Page 16 of The Cowboy and the Baby

“Listen, you can turn the offer down, too. Maybe no one wants to be in charge of a house renovation with a newborn, or while recovering from childbirth or?—”

“Oh!” I blurted out, “No. Not that.”

“Sorry?”

“Lily is mine, but she’s not mine mine. She’s . . .” My throat tightened around the words. “She’s my niece, but she’s my daughter. My sister delivered her, not me.”

Cade processed that with little change of expression. “Either way, you have a newborn. I wouldn’t blame you for not wanting to take on a house, too. The newborn might be easier to deal with without this headache,” he muttered.

Piecing this place together would be no small task, but the thrill of a flexible challenge couldn’t be denied. I could live here, rent-free?

Care for Lily?

With a handsome cowboy?

I heard myself ask, “Can I think about it?”

That, at least, was sensible. Despite the hormones in my body screaming, Noelle, live with the hottie cowboy, you idiot! I needed to think this through.

“Take your time. I’m going to run to the grocery store before a cold front hits tonight. Text me whatever you want me to grab, diapers included.” He turned to go, then said over his shoulder, “Might be wise to stock up. This winter weather is hitting hard, and I can’t anticipate when we’ll get snowed in.”

7

CADE

The truck rumbled as it passed over frozen potholes, through fresh powder, and angled toward the county highway that bled into the local town. Pineville was a handful of minutes one way, and a smaller town lay another handful in the other direction. Which only increased the appeal of the Iron Creek ranch.

Close enough to civilization, but not too close.

My thoughts wrapped around the business I needed to conduct. Confirm probate at the courthouse, discuss the estate account at the bank. Technically, the ranch wasn’t mine until the paperwork was finalized, but it was on the way. Until the deed came through, Kinoshi had most of the work.

But I had a financial picture to piece together, and rather quickly. The furnace I’d been harping on Morgan to fix was just about to give out, which is why he’d relied on the wood-burning stove most of the time. Despite all my best efforts, my more responsible thoughts spun away from business and onto a most distracting topic.

Noelle.

Namely, the tear streaks down her cheeks. Lily asleep in her arms. The domestic tranquility of it killed me. I wanted to wrap my arms around both of them, promise comfort, warmth, safety. I had exactly zero right to them, but it didn’t matter. I already knew I’d do anything for Lily.

And wasn’t that weird, given I just met them? These protective instincts were a bother.

All the same, I hoped Noelle took my offer. The sincerity behind it was real enough. There wasn’t enough time for me to run the ranch at full capacity, let alone reconfigure the interior of the house. Luckily, Cody and Wyatt were handy enough with tools, and winter was slow for them. They needed to stay busy in between bouts of online homeschool work, and they needed the money.

House foreman, I thought. I need a house foreman.

The blinker clicked in bland monotony as I slid onto the highway. I had planned on inheriting the ranch, but I hadn’t planned on how I’d feel. It seemed like I might experience anything except this heavy dread and a new, looming weight of responsibility for a young woman and her baby. The adding of another stone to my backpack, a plate to already exhausting armor. Really, nothing would change. Everything I used to do was still on my list.

Except, now it was mine.

Which changed everything.

I slowed as I neared the courthouse. Too late to go back now. I owned a ranch and I needed to figure it out. The bank caught my attention as I pulled into the parking lot, grateful it was on my errands route. As ugly as this reckoning might get, I had another reckoning coming up after it.

One with my sister Cora.

A flurry of auburn hair flew at me a couple of hours later.

Laughing, I caught my sister, Cora, and gripped her to me. She held me close, flooding me with memories of her as a little girl, when I was the older brother who knew no wrong. She beamed up at me after pulling away, her hands on my arms.

“How are you?”