Montana Twins

“You get Rebecca, and I’ll go around to the other side to get Amanda.”

“You want me to—” He blanched as white as if she’d asked him to pick up a deadly snake. “I’ve never held a baby that tiny before. I’m not sure I know how.”

He’d better learn how in a hurry if he expected Laura to even consider leaving the twins in his care for as little as two minutes—forget the rest of their lives.

“Here, let me.” She edged past him, acutely aware of what a big man he was. His aura expanded around her, stealing inside her personal space, leaving her feeling slightly breathless. Unsnapping the car seat harness, she lifted Rebecca and gave her a quick kiss. “Come on, Becky. Meet your uncle Eric.” She held out the baby to him.

He hesitated.

“She won’t break as long as you don’t drop her.”

“I won’t,” he promised.

She laid the baby in his arms. “Keep her head propped up. Don’t let it fall back.”

He looked as awkward as a boy at his first dance, standing as stiff as a robot, not knowing quite what to do with his hands, his expression frozen with fear. Even so, Laura saw he was gentle. His big hand cradled the back of Rebecca’s head, his arm held her firmly against his chest.

Not that that meant he’d be a good daddy for the long haul.

“Now, hold her carefully,” she warned him again. She hurried to the other side of the SUV, quickly extricating Amanda from her car seat. The infant stretched and yawned, then let out a tiny cry of complaint. “Sorry I had to wake you, Mandy. You’re fine, really you are.” She grabbed the oversize diaper bag and rejoined Eric, who hadn’t budged. “We were going inside?”

“Right.” He eyed Laura, then looked down at Rebecca. “I was wrong before. She’s not Tinkerbell, she’s Stinkerbell. And I think she’s leaking.”

“Oh, dear.” She stifled a smile at his horrified look. “Well, let’s get her inside, and I’ll change her diaper. That probably means Mandy is about to let loose, too.”

Eric didn’t look at all pleased with the prospect. His easy walk that she’d noted earlier turned to a tiptoe race up the porch steps. Despite that, he took the time to hold the door open for her.

An officer of the law and a gentleman—shades of the old west.

For a bachelor’s place, the living room looked neat, and the heavy leather couch and recliner gave the room a masculine flavor. In lieu of any feminine touches, there was an overflowing bookcase stuffed with mystery, adventure and science fiction titles, a big-screen TV and a stereo sound system that would rival an outdoor amphitheater. It looked like a case of a boy with plenty of expensive toys.

Noting the row of huge silver rodeo trophies on the mantel above the natural rock fireplace, Laura suspected Eric’s music of choice would be country-western. She wondered how he was at two-stepping. Not that she was an expert. Just the opposite. But the dance had always looked like fun.

Holding Amanda in one arm, she pulled a receiving blanket from the diaper bag with her free hand and spread it on the center cushion of the man-size couch. She put Amanda down and reached for Rebecca.

Eric passed her the baby, thinking how odd the situation felt. A woman in his house and two tiny babies so small he could probably cradle one in each hand like a football if he wasn’t so darn scared he’d drop one.

No question, he was going to need a crash course in infant care if they had any chance of surviving under his roof after he was on his own with them.

A father ought to know something about taking care of his kids.

If indeed he was a relation at all. He had the feeling he should be waiting for another shoe to drop, one that resembled a complicated con job intended to raid his bank account.

How could anyone know how much he’d always wanted a family of his own?

He watched Laura’s swift, confident movements as she changed the babies’ diapers. Her head was bent over them, allowing her hair to slide forward, hiding her face behind a ginger-blond screen. Her hairdo was practical, only long enough to reach the angle of her jaw, one of those styles that brushed into place with a few strokes or little more than a shake of her head. But it seemed to shine in the reflected light of the room as though someone had turned a golden spotlight on her.

Her clothes were practical, too. A businesslike navy jacket over a light yellow blouse and navy slacks. Sensible shoes. A long way from a femme fatale or what he’d imagine a scam artist would wear.

She dressed as primly as every social worker he’d ever known as a kid, but something was different about her. When she held one of the twins, murmuring sweet, loving sounds, her smile glowed from the inside out. She had some kind of a special connection to these babies. Eric wasn’t sure what.

