Marie Ferrarella - The Rancher And The Baby

But even he knew that whenever the newly returned Will Laredo and Cassidy McCullough were within spitting distance of each other, they usually did. Neither could keep their temper holstered, especially not Cassidy.

His eyes narrowed slightly as they focused on the smallest player in this group. There was no way in God’s green earth that baby was theirs.

“Caught me just in time,” Dan said, addressing Will as he unlocked the door he had just locked. Pocketing the key, Dan pushed the door opened with the flat of his hand. “I take it that ‘one more’ you’re referring to is the baby?”

“It is,” Will answered.

“Where did you find it?” Dan asked, ushering in the trio. He didn’t waste time asking if the infant belonged to either one of them. He knew it couldn’t.

“Bobbing up and down in the creek, except it was more like a rushing river at the time,” Cassidy told him.

Once inside, she pushed back her wet hair and turned to face the doctor. “I’m thinking of calling him Moses,” she quipped, looking down at the squalling baby, “since I pulled him out of the river.”

“More like out of a rubber tub in the river,” Will corrected.

“Okay, maybe you think we should call him Rubber Ducky,” Cassidy retorted sarcastically, turning to glare at Will.

“Back up. The baby was in a rubber tub?” Dan questioned, looking from one to the other, waiting for enlightenment.

Cassidy nodded. “It was probably the only floatation device his mother—”

“Or father—” Will pointedly interjected. Although he had enjoyed neither, he knew by watching the McCulloughs that parental feelings were not the exclusive domain of the female population.

Cassidy ignored him and continued with her narrative “—could find. It was obvious that she was trying to save him.”

“Then you didn’t find either of the baby’s parents?” Dan asked, again looking from Cassidy to Will for an answer.

Cassidy shook her head. “I just saw the baby—and almost missed seeing him at first. He was in the middle of the rushing water, crying.” She winced as a particularly loud cry pierced the air right next to her ear. “Kind of like he is now. Could you check him out, please?” She held out the infant to Dan. “See if there’s something wrong with him. I’ll pay for it,” she quickly added, not wanting the doctor to think that just because the baby wasn’t related to her that she expected him to do the examination for free.

“I’ll take care of it, Doc,” Will assured him. Finances were tight, thanks to what he’d found himself walking into when he took over his father’s ranch, but he still had a little cash to work with if he did some artful juggling.

“I’m not worried about that right now,” Dan told both of them.

When he’d first arrived to reopen the clinic in Forever, Dan had viewed it as a temporary assignment until another doctor could be found to take over the practice on a more permanent basis. But even then, monetary compensation had never been his goal.

What he hadn’t counted on was the emotional rewards that went along with this job.

“While I’m giving this little guy the once-over, one of you should call the sheriff and tell him about what happened,” Dan suggested. “Could be his parents are stranded somewhere right now and need some rescuing themselves.”

Will’s eyes shifted toward Cassidy, and she could hear the question as if he’d said it out loud.

“I didn’t see anyone. That doesn’t mean they weren’t there,” she admitted, then frowned. “But it could also mean that they could be dead.” Cassidy thought for a moment. “Last really bad flash flood we had, Warren Brady’s nephew pulled his car up on the side of the road and got caught in it before he even knew what was happening. He was gone before anyone could reach him, and that was in a matter of moments.”

Dan sighed. He hated hearing about senseless losses like that. It made him that much more determined to do as much as he could for those he could help.

“This is going to take a while,” he told the two people in his waiting room. “Why don’t you wait out here until I can determine if this little guy’s got a problem beyond missing parents?”

It wasn’t so much a question as politely voiced instruction.

Will nodded toward the phone on the reception desk. “Mind if I use your phone to call the sheriff?” he asked Dan. “I can’t seem to get any reception on my cell phone. The storm wreaked havoc on the signal.”

“Go right ahead. I’ll be back when I’m finished with the exam.” The baby let loose with another lusty wail. Dan glanced toward Cassidy, an amused smile on his face. “Sure sounds like he’s got a healthy set of lungs on him, though,” he noted with a laugh.

She didn’t have to look in his direction to know that Laredo had a smug expression on his face. Just like she knew he was going to rub it in.

She didn’t have to wait long.

“Told you,” Will said, clearly vindicated.

Cassidy had no intention of going down without a fight. “Even a broken clock is right twice a day,” she pointed out.

“Set your standards that high, do you?” Will asked with a smile as he began to tap out the sheriff’s number on the phone’s keypad.

Cassidy curled her fingers into her hands to keep from grabbing the first thing she could find to throw at Laredo’s head. If she was going to kill him, she knew she would have to do it when there were no witnesses around. And if she gave Laredo what was coming to him, she knew that Dan would come out to see what the noise was all about.

Restless, agitated, not to mention concerned about the infant she’d rescued, instead of sitting, Cassidy paced around the waiting room.

Well, this day wasn’t going the way she’d thought it would when she’d gotten up this morning, she thought in frustration. She’d planned on getting a number of things done in the office today. She was really determined to prove herself an asset to Olivia.

Instead, here she was, killing time in the clinic’s waiting room, sharing space with Will Laredo of all people.

Why did both of them need to stay here, waiting for the doctor to give them the results of his examination? Laredo had two ears, she thought. At the very least, he could hear whatever it was that Dan had to say. Meanwhile, she could—

She could wait right here, she thought darkly. Her truck was still out where she’d left it. As much as she hated to admit it, she needed Laredo to drive her back to it.

Cassidy blew out a frustrated breath. More than anything else, she hated being backed into a corner like this.

Damn it, maybe if she called one of her brothers?

Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Laredo holding out the phone receiver to her. She eyed him quizzically. Couldn’t he talk?

And then he did.

“Sheriff wants to talk to you,” Will said.

She made no move to take the receiver. “Why?”

“Do you have to question everything I say?” he asked, annoyed.

There was as close to an innocent look in her eyes as possible as she replied, “Yes.”

Laredo did what he could to hang on to the last of his composure and told her in carefully measured words, “He’s got a couple of questions.”

“What did you tell him?”

Will never missed a beat. “That you’re a royal pain, but he wants to talk to you, anyway.” With that he pushed the receiver toward her again.

Cassidy took it grudgingly. But when she spoke, nothing but pure honey dripped from her lips. Will entertained thoughts of strangling her.

“Hello? Sheriff? This is Cassidy McCullough. Laredo said you wanted to ask me something.”

“Hi, yes. Will said you were the first one to dive into the floodwater to save this baby you saw.”