Marie Ferrarella - The Rancher And The Baby

“I kind of see myself more like a guardian angel than a fairy godmother,” he deadpanned. “They’ve got bigger wings.” He added that with a sly wink that made her desperately want to punch him if only her arms weren’t full.

Cassidy bit her bottom lip to keep from saying something caustic. The next moment, as she seated herself directly behind the driver’s seat, she felt Laredo reaching over her.

So much for silence, she thought, giving up. “Okay, what the hell do you think you’re trying to do?” Cassidy demanded.

“I think I’m trying to get this seat belt around you and the baby. We’re liable to hit a skid in this weather, and I don’t want the two of you suddenly flying out the window—or worse,” he added with deliberate emphasis.

“Since when did you become so damn thoughtful?” Cassidy asked coldly.

Her eyes widened. Was it her imagination, or had Laredo’s hand just slid over her lap as he stepped back after fastening the seat belt?

“I’ve always been thoughtful, Cassidy. You’ve just been too mean-tempered to notice,” he answered mildly.

Before she had a chance to snap at him, Will shut her door and went over to get into the front seat.

“I am not mean-tempered,” she informed him, struggling to hold on to that same temper.

Will shut the door and secured his own seat belt before starting the vehicle. Only then did he raise his eyes to the rearview mirror to look at her. “I’ve got a town full of people who might argue with you about that,” he replied mildly.

Her eyes met his in the mirror. She could feel her temper heating, but there was no time to give Laredo a piece of her mind or take him down. The baby had begun to cry in earnest now. Even if the infant was just wet and hungry, she had no dry clothes, diapers or food to offer him, so the sooner they got to the clinic, the better.

“Just drive!” she ordered.

“Yes, ma’am,” Will responded.

She didn’t need to see his face to know that his mouth had assumed that all-too-familiar smirk she knew and hated. She could hear it in his voice.

Okay, Laredo. I need you to help me get this baby to the medical clinic. But once we do and this little guy is someone else’s problem, I am going to become your worst nightmare.

She paused for a moment, savoring that thought. And anticipating.

Even worse than I already am.

Chapter Four

The infant hadn’t stopped crying since before they’d gotten into the vehicle. The wailing noise was making it hard for Will to think. That, added to the fact that the rain had picked up again, was enough to really put him on edge.

“You sure he’s not hurt?” Will asked, glancing at Cassidy over his shoulder.

She raised her eyes to meet his.

“I have no idea, but I know that he will be if you keep taking your eyes off the road like that. It’s starting to rain harder again,” Cassidy pointed out. Her nerves were getting the better of her.

“Gee, really?” Will asked, feigning surprise. “I hadn’t noticed.”

He hated the way Cassidy treated him, as if he was totally oblivious to things. She’d done that for as far back as he could remember, and at times he had to admit it almost amused him. But right now, with the baby crying and the roads growing progressively more hazardous, he was having a rough time staying calm.

Although he did his best to pretend otherwise, no one could get to him the way Cassidy could. There was just something about the way she talked, the way she tossed her head, the smug, superior gleam in her eyes, that just made him want to get back at her and teach her a lesson.

Just what form that lesson would take he hadn’t worked out yet. But if he was going to remain in Forever, even for a little while, he had a feeling that day would come—and most likely sooner than either one of them reckoned, most of all her.

“That doesn’t surprise me,” Cassidy told him, acting as if she’d taken his words at face value. “But do us all a favor and try to pay attention. I’ve got way too many things to do to die out here with you today.”

He laughed shortly. “Funny, I was thinking the same thing.”

“Funny,” she said, mimicking his voice, “I didn’t know you could think.”

He’d almost reached the end of his supply of patience. “You really want to get into this now?” Will asked, his voice becoming ominous and foreboding.

“What I want,” Cassidy informed him, “is to get into town while I still have any hearing left.” She’d tried everything in her rather limited arsenal of tricks with this baby—rocking him, trying to talk to him, patting his back—all to no avail. “How can something so little make such a loud noise?”

Will focused his attention back on the road—just in time to avoid driving into a large branch that had broken off a nearby tree. Another casualty of the storm.

Heart pounding, he drove around it. “Maybe his crying like that is a good thing. At least it means he’s got healthy lungs.”

Laredo was doing it again, she thought. Acting like a know-it-all. He wasn’t here in the backseat with the baby blowing out his eardrums. “Where did you get your degree, Dr. Laredo?”

“Same place you learned to be a shrew—no, wait, you just came by that naturally, didn’t you?”

Okay, she’d had enough, Cassidy thought. “Stop the truck,” she ordered.

Thinking that something was seriously wrong, Will did as she asked. His thoughts immediately zeroed in on the baby.

“Why? What’s wrong?” he asked, twisting in his seat.

They were right on the outskirts of Forever. The clinic wasn’t all that far off. Rain or no rain, she could walk from here.

Cassidy began to undo her seat belt. “I can’t listen to you blathering on like this. I can walk to the clinic from here.”

Biting off a curse, Will started the vehicle again. Gravity had Cassidy falling back in her seat. Because she’d inadvertently squeezed him, the baby was wailing even harder than he had been before.

“Damn you, Laredo,” she cried. “What the hell do you thinking you’re doing now?”

“Driving a crazy woman and the baby she’s holding to the clinic,” he bit out. “Now shut up and hold on.”

She didn’t want to give him the satisfaction of thinking that she was obeying, but by the same token, she didn’t want to get into another fight with him when he was this angry already. So she did as he told her.

She really didn’t have any other choice.

Cassidy remained in the truck and counted off the minutes in her head until they reached the clinic.

Rather than park the truck in the lot—which was the emptiest he could remember ever seeing it since he’d returned to Forever—Will parked directly in front of the medical clinic’s front door.

Just in time, he judged.

Daniel Davenport, the doctor who had reopened the clinic when he’d arrived in Forever several years ago, was just locking up.

“Hey, Doc,” Will called out, raising his voice in order to be heard above the crying baby and the howling wind. “Got time for one more?”

Dan turned. For the first time since he’d begun to run the clinic, the facility was entirely empty. He’d sent his partner and the two nurses who worked with them home over half an hour ago. Just in case someone did come by, he’d hung back, giving it another half hour.

Thirty minutes had come and gone. He wanted to get home to his family. Dan figured there was no point in waiting any longer. But obviously there was, he thought, looking from the man who’d just called out to him to the young woman who was emerging out of Will’s somewhat battered truck holding what appeared to be an infant in her arms.

Dan caught himself thinking that they were as unlikely a couple as he had ever seen. For the most part, Dan was oblivious to most of the gossip and the personal details that made the rounds at gathering places like Miss Joan’s Diner and Murphy’s Saloon. His attention was exclusively focused on helping and healing the people who sought him out at the clinic.