by Lisa Childs
She and Parker had come no closer to learning why someone wanted them dead; they had only found more dead. The tears threatened again. She blinked harder but one slipped through her lashes and rolled down her cheek to drop onto the sleeping baby. Her breath caught, but he only sighed.
Next to her, Mrs. Payne had tensed, but she relaxed with the child. “It’s like he knows you’re here. He recognizes his mother’s presence.”
But Sharon wasn’t his mother. And she was probably only his guardian for now...until a judge decided the biological father’s rights overruled hers.
She shook her head. “No, I—I’m not...”
Why hadn’t Parker told his family right away? He’d been upset with her for letting him believe she was the baby’s mother. Why had he let his family believe it even after he’d learned the truth?
“Judge Foster was Ethan’s mother,” Sharon said. “And I worked for her—first as her law clerk and then as her nanny.” Brenda had kept telling her that she didn’t have the aptitude to be a lawyer, and Sharon’s failed attempts at passing the bar supported that supposition.
All those years she had spent in school and studying...
And she’d found what she loved by default. She had found Ethan because Brenda hadn’t been able to keep any other nanny working for her.
“You love him like he’s yours,” Mrs. Payne observed. “And he loves and relies on you like you’re his mother.”
She nodded. “I do love him—very much.” And if she hadn’t been afraid that she wouldn’t be able to keep him safe on her own, she might not have brought him to Parker. But she wasn’t equipped to protect him from fires and bombs.... Eventually he would have been hurt just from being around her. Maybe the best thing for the boy would be for her to turn down the guardianship and let the Paynes have him.
“Are you going to fight me?” Parker asked.
She was so tired that she hadn’t even heard him climb the stairs to the top-floor master bedroom, where he’d set up that portable crib what seemed like so long ago.
“Fight you?” Mrs. Payne asked. Her brow furrowed as she turned toward her son, clearly puzzled.
It wasn’t her place to tell the woman what her son had not, but Sharon found herself explaining, “Judge Foster gave me guardianship of Ethan in her will.”
She was sorry that the woman was dead, but she still resented how she had treated her son—more like a possession than a person. But then, Brenda Foster had been too busy to get to know the little boy, to appreciate how smart and affectionate he was.
Mrs. Payne continued to stare at her son. “Then why would she fight you?”
He furrowed his brow now, obviously as confused as she had been with him. “Because there is no way that I am going to give up my son.”
Pain struck Sharon’s heart. “So because I’m not his blood relative, you would cut me out of his life?” Then anger surged within her and the heat of it dried up her tears. “I’ve been with him pretty much every day since he was born, and you expect me to just give him up? To just walk away?”
That was what her grandparents had expected her mother to do—to give up her baby to strangers. To just give her up and walk away and forget all about her.
But maybe they’d been right. Maybe if her mother had, she would still be alive—since she would have been in college and not working at a convenience store in a bad area of the city.
“Nobody’s asking you to do that,” Mrs. Payne said.
Sharon stared at Parker; he wasn’t asking. But it was what he expected.
“A judge might,” Parker said.
“A judge might not care that he has your DNA,” Sharon replied. “You didn’t even know about him until I brought him to you.”
“You’re probably regretting that now,” he remarked, his blue eyes glittering with sarcasm and resentment. He had every right to be angry that she had been awarded guardianship over him—but she was not the one he should be angry with.
She had actually regretted not telling him earlier. She’d thought the judge was wrong to keep him from his child. But then she remembered her excuse for doing that. “According to Brenda, you never wanted to be a father.”
“That’s why she tricked me.”
There were other reasons why Brenda had admitted that she had chosen Parker as the father of her baby: because he was smart and handsome and protective and had the kind of charisma that drew everyone to him. But Sharon didn’t want to tell him that and add to his argument for custody.
“You have said before—a lot—that you never wanted to be a father,” Mrs. Payne agreed.
Parker sucked in a breath. “Mom, whose side are you on?”
She pointed toward the sleeping baby. “I’m on my grandson’s side. I don’t want him to have to give up either one of you. And if you take each other to court, you might both lose him.”
Sharon sucked in the breath now. That hadn’t occurred to her.
“If you both prove the other unworthy of parenthood, the judge might put Ethan into the foster-care system,” Mrs. Payne pointed out. “Doesn’t a judge still have to approve this guardianship?”
There had been so much going on with the attacks and the murders that Sharon hadn’t considered that there was more to the process than just Brenda granting her guardianship of Ethan.
What if a judge didn’t approve? Given her history as a woman with a traumatic past, she might not be considered emotionally stable enough to be a guardian.
“And just because you’re his father doesn’t mean you’ll automatically get him,” Mrs. Payne continued. “You’ve never had any interest in children or in being a father—”
“That was before I knew that I am a father,” Parker replied defensively.
Sharon reached out and grasped Parker’s arm; his muscles tensed beneath her touch. She was tense, too. “We can’t lose him to the system.”
