Yuletide Baby Bargain

Maddie pursed her lips as she studied the single line of looping handwriting. “Jaxie, please take care of Layla for me,” she read. Her eyes lifted to his for a moment. “Jaxie?”

“You know how women are with Jax.” Even Maddie had been susceptible to his brother, once. Until Linc set her straight.

“The note isn’t signed.”

He gave her a look. “Presumably, Jaxie knows who the mother of his own child is.”

“But he obviously didn’t tell you about her.”

“Yeah, well, we don’t really talk to each other a lot anymore.”

“How long has he been out of town?”

He shrugged. “Little over a week.”

“He still lives here, doesn’t he?”

“Yes. So?”

“So how can you live in the same house and not talk to each other?”

He wished he hadn’t said anything. “It’s not germane.”

Her eyebrows rose. “Oh. Well, if it’s not germane.” She gave him a wide-eyed stare and grabbed the washed pacifier, trading it for the tip of her index finger in the baby’s mouth. Then she took the baby bottle and filled it part way with tap water, added a few scoops from the can of formula without so much as a glance at the tiny print, and screwed on the nipple. She shook the bottle vigorously and held it under running hot water. “While you’re feeding her, I’ll call my uncle and check in with my boss to let him know what’s going on. I have enough autonomy to set up the emergency placement, but Ray’s still going to want to know about it. He’s a stickler that way. But no matter where the placement ends up being, Layla still needs an exam first, particularly considering the way she was left. Just because I didn’t see any signs of injury, it’s not a medical assessment. And Uncle David’s qualified to make one, which means maybe we can avoid having to involve the hospital, too. Are you sure you don’t know who her mother might be?”

“If I did, I wouldn’t have needed to call you.” He tossed his reading glasses onto the island alongside the note. “And what the hell is ‘emergency placement’ supposed to mean?”

Chapter Two

Ignoring Linc’s annoyed tone, Maddie turned off the water and dried the bottle with a towel she pulled from the drawer next to the sink, all with one hand. The white cloth was clean and crisp, just like the towels that Ernestine had kept there when Maddie was a child. She wondered if Linc had changed anything at all around the house since his grandmother died.

The black-framed glasses were definitely a new addition for him, though—and an unwelcome, unexpectedly sexy one.

“Emergency placement,” she repeated smoothly. “It’s what it sounds like.” Layla’s eyes were fastened on the bottle and she wrapped her little starfish hands around it as soon as Maddie put the nipple near her lips.

The baby’s eyes nearly rolled back in her head as she guzzled the lukewarm formula. “Poor baby. You’re so hungry.” Anger threatened to boil inside her over the baby’s neglect, but she knew better than to let it get the best of her. She couldn’t be effective in her job if she let herself be consumed by anger or horror over the situations she saw.

When she looked at Linc again, his brows were pulled even closer together above his long, narrow nose.

She definitely shouldn’t take any pleasure in antagonizing him. Not under these circumstances.

“Emergency placement is a temporary measure while the authorities have a chance to investigate the whole situation,” she explained calmly. “Once that’s done, our office will make the report to the prosecutor’s office. If there are criminal charges involved, he’ll probably handle the case. If there aren’t, he’ll likely leave it in our department’s hands to make a recommendation to the judge—”

“Judge! Who said anything about a judge?”

She watched him for a moment. Linc had always been much harder to read than Jax. But the fact that he was more alarmed than ever was obvious. She just wasn’t entirely certain why. Despite the past, he’d called her to take care of the situation, and that was what she was doing. “No matter what led to Layla being left on your doorstep, this situation is going to involve the family court,” she said a little more gently. “Judge Stokes is a good guy—”

“I don’t care how good a guy he is. There’s no need for a judge. No need for your boss, for that matter.”

“If you didn’t ask me here to do my job, then what is it that you expect me to do?”

He gestured, encompassing her and the baby in his short, impatient wave. “What you’re doing. Taking care of the kid.”

“I’m not a babysitter, Linc! And this kid is an infant. Two, three months old, tops, if I had to guess.” She flicked the fingers of her free hand against the note still lying on the island. “And assuming that can be trusted, she also has a name. Layla. Aside from that, we know nothing for certain.”

