New Arrivals: His Inherited Family: Billionaire Baby Dilemma / His Ring, Her Baby / Cowgirl Makes Three

Devin gave a vigorous nod of agreement. “If he’s not smart enough to hide the evidence, then he deserves to get caught.”

“What do you think you’ll find?”

“I have no idea.”

“Looks like we’ve got company.” Lexi nodded to the beach in front of their houses.

“Not Lucas.” Despite her bold words, Devin wasn’t anywhere near ready to put her plan into action. She certainly wasn’t ready to face him yet.

After their kiss last night, she’d escaped directly from the library to her room. Then she’d deliberately waited until his sports car pulled out of the driveway this morning before venturing down from the nursery to feed Amelia breakfast. They’d made a clean break. And, if she was lucky, it would last until tomorrow morning.

“It’s Steve,” said Lexi, adjusting the angle of the catamaran so that it pointed directly at the beach.

As they approached the shore, Devin prepared to jump off. She settled Amelia firmly against one hip, then she turned her body, feet dangling just above the water line.

She jumped and hit the sandy bottom. It slipped away beneath her heels, but she maintained her balance, trotting the last few feet alongside the boat.

She grasped the bow line with one hand, holding Amelia fast with the other. She needn’t have worried. Lexi had put the boat expertly up on the beach and quickly jumped off herself.

Steve stood at the water’s edge, and he stepped forward and smoothly relieved Devin of Amelia.

“Looked like fun out there,” he commented. He held Amelia aloft for a minute, grinning at her and babbling nonsense.

The baby smiled back, cooing a few sounds of her own and reaching for his nose. Steve propped her, bulky life jacket and all, against his shoulder, and Devin couldn’t help contrasting his easy manner with the baby against Lucas’s awkwardness.

Lexi stripped off her life jacket and started work on the ropes.

“I thought you might need some help,” Steve explained to Devin.

Devin stripped off her own life jacket then took Amelia from Steve’s arms and unzipped hers. “Help with what?”

“I assumed you were picking up a few more things from the house. For the baby. Maybe for you.”

“How did you know I was here?” It was disconcerting to have him show up out of nowhere.

“He pumped the staff for information,” came Lucas’s unexpected voice.

Devin looked up in surprise to see Lucas striding across the beach, his shoes off, slacks rolled up a few turns and his suit jacket slung over his arm. “He’s been spying on you,” Lucas told Devin.

“What about you?” Steve challenged.

“They’re my staff,” Lucas returned.

“Did you two come together?” asked Devin. She wasn’t crazy about having any of the Demarco family invading her home turf. It wouldn’t be much of a sanctuary if her problems kept following her out here.

“No,” they both answered simultaneously.

“Well, I don’t need help moving,” she said, finishing the exchange with Steve.

Then she turned on Lucas. “And you. There’s no reason for you to be here, either.”

“I wanted to make sure you were coming back.” There was a wealth of awareness in his flat, frank stare. He knew the kiss had disconcerted her. And he’d obviously guessed that’s why she had fled.

Well, he was in for a surprise now. She was over the kiss, and she was going to ignore any lingering attraction she might have for him. From now on, he was the target of her investigation, nothing more.

“Of course I’m coming back,” she told him breezily, switching her attention on Amelia, fixing her little sun cap and smoothing her wispy hair.

Despite her concentration, she could feel Lucas’s gaze. But she assured herself that he didn’t know what was going on inside her head. As far as he was concerned, their kiss had meant nothing.

“You should have told me where you were going.” There was a rebuke in his voice.

“I’m a prisoner now?” she couldn’t help but ask. “You’re under a court order.”

She turned to peer at his expression, an unsettling thought taking hold. Would he somehow use this against her? Had he reported her for taking Amelia out of the Demarco mansion?

She advanced on him, voice going low. “What did you do?”

“Damn it!” Lexi shouted from behind her, and Lucas instantly sprang to action.

Devin whirled to see him drop his suit jacket and race into the lake after the catamaran. The wind had picked up, and the craft had slipped from the sand. The breeze caught the mainsail, and the boat was heading out into the middle of the water.

Lexi was chasing it, too, but Lucas was faster. As the water reached his waist, he dove in, swimming powerfully across the waves, only just managing to grab a stern line and hang on tight.

Lexi was chest deep in the water. Steve was still on shore.

And all three of them held their breath while Lucas made his way, hand over hand, along the rope. He grasped a handle on the pontoon and hauled himself, dripping wet, onto the accelerating boat.

“I can’t believe he caught it,” Lexi breathed. “That was just plain stupid,” she cursed herself, her expression telling Devin she’d been needlessly distracted.

“Must have been a sudden gust,” Devin offered in consolation, shading her eyes to watch as Lucas took control of the catamaran, ducking under the boom while he tacked to turn.

“Does he know how to sail?” Lexi asked Steve.

Steve nodded, but his lips were drawn in a grim line. There was a chill in his brown eyes that Devin hadn’t seen before.

She shifted Amelia and focused on Lucas as he maneuvered in a big arc against the setting sun. Once turned, he lined up, pointing the craft toward them, coming in at a fast clip as he ran the boat back up on the soft sand. Lexi quickly grabbed one of the pontoons. Lucas hopped off and grabbed the other. Together they dragged it a safe distance onto the beach.

Lexi immediately started taking down the sail.

“Thanks,” she called to Lucas while she worked.

Lucas glanced down at his dripping clothes, then over to the jacket that was halfway in the water, its fabric being ground against the sand by the lapping waves.

It occurred to Devin that she probably should have thought to pick it up for him. Whoops.

He paced over to retrieve it. “I cannot keep a suit clean around you people.”

She couldn’t tell if he was angry or joking.