by Lisa Childs
Real danger.
Chapter 10
When Nikki arrived the next morning to reclaim her post in the nursery, she found strangers inside it. An older couple stood over the crib, staring down at the baby. The lawyer was inside, too, along with an exhausted-looking Cooper. He hadn’t called Candace in to take over, at least not yet.
The pressure in Nikki’s lungs eased as a small breath of relief escaped her lips. But the tension remained in her body. She hadn’t found the release for it that she’d wanted. She’d gone to the trouble of hacking Cooper’s phone and retrieving his directory to no avail.
Lars hadn’t answered her text. He hadn’t called her. He might have been sleeping. From the dark circles, she’d noticed the past few days, beneath his stunningly blue eyes, he didn’t appear to have had much rest recently. So maybe his body had finally forced his mind to succumb to exhaustion.
If only she could have done the same…
She’d spent last night awake, worrying. Not just about baby Blue but about her disappointment over Lars not calling her.
Had he been with someone else?
It was a possibility she hadn’t considered when she’d decided to text him her number. But now she wondered. Maybe he was seeing someone else already. He was a flirt. He probably flirted with more women than just Nikki.
Nikki had plenty of men who flirted with her, too, or who looked at her like the lawyer had, as if he was undressing her with his eyes. She didn’t need Lars to get that release she needed. But there was no way she would ever let someone like Myron Webber touch her.
She shivered over how just his gaze went over her.
“Do you want to pick him up?” the lawyer asked the couple.
The woman nervously shook her head. “No.” Apparently she only liked to window-shop. “We’ve seen enough.”
“We’ll get back to you,” the husband added like he was talking to a salesman on a car lot.
And like that salesman Myron rushed out after them, presumably to show them out. But she suspected he wanted to continue his sales spiel.
Cooper waited until the door closed behind his client before he turned toward her and asked, “What the hell’s going on?”
“He didn’t tell you?”
“That he was selling his kid?” Cooper shook his head.
“He wants to give him a family,” Nikki said. “He’s giving him up for adoption.”
Cooper ran his hand over his closely cropped hair. He wasn’t working as a Marine anymore, but he still looked like one, just like the men he’d hired. “I don’t like this case,” he said. “At all. I may need to drop this client.”
“No!”
Cooper sighed. “There will be other jobs, other opportunities for you to work as a bodyguard.”
She wasn’t so sure about that, but at the moment she didn’t care. “That’s not why I want to stay on this job,” she said.
“Then why—”
A cry interrupted Cooper. Nikki hurried to the crib and lifted the upset baby into her arms. His blue eyes were squeezed shut with the scrunched-up look on his tiny face, but tears leaked from the corners of his eyes and wet her neck as she snuggled him against her.
“Shhh, Blue,” she murmured. “You’re all right. I’m here. I’m back. I’ll make sure you stay safe.”
Cooper stared at her, his eyes wide with astonishment. “He’s why you want to stay on the job?”
She nodded. “Yes, he’s so alone, so vulnerable.”
“He has his father…” Cooper’s voice trailed off. “For now…until he gives him up.” A father himself, he was obviously appalled at the thought of giving up his child. But then he was married and could give his son a whole family.
“Something’s not right about this,” Cooper murmured. “About any of this…”
“I know,” Nikki readily agreed. “And that’s why we have to stay. We have to figure out what the truth is.”
“The truth?” a deep voice asked.
Nikki glanced to the open nursery door. The jamb was filled with over six feet eight inches of muscle. Lars had to duck slightly to enter the room and turn his shoulders a little to the side. He was so big and broad.
Ignoring the quickening of her pulse, she snorted. “Like you would know anything about that.”
His brow furrowed. “I’m offended.”
Maybe he was, but he wasn’t claiming to be an honest man, either. Nikki had a feeling Lars was lying as much as the lawyer was.
“You’re late,” Cooper said.
Lars shook his head. “No, I’m right on time, boss.”
“I texted you a while ago about meeting me here.”
So apparently hers weren’t the only text messages Lars ignored. He must have been with someone because he still had the dark circles rimming his pale blue eyes. He hadn’t been sleeping.
“I’m sorry,” Lars said. “I didn’t get it.”
“Cole’s taking your position in the house today,” Cooper said. “And you’re going back to the office with me.”
“Any reason why?” Lars asked.
Nikki pointed toward the camera in the corner of the room and warned him, “Someone watched the surveillance footage.” Her face heated with embarrassment over what her brother had witnessed. She had been so stupid to not only let Lars kiss her but to also kiss him back, while she’d been on the job.
Lars groaned. “Coop, I can explain—”
“You will,” Cooper agreed. “Down at the office.” He headed toward the door.
Lars hesitated, his pale-eyed gaze focused on Nikki. He acted like he wanted to say something to her. But when he opened his mouth, Cooper shouted his name.
And the baby began to fuss in her arms. She held him close for his protection and hers. She didn’t want to hear whatever Lars had to say.
Not that she was mad he hadn’t called her. She didn’t actually care. And really, it had probably been for the best. Having sex with him would not have been a good idea, not when they were working together.
