The Unclaimed Baby by Sherryl Woods Read Free Book Online

vulnerable these days. I just pray she doesn’t get hurt. I know Justin thinks she’s making a big mistake. Giving up foster care babies isn’t always easy, not even on folks who do it all the time.”
    â€œI’ll admit I don’t know your granddaughter all that well, but she struck me as being a pretty sensible woman. She didn’t waste a lot of time getting emotional last night. The instant we found that baby, she just took charge.”
    â€œThat’s her way, but it’s been a terrible year for her. Take my word for that.”
    Cord had the feeling that was all Harlan Adams intended to say on the subject, but his measured words only confirmed what Cord had read in her eyes. Something tragic had filled her with sorrow. It reminded him that he needed to move slowly, even though his every instinct was to pursue her without pause until he swept her off her feet.
    â€œYou a single man, Cord?”
    The question took him by surprise, especially in the context of the conversation they’d just been having and his own thoughts.
    â€œYes, sir.”
    â€œI see,” Harlan Adams said, surveying him speculatively.
    Cord tried not to flinch under the intense scrutiny. Finally he met the old man’s gaze evenly and asked, “How do I measure up, sir?”
    Harlan threw back his head and laughed. “Oh, you’ll do well enough, I imagine.”
    â€œAre we talking about ranching now or something else?”
    Before he could reply, a woman with black hair threaded with silver and the angled cheekbones of Native American ancestry swept into the kitchen, snatched the mug from in front of Harlan Adams and poured the contents into the sink, even as she gave Cord a smile.
    Despite the look of longing he cast at the emptied mug, Harlan Adams’s gaze softened as he looked at the woman. “Cord, this is my wife, Janet. She has a sixth sense about when I’m straying from the straight and narrow. It’s a damned nuisance.”
    Janet Adams smiled at Cord and touched her husband’s cheek. “I don’t intend to lose you, old man, not if I have to spy on you twenty-four hours a day.”
    The affection between the two of them stirred a yearning inside Cord. He wanted what they had. He wanted to have someone in his life who cared enough about his well-being to defy him when it mattered, someone who would treasure every minute they managed to snatch as they grew old together.
    Once more an image of Sharon Lynn came to mind. Judging from her grandfather and father, the years would be kind to her. He could envision sharing them with her. The prospect had taken him by surprise the night before, but it was growing on him now. It seemed as natural as breathing, as inevitable as the sunrise.
    â€œI’d best be getting back to Cody now,” he said. “He has chores for me.”
    Harlan barely pulled his gaze from his wife, but he said, “Welcome to White Pines. We’ll be seeing a lot more of you around here, son.”
    As he headed back to Cody’s office, Cord kept hearing the echo of that one word— son. He supposed Harlan Adams referred to a lot of men in that same easy, casual way. He couldn’t possibly have guessedhow much it would mean to Cord to be accepted so readily.
    Or how soon Cord intended to make the ties between them real and deep by marrying his granddaughter. Then, again, he recalled the expression on Harlan Adams’s face earlier when they’d been talking about Sharon Lynn. He was a wise man. Maybe he’d already been able to read what was in Cord’s heart.

Chapter 4
    S haron Lynn was falling in love. With every hour that passed, she grew more and more enchanted with the baby she and Cord had discovered in the alley behind Dolan’s. The little angel rarely fussed and had a smile that could light up the world.
    Because of the weather, she’d had the baby to herself the rest of Saturday and all day