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“Will you be okay on your own with the baby for a minute?” Darcy asked.
Ridge smiled wryly at her concern. “I haven’t broken the baby yet.”
She nodded. “Fair enough. I’ll be right back.”
Ridge waited until Darcy had left, then looked down at the baby in his arms. She slept peacefully, curled up like a little shrimp against his chest.
Her mouth turned up in an impossibly sweet smile, and he felt the weight of responsibility slam down on his shoulders. Even though he wasn’t related to this child and had no idea where she had come from, she was his now.
“I don’t know who left you on my doorstep,” he said softly. “But I promise, I will take care of you.”
It was his calling to take care of the lost—the reason he’d gone into search and rescue in the first place.
He leaned down and pressed a kiss to the soft hair on the top of the baby’s head. “I’ll keep you safe,” he whispered.
* * *
We hope you enjoy this dramatic series:
The Coltons of Texas: Finding love and buried family secrets in the Lone Star State …
Colton Baby Homecoming
Lara Lacombe
LARA LACOMBE earned a PhD in microbiology and immunology and worked in several labs across the country before moving into the classroom. Her day job as a college science professor gives her time to pursue her other love—writing fast-paced romantic suspense with smart, nerdy heroines and dangerously attractive heroes. She loves to hear from readers! Find her on the web or contact her at [email protected].
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For A—you are my heart.
Thank you for letting me write this book!
Contents
Ridge Colton climbed behind the wheel of his truck and tried to rub away the gritty, sandpaper feeling from his eyes. He’d been up and at it since before dawn, searching the woods around Granite Gulch with the rest of his team, courtesy of a middle-of-the-night phone call made by a resident. Archie Johansen, a retired school bus driver, had been woken by the sound of footsteps on his porch. A curmudgeon to his core, Archie had grabbed his shotgun and thrown open the door, determined to scare off whoever dared to trespass on his property. As Archie described it, the second he opened his door a dark figure scrambled off his porch and hightailed it for the nearby trees. The old man swore up and down the intruder was carrying a rifle, which had prompted his call to the police. The people of Granite Gulch were normally pretty tough, but with the Alphabet Killer still on the loose, suspicions were running high.
And so Ridge had been dragged from his nice warm bed to comb the area, looking for any signs of an armed and possibly dangerous person skulking around in the woods that surrounded the town.
They hadn’t found anyone, which wasn’t a huge surprise. Secretly, Ridge thought the older man had actually seen an animal snuffling about in search of dinner rather than an armed threat. After all, Archie hadn’t been wearing his glasses at the time, and he hadn’t bothered to turn on his porch light before flinging open the door to do battle. It was hard enough to see in the dark, and Ridge knew from experience that heightened emotions often made people see things that weren’t really there. Still, they couldn’t afford to take any chances. One of these days the Alphabet Killer was going to