Reunited by the Badge

by Deborah Fletcher Mello

  With a nod, Fox climbed into the driver’s seat and headed for home, with a baby. How on earth had this happened? Though his first run at fatherhood was definitely temporary, he found it utterly terrifying.

  * * *

  With sunset painting the horizon in vivid golds and deep indigo, Kelsey Lauder paused at the end of the gravel drive that led to the big red barn. Finally, she’d reached the offices of Foxworth Colton. Two hours late, but she was here.

  Being late embarrassed her—so unprofessional—but showing up with her cheeks on fire would make it worse. Everyone who’d learned to drive understood car trouble was never convenient. She’d done all she could to keep Mr. Colton informed with a call to his office that went straight to voice mail and sending a quick email reiterating that she would arrive as soon as possible.

  Leaving her car on the side of the road, hazard lights flashing, she’d taken only her purse, eager to move quickly, still hopeful she might be close to on time for her interview. A rideshare service wasn’t an option and although she’d caught a ride with a trucker heading into Roaring Springs with a load of produce, she’d had to hike the last couple of miles to the ranch.

  Having made a practice of looking for life’s silver linings, she found the first hopeful glimmer in that sunset and the second in the long hike that led farther away from the town and main roads. She appreciated distance and privacy, having had so little of it in labs and dorms.

  Her extended, up-close look at the southern acreage of the Crooked C ranch was even better than she’d expected. Kelsey had done her research online and been thoroughly impressed by the articles and professional pictures, but in person, the property was far more than photogenic spin. She soaked up layer after layer of beautiful views, gorgeous horses, fenced pastures, well-kept barns and buildings and wide-open fields framed by the rugged mountains.

  For years she’d been on a quest to achieve her top personal goals of peace and safety. Those warm feelings enveloped her almost from her first step onto the property, as if the ranch itself was gladly accepting her, buffering her from anything untoward. Small fantasies like that buoyed her spirit from one endeavor to the next as she searched for the place where she could sink deep roots.

  Would it be here in Roaring Springs breeding quarter horses at the renowned Crooked C? She was about to knock on her idol’s door and find out.

  Her nerves jumping, Kelsey pressed her hand to her belly. She paused under the shade of a big tree and pulled out her hair tie. She brushed out her long strawberry-blond hair until the strands were tangle-free again, then she wound it back into a bun to keep it out of her face. She might be late, but she would nail this interview.

  Since graduating from college and defending her master’s thesis in equine genetics, she’d been bumping along from one internship or short-term study to the next. Not a bad system and it had given her time to figure out which facets of her degrees she wanted to put to use. She enjoyed lab work, but missed the hands-on, day-to-day interaction with the horses. It had been years since she’d been present for foaling. With a little luck and some quick talking, she’d be assisting Mr. Colton with that very thing come springtime.

  As ready as ever, she marched toward the big barn and up onto the porch, under the sign with the Crooked C Quarter Horses logo. Drawing in a deep breath, she rang the doorbell. Waited several long moments. There was no answer. He could be out, working directly with his mares or just tending to the needs of a forty-acre ranch. Horses didn’t keep the same cushy hours as those of the labs she’d been working in.

  She knocked, determined to reschedule if he didn’t have time to speak with her this evening. In all of the pictures and interviews she’d read, Fox struck her as a decent, kind man. She’d studied recordings of talks he’d given at various program events. The man came across as focused and purposeful, smart as a whip and humble about it. Genuine. If he couldn’t speak with her tonight, surely he could recommend a towing service and repair shop. And maybe, in the way of many communities, the repair shop would point her toward an affordable motel.

  Roaring Springs was known for excellent skiing, a summer film festival, the resort atmosphere and the spa that catered to A-list celebrities. Kelsey didn’t have that kind of money to toss around. Not even for one night.

