From Mistake to Millions

by Andrea Laurence

  Harley nodded, suppressing a smirk. Jeffries’s admin assistant had taken the orders to heart.

  “Is there anything else I can do to help you get your investigation started?”

  Harley flipped through his notes, underlining something he’d written earlier. “Who was the CEO of the hospital back then? I’d like to talk to him or her if I can.”

  “That was Orson Tate. A helluva guy. I’m sure he’ll be happy to speak with you.” Mr. Jeffries reached to his phone and pressed the intercom button. “Tina, can you please pull the contact information for Orson Tate? Mr. Dalton will need it.” He released the button. “Anything else I can do to get you started?”

  “Actually, I do have one last question before I go, Mr. Jeffries.”

  “Please, call me Weston.”

  “Very well. I’ve spoken with Ms. Nolan and it seems she’s been receiving threats in the mail, trying to scare her into dropping the case. You wouldn’t know anything about that, would you?”

  Weston’s eyes widened in surprise, but his gaze didn’t flicker from Harley’s. “I don’t. I’m sorry to hear that. I sincerely hope you don’t think anyone at St. Francis is behind the threats.”

  It was clear the man knew nothing about it. “Thank you for your time, Weston.” Harley stood, shook his hand and headed out of the office.

  As expected, Tina was waiting there with the former CEO’s contact information and a wide smile. “I’ll be right here if you need anything else, sugar.”

  He smiled back and quickly made his way down the hall to settle into his investigation. St. Francis’s staff had faxed him some paperwork to review before he came to town, but the proprietary hospital and personnel files had to be reviewed in person. In the office, he found three large file boxes on the desk. He’d hoped there would be some video surveillance tapes as well, but it didn’t take long for him to realize why there weren’t.

  A quick review of the security schematics from 1989 was revealing and unhelpful. Unfortunately, hospital security was not as good as it was now. While each floor had had cameras, the tapes filmed over themselves every twenty-four hours. If there ever was video evidence of someone switching the infants, it had been almost immediately destroyed. And that was if the cameras were even on. The hospital had been running on emergency power after the storm. Cameras weren’t nearly as critical as life support equipment.

  Specific security measures for the maternity floor weren’t any better. The infants had had identification bands that matched them to their parents, but there were no alarms or tracking protocols in place to keep someone from leaving with a child or removing a band. It was possible that the bands got mixed up and put on the wrong babies to begin with. Or if they were correct, anyone with access to the nursery could’ve gone in and swapped the babies in their beds. It would’ve taken seconds to move them and switch their identification bracelets. During the storm, who would be focused on such a thing?

  It was a good question. Who would’ve taken the opportunity to do something like that when people’s lives were in danger? The ID bands weren’t about to fall off the babies and they weren’t removed for any reason until the babies were discharged with their parents. That meant it probably wasn’t a mistake. Someone had done it deliberately, but why? Looking at the boxes, Harley was certain the answer was in there. He just had to know what he was looking for.

  Settling in with a large coffee he got from the cafeteria, Harley dug into his work, taking detailed notes. After a few hours, his eyes were going out of focus, but he had a solid handle on the situation. At least, he had a handle on who Jade’s biological parents might be. He was thankful, because there wasn’t enough coffee to keep him awake for another hour of flipping through files.

  Despite being paid by the hospital to find out what had happened, the moment he’d laid eyes on Jade his priorities had shifted. Yes, he wanted to find the truth and who was behind it, but for her, not for the money. The look in her eyes when she’d told him about never fitting in had nearly crushed him. He didn’t know if finding her real family would give her the peace of mind or the sense of home she was searching for, but he was going to do his damnedest to try. He wasn’t able to make her happy back then, but maybe he could now.

  There were only five baby girls in the hospital at the time of the storm. Thankfully, the window Jade’s parents had given him was narrow. Five was a manageable number.

