The Sheriff and the Baby (3 page)

“I remember a siren now. Was that you?”

“Yes.”

He paused as if waiting for her to say something. Maybe it was just a coincidence that he was here. She sent up a silent prayer of thanks that she’d used her grandmother’s
car to drive to Colorado. Gran had said it would be safer, that way she wouldn’t risk anyone running a check on her own car’s plates. Hennessey would’ve posted an APB on her vehicle the day she fled California. Terror began to choke her at the thought of what Hennessey would do to her—what he’d do to her precious baby—if he ever found them.

“Ma’am? Is there a problem?”

Beth fought the urge to throw back the covers, grab her sleeping daughter and flee. She had to try to remain calm even though her nerves were stretched to the breaking point. If Matt O’Malley detected her nervousness, he’d get suspicious and make inquiries—if he hadn’t done so already. He wouldn’t have to search far to learn the truth.

She made herself smile and said, “No, Sheriff, of course not. It…was just such a shock to…” She shook her head. “I mean, I wasn’t expecting any visitors.”

He smiled and stepped toward the bed. “I stopped by to give you these,” he said almost shyly and handed her the pink roses.

Taken aback by the gesture, Beth managed to say, “Thank you,” covering her nervousness by breathing in their delicate perfume, then laying them in her lap, not wanting him to see how badly her hands trembled. “They’re lovely,” she said and wondered if this was just a social visit, after all. “You really didn’t have to. You did more than enough for me last night.”

“All in the line of duty.” He placed his hat on the chair and looked into the crib where Sarah slept peacefully. “She’s beautiful,” he said softly, and Beth didn’t miss the note of wonder in his voice.

He glanced up and cleared his throat. “I wanted to make sure you were both okay and to apologize for the way I lit
out of here last night. I…I’m not good around, er, that is, I…”

“You don’t have a stomach for…certain situations?”

He gave a self-deprecating grin. “How’d you guess?”

Regardless of her mistrust of cops, she couldn’t help smiling at his obvious discomfort. His quick reactions the previous night had likely saved both their lives, hers and Sarah’s. “I recall that when I told you the baby was coming, you moved very fast.”

He dug his index finger between his collar and his throat and swallowed. Despite her fear, Beth found the gesture oddly endearing.

“I…owe you a huge debt of gratitude. I don’t know what would’ve happened if you hadn’t come along when you did. The road was so deserted, I don’t know how long it would’ve been before another vehicle showed up.” She paused, remembering. “Except for the other car I almost hit head-on… Was that you?”

“No. I was following you. And you owe your survival more to the safety features of your car than to anything I did.”

Reaching into his top pocket, he withdrew his notebook. “I need to ask you a few questions if you don’t mind.”

P
ANIC FLITTED ACROSS
her face for an instant before she got it under control. Her eyes narrowed and her chin rose defiantly. “You weren’t driving a sheriff’s department car,” she challenged. “Surely you were off duty?”

“I drive an unmarked vehicle and, as county sheriff, I’m on call 24/7,” he said. “Now, do you have your license?”

“Why do you need it?”

“So I can complete the details for my report.”

“But…no one was injured. Why do you need to make a report?”

Matt’s senses went on alert. She was acting strange. Sometimes friendly, sometimes fearful, sometimes combative. What was going on?

“Is there some reason you don’t want me to see your license?”

“Of course not,” she answered too quickly. “I didn’t mean to question you. I guess in my haste to get to the hospital I left my license at home.”

He made a mental note to check with Hank exactly what, in the way of possessions, they’d found in her car after towing it in.

“So you live around here?”

Again, he saw her gaze dart nervously around the room and wondered why she was so anxious.

He forced warmth into his smile, then said, “You mentioned that there wasn’t anyone I should call, so I was curious as to why you were here in Peaks County in an advanced stage of pregnancy without anyone nearby you could turn to.” He shrugged. “Seems strange to me, that’s all.”

“I…I only moved here recently—to Denver,” she added, twisting the sheets in her fingers.

“Then why were you driving in the high country at midnight? In a blizzard?”

“I’d…been to dinner with a client in, ah, South Ridge and was heading home. I went into labor really fast.”