  She rang the doorbell one last time, her mind spinning with new plans and possibilities. If Mr. Colton didn’t answer, she’d write a note and tuck it into the door and head down to the nearest barn. Was it better to go in search of someone who could help her or sit here like a lost puppy awaiting his return?

  Suddenly, her spiraling thoughts were interrupted by the unmistakable sound of a baby crying. Oh, no. Had all her ringing and knocking woken up the child? One of the first life rules she’d learned was never to wake a sleeping baby.

  Way to make a good first impression.

  The sounds of wailing increased, as if someone was slowly turning up the volume on a baby monitor. Then the door swung opened and a frazzled cowboy with glazed blue eyes and a miserable baby in his arms stared blankly at her.

  Mr. Foxworth Colton. He was taller than she’d anticipated, making her feel shorter than ever. His brown hair, highlighted by hours out in the sun, fell into his eyes and his chambray shirt, half-untucked, was wrinkled and damp in places from the baby’s tears or worse. Either he’d grown a beard since the last photo she’d seen or he hadn’t shaved in several days. Nothing in his bio had mentioned a wife or children. He had several siblings, though he didn’t look anything like a content uncle at the moment.

  When her gaze collided with his, she thought the man might burst into tears, too. The baby, a little boy she assumed based on the red airplanes on his sleeper, stared at her with big blue eyes in a wet red face. He hiccupped, then dropped his head to the cowboy’s shoulder and resumed his protest. Sympathy welled up within her for both of them.

  “Mr. Colton?” She pitched her voice just loud enough to be heard over the squalling.

  “Yes.”

  “I don’t mean to interrupt. I’m Kelsey Lauder. We had an interview—”

  He closed his eyes. His lips moved, in prayer or curse, she couldn’t know. Shifting the baby to his left arm, he offered her his right hand, but the baby’s displeasure continued. “I forgot all about it.” He winced as the baby arched and screeched louder still.

  “I’d invite you in, but the smart move is to come back another day. Can you email me with a few options?”

  Technically, yes. “Um...is your wife out?” she asked instead. The idea of hiking back to her car in the dark held zero appeal.

  “Not married. This is...” His voice trailed off as he gently rocked the baby in his arm in a fruitless attempt to settle him. “Well, there isn’t an easy explanation.”

  She’d come prepared to prove herself an asset to his horse breeding program. How to offer help with the baby without overstepping or offending? “I’ve had some experience with kids.” His dark eyebrows lifted. Skepticism or hope? “Lots of younger siblings,” she explained.

  “There were a couple of stints as a nanny on your résumé,” he recalled.

  “You’re right.” Babysitting and child care were the jobs she’d been most qualified for during her high school and college years. She moved back and invited him onto the porch. “It’s cooler out here,” she said.

  “Aren’t babies supposed to be kept warm?” he asked, stepping out.

  The squirming baby had lost a sock and if the blanket was meant to do anything, it was too twisted and bunched between them to be effective. “I think a few minutes in the cooler air might be more help to both of you,” she told him. “May I, Mr. Colton?” she asked, reaching for the baby.

  “Call me Fox,” he said, handing her the little boy.

  Kelsey crooned to the child as she cradled him in the crook of her elbow. She blotted the tears from his chubby cheeks and let him suck on her
knuckle when he turned his head. “Aww. Are you hungry, little man?”

  The baby’s cries eased, subsiding to a snuffle and smaller whimpers.

  Fox’s eyes were wide. “How’d you do that?”

  “Practice.” She laughed as he chomped on her finger. “He might be teething, too. What’s his name?”

  “He doesn’t have one.” Fox pushed a hand through his hair, the other holding tightly to the baby’s blanket. He really did need someone to shape up that thick mass of hair. Was he growing the beard for winter, or too distracted to shave? “Well, he probably does, but whoever left him with me didn’t share it.”

  She had no idea what he was talking about and she’d learned it was easier to keep a babysitting job when she didn’t ask probing personal questions. “Do you have formula or any supplies?” She could tell by touch that a diaper change was in order once the baby cooled off a little.