Granted, he wasn’t a big-city cop. But he’d had a fair amount of police training and pretty good instincts. Despite her very attractive packaging, this woman was hiding something.

“Except for knowing my birth name, what other proof do you have that these babies are any relation to me at all?”

Chapter Two

Laura’s head snapped up, her eyebrows arched in surprise at his question. “Trust me, Sheriff Oakes, there is no reason in the world why I would lie to you about that.”

“But that doesn’t mean what you’re saying is true. How well did you know the woman who said she was my sister?”

“Half sister. You and she had the same mother. I’ve known Amy since she was ten years old.”

“That long?” The more a witness talked, the more likely they were to get their story confused, if they were lying. Eric wanted this woman talking. He wanted the truth.

Rebecca started to fuss, and Laura picked her up, holding her against her shoulder, patting her back. “My mother took Amy in as a foster child when I was about twenty and going to college. I was still living at home, so I was around a lot.”

Something dark and painful rose in Eric’s chest. “Where was her mother?” His mother, if what she was saying was true.

“Amy was being both abused and neglected. Child Welfare removed her from her home and placed her with my mother for her own safety. It was the best thing that could have ever happened to Amy.”

God, remembering what had happened to him as a kid, Eric could believe that. “Where is her mother now?”

Laura softened her voice slightly. “She died about five years ago. I’m sorry.”

A muscle flexed in his jaw. “I see. You realize I can check your story, don’t you?”

She made an impatient sound and plucked a baby bottle from the diaper bag. “Be my guest. The detective’s business card is in the truck. And my mother would be happy to give you the name of Amy’s former case worker.”

Either she was telling the truth, as she knew it, or she was a damn good actress. But the whole story could still be a scam.

Eric sat down on the arm of the couch and watched while Laura slipped the bottle into Rebecca’s hungry mouth. She did it with such ease, he guessed she’d done it a thousand times before. Probably. He also noted she wasn’t wearing a ring, which likely meant she wasn’t currently married.

“What about the twins’ father? You know where he is?”

“She never gave me his name. I’m not sure if I knew who he was that I’d go looking for him. She’d gone off with him about a year ago. From what she did tell me, he was abusing her. After she got pregnant, she ran away.”

“Smart woman. But if he knew about her pregnancy, he could still show up and claim his parental rights.” Eric couldn’t think of anything worse than losing his own children. But he couldn’t imagine abusing a woman, either.

“I think it’s unlikely he’ll show up, whoever he is.”

“If Amy knew I existed, I wished she’d tried to find me sooner. I might have been able to help.” With a restraining order…or something a little more personal and persuasive.

“She didn’t know about you, not until shortly before her…death.” Her voice caught on the word and her chin trembled slightly as though experiencing a painful memory. “She was going through some old papers of her mother’s. That’s how she…we learned about you.”

Amanda began twisting and turning on the couch like an eel. Almost immediately she registered her displeasure about something. Eric didn’t have a clue what.

“There’s another bottle in the bag,” Laura said. “Mandy’s has a blue top. Can you feed her?”

Panic spiked him in the chest. “Uh, sure, I guess.”

He found the bottle, gave it a little shake as he had seen Laura do, then stuck it in Amanda’s mouth. She started sucking eagerly.

“It would be better if you picked Mandy up and held her while you were feeding her. Cuddling is important to an infant’s emotional and intellectual development.”

“Right.” His brow tightened into a frown. It looked so easy when Laura held and fed Rebecca. In contrast, he didn’t know quite where or what to grab on to, and it irritated him that Laura sounded like a baby-care expert.

“You do this for a living?” he asked. “Taking care of babies.”

“Bigger babies.” She smiled slightly. “They can cry louder. I’m a high school history and government teacher.”

“Oh.” Adjusting his position, Eric picked up the baby, bottle and all, cradling her in his arm. She looked up at him with big blue eyes, trusting him as though he could walk on water.

God, did he dare believe these two babies were really related to him? That they were family? That he had a legitimate claim to be their father and raise them?

“What makes you so sure these records you’re talking about weren’t forged or something.”