“Jax—”

“Jax isn’t here. So I’ll tell you the same thing Judge Stokes is going to tell you. This child appears to have been abandoned and—”

“No.” He crossed the room in two strides and took the baby out of her arms.

The bottle fell out of Maddie’s grasp and rolled across the table. Layla’s eyes rounded and she opened her mouth to protest loudly, but he caught it before it rolled onto the floor and shoved the nipple quickly back into her mouth. The baby subsided, blissfully guzzling once again, even though Linc was essentially holding her like a football under his arm. “You’re not sticking her with a bunch of strangers.”

“I don’t even know how to respond to that.” Layla was kicking her legs so enthusiastically, Maddie was afraid the infant would squirt out from Linc’s grasp like a wet bar of soap. “She’s going to spit up everything she drinks. Give her to me.”

“No.”

She lifted her eyebrows. She wasn’t a seventeen-year-old girl who could be easily brushed off by him anymore. She’d cut her teeth in adult probation before transferring into family services. “No?”

“If you’re not going to help, then just go home.” He turned away from her, walking out of the room. Layla’s legs bounced.

Maddie followed after him, skipping twice to dart around him and block his momentum. “You don’t get it!”

He frowned down at her. “I get that you’re in my way.”

“You can’t unring the bell here. I can’t pretend you didn’t call me.” She tried to slide Layla out of his grip.

He caught one of her hands in his, holding it away.

“Linc! I have a legal obligation to rep—” She broke off when he squeezed her fingers. Not enough to hurt, but enough to express himself. His hazel eyes were hard and his jaw was so tight, it looked white.

“To do nothing,” he ground out. “She’s my niece.”

Maddie exhaled, feeling a sudden wave of sympathy that she hoped was more from exhaustion and goodwill toward his brother than because of tender feelings for Linc himself. “You think she’s your niece,” she corrected in an even tone. Based on a note that said nothing of substance.

“She was left in my care.”

“Jax’s care, actually. And you’re saying he’s out of town. Have you tried calling him? To see what he has to say about the baby?”

“He’ll be home soon.” Linc’s tone was flat.

She didn’t believe him.

“Do you even know where he is?”

His expression turned darker, his jawline whiter. “No.”

She sighed.

There was no earthly reason why she should want to help him. Yet that was exactly what she realized she was going to do. Or try to do. It would involve an end-run around her boss, but he was already going to be annoyed with her anyway, so she supposed she might as well be hung for a sheep as a lamb.

“I’ll call Archer.” Her brother, though personally exasperating, was a well-respected attorney practicing in Braden. “He used to clerk for Judge Stokes back in the day and they have a good relationship. Hopefully good enough to cut out some of the steps and get you appointed temporary custodian right from the start.”

“Perfect.”

“He can try. It’s still a longshot,” she warned. “You’re a single man with no proof right now that this baby is your niece, so you don’t have that relationship on your side. I’m on a first-name basis with all of the individuals around this region who are qualified foster care providers, and there’s not a single, unmarried man among them. So—”

“I don’t care who or what they are. I’m not some perfect stranger! Everyone in this town knows the Swift family.”

Not necessarily a good thing. She kept the thought to herself. “Swift Oil pumps a lot of money into Wyoming,” she allowed. “But—”

“But nothing. That should at least buy me enough time with the judge so that I can prove she’s my niece!”

He wouldn’t be able to buy anything else with the judge. She had plenty of experience with Horvald Stokes. The judge cared about one thing—the well-being of a child. Period. “Without the mother here to say anything, you’ll need a DNA test to prove it.”

“Then I’ll get a freaking DNA test!” His voice rose. “How long can that take?” Layla’s face crumpled and she started crying again.

And Linc looked like he was about to lose it.

Maddie decided not to tell him that Layla would need the test, as well. And that would require the judge’s order, too. “I’ll call Archer,” she said again and this time, successfully lifted the baby out of Linc’s arms. She offered Layla the bottle, but the baby turned her fussy face away. Maddie put her against her shoulder as she walked back out to the foyer, rubbing her back. “It’s okay, sweetie. What a night you’ve had, huh?”

