And Baby Makes Three

Bonnie is already loved by her own surviving flesh and blood?”

Panicked, Catherine could feel the baby slipping away from her, figuratively as well as physically.

“Terrie left written wishes before she died,” Catherine answered him. “They hold weight with the court.”

She caught the glint of fire coming from his eyes. “You fulfilled them by driving to the ranch to find Buck.” His expression mirrored a faint respect for what she’d done, but that was all.

Her heart kicked against her ribs. “There was another wish.”

She could almost feel his arms close tighter around Bonnie. “Am I going to have to pry that out of you too?”

His black brows took on a threatening slant, but she was fighting for her life and refused to be intimidated.

“In the event I couldn’t find Buck, Terrie designated someone specific to raise Bonnie.”

The sudden indrawn breath she heard sounded like ripping silk.

“Someone waiting in the wings, you mean, yet you wouldn’t tell me even if the law didn’t forbid you,” he reflected bitterly, in what she guessed was a rare show of temper.

In the stillness that followed, he rubbed the back of the baby’s head with a tenderness that melted Catherine’s insides.

She sensed his frustration. Under other cir cum stances she’d be on his side all the way. “I’m sorry. As it is I shouldn’t have let you come here to see Bonnie.”

But he wasn’t listening, and she heard his next words de livered with barely veiled hostility. “That explains why you were in such an all-fired hurry to get the DNA match done.”

“Cole, I-”

“Obviously it’s someone in Terrie’s confidence.” He continued with his train of thought, staring at her as if he’d suddenly been given second sight. “A woman with a vested interest in her well being and that of her child.”

He took a step toward her. “It’s you, isn’t it?”

Catherine started to shake. “I knew there was something different about you, something that didn’t quite add up. A social worker’s job doesn’t include driving across Nevada to find a man who might have impregnated one of the teens at Girls’ Haven.”

His gunsmoke eyes impaled her. “Now it’s making sense. You had to be certain Buck wouldn’t claim his rights before you put in your petition to adopt Bonnie yourself.”

Catherine could see there was no point in denying it, not when his steel trap mind had figured it out.

He kissed the top of the baby’s head. “Terrie may have wanted you to raise her daughter, but, considering your position as the social worker for Girls’ Haven, I can guarantee that a judge will see your petition for adoption as a conflict of interest.”

“I’m sure he will,” she admitted to him. “But the circumstances were extraordinary. I spent five weeks at the hospital with Bonnie, and now she needs me. I’m counting on the judge to weigh the facts that I love this baby with all my heart, and I have Terrie’s blessing. Don’t make me out to be some kind of monster. Terrie wanted to give Buck the chance to claim Bonnie. So did I,” she defended. “Every child deserves its parents if it’s humanly possible. The truth is, I was orphaned as a baby, never knowing who mine were. Like Terrie I lived in various foster homes and ended up at Girls’ Haven, pregnant at the same age.”

His lips thinned, undoubtedly in revulsion.

“Terrie’s and my stories are very similar, except that I planned to keep my baby. But it wasn’t meant to be because I miscarried at four months. I never got the chance to hold my little girl or love her.”

Don’t break down now, Catherine.

“But thanks to Girls’ Haven I was given a second chance at life and I took it. That was eleven years ago. A lot has happened since then. After university I came to work for them, hoping to give back what they gave me. Getting to know Terrie and her situation was like experiencing deja vu. Over the last months we grew very close,” she explained, endeavoring to get through to him. “She always planned to give up her baby for adoption. When she realized she was dying, she begged me to be Bonnie’s mother.” Her voice shook. “I told her that if I couldn’t find Buck, or if he didn’t want Bonnie, I-I’d do everything in my power to adopt her.”

Catherine had a struggle to hold the tears back. “It wasn’t hard to make that promise. She’s the most precious, adorable baby on earth.”

Though his hand spanned Bonnie’s little back lovingly, his eyes still glittered dangerously. “A wise judge will suspect you used your considerable influence to coerce Terrie into putting her wishes in writing.”

“A good judge will take the extenuating facts into consideration and rule what’s best for Bonnie,” she countered, swallowing hard. “In all probability we’ll both lose out, and he’ll award the adoption to a couple so Bonnie will grow up with a mother and father. It’s something neither you nor I can provide.”

The tension between them sizzled.

“That’s unacceptable.”

“You think I don’t feel the same way?” came her anguished cry.

Catherine under stood his anger since she felt defeated by the same in effectual emotion. This was a situation she would never have envisioned. Not in a lifetime.

“Will you please give Bonnie to me? I have to get her ready to go to the doctor.”

She expected another argument, but shockingly he said something quite different in a low aside. “Let me help. Where’s her carryall?”

It was in her bedroom, but she didn’t want him of all people going in there. “I’ll get it.”

When she hurried back with it, he lowered Bonnie into it as if he’d done this sort of thing many times before. He’d mentioned having nephews and nieces, so it wasn’t surprising he seemed a natural.

As she tucked a receiving blanket around Bonnie, who was being a perfect angel, her arm brushed against Cole’s. He didn’t act as if he’d noticed, but she felt sudden warmth spiral through her body.

“Come on, sweet heart,” she said a bit unsteadily. “It’s time to go get checked out.”

“I’ll carry her out to the car for you.”

Catherine didn’t say anything because she knew she couldn’t stop him. His proprietorial interest in Bonnie was nothing short of astounding.

He must have seen her vehicle out in the carport because he knew exactly where to go.

Amy, the good-looking red headed Realtor who lived in the next condo, was just walking toward her car. She almost tripped over a crack in the cement while she stared at Cole. As an after thought she said hello to Catherine, who could read the other woman’s mind.

Unfortunately Catherine knew her aggressive neighbor would be over later to find out who the mystery man was, because there was no question about it, Cole Farraday was an in credibly gorgeous man. However, this was one time Catherine didn’t intend to satisfy Amy’s curiosity.

After she unlocked her car, Cole fastened Bonnie’s carryall into the base of the back seat. Through the rearview mirror Catherine watched him kiss the baby’s nose and cheeks. His display