Should Have Been Her Child

He turned his gaze back to her and Victoria decided his features looked as though they were carved from stone. “Seven months ago. In a car accident. She had our daughter with her at the time. But thank God Katrina wasn’t even scratched.”

His daughter! Jess had a child?

The room around her tilted as shock drained every ounce of color from her face. In a drawn voice, she asked, “You…have a daughter?”

He nodded and, for the first time since she’d seen him again, there was a real smile on his face.

“Yes, I have a daughter. Her name is Katrina,” he answered. “She just turned two-and-a-half.”

Victoria’s gaze fell to the floor as painful emotions slammed at her from all directions. Of course it was a logical thing for him to have a child. He’d been a married man. But in her heart Jess wasn’t supposed to have a daughter or son! Not without her.

“Congratulations,” she said quietly, then glancing back up at him she tried to smile, but she could feel her lips quivering from the effort. Hopefully, he wouldn’t notice her jerky smile or the dull pain in her eyes. “You must be very proud.”

Jess stepped behind the desk and picked up a small, wooden framed photograph. “She was a few months younger here,” he said, handing the photo to Victoria. “She’s grown quite a bit since then.”

Victoria studied the little round face topped with a thick thatch of golden-red curls. Baby teeth gleamed behind her impish grin. She resembled Jess in coloring and the shape of her features.

Staring down at the baby girl’s image, Victoria could only wonder how a child of his and hers would have looked. Like this one? Or would it have taken after her with the Ketchum’s dark hair and blue-green eyes? Don’t think about it, she scolded herself. Jess made his choice and it wasn’t making a life with you.

She handed the photo back to him. “She’s very beautiful, Jess.”

With a humble smile, he nodded. “Katrina wasn’t planned. But she’s definitely a blessing.”

Victoria watched him place the photo back on his desktop. “It must be…very hard trying to raise a little girl without a mother.”

“Ma helps. And the women who run the small day care over by Cedar Hill are very good with her. I realize it’s not the same, but—” Once again he came back around the desk to stand in front of her. “Regina never was much of a mother to Katrina anyway. After our divorce I was awarded custody.”

Questions buzzed in Victoria’s head, but she didn’t voice them. To ask any more about his personal life these past four years would be admitting that she was still interested. And she wasn’t! She couldn’t be. Not and keep her senses intact.

“And that’s the way you wanted it? To have total custody?”

He looked puzzled and more than a little offended at her question. “I understand you think of me as a—something lower than pond scum, but I do love my daughter, Victoria. I don’t want anyone raising her but me.”

Frustrated that he’d misunderstood, Victoria shook her head. “I didn’t mean—some men love their children very much but find they can’t cope with raising them alone. Especially babies. I’m honestly glad it’s different for you.”

Deciding she couldn’t take any more talk about Jess’s child, she started toward the door, “Now if you’ll excuse me, I’ll let you get back to work.”

Once again Jess was quick to block her path. Tilting her head back, she looked up at him and was instantly caught off guard by the intimate questions swirling in his gray eyes.

“Why did you come here today, Tori?” he asked softly. “Really?”

Her mouth fell open, then closed as the sound of his voice, the nearness of his body, pulled on her like a sensual rope. It didn’t make sense that she could still want this man, she told herself frantically. He was a heartache just waiting to happen all over again.

“I told you,” she answered. “To talk to Deputy Redwing.”

Mockery twisted his rugged features. “This is the sheriff’s department. My office is here. You didn’t think there was a chance of running into me?”

Lifting her chin, she said, “I knew there was a chance. But you’re not the plague. Even if I do happen to cross your path, I’m not going to catch anything deadly. And anyway, I’m a doctor. I can cure most common afflictions.”

He suddenly chuckled and the warm sound whirled her back to happier times. Back when all Jess had seemed to want was to have her in his arms.

“I’ll remember that. Just in case I come down with one,” he taunted, then almost instantly his expression turned serious. “As for your earlier questions, I don’t have any news on the corpse. It was taken to a state forensics lab in Albuquerque for further investigation.”

She was surprised and grateful that he’d decided to at least tell her this much about the case. “How long do you expect that to take?”

He shrugged. “There’s no way of knowing. It depends on how busy they are down there. And, of course, on the types of tests run. Which, considering the condition of the remains, will probably be several. So I wouldn’t plan on hearing anything for a while.”

She nodded. “Being a doctor, I know how slow-going some tests can be,” she said, then with a sigh, she added, “In the meantime, I can only hope my patients will get all this gossiping out of their system.”

“What are they saying?”

Victoria let out a long sigh. “Nothing in particular. Most of them are asking questions rather than expressing an opinion on the matter. But I will say all of them seem to have faith in you and Sheriff Perez.”

Humor glinted in his eyes. “That’s good to know.”

She regarded him closely as she was struck with more questions. “There hasn’t been anyone able to give you any sort of information or clues? What about missing persons? Did you check with Farmington? Bloomfield? Dulce?”

“Nothing from missing persons fits this case,” he said, then seeing the worry on her face, he asked, “Why are you so concerned about this thing, Victoria? Is there something you haven’t told me?”

Frowning, she stepped around him and this time managed to make it to the door before he could stop her. “I’ve already told you my worries,” she said. “Anything else you’ll have to figure out on your own.”

“I plan to.”

The subtle warning in his voice caused her to pause. She glanced back at him and her heart seemed to wince at the distant look on his face. “What does that mean?” she asked.

“Just what I said. I’m still in the process of questioning the wranglers and cowhands on the T Bar K.”

Frowning, she said, “I thought you’d already done that.”

He sauntered toward her and the unbidden thought struck Victoria that the years he’d been away had hardened him even more. Maybe losing his wife had done that to him, she thought sadly. Heaven knows he must have loved her. A man like Jess didn’t have to marry a woman just to have her.

“The T Bar K is a big ranch,” Jess reasoned. “You Ketchums employ a lot of men. Questioning all of them would take several days, even with Redwing’s help.”

Her fingers curled into loosely formed fists. “You’re not going to let this thing go, are you? You’re going to keep digging until you find something to pin on my family or one of our hands.”

His expression turned to a look of disbelief. “That’s not my intention, Victoria. I’m not—”

“Then why don’t you write the whole thing off as an accident? We both know that’s more than likely what happened. Some transient came along and fell to his death.”

Insulted by her suggestion, he stepped closer, his nostrils flaring as his gray eyes slipped over her flushed face. “I’m not like your old man, Victoria. I don’t make up facts beforehand or try to shade the truth once they’re out.”

She wasn’t going to argue with him about her father. It would be pointless. Most everyone knew Jess hated Tucker. For his wealth and his bulldozing ways of acquiring it, not to mention the gossip of his extramarital affairs. But mostly Jess hated Tucker because the old rancher hadn’t wanted Victoria marrying a common man. And back then Jess had seen himself as common. She wondered if he still did.

As for Tucker, Victoria had always admitted he was far from perfect. But he’d been a loving father to her. Even now with the old man in his grave, she couldn’t forget that.

“I’m not asking you to shade the truth!”

Jess shot her a wry smile. “I don’t have the truth—yet, Victoria. That’s why neither Sheriff Perez or I will rule this case in any way…until it’s solved.”