Cowboy Behind the Badge (7 page)

Tucker nodded. “Yeah. Her name's Dawn Cowen.” A muscle flickered in his jaw. “And I'm the reason she's dead.”

 

Chapter Seven

Tucker stood in the shower of one of the ranch's guest bathrooms and let the scalding water slam against him. It didn't help. Nothing would. It was his fault that a woman was dead, and no amount of hot water was going to fix that.

The images of Dawn Cowen slammed against him, too. Yeah, she'd been mixed up at times, but all in all she was a good criminal informant, and she'd trusted him.

A big mistake on her part.

Because Tucker had been the one to ask her to assist with the baby farms investigation. And she had. Dawn had managed to get some information that had helped the FBI and Rangers find one of the farms. She had probably saved a life or two.

But not her own.

Someone was going to pay for that, but Tucker figured no one was going to pay as hard as he was. How the heck was he supposed to live with this? A woman was not only dead, but those two babies were now motherless because of him.

Cursing himself and this god-awful situation, he stepped from the shower, dried off and pulled on his jeans. He was in midzip when he went back into his bedroom...and quickly realized he wasn't alone.

Laine was sitting on his bed. “Before you say anything, consider just how uncomfortable I must have been to choose coming up here to your bedroom over being downstairs with the others.”

Tucker smiled, not out of amusement, but because he was relieved that she wasn't there to dump more bad news on him. “Where are the babies?”

She hitched her thumb toward the hallway outside his open door. “Sleeping in their bassinet in the kitchen. Rosalie offered to help watch them again. She's, uh, nice.”

“Yeah.” It'd been hard to find fault with that particular sister. Unlike Rayanne, she didn't have a constant surly attitude. “Rosalie's own baby was kidnapped a while back. From what she's said, she loves kids.”

Good thing, too, because it'd required a lot of help to take care of the babies. Neither Laine nor he had slept more than an hour's stretch at a time, and it'd taken all of them—Mary, Rosalie, Laine and him—just to get through the night.

Tucker wasn't sure how parents managed it. The babies might be cute and little, but they sure cried a lot. When they weren't doing that, they drank formula, soiled their diapers and slept, but not for any length of time.

He'd become an overnight expert in diapering a baby boy. It required a lot more quickness and dexterity than he'd ever figured.

Laine stood, her gaze starting at his face and going to his zipper. Forgetting that he was still partially dressed, he zipped up and located a shirt he'd had brought over from his house.

Best not to stand around half-naked with Laine.

His nerves were raw. He was bone-tired. And for just a moment he allowed himself to think of how good and distracting it would feel to put his mouth on hers.

Good, yes. Distracting? That, too. But he'd end up paying a high price for that kind of kiss. Heck, he'd end up paying just for thinking about kissing her.

And for the way she snagged his attention.

No jeans for Laine today. She was wearing a pale green dress that skimmed her body and showed plenty of leg. No doubt an outfit that Reed had picked up from her house and brought out to the ranch. The deputy had obviously brought her some makeup, too, but the dark circles beneath her eyes let him know that she was just as sleep-deprived as he was.

“Want to talk about Dawn Cowen?” she asked, rubbing her hands down the sides of her dress.

He lifted his shoulder and sat on the other side of the bed so he could pull on his boots. “Not much to tell that you don't already know. She worked for me as a criminal informant, and she'd be alive if it weren't for the baby farm investigation.”

“Maybe.” She paused, fidgeting with her dress some more. “I read the report on her that was sitting on the desk of the office you're using downstairs—”

That brought him to his feet. “You did what?”

“I read it,” she admitted, not backing down or even issuing a mild apology for snooping around. “A year ago she was helping you on a case, but then she stopped because she got pregnant.”

“Obviously she didn't stop. She was probably kidnapped and held all these months at the baby farm. Months when I didn't bother checking on her.”

“You couldn't have known what'd happened to her,” Laine said.

“When I didn't hear from her, I should have guessed.”

