The Sheriff's Son

Justine heaved out a breath, then folded her arms across her breasts. “I love babies, but I wouldn’t go so far to steal a pair of them, if that’s what you’re thinking.”

“You don’t know what I’m thinking,” he said roughly.

And she didn’t want to know, Justine thought hotly. “Well, think about this. There’s not exactly a plethora of orphanages around here. As far as I know, there’s not any. You probably know a few foster parents who’d be willing to take the babies in, but I doubt they would be any more capable than four grown women would be.”

His gaze slanted downward from her face, to settle on the bulge of her breasts spilling over her folded arms.

“Don’t forget to point out you’re an experienced mother,” he added sarcastically.

At that moment, Justine was certain she hated this long-legged man with hard blue eyes and an even harder mouth.

“Is there something wrong with being a mother?” she asked him challengingly.

Roy didn’t know why he was behaving so churlishly. Just because seeing Justine again had thrown him off kilter, that didn’t mean he lacked manners.

“No. There’s nothing wrong with it,” he said. Then with a tired sigh, he lifted his hat and combed his fingers through his hair.

The sun had set some minutes ago, and the sky over the ranch had turned dusky. The day had been a long one for Roy. He should be looking forward to going home, taking a hot shower and fixing himself a steak for supper. But not even the prospect of those things eased the weariness that had suddenly come over him.

“I suppose it will be all right for the babies to stay here tonight,” he said after a moment. “I’ll have someone from social services come out to get them tomorrow.”

He stepped off the porch. Justine suddenly realized he was going to leave. “You’re not going, are you?”

A faint smile touched his lips, but not his eyes. For one brief moment, Justine felt a sadness she didn’t quite understand. She only knew that a long time ago, Roy had smiled at her. Really smiled. But she would never see that man again.

“There’s not much more I can do here tonight, other than speaking with your sisters. And since they obviously weren’t around when the babies were left, they may not know any more than your aunt. But just in case, I’ll question them later. Until then, if any of you come up with something, let me know.”

He took a step toward a Bronco with the sheriff’s department seal painted on the side. Justine called after him.

“How long do you think it will take you to find out who did this?”

He glanced over his shoulder at her. “Not long,” he said grimly.

“But you hardly have any evidence to work with.”

“I’ve had less.”

Behind Justine, the door opened and closed. She peered around to see Charlie skipping toward her.

“Mommy, I’m hungry. When are we gonna eat?”

Justine took her son by the shoulders and turned him back toward the door of the house. “Go get a graham cracker. Aunt Kitty and I will fix supper in a few minutes.”

The child went back inside. Justine looked at Roy, and suddenly felt more awkward than she had since he first arrived. Maybe it was because he was leaving and she knew that she’d probably never see him again.

The idea should have relieved her, and it did, to a certain degree. But it also reminded her of how empty, how devastated, she’d felt when she lost him all those years ago. He’d been her first and only lover. Whether she wanted him to be or not, a part of him was still ingrained in her.

“Well, another hungry mouth to feed,” she said, with a faint smile and a shrug. “I guess I’d better get to work.”

Nodding, Roy turned and walked the remaining distance to his Bronco. He needed to get back to work, too. But he could feel her eyes on his back until he heard the door to the house shut

Roy climbed into the vehicle and reached to start the motor. Before he could, his eyes were drawn to the house, and his fingers paused on the ignition keys. Through the living room window, he could see Justine bending down and planting a kiss on the top of her son’s head. The boy took a bite of cracker, then offered it to his mother. She took a bite, then put her arm around the child and led him away from Roy’s view.

Annoyed with himself for letting his attention stray once again to the family inside the house, Roy muttered a curse and started the engine. It was high time he got home.

Justine was helping her aunt prepare supper when Rose and Chloe returned to the house. Both sisters were instantly captivated by the twins and insisted on feeding them mashed bananas at the supper table.

“Aren’t they the cutest things you’ve ever seen?” Chloe exclaimed as she scooped a spoonful of fruit into the boy’s mouth. “What do you think we should call them?”

Justine glanced anxiously at her aunt then back to her younger sister. “Chloe, we can’t name the babies. Remember what I told you earlier? Someone from social services will be out tomorrow to get them.”

Chloe kissed the top of the boy’s head, whose dark auburn hair just happened to match her own, then glanced adoringly at the girl sitting contentedly on Rose’s lap.

“Oh, Justine, surely we can keep them until the real parents are found. And who knows? They might not be able to get them back. Not after dumping them like they did.”

Justine sighed inwardly. She knew what these two babies probably meant to Chloe. At eighteen, an infection had scarred her reproductive organs and left her barren. Now, at twenty-three and with no chance of ever having a baby of her own, she probably saw the twins as two little angels sent from heaven.

But Justine knew it wasn’t that way, and she didn’t want Chloe or Rose to get attached to the babies, then go through the heartache of giving them up.

“Chloe,” Justine began, “we don’t know who left the children here. And I doubt—”

At twenty-eight, the chestnut-haired Rose was the oldest of the three sisters, and always the quiet one. But at this moment she chose to interrupt, making the other three women look at her with raised brows.

“If Sheriff Pardee allowed them to stay here tonight, perhaps he’ll consider letting them stay until the case is solved.”

“Yes!” Chloe seconded that idea with an eager yelp, then turned pleading eyes on Justine. “Justine, will you call and ask him?”

Justine glanced frantically at her two sisters. “Me ask him! Why me?”

“Well, you knew him from a long time ago,” Chloe pointed out.

“I did?” Justine asked cautiously.

As far as she knew, no one in her family had known that she and Roy were together, as friends or anything more. At the time she became involved with Roy, he’d been dating Marla, his boss’s daughter. But he’d assured Justine the relationship wasn’t serious and he was trying to gradually break away from her without angering Marla or her father. So she’d agreed to keep their dating a secret. Now that secret was buried deep in her heart.

“We all went to the same high school,” Rose reminded her.

“Oh—yes, I guess we did,” Justine admitted with relief. “But he was three grades higher than me, and I never associated with the guy. Besides—”

Chloe butted in. “Justine, men take to you like ducks to water.”

“Oh, please,” Justine groaned. “I haven’t even dated a man in a long time.”

“Well,” Rose said, her pretty face suddenly taking on a hard edge, “I’m sure not a femme fatale, and I’ll not try to be.”

As Justine glanced at her older sister, she realized she wasn’t the only one who’d suffered because of a heartless man. Since her disastrous engagement ended nine years ago, Rose had shunned virtually all men.

“And you know how easily an arrogant man can rile me up,” Chloe added. “Before I could bite my tongue, I’d be telling the sheriff to jump in the lake. Instead of wooing him to our way of thinking.”