“Have you always been this much of a skeptic? Or is it that babies make you that nervous?”

“Come on, you waltz into my life with some crazy story about a sister I never knew I had? Wouldn’t you have some doubts, too?” Less than a year ago a woman had shown up at his brother Walker’s house with a baby in tow and claiming to be his new housekeeper. A totally phony story, which had worked out well in the end, he admitted. “A desperate woman looking to find a decent home for her baby can come up with a very convincing lie.”

She leveled him a look that would make most men back off in a hurry. “I personally guarantee if you don’t want to raise Rebecca and Amanda for any reason at all, they will always have a good home—with me.”

The intensity of her words brought him up short. This woman was not fooling around. “You want to adopt the twins?”

“With all my heart.” A fine sheen of tears appeared in her eyes, but she didn’t let them spill over.

“Then why did you bother to track me down? I never would have known otherwise.”

“Because I promised Amy I would.”

That simple truth, stated with such conviction, had more power than anything else she could have said. She wanted to be the twins’ mother. She loved them. Eric was standing in her way. And still she had kept her word to a dead woman—her foster sister.

Removing the bottle from Rebecca’s mouth, she lifted the baby to her shoulder again, rubbing her cheek against the infant’s blond, fuzzy little head and patting her back.

Assuming the twins were related to Eric, did he have any right to take them away from a woman who so obviously loved them even if it had been their mother’s wish that he raise the pair? What the hell had made her—or him—think he was qualified for the job?

Rebecca gave a very unladylike burp, and milk drooled down her chin.

“I brought along the box of records and snapshots Amy discovered. It’s in the back of my truck.” She laid the baby back down on the couch and wiped the dribble from her lips with the edge of the blanket. “If you’ll watch the twins, I’ll go get it. Some of the pictures are of you and your mother.”

That news drove the air from his lungs. He had nothing of his mother except memories. Some good, some bad. All of which he had tried to repress because the very last memory was of her abandoning him.

LAURA MANAGED to get outside before her chin began to wobble again. She didn’t want Eric to see how strongly his interrogation had upset her. It had taken all of her courage to come here to fulfill Amy’s wishes. She didn’t appreciate being treated like a common criminal. Given a choice, she’d be happy if he decided he wasn’t related to the twins, didn’t want them around.

But her damn conscience demanded she give him all the information she had before he made up his mind about what he wanted to do.

Sometimes being honest really stank!

Grabbing her slender briefcase from the front seat, she went around to the back of the truck and lifted the hatchback. Her suitcase, baby paraphernalia and a crib filled the back of the SUV. Tucked to one side was a shoe box from a discount store that had long since gone out of business. She took that and a small quilt, carrying them inside.

She found him gazing at the babies but couldn’t quite read his expression. It was softer than when he looked at her, more relaxed with at least a trace of awe.

Please don’t take my babies away from me.

He looked up at her.

“This is the box with the snapshots and Amy’s birth certificate. You’ll note the similarity of your mother’s name and hers.”

Eric held the box in his lap unopened for longer than necessary while Laura busied herself by spreading the quilt on the floor and laying the twins down one at a time. He wasn’t sure he wanted to know what was in the box. For the most part, he’d put his childhood behind him. He’d grown up. Whatever faults his mother had had, he didn’t dwell on them now.

He didn’t want to reopen wounds he’d spent most of his life trying to heal.

One of the babies made a singsong sound, and he realized he had to see whatever Pandora had in mind for him.

The snapshots didn’t appear to be in any particular order. A young blond girl in a ponytail standing in front of a pickup truck. The twins’ mother, his half sister? A younger version of her on a tricycle. He felt no recognition, no connection.

He picked up the birth certificate and examined it. Amy Maria Thorne, mother listed as Millicent Karen Thorne.

Eric swallowed the tightness in his throat. His mother must have finally found some guy to marry her. She’d been listed Millicent Karen Johnson on his birth certificate. Unmarried.

And then she’d abused and neglected her daughter—just as she had neglected and allowed a hamfisted man to abuse him.

He caught his breath at the next snapshot, he and his mother standing in front of a roller-coaster ride. He’d been maybe seven or eight at the time.

