The Cowboy's Holiday Blessing. Brenda Minton

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      Chapter Three

      Jackson couldn’t think of another reason to keep Madeline from leaving. He could think of several reasons why he wanted her to stay. She stood on his porch, brown hair, brown eyes, brown sweater and skirt. He couldn’t quite figure her out, and he felt pretty sure that’s what she planned when she camouflaged herself in brown. What she probably hadn’t expected with her disguise was the fact that she intrigued him.

       “I have to go.” She stepped away from him, tripping over that crazy dog of his.

       Jackson reached for her arm and steadied her. “Sorry about the dog. He can get in the way.”

       “Right, okay, I’ll see you later.”

       “Madeline, thank you. I’m sure getting mixed up in this mess wasn’t on your to-do list when you woke up this morning.”

       “No, it wasn’t. And I’m still not sure how I feel about this. I think you should call family services.”

       “It’s the right thing to do?” He smiled because he guessed she always went by the rules. “But then she’s in the system and my hands are tied. I’d like to figure this out and then I’ll make a phone call.”

       “She could be a runaway.”

       “I’m going to check into that. Don’t worry, I’m not planning on harboring a juvenile.”

       Madeline’s brows shot up. “I think you plan on letting me harbor said juvenile.”

       He grinned and shoved his hands into the front pockets of his jeans.

       “If you go to jail, I’ll bail you out.”

       “Thank you, that’s very kind.” She glanced at her watch. “I have to go. Please think about calling your parents.”

       The urge to lean down and kiss her cheek didn’t come as a surprise. But today he had to think like Jackson the dad, not Jackson the guy who loved beautiful women. He smiled and promised her he’d think about calling his parents. But he’d already come to the conclusion that the last thing he needed was the entire Cooper clan descending on his house today.

       Madeline hurried down the steps and across the lawn to her little sedan. He couldn’t help but smile as she slammed the door, opened it and slammed it again before driving away. He remembered her doing that when he’d helped her pick up her groceries last week.

       When he walked back inside he found Jade on the sofa, a throw blanket pulled over her body. She blinked, and offered a little smile.

       “I guess you were up all night?” He eased down onto the desk chair he’d left in the middle of the room.

       “Yeah, pretty much.”

       Jackson rolled the chair closer to her. “I’m going to get some work done. You take a nap and later we’ll figure out what to do next.”

       “What’s next? I’m your kid and my mom is dead. What are you going to do, dump me on the side of the road somewhere?”

       “No, I’m not going to dump you. I do want to check all of the facts before we make any big plans.”

       “Fine.” She looked a little pale and her eyes were huge. “Do I have grandparents or something?”

       “Yeah, you have grandparents.”

       She closed her eyes, a little-girl smile on her face. After a few minutes he scooted in the other direction, back to the desk and his laptop. He flipped the top up and hit the power button, all the while watching a kid who really thought he could be her dad.

       He sighed and shook his head. First he checked his email because a certain bull he’d been after for a year had been put up for sale and he’d made an offer. Still nothing on that front.

       So where did he begin searching for Jade Baker’s story? And her mother’s? Death records, obituaries and telephone directories. Every search came up empty. He had another connection, a friend who had gone into law enforcement. He typed a short email asking for information on runaways—one specific runaway, actually.

       He sat back, trying to think of other avenues for finding Gloria Baker. But it wasn’t her name he typed in the search engine of the internet. He found himself doing a search for Madeline Patton.

       She’d been in the area for a year. She’d moved to a town where she didn’t have family. She’d bought a house connected to his land. The house had once belonged to his great-grandparents. It had been their original homestead, before oil and ranching paid off for the Coopers.

       His grandmother had taken a liking to Madeline and sold that little house and two acres to the schoolteacher for almost nothing. Maybe his grandmother knew more about her than the rest of them.

       Or maybe he was the only Cooper left out of the loop when it came to Madeline. That kind of bugged him.

       His search of Madeline Patton turned up article after article, all from Montana newspapers. He leaned back in his chair and his finger hovered above the mouse. Her story, if she had one, should be private. But the brief sentence under the heading wouldn’t let him back away. He clicked the link and started reading.

       For a long time he sat there. He read newspaper articles about a child named Madeline Patton. He searched for more articles. As he read he went from pain to rage. He had never wanted to hurt someone as badly as he did at that moment, thinking about that little girl.

       Man, it made him want to drive to the school and hug her tight. It made him want to keep her safe. No one should ever be used the way Madeline had been used. Exploited. Hurt.

       He closed down his computer because he knew these were her stories, her secrets. She had a right to her privacy. She didn’t trust him. She definitely wouldn’t trust him with these secrets.

       He stood, easing through the motion and then holding on to the desk as he took a deep breath. Jade remained curled in a ball on his sofa, sound asleep. He leaned over her, shaking her shoulders lightly. Eyes opened with a flutter and she pulled back.

       “I have to get some work done in the barn. Are you going to be okay here by yourself?” He figured being by herself might be something she was used to. Just guessing.

       “Yeah, I’m still tired.”

       “Sleep on. If you get hungry there’s lunch meat in the fridge and a container of chili my mom brought over yesterday.”

       “Thanks.” Her eyes closed.

       Jackson slipped on his boots СКАЧАТЬ