“I have formula in the bag,” Fiona said. “I’ll go mix some now.” She fished a plastic bag out of the diaper bag and picked up the soiled diaper with it, tying it securely inside. Then she took out the can of formula powder and a bottle.

  “I’ll go with you,” Molly said. “I need to know how to do these things. I don’t want to make a disaster of my first time babysitting like Duncan.”

  Fiona shot a glance over her shoulder at the man she loved. “He did good for his first time. He’ll do even better next time.”

  Duncan’s gaze followed her across the floor and down the hall until she turned into the kitchen. She knew this because when she cast one final look down the hall, he was still watching her.

  Heat filled her cheeks, and she ducked into the kitchen, reminding herself the man didn’t think of her the same way. He’d only made love to her because he’d had too much to drink and she’d come on to him.

  They were friends, that was all.

  She drew in a deep breath and let it out. How she wished they could be so much more.

  Chapter 5

  Once Fiona was out of sight, Duncan dragged his gaze back to the living room and his brothers dropping onto the sofas and chairs scattered around the hardwood floors.

  “Yeah,” Duncan snorted. “Now, you come closer.”

  Angus shook his head. “I wasn’t getting any nearer until you dealt with the smell.”

  “Just wait,” Duncan warned. “Your turn is coming.”

  Angus frowned. “Bree loves children. I guess, when we get hitched, we’ll be popping out a couple of our own.”

  “You did good on your proposal,” Molly said.

  “Smart move to do it in front of family.” Colin grinned. “She had to say yes.”

  Molly smiled. “She would have anyway. She’s crazy about Angus.”

  Sebastian shook his head. “I don’t know what she sees in him.”

  Molly ignored her brother’s dig, having grown up listening to them poke at each other every chance they got. “Have you set a date?”

  Angus shook his head. “We’re waiting. I wanted to get married yesterday, but Bree doesn’t want to disappoint the mothers. We’re waiting to set a date until we know more about Dad.”

  Duncan nodded. “Probably for the best. Mom needs us to be focused. Some of us only have a few weeks before we return to active duty.” The pain in his leg twinged, reminding him that he might not be headed that direction. The sound of voices laughing in the kitchen made him feel that, for the first time since he’d been injured, it might not be all that bad to get out of the military.

  With his father missing, his mother needed support. Angus would be there, but the ranch was big enough he could use help running it. Even if—when—their father returned, he was getting up there in age and should consider turning over the day-to-day operations to his sons. That had been James McKinnon’s plan all along. After his sons served on active duty, he’d expected them to return to the Iron Horse Ranch and work it.

  Duncan looked around the living room of the house his father had built for his mother. They’d outgrown the old homestead. His mother had argued that with four growing boys and one daughter, their family needed a larger home.

  James McKinnon had immediately broken ground on the more modern cedar and stone home, with huge picture windows overlooking the Crazy Mountains his wife loved so very much. By the time Angus had turned ten, they’d moved in, each child having a room of his or her own.

  He could live there. But was the house big enough for Fiona and Caity to live there full time?

  Angus had moved out to his fiancée Bree’s ranch to protect her and her mother. If he stayed there, he could be managing her ranch and need Duncan at the Iron Horse Ranch to run things there.

  The sound of Caity’s giggles made Duncan go in search of his little girl.

  He found her in the kitchen with his mother and sister. Caity sat in a highchair as his mother fed her baby food from a jar.

  The baby looked up at him and slapped the highchair’s tray in front of her.

  Molly laughed. “She likes her green beans.”

  “Duncan loved green beans as well. He preferred them over carrots.”

  “I still hate stewed carrots,” Duncan said, glancing around the large kitchen.

  “If you’re looking for Fiona, she’s upstairs, getting a shower. Then she’s going to sleep for a couple of hours.” Molly grinned. “Mom and I are watching Caity while Fiona sleeps.” She leaned close and smiled in the baby’s face.

  Caity swung her chubby, green-bean-slathered fist at Molly.

