Someone's Baby

by Dani Sinclair

  Maybe he'd unload everything and spend the night here. The idea had definite appeal. He must have had some subconscious thoughts along this line because he'd thrown his gear into the truck before he headed into town.

  Cade pulled around in a semicircle in front of the shack to facilitate unloading. He turned off the engine, swung down from the cab, and settled his hat back on his head, low over his eyes. He tossed the mutilated toothpick into a thicket of brush and started to undo the tarp. A small mewing sound of distress made him pause. A kitten? What would a kitten be doing way out here? He looked around, hoping he hadn't hit some animal when he pulled in.

  Nothing moved anywhere nearby. Cade cocked his head, listening closely. The sound seemed to be coming from inside the bed of his truck.

  He hurriedly unlashed the tarp and started pulling it back. Blood stained the nearest sack. Some poor little critter had obviously hurt itself and climbed in the back of his truck to nurse its wounds. And from the trail of bloodstains, the wound was probably going to prove fatal on a small animal. With a new sense of urgency, he yanked back the tarp, snagging it on something. Cade barely noticed.

  There was no kitten in the back of his truck. Instead, shock held him still when he revealed a woman's dainty foot, half in and half out of a small, badly scuffed loafer. A length of shapely leg was also revealed due to a rucked-up pant leg. Several nasty scratches ran along that leg, but nothing serious enough to account for the blood on the feed sacks. He ignored the pounding of his heart, unhooked the snagged tarp and stripped it all the way back.

  The body and the face that went with the leg were definitely worth a second look. But from the blood that had soaked one side of her sheer blouse, the woman could be dead already.

  For a moment, cold panic swept him. Clutched protectively against her chest was a tiny infant, its red face screwed up in distress. Its tragic cries sounded a bit like a kitten in distress.

  He reached over the woman to lift the infant. Cade had never in his life held a live human baby this small, though he'd helped bring plenty of animals into the world. This little guy couldn't be more than a couple of days old at most, he guessed. He checked it over quickly, looking for the source of the blood. There was no outward sign of injury and based on the amount of blood, there would have been. The blood must have come from the mother.

  Cade swore under his breath. The woman never moved.

  Instantly, his mind pictured the jerk outside the feed store. The man had said he was worried about his wife. Cradling the crying infant in one arm, he studied the woman. More of a girl, really, with a long spill of blond hair that partly covered her face. She didn't move. With a sense of fatality, he reached out to feel for a pulse.

  She had one! A fairly steady one at that. She was still very much alive.

  One hand holding the baby, he gently, carefully, rolled the woman on her back to look for the source of the blood. Under her blouse something bulky lay against her shoulder. He worked the top two buttons of her blouse free and pulled out one of the baby's disposable diapers.

  "I'm afraid she may do something foolish and hurt herself," the man had said. But Cade knew a bullet wound when he saw one. The bullet had chewed a path right across the top of her shoulder, tearing away the material of her blouse.

  He couldn't think of a single person who'd ever tried to commit suicide by shooting himself there. He examined the ugly raw wound. Unless he missed his guess, she'd been shot from the back, not the front. Even if he was mistaken, an accidental shooting victim wouldn't climb in the back of a stranger's truck to hide. The bastard had shot her!

  Cade growled, torn by conflicting emotions. On the one hand, he could understand all too well the anger a woman could raise in a man. On the other, there was no valid excuse for violence against a woman. Especially one who had to be half the bastard's size—and age, judging by appearances. How could the bastard shoot her when there was an innocent little baby involved?

  Cade muttered a curse. The last thing he wanted was to become embroiled in someone's domestic problems. The woman had left him no choice. He'd become involved the moment she'd climbed into the back of his pickup truck and sought refuge.

  He'd lose hours turning the truck around and taking her back to Darwin Crossing. Besides, it was a trip she might or might not survive, given her condition. When he thought of the jolting ride she must have endured back here under the hot tarp, he winced. No wonder she was unconscious.

