Page 138 of Protected By Duval
NOELLE
When she reached the table, she found West handing over their daughter to Tracy.
It hadn't taken long for her to realize that the leader of the S.W.A.T. team was a big ol' softy when it came to his wife and daughter.
Tracy saw her coming and gave the bench seat beside her a gentle pat.
Noelle sat down beside her new friend to watch the show unfolding at the toddler play area.
"Look at these nutcases."
Noelle saw Tracy's ear-to-ear smile. "It's pretty strange to see them playing like this."
Tracy shook her head. "You've seen them act like toddlers before," she sighed, "but this time they're not in uniform."
Noelle covered her mouth and tried to smother her smile.
"Don't bother hiding it," Tracy lifted her chin toward the play area and they saw McCrae running slowly across one of the open areas with Ciela tucked under his arm as Dally chased them, his hands held up like claws. "They're all business when they need to be, but when they can, they're just big kids."
Noelle leaned an elbow on the table and laid her chin down on the back of that hand. "I can't believe how easily McCrae fit into our lives."
Tracy nodded and reached for the buttons on the front of her blouse as the baby let out a soft, hungry cry. "I fought falling in love with West quite a bit."
Noelle frowned at her words. "You? What happened?"
With the practiced ease of a mother accustomed to hands on care of her baby, Tracy parted the front of her blouse and the baby latched onto her breast.
"My father wasn't just an absentee dad, my mom and I had nothing to do with him for years. He wasn't just married to his job," she explained, "he was obsessed with it. When I met West, I was dead set against dating a man who worked in law enforcement. Even more for a Texas Ranger."
"Ah," Noelle lifted her chin, wondering, "your dad is a Ranger?"
The realization hit Noelle like she'd just run into a clear glass patio door. "Chief Fagan, right?"
Tracy nodded. "Yes."
Noelle nodded. "Your underlying bone structure is similar."
Tracy smiled as she rocked her baby. "Can't deny the DNA..."
"But it looks like West got around those barriers."
"You know it." Tracy grinned. "The more I got to know him, the more I realized that Weston was different than my dad. He was different from a lot of men out there. He's the best man I've ever known... He's the man I can count on, no matter what."
"I think I know how you feel," Noelle's smile softened as watched Duval collapse into the grass with Ciela laughing in his arms.
As Dally loomed over them to 'catch the princess,' Duval wrapped his arms around her and put his much larger form between their daughter and the dragon... or whatever Dally was pretending to be.
She had no doubts that McCrae would do that to protect Ciela without fail.
He'd done the same for her when she had been held hostage by Tony Coolidge.
It was instinct, pure and simple.
McCrae might look stoic when he was at work.
Some even called him gruff or cold, but she knew the man under the carved physique and hard stare. She'd seen him read bedtime stories. She'd seen him clean and bandage a cut with tender care.
And when Ciela was at her most boisterous, demanding to play and climb all over him, he'd born the noise and activity with a warm smile and almost seemed to enjoy the play as much as Ciela did.