“That’s one way of putting it.”

She worked open her purse and started rummaging inside. “I wasn’t talking to you.”

As if she would ever call him sweetie.

Her fingers latched onto her cell phone and she dragged it out of her purse. “When did you start needing glasses?”

She didn’t bother dialing her brother’s home phone. There was no way he’d be home on a Friday night. Archer was the only person she knew who liked his women more than Jaxon Swift did. Instead, she dialed his cell phone and hoped that he would at least be somewhere that the signal reached. Around their area of the state, such a thing was never guaranteed.

“Why?”

She tucked the phone against her shoulder as she bounced the baby and started unwinding her winter scarf. “Just trying to make conversation.”

“I don’t need conversation. I need results.” He left the foyer.

She made a face at his departing back and finally freed the scarf. She dropped it on top of her purse and started unbuttoning her coat.

“This better be good,” Archer’s voice suddenly came on the line. “I was in the middle of something.”

“Middle of someone more like,” she said. “I need a favor.” She quickly told him the situation. “Do you mind calling the judge for me? See if he’s willing to even consider it?”

“What’s your boss say about it?”

She mentally crossed her fingers. “He said it’s my call.” As lies went, it wasn’t the worst she could tell. Under ordinary circumstances, Raymond Marx trusted Maddie’s judgment.

But she had only had a few days off in the last three years. And he’d been adamant. The rules required a minimum of two continuous weeks off every year. She was well past that. Which meant that in this instance, her boss would say she was on vacation and should hand off anything even remotely approaching a case to one of her associates for the next two weeks. Period. She was supposed to be out living her life. Having a date or two. He’d even set her up with his buddy, Morton. Because, despite being a stickler for the rules, Ray really did care about his people.

“Are you going to help me or not?”

“Stay by the phone,” her brother said in answer, and disconnected.

“Nothing like being surrounded by abrupt men,” she murmured. She managed to shrug out of her coat and the baby finally gave up a hard little burp.

“Attagirl.” Maddie shifted her hold on Layla and offered the bottle once more. “Pretty much my thinking, too, where they’re concerned.”

“Where who are concerned?”

Of course Linc would choose that moment to return.

She rounded the foyer table, for some reason wanting to keep it between them. “Nothing important. This looks like the same table that your grandmother had when my mother and I were here. My mom used to let me dust the base because I was always begging to help.” Until she’d learned cleaning was really a chore and not a game.

“It is the same table. No reason to change it.”

She chewed the inside of her cheek when silence fell and she had no brilliant ideas of how to fill it.

Fortunately, her cell phone rang just as she could feel a blush starting to rise in her cheeks. “It’s Archer already.” She didn’t expect such a quick response to bode well, and considering the way Linc’s lips thinned, she suspected he had the same feeling.

She managed to hold both Layla and the bottle with one hand as she pressed a key and held the phone to her ear. “Any luck?”

“Depends on who’s asking,” Archer said. She could hear music in the background. “Not surprisingly, Stokes isn’t inclined to depart from usual procedure, kiddo. File a report with the sheriff and turn the baby over to the hospital until an emergency placement can be made.”

She sighed, shaking her head slightly when Linc’s eyes captured hers. “Well, thanks for trying. I’ll get the ball rolling with the sheriff—”

“No.” Linc’s voice was adamant in her one ear, and Archer’s “Hold on, kiddo,” was cautionary in the other.

She ignored Linc for her brother. “What?”

“Being the weekend and all, Stokes suggested that you could personally take the child into protective custody until the hearing can be scheduled about Swift’s petition. If you agree, that is.”

Linc was standing still, watching her intently. She wished that he’d at least pace. Then he’d be doing something else with all that pent-up frustration besides shooting it all at her from his eyes. And maybe she’d be able to breathe more normally.

It was galling that even after all these years, just being near him made her...edgy.

Layla had drained the bottle, so Maddie set it on the table, repositioning the baby once more against her shoulder as she considered Archer’s words. The hearing had to be scheduled within forty-eight hours, excluding the weekend. “At the latest, we’re looking at midweek, then.” At which time the judge would likely order the baby be placed into shelter care while the prosecutor’s office investigated. They’d start by determining whether Layla was already reported as a missing child, and then try to locate her mother.