  The blood had stopped flowing, but she definitely needed medical attention. Only, the nearest doctor was almost an hour away. No doubt her jerk husband had discovered the doctor's location as well. He'd probably be there waiting for her to show up.

  The baby began to wail in earnest. A movement in the truck drew his gaze back to the woman. Even unconscious, she reached blindly for her child. Something inside Cade loosened at that sign of protective love. .A small bottle lay beside her. She'd obviously been trying to feed the tyke before she passed out. He frowned over the fact that she wasn't nursing, but maybe she couldn't. It probably wasn't safe for her to do so with that bastard coming after her.

  He reached for the bottle and stuck the nipple in the little guy's mouth. Greedily, the baby began to suckle. Dark-blue eyes opened and gazed up at him with such trust that Cade knew he was lost. A child needed its mother. He knew that better than most.

  And in this case, the mother needed a protector. Looking at the tiny infant he knew he'd just been elected. There was no way he was driving them back into harm's way until he knew what the situation really was.

  Since she was breathing okay on her own, and not bleeding anymore, he decided to deal with the infant first. The crying had been more than he could stand. He wanted to make absolutely sure the baby wasn't hurt.

  His medical skills were limited, but any good rancher knew enough first aid to deal with emergencies. What Cade didn't know was what to do with a human infant. Give him a cow or a horse or even some poor kitten— no problem. But God help him, he'd never even contemplated changing a diaper before. Yet the kid was soaked. It couldn't be good for the little guy. Holding the baby and bottle awkwardly in one hand, he reached for a large, soft bag that had become jammed between the cab of the truck and some sort of baby carrier.

  The yellow-and-green bag hadn't been there when he first began loading the truck so he guessed it was hers. There were blood smears on it, as well. No doubt he'd heed both the contents of the bag and the carrier that doubled as a seat.

  The dark, dusty interior of the unpainted building was less than welcoming. Cade frowned. It was a line shack, for crying out loud. There was one window and one door. This was a place where a couple of men could throw down their gear and sack out on the bunk beds, protected from inclement weather. He took mental inventory. It housed a cookstove, a few dishes, some implements, the bunk beds, a wobbly table and four chairs. There was a lean-to out back with a couple of stalls for horses and some oil lanterns for light. And thankfully, a pump to provide water. Beyond that, there were no amenities.

  Well, it was what it was. The shack would do until he could determine how badly she was hurt.

  Awkwardly, he set down the carrier and placed the baby inside. The minute he removed the nipple, the infant screwed up its face and began to wail.

  "Okay, look. Just hold on for a minute. I've got to see to your mother. You can finish eating in a second."

  The baby was in no mood to be placated by mere words. He was hungry and he was letting Cade know it. He howled at the top of his tiny lungs.

  "Certainly can't be anything seriously wrong with you if you can scream like that." Cade wasted a few minutes grabbing his kit from the front seat of the truck and spreading his sleeping bag over the lumpy mattress. Then he returned to the truck for the woman.

  She moaned softly when he lifted her, but those sweepingly thick dark eyelashes only fluttered against her pale cheeks without raising. She was incredibly slender. Why, she didn't weigh much at all.

  Lon
g, pale hair spilled like ribbons of satin against his toughened skin. He tried to pretend that he didn't notice how good she smelled or how pretty she was. Her graceful neck draped limply over his arm. Like her kid, she was a tiny bit of a thing. Small boned, delicately shaped, she had an upturned little nose and soft, nicely shaped lips.

  And a bullet hole in her shoulder.

  Cade toughened his heart and his thoughts. He carried her inside and laid her down on his open sleeping bag. She was pretty, but young. Much too young for an old man like him. In fact, too young for the jerk claiming to be her husband. No wedding ring, either, he noticed. In fact, no rings at all.

  Since carrying her inside hadn't started the bleeding up again nor roused her, Cade turned his attention back to the screaming infant. He was afraid the little guy would hurt himself crying that hard.

  The baby quieted instantly as soon as the nipple returned to his mouth. Cade let him drink for several minutes before pulling the bottle back. He had to get the supplies inside before it got dark. Junior was not happy.