Too many kids got lost in the system. Her grandfather had definitely made certain she was aware of what could have happened to her if he and her grandmother hadn’t been gracious enough to take custody of her after her mother’s murder.
Parker narrowed his eyes and studied his mother. “So you must have a plan for your grandson since you have a plan for everyone. What do you propose we do?”
“Propose,” Mrs. Payne said. “Marry her.”
Sharon must have fallen asleep; she had to be dreaming. Because there was no way that anyone would have suggested that she—shy, quiet Sharon Wells—marry a devastatingly handsome playboy like Parker Payne. But it didn’t matter whether or not it was a dream because it would never become reality. Parker Payne would never ask her to marry him.
* * *
BY THE TIME he had gotten rid of everyone else, Sharon had fallen asleep in the middle of the king-sized bed in the master suite. And he found himself standing over her, watching her sleep.
She was exhausted. That was the excuse she had given for passing out during her interrogation, the reason she had given for checking herself out of the emergency room before the doctor had even seen her. The dark circles beneath her eyes proved her weariness.
But the way she murmured and twitched in her sleep betrayed her stress. And her fear. Finding the judge dead must have brought all those horrible memories rushing back to her.
He wanted to gather her into his arms and hold her close—to protect her. Maybe his mother was right. Maybe he should marry her. Not just so they would have a better chance at keeping Ethan but also so Parker could protect her.
He was no closer to finding out who wanted them dead. Certainly it involved the judge, but how had Brenda dragged him and Sharon into whatever mess she’d created?
He had lost touch with Brenda—probably shortly after she’d conceived Ethan. He needed to delve into her life more and find out what she’d
been up to, and nobody knew her life better than Sharon did.
That was probably why Sharon was in danger. She had to know something that she wasn’t even aware that she knew. And that something had put her life at risk.
Brenda had put her life at risk.
He had to protect Sharon. He leaned down and reached out for her, skimming his fingertips across her cheek. Her skin was so smooth, so silky. She was young—probably even younger than he’d realized when he had first seen her with her hair in a tight knot. Her severe suit had also made her look older. But now with the jacket discarded on the floor and her blouse all rumpled, she looked like a teenager who had dressed up in her mother’s clothes for an interview.
But after witnessing what she had at such a young age, had she ever really had a normal life? She must have grown up so fast. By picking her mother’s killer out of a line-up, she had been the one to bring him to justice. To get justice for her mother...
He wanted to get justice for Ethan—for his mother. But he also wanted to keep safe the woman whom Ethan probably saw as his mother, the woman who had actually been taking care of him. Sharon.
Marrying her wouldn’t be enough to keep her safe, though. He had to find out who was after them before they wound up like Brenda and her bodyguard....
Dead.
A cry broke the eerie silence of the penthouse. It hadn’t come from the baby, though. It had slipped through the parted lips of the woman. A whimper full of pain and fear followed it.
It pierced his heart. He cupped her cheek in his palm. “Sharon...”
She was exhausted, but he would rather wake her up than leave her in such a state.
“Sharon...”
Her thick lashes fluttered as if she struggled to wake. Or maybe it was the dream—the nightmare—that she struggled to escape. Finally her eyes—those enormous light brown eyes—opened, and she stared up at him.
But the fear didn’t leave her face. It was as if it increased, as if she’d become more afraid. Was she afraid of him? Because of the custody thing or because of the suspicions that he’d seen on her expressive face back at Brenda’s house?
She must have wondered if he had killed her boss. She might even wonder if he’d killed the bodyguard, too.
But then she reached out, as if trying to hold on to him—as if seeking his protection. And he heard it, too. The footsteps on the stairs. She knew he had gotten rid of everyone, that he had told them not to come back until he called for them.
Logan was the boss—as he always pointed out—but even he respected that this time Parker was giving the orders. The only one who might have disregarded his wishes was his mother, but she’d wanted to give them time alone—to think about her suggestion of marrying.
And while Logan might have thought about crossing Parker, he wouldn’t disobey their mother. That was how he had wound up married.
His mother was so convinced that she was right that she was sure he would realize it, too, if she gave him enough time. So she wouldn’t have let anyone disturb him.
He reached for his gun. But he didn’t want any more dead bodies and not just because Sharon didn’t need to see another one.
But because dead bodies meant dead ends.
If he killed whoever was coming after him and Sharon, he wouldn’t be able to find out who had sent that person. He needed his would-be assassin capable of talking.
But if he didn’t use the gun, he risked the person getting away or taking him down first. That meant he was putting Sharon and Ethan in danger.
He reached for the gun again, but then he pressed it into her hands. And he leaned close to whisper in her ear. “If it looks like he’s getting the best of me, pull the trigger. I took the safety off....”
She gasped in protest of taking the gun. But he hadn’t given her a choice.
He turned toward the stairwell. But he couldn’t risk the intruder reaching the top and maybe firing wild shots around the room, taking them both out. So he vaulted over the railing and rushed down the steps.
Chapter Ten
The gun was heavy and cold in her hands. Sharon wanted to slide the safety back on and put it aside. But curses and grunts and groans emanated from the stairwell while Parker struggled with whoever had broken into the condo.