But to locate her, they’d need to identify her.

In the meantime, Linc would get a head start on reaching Jax. And maybe he could succeed before Ray even found out about Maddie’s involvement.

“Stokes said to call his clerk Monday morning first thing,” Archer told her. “The judge’ll make room earlier in the schedule if it’s humanly possible. It’s that or emergency foster care for the next several days,” he concluded.

“I’m aware of that.” It wasn’t as if Braden had an overabundance of qualified providers willing to take an infant on a moment’s notice. The last baby she’d had to place in emergency care ended up more than fifty miles away. If a caregiver couldn’t be found, the baby would be assigned to the hospital, which wasn’t ideal, either. For now, Maddie did have time on her hands. And she was perfectly qualified to take care of Layla for a few days, so long as she didn’t have Linc breathing down her neck the whole while.

“So? What’ll it be, Maddie? He’s waiting for me to call him back to confirm.”

Layla burped again and then turned her head against Maddie’s throat, letting out a shuddering sigh.

Maddie sighed, too. She’d always been able to keep an emotional distance when it came to children—at least professionally.

But none of the children who’d ever passed through her casework had been a relative of a friend.

Linc finally moved, but only to plant his hands flat on the foyer table while he bowed his head.

Or a former friend.

She looked away. When Ray did discover what she was doing, he would just have to understand. She might be on vacation because of him, but what she did on that vacation was entirely up to her. “Tell Judge Stokes that I agree.”

“You don’t sound too happy about it, kiddo.”

She didn’t look back at Linc. “It’ll be fine.” The trick would be to maintain her usual professionalism. Forget the past. Forget everything but the baby. “I appreciate the help. Sorry to interrupt your evening.”

“No harm. I’ll catch you Monday.”

“Thanks, Archer.” She ended the call.

“What hearing? What did you agree to?”

There was a mirror on one wall and she could see in it that Layla’s eyes were at half-mast. She also could see that Linc had lifted his head and his eyes were dark and intense.

Professionalism. She took a quick breath and turned to him. “The judge is willing to let me take Layla into protective custody. There will be a hearing scheduled by the middle of the week, at the latest, when he’ll probably order her into foster care.”

“But he could leave her in my care.”

“She’s not in your care, Linc. She’s in mine. Temporarily. What happens after that depends greatly on Judge Stokes. If he decides that placing Layla with you is in her best interests, then that’s what he’ll do.”

“But if my DNA proves she’s my niece—”

She lifted her hand. “That’s going to take at least a week. Maybe more. Until then, I’m telling you not to put all your eggs in that particular basket. Because it’s beyond unlikely that you’ll be granted temporary custody as a foster-care provider. You’re not qualified, and I know Judge Stokes. He’s never done that before. He’s not likely to do it now just because you want him to.”

His lips twisted. “You’re enjoying this.”

She had enough experience under her belt dealing with families in turmoil to keep from losing her patience.

“There is nothing enjoyable about an abandoned child, I promise you. And maybe none of it will be necessary. Maybe you’ll reach Jax. He’ll come back and offer proof that he knew nothing about this situation at all. He’ll claim her and everyone will be happy.” Maddie turned the car seat around on the table and carefully lowered Layla into it.

Linc looked alarmed. “Where are you taking her?”

“Nowhere.” Yet. “She’s falling asleep and the seat is as good a place as any.” She shook out the pink blanket and gently spread it over the baby before picking up her phone again.

“Now who are you calling?”

“My uncle.” Because that was one thing she would not neglect.

“It’s too late.”

She shook her head, already finished dialing. “He’s had late calls like this before. Uncle David! Hi.” He’d answered on the first ring. “It’s Maddie. Sorry for the late call but I have an abandoned baby—”

“She’s not abandoned,” Linc interjected.

She turned her back on him. “I don’t know how long she was left alone outside, but I didn’t see any signs of frostbite or other injury. I’m guessing somewhere between eight and twelve weeks old. But she’s in my care at least through the weekend, and you know how we’ll ultimately need a medical eval for her case—”

* * *

Unable to stand listening to Maddie’s one-sided conversation, Linc picked up the baby—car seat and all—and carried her from the foyer.