  "Okay, fella, hold your horses. I'll be right back."

  He off-loaded the food supplies first. Then he dug out the first-aid kit and a couple of jugs of fresh water, removed the spare blankets and added the two new shirts he'd bought himself today. The young woman would need something to put on once he cut off her fancy shirt, and these were all he had to offer beyond the change of clothing in his bedroll.

  The baby had really worked himself into a state by the time Cade hauled all the stuff inside. He dropped his hat on a chair and turned back to the infant.

  "Shh. Hush. It's okay. The feed bags can wait. I'll get them later." He withdrew another bottle from the contents of the bag and stuck the nipple back in the baby's mouth with one hand and tried to unwrap the kid with the other hand.

  "We've got to get you out of this wet stuff. You stink worse than the outhouse, kid. You'll get a rash or something sitting around in it like this."

  What the heck was he doing playing nanny to some baby? He didn't know anything about kids. Especially one as small as this. He'd probably hurt him with his big clumsy hands. Look how tiny his fingers were! How could something this small make so much noise?

  "You're awfully loud, you know that, tiger?" The baby ignored his commentary to suck down the formula.

  "Man, you were thirsty. Guess I shouldn't be surprised. It must have been hot as Hades under that tarp. But you're going to get a stomachache drinking like that."

  In the end, he waited for the baby to finish the bottle. The kid instantly began to whimper again wanting more.

  "Hang on. I'll see what I can do as soon as I get you changed, okay?"

  Obviously it was not okay based on the noise and the way the baby began to flail his arms and legs. Cade stripped away the wet garments. A gauze pad covered his stomach. For a second, his heart stopped. Had the infant been hurt as well? He peeled back the pad carefully and discovered the stump of the umbilical cord.

  Cade swore. "Sorry, kid. But that looks nasty." There was dried blood around the withering navel. Was it supposed to look like that? Should he be doing something for it?

  "Why couldn't you have been a kitten?"

  "First, he'd better get the wet diaper off. Paying close attention to the way the diaper fastened, he removed it.

  "You're a she!"

  Why that surprised him, he couldn't have said, but the infant quieted at his exclamation. She stared up at him with wide, trusting eyes.

  "Oh, yeah, you're definitely a female. Don't be batting those baby blues at me, kid. You're like every other woman I've ever met, you don't like being wet or dirty, do you? Must be something you're all born with. Now hold still while I give this diapering business a try. How the heck is this supposed to work? You're a lot smaller than these diapers, kid… No… Hold still. Don't kick your legs like that… Will you hold still?"

  It was like trying to pin a wet octopus. Her arms and legs thrashed and she began crying again, probably wanting more milk. Eventually he got her wiped off and the dry diaper in place—after a fashion.

  "It ain't pretty, kid, but it should do the job."

  He found rubbing alcohol in his kit and dabbed a little on the cord where it had been bleeding. The baby objected.

  "Sorry, little girl, but you'll get an infection or something." He covered the area with some antibacterial cream and a small bit of gauze.

  After digging through the bag, he came up with a second outfit and finally won the battle of getting her into it. Then he reached for another bottle of formula.

  "Mouthy little thing, aren't you? You want what you want when you want it." But he found an unaccustomed smile' curving his lips as he watched her drink. She was beautiful. Her eyes stared complacently up at him, then closed peacefully as he rocked her gently in his arms.

  "You're going to grow up to be a heartbreaker, you know that? You'll lead some dumb male on a merry chase, won't you, little one?"

  Running the back of a knuckle over her soft skin, he marveled at her tiny countenance. There was something almost soothing holding her like this. Wisps of light colored hair and a small pointy chin were her only real distinguishable features. He glanced over at the mother to see if her chin was pointy, too, and found himself being observed by a pair of light-blue eyes.

  "So, you're awake. How do you feel?" Unnerved to be caught off guard that way, the words came out sharper than he'd intended.