  He copied down the names, addresses and phone numbers on file—which were from the late eighties—hoping to make contact and potentially pay the families a visit. Ideally, he’d like to get DNA samples to eliminate the other girls. Although he envisioned them in his mind as infants, they weren’t girls, they were grown women now. Likely with families of their own. And one of them had no idea her birth parents were out there somewhere, wondering what had become of her.

  Harley got on his computer and sent the names to his right-hand man, Isaiah Fuller, at his office in DC. The odds of all those people being at their old addresses with the same phone numbers were slim. His research team could look up the families in various databases and records, and provide more current contact information. That wouldn’t take long. Then he could reach out and start putting faces to the names.

  By the time the weekend came to a close, he could very well be on his way to knowing who Jade’s real parents were. The remaining question of why the babies had been swapped, and by whom, might take quite a bit longer to nail down. It had been thirty years and he worried that the trail had gone cold long ago. But he would get to the bottom of this. For Jade’s sake.

  Six

  Jade wasn’t used to coming home to someone, but when she pulled into her driveway, Harley’s Jaguar was already there. Seeing it evoked an odd sort of feeling, a sense of home the little cottage hadn’t really had before. At the same time, her little car seemed a bit dowdy beside the luxury sports car. Sort of how Jade felt beside Harley. At one time, both she and her little four-door sedan had been stylish and desirable in their own way. Now they both had a lot of miles on the engine and dings in the paint job.

  And yet no matter how many different ways she’d tried to run through the scenario in her mind from the night before, Harley had been eager to give her a test drive. At least at first. Then he’d run for the living room sofa, and any chance of igniting something between them had seemed like a fantasy.

  It was just as well. Sophie might think that a hookup was the best thing for Harley and her, but Jade knew better. He was like her favorite potato chip. She couldn’t eat just one, or even a handful, and set them aside, sated. No, she’d keep at it until she devoured the whole bag. It was easier not to eat a single chip sometimes. Or not even keep any in the house. Unfortunately, this particular treat wouldn’t leave. It was about two hundred pounds of trouble she didn’t need in her life, even just for a fling.

  When she went in the front door, she found the house quiet and mostly dark. She didn’t think Harley had been home very long. His messenger bag and suit coat were still sitting on the armchair in the living room and a light was coming down the hallway from the bathroom. She could hear the shower running.

  Tired of her stuffy work attire, Jade headed to her room, where she could change into something less itchy and more comfortable than the pale pink tweed suit she’d worn beneath her white lab coat at the pharmacy. She quickly slipped into a pair of jogging shorts and a tank top. It was winter still, but the house was warmer than usual—or she was warmer than usual—with Harley around. She followed up the change by flipping her hair back and catching the mess of white-blond strands into a high ponytail out of her face.

  She was stepping into the hallway when she collided with an unexpected wall of muscle. It was Harley, wet-haired and mostly naked, coming from the bathroom. She stumbled backward from the impact and he reached out to steady her, pulling her close to him again and wrapping her in the heat of his embrace.

&
nbsp; When she recovered and was stable on her bare feet, she found herself in quite the situation. When her gaze met his, she found his serious blue eyes watching her from beneath wet strands of hair that had fallen into his face. There was an intensity there that was different than when they kissed. It wasn’t even like when he’d become incensed by her threatening letter. Harley was focused one hundred percent on her in a way that made her heart stutter and her throat go dry. He might have run off the night before, but he didn’t seem to be wrestling with his attraction to her now.

  Unable to take it any longer, Jade broke away from his gaze and looked down to where her palms were pressed against the damp, bare skin of his chest. She could feel the rough curls of his chest hair that had intrigued her when she’d seen him in his briefs on the collapsed sofa bed. There was also a sprinkling of scars she hadn’t noticed before. Cuts, surgical scars, even what looked like a bullet wound. He hadn’t mentioned much about his time in the military, but it was obvious he hadn’t sat safely on an aircraft carrier, swabbing the decks.

