Flynn Read online

  Natalie nodded. She was at his mercy. He was the local and knew more about these things than she did.

  “Sure, that’s fine,” she said.

  “Are you staying at a motel or with friends or what?”

  “The Timber Creek Motel.”

  “Then how about I drive you there? I can come by in the morning and pick you up and then we’ll get your car out of the ditch.”

  At least this meant she’d be seeing Emily a second time. Or at least she hoped she would. Seeing Flynn again had its pluses too.

  “Are you sure it wouldn’t be a problem? I mean I can call a cab.”

  “No problem at all. You’ll find out that Timber Creek is a very friendly community, and helping one another out is something we’re all good at.”

  She smiled. She liked her daughter’s dad already. At least her mother had picked the ideal adoptive parent. And a cute one. Who would have thought it? Natalie stood.

  “Let me grab my hat and jacket, and I’ll get you back to your motel,” he said.

  “Can I show Natalie my calf before she leaves?” asked Emily.

  “Not tonight, but maybe tomorrow when we get her car pulled out. Well, that is if she wants to see it.”

  “I’d love to.”

  Natalie put her bag over her shoulder and followed Flynn as he headed to the front door. Emily put on her jacket and then pulled on her mittens. She still couldn’t quite believe that she was actually here and inches from the person she’d given birth to.

  A cold wind bit into her face as Flynn opened the door and they stepped outside. She wondered what Emily would think of Florida, the beaches, and Natalie’s house with the swimming pool. Maybe when she worked up the courage to tell her who she was, she’d invite her to take a trip there just so she could see where her birth parents had grown up, meet, fallen in love, conceived her, and…

  Flynn held open the passenger door of the truck.

  “Get in and you sit between me and Dad,” said Emily.

  Natalie climbed up into the truck and soon Flynn and Emily were seated either side of her. Despite the warmth of their bodies, she shivered.

  “Here, let me turn up the heater,” said Flynn, obviously seeing her body shaking.

  Natalie rubbed her hands together. The gloves she’d purchased obviously weren’t thick enough for Montana winters.

  “Where are you from?” asked Flynn, heading down the dirt road again.

  “Just outside Orlando, Florida.”

  “Dad that’s where Disneyworld’s at. Can we go there?” asked Emily.

  “Maybe one day, honey,” said Flynn.

  The thought of taking her daughter, watching her face, the two of them going on rides together. She had to stop this fantasy. She wasn’t Emily’s mother. Mother…she knew he was divorced but she wasn’t supposed to know that so it was probably best to act like she knew nothing about him.

  “Does your wife work on the ranch too?” asked Natalie.

  “She passed away quite some time ago,” said Flynn.

  “I’m sorry to hear that.”

  Either he’d married for a second time or her private eye had gotten something wrong.

  Natalie noticed her car almost completely buried under the snow as Flynn pulled onto the main road.

  “Will the car be okay there for the night?” she asked.

  “Sure. It’s not a busy stretch of road, and crime’s almost non-existent around Timber Creek.”

  Emily turned on the radio. “I like music a lot.”

  “I do, in fact I play the piano and…”

  She almost said and your dad played the guitar but stopped herself just in time.

  “Not a music teacher are you?” asked Flynn.

  “No, an attorney.”

  “What’s that?” asked Emily.

  “Someone who gets you out of trouble if Uncle Shane arrests you,” said Flynn. He glanced at Natalie. “Shane’s my brother, and he’s the county sheriff.”

  She felt his breath close to her ears and then smelled his aftershave now that the heat was warming up the truck. She wanted to close her eyes and take in the scent.

  “But that means you help bad people,” said Emily.

  Yeah, that’s what she often did, helped people who’d hurt other people. It had taken Emily to point that out to her. Law wasn’t something she really wanted to practice, but once again, like giving up her baby, she’d caved into her mother’s demands and followed family tradition of becoming an attorney. Being a judge would be the next career move if her mother had any say in the matter.

