One Bear and a Baby: BBW Bear Shifter Baby Paranormal Romance (Who's the Daddy? Book 1) (3 page)

“How are you feeling this morning?” Jesse asked.

“Better. Thanks for letting me sleep in. Now I’m up and have had coffee, I figure I need to make the most of the day and go out and get the things I need. Maisie needs a bed of her own, and a stroller.”

“I spoke to Mrs. Cantrell, she said she has some things you are welcome to. Her granddaughter used to stay over with her, but the family moved away.” He watched his mom as she came up to him and passed Maisie over, who smiled at him and burped. Then his mom stood back and looked at them both, her eyes flicking from one to the other.

“Are you OK?” he asked.

“Yes. I’m just looking for the resemblance. Maisie must be like her mom.”

He closed his eyes briefly, steeling himself for the lies he was going to have to tell. Then he opened them and looked at Maisie, and smiled. He had to keep her safe, he had promised.

“Yes, she looks like her mom.”

“Cade. Listen, I would rather hear nothing than hear lies. All I need to know is that her mom knows you have her and everything is OK.”

“Her mom knows.” He looked directly at his mom, knowing exactly why he loved her and why he had come home. She had always been his staunchest supporter. “She got herself into some trouble...”

“That’s what I wondered.” His mom took a deep breath. “Is that trouble following you? I know you can’t say a lot. I’m not asking you to. But we need to know.”

“As far as I know, no one knows where I am. But I can’t be sure,” he said. Should he say any more, when he had no specific threat aimed at him, only the words of a woman who abandoned her baby?

“Is that likely to happen?” she asked.

“I don’t know. I don’t know the full story myself…” His voice trailed off and he looked away.

“I know you would have done your best, Cade. For Maisie and her mom. You and Maisie are home now, we can keep her safe,” his mom said. She came over to him and hugged him. “I’m thankful for that at least. But you do have a bit of a problem.”

“What?” he asked.

“The sheriff. Isabelle Malone. She’s coming over to ask you about Maisie.”

“What!” His arms tightened around Maisie. “Why?”

“She saw me in the café. I think Tony, you remember him always into people’s business, had already said something to her, and she asked about Maisie. I told her she’s yours.” His mom locked eyes with him, and he knew he wouldn’t need to lie, she knew. After all the years of discipline while working undercover, he had not been able to hide the truth from her. “Get your story straight.”

“Is the sheriff one of
us
?” he asked.

“A shifter? Yes.”

“Then I’ll tell her Maisie’s mom, Jenni, was my mate.”

“Was she?” his mom asked. “It won’t matter either way. But I suppose if she was your mate it would explain why you took her baby on as your own.”

He shook his head. “No, she wasn’t. She wasn’t a shifter and she had no idea I was.”

“I see. She must have trusted you.”

“I hope she was right to. I feel I let her down, by not keeping them together. I should have been able to help her,” he said bitterly. “We worked undercover together a couple of years ago. Then we both moved on to new jobs. I didn’t know she was in trouble, not until she showed up on my doorstep with Maisie. All she told me was that she had been set up.”

“It wasn’t your fault. I know you feel responsible, but you cannot carry that kind of baggage around with you. Not if you want to make a happy life here with Maisie.” His mom’s face was fierce.

“I know. I just need a bit of time.” He was relieved not to have to lie to the most important people in his life.

“I’ll explain it to your dad. He’ll understand. But I don’t think the sheriff needs to know any of this. Tell her Maisie is your child, that her mom ran off. Tell her you were working undercover together and things got complicated, and Jenni couldn’t cope.”

It sounded plausible, unless Isabelle wanted proof, like a birth certificate. He didn’t even know where Maisie was born. “Are you sure? About lying to the sheriff. I didn’t come back here to get you into trouble.”

“It’s OK. If we can convince her, she’ll drop it, I’m sure. Now, I bought some baby food. I hope she likes rice; it’s got applesauce in it too. Once you’re settled I’ll make up some batches of fresh mushy food and freeze it for her.” His mom hugged him once again and then said, “You should go shower.”

“Thanks, Mom.” He kissed her cheek, and she hugged him tightly in the way that said everything would be OK. He only hoped she was right.

