“Is it too late for me to take back what I said earlier about you ordering?”
He grinned. “Not if you enjoy it.”
Oh, she was enjoying it, and the view, too. Reece was either becoming more attractive as she spent time with him or the wine was very good. Possibly both. “I adore alfredo.”
“Then we’re in business.”
She pulled the dish toward her. “What are we going to do about Emily?”
Reece picked up his glass. “First we’re going to have to figure out when and where to tell her the truth. I don’t want her finding out from her friends or complete strangers that I’m really her father. That wouldn’t be fair to her, and I don’t want her feelings hurt. Second, we’re going to have to keep a close watch on her, particularly in public places. It’s obvious the media is hungry for whatever they can dig up to keep this thing going, particularly now that it’s tied in with that nurse who might have been trying to abduct the babies.”
Taylor took her time twirling her fork around in the creamy noodles and realized her insides were feeling just as twisted. She wasn’t comfortable yet with the idea of Emily seeing him as her father, but he was right that she should be told by the two of them rather than finding out from someone else. Being the center of media attention wasn’t anything she was used to handling, but she knew Reece was right about the need to protect Emily from whatever they could. She couldn’t be with Emily twenty-four hours a day, nor could she chance her being alone. She looked over at him. “So what’s your solution?”
“We can control when we tell Emily the truth. What we can’t control is when and where the media is going to show up or who else might talk to her before we do. Her privacy and security are at risk with these people around. We’ve got to make sure the reporters don’t get a chance to get close to her. Keeping her out of public places might help.”
Taylor’s fork stopped midway to her mouth. Suddenly all those fears about being on lockdown, unable to go where she wanted or talk to whom she pleased when Michael was in charge, roared back to the surface, agitating her. “Isn’t that excessive?”
Setting his glass down, Reece stared at her intently. “It depends. We don’t know how far the media is willing to go on this. You’ve already seen the piece Channel Six did filming her at Jungle Jane’s. The other television stations are going to want a piece of the story, too, just to keep up. And then there’s the newspaper reporters. What if they go to her preschool next or come up to you and her while you’re in the grocery store? I’d prefer to be overprotective than have her end up in counseling someday telling a shrink how her life was ruined because she was a national story tied to some whacko child abductor’s mistake.”
Taylor cocked her head to the side and really looked at Reece. He had evidently thought this out long and hard to come to these conclusions, which proved he was concerned about Emily’s welfare. He was intelligent, and it showed in the rugged planes of his face and his intent eyes. He was also a private person, and this situation must be grating at him horribly.
She could and would do anything for Emily, and if that meant giving up a little of her own freedom for her daughter, then so be it. “You have a point. Jane told me that there were reporters calling her asking questions about how far our relationship had gone right after our first custody hearing.” She took a bite of the pasta and could taste the slight tang of lemon and basil from the chicken. It should have been delicious, but her stomach was too soured to enjoy it anymore.
“Perhaps you and Emily ought to consider moving into my place for a while.”
She stared at him, hard. Her stomach shrank down to the size of a walnut. “No.”
His gaze broke with hers and she got the distinct impression she’d somehow wounded him.
“Look, it’s just too much too soon. She’s not going to understand why I’m taking her out of her own home, and I don’t want to frighten her with this. If we can find another way for now, that might be better.”
The velvety brown of his gaze connected with hers. “We could try watching over her in shifts or take different days. Just let me know what we need to do and I can rearrange my schedule.”
Taylor set her fork down. He was willing to compromise. Michael, her father, hell, every boyfriend she’d ever had, were not ones to compromise. “You’d do that?”
“We’re talking about Emily. What wouldn’t I do?”
In one swift stroke, Reece bashed all her preconceptions about men as self-centered, take-it-or-leave-it beings. It rattled her, intrigued her, drew her to him. “You’re right. There are no redos in this situation, are there?”
“Afraid not.”
And perhaps that was the very thing that was making this so hard for her to decide. There were no redos. If she messed up and got Reece too involved in their lives, he might try to press for full custody as the biological parent. Then again, he was showing true concern for Emily’s welfare and had proven he was daddy material. Surely he would consider what was best for her in every situation, including leaving Emily under her daily care, wouldn’t he? And if they saw more of him on a regular basis, would that really be so bad, for either her or Emily?
Maybe it was the wine, maybe it was the candlelight, but for a moment, Taylor felt like letting most of her concerns about Reece go. They finished dinner quickly, keeping the subject at bay as if it would break the fragile spell that held them. He walked her out to her car, then stood beside her, waiting until she had unlocked the door. The evening air still held the chill of early spring and the scent of the ocean. It made her shiver.
“Before you go, I have to ask you if we are in this together, Taylor.”
She looked into his eyes, so like Emily’s, for a long time. Could she trust him to take care of her daughter? Yes. Could she trust him to take care not to break her heart? She wasn’t sure. But for now, Emily’s welfare had to take precedence. “Yes. Whatever it takes, we’ll manage.”
“Then shall we consider this a partnership?” he asked, giving her a smile that wasn’t like any of the others she had seen until now. This was subtle, predatory, and sexy as hell. Whatever defenses she was saving melted like butter on a hot grill.
