Charlotte backed up, a wary look on her face. “Why would they do a thing like that?”
“How should I know?” He shoved the door closed with one booted foot and switched on the overhead light by the front door with his elbow. “There’s a note.”
“I hate crying babies,” Charlotte said.
“You’d cry, too, if somebody just left you on the porch.” Sebastian leaned closer to read the slip of paper and his breath caught. This was no random drop-off. The note was specifically addressed to him. His gaze cut to the signature. Jessica. He hadn’t seen her in months, not since his birthday last year. Eleven months ago. His heart rate skyrocketed and cold sweat trickled down his spine. He peered at the little red face, but he was no judge of how old a baby was.
“What does the note say?” Charlotte asked.
Sebastian was afraid to read it. God, he’d been drunk that night. They’d all been drunker than skunks—him, Travis and Boone. But not Jessica. She’d good-naturedly driven them back to their rented cabin near the ski lodge, given them all vitamins to ward off a hangover and pushed them toward their individual beds. They’d flirted with her outrageously. He remembered pulling her down to the bed as she tucked him in, teasing her for a kiss….
“Sebastian, you’re driving me nuts! What does the blasted note say?”
With the baby still crying, he forced himself to read it.
Dear Sebastian,
I’m counting on you to be a godfather to my little Elizabeth until I can return for her. Your generosity and kindness are exactly what she needs right now. Believe me, dear friend, I wouldn’t do this if I weren’t in desperate circumstances. Please don’t contact the authorities. It’s best if no one knows where Elizabeth is.
In deepest gratitude,
Jessica
A godfather. She didn’t say he was the father, only that she wanted him to be a godfather to this little baby. Maybe this kid was older than she looked. But the fact remained that Jessica was in trouble, and she’d delivered her baby to his doorstep. That was pretty damned incriminating.
“Well?” Charlotte’s impatience was obvious.
He glanced at her. “Know anything about babies?”
She held up a hand and backed up a couple more steps. “Not a thing, sugar, except how you make one.” She tilted her head toward the wailing child. “Did you make this one?”
“I don’t know. I don’t remember.”
“Oh, yeah, that’s what they all say. Funny how amnesia strikes when a guy faces a moment like this.”
That did it. He really didn’t like Charlotte. “Well, whether I am or not, I have to make her stop crying.” He carried the infant seat over to the sofa and set it down.
“Her?”
“Her name’s Elizabeth.” He worked at the straps holding the baby in and finally got them undone. Then he paused, realizing that didn’t solve anything because he didn’t know what to do next. He should probably pick her up, but he was afraid to. She was so small, and so red in the face. He leaned toward her. “Don’t cry, Elizabeth, honey. Don’t cry, okay?”
Elizabeth didn’t seem to understand. She opened her mouth wide and cried louder. Nothing wrong with her lungs, at least.
“I’m getting dressed and skedaddling out of here.” Charlotte headed toward the bedroom. “I can’t take this.”
“Wait!” Panic rose in him. “You can’t leave me alone with her!”
Charlotte turned back to him. “Look, I’m no good with babies. Never wanted any and never learned what to do with them. I suggest you call somebody who knows what they’re doing. Or drive her in to see Doc Harrison in Huerfano.”
“I can’t—” He started to say he couldn’t tell anybody about the baby yet, until he’d figured out if he was the father. But that was ridiculous. He had to find someone to help him take care of her, and fast. “Look, you’re a woman. You must be better at this than me. At least show me how to pick her up. I’ve never held a kid this young.”
“That makes two of us, bud. You’d better call somebody. I’m getting dressed.” With that she whirled and went into the bedroom.
About the only bright spot Sebastian could see in the situation was that he hadn’t made love to Charlotte, a woman he really, really didn’t like. Otherwise, he couldn’t remember being this confused, clumsy and uncertain in his life, except maybe the time he faced the row of girls lined up on the far side of the gym at the eighth-grade social. He didn’t think he should even touch this baby without washing his hands first. He might be carrying some deadly germ.
So he patted her where the blanket covered her up, but his pats seemed to have no effect. She was getting very red in the face. He couldn’t see her eyes because they were squeezed shut. Her head was covered with some knit thing that reminded him of the cover on a golf club, and her hands, the tiniest hands he’d ever seen in his life, were clenched and waving in the air.
Charlotte reappeared, tugging on her wool coat. As she buttoned it, she gazed at him and shook her head. Finally she sighed and stomped into the kitchen.
Hope surged through him. She was going to get something, do something, work some feminine magic to make this crying stop. Her instincts had finally kicked in, providing her with the mothering abilities that all woman carried in their genes. Maybe he’d been wrong to judge her so harshly.
She reappeared and thrust the cordless phone at him. “Here. Call somebody.” Then she grabbed her purse and went out the front door, closing it firmly behind her.
Sebastian stared at the phone and finally punched in the one number he knew by heart.
FIVE YEARS AGO Matty Lang had thought of herself as a young widow. Twenty-seven wasn’t old. Friends and family had assured her she’d find a good man, have kids, continue along life’s path in a normal progression. Matty loved normal progressions, which was why she felt so much satisfaction sitting at her floor loom watching the design grow. Usually.
But not on a Friday night, when she knew damn well that Charlotte Crabtree from the bank was up at the Rocking D having dinner alone with Sebastian, while Matty, now thirty-two and no longer feeling so frigging young anymore, sat throwing a shuttle back and forth and swearing under her breath.
Sebastian would never think to invite her to dinner. Oh, no. Not good old Matty, who could ride as well as he could, and rope nearly as well. Matty sometimes wondered if he even remembered she was a woman. She, on the other hand, had never managed to forget he was a man. She’d been trying ever since the day she’d met Sebastian Daniels, the day she and Butch had moved to the Leaning L and had been welcomed by their closest neighbors Barbara and Sebastian, owners of the Rocking D.
She remembered thinking that a young bride had no business looking at another man the way she found herself looking at Sebastian. And for years she’d forced herself to ignore his considerable sex appeal—mostly. Then Butch had died, and once she’d worked through her grief, ignoring Sebastian became even tougher, especially when she could tell he and Barbara weren’t getting along. After Barbara left, Matty had allowed herself to begin daydreaming, just a little.
Fat lot of good that had done her. Two years after his divorce, Sebastian still treated her exactly the way he always had, like one of the boys. Matty threw the shuttle impatiently as a picture of Charlotte Crabtree wiggled through her mind. Charlotte would never be mistaken for one of the boys.
Oh, how Charlotte had loved bragging to anyone within hearing distance about her big date with Sebastian. Matty had been so sick of listening to Charlotte this afternoon that she’d almost left without making her deposit.
Matty knew Sebastian would serve