  Duncan’s sister leaned back quickly. “Ha. You didn’t get me that time.”

  Duncan’s mother scooped another tiny spoonful of the green mush and popped it into Caity’s mouth.

  The baby pressed her lips together and hummed her approval. Green mush slid down her chin.

  Molly used a towel to sop up the spillage. “Isn’t she a complete doll?”

  “She’s not an inanimate toy,” Duncan corrected. “She’s a living, breathing human.”

  “Don’t be such a grouch,” Molly admonished. “Caity is just who we needed around here.”

  His mother nodded. “She’s a breath of fresh air. So small and reliant on others to see to her needs.”

  Molly grinned at her mother. “And Mom needs to be needed.”

  Their mother nodded. “I do. It keeps me from ruminating about things I have no control over.”

  “We’re going to find him,” Duncan said, his lips tight, his fists clenching. They might find him, but finding him might not be the answer they were hoping for…if they found him dead.

  Duncan’s chest tightened.

  When he and his brothers had arrived home, he’d had high hopes of finding his father alive. The more time that passed, the more he needed to come to grips that that might not happen.

  With his mother and sister occupied and Caity surrounded by loving care, Duncan felt the need to get outside and do some manual labor. Working his muscles would help him burn off energy and keep him from getting stiffer.

  He grabbed a biscuit from the counter and exited the house through the kitchen door. The morning sun had risen and shined down brightly on the day.

  Duncan headed for the barn, working the soreness out of his bad leg as he walked.

  The physical therapist had told him he would have discomfort in that leg for the rest of his life and a permanent limp. The damage to his muscle had been extensive. After the surgeon had worked on him, he’d laid it out, frank and holding no punches. Duncan would never have the same use of that leg. He’d be lucky to pass a fitness test running. Or limping. And if he couldn’t pass a PT test, he couldn’t perform his functions as an Army Ranger. He’d be more of a liability to the team than an asset.

  One day, he was at the top of his game. The next, he was waiting for the inevitable decision the Medical Review Board would have to make. He’d be medically retired from the service. Benched from the game. Put out to pasture.

  By the time he arrived at the barn, Duncan had worked out the stiffness, if not the pain.

  Colin and Sebastian were inside saddling up a couple of horses.

  The ranch foreman, Parker Bailey, led a bay gelding out of a stall and nodded silently toward Duncan.

  Duncan looked around. “Where’s Angus?”

  “He headed over to Bree’s ranch to mend fences that were damaged by a herd of mule deer which got tangled up in the barbed wire. He’ll be gone until tomorrow.”

  “Bree and her mother need him over there more than we need him here,” Colin said as he ran a curry comb over his gelding’s flanks. “Especially since we’re all home.”

  “Where are you heading?” Duncan asked.

  “Out to the canyon where Dad disappeared,” Sebastian said.

  “We’ve been through there several times, already,” Duncan said. “We didn’t find anything.”

  Colin slung a saddle blanket over the gelding’s back. “There’s a lot of ground to cover in that canyon. We might have missed something small that could be just the clue to lead us to him and to Reed’s killer.”

  Duncan nodded. He glanced toward their young foreman. “Are you going with them?”

  He nodded. “I am, but I’ll split off and check fences along the way. Had some cattle get out and wander onto federal land last week. I got them back, but I need to see if there are any other breaks that need patching.”

  “I’ll only be a minute, saddling up,” he said, heading for one of the stalls containing a gray mare he’d ridden on the few occasions he’d been home.

  Colin held up a hand. “No need. You might want to stay here and keep an eye on your woman and child.”

  Duncan glanced toward the house. “You think whoever trashed Fiona’s house will come to Iron Horse Ranch to threaten her here?”

  “You don’t know,” Sebastian said. “If you go out searching for Dad with Angus over at Bree’s place, that would leave Mom, Molly, Fiona and the baby by themselves.”

  Duncan frowned. “Molly is as good a shot as any one of us.”

