The Sheriff and the Baby Read Online Free Page A

line of duty.” He placed his hat on the chair and looked into the crib where Sarah slept peacefully. “She’s beautiful,” he said softly, and Beth didn’t miss the note of wonder in his voice.
    He glanced up and cleared his throat. “I wanted to make sure you were both okay and to apologize for the way I litout of here last night. I…I’m not good around, er, that is, I…”
    “You don’t have a stomach for…certain situations?”
    He gave a self-deprecating grin. “How’d you guess?”
    Regardless of her mistrust of cops, she couldn’t help smiling at his obvious discomfort. His quick reactions the previous night had likely saved both their lives, hers and Sarah’s. “I recall that when I told you the baby was coming, you moved very fast.”
    He dug his index finger between his collar and his throat and swallowed. Despite her fear, Beth found the gesture oddly endearing.
    “I…owe you a huge debt of gratitude. I don’t know what would’ve happened if you hadn’t come along when you did. The road was so deserted, I don’t know how long it would’ve been before another vehicle showed up.” She paused, remembering. “Except for the other car I almost hit head-on… Was that you?”
    “No. I was following you. And you owe your survival more to the safety features of your car than to anything I did.”
    Reaching into his top pocket, he withdrew his notebook. “I need to ask you a few questions if you don’t mind.”
     
    P ANIC FLITTED ACROSS her face for an instant before she got it under control. Her eyes narrowed and her chin rose defiantly. “You weren’t driving a sheriff’s department car,” she challenged. “Surely you were off duty?”
    “I drive an unmarked vehicle and, as county sheriff, I’m on call 24/7,” he said. “Now, do you have your license?”
    “Why do you need it?”
    “So I can complete the details for my report.”
    “But…no one was injured. Why do you need to make a report?”
    Matt’s senses went on alert. She was acting strange. Sometimes friendly, sometimes fearful, sometimes combative. What was going on?
    “Is there some reason you don’t want me to see your license?”
    “Of course not,” she answered too quickly. “I didn’t mean to question you. I guess in my haste to get to the hospital I left my license at home.”
    He made a mental note to check with Hank exactly what, in the way of possessions, they’d found in her car after towing it in.
    “So you live around here?”
    Again, he saw her gaze dart nervously around the room and wondered why she was so anxious.
    He forced warmth into his smile, then said, “You mentioned that there wasn’t anyone I should call, so I was curious as to why you were here in Peaks County in an advanced stage of pregnancy without anyone nearby you could turn to.” He shrugged. “Seems strange to me, that’s all.”
    “I…I only moved here recently—to Denver,” she added, twisting the sheets in her fingers.
    “Then why were you driving in the high country at midnight? In a blizzard?”
    “I’d…been to dinner with a client in, ah, South Ridge and was heading home. I went into labor really fast.”
    She must think he was born yesterday with an excuse like that. “I take it your meeting went later than you planned? It’s a long drive to Denver.” He resisted the urge to say, Without your license.
    At the sudden relief in her features, Matt knew she was making the story up as she went along and thought he’d given her an out. “Yes…that’s right.”
    She wasn’t a convincing liar, probably because she hadn’t had much experience. Her fists were so tightly clamped on the sheets. Her fear was almost palpable. But fear of what?
    “I didn’t know where the hospital was and…I got lost.”
    Yeah, right! No one would be caught out late in a near blizzard, then expect to make it back to Denver. Anyone in that situation would’ve stayed in South Ridge; it had some decent motels. And no one would be