The Cowgirl's Forever Family. Helen Lacey

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СКАЧАТЬ him sweet. Playing him. He suspected she would say and do whatever she thought he wanted to hear. But the lawyer in him was immediately on point.

      “No?” she queried. “But you can’t really believe a hotel is the best place for a baby.”

      “I think I know what’s best for Cara. And this is very comfortable,” he said and waved a vague hand. “Cara has everything she needs and I prefer to be here and not stuck...” His words trailed for a second. “And not so far out of town.”

      “It’s a nice hotel,” she said in quiet agreement, clearly holding her tongue. “But it’s a hotel...not a home. Don’t you think she’s been through enough already with losing her mom and then traveling across the country to meet strangers? A real home, where she can have a routine and not be surrounded by staff and tourists, makes much more sense. And I’m a pretty good cook, so you could have home-cooked meals every day. Plus, it’s Christmas next week.”

      It was a damned good argument and he admired her approach. But he wasn’t going to be swayed. “Good try. You’d make a fine attorney.”

      Her eyes flashed. There was that temper, he thought. It made him smile a little.

      “Please...just say you’ll think about the offer. We don’t need to be at war over this.”

      Oh, yeah...she was good.

      “I’ll take it under advisement,” he said and raised a brow.

      She opened her mouth to speak and then clamped her lips together tightly. She had a long fuse. And she was smart. He liked that about her. It meant she wasn’t a pushover. It didn’t mean he was going to move in with her. No way in hell.

      * * *

      By the time she left the hotel room Brooke was so mad she could have punched someone. Or more specifically, knocked Tyler Madden’s perfectly straight white teeth down his perfectly gorgeous throat.

      She stomped out the elevator and almost collided with the hotel’s owner, Liam O’Sullivan. He was another man who thought way too much of himself and his opinions.

      “Everything okay, Brooke?” he asked, eyes narrowed.

      “Sure. Have you seen Kayla?”

      Kayla Rickard was one of her closest friends and Brooke was pretty sure she was sleeping with Liam O’Sullivan. Kayla had been tight-lipped about the whole affair—probably since Liam and his family were about as unpopular in town as they were rich and powerful—and since Kayla’s dad absolutely hated Liam’s father for reasons that went back three decades and no one ever talked about.

      Liam managed to look a little uncomfortable and checked his watch. “No. She’s probably at work.”

      Kayla was curator of the town’s historical museum and art gallery, and Brooke remembered that her friend opened the place for a few hours on Saturday mornings. “Okay, thanks.”

      She said goodbye and left the hotel. When she got to the pavement she shivered. Winter had come with a vengeance. Snow blanketed the sidewalk and she tread carefully as she took a left and walked the fifty or so feet to the museum. The adobe shop front was original, dating from the previous century—the place had once been the first mercantile in town. The historical society had purchased the building and turned it into a museum about fifteen years earlier.

      “Hey there,” Kayla said when she walked through the front door.

      Her friend came around the reception desk and gave her a hug. Kayla was easily the most beautiful woman she’d ever known. Five foot ten with model-perfect proportions and long blond hair that she always wore in a braid. Although Brooke was a couple of years older they’d been friends since they were in middle school and, along with Lucy Monero and Ash McCune, were as close as any friends could be.

      “I need to vent,” Brooke said and plonked herself into a chair.

      Kayla looked around the empty room. “Go ahead, I’m listening.”

      She was just about to start spilling her tale of woe when the bell above the door dinged and Ash walked in. Petite and curvy, with flaming red hair, she was a cop who worked for the town’s police department. Brooke was glad for the reinforcements. Having her friends around her in her time of need hardened her resolve. It took another minute or so before she had a chance to explain what had happened and when she was done, her two friends were staring at her incredulously.

      “And this lawyer says the baby is Matt’s?” Kayla asked, eyes wide, mouth agape. “For real?”

      “For real,” Brooke replied. “And she looks exactly like him anyhow.”

      “And if Matt doesn’t come home he’ll take the baby back to New York and see she’s adopted?” Ash, who was a single mom to an eleven-year-old son, clearly thought that to be an outrageously bad idea.

      “Exactly,” Brooke replied. “I don’t know what to do. I’ve called Matt half a dozen times since last night...but nothing. I have no idea where he is. I don’t even know if he’s in the country. And I had no idea he was ever in New York.”

      Both women knew her brother’s history and both hardly looked surprised that he hadn’t made contact. But she refused to give up hope. She had to keep having faith in her brother.

      “He said he’ll stay for a week. I’m not sure that’s enough time.”

      “You should get your own lawyer,” Ash suggested. “In case you need to fight for custody.”

      She had one. Werner Stewart. He’d been little help in trying to save her ranch and she suspected he’d be even less help dealing with the custody of a child.

      Kayla moved behind the desk and perched herself in front of the computer. “What’s this lawyer’s name?” she asked.

      “Tyler Madden.”

      Just saying his name made her jumpy. He sure didn’t look like any lawyer she’d known. Her own attorney was overweight, balding and wore cheap suits. Tyler Madden, with his broad shoulders and handsome face, looked like he’d stepped off the pages of a magazine. And he’d regarded her with such blistering intensity she felt like she could barely draw enough breath into her lungs.

      He was a buttoned-up city boy. It was all the more reason to dislike him. And the way he’d looked down his condescending nose at her suggestion he bring Cara to the ranch—like she lived in some backwater shack. Sure, the ranch house was a little run-down, but it was clean and comfortable and she did her best to maintain the place.

      This is comfortable. That’s what he’d said about the hotel. Like her home wasn’t. Pompous, patronizing, elitist snob!

      “Oh...hell.”

      “What?” she asked when Kayla spoke. “What is it?”

      Her friend looked up, both brows high. “Do you have any idea who this guy is?”

      Her stomach sank. “Not a clue.”

      “Big-time New York corporate lawyer,” Kayla said and sighed as she read from the screen. “He works for one of the city’s most influential firms and he rarely loses СКАЧАТЬ