One Bear and a Baby: BBW Bear Shifter Baby Paranormal Romance (Who's the Daddy? Book 1)
Read One Bear and a Baby: BBW Bear Shifter Baby Paranormal Romance (Who's the Daddy? Book 1) Online
Authors: Harmony Raines
Tags: #General Fiction
One Bear and a Baby
Who’s the Daddy?
(Book One)
***
All rights reserved. This book, or any portion thereof may not be reproduced or used in any manner without the express written consent of the author or publisher.
This is a work of fiction and is intended for mature audiences only. All characters within are eighteen years of age or older. Names, places, businesses, characters and incidents are either the product of the author’s imagination or are used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to real persons, living or dead, actual events or places is purely coincidental.
© 2016 Harmony Raines
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One Bear and a Baby
- Who’s the Daddy? -
(Book One)
After years away, bear shifter, Cade, has gone home to Tawny Valley. With a baby. Which attracts the attention of the local sheriff, Isabelle. And what self-respecting sheriff wouldn’t be suspicious? So maybe he has every right to be a single father. And yes he is entitled to his privacy. Except when that one bear with a baby, just happens to be her mate. That gives her the right to find out exactly what’s going on … doesn’t it?
Cade has sole guardianship of Maisie. When the beautiful little girl’s mom, Jenni, turns up scared and then leaves in the middle of the night, he has no choice but to become her father. Not that he simply accepted Jenni running off, but despite his best efforts he couldn’t trace her. He only knows she’s alive because she sent him a message telling him to back off because he is putting them all in danger.
So he goes back to his small home town, knowing it is the best place to keep Maisie safe from whoever might be looking for her.
Isabelle Malone was recruited specifically to be the sheriff in Tawny Valley because she is a shifter. She takes her job very seriously, especially when Cade comes into town, with a baby, and her suspicions are raised as to the child’s welfare. What she isn’t expecting is for him to be her mate.
Once secrets are shared, can they work together to keep Maisie safe? And make sure she has the kind of happy childhood she deserves.
Cade stood at the front door of his mom and dad’s house and took a deep steadying breath. This whole idea had seemed so easy as he drove the five hundred miles to get here. But now, he wondered what the hell he was thinking. He was about to lie to the two people who knew him best in the world, and he hated it. However, when he looked into the beautiful blue eyes of Maisie, the little girl he held in his arms, he knew he had to lie, and lie convincingly.
Straightening his shoulders, he firmed his resolve, and knocked on the door, the noise making Maisie jump and then giggle, in the way infants do. At only eight months old, and with more baggage than most adults carry, it was a good sound to hear. As she smiled at him and put her fist in her mouth, he hoped that she would have no memory of being abandoned by her mom. That, instead, he could fill her life with happy memories.
Right now he had no clue how to do that. Yes, he could feed her, change her, and show her she was safe and that he loved her, but beyond that, he had no clue. Babies weren’t exactly his thing, which was why he had come home. In the hope that being here in Tawny Valley, in a town which filled him with happy memories of a happy childhood, would guide him on this new chapter of his life.
The door in front of him opened before he had a chance to answer that conundrum. He smiled at his mom, noted her happy face as she looked at him, and then, as if the world had slowed down, her expression changed to shock.
“Cade?” she asked, as if that was the only word her mouth could form. She looked back at him sharply, but Maisie reached out for her, and his mom automatically took the little girl from her son. “Oh my!”
He hadn’t expected the stab in his heart that followed as he watched his mom smile at Maisie. It seemed almost unspoken that if her son was standing on the doorstep, alone with a child, that the child had to be his.
“Mom. I hope you don’t mind…” he trailed off, the words, the untruths left unsaid. This was too emotional; he hated himself for the hopes he was giving his mom. His parents would accept Maisie into their lives and never know the truth. They couldn’t know. If he wanted to protect Maisie, this was the lie he would have to live with for the rest of his life, no matter what.
So he had better get used to it.
“Of course we don’t mind.” She looked at him, searching his face for answers. Whatever she saw there made her frown, and she said, “You come on in. Do you have luggage, any suitcases?”
“I’ll go grab them, if you could hold onto Maisie.” He smiled weakly. He was so damn tired he wanted to collapse and sleep for a week. However, he had to get everything sorted with his parents, and get Maisie ready for bed, before he could allow himself the luxury of sleep.
