Free Cowboy Behind the Badge by Delores Fossen

from her house and brought out to the ranch. The deputy had obviously brought her some makeup, too, but the dark circles beneath her eyes let him know that she was just as sleep-deprived as he was.
    â€œWant to talk about Dawn Cowen?” she asked, rubbing her hands down the sides of her dress.
    He lifted his shoulder and sat on the other side of the bed so he could pull on his boots. “Not much to tell that you don’t already know. She worked for me as a criminal informant, and she’d be alive if it weren’t for the baby farm investigation.”
    â€œMaybe.” She paused, fidgeting with her dress some more. “I read the report on her that was sitting on the desk of the office you’re using downstairs—”
    That brought him to his feet. “You did what?”
    â€œI read it,” she admitted, not backing down or even issuing a mild apology for snooping around. “A year ago she was helping you on a case, but then she stopped because she got pregnant.”
    â€œObviously she didn’t stop. She was probably kidnapped and held all these months at the baby farm. Months when I didn’t bother checking on her.”
    â€œYou couldn’t have known what’d happened to her,” Laine said.
    â€œWhen I didn’t hear from her, I should have guessed.”
    â€œYes, because of the ESP that all you Texas Rangers have. I’ve heard it’s standard issue, along with the white Stetson, boots, badge and jeans.”
    They exchanged flat looks, and Laine was the first to glance away.
    â€œBesides,” she continued, “if we’re playing the blame game, then Dawn wouldn’t have come literally running to my office if it weren’t for the unauthorized visit the CI and I made to the baby farm.”
    â€œShe obviously thought she could trust you. She sure as heck didn’t come to me.”
    And that would haunt him for eternity. Most women held captive at the baby farms were murdered shortly after they delivered. Dawn must have been terrified, not just for her own life but for her newborn children.
    Well, maybe they were both hers.
    Dawn had indeed been pregnant, but Tucker couldn’t rule out that maybe only one of them was hers and the other was one she’d managed to rescue.
    â€œThere wasn’t anything in your report about Dawn being married or involved with anyone,” Laine tossed out.
    â€œThe babies aren’t mine, if that’s what you’re thinking.”
    â€œI didn’t think that. If there’d been any possibility they were yours, you would have said something last night. And you would’ve given them better nicknames,” she added.
    It was no doubt her attempt to lighten things up some. It didn’t work. Nothing would. But she was right—if they’d been his, he might have called them something better than Jack and Jill.
    Okay, now he smiled. “Don’t try to make this easier on me,” he snarled.
    She nodded as if taking that warning as gospel. Hesitated. Then huffed. “I need to figure out some other place to go. Someplace safe, of course.”
    â€œWith the babies?”
    She blinked. “Well, yes. I thought I’d keep them until we figure out where they belong.”
    â€œThat could be as early as today. It shouldn’t be hard to find out about Dawn’s romantic interest or the babies’ next of kin.”
    Of course, once the father was indeed found, it didn’t mean the babies would be safe. It was possible the people behind the baby farm would want the newborns returned.
    They could also want to take their revenge on Laine.
    Once they had the babies, they could use them to draw her out. And it would probably work. Any woman who would risk going to a baby farm with a CI likely wouldn’t think twice about surrendering herself to save two babies.
    â€œIf you take the babies away from the ranch, you could just be putting them in more