  Flynn pulled into the motel parking lot. “I can come by and pick you up about eight. I mean if that’s not too early for you.”

  “Eight’s fine. Are you sure I’m not inconveniencing you in any way?”

  “I wish you’d stop saying that. If I didn’t want to help, I wouldn’t be offering.”

  Natalie nodded and then Flynn opened the door and got out.

  She turned to Emily before she exited the truck. “It was wonderful meeting you Emily.”

  “Remember, you’re going to look at my new calf tomorrow, okay.”

  “I’m looking forward to it.”

  She smiled and slid out of the seat and was suddenly standing mere inches from Flynn. She wasn’t that short but he towered over her. She’d always loved tall men.

  “Nice to have met you too, and thanks for the ride back and offer of help,” she said.

  “You’re welcome. Hope you sleep well.”

  Natalie stood and watched as Flynn backed the truck out of the parking space. He sounded the horn and Emily waved to her. Natalie waved back.

  Her baby girl was beautiful. And the man who’d adopted her was drop dead gorgeous.

  Chapter Five

  “Natalie’s pretty,” said Emily when they got back home.

  Flynn wanted to correct his daughter. Natalie wasn’t pretty, she was beautiful. When he’d first set eyes on her, he thought he’d met her before but now he guessed she looked familiar because since he was a boy he’d had visions of what his perfect looking woman would be like, and she was the spitting image of Natalie.

  “Ask her out daddy,” said Emily.

  Wow, where had that come from? Up till now Emily had hated her father going out on dates.

  “Honey, she might not be sticking around town for long. You heard her, she’s from Florida and just looking at vacation homes.”

  “She’s nice.”

  Wow, she’d not only won him over, but Emily too.

  “I know that but she might have a husband back home.”

  “She didn’t have a ring. I looked.”

  He almost wanted to laugh. His daughter didn’t miss a thing. And the truth was he’d always looked at the third finger on her left hand too. He smiled when he saw it devoid of anything round and sparkling.

  “I didn’t like that last lady you took out,” said Emily.

  “Neither did I,” said Flynn unpacking their groceries. She hadn’t been that nice to him, and he knew she didn’t have much patience with Emily. In fact, when he’d overheard her correcting something she’d said and criticizing her for not acting her age, he’d told her as nicely as he could that he wouldn’t be calling her again. Finding the right woman for both them was next to impossible. Having sex had become a thing of the past. In fact, he couldn’t remember the last time he’d slept with a woman. Finding true love, well, that would take something short of a miracle.

  ****

  Natalie stood at the window of her motel room, the drapes pushed back just a tad to give her some privacy, but at the same time, a chance to look out at the sky. Big Sky Country they called this state, and now she could understand why. Even in the darkness, the sky looked vast like it went on forever. She could even see stars twinkling. It was this very same image that her little girl had looked up and seen every night for the last thirteen years.

  She let the drapes fall back across the window. Her mother had been right about one th
ing, there was no turning back, and things would never be the same. Now she’d seen Emily she wanted to be part of her life forever. Not that she didn’t think that Flynn had, and was doing a wonderful job with Emily, but knowing that her daughter had special needs and would for the rest of her life, Natalie couldn’t turn and walk away.

  Sitting down, she pushed the hair from her eyes. Her mother had obviously known about Emily having Down syndrome, but hadn’t said anything. Not that she’d expected her to. She’d whisked away the baby and by the time Natalie had left the hospital, she’d already delivered the baby to her adoptive parents. What little information she’d been able to get from her mother, had just netted her the baby’s new home which she’d said was somewhere in South Dakota. Had Flynn and his then wife been living there at the time? Obviously that had to be the case.

