Chapter Three

      Jayne thought frantically past the pain in her shoulder. This sexy man with the incredible voice thought she was the mother of the baby. She hadn’t even known it was a girl.

      Caution curbed her first impulse to tell him everything. She didn’t know him or anything about him. But watching him with the infant had brought a lump to her throat. For such a large man, he handled the tiny baby with a gentle touch. He hadn’t seemed awkward, just a bit unsure which endeared him to her. He was obviously a good person.

      Though he’d hurt her, he’d been nothing but kind trying to fix her shoulder. It was probably insane, but she trusted him. The only problem was, the kidnappers had already proved they would stop at nothing. Was it fair to involve him any further in this mess?

      “Who stole your truck?”

      His eyes darkened and a hardness set in around his mouth. “Good question. I don’t like any of the answers including the possibility that your husband may be outside right now with my rifle trying to figure out the best way to get in here and finish the job he started.”

      Fear returned with a vengeance. In her mind, she clearly pictured the man standing in the parking lot aiming the gun at the car she stole.

      “You think he followed us here?” She swallowed past her dry throat.

      “It’s not a possibility I’m willing to rule out.”

      “We’ve got to get out of here!”

      She tried to sit up but he held her in place easily with one hand. She was so weak the effort nearly drained her and the motion jarred her shoulder alarmingly. She could have wept from the searing pain.

      “We’ve got no place to go,” he said soothingly.

      “But—”

      “I’m not completely unarmed,” he told her. The flick of his hand sent her eyes to his waistband where the handle of a gun protruded. “He’ll have to go through me to get to you.”

      That braked the fear and reached into her muddled mind with a whole host of confusing sentiments. He was going to protect her?

      “You don’t even know me.”

      “No, ma’am, I don’t. And if you’d had the decency to pick someone else’s truck to hide in, I’d have been a whole lot happier. But you didn’t, so I’m stuck with the situation.”

      Jayne blinked in surprise at this grumpy discourse. “And here I was thinking you were a nice person.”

      “Whatever gave you that impression?” he growled.

      “I have no idea,” she snapped weakly. “I suppose I could have just stood there and let him shoot me, but I assure you, he probably would have shot you, too. He’s even nastier than you are and he’s not apt to leave witnesses. He just wants the baby.”

      “Good.”

      “What?”

      “If she’s what he wants it gives us an advantage.”

      New fear washed over her. “I am not giving him the baby!”

      “Of course not, but it means he won’t start shooting indiscriminately into the cabin.”

      Jayne tried to hide a shudder. She closed her eyes and attempted to think. Her uncooperative brain was sluggish with pain and fear and exhaustion.

      “Why would he take your truck? That doesn’t make sense. He could have walked in the door and shot us both when you weren’t expecting him. He doesn’t need your rifle. He’s already got a gun.”

      Silence filled the cabin.

      “Good point,” the man called Cade finally said thoughtfully.

      “And why don’t we have anywhere to go?” she asked, opening her eyes again. Cade wasn’t looking at her. He was staring at the wall apparently deep in thought.

      “This is a line shack,” he said after a long pause. “We put them in places that are far from the main house. After a day roping cattle or riding fence it’s a roof over your head instead of a bedroll on the ground. Especially during bad weather.”

      She knew that. “So walking for help isn’t an option?”

      “Not at the moment.” He pulled a toothpick from his pocket and stuck it in his mouth. Grimly, he stood and began packing supplies away. “You can breast-feed, can’t you?” he asked again.

      “No!”

      He suddenly eyed her with an expression of disdain. Did he believe she felt such a natural process was beneath her?

      “There’s milk in the diaper bag.”

      “She already drank two of the six bottles. They’re really little bottles.”

      “There’s an unopened can of formula. We’ll have to mix up more formula when we run out.”

      He turned and began rummaging through the bag. He pulled out the can and gave her an acerbic look. “This won’t last forever. Then what?”

      “I don’t know! Are we going to be stuck here forever?” She tried to sit up, but her shoulder hurt and the action made her feel weak and dizzy. Her stomach lurched appallingly. She tried to cover her helplessness with a glare. “You can wipe that expression right off your face. I’d feed her if I could, but it isn’t possible.”

      Her head began to ache in tandem with the burning throbbing of her shoulder. Jayne closed her eyes against the pain and vowed not to be ill. “I don’t know what to do,” she said trying not to panic. “I can’t seem to think right now.”

      “Okay,” he said more kindly. “I’ve got powdered milk. I can add it to the formula to stretch it out a ways if we need to. It may not be great, but it should get us through until help arrives.”

      She opened one eye and immediately closed it again. She was very tired and it was cold in the cabin.

      “So help will arrive?” she asked.

      “Let me worry about that. When’s the last time you ate?”

      She thought about the bag of cheese curls and the diet soda she’d been eating in her car right before everything went crazy. Her stomach tightened alarmingly.

      “I’m not hungry.”

      “I’ll fix us something while you rest.”

      “The baby—”

      “Will be just fine. She’s still sleeping. What’s her name?”

      Name? Of course he’d expect her to have a name. He thought this was her baby.

      “Heather. I call her Heather.” Her mother’s name was the first one to pop into her head.

      “Yeah?”

      She squinted carefully and found him scrutinizing the sleeping infant.

      “I guess I can see that. It’s soft. Sort of pretty.”

      “My mother will be glad you approve.”

      Cade glanced at her. “Why? Did she name the kid?”

      “No. It’s her name.”

      “Oh. Are you cold?”