“I remember this.” His voice sounded rusty, his throat was dry. “We’d gone to a county fair. It was the first time I’d ever ridden a roller coaster and some guy with a camera…”

His throat shut down entirely. He couldn’t speak, and it felt like someone had tightened a band around his chest, screwing it down hard.

He stood. He had to get away from Laura. Couldn’t let her see how upset he was.

With a vague wave of his hand, he fled the room.

Why had his mother abandoned him? What had he done that was so wrong?

Sitting back on her haunches, Laura watched him leave. His obvious pain had brought an ache to her own chest. From what she’d just seen and what Amy had told her, Eric’s wounds were fully as deep as his sister’s had been.

Smiling down at the twins, who were now chewing on each other’s fingers, she silently vowed she wouldn’t leave them with Eric until she made sure whatever damage his mother had done to him emotionally hadn’t left him so severely scarred that he was incapable of giving the twins the love they deserved.

If she decided to leave them here at all.

When he returned, his strong, masculine features were tightly under control, and he held himself erect.

“You’ve convinced me,” he said. “Amanda and Rebecca are my nieces. We’re blood kin, and I’ll give them the best home I know how.”

Fear and adrenaline drove Laura to her feet. “It’s not that easy. I’m not going to simply hand the girls over to you.”

“Why not? That’s why you tracked me down, isn’t it? It’s what my sister wanted, right?”

“Not exactly. First, I have to—”

The doorbell chimed, but before either of them had a chance to react, the door opened.

“Hey, Eric, are you home?” a female voice asked.

Laura’s heart sank. If Eric had a woman in his life who could be a good mother to the twins—

A young woman with reddish hair swept into the room followed by an equally attractive blonde.

“Oh, look at those sweet little babies,” the first one crooned, kneeling beside the quilt on the floor. “Look at their tiny pug noses. They’re adorable.”

Laura bristled, her protective instincts rising.

Frowning, Eric muttered, “What are you two doing here? And since when do you use the front door?”

“Since we knew you had company and we came to see the babies, of course,” the blonde responded. “And to meet the woman you’ve been seeing on the sly.” With a welcoming smile, she extended her hand to Laura. “Hi, I’m Lizzie Oakes, Eric’s sister-in-law. And that’s Kristi fawning all over your babies, Eric’s other sister-in-law. We’re both upset he’s been keeping you a secret from the family.”

Laura gaped at the woman before finally taking Lizzie’s hand. “I think there’s been some misunderstanding. Eric and I haven’t been—”

“You don’t have to pretend with us,” Kristi said, playing peek-a-boo with Amanda. “We’re certainly not ones to cast stones.”

“Neither of us,” Lizzie agreed. “We just want to make sure Eric is prepared to do the right thing. A woman shouldn’t have to—”

“Ladies!” Eric barked, causing both babies to twist their heads around searching for the source of that unpleasant sound. “This is Laura Cavendish, who I just met today. And those two babies, who you think are so cute, are my nieces, which is no doubt why you think they’re cute. Family resemblance.”

Jaws agape, both young women stared at Eric.

“What sister?” they said in unison.

“Half sister,” he admitted. “Laura, who knew her when she was growing up, brought the twins here so I could meet them. I’m very grateful for that.” He acknowledged her with a nod. “And it is my intention, based on my sister’s wishes, to adopt the twins and be the best darn father I know how to be.”

“Oh, my…” Kristi murmured.

“Well, then,” Lizzie said. “Congratulations. You’ll be a terrific dad.”

“Excuse me, but it’s not that simple,” Laura told them. She’d been aware via the adoption records the detective had uncovered that Eric had two brothers. She hadn’t expected to be assailed right off by two sisters-in-law, however.

“You’re right,” Kristi agreed, placing a kiss on Rebecca’s forehead before she stood. “Among other things, I don’t think Eric has a lot of experience with babies. I know he’ll be grateful if you could stay here with him for a few days to help him get the hang of things. Unless you have a husband to get home to.”

“No, I don’t—”

“That’s a terrific idea.” Lizzie shot a conspiratorial look in Kristi’s direction.

