Page 18 of Rancher to the Rescue

“Hey, sweet girl,” she soothed as she picked her up. She located the binky, which had been spit out at some point in the past hour, and bit back a yawn. “This all must be very confusing for you, but we are going to take good care of you tonight.”

This little bean had quickly wormed her way into Prudence’s heart. As much as she couldn’t wait to reunite Angel with her parents, the moment would be bittersweet.

A laugh tickled her throat at the fact she remembered. She’d been so scared her mind would be a blank slate when she woke. Grateful for the small miracle, she couldn’t help but smile. The binky did its job, keeping Angel satisfied long enough for Adam to return with the real deal.

He handed over the bottle, but Prudence had an idea.

“How about you do the honors,” she said.

“I don’t know about that. She might not want someone else to do it,” he reasoned.

“Sit down next to me and give it a try.” She had no idea where her bravado was coming from. She wasn’t normally this straight-forward. But it was nice.

Adam did as requested. She handed him the baby, and her heart took another hit at the image. She handed over the bottle next and then pulled the binky out of Angel’s mouth. He didn’t have to score a direct hit. The little girl was already rooting for the nipple. She contentedly sucked away the second she found it.

“We’ll need to burp her, and she’ll probably need a diaper change after her meal,” she said. They were figuring her routine out.

“Looks like we got four hours in between feedings,” he noted. “That’s an intense schedule if it’s twenty-four hours a day.”

The image of Adam Firebrand giving a baby a bottle would stick with her for a very long time. At least, she hoped it would when she woke in the morning.

Prudence’s memory loss was a real head scratcher.

With Angel’s feeding schedule, Adam saw that it would be difficult to accomplish much else in a day. He tipped his hat to all the mothers and fathers out there, doing this every day, especially the ones doing this alone. Don’t even get him started on folks who had multiple children to look after. They deserved a medal as far as he was concerned.

He fed, burped, and changed the little girl with Prudence’s help. Then, he gently placed her back in the crib. Angel was back to doing what babies seemed to do best, namely sleeping in short bursts.

“The loveseat can’t possibly be comfortable,” Prudence said.

He had a crick in his neck to prove it, but he didn’t want her to feel like she was putting him out. “I’ve slept in worse places.”

“The bed is huge. You could sleep on the other side and our body parts wouldn’t get anywhere near each other,” she said with a boldness that didn’t fit the image of a woman who could blend in with the background. She’d insisted they’d passed each other, and he believed her. His main thought now was, How could he have missed her?

“It’s no trouble,” he countered, figuring he didn’t need to go there. Even a dirty jogging suit couldn’t hide those long legs of hers—legs with creamy skin that his fingers were itching to get lost on. The naked image of her in the shower had been difficult to wipe from his thoughts.

“We can roll up a blanket and put it in the middle,” she volunteered. “Or how about these pillows? They’re long enough to block any physical contact.”

She was tempting fire and didn’t seem to realize it.

The loveseat was uncomfortable, and he would be lucky if Angel gave them another four hours. Plus, Prudence seemed intent on not inconveniencing him.

“I promise not to touch you,” she added.

“Shame,” he said under his breath as he walked over to his side of the bed.

“Sorry, I didn’t catch that,” she said.

“It was nothing.” He got comfortable and closed his eyes. She seemed content to let it go. Not much got past her. She had a sharp mind, which confused him even more about her memory episode. With no visible head injury to blame, he was drawing a blank on what could be causing it. For a split-second, the thought crossed his mind she could be sick or have some type of brain tumor. He tried not to put too much stock in it. Depending on what happened when she woke in the morning, he would insist she get checked out by a doctor.

First, they needed to find Angel’s parents.

Real sleep was impossible, but he drifted around for a while in his thoughts. A growing part of him hoped Prudence woke with all her memories intact, especially yesterday. He’d talked to her more openly about his family than anyone else, including Libby. He chalked it up to the Marshall’s death. Adam was being sentimental for once. He supposed loss had a way of doing that to a person. The real surprise came with the fact he wanted to tell her more. She needed sleep, though. He’d seen the dark circles cradling those incredible blue eyes. He didn’t want to be the reason she walked around in a fog tomorrow.

In fact, if he could manage, he would wake and feed the baby before Angel had time to wind up. Prudence would be able to get a solid, much-needed eight hours in.

Adam kept one eye on the clock as he listened to Prudence’s steady, even breathing. Her sleep was peaceful, making him drop ‘trauma’ to the bottom of possibilities for memory loss. There was no way to rule it out completely, but instinct said she would work it out in her dreams, unless she’d suppressed it so far that resurfacing would take weeks, maybe months. Wouldn’t there be some sign of struggle if that were the case?

The baby shifted and he slipped out of the covers with stealth-like movement. Without making a sound, he scooped the little girl up. Pride filled his chest for being able to handle her so easily already. The first time she was in his arms, he was afraid he would hurt her. Being wrapped up like a burrito helped. Her arms and legs were tucked in there tight. He grabbed the binky, which seemed to satisfy her for the time being.