Peekaboo Baby

He stared at her. “And if I tell you what you think you want to know?”

“Then, it ends here.”

She hoped.

Mercy, it had to end here.

Dr. Keyes gave a curt, brace-yourself nod. “I believe an embryologist who used to work at the clinic might have done some experimental research on asexually replicated cells.”

Delaney mentally repeated that. She understood the individual words, but the term, asexually replicated cells, meant nothing to her. “Try that again in English.”

He opened his mouth and closed it, as if rethinking what he was about to say. Then he shook his head. “The embryologist, William Spears, died about three weeks ago. His records are apparently missing now, and I only got a glimpse of them beforehand, so I’m not exactly sure what he did. I’m not even sure if the embryo you were given was part of his research. In fact, I’m not sure of anything. I only learned what he’d done after he was dead—and that means I’m innocent of any charges this watchdog group might bring against the clinic.”

Using the grip she still had on his jacket, Delaney hauled him closer. “Frankly, I don’t care what part you had in this. All I care about is my son. I need to make sure he’s all right, that someone didn’t manipulate or mutate the embryo so that it could end up harming him.”

That improved his posture. “Is there something wrong with your son?”

“Not that I know of. That’s why I’m here. I want to make sure there’s nothing lurking in his DNA that could turn out to be a deadly time bomb.”

“No time bomb.” More hesitation. Another check around the parking lot. “I don’t believe your son’s DNA was altered.”

The breath of relief instantly formed in her lungs and then stalled there, because that wasn’t a relief-generating look on the doctor’s face. “Then what did you do to him?”

“Me personally? Nothing.” He groaned and kicked at the puddle of rain that was deepening around their feet. “Asexually replicated cells aren’t mutated or altered. They’re just that—asexually reproduced.”

Delaney wished she’d paid more attention in her Biology 101 class at Texas A&M. She shook her head. “I don’t understand.”

Dr. Keyes lowered his voice to a whisper. “Your son’s embryo was cloned.”

She pulled in her breath. “Cloned?” The grip she had on the doctor’s jacket melted away, and Delaney’s hand dropped to her side.

“Yes. I only got a quick look at Dr. Spears’s records, but he claims to have taken the DNA from a six-week-old male infant who died two years ago right here in San Antonio in an automobile accident that killed both the baby and his mother.”

A sickening feeling of dread came over her.

Two years ago.

A car accident.

A child and mother left dead.

Delaney was positive there’d been plenty of other accidents, other deaths during that time frame. But only one incident came to mind.

“It’s possible that you might have received the cloned embryo from that infant,” Dr. Keyes said.

Delaney felt herself stagger, and because she had no choice, she leaned against a nearby car.

An experimentally cloned embryo.

The genetic copy of a child who had already been born.

And died.

Delaney tried to respond, tried to question that. She tried to accuse Dr. Keyes of lying. Yes, that was it. He had to be lying. But she couldn’t make herself say anything. Her throat clamped shut, and the tightness in her chest squeezed like a fist.

“If the information in that record is correct,” the doctor continued. He waited until Delaney’s eyes came back to his. “Then, the child you gave birth to is Ryan McCall’s son.”

Chapter Two

Ryan McCall cursed the storm. It was a brutal reminder of the gaping wound that just wouldn’t heal.

The rain had been relentless, going on for hours. And each new assault against the massive floor-to-ceiling windows of his office drew him out of the concentration that he was fighting hard to maintain.

Concentration he desperately needed tonight.

Ryan tried—again—to lose himself in the quarterly business projections for his company, McCall Industries. A vital report. One he needed to absorb and study so he could give input to his department heads. It worked. Well, it worked for a minute or two anyway. And then there was another wave of rain. Another burst of wind.

Another stir of painful memories he didn’t want.

It had rained the afternoon of the accident two years ago. Violent weather, violent consequences. The connection wasn’t logical, but it was there nonetheless. Ryan considered it a battle to fight, and win.

Eventually.

That’s why he didn’t close the curtains. One way or another, he would conquer this particular demon just as he’d conquered all the others in his life.

The buzzing sound of the intercom echoed through the room only seconds before he heard the familiar voice of his household manager, Lena Sanchez. “Sorry to interrupt you, boss, but you have a visitor at the front gate.”

Ryan automatically checked the antique Seth Thomas clock on the polished-stone-and-mahogany mantel. It was just after seven-thirty. Not late, but since his estate wasn’t exactly on the beaten path, it was hardly the hour for an unexpected guest. And an unwanted one. Ryan didn’t have to know the person’s identity to determine that. Anyone was unwanted at this point. He was not in a receiving-visitors kind of mood.

“It’s Delaney Nash,” Lena added, sounding concerned. “And she said it’s important.”

That captured Ryan’s attention.

Tossing the report aside, he reached over, accessed the security feed on his computer and zoomed in on the wrought-iron gate that fronted his estate. Even through the thick gray rain and the dusky light, he had no trouble spotting the blue car. Or the woman sitting behind the wheel. Her window was halfway down, and she was staring blankly at the intercom and security camera, apparently waiting for Lena to open the gate so she could visit.

Even though Ryan knew her name as well as his own, he’d yet to meet Delaney Nash, the woman he’d spoken to and corresponded with too many times to count. That didn’t mean he wanted their first meeting to happen tonight. Still, there was something about her ashen face and shell-shocked stare that had him reconsidering if he would let her in.

She looked upset. And her shoulder-length coffee-colored hair was plastered against her head and cheeks. She’d obviously had a run-in with the rain, and she didn’t look any more pleased about her encounter with the precipitation than he was.

“What does she want?” Ryan asked Lena.

“She said it was personal. That she urgently needed to speak to you.”

Of course it was personal. It couldn’t be anything but. Old scores to settle and all of that. And the urgent part? Well, that was expected, too. Things always seemed urgent when it came to the Nash family.

This little visit was no doubt about her father. Maybe he’d attempted suicide again. Or maybe Richard Nash had filed yet another frivolous lawsuit to right the wrong that he felt had been done to him. Either way, it couldn’t be good.

“She’s probably here to try to kill me,” Ryan mumbled under his breath.