The Maverick Cowboy(18)

Blue sat forward. "Chase, I haven't the faintest idea who Angelina is, so how do you expect me to answer that?"

"There's no need to get in my face. Let's approach this logically. Maria said she was almost eleven, so where were you twelve years ago?"

"Completing basic training and moving on to my first post."

"And did you have any sexual relationships around that time?"

"TC, I was eighteen and a cocky Marine, what do you think?"

"I think you might have slipped up."

"Thanks for the vote of confidence," Blue muttered.

"Can you put your hand on your heart and swear that you didn't have sex with some woman who might have had the ability to get pregnant?"

Blue sighed. "I suppose you have a point. I always tried to be careful and use protection. I'm not that dumb."

"I never said you were." Chase reached across the table and awkwardly patted Blue's hand. "It's okay. We'll sort this out."

"We'd better. I'm tired of everyone looking at me as if I'm something they need to scrape off their shoe."



       
         
       
        

Chase got up. "How about you make a list of all the women you did sleep with twelve years ago, and start working out how to contact them?"

"You're kidding, right?" Blue looked up at his brother. "I was eighteen and I screwed around like an idiot."

"Yeah, and now you might have a daughter." Chase pointed up the stairs. "Do your best, okay? Do it for her."

Blue shoved both hands in his hair and stared down at the table until Chase left. He'd gone to clubs and bars, gotten drunk and picked up women who liked a man in uniform. Sure, he'd heard the rumors about guys who'd gotten caught out by a pregnancy and ended up either married or supporting a kid. That's why he'd always tried to be careful.

But if he was going to be 100 percent honest with himself, there might have been a time or two when he'd been too damned drunk to know what the hell he was doing . . .

"BB."

He looked up as Ruth sat opposite him. He hated the fact that her face was creased with worry.

"She went straight to sleep. Poor girl doesn't know what's going to happen to her next. Fancy her father throwing her out like that."

"Do you think she's telling the truth?"

Ruth's blue gaze was steady on his. "Yes."

"I swear to you that I never knowingly left a child of mine behind, but I did some stupid stuff in my teens."

"I know you, BB." She took his hand between both of hers and held it tight. "That means I also know you'd never abandon your own child. If Maria is yours? Then we'll find out what happened and take it from there, okay?"

Blue nodded, which was about all he could manage. Ruth's calm acceptance of the predicament he found himself in was balm to his soul. If she'd started in on him, he didn't know what he would've done. Hightailed it out and left the mess behind him, maybe. But he was a better man than he'd been at eighteen. At least he was sure of that.

Whatever was going on, he would find a solution.

He had no choice.





Chapter Eight

"The bus driver said he picked her up in Sacramento and kept an eye on her for the whole journey." Nate checked his notes. "A dark-haired man in his mid thirties put her on the bus and asked the driver to let her off at Morgantown. Apparently he said there was a family emergency and that he couldn't accompany the girl as planned, but that she would be met at the bus stop."

The house was quiet. It was still early in the morning, and January had taken Maria down to the barn to meet the horses while Nate brought Blue, Chase, and Ruth up to speed. 

Chase sipped his coffee. "Is it legal to put a kid on a long-distance bus without an adult?"

"Over the age of eight, yeah." Nate nodded. "The adult is supposed to fill out a form in advance with information about the child and the destination and all that stuff so the bus company knows who'll be picking up the kid."

"So we should be able to get all that information from the bus company, right?" Blue asked.

"Nope, because in this instance, the guy claimed it was an emergency situation and showed the driver he'd originally purchased two tickets. The driver felt sorry for him and let the girl on the bus. He shouldn't have done that."

"And he let her get off the bus without checking whether there was anyone to collect her?" Blue shook his head. "That's fucking criminal."

"BB, I know you are upset, but please don't use that language." Ruth frowned at him. "I guess I should mention that Maria told the driver she could see her aunt and just waved good-bye and went into the store."

"Why didn't she stay put and make a fuss?" Chase asked.

"Probably because she believed that son of a bitch who put her on the bus didn't want her anymore," Blue muttered.

"BB, that's enough." Ruth stuck a finger right in his face. "If you can't keep a civil tongue in your head, get out of my kitchen and go cool your heels in the barn with the other animals until you're ready to apologize."

"I'm sorry, Ruth." Blue rubbed an agitated hand over his short hair. "It's just what kind of father does that to his kid?"

"The kind who doesn't think he's her father anymore. Maria said he'd been drinking a lot since his wife died. Maybe he didn't know what he was doing."

Blue forced himself to calm down. "Okay, so what next, Nate?"

"I'd like to talk to Maria again." Nate looked at Ruth. "You can stay with her. Did she tell you her last name?"

"Lester."

"Wow, that's more than I got out of her. And what about her dad's first name?"

"Daniel, I think."

Lester . . .

Blue looked up. "I knew a Marine with that last name."

Nate turned to Blue. "Yeah?"

"Well, not exactly knew him well, but we were on the same base at the same time and I met his wife a couple of times . . ." Blue stopped speaking. "Her name wasn't Angelina, though, but it was something similar."

"Did you sleep with her?"

The question came from Chase, who never shied away from asking what no one else would dare.

"No." Blue met his brother's gaze. "I did not."

"But it might be a lead." Chase finished his coffee. "Are you still in contact with the guy?"

"I could probably find him if I tried."

"Then try." Chase nodded. "If you can't find him, let me know and I can have a look at it from my end." He stood up. "I have to get some work done. Thanks for everything, Nate. We really appreciate it."

Chase went out and Ruth took the opportunity to fill up Blue and Nate's coffee mugs and put a plate of cookies on the table.

"Can we keep Maria here until everything is sorted out?" Ruth handed Nate the sugar bowl and a spoon.

Nate dunked his cookie in his coffee. "I'll have to check in with CPS."

"I know Rebecca Smith, who manages this area. I'll give her a call so she knows we are more than willing to hold on to Maria."

"There might be paperwork involved," Nate warned.



       
         
       
        

"I'm good at that." Blue grimaced. "We can't in all conscience send her back to Sacramento and expect her to find her way home to a man who basically disowned her."

"We wouldn't do that, Blue. CPS would just find her a temporary home around here until we had everything sorted."

"Which might as well be here," Ruth declared. "I'll go and call Rebecca right now and ask her what I need to do to meet their requirements. It wouldn't be the first time we've taken a child in on the ranch. Of course, back in the day no one remarked on it. It was just seen as doing the right thing."

"Thanks, Ruth." Nate closed his notebook and turned to Blue. "Do you think you could find Maria so that I can talk to her?"

"Sure." Blue pushed away from the table, put on his boots, and went down to the barn, where he found January, Maria, and Billy petting Nolly, who was loving all the attention.

"Hey," Blue called out to the little group. Billy was holding Maria up so that she could see into the stall and was nodding gravely at something she was telling him. Blue remembered being held by his father like that. The way Billy had really paid attention when any of his kids had spoken to him and had given his considered and thoughtful replies to the most outlandish of questions.

That had all gone south when the booze claimed him and he'd eventually just disappeared.

"What's up, January?"

January turned and smiled at Blue while Maria pressed closer against Billy's shoulder. Had he sounded too loud? She was probably hypersensitive to everything at the moment, especially if her dad was a drunk. Blue knew all about walking on eggshells around his dad's hangovers.

"Hey, Maria." He tried to sound nonthreatening and approachable. Difficult for a Marine. "Ruth's looking for you, so do you want to come back to the house?"

Billy lowered Maria to the ground, but kept a hand on her shoulder. She turned her face away from Blue.