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you’re not done with your visit…”
    Mindy held up a hand. “Actually, I’ve got to get back to El Paso. I was trying to convince Jacey to come home with me, as originally planned. But since she’s refused, I’ll just have to keep tabs on her and Caitlin another way.”
    Jacey rolled her eyes. “You really need to work on that overprotectiveness. You should probably see someone.”
    â€œHa-ha.” Mindy watched as Jacey settled Caitlin in the Plexiglas nursery bed.
    â€œSeriously, thanks for coming over.” Jacey embraced her sister. Despite their differences, they loved each other dearly. “I know how hard it is for you to get away.”
    Mindy returned the embrace warmly. “I’d do anything for you. You know that.” Mindy drew back to look into her eyes. “You call me as often as you can and let me know how you’re doing. Promise?”
    Jacey nodded, her throat thick with emotion. “Promise,” she said huskily.
    Mindy bent and kissed her niece goodbye, then headed out. Jacey was so busy watching her sister go, she forgot for a moment they weren’t alone.
    â€œSo, who’s Cash?” a low male voice asked from behind her.
    Jacey turned. Rafferty was standing next to the window, one shoulder braced against the glass, his arms folded in front of him. He looked sexy and indomitable. “You heard that?”
    â€œCouldn’t help it.” Undisguised interest lit his handsome face. “And you didn’t answer my question.”
    Jacey began gathering up the rest of her things. She folded them neatly and put them in her overnight bag. “He’s a friend of mine, who donated the sperm for my baby.”
    Rafferty narrowed his eyes. “You talking literally?”
    â€œIt was done in a doctor’s office, if that’s what you’re asking.” She could tell by the way Rafferty was looking at her that he was thinking back to the conversation they’d had during her delivery, about the baby’s daddy—or lack thereof. “Cash and I agreed from the outset that he would not be responsible for this child.” There were, in fact, legal documents verifying this.
    Rafferty stepped closer. Arms still folded in front of him, he looked down at the sweetly sleeping Caitlin. “So he’s never even going to see this baby?” He looked stunned.
    Jacey inhaled. “I’m sure he will at some point.”
    â€œBut you’ve got no plans—”
    â€œTo call him? I don’t even know where he is right now. Last I heard he was headed for the wilds of Alaska to do some dogsledding.”
    Rafferty regarded her, an increasingly inscrutable expression on his face.
    The unexpected intimacy of the conversation left her feeling off kilter. Heart pounding, Jacey picked up her baby and held her close to her chest. “Let me guess. You don’t approve.” If so, he wasn’t the first, and she was sure, he wouldn’t be the last.
    Ignoring the baby, Rafferty looked her square in the eye. “If you think it’s going to be that simple,” he concluded gruffly, “you’re fooling yourself.”
    Â 
    â€œW HAT’D YOU SAY to tick her off?” Eli asked an hour and a half later.
    Rafferty noted his dad’s arthritis had eased up, along with the rain. He was moving around a lot more comfortably. But then, that was the way the disease worked. One day his dad would be chipper and spry and ready to saddle up with the rest of them, the next Eli’d be so stiff and sore he’d barely be able to get around. There was just no predicting. Which was why he’d had to retire—and do physical ranch work only sporadically.
    However, his dad’s intellect, his ability to take in everything around him down to the smallest detail, remained intact.
    Bracing himself for a possible lecture, Rafferty rocked back in his desk chair. “What do you