In the kitchen?”
Maria answered for her. “Don’t be absurd, Nathan. Carry the mama into your bedroom. It’s the closest. And make her comfy. I’ll bring the baby along in a moment.”
How was it that he’d volunteered for this again?
He kicked open the door to his room, and a sudden flash of memory came back to kick him in the gut. Once before he’d carried a woman across the threshold of this room. That time things had not worked out well at all.
But this was different. This woman was not planning on staying.
At least he thought not. On the other hand, his body seemed suddenly to want an entirely different and completely inappropriate plan.
The windows were open, and fresh air filled the room with smells of spring—and maybe a little hint of cattle. It was not unpleasant to him; in fact, it was so ingrained in his life he hardly noticed anymore. But he didn’t have any idea what she would think of any of it—smells, cattle, ranch, him.
“The chair or the bed?” He really wanted her to opt for the chair but thought he’d better give her the choice.
“I’m afraid if I lie down I’ll fall sound asleep and Melody will never get fed. The chair, please.”
He eased her into his reading chair and fluffed the pillow at her back. “This going to be okay?”
“Fine, thanks. It’s really nice of you to offer your own room.”
The offer had been more of a shanghai. “Later … when you’ve rested some, we need to talk. My hospitality for your answers. Seems only fair.” He stood aside, wondering how fast he could disappear when the baby arrived.
“Fair? Yes, all right. Later.”
Maria arrived carrying the baby, and he backed out of his room at a world-record-setting pace. His mind was reeling not only with questions about these two lost souls, like where they came from and why they were running. But another question was why for the first time in nearly four years his libido was reacting to the mere sight and touch of a very attractive but totally unavailable woman.
Susannah opened her lids, pulling herself from a sound sleep, and for the second time today, she stared up into Nathan’s sky-blue eyes. “I must’ve fallen asleep.”
He nodded and sat opposite her on the edge of the bed. “Maria tells me after the baby was fed you had a bite to eat, too, and a little nap. She’s looking for something to use as a cradle so she can offer you the chance to clean up and take a shower.”
Leaning on his knees, he folded his hands between them and gazed over at her with questions in those terribly sexy eyes. “Feeling well enough for our talk now?”
“I guess.” Not really. She would much rather ask questions of her own, like whether or not anyone on the ranch was a Devotee and how far it was from here to the highway bus stop.
“I need to know who you’re running from.” He raised his eyebrows as if encouraging her to tell him everything.
When she didn’t answer, he volunteered a couple of possibilities of his own. “I guess you might be running from some kind of lawman. Did you bug out on the hospital maternity bill? Or maybe you’re running from the baby’s father? Maria tells me you’ve got a few cuts and scratches she’d like to tend. You get those from some bastard?”
She hesitated, trying to decide what to say.
“If it’s the law that’s chasing you, I have to know.” He looked so sincere and serious; she wanted to blurt out the whole story. “I’ll want to call the Cold Plains police chief. I’m sorry, but I can’t harbor any criminals on the ranch. This is a law-abiding place.”
She couldn’t let him call the Cold Plains police. That was the last thing she needed.
Deciding to go with a half-truth, she said, “The baby’s father got angry. He pushed me onto a bus heading east and said he never wanted to see us again. Then when the money almost ran out, the bus dropped us off. Melody and I got turned around, and we’ve been wandering in the woods looking for someone to help.”
Nathan bit his lip as if trying to decide about her story. “So you’re saying you walked into the forest on your own? No one chased you in?”
Well, it was half-true. “Yes. That’s right. And I kept getting scratched up by all the branches and dead tree limbs. But the baby is safe.”
“Uh-huh.” He didn’t look too convinced. “Okay, then. Where are you from? You have any other family we can contact for help?”
“We’re not from anywhere. We—the baby’s father and I—were just moving around the country. He … he’s a traveling salesman kind of guy.” This was pretty much all true.
“And there’s no one else?”
“No one.” If you took his question literally, she’d just lied. But in her mind and heart there was no one else—at least no one who would care to hear from her under any circumstances, especially not if she needed help.
Nathan stared down at the carpet, and she couldn’t tell what he was thinking. All she really wanted was a chance to rest the baby for a few hours and then get directions to the bus.
A knock sounded against the open door. “Nathan?” Maria stuck her head in the room. “Can I come in?”
Maria had told her she was the Pierce family housekeeper. But Susannah had been surprised by that and asked why Maria spoke to Nathan in a manner more like a mother or older sister than an employee. It seemed Maria had been with the family since Nathan’s mother died when he was only twelve. She thought of him and his brother as her family now.