  “Maybe so, but she doesn’t have combat experience. She can hunt and target practice with the best of us, but she’s never had to shoot a man. Will she?” Sebastian tilted his head and raised his eyebrows in challenge.

  Duncan’s mouth pressed in a firm line. “She’s good, and she’s very protective of family. She’d take care of the family.”

  “Are you willing to stake your life on that thought?” Colin asked. “Better yet, are you willing to stake Caity’s life on that assumption?”

  “You’re forgetting that Fiona is a trained sheriff’s deputy,” Duncan said. “She can handle it.”

  He stopped with his hand on the latch securing the stall. The gray mare on the other side of the door pawed at the ground, eager to get out and run. He reached over and scratched the mare’s ears. He sighed, knowing he couldn’t leave the ladies, no matter how capable they were of defending themselves. “Sorry, old girl. Maybe later.” Pushing away from the door, he helped Sebastian saddle his horse. “Find something, will ya?”

  Sebastian looked across his horse’s back, his lips twisting. “You know we’ll try our best. We want him back as much as anyone.”

  Duncan nodded. “In the meantime, Parker, what needs doing around here?”

  “Stalls always need to be mucked,” Parker said.

  “I was afraid you’d say that.” Duncan saluted the foreman and his brothers as they rode out of the yard. Then he went to work cleaning out the stalls, stepping out of the barn several times to look up at the ranch house.

  By the time he’d shoveled out the soiled straw and replaced it with fresh, his shoulders and leg throbbed. Several hours had passed, and no one had come out to check on him. He grinned. Likely his mother and sister were enjoying their time with baby Caity, and Fiona must still be asleep.

  Duncan headed back to the house, anxious to see his daughter. With Fiona asleep, he’d have time to shower and change into clean jeans and a T-shirt.

  As he passed through the kitchen, he noted it was empty, and the highchair had been cleaned and set to rights. On his way to the staircase, he passed through the living room where his mother and Molly lay sprawled on couches, napping while Caity lay asleep in the playpen within easy reach.

  After a quick glance at his daughter, Duncan climbed the stairs and caught himself short of barging into his old bedroom. He paused with his hand halfway to the door knob.

  Fiona was sleeping in his bed.

  He squelched the urge to go in anyway and see her sleeping, her red hair splayed out over the white pillowcase. He might have been inebriated when he’d made love to her fifteen months ago, but not so much so that he didn’t remember how beautiful she’d been lying there naked in her bed, sleeping after their insane romp in the sack. Her skin had been silky soft, pale and creamy. The tomboy he’d grown up with had matured into a beautiful woman with curves that fit perfectly against his hard planes.

  His groin tightened, and his cock pressed against the zipper on his jeans.

  Now was not the time to relive that night. He smelled like the muck he’d cleaned out of the stalls, and he was drenched in sweat.

  Dropping his arm to his side, he spun in the direction of his mother’s sewing room where she’d placed his clothes in a dresser next to the daybed.

  With a clean shirt and jeans in hand, he backtracked to the bathroom, showered the stench from his body and dressed.

  When he left the bathroom, he didn’t slow in front of his old bedroom, just walked past, carrying his boots down the stairs to the ground floor.

  At the bottom, he sat on the steps and slipped his feet into the boots. Feeling more human and less like animal crap, Duncan crossed to the playpen, tiptoeing over the wooden floor to keep from waking the baby.

  He stood in front of the playpen, staring down at his daughter. Her cheeks were a rosy pink and her lips a deep mauve. How could anyone so small be so perfect?

  His heart swelled, and he fought the urge to lift her out of the pen and hold her close. He had six months of loving to catch up on. Unfortunately, it would have to wait until the child had slept at least for an hour.