But he couldn’t help feeling like a teenage punk again, not a six-foot-five muscle-bound bear shifter who should not have had to come home to protect Maisie. Yet as he looked at his mom with his ward, he knew that coming home had not just been about security, it had been about giving Maisie the stability of a family, a loving family.

He left the room, thinking about Jenni, who was going to miss out on watching her daughter grow up. Before he took over caring for Maisie, he would never have believed he could feel so fiercely protective over another human being, especially one who was not even his own flesh and blood.

It was this intense feeling that had made him put everything else in his life aside to make sure she was safe.

Isabelle walked up to the front door, a strange feeling creeping over her. Always one to trust her instincts, she took a step back, looking along the street to see if there was anyone lurking there. No one. Still she could not shake the sensation that something was off. Shrugging, she headed back to the front door and lifted her hand to knock … the door opened before she had the chance to.

“Hello, Jesse. Hello, Maisie,” she said.

“Hi, Sheriff, won’t you come in? Cade is just getting out of the shower.” Jesse stood back to allow her to pass, although she seemed reluctant. Isabelle decided to keep her guard up; the Eastons were a good family, but not all bad people were obvious. For all Isabelle knew they might be secret serial killers.

“Can I get you some coffee?” Jesse asked, heading to the kitchen.

Isabelle followed. “Yes, please.” It would give her more of an excuse to hang around, even though she had already drunk enough coffee this morning to keep her awake for the rest of the day and half of the night.

“He won’t be a minute,” Jesse said, baby still in her arms.

“Can you manage while holding Maisie?” Isabelle asked.

“She doesn’t like being set down,” Jesse said. “She’s not used to the strange house yet.”

“Here, let me…” Isabelle held out her arms, and after a moment of hesitation, Jesse let her take the baby. “Hi there.” She had an ulterior motive of course. While Jesse made the coffee, Isabelle took the time to inspect Maisie, feeling her weight, seeing that she was well fed, and there were no other obvious injuries. Isabelle wanted to reassure herself that the child was not being systematically abused.

Looking into the trusting eyes of the infant, she was certain Maisie was well looked after and loved. Apart from one that one small burn. Isabelle smiled at Maisie, and wondered if she had got it wrong. Maybe Cade was the good guy here, and it was Maisie’s mom who had hurt her and he had brought her here to keep her safe. As sheriff, she would like to help him do that, or maybe encourage him to press formal charges against the mother. In short, she wanted answers. Isabelle had learned long ago that the more information you had, the easier it was to deal with issues before they became problems.

Still, anger bubbled up inside of her. Someone had hurt this poor defenseless child. And if she found out it was Cade, she would have him before a judge in no time and Maisie put into care. Nothing gave another person the right to hurt a defenseless child.

“Jesse. Has Cade told you any more about where he has been and who Maisie’s mom was?”

Jesse turned to look at her, and then turned away to stir the coffee as she spoke. Avoiding eye contact: so she was about to lie.

“Who her mom
is
. She’s still alive.” Jesse placed a mug of coffee down next to her, and smiled sadly at Maisie. “Her mom left her, just dumped her on Cade and then disappeared.”

“So Cade has been solely responsible for Maisie? Her whole life?”

“Yes.” Jesse avoided her eyes again.

“Jesse, you have to tell me the truth.” If that was the truth, it meant Cade had to be responsible for the burn mark. If it was a lie, then what was the truth, what were they trying to hide?

“It’s just so sad. That a woman could leave their child like that.” Jesse turned back to her and for the first time she purposefully made eye contact. “You are one of us. I’ve seen you out on the mountain, as a bear, right?”

“Yes. That’s why I came here to Tawny Valley. It’s always easier to have a shifter as sheriff if a large number of the population are the same.”

“Then you’ll understand we don’t want a lot of questions about Maisie and her parentage. No DNA tests, or anything.”

“I understand, but I’m a sheriff first, shifter second.” She rubbed the back of her neck, trying to get rid of the tingling there. Something about this house was causing her to feel wrong. Off her game. Damn, she hoped whoever Maisie’s mom was, she hadn’t come to some terrible end and was now buried in the back yard.