He reached out, gliding a single finger down the edge of her jaw. His touch held the power of an electric charge, sending a shock of heat to the very core of her. Taylor couldn’t speak, couldn’t think when he touched her like this.
“Shall we kiss on it?” The low, husky quality of his voice caused her stomach to backflip and tighten with anticipation.
He wanted to kiss her. Her logical mind rebelled. Feminine desire shut logic in the closet and threw away the key. After all, one little kiss wasn’t going to change the world. Was it?
She leaned forward in response, wrapping her arms around his neck. Reece dipped down to her, his lips a fraction of an inch from hers, teasing and tantalizing her as he nuzzled and brushed his lips against her jaw and cheek, but never touched her mouth. His fingers wove into her hair, caressing the nape of her neck. She was aching to feel his lips, and the ache was spreading along with a heat so foreign to her it could only be termed exotic. Her breasts felt full and heavy, and a steady pulsing increased at the apex of her thighs.
She wanted that kiss—needed it.
Just when she thought she couldn’t stand it any longer, his mouth gently, seductively rubbed against hers. The spark within her roared to a full blaze, intense and consuming in its heat. The kiss deepened, becoming stronger, wetter as she traced the seam of his lips with her tongue.
Reece growled deeply, responding to her. His arms wrapped around her, pulling her up against the hard planes of his body.
Taylor melted from the inside out. It was like kissing the sun. The kiss was not only changing her world, it was rocking the very foundations of heaven.
What am I doing?
She placed her hands between them and pushed back, knowing that they would end up on the hood of her car, or in the backseat, if she didn’t control hersel
f now. She broke the kiss, her breathing heavy, and pressed her palms flat against the firm wall of his chest.
“This can’t happen, Reece, not now, not like this.”
He released her, but the intensity of his eyes shocked her. He reached out and brushed her cheek with infinite tenderness, a move both unexpected and touching. “I know. I’m sorry.”
She gave him a gentle smile. “I’m not. And you shouldn’t be, either.” She held out a trembling hand for a handshake. “Still partners?”
He took her hand gently but firmly, and gave it a shake, but the touch of his skin on hers still caused her body to tighten and pulse with longing. “Partners.”
Taylor turned and opened her car door, then climbed in. “I’ll call you and let you know when your shift to watch Emily will be. I think that the next time we’re together for a family dinner might be the best time to break the news to Emily about your connection to her.”
He leaned against the car door. “Don’t be afraid to rely on me, Taylor. I want what’s best for Emily as much as you do.”
Her heart beat hard. “I know.”
Chapter Nine
The days melted together during the next week, leaving Taylor, Reece, and Emily to fall into a comfortable pattern—with the exception of always looking in their rearview mirrors and outside their windows to see if anyone from the media was lurking about. Taylor took Emily to preschool in the mornings, and Reece picked her up in the afternoons and brought her home by dinner. Only once during the week had Reece needed to confront the media, when a news van was parked outside the locked gates of his home. On Friday night, they shared a meal together in her modest condo.
Taylor was bringing dinner to the table when the cell phone at Reece’s hip rang. He glanced at the caller ID.
“Sorry,” he said, “but no one uses this line unless it’s urgent. We had reporters camped out at the law office today. I’ve got to answer it.”
Taylor dished out the rest of dinner as she waited for him to finish, a little irritated by the interruption. Her father had regularly dashed out of family gatherings at the ring of the phone and she didn’t want that to happen to Emily on a regular basis. Taylor shook her head. She shouldn’t think like that, letting her own issues cloud the relationship she was building with him as a coparent of Emily. Reece had done nothing so far to indicate Emily would be just a distraction from his work—as she’d been to her own father.
“Thanks, Jay. I appreciate the heads-up.” He ended the call, then abruptly left the table.
Taylor followed him, intent on saying something about her concerns before he walked out the door. But instead, he went into the living room, where he turned on the TV and clicked through the channels until he found the one he was looking for.
“What is it, Reece?”
“Shh…”
On the screen Taylor saw a reporter standing in front of Clemens County Hospital. In the next instant they flashed a picture of Alyssa. The sight burned through her, leaving her breathless. Taylor barely caught the droning words of the reporter as an image of Emily playing at preschool covered the screen. She sat there with her little friend Mason, pouring sand into a small red plastic bucket— and wearing the same printed turtleneck shirt as she did now. Taylor felt the blood drain completely from her face, leaving her cold, clammy, and faint.
“Those bastards. This time they went too far. They took this at her school,” Reece growled.
Taylor felt the ground under her feet sway and a trickle of cold sluice down her spine. “How could they? There is no way the school would have let them onto the grounds.”
Reece swiped his finger across his phone and was already calling someone. “They probably took it through the chain-link fence.”
The reporter’s voice echoed in the background. “Recent sources indicate that Sherri Hoyt, the nurse implicated in the switch of the children, was working under an alias and is actually Pamela Terrate, a woman with both a criminal record and a history of abducting children. She’s wanted in four states. Some speculate that her switch of the children was possibly a botched abduction attempt…”
Emily came skipping into the room. “Look, Mommy, it’s my school!” she squealed. “And there’s our house!”