  The woman's mouth parted dryly. The tip of her tongue licked at her chapped lips and he realized the baby wasn't the only one who was thirsty. She tried to sit up and her face contorted in obvious pain. "Is…the baby okay?"

  "Your daughter is fine. She was just wet and hungry. I'll get you some water and have a look at your shoulder in a minute. She's already polished off a bottle and a half and she's nearly asleep."

  The cabin was growing dark. He needed to get the rest of the supplies inside and arrange some light so he could see before it grew too dark. A fire wouldn't be amiss, either. He'd need to make dinner and he desperately wanted a cup of coffee.

  The baby's frantic sucking had slowed right along with its breathing. He took a chance and set the infant back in her carrier. With a contented sigh, she seemed to settle back, peacefully asleep. Cade reached for a lantern and used a few seconds to fire up the wick.

  "Let me get a fire started and put some water on to boil, okay?"

  The woman's eyes had closed again. She didn't answer. He walked over and laid a hand on her forehead. A little warm. Was she running a fever? He hoped not. His first-aid kit wasn't as up-to-date as it should have been. She lifted her eyelids with obvious effort to peer up at him.

  "Here. Let's try a little water." He found a cup, wiped it out with the inside of his clean handkerchief and offered her water from one of the jugs he'd brought inside. Like her daughter, she drank thirstily as he held her silky head. Damn, but she had nice hair, even if some of it was matted with dried blood. Her eyes closed and he laid her back down.

  "Stay with me, okay?"

  "'Kay," she whispered, but she didn't open her eyes again.

  Cade frowned. This wasn't a good sign. How much blood had she lost? The wound might become infected. Bringing her inside had been a really bad idea. He should have taken her straight back to town or over to the doc's place.

  "Listen. Can you hear me?"

  "Yes," she replied without opening her eyes.

  "I'm going outside to the truck. I'm going to radio Hap to send us some help. It's going to take awhile, but I'll get you to a doctor as quick as I can, okay? Miss? Hey. Can you hear me?"

  He touched her cheek lightly, but she didn't move. Her chest rose and fell in steady rhythm. She'd fallen asleep.

  Or into a coma.

  That thought scared him with gut-clenching intensity. As he squatted beside her, the sound of his truck engine coming to life was like an unexpected thunderclap. Cade leaped to his feet. In three short strides he was at the door.

  "Hey!
Hey hold it! Come back here!"

  Someone was stealing his truck!

  Cade raced after the vehicle as it barreled away down the rutted path that served as a road. He shouted to no avail. The bastard had no intention of stopping. While Cade hadn't gotten a clear look at the driver, he didn't need to. It had to be his brother-in-law, Luis.

  But how had the kid known where he was? How had anyone known where he was?

  An icy finger of fear raised the hair on the back of his head.

  What if he was wrong? What if that hadn't been Luis?

  In the deepening twilight, Cade controlled a moment of panic. He forced himself to think. The line shack was a long way from the road. Hell, it was a long way from anything. How had Luis gotten here?

  Cade surveyed the landscape surrounding the shack. There was no sign of another vehicle or a horse but the kid couldn't have walked in. A drifter? There was a draw out behind the cabin to the east a ways, and of course the hills behind the shack. It was possible that a drifter had been camping nearby and seized the moment.

  It was also possible that the drifter hadn't been alone.

  That thought stopped him cold. The isolation of the line shack was complete. Without that truck he had no means of communication or escape. Cade cursed his stupidity and the bastard who had driven off. His options; had just vanished, leaving him stranded with a badly wounded woman and an infant.

  Another chilling possibility worked its way forward. What if the woman's husband had followed him here? A remote chance, but barely possible. He hadn't really paid any attention to others on the road once he left town.

  If it had been the husband, the bastard would have had to leave that little silver car of his out near the road. That meant he walked in, which meant his car wasn't far away.

  If it had been the husband.

  Cade couldn't leave the woman and the baby alone to check out that theory or any of the others. This was a perfect place for an ambush. Once he was out of sight all the bastard had to do was ditch the truck and circle back to the clearing.