And then Bree saw them.
Mason was standing near the reception desk, and he was holding a baby who did indeed look exactly like Leah.
Kade’s and her baby.
Bree knew that after just a glimpse.
The baby was crying, and Mason was trying to soothe her by rocking her. It wasn’t working, and Mason looked more than a little uncomfortable with his baby-holding duties. Bree went to him, took the little girl and pulled her into her arms.
Yes, this child was theirs. Just holding her warmed every bit of Bree’s heart.
Kade came closer, sliding his arm around both her and the baby. Leah’s twin looked up at them as if trying to figure out if she was going to start crying again. She didn’t. She just studied them.
Bree pulled back her blanket and studied her, too. Ten fingers, ten toes. There didn’t appear to be a scratch on her, thank God.
“She’s okay?” Bree asked Mason.
He nodded. “She’s got a healthy set of lungs. And she peed on me.” Mason frowned when he looked down at the wet spot on his shirt.
Bree smiled. Laughed. And then the tears came just as quickly. Her emotions were a mess right now, but the one thing she felt the most was the unconditional love. She pulled the baby closer and held on tight.
“It’ll be okay,” Kade whispered to her.
“Yes,” Bree managed to say. “These are happy tears.”
Kade smiled too. Kissed her, and then he kissed their daughter.
“The doc did a DNA test,” Mason let them know. “But I don’t think it’s necessary.”
“Neither do I,” Kade agreed. “She’s ours.”
Behind them, the doors swished open, and because of the events of the night, Bree automatically pulled her daughter into a protective stance. Kade moved, too, to position himself in front of them.
But all their posturing wasn’t necessary.
Grayson came through the doors, and he was carrying Leah in the crook of his arm. He stopped a moment, looking at the baby Bree was holding, and he smiled.
“Yeah, she’s a Ryland all right.” Grayson came closer and handed Leah to Kade.
“She’s got a healthy set of lungs,” Mason repeated in a mumble. He glanced at both babies. “Hope you don’t expect me to babysit.”
His tone was gruff, but Bree thought she saw the start of a smile. So this was what it felt like to be surrounded by family?
By love.
The l-word stopped her for a moment, and she looked up at Kade. No stop this time.
She was in love with him.
Bree wasn’t sure why it’d taken her so long to come to that conclusion. It felt as if she’d loved him forever. Just like the babies.
Of course, that didn’t mean he felt the same way about her. Yes, they had the twins, but that only meant they were parents. Not a couple in love. And it tore at her heart to realize she wanted it all, but she might not get it.
Kade might not love her.
“Why don’t I get all you back to the ranch?” Grayson suggested. He gave the other twin’s toes a jiggle. “What are you going to name her?”
“I’ve been calling her Mia,” Mason volunteered and then looked uncomfortable with the admission. “Well, I had to call her something other than kid, and it rhymes with Leah.”
Bree shrugged and looked up at Kade. He shrugged, too. “It works for me.”
It worked for Bree, too.
So, they had Leah and Mia. The girls might hate the rhyming names when they got older, but they fit.
Everything about this moment fit.
Except for the person who came through the hospital doors.
Coop.
Everyone’s attention went to him, and judging from Grayson’s and Kade’s scowls, they weren’t any happier to see the man than she was. Bree wanted to spend this time with Kade and the girls. She definitely didn’t want to go another round with her former boss.
“We were about to leave,” Bree greeted him. And she hoped he understood there was nothing he had to say that she wanted to hear. She only wanted to leave.
Coop nodded. Glanced at the babies. There was no smile, only concern on his face. “I heard what happened, and I wanted to say how sorry I am.”
There was no anger in his eyes or tone. The apology sounded heartfelt, and Bree was glad they were mending some fences, but her mind could hardly stay on the conversation.
“I came here to give you back your badge,” Coop added. “I was wrong to put that kind of pressure on you.”
“Yes, you were,” Kade agreed.
Coop reached in his pocket and held out her badge.
Bree stared it a moment and then looked at each of her daughters. Then, at Kade. She had a decision to make and was surprised that it wasn’t that hard to do.
“No, thanks,” Bree said. And there wasn’t a shred of doubt about this. “I can’t go back to that life. It wouldn’t give me much time for the girls.”
Or Kade.
Coop’s eyes widened. “You’re serious?”
“Completely,” she verified. “I want a job that’ll keep me closer to Silver Creek.”
Grayson shrugged. “I’ve got a deputy position open in the Silver Creek sheriff’s office. It’s yours if you want it. After you’ve taken some maternity leave, that is.”
Bree nodded and managed to whisper a thanks around the sudden lump in her throat. Later, she would tell him how much she appreciated that. The deputy position would keep her in law enforcement. And Silver Creek.
“But an FBI agent isn’t just your job. It’s who you are,” Coop argued.
Bree looked him straight in the eye. “Not anymore. Goodbye, Coop.”
Keeping a firm grip on the baby, Bree extended her hand for him to shake, but for a moment, she thought he might refuse. Finally, Coop accepted and shook her hand. He also hugged her.
“Have a good life, Bree.” And he turned and walked back out.
Bree expected to feel some kind of pangs of…whatever, but she didn’t. She looked up at Kade and didn’t feel pangs there, either.
She just saw the man she loved.
Mason cleared his throat. “I’ll bring the car to the door.”
Grayson gave both Kade and her a look, too. “I’ll help.”
Clearly, Kade’s brothers realized that this might become a private discussion. The we talk.
