He made a mental note to ask more about them in the morning.
Everyone needed to get a good night of sleep so they could wake up early and get cracking. If the threat had moved closer to the house, he intended to figure out who the hell was behind it and stop them before someone got hurt. He would never forgive himself if harm came to Kit. Carys might’ve been a firecracker on the outside, but her devotion to protecting a child she didn’t know more than twenty-four hours ago said she had a soft side that the hard shell was no doubt meant to protect.
Sounds of the baby crying penetrated through the back door as he opened it. He resisted the urge to run toward her. Instead,he glanced around the room, surprised when he didn’t see Carys next to the child. His eyes had adjusted to the dark, making it easy to see clearly.
It dawned on him that someone could be inside the house. They could be holding Carys hostage. She wouldn’t leave the baby alone, crying without good reason.
Taking a step inside, the floorboard creaked underneath his weight.
From the corner of his eye, he saw a figure leaping at him from around the bottom cabinet. The glint of metal caught his eye. A knife.
Survival instinct took over. He brought his forearm up to block his face.
Carys’s face came into view, a panicked look in her eyes. It was as though her brain and hand disconnected. Her face readStop. Her arm kept going.
Blaize ducked in time to miss the swipe. He sidestepped her, grabbing her wrist after her hand passed above his hair.
“Are you trying to give me a haircut?” He managed to growl the words at her. On some level, he realized that she was in full-on defensive mode. He’d seen how protective she’d been with the baby first and then his grandmother. Still. She’d known he was outside and would then presumably come back in. She should’ve been more careful because he had no intention of ending up in the hospital. “Or brain surgery?”
“I’m sorry,” she said through a gasp. “I didn’t know it was you, and I wasn’t sure if anything happened. And then Rue started crying.” Her gaze darted from him to the baby. She held up a hand before rushing over to console the little thing.
For something so tiny, she sure had a great pair of lungs.
She plugged the kid up with some type of rubber contraption. He’s seen them before but had no idea what they were called. This was one of many reasons he probably shouldn’t be a father.
When his wife became sick, the possibility had been stripped from him. He’d made his peace with it, figuring he would never love again. A family was a lot of work. To his mind, he knew he couldn’t keep a kid alive for the first few years without a partner to do it with. He had a ton of respect for anyone doing it alone. Single parents were rock stars in his book.
“There,” Carys said with a satisfied smile, bringing his thoughts back to the present. She bit back a yawn.
“You should get some sleep,” he said, hearing the grumpy tone in his own voice. Damn if she didn’t rattle him in ways he wasn’t ready to face. Better to snap at her than kiss her again because the temptation was a real threat. From now on, he’d maintain a safe distance. Physically. Emotionally. Mentally.
“You, too,” Carys said softly, still staring at the baby. “She’s an angel.”
His gaze stayed trained on Carys. “I couldn’t agree more.”
He thought about telling her about looking for a picture of Stephanie Cross on social media to jog a memory and decided the update could wait until morning. “How often does one of those things wake up in the middle of the night?”
Carys exhaled a slow breath. “I have no idea. I guess we’ll figure it out together.”
He liked the sound of those words a little too much for his own good. “Will you take her to bed with you?”
“I think that’s best for tonight.”
Kit yelled out in her sleep from the living room. Blaize made a beeline for his grandmother. He checked her over as her eyelids fluttered, couldn’t find anything immediately concerning. A bad dream?
He should get her to her own room where she’d be more comfortable. As he scooped her up, he realized she’d had an accident. The back of her pants was wet.
He’d seen worse. Cleaned up worse.
Kit’s eyes fluttered open. Her face soured. “Cormac. What’s going on with you? Who is here with you?”
“It’s your grandson Blaize. Remember?” There was no way he wanted her thinking her son was here. Cormac couldn’t keep a cactus alive in the sun.
“What?” Kit tried to focus her eyes but appeared to be struggling. “What are you doing here?”
He carried her to a secondary bedroom. Cormac had moved her once he took over the ranch, and it was one of many reasons Blaize and his brothers didn’t visit. They didn’t like setting foot in Cormac’s home. When Blaize stopped by before Lynn got sick, he would stay outside for the duration of the visit. If he did step in the house, it was to go to the bathroom or grab a cup of coffee in the kitchen.
The thought of his grandmother being kicked out of her own bedroom made him angry to this day.Your mother deserved better from you, asshole.