  Not that she’d ever expected him to. Harley was the kind that would jump first from an airplane. Kick down the doors of suspected terrorists. He loved the rush, which was probably why he’d made a career in this business. It was an element of his personality that had worried her just as much as a teenager as it did now. She wanted to be with someone who would come home every night, not leave her wondering if tonight was the night she’d get the call she dreaded.

  Jade’s thoughts were derailed by the stirring of Harley’s desire. Her cotton shorts were slightly moist from colliding with the bath towel he had slung low around his hips. Even with the multiple layers of fabric between them, she could feel his need for her pressing against her stomach. Any questions she had about him wanting her were put to bed instantly. The bigger question now was whether she could allow herself to want him. And if so, could she manage to indulge without emotionally compromising herself? She wasn’t sure.

  “I’m sorry,” she said at last, trying to move back and break the connection between them. Jade didn’t get far. Mostly because Harley still had his arms around her waist.

  “I’m not,” he replied in a dead-serious tone.

  Jade stiffened. She wasn’t sure what to say. Was she brave enough in the moment to take what she needed? She did want Harley, even if she couldn’t keep him. She wanted to feel what it was like to have someone desire her again. It was plain to her that he did. She needed to heed Sophie’s advice and just go for it.

  She looked into his eyes, gathering every ounce of courage and seduction she had inside her. Then she slid one palm down his chest and over the hard muscles of his stomach. She could feel him tense and quiver beneath her touch as she reached for the edge of the towel. They were both holding their breath until, with a quick flick of her finger and thumb, the white terry cloth pooled on the floor at their feet.

  Harley’s serious expression softened slightly as a devious smile curled his lips. “I don’t think you’re sorry, either,” he said.

  She wet her lips with her tongue and shook her head slightly. “You’re right. I’m only sorry it took this long.” Then she figuratively jumped in with both feet and kissed him.

  The floodgates opened the minute their lips touched. All the reasons they’d had to stay away from one another went out the window as desire trumped their good sense. Jade clung to his neck, trying to draw his mouth closer to hers even as he towered over her. His hands roamed her body, reacquainting themselves with the long-denied landscape.

  Jade was overwhelmed with the sensations that coursed through her. She was barely aware of their movements as Harley guided them backward into her bedroom, until she felt the mattress press into the back of her thighs.

  This was really going to happen. For a moment, she almost felt eighteen again, and as if she was giving herself to Harley for the first time. A surge of nervous energy ran through her body as he slipped her tank top over her head and threw it onto her bedroom floor. She’d been so wrapped up in him back then, and the feeling was similar now. He was the bad boy, the handsome rogue who wanted her when it felt like the rest of the world didn’t. There was no way her teenage self could have resisted those charms. She’d fallen head over heels.

  This time was different, though. She was no enamored virgin with naive expectations about the future. She might not feel like she fitted in any more now than she did then, but Jade was a grown woman and knew that this wasn’t the way to solve that problem. She was simply a woman with needs that a man like Harley could fulfill if she let him.

  “Damn,” he whispered in a low, gravelly voice as he looked down at her breasts. She’d always been self-conscious about them, or really, the lack of them, but he didn’t seem to mind. He cupped them in his palms, sending Jade’s head back as she gasped. They were small, but extremely sensitive. Her nipples turned to hard pebbles beneath his touch, aching for his mouth to taste them.

  Jade eased backward onto the bed, shifting across the mattress as Harley’s naked body moved forward. In an instant, he was covering every inch of her with his heated, damp skin. His desire pressed against her bare thigh as he rested on his elbows and continued to tease her nipples with his tongue until she arched her spine and pressed her hips against him.

  She couldn’t remember how long it had been since she’d wanted a man this badly. Had she ever? Even her attraction to Harley when they were teenagers couldn’t measure up to this. They had been kids then. Now he was a man. A solid wall of man that a woman like her desperately craved.