But Kade didn’t exactly launch into a discussion. He leaned in and kissed her. Not a peck. A real kiss. It lasted so long that a nurse passing by cleared her throat.
Kade broke the intimate contact with a smile on his face. “No regrets about giving up your badge?”
“Not a one.” And this was a do-or-die moment. A moment Bree couldn’t let slip away again. “The only thing I regret is not telling you that I’m in love with you.”
Kade froze in midkiss, and he eased back so they were eye to eye. Between them, both babies were wide-awake and playing footsies with each other. They both had their eyes fastened to their parents.
Then, Kade smiled. Really smiled. “Good.” He hooked his left arm around Bree’s waist and got as close to her as he could. “Because I’m in love with you, too.”
Bree’s breath vanished, and the relief she felt nearly brought her to her knees.
Kade was right there to catch her.
And kiss her.
This one melted her.
“Of course, that I-love-you comes with a marriage proposal,” Kade said.
The melting turned to heat, and Bree wished they were somewhere private so she could haul him off to bed. Well, after the babies were asleep, anyway. She wasn’t sure how they would work such things into their crazy schedule, but with this fierce attraction, they’d find a way.
Kade took Bree by her free hand. “Will you marry me, Bree?”
She didn’t even have to think of her answer. “In a heartbeat.”
Kade let out a whoop that startled both babies and had several members of the hospital staff staring at them. B
ree ignored the stares. Kissed both babies.
And then she kissed Kade.
She didn’t stop until the babies’ kicking became an issue, but Bree ended the kiss knowing there would be plenty of others in her future.
“Want to go home?” Kade asked.
Another easy answer. “Yes,” she whispered.
Going home with Kade and their daughters was exactly what Bree wanted.
* * * * *
USA TODAY bestselling author Delores Fossen’s THE LAWMEN OF SILVER CREEK RANCH miniseries continues next month with GAGE.
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Keep reading for an excerpt of Wrangled by B.J. Daniels!
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Chapter One
The knock at the door surprised Zane Chisholm. He’d just spent the warm summer day in the saddle rounding up cattle. All he wanted to do was kick off his boots and hit the hay early. The last thing he wanted was company.
But whoever was knocking didn’t sound as if they were planning to go away anytime soon. Living at the end of a dirt road, he didn’t get uninvited company—other than one of his five brothers. So that narrows it down, he thought as he went to the window and peered out through the curtains.
The car parked outside was a compact, lime-green with Montana State University plates. Definitely not one of his brothers, he thought with a grin. Chisholm men wouldn’t be caught dead driving such a “girlie” car. Especially a lime-green one.
Even more odd was the young, willowy blonde pounding on his door. She must be lost and needing directions. Or she was selling something.
His curiosity piqued, he went to answer her persistent knock. As the door swung open, he saw that her eyes were blue and set wide in a classically gorgeous face. She wore a slinky red dress that fell over her body like water. The woman was a stunner.
She smiled warmly. “Hi.”
“Hi.” He waited, wondering what she wanted, and enjoying the view in the meantime.
Her smile slipped a little as she took in his worn jeans, his even more worn cowboy boots and the dirty Western shirt with a torn sleeve and a missing button.
“I wasn’t expecting company,” he said when he saw her apparent disappointment in his attire.
“Oh?” She looked confused now. “Did I get the night wrong? You’re Zane Chisholm and this is Friday, right?”
“Right.” He frowned. “Did we have a date or something?” He knew he’d never seen this woman before. No red-blooded American male would forget a woman like this.
She reached into her sparkly shoulder bag and pulled out a folded sheet of paper. “Your last email,” she said, handing it to him.
He took the paper, unfolded it and saw his email address. It appeared he had been corresponding with this woman for the past two days.
“If you forgot—”
“No,” he said quickly. “Please, come in and let’s see if we can sort this out.”
She stepped in but looked tentative, as if not so sure about him.
“Why don’t you start with how we met,” he said as he offered her a seat.
She sat on the edge of the couch. “The Evans rural internet dating service.”
“Arlene’s matchmaking business?” he asked in surprise. Arlene Evans, who was now Arlene Monroe, had started the business a few years ago to bring rural couples together.
“We’ve been visiting by email until you…”
“Asked you out,” he finished for her.
“Are you saying someone else has been using your email?”
“It sure looks that way, since I never signed up with Arlene’s matchmaking service. But,” he added quickly when he saw how upset she was, “I wouldn’t be surprised if Arlene is behind this. It wouldn’t be the first time she took it upon herself to play matchmaker.” Either that or his brothers were behind it as a joke, though that seemed unlikely. This beautiful woman was no joke.
She looked down at her hands in her lap. “I’m so embarrassed.” She quickly rose to her feet. “I should go.”
“No, wait,” he said, unable to shake the feeling that maybe this had been fate and that he would be making the biggest mistake of his life if he let this woman walk out now.
“You know, it wouldn’t take me long to jump in the shower and change if you’re still up for a date,” he said with a grin.
She hesitated. “Really? I mean, you don’t have to—”
“I want to. But you have the advantage over me. I don’t know your name.”
She smiled shyly. “Courtney Baxter.” She held out her hand. As he shook it, Zane thought, This night could change my life.
He had no idea how true that was going to be.
ISBN: 9781459233782
Copyright © 2012 by Delores Fossen
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This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents are either the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events or locales is entirely coincidental. This edition published by arrangement with Harlequin Books S.A.
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