Free The Sheriff's Son by Stella Bagwell Page A

measure of surprise. And from the curious glances the four of them were receiving from the other diners, she suspected they were equally surprised to see their county sheriff with a woman and a couple of babies.
    â€œNo, thank you. I’ll eat later, with my sisters.”
    â€œWhat about the babies?”
    The twins had taken a bottle an hour or more before Justine headed into town with them. At their age, they would probably be getting hungry before she got the two of them home.
    â€œI suppose we could feed them some vanilla ice cream,” she said.
    â€œWe?”
    She slanted him a dry look. “You can handle a spoon, can’t you?”
    With a sigh, he glanced up at the hovering waitress. “Vanilla ice cream for the kids, and two coffees. Also, tell Fred that Sheriff Pardee is here. He’ll know what I want.”
    The waitress flashed him a ready smile. “Yes, sir. Can I get anything else for you?”
    â€œNo, thanks. That will do it.”
    The young woman hurried away to do the sheriff’s bidding. Justine’s lips curved with faint amusement. “I wonder what she would have done if you’d asked for the moon?”
    He flashed her an annoyed glance. “You’re being nasty.”
    Justine shrugged innocently. “Not really. She was bedazzled by you.”
    â€œShe was simply doing her job.”
    Justine’s eyes clashed with his, then drifted down to the hard line of his mouth. She didn’t have to recall what it had been like last night to have those lips pressed against hers. The image was already burning through her mind.
    â€œShe would have liked to do more.”
    Would you? The question was in his eyes. But whether he was going to speak it aloud to her, Justine would never know, because the baby boy on his knee grabbed for the saltshaker.
    Roy’s hand flashed out, took hold of the eager little fist and guided it away from the table.
    â€œNo, son,” he told the wide-eyed boy. “That stuff isn’t good for big people, much less a little tot like you.”
    The baby seemed to think having Roy talk to him was quite amusing, and he burst out with a happy little shriek.
    Roy rubbed his ear in the aftermath. “What a mouth on this kid!”
    Justine couldn’t help but smile. “He likes you.”
    Roy glanced from Justine to the baby’s dimpled face. “You think he does?”
    â€œWhy does that shock you? To hear you tell it, everybody likes you. Ninety percent of the vote. I guess you can include Adam in that ninety percent now.”
    He glanced sharply at Justine. “Adam? You’ve named him?”
    With a weary shake of her head, Justine said, “I didn’t name the twins. My sisters did. Anna for the girl. Adam for the boy.”
    Justine scooted the wiggling Anna up farther in her lap, while Roy studied her with narrowed eyes.
    â€œI told you, Justine, this is a temporary thing. You can’t name these children!”
    Justine sighed. “Yes. I know you’re right, Roy. But I can hardly control what my sisters do. Besides, we can’t simply keep calling them ‘baby boy’ or ‘baby girl.’ The two of them ought to at least have temporary names. Until you can come up with their real ones.”
    Before he could make a reply, the waitress arrived with the coffee and ice cream.
    Justine placed her coffee safely out of Anna’s reach, then tucked a napkin into the collar of the baby’s dress.
    Watching her, Roy asked, “Do I need to put one of those on him, too?”
    Justine could have reached across the small table and put a makeshift bib on Adam herself, but she wasn’t going to. It was obvious that he didn’t want to be a father or have to do the things that being a father sometimes required. But that was too bad, she thought smugly. Taking care of Adam for a few minutes would be good for the man.
    â€œAdam would probably appreciate not having ice