  Natalie leaned over and grabbed her laptop computer. She opened the lid. She’d chosen a motel with Wi-Fi so she could check her work e-mails. She told them she was taking an extended vacation. While she didn’t have any active cases, she had promised to check in now and then. Natalie clicked on the Internet icon and typed in Down syndrome in the search engine. She didn’t know the first thing about it and didn’t know anyone who had a child with it, so she had some catching up to do. Had she done something wrong before she’d gotten pregnant? If she had another baby would it be at risk of having it? Did it run in families? She knew her side of the family didn’t have anyone with it, but maybe Jon did. Her mind was spinning.

  Maybe she could find a forum and ask questions of other parents. Maybe a doctor…

  She was getting so ahead of herself here. She’d come to Timber Creek for the sole purpose of finding her daughter, keeping her promise to Jon, giving their child the letter he’d left, and then leave. But life wasn’t that simple and once a mother saw her offspring, maternal instincts kicked in.

  Now she was making plans for a future that included her being in Emily’s life. What if she didn’t want that? What if Flynn wouldn’t allow it? And Flynn. She had to admit part of the sudden attraction of sticking around in Timber Creek had as much to do with him as it did her daughter.

  She slapped shut the cover of the laptop.

  Nothing in life was ever simple.

  Chapter Six

  Flynn hummed along to the music as he made his way to the motel to collect Natalie. He had a surprise for her. He and Rory had already pulled her car out of the ditch and it was waiting for her at the ranch. Apart from a little scratch on the paint close to the right headlight, it was damage free.

  The sun was shining, and for the first time in ages, he felt sort of happy inside. He couldn’t put his finger on it, but he knew it wasn’t just the bright blue sky that was lifting his spirits. He’d met someone he found attractive and he was on his way to see her.

  He glanced in the rearview mirror, checking his appearance one last time. In all honesty, it had been too long since he’d worried about how he looked. Even Emily had picked up on it this morning at breakfast when she’d pointed out that he was wearing one of his best shirts.

  Flynn laughed. She’d even splashed aftershave on him. Yeah, just about everyone would be able to smell the sandalwood from miles away. He’d asked Rory to take Emily off to her school. That journey usually took him thirty minutes there and back, but today he wanted to treat Natalie to breakfast at his mother’s café. He couldn’t remember the last time he’d been alone in the company of a lady who wasn’t his mother or sister-in-law.

  Speaking of which, he slowed up when he saw his brother, Shane, getting in his truck at the convenience store.

  “Morning Sheriff,” said Flynn.

  “You going on a date or something?” asked Shane.

  Hard as hell to keep anything to yourself in the Malone family.

  “Just helping out a lady who got stuck in the ditch outside our place and thought she might like breakfast at Mom’s café.”

  Shane leaned against the truck and smiled. “That’s how things began with me and Lacey. So when do I get to meet her?”

  “I’m not sure she’ll be in town long. She’s from Florida but looking for a vacation home here.”

  “Isn’t that supposed to be the other way around?” asked Shane.

  Flynn shrugged. He didn’t care. She was here and she might be in town a lot if she found the right house.

  “I’d love to chat more but I have to get these crackers to Lacey. She’s got the worst case of morning sickness and Doctor Croft said these should do the trick.”

  Flynn waved goodbye and smiled. He was excited about finally being an uncle, and he couldn’t wait to see Shane changing diapers and dealing with midnight feedings. It seemed so long ago he’d done both for Emily. Even sang to her as he walked her up and down in the early hours of the morning trying to get her back to sleep. She’d been so worth it with all the love she’d brought into his life.

  He began driving again. Now that his daughter was a teenager, he sort of missed having a baby and little girl wandering around, getting under his feet, reading bedtime stories to her, and pushing her on the swing until his arms ached. Yeah, he’d love to have another child but to do that he had to find a suitable woman. Or if the worst scenario happened, and he ended up a bachelor all his life, maybe he could think about adopting again.

  He pulled up outside the motel. He remembered that Natalie had told him she was staying in Room 34, which by the look of the numbers and their layout, was on the second floor. He got out of the truck, pulled up his jacket collar and headed up the stairs. Number 34 was the fourth room on the left. He tapped lightly on the door.