“Of course I’ll hold onto Maisie.” As he walked away, he heard Maisie start to sound anguished: it was the same sound she made every time he left her sight. He couldn’t blame her; no, he couldn’t blame her at all.
By the time he reached the car she was crying. He could hear his mom talking to her, soothing her, and he smiled, as if he could remember some dim, and oh so distant memory, when his mom would have talked to him in exactly the same way.
Closing the trunk, he looked around, out of habit and then tried to relax. Maisie often picked up on his tension, and he really needed the little girl to go to bed and sleep. He rubbed his face and yawned. Just the thought of bed made his body want to slump down, his eyes ached to close, but he lifted the suitcases and headed into the house.
“You look awful,” his mom said honestly, as he followed her inside, shutting the door and struggling to resist the urge to lock it. They were safe here. No one was following them, no one was trying to grab Maisie.
He didn’t have the strength to give her a sarcastic
thanks
.
“It’s been a long drive,” he said. “A couple of hours of sleep and I’ll be fine.” He smiled at her, but it was strained and brief.
“Come on, let’s get you two settled.” She went into the sitting room. There was no sign of his dad, which puzzled Cade, but he was happy he could test out his story on his mom first, and see her reaction.
“Mom, where’s Dad?”
“He’s playing poker with some buddies from work.” She smiled. “Don’t look like that, they play for matchsticks, he hasn’t started hustling or anything while you’ve been away.”
Where
have
you been?
That was the question in his mom’s eyes, but she didn’t ask.
He opened his mouth to try to explain, but she held up her hand. “Not now. I want you to get this little lady fed and settled, and changed,” she said, wrinkling her nose. “Are you hungry?”
“Yes, but I don’t think I have the energy to eat.”
His mom walked across the room to Cade and Maisie held out her arms, leaning towards him. He dropped the suitcases and took her, the little girl instantly settling, resting her head on his shoulder.
“I’ll make you a sandwich and some cocoa. Can I make up a bottle?” his mom asked.
“I have one in the cooler. I’ll warm it and feed Maisie.”
“Good, then you go to bed. The spare bed is made up. Although I don’t know where we’re going to put this cutie.” She tickled Maisie’s chin, making her giggle.
“She can sleep in the same bad as me. I can use some pillows to stop her rolling around, and tomorrow I’ll go into town to buy a crib.” He was rummaging around in the cooler, and when he lifted out the bottle, Maisie started kicking her legs excitedly.
“So you’re staying awhile?” His mom took the bottle from him and they went to the kitchen where she switched the kettle on and then began to make Cade a sandwich.
“As long as you’ll have us,” Cade said, catching his mom’s eye.
As long as we’re safe here
, he mentally added. He never used to be this paranoid, and in truth he had no concrete reason to suspect anyone would ever know he was here.
“You are welcome to stay for as long as you need. Here, you eat this, and I’ll feed Maisie, then you need to get to bed before your father comes home. You don’t look in any fit state to answer questions.” She held Maisie and tipped the bottle up, smiling as the baby drank her milk. “He’ll understand.”
“Are you sure?” Cade asked.
“Yes. He’ll just be glad to have you home, to know you are safe.”
“I’m sorry for worrying you,” Cade said between mouthfuls. It was so good to have something other than takeout to satisfy his hunger.
“We’ll talk about it in the morning.”
Town sheriff Isabelle Malone left her office, heading over to Sweet and Tasty to grab a coffee and check in with the owner, Tony Marello. He was as close to an informant as Isabelle was ever going to get. She smiled. So he wasn’t an informant at all, he was the town gossip and being in the café trade, he got a lot of customers through his door, and liked to loosen their tongues with free coffee refills. She was sure that if he suspected someone was holding back on a juicy morsel of information, he would put an extra shot of caffeine in their cup to make them
jabber on java
, as he liked to say.
“Hi, Issy.” Tony gave up calling her Sheriff about six months ago; two months ago he had dropped her full name and began calling her Issy. No one else
ever
called her Issy, but she let it go because it made him feel special, singled out. He figured they had a close working relationship, and Isabelle had gone along with it. For no other reason than it made him happy to think they were involved in some kind of clandestine relationship, whereas all he ever reported was if there was anyone new in town, or any of the residents were acting suspicious, like asking for milk in their coffee, instead of cream.