Page 29 of Rancher to the Rescue

Right. The only connection was him. Libby lived in Austin where they’d met on a weekend when he’d gone to hear his favorite low-key country band play, Bottoms Up Red, featuring a local girl done good, Raleigh Perry.

Libby had caught his eye. She was a beautiful woman with her long blonde hair and green eyes. She’d put on more makeup than he thought she needed, the complete opposite of Prudence who barely wore any.

The pink gloss on her lips called attention to her creamy skin. But he was supposed to be thinking about Libby. She had always been dressed to the nines. Hair done up and always wearing heels. She’d been a little too slick for him in the beginning with her bronzed skin and California beach body. In fact, he’d nicknamed her California in the early days. It had taken a month for her to finally pluck up the courage to ask him not to call her by that name.

Strange thinking about it now, considering she’d lied about the very thing she was upset about. He didn’t know her last name.

“She had a fake ID with a different last name on it,” Adam told Lawler.

The lawman perked up at the news.

“Oh yeah?” he asked.

“Daniels. Her ID said Libby Daniels,” Adam supplied. He couldn’t help but think about Prudence’s raw honesty. Her simple beauty had drawn him in. She didn’t feel the need to cover up her true self. He’d liked that about her instantly. He also never would have described a pair of sweatpants as sexy before, except that was what he thought when she had them on.

Still, he had no plans to act on his attraction to Prudence. The couple of white-hot kisses they’d shared were the end of it. Period. Whatever was going on between them needed to be cut off right then and there before someone got hurt.

His job required all of his attention. His grandfather had just passed away. His time was already committed to the family and the ranch.

Speaking of being so tired he could barely remember his name, it dawned on him that Libby had stopped by after the breakup. Once. They’d had breakup sex. He’d insisted on using a condom, like always, but the possibility Angel was his child could no longer be denied.

10

Prudence put two-and-two together, realizing what Adam seemed to be in denial about. He and his ex broke off their relationship less than a year ago. There were fifty-two weeks in a year. It took forty to have a baby. His fatherhood depended on the timeline of their breakup.

Her heart went out to the little girl who would never know her mother. The writing was on the wall about Libby. She had possibly even scribbled the note for someone to get her baby to Adam moments before dying.

How awful was that?

Other inevitable questions followed. Was she trying to get her baby to a man who she knew would protect her? Or was she simply trying to unite a baby with her father?

As Prudence gazed at the sweet little girl who seemed so content taking down her bottle, her heart literally bled at her loss. At least she’d had nine years with her family. It might not be much, but she had a couple of memories she clung to and a box of family photos in the attic she didn’t have the heart to bring down.

Prudence’s mind reeled. She knew what it was like to grow up without a mother. She’d been so young when she lost hers that she barely remembered her. Her aunt and uncle rarely spoke about Prudence’s parents. Now, she realized it had probably been hard on them too. They were good people and it had been such a tragedy. Prudence had developed a stutter, that had taken years to overcome, and it had been part of the reason she’d kept to herself during her school years.

Her aunt had had a cat named Percy. Percy was a fancy Himalayan with more white fur than Prudence had ever seen. The cat would sit at the foot of Prudence’s bed while she read out loud, her aunt’s idea. It had been a stroke of brilliance too. Reading to Percy didn’t make Prudence feel self-conscious when the words wouldn’t come out right. She’d developed two loves during those years, animals and reading.

Even now, Prudence preferred a quiet night at home or with other people’s pets to going out to some splashy restaurant or loud bar. She’d always been a solitary person, long before the tragedy.

There’d always been enough in Lone Star Pass to keep her active and busy. The move to Austin had been harder on her. First of all, living downtown was like being locked inside one of those ant farms. Everyone seemed to be crawling on top of each other, trying to climb somewhere…anywhere else. A memory that stuck out was being on Lake Travis over Memorial Day weekend. Her parents had rented two double kayaks but the wake from passing boats made it next to impossible to go anywhere. Ten minutes into the hour rental, they’d returned to shore.

She glanced down at Angel. Right then and there she promised to be there for the little girl much in the way her own aunt and uncle had been there for her. Without them, Prudence had no idea how she would have turned out.

But then, being a Firebrand would give Angel all the family she could handle. Prudence couldn’t help but muse there was a lot of testosterone over there on the family’s ranch. She knew of Adam’s mother even though she didn’t know the woman personally. Was he close to his parents? Based on what he’d said so far, she didn’t think so.

There was so much the two of them didn’t know about each other. And yet, she could have sworn she saw her entire life flash before her eyes when they’d first met. A life together. A future.

How wild was that?

She chalked it up to residual effects of the medication. Real love developed over time, between two people who knew each other. Yet what she felt with Adam was stronger than anything she’d experienced. An attraction like a planet pulling the sun toward it. And, yes, she’d thought about how amazing he must be in bed considering how well he knew how to work his tongue. But that was physical. This was so much more than that.

There was no way she could ignore how much she was drawn to the man.

Bottle finished, Prudence burped the baby before excusing herself to change her diaper in the living room. At this rate, they would run out of diapers soon. At least the feeding would buy them a few more hours to figure out their next move. She looked around, thinking how much she hated that jerk who’d broken into her house, for violating her safe haven. Most folks in town left their doors unlocked. She’d always been careful. Seeing how easy it was to violate her home caused a streak of anger a mile wide to course through her.

No one got to take her sense of security away from her again. No one, she repeated to herself for emphasis.

Looking at Angel, she couldn’t help but think she’d go to the ends of the earth to ensure the baby never experienced that kind of fear. Prudence caught herself. She was being overprotective over a child that wasn’t even hers.