Taylor could only glance at the television for a second, confirming the image of her walking hand in hand with Emily through their condo parking lot before she flicked off the television and grabbed Emily, holding her close and stroking her hair over and over again to reassure herself her child was safe.
“What’s wrong, Mommy?” Emily sounded bewildered.
Taylor felt a stab of guilt as she realized that her reaction was now affecting Emily. She struggled to get a grip, but fear still flowed painful and icy in her veins. If they could get this close to her baby without her knowing, what else could the television crew do? How far would they invade their privacy? More importantly, would it scare Emily?
Reece was talking into the phone, his body taut, as if he were ready to throw a punch. “Hey, it’s me. Tell Bill I want restraining orders by tomorrow for Channel Six and Channel Three for civil harassment. Prep one for Channel Seven and the local papers in case they decide to pull any kind of stunt like this, too. I know that. Pull some strings. Thanks, I owe you one.”
Taylor was shaking. She set Emily down and then kneeled to her level. “Why don’t you go find Eddie and show him a picture book? Mommy and Reece need to talk.” Emily nodded, though her little face was still somber, and went back into the kitchen.
Reece wrapped his arms around her and pulled her close. His chest was solid, warm, and comforting.
Her throat ached with unshed tears and frustration. “Why can’t they leave my baby alone? Hasn’t all of this been hard enough without news crews and cameras stalking her?”
“Hey, it’s going to be all right.”
She looked up into his face. His deep brown eyes were filled with empathy.
“How did you know it was on?”
“I’ve got everyone at the firm on watch duty. Anyone sees anything related to Emily and we’ll know about it in minutes.”
She sighed. “This isn’t going to work, Reece. They’re just going to keep hounding the story until it’s no longer news. That isn’t going to happen until the hospital finally nails down what happened with that nurse and they run out of people to interview.”
“We’re going to take legal action to have them keep their distance. We also need to change the routine for a while.”
“What do you mean?”
“We may have to transfer Emily to a different preschool or take her out altogether for the moment. We need to move you out of this place to somewhere more secure.”
“What? You’re talking about uprooting everything that gives Emily security.”
“Yes and no. She’ll still have you…and me. I think it might be a good idea for you and Emily to move in with me for a while. My place has a security system and the fencing will keep anyone from getting near enough to photograph her. We’ll have a lot less to worry about and we can both be there to watch out for her. I’m just trying to be one step ahead of them.”
“I don’t want to be one step ahead, and I don’t want to leave my home,” she said, her voice frantic. “I want them to leave Emily alone.” Tears welled up hot and painful behind her eyes. She gripped her hands tightly, until they were white.
“This isn’t about what you or I want. It’s about what’s best for Emily.”
A heated rush of anger hit the base of her skull. “Don’t you think I know that?”
“Then move in with me, where I can keep you both safe.”
Safe. It sounded good. But she knew about the cost of safety. Michael had made her move in with him, and it had been the beginning of the downhill slide for her that had taken four years to climb out of.
“I thought you were just trying to placate me earlier by offering up your home, but you’re serious aren’t you?”
“Dead serious.” He nod
ded. Taylor felt the gentle pressure of this index finger beneath her chin and it tilted her head up. “I’d do anything to take care of you and Emily.”
Sure, he said that, but he didn’t realize how painful and achingly familiar this was for her. If she left her home, she’d be leaving her own space. Her control over her world. She’d be in someone else’s home again. Subject to their rules, their life. Taylor bit her lip. Reece isn’t Michael. Reece isn’t Michael. Reece isn’t Michael. You can do this for Emily. You have to do this for Emily.
She swallowed the hard lump in her throat and strengthened her resolve. “When should we move in?”
“Tonight. Just take what you need for now and we’ll come get the rest tomorrow.”
“We’ll pack, and I’ll be there shortly.”
“Are you sure you don’t want me to wait?”
Taylor shook her head. She needed some space. “No. I need a few minutes alone with Emily to smooth this out.”
He nodded. “You know her better than I do. If there’s anything you think she’ll need, let me know and I can pick it up on the way home.”
“Thanks, Reece.”
He put his hand on her shoulder. “Don’t try to fix everything at once. Let’s just take this one incident at a time and do what we need to for Emily. Okay?”
Taylor nodded and saw him to the door. The minute it clicked shut, she sagged against it, her body suddenly tired from the emotional toll that the situation was taking on her. With all the upset the news broadcast had caused, they hadn’t told Emily Reece was her father, and now Taylor was resenting it. As she packed their things and prepared to put Emily to bed at Reece’s house, she realized there was never going to be a good time to tell her.
Emily came walking into the bedroom, her arms full of stuffed animals. “I’m going to need these.” She dumped the armload into the suitcase.
Taylor bent down, wrapping her arm around Emily. “Sweetie, we can’t take all of these. How about you take just Eddie and Jessie?”
The Switched Baby Scandal (A Scandals of San Sebastian Novel) (Entangled Bliss) Page 10