  “Yes, there was formula in the bag.” He turned toward the open door. “It’s upstairs.”

  “Do you think we might talk about the consulting position while he eats?”

  “You’d do that?” The relief in his voice nearly made her laugh.

  “You’re not the first father I’ve rescued.”

  “I’m not the father at all,” he said sharply.

  Great, she’d offended him. “Pardon me, I—”

  “No, no. I was out of line.” He opened the front door and held it for her. “My brother’s wife had a baby yesterday, no, the day before.” He scratched his jawline. “I was up late with them. Then a full day of managing both his property and mine ended with finding this little guy on my doorstep. I’d like to say it’s a long story, but it isn’t. I was headed for bed and found him down here. I don’t know why anyone would leave him with me. I’m... I, um, I haven’t—”

  “You don’t need to explain anything.” She didn’t want the gory details about his love life, or to hear why someone thought he should suddenly be on dad duty.

  The baby had already dented the mystique of Fox Colton that she’d built up in her head. She’d turned him into the superhero of equine genetics and breeding. His reputation and success had been a big factor in how she’d planned her academic focus and mapped out her career.

  She paused just inside the door in what appeared to be a cross between a lobby and a foyer. The floor was stained cement and a coat rack and bench to her left offered room to stow barn boots and coats. Just beyond the bench, a wide glass door was etched with the company logo at the center, artistically flanked by horses in various stages of a gallop. A stairwell bumped against the right wall to a landing before continuing up the longer back wall of the barn to loft that overlooked the foyer. There was another door up there.

  “Everything he arrived with is upstairs in the house,” Fox said, starting up the stairs. “This way.”

  “You live here, too?” She followed him upstairs, the baby still mouthing her knuckle. The reprieve wouldn’t last much longer.

  “It was the perfect place for the office,” he said. “Easy access to the barns. I didn’t want to build something new when everything I needed was right here. Just a little reconfiguring, some patience and more elbow grease.” He looked around as if seeing it for the first time. “The house isn’t huge, but I can’t beat the commute.”

  “I guess not.”

  With the baby quieting down, she counted it a plus to make it into the house. Hurdle one, clear. She noted the gleam on the hardwood floors, a built-in shoe bench with cubbies above and below and hooks on one side. Had he built that himself?

  “Do you want me to take off my shoes?” They were dusty from her long hike across his property.

  He glanced down, frowned a little and shook his head. Was he that reluctant to hold the baby again?

  As she followed him out of the foyer, she noticed the wall that stretched the width of the barn was actually lined with upper and lower cabinets and a narrow countertop in warm, golden granite. She barely had time to appreciate the use of space as his home simply opened up in front of her.

  A full kitchen with more of that wonderful granite took up one wall, separated from the rest of the open living space by an island that could seat four people comfortably. She saw a dining table that might be an antique, or designed to look that way, and a seating area situated around a fireplace and a big-screen television.

  The decor was streamlined and masculine without being stark. Homey, she thought as scents of leather and coffee drifted through the air. “Hungry, you said?”

  On the kitchen counter near the sink, she saw a diaper bag, two bottles and a can of formula. Kelsey talked him through making a bottle while she changed the baby into a fresh diaper and clean clothes. To her, the infant didn’t look much like Fox, so it was easy enough to believe his claim that the child wasn’t his.

  His personal life wasn’t any of her business. All she wanted was the chance to work with him through the coming season, preferably longer.

  “You have a beautiful home,” she said, giving the baby his bottle. His eagerness made her smile.

  “You’re a miracle worker,” Fox said with relief.

  “It’s only experience,” she replied.

  “Would that be easier if you sat down? Please, make yourself comfortable.”

