Page 31 of Rancher to the Rescue

He’d misjudged the situation, thinking she was as happy as he’d been. Funny thing about it, though. Now that he’d spent time with Prudence, he didn’t hold his relationship with Libby in as high a regard. Prudence was changing the kind of attraction he should feel with the person he wanted to spend his life with. Not that he was saying Prudence was the one. That ship had sailed when his chest had been split in two.

But if he was going to go head down that road again, it would be for someone like her.

The revelation caught him off guard. He chalked it up to his overwrought emotions over the Marshall dying coupled with the news he might be a father. A father, he repeated, trying it on for size.

He couldn’t say it fit, but he would want a sweet girl like Angel if it was forced on him. An annoying little voice in the back of his head pointed out that he’d been natural with her so far. Was there an invisible bond between father and daughter?

Adam decided he wouldn’t get too far ahead of himself. The paternity news could come out different. The chances Libby had gotten pregnant after having sex one time while using contraception had to be damn small. Except wasn’t that how it always seemed to work out? When folks weren’t trying or when it was the worst possible timing?

Rather than put too much emphasis on the thought, he tossed the paper bag remnant that was still in his hand. As he opened the trash, he saw something that caused his heart to thump wildly against his ribcage. A handwritten note with familiar writing.

Lawler extended his hand before leaving.

“Hold on a second, Sheriff. There’s something in here you should take a look at,” he said.

“Is it safe in here?” Prudence stood at the entrance to the kitchen with the baby in her arms.

Adam couldn’t but think her question was loaded with the discovery. With his thumb and forefinger, he plucked the grocery list out of the trash. He shook the glass off before holding it up in the air.

“Is this yours?” he asked her.

Lawler’s eyes widened as he got a close-up of the writing. He cleared his throat and took a step back, turning his full attention toward Prudence.

“What?” she asked, walking over to examine the specimen for herself. Her lips pursed together and a wrinkle creased her forehead. “That looks like my grocery list. Why?”

“I still have the sample in my SUV. Hold on,” he said.

A mix of anger and disbelief rocked Adam to the core. He didn’t want to accept what was plain as the nose on his face.

“What’s going on, Adam?” Prudence crossed the room to get a closer look.

How could she not see it?

“I don’t understand,” she said. “What’s happening here?”

“This doesn’t look familiar to you at all?” He couldn’t believe she would stand there and lie to him or pretend she didn’t know. She couldn’t use the excuse of not being able to remember with this one.

“Yes. I already said so. It’s my grocery list,” she said. “I just don’t know what the big deal…”

Recognition seemed to dawn as Lawler re-entered through the back door. He held out the piece of paper from yesterday. The handwriting on the grocery list might be neater, but the letters were obviously written by the same person.

“What the hell, Prudence? Why is this your handwriting?”

11

“I-I-I…this can’t be.” Prudence shook her head, trying to find some way to clear out the fog and remember.

The look of betrayal in Adam’s eyes nearly gutted her.

“I promise I didn’t know that I wrote the note,” she defended. Asking him to believe her when evidence said otherwise would take a leap of faith on his part. She could only hope he’d gotten to know her enough in the past twenty-four hours to realize she wouldn’t try to pull the wool over his eyes.

But she did have a severe memory lapse. For three days, in fact.

“I need to find my cell,” she said into the otherwise quiet room. She handed over the baby and dashed over to her laptop. “I should be able to find my cell using an app.”

She broke the silence with the click-clack-clack of her fingers on the keyboard. How could she have written that note and not remembered?

The screen came to life and her work calendar immediately popped up.