Eric stepped forward. “Now wait a minute—”

“You’ve got that extra bedroom where Laura can stay,” Lizzie said. “And the room on the south side will make a wonderful nursery. Sunny and warm in the winter. The babies will love it.”

“Trust me, you’ll need a lot of extra help at first,” Kristi added. “Why, I remember when…”

Laura’s head spun as the two women pointed out the importance of having someone on hand who knew how to handle infants. They, the women insisted, didn’t have time to help him out. They had their own families. Laura suspected the whole deal was a match-making scheme. On the other hand, she wasn’t about to leave the twins in Eric’s care just yet. Maybe never. In order to give him a fair chance at proving himself, she needed to give him some time with the babies. Maybe he’d hate all the inconvenience enough to forget being a father.

Driving through town, she’d noted Grass Valley didn’t offer a whole lot of options for temporary housing. She hadn’t considered that problem before she left home, and now she had nowhere else to stay except with him and the twins, because she sure as hell wasn’t going to leave them.

“I think staying here is a fine idea,” she announced.

They all turned toward her. Eric shook his head. Lizzie said, “I think it’s perfect, too. Would you like us to help bring in your luggage?”

“No, I’m sure Eric will be more than happy to do that for me.” She gave him her stern schoolmarm look that had been known to wither a whole gang of adolescent boys. Managing one man shouldn’t be all that difficult.

Lizzie and Kristi appeared pleased they’d accomplished whatever it was they’d set out to do.

“We’ve got to be running along,” Kristi said.

“Just wanted to welcome you to Grass Valley,” Lizzie added. “Eric’s a great guy, by the way.”

Laura smiled weakly. The man had certainly developed a fan club among his sisters-in-law. She wondered what their spouses thought of that. And knew their views wouldn’t sway her about leaving the twins with Eric if she wasn’t one hundred percent convinced it was the right thing to do.

Given how much she loved the babies, it was hard to imagine she’d ever be willing to do that, despite Amy’s wishes.

She swallowed hard, telling herself she didn’t know enough yet about Eric to seriously consider handing over the twins’ custody. His worthiness to be their father could take days to determine. Maybe even weeks.

She nearly groaned aloud. Surely it wouldn’t take that long to discover some fatal crack in his paragon-of-virtue image.

He managed to escort his sisters-in-law out the door, then returned to the living room.

“I’m sorry about the misunderstanding. Those two are really great people but they do sometimes jump to conclusions.”

“It’s all right.” She knelt and draped a light blanket over the two sleeping babies. “The fact is, you’ve jumped to a conclusion, too.”

“What’s that?”

Pulling some papers from her briefcase, she handed a copy of Amy’s notarized instructions to Eric.

“Amy was abused most of her life, not just by the man who fathered the twins. The one thing she asked me to do before I relinquished the babies to you is to make sure you had a wife who could love them like a mother should.”

He stared at her in disbelief, then quickly read through the papers.

“This makes you the final arbiter of whether or not I get custody.”

“That’s true.” The attorney she and Amy had hired had carefully crafted Amy’s last wishes so that the custody decision about the twins would be Laura’s and hers alone.

“And she wanted me to have a wife.”

“It was her very strong preference. She had good reasons to—”

“That’s crazy!”

“Those were her wishes.” She gestured toward the legal papers in his hand. “This is what she wanted. I intend to fulfill her request as best I can.”

“Then I guess that makes it you and me against each other.”

“If that’s how you see it. I see it as doing what’s best for the twins.”

Chapter Three

“I’m going to need some sort of a changing table.”

Sunshine streamed through the window of the designated nursery, but the room itself looked bare, the only furniture the crib Eric had hauled upstairs. There ought to be a border of teddy bear ballerinas dancing along the top of the walls to match the bumper pads and crib sheets Laura had chosen for the twins. An overflowing toy box would fit under the window, a pair of desks in the corner for when they got older, a two-sided easel for painting.

“Seems to me we’re short one crib, too,” Eric commented, checking that the crib was solidly held together. “They should each have their own.”

“For now, they’re all right in one. In fact, I think they like it better that way. They seem to want to cuddle as if they were in the womb. When I take them back home—”