“Of course. I’m just afraid this might expose us,” Jesse said, her voice hushed as if someone might be listening.

“There are different channels of investigation I can use if we need DNA tests,” Isabelle said. Shifters had integrated into every facet of the human world, unseen and unnoticed, yet able to help each other when they needed to, while still protecting their secret.

“I see.” Jesse paused.

“Now, I really ought to see Cade and get on my way.” She leaned forward and passed Maisie back to Jesse, then picked up her coffee and drank it. “I can go and find him.” She placed her cup down and before Jesse had a chance to stop her, Isabelle was out of the kitchen and heading towards the stairs. She took them two at a time, the sense of dread growing in her mind, her body tingling as adrenaline kicked in.

Something was off here, she had to try to focus. Had Jesse drugged her coffee? Was she about to become Cade’s next victim? Shaking off the muzzy feeling, she passed the open bathroom door, taking in the steamed-up mirror—so he had been having a shower. Stopping, she listened, trying to figure out where he was. However, a different sense kicked in, she didn’t need to hear where he was, or see where he was. Instead she was drawn irrevocably towards a closed door.

Placing her hand on the door knob, she turned it slowly, her apprehension growing. Yet inside her mind, her bear sat up, taking notice of what was occurring in the outside world, a thing she hardly ever did. Unless they were in the mountains, human life was boring to a bear. However, her bear wasn’t bored now. A shudder passed through her, a combination of excitement and expectation.

With one final surge of self-control, Isabelle pushed the door open. There he was, looking equally as dazed, a six-foot-something hunk of a man, his chest naked, jeans hugging his hips, while his dark hair, shoulder length and still wet from the shower, clung to his face. His eyes, dark and brooding, were fixed on her. They dilated as his nostrils flared; he was breathing in her scent.

A look of longing passed over his face. And then it was gone. He stood up straight, turned to grab his shirt, and then said, “You must be the sheriff. I was on my way down to see you. You didn’t need to come up. Or was there something else you were interested in … other than my past?”

His eyes flicked to the bed, and she blushed, trying to recover herself. She hadn’t missed his reaction, and she could not mistake her own: the need for him thrilled her, a thrumming in her veins that threatened to consume her.

“I thought you were hiding from me.” Her words sounded so stupid, even to her own ears.

“So you came looking for me. I thought you needed a warrant to search a house?”

“Are you threatening me?” she asked.

“Why would I do that? I have nothing to hide, I assure you.” He smiled, easily, as if she were nothing to him. What was wrong with her? What was wrong with him?

If they were truly mates, which both her, and certainly her bear, thought they were, why would he ignore it? Unless he had something to hide. Something like a child who didn’t belong to him. A flicker of apprehension crossed his face as she said, “Your mom said Maisie is your child. I want to see Maisie’s birth certificate. And then I want a statement of how you came to be her sole guardian.”

“I don’t have her birth certificate with me.”

“Really? Well,” she said, taking a notebook out of her pocket, “Maybe you could give me her mother’s name and the hospital she was born in.”

“Is this really necessary?” he asked, heading for the door.

“Yes,” she said firmly, her foot going against it to stop him leaving. “It won’t take a minute.”

They both knew he could overpower her. They both knew she wasn’t going to leave without the facts. Stalemate.

He sighed. “OK. But please, I would rather you didn’t dig around too much, it was a terrible time for Leona’s family.”

“Leona…?” Her pen poised over the paper.

“Leona Pender. And Maisie was born in St. Hilda’s Hospital.”

“Thank you, now that wasn’t so hard, was it?” Smiling, trying to keep herself together, when all she wanted to do was drag him into bed. The same bed that was only three feet away from them. So close, so out of reach.

There was no way she could do anything about their relationship while he was lying to her, and she had no doubt he was lying to her. However, she needed to buy herself some time.

“Not hard at all.” He adjusted his clothing and she could not stop herself glancing down and seeing he was hard, in a completely different way.

“Well, thank you, Cade. I will be in touch.” She headed out of the door, needing fresh, cool air on her face before she swooned, or did something equally as weak, in his presence. As she walked past him, she could not stop herself taking a long, deep breath, his scent filling her nostrils, and she closed her eyes. Irresistible.