“Yes, because of the ESP that all you Texas Rangers have. I've heard it's standard issue, along with the white Stetson, boots, badge and jeans.”

They exchanged flat looks, and Laine was the first to glance away.

“Besides,” she continued, “if we're playing the blame game, then Dawn wouldn't have come literally running to my office if it weren't for the unauthorized visit the CI and I made to the baby farm.”

“She obviously thought she could trust you. She sure as heck didn't come to me.”

And that would haunt him for eternity. Most women held captive at the baby farms were murdered shortly after they delivered. Dawn must have been terrified, not just for her own life but for her newborn children.

Well, maybe they were both hers.

Dawn had indeed been pregnant, but Tucker couldn't rule out that maybe only one of them was hers and the other was one she'd managed to rescue.

“There wasn't anything in your report about Dawn being married or involved with anyone,” Laine tossed out.

“The babies aren't mine, if that's what you're thinking.”

“I didn't think that. If there'd been any possibility they were yours, you would have said something last night. And you would've given them better nicknames,” she added.

It was no doubt her attempt to lighten things up some. It didn't work. Nothing would. But she was right—if they'd been his, he might have called them something better than Jack and Jill.

Okay, now he smiled. “Don't try to make this easier on me,” he snarled.

She nodded as if taking that warning as gospel. Hesitated. Then huffed. “I need to figure out some other place to go. Someplace safe, of course.”

“With the babies?”

She blinked. “Well, yes. I thought I'd keep them until we figure out where they belong.”

“That could be as early as today. It shouldn't be hard to find out about Dawn's romantic interest or the babies' next of kin.”

Of course, once the father was indeed found, it didn't mean the babies would be safe. It was possible the people behind the baby farm would want the newborns returned.

They could also want to take their revenge on Laine.

Once they had the babies, they could use them to draw her out. And it would probably work. Any woman who would risk going to a baby farm with a CI likely wouldn't think twice about surrendering herself to save two babies.

“If you take the babies away from the ranch, you could just be putting them in more danger,” Tucker reminded her. “If these goons think you can reveal anything about their operation, they won't stop coming after you.”

Obviously that was something Laine already knew, but she still flinched. Maybe because hearing the threat aloud really drilled it home. Her mouth trembled a little, and Tucker saw the thin veneer covering her fear.

Ah, heck.

Tears sprang to her eyes, too. She quickly blinked them back, lifted her defiant chin, but Tucker saw something he didn't want to see.

A vulnerable woman.

Usually a woman's tears would send him running in the opposite direction, but in this case, they sent him walking. Directly toward her. To pull her into his arms.

Not the brightest idea he'd ever had.

He blamed that on this stuff going on between them. Not just the stuff with the babies and the danger, but the old baggage, too. If they'd been enemies all their lives, it would have helped, but he kept going back to that time when they'd been friends.

And more.

When he was a kid, stupider than now, he'd spent some time thinking about the two of them being together for life. Not that at age eleven he'd known what life with a girl entailed. Truth was, he'd been more focused on kissing her than on anything else.

Heck, he was still focused on it.

Laine didn't push him away. Big surprise. She looked up at him. “Ironic, huh? When you woke up yesterday morning, I'll bet you never thought we'd be voluntarily touching each other.”

Tucker shook his head, hoping that would clear it. It didn't work. Maybe he should try hitting it against the wall. “Who says this is voluntary?”

A short burst of air left her mouth. Almost a laugh. Then that troubled look returned to her eyes. “It's not a good idea for us to be here alone.”

“No. It's not.”

There.
They were in complete agreement. Still, neither of them moved a muscle. Well, he moved some. His grip tightened on her a little, and those kissing dreams returned with a vengeance.

“Besides, I'm no longer your type,” she added, as if that would help.

It didn't.

However, it did cause him to temporarily scowl. “How would you know my type?”

Another huff. Soft and silky, though, not rough like his. Her breath brushed against his mouth, almost like a kiss. Almost. “Everyone in town knows. Blonde, busty and not looking for commitment.”

