Branded

That was the good news. That was the great news.

The bad news was that he had a daughter who would be waking up in the morning in strange surroundings without a familiar face to reassure her that she was safe. He had a daughter who would probably be afraid of him, at least at first.

Jake rubbed the back of his neck and picked up his empty bottle. He walked into the kitchen, tossed the bottle in one of the recycling bins on hand and looked around, trying to force his mind to wrap around the idea of instant fatherhood.

A large manila envelope he hadn’t noticed before lay on the kitchen bar. He sat down on the bar stool Tiffany had used and opened the envelope.

Her birth certificate was on top. Her name was Heather Anne Crenshaw and she’d been born on Sept. 28, which meant she would be four years old in a little over six weeks.

He was listed as her father.

He stared at the document until it grew blurry. He hadn’t been there when she was born. He hadn’t been there when she learned to sit up, to stand, to take her first step or say her first word. He hadn’t been there to watch the infant turn into a little girl.

He’d already missed so much of her life.

Jake removed his hat and hung it on the rack beside the door, turned out the lights downstairs and went up to his room. After he sat on the side of his bed and removed his boots, he returned to Heather’s room in his stockinged feet. She had shifted and now lay on her side, still clutching her bedraggled rabbit. He noticed several more stuffed animals sitting at the end of the bed. She looked so innocent lying there, sleeping so soundly. She had no idea how her world had changed yet again. Her great-grandmother’s sudden illness must have been devastating to her. And now this.

Eventually he quietly checked the closet and chest of drawers. Yes, Tiffany had amply provided for her, he was thankful to see.

What was he supposed to do now? Come morning, this sweet-looking child was going to wake up and face new people and new surroundings. Of course she would be afraid. She would need to be dressed and fed and…

He froze. Was she housebroken? How would he know? Raised with three brothers, his only experience around little girls was watching Ashley grow up.

Ashley.

She would know what Heather needed, wouldn’t she? Would she be willing to help him out for a few days? He hadn’t seen much of her in the past several years, not since she’d gone off to Texas A&M, but at one time they’d been the best of friends.

He certainly needed a trusted friend about now.

Would Ashley be able to help him?

She was a doctor, wasn’t she?

Sort of. She was a veterinarian. That was close enough, wasn’t it?

She was a woman, besides. She’d know what to do with a little girl, since she’d been one herself.

At the moment, he didn’t have many options. He was desperate. Surely she would be willing to do whatever needed to be done for his daughter.

Jake returned to his bedroom, looked up her number and called her.

Three

Ashley Sullivan unlocked the door to her small apartment in time to hear her phone ringing. She groaned. It was the middle of the night and she was exhausted. Because this was her weekend on call, she’d already been out on two emergencies tonight, once for a mare having trouble with a breech birth and the other to check out a steer whose owner thought had been bitten by a snake. And this was only Friday night.

A call in the middle of the night was always ominous.

She dropped her medical bag and grabbed the phone.

“This is Dr. Sullivan,” she said, her voice weary.

“Uh, hi, Ashley.”

She sank to the side of her bed, shaken by the realization of who was calling her.

When she didn’t immediately respond, he added, “This is Jake Crenshaw. I hope I didn’t wake you.”

As if she wouldn’t know the sound of his voice. Adrenaline shot through her as she thought of possible reasons he would be calling her at this time of night.

“What’s happened?” she said with dread. “Is it Dad?”

“No, no. Nothing like that.” He paused and she wondered what was going on. She hadn’t spoken to Jake in years. “I, uh, I’ve got an emergency on my hands out here. I hate to ask this of you, but would you mind coming out to the ranch?”

She checked the time and winced. “Now?”

He cleared his throat. “I know it’s late but I really need you.”

“What’s wrong?” She had never heard those words from Jake before and they shook her.

When he didn’t answer right away, she wondered if he’d hung up. When he did answer, he was frustratingly vague. “I’d rather show you once you get here, all right?”

It was her turn to pause and think about his request. She was exhausted and therefore vulnerable. Let’s face it, she would be vulnerable around him no matter when she saw him.

“I’d like to help you out, Jake, but I’ve been working nonstop since seven this morning. Can this wait until tomorrow?”

“No, it can’t.” He sounded impatient and irritable, which meant he was being his normal and oh-so-charming adult self, not the boy she’d grown up with. When she didn’t reply, he said, “This is something personal. You were the first one I thought of when I knew I needed help.”

Ashley put her hand over her heart and tried to breathe. She wasn’t prepared for this. Someday, maybe, when she was…oh, sixty-something…she’d be able to deal with her reactions where Jake was concerned.

“I’m sorry—” she began when he interrupted her.

“I know we haven’t been as close these past few years as we once were, Ashley,” he said.

Ashley pulled the phone away from her ear and frowned at it in disbelief. Talk about understatement!

He continued to speak and she forced herself to listen. “I hoped that you would be willing to help me out based on the friendship we once shared.”

Wasn’t that just like a man? Oh, yeah, I carelessly trampled on your heart with my size thirteen boots, but, hey, you’ve patched it up just fine, so how about giving me another go at it.

“Jake,” she began, “I really don’t think—”

“Ashley,” he said, suddenly sounding panicked. “I just received the shock of my life tonight. Tiffany was here earlier and told me that we have a daughter who will soon be four years old. She left her here and I haven’t a clue what to do for her or about her or with her.”

Ashley was glad she was sitting down. Jake had a daughter? She struggled to breathe around the sudden constriction in her throat.

“The thing is,” he continued, “she’s going to wake up in a few hours in a strange place to see a man she doesn’t recognize.” His voice deepened. “I’m hoping you’ll come out and be here when she wakes up.”

Oh, dear. She was definitely in trouble here. That low, intimate tone of his had always melted her heart. This conversation was not going well at all. “You mean stay at Dad’s?” she finally asked.