  He pushed his hat back slightly, anticipating her answering it and what she’d looked like today. The door opened and his heart skipped a beat, and he felt the love struck teenager he’d been back in fifth grade when he’d had a huge crush on Sally Jones.

  “Hi,” said Natalie smiling at him. She’d tied her hair back but a few tendrils had broken lose, framing that pretty face of hers. What little makeup she wore played up her beautiful blue eyes and high cheekbones. She wore a simple red sweater and a black wrap around skirt. She wasn’t skinny like most of the women were eager to be these days. This was a woman with curves. The sort he’d always loved.

  “You want to step inside while I grab my jacket?” she asked.

  He took of his cowboy hat and entered the room. “Did you sleep okay?”

  “I did, which is surprising because usually when I’m in a strange place I get about an hour’s shut eye, tops.”

  She reached for her jacket and he rushed over and grabbed it and held it up behind her while she slipped her arms inside the sleeves.

  “Pardon me if I’m stepping out of line, but this jacket and those boots, as lovely as they look, aren’t suitable for this sort of weather,” he said.

  “Yeah, I’m realizing that now. More suited to a cold Florida day.”

  “Do you have any of those?” asked Flynn. He held the door open and she walked outside and locked the door.

  “By your Montana standards no, but to us if it’s not hot and sunny, it’s cold.”

  He laughed.

  “So you think my car will be easy to pull out of that ditch?” she asked as they made their way to his truck.

  “I have a surprise for you. My brother and I did just that early this morning and it’s waiting for you at the ranch. However, I thought you might like to try my mother’s café for some breakfast first. My treat I should say. And yes, family members get discount.”

  She smiled. “Thank you, that’s very nice of you, and I have to admit I’m starving.”

  He held the truck door open for her and she got up inside, the black skirt she wore pulled around her hips as she slid over into the seat. The tops of the black knit pantyhose with their lace topping caught his attention.

  “No Emily this morning?” she asked him as he got in beside her.

  “No, one of my brothers has taken her to school.”

  “Does
she go to a regular school?”

  He shook his head and turned the heat up a notch. “No, it’s one for kids with special needs, more therapeutic than academic. We’re lucky to have one in the county. She loves it and has made lots of friends there. You probably noticed she’s a very outgoing girl who’s not shy around strangers.”

  “She’s very sweet.”

  “She’s definitely that. Even if it’s been a bad day, she can make it seem a whole lot better.”

  “That’s nice to know…I mean to hear a father say that.”

  “Oh yeah, I’m very proud of her.”

  Seemed Natalie had taken a liking to Emily, which was a very good thing. He’d hate getting to know yet another woman who had no interest in being even half decent to his little girl.

  He pulled into one of the spaces outside his mom’s café, turned off the ignition and ran around to the passenger’s side of the truck to open the door for her. He held Natalie’s hand as she got down from the vehicle. As they made their way to the door, she almost slipped on some snow, but he caught her just in time.

  “You okay?” he asked. He continued to hold her, even though it was obvious she was in no danger of falling over. They looked into one another’s eyes. Was she as spellbound as him?

  “Maybe I should buy myself some proper boots. Did I tell you I’ve decided to take an extended vacation so I can have a good look around the area?”

  It was the best news he’d heard in a while.

  “That’s great.”

  They walked in the café and he picked a table by the window and pulled out a chair for Natalie. He took off his hat and hung it on the peg by the wall before sliding into his seat, accidently bumping her knee as he did so. They looked at one another again in much the same way they had outside. He’d been out of the dating scene for a while, but not so long that he wasn’t able to sense some chemistry going on between them.

  “Is there somewhere around here that sells boots?” asked Natalie

  “There is but not the type I can imagine you’d like. I tell you what—I’m taking Emily into Missoula tomorrow to buy knitting wool. Why don’t you ride along with us?”