The Texas Cowboy's Baby Rescue. Cathy Thacker Gillen

circumstances like these,” Bridgett persisted resolutely.

      “Yes.” Mitzy chose her words carefully. “But I wouldn’t count on that happening, long term.”

      Except Bridgett was, Cullen noted in concern.

      With a sigh, Mitzy continued, “They’re willing to make an allowance for Robby temporarily because you’re a nurse and Robby is just a few days old with health issues that may or may not crop up, but—”

      “Whoa,” Cullen put in. “If there is any kind of risk, why not keep the baby in the hospital?”

      Bridgett swung around, her elbow nudging his rib in the process. “Because the few problems he had upon admission have been treated. Hence, there’s no reason to keep him here.”

      “So—” Mitzy looked at Dan “—unless there has been any further news on the law enforcement front...?”

      Dan shook his head. “Sadly, not yet. But the Laramie County sheriff’s department has sent information requests to all the hospitals, clinics and urgent care facilities in the state.”

      Cullen’s gut tightened at the thought of all the people who would hear his name tied to this heartbreaking situation. The assumptions they would make about his character, and by default, the McCabe family, could be catastrophic.

      He couldn’t believe he was doing it again, bringing shame upon those closest to him.

      “Is this going to be on the news?” he asked tensely.

      “No,” Mitzy said. “We don’t want to scare off the birth mother if she does change her mind in the next few days and wants to come forward and reclaim her child.”

      Looking as shocked and horrified as Cullen felt, just considering the possibility. Bridgett cut in, “Would the Department of Child and Family Services really allow that to happen?”

      Mitzy paused. “It’s hard to say. There could be mitigating circumstances behind the mother’s actions.”

      “Like what?” Cullen bit out, not surprised to find himself siding with Bridgett on this.

      “Like she’s suffering from postpartum depression and isn’t thinking clearly,” Mitzy suggested.

      “The note she left with the baby seemed pretty clear-cut to me,” Cullen said.

      “In any case, we’re all aware there has to be much more to this story than we know thus far,” Mitzy explained. “So law enforcement and the medical community are all on alert for a woman coming in, having just given birth but without a baby to show for it. If anything the least bit suspicious occurs, we’ll hear about it, pronto. And go from there.”

      Bridgett sat back in her chair, looking dejected again.

      Cullen could imagine how the dedicated N-ICU nurse felt.

      She’d found the abandoned infant and puppy, and the idea of giving Riot and Robby back to someone who had been unhappy or unbalanced enough to leave a baby alone in a cardboard box with only a puppy to guard it had to rankle.

      It sure as hell did him.

      “So, if you’re sure this is what you want, Bridgett, even knowing it’s only temporary...” Mitzy began.

      Bridgett’s expression turned fierce. “I am.”

      “And what about you?” Mitzy turned to Cullen.

      Not sure what the social worker was asking, Cullen shrugged. “I just told Bridgett. There’s no way on earth that Robby is my baby.”

      To his frustration, Mitzy looked as skeptical of that as Bridgett and his younger brother had. “Can you tell us who might want to assign paternity to you, then?” Mitzy asked.

      Suddenly, all eyes were upon him once again. Cullen thought a long moment, then, unable to come up with anything, shook his head.

      Mitzy pulled a pen from her bag, perfectly calm. Matter-of-fact. “So you’re formally surrendering all claim to this infant, then?” She brought out another piece of paper.

      Was he?

      Cullen hadn’t expected to do anything except come to the hospital, straighten out the situation and leave. However, seeing the newborn infant, reading the note, changed things. Made him feel that he just might be involved here.

      How, exactly, he didn’t know yet.

      But he was a McCabe, as well as a Reid.

      And unlike the Reids, McCabes did not shirk their obligations, familial or otherwise. So he was going to have to see this calamity through to its resolution.

      Aware what Bridgett Monroe probably wanted him to say, so the way would be clear for her, he paused, then finally said, “No.”

      His younger brother Dan looked on approvingly, while sharp disappointment showed on Bridgett’s pretty face.

      Mitzy simply waited.

      Cullen inhaled deeply, then directed his remarks to everyone in the room. “Someone left the puppy and the baby for me. Like it or not, that makes them my responsibility. At least until their real family is found or permanent arrangements can be made to give them a good home. So I’d like to keep tabs on the child while he’s being fostered. Meet the dog.” Who might have more of a connection to him than anyone except his brother yet knew.

      Mitzy turned. “Bridgett? Is this going to be okay with you? Because if you’d rather your first ward be a child who has already been released for adoption, I would completely understand. And so would everyone else at the department.”

      For the first time since he’d laid eyes on her, Cullen saw Bridgett falter. She turned to glance at the papers that would make her the baby’s temporary foster mother and, for a second, looked so vulnerable he couldn’t help but feel for her. Pushing aside the temptation to take her in his arms and comfort her, he swallowed hard, reminding himself this situation was complicated enough as it was.

      Bridgett drew herself up, raised her chin and looked Mitzy straight in the eye. “I can handle this,” she vowed.

      Could she? Cullen wondered.

       Chapter Two

      “You really don’t have to walk us to my SUV,” Bridgett said half an hour later, as she got ready to go.

      Cullen was clearly skeptical. “You’re saying you could easily manage all this on your own?”

      Bridgett looked at the messenger bag she took to work, the diaper bag filled with emergency essentials, and the swaddled infant she was about to pick up. He had a point. It was a lot.

      “Okay.” She handed him both bags and her vehicle keys, then gently picked up little Robby.

      She’d handled hundreds of newborns in her career. Cuddled and given medical aid and taken care of their emotional needs for as long as they were in the N-ICU.

      But this was different. It had been from the first moment she’d gathered the little infant in her arms.

      She felt connected to this child, heart and soul.

      As if she were already his mother.

      “But that’s all the help we need,” Bridgett continued firmly. “Once I get to my apartment and you meet the puppy, to see if that sparks anything, I’ll be able to handle it from there.”

      The only problem, she noted ten minutes later as she pulled up in front of her nondescript brick apartment building and saw a furious man pacing outside, was that she still had a few more wrinkles to iron out.

      Cullen emerged from his pickup truck. He nodded at the short and stocky man storming their way. “Who’s that?”

      Her heart sank as she stepped from the driver’s