Unless Cooper was bringing him back to the office to fire him…
“Wait,” she called out.
And Lars stopped.
“Cooper,” she said.
Her brother appeared in the doorway again. “What?”
“Don’t overreact,” she advised him.
He sighed. Maybe he was irritated with her. Maybe he was just tired after a sleepless night babysitting. He said nothing, just turned and walked away.
Lars paused, staring at her and the baby. He mouthed the words thank you.
But she wasn’t sure Cooper would listen to her advice. She wasn’t sure that she would ever see Lars Ecklund again.
Ignoring the sharp twinge of disappointment that thought brought on, Nikki focused on the baby. He was so warm, so sweet. She found the bottle the lawyer must have brought up with the prospective adoptive parents.
Like the other one, the bottle felt warmer than the milk. It must have been frozen or chilled. She licked her wrist again and tasted it. It was soapy and sweet.
Could it be breast milk?
But if the mother was really dead, where had the lawyer gotten it? She doubted women sold their breast milk for other babies to consume. Wouldn’t they need that for their own babies?
Of course Nikki knew nothing about motherhood, and she had no intention of learning anything. All she wanted was to protect Blue.
She suspected the person from whom he needed the most protection was the one who claimed to be his father. She gazed down at the baby, who stared up at her with those eerily pale blue eyes that so resembled Lars’s. Would his irises really darken as he grew older? Or was this the color he’d genetically inherited?
She had another suspicion about Blue’s father, about who the man really was. But if she was right, why hadn’t that man claimed him?
Careful to avoid the camera seeing what she was doing, Nikki took a saliva swab from the baby and a sample of the breast milk. Then she slid the collection ba
ck into the DNA kit she’d picked up on her way over to the estate and tucked it inside her computer bag. She needed to know what the hell was really going on.
“For you,” she whispered to the baby as she held him again. “You’ll want to know the truth someday.” And Nikki wanted to know it now.
Feeling someone’s stare, she glanced up and found Myron Webber standing in the nursery doorway. His eyes were dark, so dark that she knew Blue’s eyes would never get that color. And they were already bigger in his tiny face than Webber’s were in his fleshy one.
“You are very good with him,” he told her.
She smiled down at the child. “He’s a very good baby.”
“That’s what I just told that couple,” Myron murmured as he stepped closer.
“Are you sure you really want to give him up?” Nikki felt compelled to ask. “If he were mine…”
The lawyer sighed. “He is only mine in the sense that I became his legal guardian when his mother passed away in childbirth.”
“Oh,” she said. “His mother granted you custody in case she didn’t make it? Was it a high-risk pregnancy for her?”
He lifted a slightly shaking hand and ran it through his thick hair. “She was very young. I doubt she had had any prenatal care before she came to me.”
Nikki’s arms tightened protectively around Blue. “That’s so sad. The doctors weren’t able to save her?”
His face reddened slightly. “No. No,” he stammered. “They couldn’t do anything for her.”
Nikki didn’t have her mom’s instincts, but somehow she knew the lawyer was lying. She could have asked him about the breast milk, but she doubted he would give her an honest answer. So there was no sense in asking and alerting him to her suspicions. “What was his mother like?” she asked.
He shrugged. “It doesn’t matter.”
“Someday he’ll want to know about his mother,” she persisted. And she wanted to know about her now, like where the hell she was. “He’ll want to know about his father, too. Where’s he?”
The lawyer shrugged again. “I have no idea. I don’t think the mother even knew who he was. And it won’t matter to the baby who his biological parents were. He’ll have new parents soon. Those are the only people he will need to remember.”
“You’re sure you don’t want to keep him?” she asked.
He laughed. “I’m not father material.”
Nikki believed that.
“I prefer the single life.” He stepped closer to her. “I enjoy going to nice restaurants and traveling. What do you enjoy, Ms. Payne?”
The truth. And she doubted she’d get that out of him. She smiled. “My job.”
“Your boyfriend must not like how much time you spend at work, though.”
She’d forgotten she’d claimed she had a significant other. But she did not want this man’s attention. She barely contained a shiver of revulsion over his closeness and the way he kept looking at her.
“My boyfriend appreciates how much my job means to me,” she lied.
If she were ever to get involved with anyone, he would have to respect what she did—and not want to protect her like her damn brothers.
Myron looked her up and down and uttered a sigh of resignation. “He’s a lucky man.”
She waited until he left before giving in to the shiver of revulsion. After eating, the baby fell asleep, so she settled him back into his crib. Then she reached into her bag and, careful to not pull out the DNA kit, she pulled out just her laptop.
She needed to find out everything she could about Myron Webber. But more important, she needed to find out who the baby was—who his mother was.
And who his father was.
She heard a gurgle and walked over to the crib. With something like a toothless grin, the baby stared up at her, his eyes wide and such a pale blue. She had a pretty damn good idea who his father was.
She had a DNA sample from the baby and from the breast milk. Now she needed a sample from that man.
Remembering how he’d reacted the first time he’d seen Blue and how awed he’d looked when he’d held him, Nikki suspected he cared very much.
