“Mind if I talk a walk first?” she asked, stalling for time so she could come up with a better reason. The last thing she wanted to do was hurt Kit’s feelings. The woman had been nothing but welcoming and kind.
Blaize shot a look. The reason dawned on her. He didn’t think it was safe for her to be outside alone. He stood up and gently handed Rue over to Kit.
“Finally my turn with this sweet little girl.” Kit beamed.
“I’ll go with you,” he said.
She knew better than to argue if she wanted to stretch her legs to counter all the sitting she’d done yesterday. Normally, she would go on a run in the morning, but she didn’t know the area. A walk was more manageable. How lost could she get?
Of course, Blaize would know the area.
“One sec,” he said before leaving the room. When he came back, he had a gun tucked inside a waist holster that was clipped onto his jeans. The reminder of the danger they were in sobered her. “Ready?”
As much as she’d ever be.
“Let’s go,” she said, leading the way out the back door.
Once outside, she saw paint cans scattered around the back of the house.
“They might have been the cause of the noise last night,” Blaize said after following her gaze. “Could have been a raccoon trying to climb them or searching for food.”
“Makes sense.”
They walked quietly for a while.
“I tried to find her last night and came up empty,” he said. “Stephanie Cross isn’t on social media that I could find, but that could be a married name.”
“You don’t remember anyone named Stephanie?”
“No.”
They walked around the perimeter of the yard. A cool breeze caused her to shiver. If the weather dipped below seventy-five degrees, she threw on a sweater. Growing up in south Texas had a way of making you a wimp when it came to colder temperatures.
“Given it’s Saturday, I’m at a loss as to getting more information about her,” she said. “I’m waiting on the sheriff’s report, but with the…conditionsof the crash, we might never get a positive ID.”
“That doesn’t leave Rue in limbo?”
“It would only matter if a parent claimed her, which I was hoping you would do, but since you admitted to not having sex during that time Rue’s status is up in the air.”
“What if I just let it ride?”
“You mean keep her?” she asked, not hiding her shock. “You would do that?”
“Do you have a better idea?”
After the way she’d seen him with Rue this morning, it was a thought. She’d already bent the rules in this case. Could she look the other way on something as big as paternity?
No. Now what?
Chapter Eight
“I wish I could, but—”
Blaize put a hand up to stop Carys from finishing her sentence. “It was the first thing that popped into my mind. Forget I said it.”
“I thought it was noble,” she said, cracking another layer of ice that encased his heart. At this rate, he’d have no defense left before the weekend was over. “And very sweet.”
“I’m not sweet.” If only she knew what a jerk he could be. She would change her mind faster than a spring hailstorm tore through a town.