He wasn’t thrilled with the decisions being made around him. But he also knew that he didn’t have much of a choice.

He bypassed the kitchen and carried the baby into his study, where he carefully set the car seat on the floor.

He sank wearily onto the couch, staring down at the baby’s face. Her eyelids were closed, looking delicate and pink. Her lashes were soft feather fans of pale brown, much darker than the wisps of hair on her round little head.

He’d never been around babies. Never wanted to be, particularly after his wife got pregnant with someone else’s. Dana had then become his ex-wife. That had been nearly six years ago.

Layla hitched in an audible breath, which made him hold his. She sucked at her bow-shaped lips and her pink eyelids fluttered.

But she didn’t wake.

He exhaled slowly, and slid off the couch to sit on the floor next to the car seat.

“Linc?”

“In here.” He didn’t raise his voice. Maddie still must have heard, because a moment later she came into his study. She stopped when she saw him sitting on the floor.

The leather creaked as she slowly perched on the far cushion of the couch. “Are you all right?”

“They must pay you to ask.” He was certain she hadn’t asked out of friendly concern.

She didn’t answer immediately, but slid down to sit next to him on the floor, her back against the couch. The car seat was between them. “Considering I’m on vacation, technically, I’m not really getting paid for this at all.” She sounded carefully neutral.

He gave her a sideways look. “Vacation?”

“Another thing even social workers are allowed.” She stretched out her legs and fiddled with the plain watch strapped around her narrow wrist. “My boss scheduled it. Told me he didn’t want to see me in the office for the next two weeks.”

“Big fan of yours?”

She shrugged, neither confirming nor denying.

“If you’re on vacation, what are you doing here?”

“You didn’t exactly give me a chance to tell you.” She folded back the edge of the pink blanket with her slender fingers. Her fingernails were short, neat and unvarnished. “I work in family services, Linc. Vacation or not, this is what I do.”

“You could have sent someone else.”

“You called me. At my home. If I’d known any one of my associates would have done just as well, I’d have been more than happy to send someone else.” Her fingertips grazed the downy blond hair on Layla’s head. “You’re stuck with me now. At least until the hearing next week.” She drew her hands back and went onto her knees, wrapping her fingers around the carrier handle.

“What are you doing?”

“Right now, Layla is in my care. Which means where I go, she goes.” She stood, picking up the carrier. “And I’m going home. It’s been a very long day, and my uncle is going to meet me there.”

“Why not here?”

“Because we’re not staying here,” she said with exaggerated patience.

He stood, closing his hand over hers on the handle.

She froze, her expression tightening. “Linc, don’t even ask me to leave her with you.”

“I wasn’t going to.”

Her gaze flicked up to his, then away.

“You could both stay here.” He realized his hand was still on hers and let go. “You know how big this place is. There’s lots of room.”

“There’s room at my house, too.”

She lived in a worn-down Victorian that she shared with her sisters. He’d driven by it more than once. His brother’s bar was nearby.

“Does it have a nursery?”

She waved her hand, taking in their surroundings. “The only thing that seems to have changed since the last time I was here is this room, and your grandmother didn’t have a nursery, either.”

“I’ve changed a few things. And she put in the nursery a few years before she died.”

Maddie gave him a surprised look, but still shook her head. “A nursery isn’t a necessity.”

“Maybe not. And there’s nothing in it but furniture, but it’s better than that.” He gestured at the car seat. “Better than that house of yours.”

“What do you know about my house?”

“It was on the condemned list when you bought it.”

“It was not!”

“Okay. Maybe not.” He waited a beat. “If Jax asked, you’d agree.”

Her lips compressed. “If Jax were here, presumably he would know who the woman was who left Layla for him and the situation would be entirely different.”

Linc’s stomach burned, worse than it had when he’d called her for help in the first place. “Please.”

She rested the car seat on the arm of the couch and her lashes swept down. She exhaled heavily. “Fine. But just because it’s already so late.” But then she sent him a skewering look. “And just for tonight.”