And then Ethan awoke with a startled cry, which quickly became screams of utter terror as the loud fighting in the stairwell continued.
“Shhh, sweetheart...I’m here,” she assured him. “You’re safe.”
But was she lying to him?
She rose carefully from the bed, the gun grasped in her trembling hands. Keeping the barrel pointed away from the crib, she walked toward it and the screaming baby. “Shhh...”
He kicked his feet and flailed his arms, reaching for her. And she wanted to reach for him. But if she put down the gun...
If Parker needed her...
“You’re okay, little man,” she told the baby. But she wasn’t so sure about his daddy. So she moved back toward the stairwell and peered over the side, over the barrel of the gun she held. The men were a tangle of arms and legs. She couldn’t make out who was who.
But she did see the glint of metal in the beam of sunshine pouring through the skylights above the stairwell. While Parker had handed her his weapon, the intruder had brought one of his own.
A gun?
A knife?
She couldn’t tell. Yet...
But if Parker needed her to defend him, she would shoot. She would not let Ethan lose his mother and his father....
* * *
FEAR AND REGRET chilled his blood as Parker stared down the barrel of a gun. He should not have given his weapon to Sharon—especially since she was now pointing his Glock at him.
“I come here to warn you and this is how you thank me,” Garek Kozminski grumbled. “You break my neck on the damn stairs....”
Sharon gasped, no doubt as the memory of Brenda’s corpse flashed through her mind as it just had his. The gun shook in her trembling hands. Not only was she scared, but the weapon was probably too heavy for her given how exhausted she was.
Why had he taken off the safety?
He elbowed Garek, who cursed in protest. “Show some sensitivity, man....”
“Show some appreciation,” he retorted. “I’ve got important news.”
When Parker had first realized that the man he’d attacked on the stairs was Logan’s brother-in-law, he had been relieved. But now it occurred to him that Garek Kozminski wasn’t someone he should trust. The Payne family tradition was law enforcement or protection; the Kozminski family tradition was jewelry thieving. But that wasn’t the only crime Garek had committed; he had also killed.
And if he’d done it once...
“Why didn’t you go to Logan with your important news?” he wondered.
“I thought you were running this show,” Garek replied. “That’s what you said at the hospital.”
It was....
“But how did you find me?”
Garek grunted and shoved, trying to lever Parker off him. But Parker wasn’t ready yet to let the man up. He wanted to stay between him and Sharon. Although maybe that wasn’t the safest place for him given that Sharon’s grasp on the loaded gun was so shaky....
“I’ve been tailing you,” Garek admitted.
“How?” He had been careful to avoid any tails or so he’d thought. But the rookie cop had followed him and apparently so had a criminal....
Garek shrugged. “Don’t get all bent out of shape like your brother did when I tailed him. You guys are good at losing tails, but I’m better at—”
“Stalking?”
“I am not a stalker,” he said, and now he was the one with wounded pride.
“Then why are you holding a knife?” Sharon asked, he
r voice sharp with suspicion.
As Garek flashed the blade in question, Sharon steadied the barrel of the gun. She was ready to shoot. Despite everything she had been through and her exhaustion, she was prepared to protect him—better than he had been protecting her.
“I cannot say exactly what this is,” Garek began, “since I am not allowed to possess any tools for breaking and entering. But hypothetically speaking, this looks more like a lock pick than a knife....” He glanced at it as if considering how much damage he could do with it. “It probably couldn’t cause a wound much deeper than a paper cut.”
Parker could have called him on that lie since it had sliced through his shirt and grazed his skin. But then he was worried that Sharon might shoot. Hell, maybe he should let her.
“I don’t understand why you tailed me here and broke in,” he said. And he had some big concerns about the man’s motives. “Logan would have preferred you’d gone through him.”
“I don’t want Logan putting himself and my sister in the line of fire,” Garek said. And that reply made more sense than him wanting to tell Parker directly. “She was nearly killed because she was with him when he was mistaken for you. My sister’s already been through too much....”
And her brother had blamed Logan for that. Now he knew that Parker was really the one to blame. But then maybe he had reasoned that if he killed Parker, people would stop trying to kill his twin.
“Sharon has already been through too much, too,” Parker said. And he glanced up again, but she—and the gun barrel—were both gone. She must have determined that Garek was no threat. Or she had decided that Ethan needed her more than Parker did because the baby’s cries had subsided. “Don’t hurt her.”
“You think I came here to hurt you?” Garek asked, his voice gruff with more than wounded pride. “I came here to warn you, to help you...” He shoved off Parker and struggled to his feet, groaning as his body shifted.
Parker had hurt him, but probably more emotionally than physically. Maybe since their siblings had married, Kozminski had begun to feel as if they were family. Parker had begun to feel that way, too, until he had suddenly gained an instant family of his own with Ethan and...Sharon. He wasn’t sure what she was, but before he had even known that the baby was his, he had witnessed that she and the boy were as connected as if they were mother and son.