So why hadn’t he claimed him—like the lawyer had tried?
“What the hell are you up to, Lars Ecklund?” she murmured because she believed he wasn’t being any more honest with them than the lawyer was.
*
Frustration gripped Lars. He couldn’t get fired. It would blow what was left of a plan that was quickly falling apart. He wasn’t sure what he could say or do to change Cooper’s mind, so he held his silence during the drive from Webber’s estate to the office.
Cooper said nothing either until he settled wearily into the chair behind his desk. Then finally he spoke, asking, “What the hell are you up to?”
“I’m sorry, Coop,” Lars said.
And he was truly sorry that he couldn’t be honest with a man who had always been a good friend to him. But it was for Cooper’s own good that Lars lied.
It was better that he not know everything that was going on. But there was no denying what he’d seen on that surveillance video.
“I shouldn’t have crossed that line with your sister,” he said.
Cooper narrowed his eyes as if doubting his sincerity.
Lars was actually being honest about that; he shouldn’t have crossed that line because now he couldn’t uncross it. He couldn’t not want to kiss her again—to touch her again—to hold her…
“What about your sister?” Cooper asked.
Lars sucked in a breath as if Coop had punched him. He’d thought he might—physically. Not like this…
“What about her?” he asked.
“I heard you’ve been looking for her.”
“Damn it…” Who had betrayed him? He’d thought he could trust the other guys. He should have known Manny couldn’t keep a secret. “Who told you that?”
“My brother Nick,” Cooper said. “He told me that someone matching your description was asking at the morgue about Jane Does.”
Lars shook his head. He hadn’t wanted to outright lie to Cooper. But he had no choice. “He must have gotten it wrong.”
“I could have him pull surveillance footage from the morgue.”
Lars shrugged. “You really have that kind of time to waste?”
Cooper sighed. “No. I don’t. That’s why I need you to just be honest with me, man. Tell me what’s going on with you.”
He shrugged again. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“You’ve been different ever since you came back.”
“A lot of guys are.”
“Not Dane. Or Manny. Or Cole. They’re the same as they were,” Coop insisted. “You’re the only one who’s different. You’ve got something weighing on you. You look like you haven’t slept in weeks.”
Lars gestured toward Cooper, who had dark circles beneath his eyes. “You should talk.”
“It’s this damn case,” Cooper murmured. “Despite what Nikki said, I think I should drop this client.”
“Nikki doesn’t want you to do that?” He breathed a sigh of relief and silently thanked Nikki. Hopefully her brother would listen to her this time.
“She’s getting attached to the baby,” Cooper said. “She wants to make sure nothing happens to him.”
Lars had thought Nikki protecting his nephew would make it easier for him to grab the baby. Now he realized that Dane was right; she might be the biggest problem with his plan.
*
As Dane settled onto the chair in front of Cooper’s desk, he felt like he’d been called to the principal’s office. It was a feeling he remembered well from his school days. He’d always been getting in trouble.
Back then it had been his fault. Now it was because of the company he kept and the confidences. “Hey, boss, what’s up?” he asked.
“You tell me,” Cooper said. “What the hell’s going on with Lars?”
Dane shrugged. “I couldn’t tell you.”
Because he had been sworn to silence. But his guts twisted with regret. He hated keeping a secret from a friend, even though it was for another friend.
“He’s in trouble,” Cooper said.
Lars had already given him a heads-up about the surveillance footage.
“Because he kissed your sister?” Dane asked. “Don’t you think you’re overreacting a little?”
Cooper glared at him. “Now you sound like my sister.”
From what he’d seen of her so far, Nikki was tough and independent. So he wasn’t offended. “Maybe you should listen to us.”
“I’m not talking about my sister,” Coop said. “I think it’s Lars’s sister we need to talk about.”
Dane shook his head. “I’ve never met her.” And now he would never have the chance. His guts twisted with more regret. He had a picture of her on his phone—one Lars had texted to him so that Dane would know what she looked like when they’d been searching for her.
“I think she’s missing,” Cooper said. “I think Lars needs help.”
“If he did, he’d ask for it,” Dane said. He hadn’t actually asked, though; Dane had given him no choice.
“I thought you knew him best,” Coop said. “He’s stubborn and proud and he would risk his own damn life before he’d ask for help.”
Lars was going to risk his life anyway, and Dane knew there was nothing he could do to stop him. There was no point getting Cooper involved. He had too much to lose. Dane was the one with nothing to lose. And because of that he would do his best to keep Lars alive, even if it meant giving up his own life.
Chapter 11
The nanny hadn’t come back. Either she was still sick or just sick of working for Myron Webber. Nikki couldn’t blame her. The man was creepy, and so was the house. The entire estate had an eerie ambiance about it. It was stark and cold.
Nikki shivered as she stepped back from the crib. She missed the warmth and weight of the infant. He had fallen asleep in her arms, and she’d had to force herself to put him in his bed.
Her breath shuddered out as she stared down at him. What if the lawyer gave him away soon? She would miss him. But his getting adopted was the least of her concerns at the moment. She needed to keep him safe.