  Harley pulled away long enough to grasp the waistband of her shorts and tug them down over her hips, along with her thin cotton panties. As they reached her ankles, she kicked them off and drew up one knee to hook around his bare thigh.

  “Do you have protection?” she asked. It was a little late for a question like that, but she hadn’t exactly come home from work expecting this to happen.

  “My gun is in the other room,” he replied, with a deadpan expression on his face.

  Jade smacked him on the shoulder. “You know full well what I mean. Condoms.”

  He grinned. “Yes, I do.” Harley pulled away from her, obviously admiring every bare inch of her body as he revealed it. Then he crossed the hallway to the guest room, where he’d left his luggage.

  Seconds later he returned with a fistful of gold foil packets. “Feeling ambitious?” she asked, as he tossed them onto the dresser beside the bed.

  “I’m feeling like I’ve got a few years of making up to do.” Harley reached for one and dropped it next to her on the mattress. “I also need to make up for the subpar lovemaking I offered you when we were teenagers. My form has improved greatly since then.”

  Jade smiled. She expected—even fantasized—that sex with Harley would be hot and frantic, but she was amazed to find that lying here with him was more comfortable than anything else. Laughter and desire blended together in a way she never could’ve expected. That was even better than some frenzied rush to the finish line. Jade was certain the frenzy would come soon enough, but it was nice to enjoy this moment, as well.

  “Has it, now?” she teased.

  Harley arched a brow. “Was that a challenge?”

  She shrugged her shoulders and lay back against the mattress. “Make of it what you will.”

  He didn’t answer. Instead, she felt his hand dip between her thighs and spread them apart. His focused gaze never left hers as his fingers sought out her center. She gasped as he gently brushed over her sensitive parts, teasing her by never fully touching her where she desired it the most. Then, when she couldn’t stand it a moment longer, he stroked her hard and her body arched up off the bed.

  Jade gasped and writhed, tensed and squirmed beneath his touch. He dipped his fingers inside her, rubbing the heel of his palm against her clit in a motion that made her every nerve ending light up. Within seconds of him strok
ing her that way, she could feel her long-denied release building up inside.

  “So close,” she said between short breaths.

  “That’s it,” he coaxed. “Let go, baby.”

  Jade didn’t have much choice. With another stroke of his palm, her orgasm exploded through her body. She was rocked by the intensity of it, as though the last few years without a lover had built up inside and burst from her all at once.

  This was one of Harley’s new moves and she approved.

  Even as she lay on the bed, her whole body almost liquid, she reached out for him. Her fingers curled around the firm heat of his desire and slowly stroked him from base to tip. She didn’t have a lot more experience to show off from their time apart, but she remembered how he liked to be touched.

  Nothing had changed there. Within seconds of her touching him, Harley pulled away with a curse. That meant she was doing everything right. He grabbed the condom on the bed and sheathed himself.

  Jade welcomed him with open arms as he covered her body with his own. They fitted together perfectly, each of her curves molding to his hard angles. When he filled her, that fitted perfectly, too. She drew her legs up, letting him go deeper, and clung to his back with sharp nails that dug into his skin the harder he thrust.

  The closer he got to his undoing, the tighter he held Jade against him. His fingertips eventually slipped through the strands of her hair, grasping a fistful at the base of her scalp. The grip was gentle but firm, tugging her head back and exposing her throat to him. She whimpered, teetering on the edge of pleasure and pain, but realizing that the harder he pulled, the closer she came to losing control once again.

  His teeth grazed her throat and she could feel the vibration of a growl from deep inside him. “Harder,” she whispered, and it seemed to be exactly what he needed to hear.

  His grip on her hair tightened, holding her perfectly still as he thrust into her with everything he had. The combination put Jade over the edge and the spasms of her orgasm brought on Harley’s own release. With a loud groan, he thrust into her one last time, and it was done. He collapsed against her, his face buried in her shoulder for a moment before he rolled onto his back and away from her.