Newborn Conspiracy

Unlike Mia.

Logan couldn’t help but notice the dampness on the front of her sweater. Right in the vicinity of her left nipple. She apparently had sprung a leak. He hoped that wasn’t painful.

And then he questioned why he had his mind on that and not their situation.

Remedying that, Logan went to the next question on his mental list. “Did you ever see the person following you?”

“Once. I got just a glimpse. It happened right after I went to the police station to turn in the files I’d taken. The person was in the parking lot.”

Logan hadn’t read that in the police reports. “By any chance was it a dark-gray car?”

She shook her head. “Black. But the tint on the windows was heavy. When I spotted the car and realized that it was someone following me, I stopped. I figured I was safe in the parking lot of the police station so I sat there for five minutes, and then this motorcycle bumped into the black car. The driver let down the window. Just for second. And that’s when I got a glimpse of her right before she sped off.”

Logan latched right on to that. “She?”

“Oh, it was definitely a woman. Auburn hair, fair skin. Heart-shaped face.”

With just that brief description, a really bad thought went through his head. “Describe her hair.”

“It was short, no more than two inches long, and it was sort of spiky. She didn’t look like a criminal. From what I could see of her, she was well dressed. And the car was top of the line and very expensive.”

Logan silently cursed.

“What’s wrong?” Mia asked. “Do you know this woman?”

He didn’t answer. Because in this case a picture was worth a thousand words, he grabbed his BlackBerry from his pocket, entered a security code and began to search through the old files and photos. He finally found what he was looking for. Logan brought up the image on the screen and leaned it toward Mia so that she could see it.

“Is that the woman you saw in the parking lot that day?” he asked.

Her eyes widened and she pulled off the side of the road into the emergency lane. She took the PDA from his hand and studied the image. “Yes, I think it is. Do you know her?”

“Oh, yeah.” Logan knew her all too well. “That’s Genevieve Devereux, my scheming, psycho ex-girlfriend.”

Chapter Three

Mia tried to come to terms with what Logan had just told her, but it was a lot to absorb.

The woman who’d followed her and made her life a living hell was Logan’s ex-girlfriend?

Part of her was pleased that she finally had a name to associate with the frightening things that’d happened to her during the past year. But another part of her was confused and not at all certain that this woman was actually responsible.

There were things that just didn’t add up.

“Why would Genevieve Devereux follow me and try to kidnap me?” Mia asked.

Logan didn’t know the answer to that. “She’s capable of doing something like this,” he said. But then, he shook his head. “Well, maybe she is. I never pegged her for a kidnapper. But the subterfuge. Following you. The planting of a tracking device. That’s Genevieve.”

“It still doesn’t explain a motive. I don’t even know this woman. Besides, it could have been a coincidence that she was in the black car at the police parking lot on that particular day.”

“When Genevieve is around,” he mumbled, “bad things aren’t usually a coincidence.”

Tanner began to fuss again and Mia knew she had to feed him soon. But where? She didn’t like the idea of taking Logan back to her house. Besides, she was a good fifteen minutes from home and she doubted that her son would want to wait that long for dinner.

“Take this exit,” Logan instructed.

Mia gave him a questioning glance.

“Tanner’s hungry,” was Logan’s response.

Since Mia couldn’t argue with that, she did as he said and took the exit.

“Pull into the parking lot of that fast food place,” he continued. “You can feed the baby while I watch out for that gray car and make some calls. I’ll find out if Genevieve is behind this.”

Because Tanner’s cries were getting louder and more intense, Mia followed that order, too. She parked her car, unfastened her seat belt and reached for her son.

She froze.

Because she realized that Logan would see Tanner. It was stupid and it didn’t make sense, but she was afraid if Logan saw the baby, then there might be some kind of instant bonding. But then, maybe that had already taken place on the afternoon he’d delivered Tanner.

After all, Logan had been the first person to hold her son.

Mia refused to think of Tanner as their son. No. Logan McGrath was simply the sperm donor.

Keeping the blanket over Tanner, she unstrapped him from the infant carrier, scooped him up and brought him into the front seat with her. One glance at Logan and she realized he was watching her every move. Mia had a remedy for that. She shoved her modesty aside, lifted her sweater and opened the cup clasp of her nursing bra.

Her left breast spilled out.

Logan looked away and took out his phone.

Finally she’d won one of the little mental matches going on between them.

As Mia had known he would do, her son latched right on to her nipple and began to nurse. That not only meant he was being fed, but with Tanner’s face pressed to her own body, Logan couldn’t see him.

Mercy, she felt petty.

But she wasn’t going to blindly trust this man who’d charged into her life. Mia had made that mistake when she was fifteen. She’d trusted a stranger. And that trust had gotten her family killed and had left her a dysfunctional mess. She was not only claustrophobic, she had an almost paralyzing fear of guns and knives. It was entirely possible she would never fully trust again. And there was only one person she could blame for that.

Herself.

“I’d like to take you to my house,” Logan said as he pressed some numbers on his tiny phone.

“No.” And Mia left no room for argument. “If your ex-girlfriend is behind this, then your house is off-limits. For that matter, so are you.”

“I own several places.” He ignored her jab. “Genevieve doesn’t know where this house is.”

“I’m still not going there with you. After I’m done nursing Tanner, I’ll make sure no one has followed us and then I’ll drop you off somewhere so that Tanner and I can go home.”

And once there, she would lock the door, turn on the elaborate security system she’d had installed and not go out again unless it was absolutely necessary.