Whose Baby?

“Wow.” She flexed her eyebrows. “I would have liked to have been a fly on the wall when you finally made the decision to go through with this.”

“It would have been a very boring event to witness.” The battle had all been within. He could say the same about the particular battle he was fighting now. All within. Well, except for that blink.

“No gnashing of teeth?” she asked.

He shrugged. “Maybe some. But I figured this was the fastest way to disprove your allegation.”

“Ah, so you’re back to thinking I’m a liar. Of course, ‘disprove your allegation’ sounds so much more civil, doesn’t it?”

“I thought so,” Nick said, playing along with her sarcasm. He extracted the blank, sterile kits, as well. “One is for you. The other is for Joseph.”

She eyed the vials much as she’d eyed him at the ranch. As if they were deadly. In so many ways, they could be.

Kelly didn’t waste any time. She opened one kit and wiped the swab on the inside of her cheek. She placed it back in the vial and used a pen from the drawer to label it. “I’ll take a sample from Joseph as soon as he wakes up from his nap.”

So, the baby was there at the house. Nick didn’t know if that was good or bad. He’d prepared himself for either and knew no amount of mental preparation would help him for what he might face.

She carefully placed the test kits on the table. “I’m trying really hard not to be terrified of you, but I’m failing. You scare the heck out of me.”

Her honesty had a way of breaking down his defenses. Not good. He couldn’t allow that. “Terror isn’t always a bad thing. My reputation—”

“I didn’t mean your reputation as a ruthless, cutthroat businessman. I’m talking about Joseph.” Kelly moistened her lips and took in a quick breath. “Despite my need to learn the truth about the swap, I’m sick with fear over the possibility of losing Joseph.”

But that was all she said about what she was feeling. As far as she allowed the emotion to go. Another breath. Another moistening of her lips. Another flex of her eyebrows. And the display of emotions was over. She tucked them neatly away much as she did the stray blond lock of hair that she lifted off her cheek and slid behind her ear.

“So, what juicy things did the bald guy find out about me?” she asked.

Nick chose his answer carefully. “Cooper was thorough, as he always is.”

“You did it again. You evaded the question.”

She smiled. It was laced with nerves, but it still lit up her whole face. He felt another quick punch of lust. Fortunately for him, the smile faded as quickly as it’d come. Obviously, she too remembered there was little about their situation that warranted a smile.

“Let’s see. If he was thorough, as he always is, then you know I was raised by my aunt because my parents died when I was a kid,” she went on. “That wouldn’t have necessarily reinforced the concerns you have about my potential criminal tendencies. But the two-day stay in the psych ward would have given you a few troubled moments.”

Surprised by her stark honesty, Nick nodded. “A few.”

She leaned forward a little. “I don’t owe you this, but I’ll tell you, anyway. It happened. I could provide you with a lengthy recount of why, when and where, but I’m sure you already know the when and where parts.”

“And I guessed the why.”

“Yes, I’ll bet you did.” She paused and glanced at the vials. “You appear to be a smart man, and I don’t consider myself an idiot, so here goes. For one moment, assume that I’m not lying. That there was indeed a baby switch. What happens when we get the results from these tests?”

Nick was trying not to think of that nightmare.

“I’d prefer to wait for the results,” he insisted. “I think once we have those, there won’t be a decision to make. Because I don’t believe there was a switch.”

“But you’ve thought about it. A lot. I’m sure of that. So have I. If they confirm what I already know in my heart, I’ll ask for custody of William.” She snared his gaze. “But then, Joseph’s father could do the same for him. If his father is anywhere around, that is. Or if he even wants custody.”

That seemed like her attempt to get him to speculate or confess, but there was no way he could engage in that particular discussion. Thankfully, he didn’t have to put her off. The two sounds happened almost simultaneously. Nick’s phone rang, and the baby started to cry.

On a ragged sigh, she grabbed all three of the test kits and got out the chair. “I’ll be back.” And she disappeared into one of the other rooms.

Nick stood, as well, trying to get a glimpse of Joseph and her, but she pulled the door partly shut behind her. He answered his phone while he walked closer.

“What is it, Cooper?” he asked, knowing that was the only person who’d be calling him. Nick peered into the nursery and saw Kelly leaning over the crib. The baby stopped crying and began to babble instead.

The room was decorated with butterflies and birds. Bright primary colors. Kelly’s artwork, no doubt. During the background check, he’d learned that she wasn’t just a photographer but an artist, as well.

“I found a possible glitch,” Cooper informed him.

Hell. This wasn’t what he needed right now. “Go on.” Nick kept his voice as soft as possible so he wouldn’t alert Kelly. She took out the swab, mumbled something under her breath and then reached down toward the baby. Joseph made a protesting little sound and kicked at the covers.

“This one might be a real problem, sir,” Cooper continued. “There’s a P.I., a man named Denny Spencer. He was a close friend of Ms. Manning’s late husband, and I think he might have been the one who buried her psych records. Anyway, yesterday he was poking through the police files that were retrieved from the Brighton Birthing Center—the place where both William and Joseph were born.”

Nick watched as Kelly put the swab back into the sterile holder and laid it on the changing table. So, she’d gone through with it after all. There was no way she could know just how potentially critical, and dangerous, the DNA on that swab was. He needed to get it to a secure place as soon as possible.

“I don’t think this Denny Spencer’s made too many waves,” Cooper explained. “Yet. But I think we need to silence him with a payoff. Or else I could set up a few obstacles to keep him occupied elsewhere.”

“Neither.” Nick left the rest unsaid. If Spencer was a friend of Kelly’s, then it would only make the man more suspicious if someone tried to buy him off. “Put him under surveillance.”

Kelly murmured something to the baby. Something with a soft, rhythmic cadence. It seemed to settle Joseph because his babblings no longer seemed to be of protest. He appeared to be trying to mimic what she was saying. It was a familiar activity since William and he did the same thing.

“Keep me informed,” Nick told Cooper. He clicked off the phone in the middle of Cooper’s goodbye and slipped it back into his pocket.

“It’ll take me a couple of days to get back William’s DNA test,” Kelly whispered from the nursery, snaring Nick’s gaze from over her shoulder.

“You understand the need to keep all of this in the strictest confidence?” he asked.

“Of course.”

Her assurance wasn’t nearly enough. He’d take hers and Joseph’s DNA samples before he left, and a private lab, one that he controlled, would do both tests. As a further precaution, he was the only person who would get the real results. Any information after that would be filtered through him. It wasn’t an honest approach, but it could save Kelly Manning’s life.

He glanced in the nursery again. Kelly took a diaper from the stack next to the crib and started to change Joseph. Nick managed to get just a glimpse of the boy. But that glimpse had his imagination racing.

Dark hair. Not brown. But black.

Nick’s color.

Of course, plenty of babies had black hair.

Why couldn’t he put this out of his mind? There was only the possibility that Meredith had lied to him. A small possibility, since to the best of his knowledge she hadn’t lied to him about anything else. And she wouldn’t have taken on something like this by herself if—

“Heck, you might as well come in,” Kelly offered, interrupting his latest round of argument. “You’ve already given me a full body search, panties and all. Plus, I showed you my C-section scar. Seems a little late for modesty in the diapering department, doesn’t it?”

It seemed a little late for a lot of things.

He took a few steps closer and stood in the doorway, but Nick didn’t actually enter the room. It was best to keep some distance between them.