  Then, all bets were off. He wanted to get to know this child of his. How could Fiona have kept her from him for so long? He thought back over the past fifteen months. Much of that time had been spent deployed to the hills of Afghanistan. Had he known Fiona was pregnant, he would’ve been distracted. And he wouldn’t have been able to get home much sooner. Many of his friends on his squad had had wives back in the States due to deliver any time. They’d paced and worried. One of his buddies had been evacuated back to his home station when his wife had gone into preeclamptic shock. She’d died giving birth to his baby boy. He’d left active duty and had taken a job as a janitor in an elementary school just to be able to raise his kid alone.

  Duncan scraped his hand over his face. One little baby changed everything. His worry over his future in the military had flipped to concern that the Army might keep him on active duty.

  Now, all he could think about was being there for Caity. He wanted to see her take her first steps, say her first word and ride her first horse. That was his little girl.

  First and foremost, he had to protect her from whoever had threatened her mother. Caity looked healthy and happy. Duncan had no doubt Fiona was a good mother. Her choice of profession had him worried, though. Being a sheriff’s deputy put her in harm’s way. How had she managed to get this far as a single parent? Her hours had to be insane.

  Caity needed two parents to make this work. Which led Duncan’s thoughts back to Fiona.

  He should marry her. That would give Caity the home she deserved and the parents she needed to see her through life.

  Yeah. That’s exactly what he needed to do. Marry Fiona.

  His brow furrowed.

  What if she didn’t want to marry him?

  His fists clenched. Damn it, she had to. He wanted to be just as much a part of Caity’s life as she was.

  Marriage was a commitment between two people who cared about each other. Duncan cared about Fiona. They’d been best friends for as long as he could remember. She had cared about him. Hadn’t she seen him through several breakups with various girlfriends? Hadn’t she stepped in when his prom date had suddenly backed out the day before prom? Wasn’t she the one who’d rushed out onto the high school football field when he’d been knocked unconscious?

  He’d loved Fiona like a best friend.

  Then he’d gotten stupid drunk and made love to her.

  The baby in the playpen was the result. He’d been certain he’d screwed up that perfect friendship forever. Hell, before they’d done the deed, Fiona had written letters to him. After…nothing. No word, no letters, no calls.

  Duncan had missed those communications. He’d looked forward to getting her letters. They’d helped when he’d sat in a tent or foxhole far away from the home he loved. She’d filled him in on all the happenings in Eagle Rock, the crazy things the sheriff’s department had to deal with on a daily basis from goats stuck in fences, to cattle roaming the highways and bears tipping over trashcans.

  His last deployment had been all the harder without those letters. He’d been so homesick, he’d begun wondering if he really wanted to continue his career in the military. Then he’d been wounded, and the decision was being made for him.

  So much was up in the air with his commitment to the military, his father’s disappearance, the threat to Fiona and learning about the baby he hadn’t known existed until that morning.

  A hand touched his shoulder, making him jump. He spun to face the woman who’d turned his world upside down.

  “Do you think your mother and sister would mind watching over Caity while I check on my house?”

  “We’d gladly watch out for her,” Molly answered. She sat up on the couch and stretched. “Unless Duncan wants a second shot at changing a baby diaper.” Her face split in a wide grin. “I don’t think I’ve seen my big, burly brother more out of his element. Wish I’d thought to record the moment. Caity would have loved seeing that when she was a little older.”

  Duncan glared at Molly. “I’d stay and figure it out, but if Fiona’s heading back to her house, I’m going with her. However, I’m concerned over leaving the baby.”

  Molly brow furrowed. “We can take care of her. Mom’s an expert at diaper changes.”

  “I’m not as worried about the diapers as I am about her safety. What if whoever threatened Fiona comes after Caity?”

  Molly pushed her shoulders back. “I’m a better shot than you are. We can protect our little girl.”

  “You think someone will come after Caity?” Fiona asked. “I thought their beef was with me. Caity can’t testify.”

  “No,” Duncan said. “But they could use the baby as leverage to keep you from testifying.”

  Fiona’s face blanched. “I don’t know why I didn’t think of that.” She glanced out the window. “All I know is, I can’t just stand by and let someone threaten me without finding out who it was and making them pay.”

 

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