Found: One Baby

“That’s assuming we can find her and she’ll talk to us. She may not. In any case, it’s best to be as prepared as you can be before you walk into a situation like this.” She sighed. “So if Russell thinks the papers he signed are in the attic, I think we need to do everything possible to find them. Because if we can find them, then we will know what attorney he used to prepare them.”

“What if they didn’t use an attorney? What if they just went online and printed out some do-it-yourself forms and signed those?”

Michelle exhaled. “Then none of what they’ve done may be legal. But again, we’re getting ahead of ourselves.” She held up a staying hand. “How do I get to the attic?”

Thad picked up William and the bottle. “We’ll walk you up there.”

Thad motioned her up the stairs. Past the master bedroom, with its heavy mahogany furniture and big, comfortable-looking bed. There was a stack of books and what looked like medical journals on both nightstands. Baskets of what looked like clean, unfolded laundry, and an overflowing hamper. On down the hall, past another bath and bedroom, decorated in teenage-boy motif, with a big sign on the door that read: Russell’s Room—No One Else Allowed. Next to that was a study, with a desk and cozy leather armchair and ottoman. Along one wall was a stack of gift boxes, reminding Michelle of all the women in town who were chasing him. Before she could stop herself, she blurted, “What’s this? The trophy room?”

“I’m planning to donate it all. I just can’t do it anywhere in town. ’Cause someone will know and then I’ll hurt somebody’s feelings…and I don’t want to do that.”

She could see he was serious. “It must be hard to be you,” she said dryly.

He returned her droll look and opened a door leading to the third floor. “Up there.”

Michelle hit the switch next to the door. Light flooded the third floor and spilled down the rough wooden stairs. “Thanks.”

Thad wandered back in the direction they’d come. “William, let’s go into the master bedroom and have ourselves a bottle, shall we?”

Shaking her head, Michelle headed up the stairs. Thad was right. It was a mess. And a pretty big one. Most of it seemed to be Russell’s, judging by the name scrawled in black Magic Marker on the sides of boxes.

She began looking. And looking. And looking. Finally, thirty minutes later, she hit the jackpot. Or at least she hoped she had. She found a metal lockbox, the kind where people tended to store their important papers. Only problem was, she noted, it was locked.

Footsteps sounded on the stairs. Thad came up to stand beside her. “Any luck?”

She waved her find. “This could be it.”

Thad towered over her, six feet two inches of attractive single male. “I didn’t know he had that up here,” he murmured in a low, sexy voice.

Once again, Michelle forced herself to set her attraction to the handsome doctor aside. She moved past him and headed briskly down the stairs. “Where’s William?”

Thad followed laconically. “In his Moses basket, asleep.”

Which meant she now had Thad’s undivided attention, at least for the next ten minutes or so, until William awakened again. She ignored the tingling in her midriff and forced herself to stay focused on the task. “You don’t happen to have a key for this?”

He shook his head.

“How about a paper clip?”

“In my study.”

They peeked in the master bedroom, where William was sleeping, then ducked into the study, opened a desk drawer and rummaged around. Finally he produced a paper clip and handed it over.

She could feel him watching her as she sat on the edge of the desk and began to work on the lock.

She looked up. The intent, appreciative, all-male look in his eyes made her catch her breath. “What are you thinking?” she demanded.

Thad tucked a finger beneath her chin, moved in closer. “This.”

Chapter Three

Michelle had plenty of time to duck her head and step away—if she wanted to avoid the kiss.

She didn’t.

Maybe because kissing him was all she’d been thinking about since he’d answered the door that morning, fresh out of bed.

Actually, she reminded herself sagely, the zing of awareness had happened a lot sooner than that. He’d caught her attention as soon as she realized who was living across the street from her.

The parade of women making their way to his front door—plus his reputation as a love-’em-and-leave-’em type—had kept her from acting on that purely physical attraction.

But coming face-to-face with him this morning, being close enough to touch that powerful, masculine body, had forced her to see him in a new light.

Not just as a neighbor or a guy she was too wary of to befriend.

But as a man who conjured up the kind of romantic day-dreams and pure, physical lust she didn’t know she possessed. And seeing him with William, knowing how deeply he cared about family, even when it seemed that the only family he had left didn’t care all that much about him, had added another dimension to the mystery that was Thad.

So when Thad angled his head and his face drifted slowly, inevitably closer to hers, Michelle gave in to the curiosity that had plagued her for months now and let it happen.

She opened her mouth slightly and let his warm, sensual lips make contact with hers. And then suddenly his arms were around her, dragging her closer, so that every inch of her was pressed against every inch of him. Hardness to softness, heat pressed to heat, she was wrapped in a cage of hard male muscle and passionate determination. Her heart beat wildly and she tilted her head back in open surrender. His tongue swept into her mouth, blazing a path that was as tender as it was fiery. She stroked her tongue against the potent pressure of his, knowing she hadn’t made out like this…since…Had she ever made out like this? Had her insides ever sizzled from just a kiss?

Michelle didn’t think so. Which was why, she realized abruptly, she couldn’t let it continue. She’d be in way over her head.

She flattened her hands on the hard wall of his chest and tore her lips from his. “Stop!”

Just that swiftly, Thad did.

He drew back, loosening his hold on her, not letting go completely. “What’s wrong?”

She lifted her brow. “You even have to ask?”

This time, he did release her.

He stepped back and settled on the edge of his desk. Long legs stretched out in front of him, hands braced casually on either side of him, he met her gaze. “I have to admit…I’m confused,” he murmured, making no effort to hide his continuing desire, “since I thought we were getting along like a house on fire.”

They had been. She hitched in a breath and qualified, “For all the wrong reasons.”

His brow furrowed.

She held up her hands in a gesture that warded off further intimacy. “It’s not you and me, Thad. It’s the situation. Our emotions are heightened. Finding William this morning…well, it upset our whole world. So naturally we have a lot of extra adrenaline and emotional energy to burn off, and we did that by ending up in each other’s arms.”

The look he gave her was skeptical. One corner of his just-kissed mouth quirked up, reminding her of how great he tasted. “That all sounds very reasonable—except for one thing. I work in a hospital trauma center, Michelle. I’m used to a hell of a lot more upset and stress.”

She flushed with an embarrassment she could not contain. Held his eyes with effort. “So maybe I’m the only one with an excess of adrenaline and emotion.”

He sobered immediately. “Well, maybe—but we still haven’t figured out how we’re going to handle this situation with William.”

Trying hard not to focus on the we in his approach, Michelle decided more physical distance between them was needed. She sat down on the leather reading chair in the corner and went back to working on the lock. “First of all, William was left in your care, so it’s really your call how you want to proceed.”