The Cowboy's Pride and Joy

“You don’t give a baby a cookie, Jake Hunter,” she snapped. “But I think a banana would be welcome if that’s all right with his mama.”

“Oh, Luke loves bananas. Thank you, Anna,” Cassie said, dropping a quick kiss on the baby’s head.

His son loved bananas. Good to know, Jake told himself, still looking at the boy who had him hypnotized. His heart did another sharp squeeze in his chest as the kid laughed and clapped his tiny hands together.

Anna smiled at Cassie, then narrowed her eyes on Jake. “Anyway, I know how to take care of a baby without your advice, Jake Hunter,” she grumbled and took the diaper bag from Cassie. “Don’t you worry, honey, I raised four of my own. The boy will be fine with me. You come on in and have some tea once you’re done with him.” She shot Jake a death glare as she swept past him, carrying his son.

Astonished, he looked after his supposedly loyal housekeeper for a long minute. This was nuts. Suddenly he was the bad guy here? How did that make sense?

“What the hell did I do?” he demanded of no one in particular. “I didn’t know I had a kid, did I?”

Anna kept walking, her quick steps sounding like gunshots in the stillness. He turned away abruptly and his gaze swung to Cassie, standing there staring at him. Jake had the satisfaction of seeing her features tighten and her lips go bloodless.

“I know you want an explanation and I’ll tell you whatever you want to know,” she said in a rush, as she slid out of her heavy jacket to reveal a red sweater that reached to her thighs, and black jeans tucked into knee-high boots. She shoved the sleeves of her sweater up to her elbows.

Damn, she looked good. Having a baby had ripened her curves, made her even more desirable than she had been, and that was saying a lot.

Not the point.

“Start with why you called my grandfather to arrange a ride here from the airport. Why didn’t you call me? Hell, while we’re on it, why didn’t you call me when you found out you were pregnant? When you had the baby?”

“I called Ben this morning because I didn’t want to explain all of this to you over the phone.” She pushed her hair back from her face and took a breath. “And I didn’t want you to meet your son in the airport.”

“That takes care of today,” he ground out, crossing his arms over his chest. “Now explain the last fourteen months.”

She took a breath and blew it out. “That’ll take time. And there’s something you have to know, first. The reason I’m here.”

“You mean,” he cut in, “the reason you’re finally telling me about my son.”

“Yes.” She reached into her bag, pulled a piece of paper out and crossed the room. Thrusting the page at him, she ordered, “Read that.”

It only took a second or two and in that time, the temper he’d thought was as high as it could go burst past the breaking point. “My mother is going to sue you for custody of my son?”

Cass wrung her hands, tugging at her fingers, then started pacing back and forth across the huge room. While she walked, she threw glances at him. “My sister Claudia told your mom about Luke, and two days later, I got that in the mail. She’ll do it, Jake. Elise Hunter will take my baby if you don’t stop her.”

“No one’s going to take your baby from you,” he muttered, gaze running over the few sharp and to-the-point sentences on the heavy stationery his mother preferred. “No judge would allow it.”

“She’s rich,” Cass muttered. “I’m not. She can hire a fleet of lawyers and I can’t.” She stopped in front of him, tipped her head back and stared up into his eyes. “I won’t lose my son. You have to do something.”

Those fog-gray depths were filled with pain and worry, tugging at something inside him, awakening a protective streak he hadn’t felt since he’d left the military. Back then, you watched your buddies’ backs. You looked out for them all like family. Risked your own life to save theirs and never gave it another thought. Back home, he’d felt that same sense of loyalty to his grandfather, mother and sister—but with Cassie, that urge to defend came roaring through his blood like a battle cry.

Crumpling the paper in one hand, he walked to the phone on a side table near the couch. He grabbed the receiver out of its cradle, stabbed in a few numbers and waited for his mother to answer her private line. When she did, Jake didn’t waste time on niceties.

“What’s this bull about you trying to take Cassie’s baby from her?”