The Lawmen of Silver Creek Ranch. Delores Fossen

      It was Grayson who answered. “If she was in deep-cover ops, a Jane, they don’t enter those agents’ DNA into the normal law enforcement databases. The Bureau doesn’t want anyone to know they work for the FBI.”

      His brother was right. The odds were slim to none that Special Agent Bree Winston’s DNA would be in any database other than the classified one at FBI Headquarters in Quantico, Virginia.

      Kade forced his eyes open, and his gaze immediately landed on the baby that Grayson was holding. The newborn was awake now, and she had turned her head in his direction. She was looking at him.

      Kade swallowed hard.

      He felt the punch, and it nearly robbed him of his breath. The doctor was right. He should have sat down for this.

      The love was there. Instant and strong. Deep in his heart and his gut, he knew the test had been right.

      This was his baby.

      His little girl.

      Even though he’d had no immediate plans for fatherhood, that all changed in an instant. He knew he loved her, would do whatever it took to be a good father to her. But he also knew she’d been abandoned. That left Kade with one big question.

      Where was her mother?

      Where was Bree?

      And by God, if something had gone on at the clinic, why hadn’t she told him? Why had she kept something like this a secret?

      Kade pulled in his breath, hoping it would clear his head. It didn’t, but he couldn’t take the time to adjust to the bombshell that had just slammed right into him.

      He leaned down and brushed a kiss on his baby girl’s cheek. She blinked, and she stared at him as if trying to figure out who the heck he was.

      “Take care of her for me,” Kade said to his brother. “I’ll be back as soon as I can.”

      Grayson nodded and stared at him, too. “You know where the mother is?”

      He shook his head. Kade had no idea, since he hadn’t heard anything from her since that assignment eight and a half months ago at the Fulbright clinic. Right now, he was sure of only one thing. If the baby was here and Bree wasn’t, that meant she was either dead or in big trouble.

      Kade had to find Bree fast.