She must think he was born yesterday with an excuse like that. “I take it your meeting went later than you planned? It’s a long drive to Denver.” He resisted the urge to say,
Without your license.

At the sudden relief in her features, Matt knew she was making the story up as she went along and thought he’d given her an out. “Yes…that’s right.”

She wasn’t a convincing liar, probably because she hadn’t had much experience. Her fists were so tightly clamped on the sheets. Her fear was almost palpable. But fear of what?

“I didn’t know where the hospital was and…I got lost.”

Yeah, right!
No one would be caught out late in a near blizzard, then expect to make it back to Denver. Anyone in that situation would’ve stayed in South Ridge; it had some decent motels. And no one would be foolish enough to drive around looking for a hospital while in such intense pain. Surely Beth Ford had a cell phone…. She didn’t look dumb. She looked bone-deep scared. More than ever, he was convinced she was lying through her teeth.

“You referred to clients. What do you do?”

“Why do you want to know?”

He shrugged again in an effort to appear unthreatening. “Just making conversation. I wondered what might keep you out so late in weather like last night’s.”

“You make it sound as though I’m up to something sinister.”

Matt held up his hands. “No, not at all. I was just curious.”

She finally stopped twisting the sheets into a knot and fixed him with a steady gaze. “I’m an architect.”

Matt’s eyebrows rose a little at that. She’d stopped worrying the sheets, so maybe that at least was the truth. “You’ve been too busy with moving and the baby coming to get around to changing your license plates?” he suggested.

Her expression eased further and he watched her smooth the sheets, pressing out the creases with shaky fingers.

“Yes, that’s right.” Her look was one of innocent inquiry as she asked, “Was there anything wrong in not attending to it sooner?”

He couldn’t help admiring her for neatly turning the situation around by questioning him about changing her plates. “State law requires that if you’re living and working in Colorado, you have thirty days to change them,” he said, then immediately wanted to swallow his words. This woman didn’t need Colorado law shoved down her throat. More than anything, she needed compassion.

She was lying because she was scared, and something about her stirred a desire within him to protect her and her baby.

The heat burned in his gut. This was foolishness. So he’d rescued a woman in labor. It didn’t make up for Sally and the baby. Nothing could ever absolve him of the guilt of letting them die alone. He concentrated on the present situation instead and glanced at the baby in her crib. His heart melted.

She was yawning, her tiny mouth forming a perfect O. She sure looked a whole lot prettier than she had last night. Her formerly screwed-up red face was a soft pink and fair down covered her head.

As though aware of his scrutiny Sarah began to squirm a little, then she started to cry. Matt reached out to quiet her, his big hand brushing her arm in a comforting gesture. She grasped his finger.

The kid had a fierce grip!
Like mother, like daughter,
he thought, but there was something nice about someone wanting to hold you so tight.

Beth leaned over to get her baby from the crib.

“It’s okay. I’ve got her,” he said and picked her up, careful to wrap Sarah in the blanket that had fallen away. He held her protectively against him and cooed to her.

B
ETH WAS TERRIFIED
. On the one hand, she didn’t want this
police
man near her daughter. On the other, he seemed to
know what he was doing, which was more than she could say for herself. She hadn’t been able to rewrap Sarah properly into the tight bundle she’d been before she’d unwound the blanket to count all her fingers and toes and to kiss her tiny hands and feet.

“What have you done to yourself, missy?” he asked when Sarah continued to fuss. He placed her on the bed. “Got yourself all undone. Don’t you know babies are supposed to stay wrapped up so they feel safe and protected?”

Beth watched, fascinated, as he expertly rewrapped her daughter into a semblance of the little bundle she’d been before her investigations.

“You…you obviously know what you’re doing,” she said, trying to keep the envy from her voice.

“Sorry. I didn’t mean to take over.” His hands touched hers as he put the baby in her arms.

She cradled Sarah against her and asked, “Have you got children of your own?”

T
HE HOT, BURNING KNIFE
of guilt twisted inside him. Damn! Why had he allowed himself to be drawn into this? He took a deep breath. He wasn’t going to lose it now. It’d been three years. He needed to move on. That was what everyone said.