  She chose one of the chairs near the fireplace and focused on the baby rather than the man. Something in the way he moved made her belly quiver with nerves that had nothing to do with the interview. She understood his approach and agreed with his philosophy of breeding sound and healthy animals, rather than for just speed. He didn’t know her yet, so he couldn’t know just how compatible they were professionally. It was the rest of him that caught her off guard. The tall stature, that weary gaze, those big, strong hands that stirred up a desire she’d let go dormant. She had to get control of herself before all of that longing flared to life in bright color on her face. The curse of her fair, freckled complexion.

  “You said you had younger siblings?” he asked.

  She pounced on the distraction. “Yes. I’m from a big family.” She hoped this might be the start of an interview, as long as he didn’t try to hire her as a nanny. “Caring for our younger siblings was expected.”

  “Did you resent it?” He sat down on a counter stool.

  “Only once in a while,” she replied. Before she’d discovered there was more to life, she’d been quite content to obey and cooperate and generally toe the family line.

  He chuckled. “I understand. I was one of seven.”

  He must have come along too late in the birth order to learn much about infants. “Well, your unexpected guest here is growing fast. And possibly cutting his first tooth.”

  He groaned. “My little sister’s baby is two years old now. She had a rough time when her teeth came in.”

  “Teething becomes a struggle for everyone,” Kelsey agreed. Fortunately a couple of her last nanny posts were for preschoolers, so teething wasn’t an issue. “If there was a nanny union, trust me, we’d negotiate for hazard pay.”

  “If it means avoiding more agonizing hours like this last one, I’d meet all of your demands.” He sat forward. “Why did you miss the interview we had scheduled?”

  She started to mention the email and voice mail she’d sent and stopped. Criticizing the boss wasn’t the best way to get acquainted. “Car trouble. My apologies.” The baby kicked and gurgled and she pulled the bottle out of his reach while he amused himself with the tassel on her jacket zipper.

  “Shouldn’t he finish?” Fox asked.

  “He will,” she assured him. Within a minute, the baby was reaching for the bottle again.

  Fox cleared his throat. “I reviewed your résumé a few days ago. I know you’re not here for a nanny position, but you can see I’m in a bind. Kids aren’t...” He stopped cleared his throat. “I could use the help while I track down hi
s real family. I’m not sure why he was left at my door, but I can’t manage him alone.”

  So he was more afraid of the baby than of her. More likely he was afraid of what he didn’t know about the baby. He wouldn’t be the first dad she’d worked for who felt overwhelmed by the task.

  “I made the trek out here to work with you, specifically on the genetics and bloodstock advising.”

  “And I’m looking forward to having you on board, in the lab and the barn,” he replied.

  Another surprise. She had arguments ready to convince him about what she could bring to his business. After missing the interview, she’d worried that wouldn’t be enough. He needed an assistant and she needed a mental and professional challenge. The big sky and wide-open spaces where no one from her past could interfere with her plans and dreams were the perfect bonus. She lifted the baby to her shoulder and patted his back until he belched. They both laughed and the baby grinned. He was beyond cute when he wasn’t screaming. Then again, most babies were. Fox’s deep chuckle put a sparkle in his eye. It was improbable to think he loved the baby, but she could see he already cared.

  “Your credentials in your field are remarkable, Miss Lauder.”

  “Call me Kelsey,” she said as the baby took the bottle again.

  “Kelsey, the job you came for is yours, whether or not you help with the baby. While he’s only here temporarily, he will be around the house and the office. Foster care is a last resort.”

  Heat flooding her cheeks, she kept her head down, reeling from the way he said her name. This rush of awareness dancing through her system had never been so acute. She had a job—the job that could make her career—and she couldn’t quite process the accomplishment because of her attraction to her new boss. Who was now off-limits.

  “Baby John is only temporary,” he repeated. “I’ll find someone else if you’d rather not take on the nanny role.”

  “You said you didn’t know his name,” she said.

  Fox’s gaze rested on the infant, who was almost dozing now. “Baby John Doe.” He shrugged. “Just until we find his parents.”