The Black Widow

“Thank you for saying that,” Jordan told her assistant. “From now on, the most important thing in my life is my child. He or she comes first. I will do whatever it takes to protect my baby and give him or her the best life possible, even without Dan here to help me.”

“He will have Devon and his Uncle Ryan for male role models and all of us to love him. And he’ll grow up knowing what a fine man his father was.”

After knocking on the partially closed door, Rick swung it open all the way. “Am I interrupting anything? If so, I can come back later.”

The two women turned quickly to face him, both obviously surprised by his intrusion.

“No, please, come in,” Jordan said. “Rene was just leaving.” She turned to her assistant. “I’d like to read over the press release before you contact the media.”

“Certainly.” Rene offered Rick a forced smile as she walked past him and out of the room.

“Would you care for coffee?” She indicated the carafe on her desk. “I’m afraid it’s decaf. Or if you prefer hot tea, I can—”

“Coffee’s fine, but it can wait. I’m here, as promised, to report to you.”

“Yes, of course. I suppose I wasn’t expecting anything this soon.”

Rick looked her over, from head to toe. She didn’t look pregnant. No tummy bulge, not even a slight one. She was slender and pale. Too pale. Weren’t pregnant women supposed to glow?

How could he confront a pregnant woman with his suspicions? He had already asked her if she’d killed her husband and she’d told him that she hadn’t. What if he pointed out that she’d lost two husbands and a fiancé and implied how unlikely that all three died of natural causes and it upset her? He didn’t like the idea of upsetting Jordan, especially considering her condition.

“Look, I think you should know that I overheard your conversation with Ms. Burke,” Rick confessed. “At least enough to know that you’re pregnant.”

Sighing, she nodded slowly. “My pregnancy isn’t a secret. Everyone in my family and close circle of friends already knows. And after the press release later today, the whole world will know.”

Rick glanced at her flat stomach. “You’re not showing. You must not be very far along.”

“About six weeks.”

“And the senator didn’t know you were pregnant?”

“No. I had planned to tell him that morning when I found him in his study.”

“You want this child, don’t you? I heard you say that your child was the most important thing in your life.”

“We wanted a child. Dan and I. I just wish he could have…” She swallowed hard.

Rick gritted his teeth. She seemed so sincere, so genuinely sad.

“Dan would have been such a good father. He was a good man. Kind and caring. He would have loved this child so much.”

When she unconsciously laid her hand over her belly in such a gentle, protective movement, Rick sensed how much this child meant to her. She wasn’t faking the depth of her feelings. And if she loved his child, didn’t it stand to reason that she had loved Dan Price?

“Look, is there anything I can do for you?” Rick took a tentative step toward her, desperately wishing he could erase the pain he saw in her eyes.

“I’m sorry, Mr. Carson…Rick.” Jordan tried to smile. “I’m all right. Really I am.” She changed the subject quickly. “You’re here to give me a report, aren’t you?”

He watched while she poured herself a cup of decaf from the carafe on her desk. She took a sip of the black coffee.

“I really don’t have anything to report,” he said. “Nothing you don’t already know.”

She took several more sips of coffee, then set the cup and saucer on her desk and glanced at Rick. “I sense there’s something you wanted to say to me.”

“It can wait.”

“Please, won’t you sit down? Have some coffee and tell me whatever it is.”

His experience with pregnant women was very limited. He’d never been married or fathered a child. His sister was older than he, so he hadn’t seen his own mother pregnant. And after devoting most of her life to her career, his sister had married only a couple of years ago and she and her husband had adopted a ten-year-old last year.

Rick didn’t sit. Instead, he walked over to Jordan and looked her right in the eyes. “I received a report from Powell’s last night.”

“A report on what?” she asked, her expression one of total innocence.

“A report on you.”

Her expression didn’t alter except for a slight flickering of her eyelashes that hinted surprise. “You requested a report on me?”

“It’s standard procedure. I’ll get one on Ryan, too, probably later today.”

“Did you find anything of interest in the report, something that adds to your suspicions?”

“You’ve had several tragedies in your life.”

“I’d say that’s an understatement.”

He suspected that she was forcing herself not to break eye contact, to continue looking directly at him. “It’s no secret that Dan is the third man that I’ve loved and lost. My fiancé died in a one-car accident shortly before we were to be married. I was twenty-one. My first husband was killed in a hunting accident when we’d been married only two years. And now, Dan…Neither Robby Joe nor Boyd was murdered, if that’s what you’re wondering.”

“Murder can be made to look like an accident,” Rick said and when her face went chalk white and her eyes widened in shock, he wished he’d kept that assessment to himself.

Jordan slumped into the chair behind her desk, her movements indicating that she could barely manage to stand on her own two feet. Rick took several tentative steps toward her, concerned about her welfare.

She held up a restraining hand. “No, please. I’m all right. Just shocked that you would even consider such a thing was possible.”

“Look, I was hired for a specific reason and I have to consider every aspect of the situation, which means looking into the past. The senator’s past, your past, and the past of anyone who had an opportunity to kill Dan Price.”

“I know you’re just doing your job, but the very idea that Robby Joe’s death or Boyd’s was anything other than an accident is ludicrous.”

“Look, I’m sorry if I upset you, especially since you’re pregnant,” Rick said. “I think maybe we should discuss Powell’s sending in another agent to replace me, all things considered. I’m probably not the best man for this job.”

“No! I don’t want another agent,” Jordan said vehemently. “I—I don’t want to start all over again with someone else. You’re here. You’re qualified. If you weren’t, Nicole wouldn’t have sent you. Am I right?”

“Yes, ma’am, you’re right. But I thought that since—”

“I’m not offended that you think I might have killed Dan. In your place, I might question my innocence, too, especially after learning that Dan was not the first man in my life who died unexpectedly. But I didn’t kill Dan anymore than I killed Robby Joe or Boyd. I’m not afraid of the truth and the truth is that Robby Joe’s death and Boyd’s death were terrible accidents. And if Dan really was murdered, I’m not his killer.”

Damned if he didn’t believe her. At least for the moment. She looked so sincere, sounded so sincere, and sent out strong I’m-sweet-and-innocent vibes. Everything in him wanted to believe her without question. He wanted her to be just what she seemed, a grieving, pregnant widow who really had cared deeply for her husband and wouldn’t have harmed a hair on his head.

Maybe he should stick around, stay on the job and prove to himself that Jordan was innocent of any wrongdoing. Wasn’t that what he wanted?