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At least he didn’t make a comment about the baby they thought was her mom’s grandchild. That would have been too much to handle.
“I’m sorry about your mom. And I’m sorry for what my parents did to her. And you. I’m glad that my mother tried to stand up for yours, even if she was bad at it.” He shook his head. “But Dad... What can I say? He jumps to conclusions, and then he doesn’t want to admit
he could ever be wrong, so...”
“He makes enemies,” she finished for him. She took a long sip of her coffee, which was already getting cold. “Thanks for the apology. I shouldn’t have snapped at you when you mentioned going to the ranch. Or when Anne revealed your last name. All that happened a long time ago. It’s just that I’m so freaked out after everything this morning.”
“Believe me, I get it.” He slurped the last of his sweet drink through the straw. “But you kind of sound like one of those enemies you mentioned, so I wouldn’t tell your story to anyone else for a while. You’ll end up repeating it as a potential suspect to my future sister-in-law, Junior Detective Kerry Wilder.”
“Is she the one investigating your dad’s attempted murder?”
He nodded, but he looked around as if he was suddenly concerned that they might be overheard. “I shouldn’t even joke about suspects.”
“Your brother’s been questioned, right?”
This time, he didn’t answer.
“You’re probably not supposed to talk about it at all.”
“Not if we can help it. Why do you know so much about it?”
“I read. Maybe it’s not the New York Times, but I get something that resembles news from the Mustang Valley Times and the Bronco Star. I even sometimes get the chance to sit down and watch WXVY-TV.”
“The Valley,” they chorused, repeating the local TV news station’s tagline.
“Do you think I should be questioned?”
She didn’t even know why she asked it. An hour ago, she was disgusted to find out she was dealing with another Colton. Why did she suddenly care what he thought about her?
“No. I don’t.”
She needed to look away, but she could no more make herself do that than she could force everyone with the last name “Colton” to move out of Mustang Valley. This was crazy. He’d only admitted that he didn’t believe she was an attempted murderer, not that he thought she was beautiful or sexy, yet her body hummed with a certain something. She would rather plan a dinner party for his whole family than to define it.
Her high-strung baby saved the day by crying out. This time, at least, she appreciated the outburst.
“Sorry. I need to feed her.”
“Yeah, Harper’s getting hungry, too.”
How he could tell, Willow wasn’t sure. Harper had barely made more than a whimper. Even working all day with several infants, she’d never been around one who was so polite. Now, her Luna made her needs known to everyone.
As he pulled a small cooler from his diaper bag and withdrew a prepared bottle of formula, Willow lifted her wiggling child from the chair and laid her across her lap. She threw a receiving blanket over her shoulder for modesty, bunched up the T-shirt under her chambray shirt and unclipped her nursing bra. Luna latched onto her breast immediately like the experienced infant she was, her tiny body finally relaxing.
“I wonder where the microwave—”
When he stopped, Willow looked up and met his stare. He stood, frozen in place, the baby bottle lifted as if he was about to do a formula demonstration. That her cheeks burned only annoyed her more.
“Oh. Right.” He lowered his arm and averted his gaze.
In her insular world at the day-care center, she never had to deal with people preferring for nursing mothers to hide in dressing rooms or filthy restroom stalls just to feed their infants. Was Asher, part of the monied Coltons, one of those?
Harper let out a little whine that must have been a full-blown fit for her, so Asher bent and handed her a pacifier to tide her over until he could warm her bottle.
His gaze lifted as he straightened again, but the expression he wore wasn’t the judgmental one she would have expected. If anything, he looked sad.
“If Luna’s my child, she’ll never forgive me for taking her from her mother, the only parent she’s ever known.”
Chapter 5
