After a slight shifting, the men remained standing.
“Nate Hawkins here is missing a wife and baby.”
Nate expected the barely contained grins from a couple of men who were brave enough to risk the colonel’s reprimand, which came swiftly, then the colonel explained how Nate had gone to assist with the fire and Louise had disappeared. “Has anyone seen a woman and child? Anything suspicious?”
When no man spoke up, the colonel pointed at three men. “You, you and you. Start looking.” The three men saluted and hurried from the building.
Nate followed Colonel Macleod as his men fanned out to search the fort. He stood in the middle of the windswept yard and shivered. The temperatures were falling as night descended. Where were Louise and the baby?
He looked about. “Louise,” he bellowed. “Louise, where are you?”
“Be calm,” Colonel Macleod said.
Calm? Nate had abandoned that emotion about the time he met the colonel outside his headquarters. It wasn’t possible to be as cool as the man at his side with Louise and the baby missing. Colonel Macleod stood with his arms at his sides, unruffled as he watched his men search every nook and cranny.
One of the constables signaled for them to come. “Over here.”
Nate rushed so fast he would have passed the colonel, but Macleod put out a hand to restrain him. “I’d better see what he’s found before you go rushing in.”
Nate had no intention of waiting, but the young Mountie barred his way.
“Listen,” the man said. “Do you hear that?”
A baby crying. “Chloe! Where is she?”
“I can’t say. I called as soon as I heard it.”
They followed the sound into a storage shed and he saw the bundle on the table.
“Chloe!” He dashed to her perch and opened the blankets to reveal a squalling, red-faced baby. He picked her up and rocked her until she settled.
“Louise must be nearby. She’d never leave the baby.”
The men searched every inch of the building, but there was no sign of her. Nate even looked for himself. His heart pushed hot blood through his veins. “Where is she?”
Colonel Macleod drew him aside. “Has she been acting at all strangely?”
“No, of course not. How could you suggest such a thing?”
“I mean no offense, but occasionally women, after they give birth, aren’t quite right for a time.”
Nate narrowed his eyes and studied the man with a huge dose of dislike. “You’re suggesting she left the baby here and did what? Disappeared into the air? Flew the coop? Even if she did wander off, surely your men can find her.” He was angry enough to take on the whole force.
A young constable trotted in. “Colonel, you better come. We have a situation at the gate.”
Colonel Macleod left.
Nate curled his fists and gave a feral growl. Surely the situation could wait until Louise had been found.
Unless it was Louise!
Chloe in his arms, he raced after Colonel Macleod, practically tromping on his heels.
Two mounted men were at the gate. One held a body. He recognized the coat and shawl.
Louise! A spasm gripped his body so hard that he couldn’t move. Couldn’t breathe. Couldn’t think.
Couldn’t imagine life without her.
“Sir, this woman is injured.”
Louise squirmed. “Put me down. I can walk.”
Life came back to Nate’s limbs. He leaped across the remaining six feet. “I’ll take her.” He didn’t give the man a chance to say yes or no. He shifted the baby into one arm and lifted his free arm as Louise slid from the horse and landed at his feet, her hands resting on his shoulders.
She looked into his face, her eyes dark and full of both fear and relief. Blood ran down her forehead.
“You’re hurt.”
“You have Chloe. I knew you’d find her.” Sobbing, she fell against his chest, one arm around the baby, the other clutching the front of his coat.
Colonel Macleod stepped forward. “She needs to go to the hospital. Ma’am, perhaps you should let someone carry you.”
“No, thank you.” At least that’s what Nate thought she said. Her words were muffled by her sobs against his chest. She shook as if battered by a fierce wind.