He was sure his scowl wasn't so brief that time, but the problem was he couldn't argue with what she'd said. Besides, the reminder accomplished what Laine had likely intended.

Tucker stepped back.

He figured that she'd say something smart-mouthed to keep things light, but she didn't. For a moment Laine actually looked a little disappointed that their hugging session had ended, and that was all the more reason for him not to pick it up again.

Ever.

Even if parts of him were suggesting he do just that.

No, she wasn't blonde or overly busty, and he had no idea if she was looking for commitment or not. His guess was no, especially when it came to the likes of him.

“I should check on the babies,” Laine said, and she lit out of there as if he'd set her dress on fire.

Tucker followed her because he wanted to check on them, too, and then head to the ranch office that he'd been using. While he was there, he'd see what Laine had managed to get a look at while she was snooping. He really couldn't blame her for wanting to know what was going on. Nearly getting killed was a huge motivator to finding their escaped attacker.

Laine made it to the kitchen just ahead of him, and Tucker got a glimpse of Rayanne making a hasty exit. Before doing that, however, she scowled at them. Unlike his other sister, Rosalie. She greeted them and then smiled at the babies, who were in a Moses basket on the table.

No white gowns for them that morning. Someone had dressed them in pink and blue. Cute as bugs. They were cuddled against each other, sleeping side by side.

“Sorry about that,” Rosalie said, her gaze going briefly to her sister, who was storming toward the guesthouse. Too bad Rayanne wouldn't stay there. “Rayanne wasn't always like she is now.”

“Hard to believe,” Tucker mumbled. Rosalie and Rayanne had barely been six years old when Jewell left with them. “She had a stubborn streak even as a kid.”

That streak was now a mile wide.

“Well, she was always tough,” Rosalie amended. “Always trying not to show how much it hurt that she didn't have a dad. Sorry,” she immediately added. “Didn't mean to bring up any bad memories.”

“She had a dad,” Tucker pointed out. “A stepdad.”

She nodded. “And he was good to us, but Rayanne could never let go of the anger of having our father toss our mother out of her home.” Rosalie winced. “Sorry, again. I keep putting my foot in my mouth this morning.”

Laine gave her a pat on the arm. “We all had our lives turned upside down twenty-three years ago.”

“Yeah, and they just keep on turning, don't they?” Tucker grumbled. “Like a curse or something.”

There'd been nothing but trouble and danger since Jewell had come back into their lives, but since he didn't want to hurt Rosalie's feelings, Tucker kept that little revelation to himself.

Besides, he had something better to occupy his attention.

The babies.

It was strange, he'd never considered baby-watching to be very interesting, but it sure was now. Maybe because he thought of himself as their protector.

Temporarily, anyway.

Tucker reached down and touched his finger to Jack's cheek. The corner of his little mouth lifted. A baby smile that Laine and Rosalie had already assured him was just gas. Tucker figured they were wrong.

Hey, a kid who could pee with that kind of accuracy certainly could manage a smile, couldn't he?

“There is something you should know about Rayanne,” Rosalie said in a whisper, like she was telling a secret. A secret she obviously wasn't so sure she should share. “I wouldn't bring it up, but Rayanne won't say anything, and it could cause some problems if she's called out to help with another arrest. Or an attack.”

Tucker had to shake his head. “What are you talking about?”

Rosalie swallowed hard. “Shortly before we came here, Rayanne got involved with a guy who basically slept with her and then dumped her.”

Well, that explained her surly mood. A little bit of the brother inside him kicked in. He had to rein in his protective instincts, though, because Rayanne wouldn't want him to even think about protecting her.

“Anyway,” Rosalie went on, “this morning, Rayanne finally got around to taking a pregnancy test. It was positive. She thinks she's about three and a half months along.”

Oh, man. That would be a hard blow for any woman, even one with Rayanne's alligator-thick skin.

“Where's the baby's father?” Tucker asked.

“He's dead. He was killed somewhere in Mexico.”