Yet the pain bit deeper. Three long, lonely years. He had to get on with his life and stop feeling sick with guilt every time someone asked him if he had kids.

“Sheriff? Are you all right?”

Matt pulled himself together and said, “I’ve got four nieces and an adopted nephew.”

Sarah settled for a moment and then started to fuss again, her tiny arms struggling to get out of the blanket. Beth’s brows drew together. “Surely she can’t be hungry again?”

Sarah let out a cry.

“What’s wrong?” she pleaded.

When the baby started to scream, Matt mused that she had her mother’s lungs. “What goes in must come out.”

She looked up at him. “Oh. Of course.”

The door swung open and a nurse breezed into the room and stood over her. “What are you doing to my little darlin’?” she admonished lightly as she lifted Sarah from her mother’s arms. “I think you need a change, sweet Sarah. Let’s leave your mama here with Sheriff O’Malley and come back when we’re nice to be near again, huh?”

“You’ve got yourself a gem,” Matt observed as she left the room. He scooped up his hat from the chair. He hadn’t felt so unsettled in the presence of a woman in a long time and needed to get out of there. Beth was too wound up at the moment to answer any further questions, so he wouldn’t press her. He’d find out the truth soon enough.

B
ETH WATCHED
M
ATT
worrying the brim of his hat and almost regretted he was leaving. He was so caring and capable with Sarah. But he
was
a cop and he was asking her questions she didn’t want to answer. The sooner she put distance between them, the better.

“I’ll stop by and see you both again tomorrow,” he said.

“No!” she cried, then caught herself, not wanting to seem too eager to be rid of him. “I mean, you’ve done more than enough for us…. It’s really not necessary, Sheriff O’Malley.”

“It’s Matt, and it isn’t any trouble. I’d like to see how my mom’s namesake is doing.”

Beth couldn’t very well refuse to let him visit. It would only serve to make him more suspicious and she sure didn’t
want that. Forcing a warm smile, she said with as much enthusiasm as she could, “All right. That would be nice.”

After Matt had tipped the brim of his hat in a tiny salute and left, Beth stared at the closed door and released her breath. That had been a close call! She didn’t want him tracing her back to L.A. and asking questions. Somehow she had to get word to her mother and Gran that she and the baby were fine.

For four long months she’d endured an enforced silence, not able to phone them, write or e-mail in case Hennessey traced her through them. Although it had been Gran’s idea to lend Beth her car, if Matt O’Malley did a trace on her number plates, they’d lead him straight to her grandmother. And the police computers back in L.A. would show that a cop in Colorado had run a check on them.

She closed her eyes and tried to dispel the fear rising within her at the thought of Detective John Hennessey threatening her grandmother, the way he’d threatened her.

M
ATT LEANED BACK
at his desk and rubbed his eyes. The events of the night before were taking their toll.

He called Hank to find out what personal items Beth had left behind in her vehicle, but Hank informed him he’d already had her purse and suitcase delivered to her at the hospital.

Matt cursed softly. For once, the man was being efficient, although he wasn’t sure Hank hadn’t sneaked a peek inside that purse of hers. “Okay, thanks. And, Hank? Could you arrange to get some estimates for fixing her car?” Hank knew every repair shop in the county and would see that she got an honest price.

“Sure,” he agreed readily. “It’s the least we can do for the little lady. I guess the last thing she’d wanna be bothered
with when she gets outta the hospital would be runnin’ around gettin’ quotes on fixin’ her car.” He paused for a moment. “Say, Matt—”

“Hank,” Matt interrupted, not wanting to get caught up in a long-winded discussion with the county gossip. “Something’s come up and I gotta go,” he said and hung up. He leaned back in his chair again, stretched his arms above his head and thought about Beth Ford.

Hank’s mention of a suitcase raised his suspicion that she hadn’t come from Denver to visit a client. Denver was less than a two hours’ drive back down the interstate. Since the interstate was often closed during heavy storms because of the avalanche danger, it would’ve made sense for her to stay somewhere until the blizzard let up. More than ever, Matt believed she’d been on her way to the hospital from somewhere in the county.