Babes In Arms

She shook her head. “Sloan’s got powerful friends. You’d be surprised what he can do. I used to think I could find protection from his brutality, but everyone covered for him.”

“He might not be so powerful here.”

“The first thing you know, I’d be whisked right back to Louisiana and placed in an institution and the public would be told I’m ill or mentally unbalanced. Sloan would manage it. I don’t want to go to the police.”

“All right, no police, but I think you’re making a mistake.”

She shook her head stubbornly. “I know what’s happened in the past when I’ve tried to get help.”

“How do you think you’ll get away from him?”

“I’m going to California where I have a friend who will help me. Sloan won’t find me there. It’s a matter of time. Once Sloan is defeated or elected, he’ll forget about me. If he’s defeated, it won’t help to get me back. If he’s elected without me, he won’t care what I do. Right now he wants me at his side. He thinks it will give the proper image for him. And he’s annoyed he can no longer control me.”

“Are you really divorced from him?”

“I’m telling you the truth. Yes, I am.”

“If you’re divorced, it’s a matter of public record and the reporters should have already picked up on his marital status.”

“He has contacts at newspapers and he can give them a story about my mental condition. It’s still early enough that he’s not in the limelight yet.”

Colin Whitefeather’s expression was a thundercloud that made her feel like running.

“I didn’t mean to bring trouble down on you and I’ll be gone tomorrow,” she said swiftly, trying to appease his anger. “Then those men won’t bother you.” Her pulse skittered as she watched him. He looked fierce and angry, and she had no doubts about his strength.

“They’ll find out who drives a blue pickup in this area.” The moment Colin said the words, she flinched as if he had struck her. “They can’t find us tonight. I can guarantee you that.” His gaze flicked over her figure again. “When’s the baby due? About March or April?”

“No. Actually, the due date is next week.”

“Next week! You don’t look that far along,” he said bluntly.

“That’s probably because of my height.”

He barely heard her answer. Anger rose in him, that she was being so careless about the coming event. “You shouldn’t be on the run. You need to be with relatives or a friend. You need to have a hospital lined up and not be racing across country with three goons chasing you.” As a cop, he had seen too much death and destruction. He had reached a point where he treasured birth and life, feeling a quiet joy with every foal or calf dropped on his place. He wanted to shake some sense into the woman, but the last thing this woman needed was to be shaken. She needed a loving husband’s strong arms and support. “Where’s your mother?”

“She died a year ago. I don’t have any family. But I’ll be all right. When the time comes, I’ll go to a hospital,” she answered stubbornly.

“Have you even seen a doctor?”

“Yes, I have regularly. I go to clinics in cities where I’ve traveled.”

He ran his fingers through his hair. “Damn, your baby’s due—you’re not carrying any clothing except whatever you have stuffed in your big purse. What will you do for diapers and formula? You know if those men are following you, they’ll take you and the baby back to Louisiana.”

She raised her chin and defiance filled her eyes. “They can’t steal a baby out of a hospital. I’ll manage. I had hoped to get to California before the delivery. This snowstorm has complicated my life. And I thought I had lost the men until this morning. I had planned to get a plane today in Tulsa, to Denver, and from Denver to San Francisco. I thought I would be in California tonight.”

“That’s cutting it damned close. You have a friend there?”

“Yes, Paula Kurczak, and she knows about the baby. Paula has a little girl and she still has her baby things.”

“Don’t you know that babies don’t always arrive on the exact scheduled date?” He was fighting to bank his exasperation with her. He should stop grilling her, but he was shocked at her lack of preparation for the baby.

She smiled, her eyes crinkling at the corners, a dimple appearing in her cheek, her white teeth flashing, and he felt as if all the warmth of the room had drawn itself into her smile. In spite of her ill-fitting clothes and garish makeup, she looked adorable, and he could understand why the ex-husband wanted her back.

“I’ll be all right. And my baby will be all right.”

“Have you had an ultrasound? Do you know whether you’re having a boy or a girl?”

“Yes and no. I did have an ultrasound and everything was fine, but I told them I wanted to be surprised, so I don’t know if it’s a boy or a girl.”

He stared at her in consternation. One week until her due date. “When this storm stops, if you won’t go to the police, I’ll drive you to Tulsa and put you on the plane to California.”

“That would be nice of you,” she said in a subdued voice.

“Do you want to call your friend in California?”

“Paula knows I’ll be there some time this week. I told her I would call from the airport when I land.”

He wondered whether there really was a friend in California, yet there was no big reason to lie to him. He barely knew the woman. He shouldn’t care. One week until her delivery date. That revelation gave him more jitters than the thugs had. Babies had their own schedules.

“Want a refill of hot chocolate? There’s more on the stove,” he said, trying to defuse the moment and calm his own nerves.

“Yes, that tasted good.”

She followed him into the kitchen, clearing the table while he heated the milk, pouring it into the cups and then returning to the fire. With a graceful crossing of her long legs, Katherine sank to the floor with him and placed her cup on the coffee table.

“What about your car?” he asked. “It’s still parked in Stillwater.”

“That was a rental car. I paid cash and I only owe them for today. I can mail them the money. I have fake identification, so they can’t trace it easily. I called the car agency from a pay phone in a restaurant and told them where to find the car.”

He nodded. “Where did you meet Sloan?”

“I was a senior in high school. He was a star player on the Louisiana State basketball team and I was dazzled by him when we started dating. We were married a year later, when I was a freshman in college. I’m twenty-three now.”

Another surprise, Colin thought, deciding it was the makeup and the severe hairstyle and owlish glasses that made her look older. He started to reach up to remove her glasses, remembered her fear and paused, his hand in the air.

“May I?” he asked and she nodded, looking wary and uncertain. He noticed her quick intake of breath as his fingers brushed her temple and he removed the glasses. He put them on and looked through plain glass.

“I was trying to disguise myself. It’s difficult to hide, when you’re a five-foot-nine woman.”

Colin placed the glasses on the table. “If you married when you were a freshman, you stayed with him a while.”

Her face flushed and she rubbed her fingers along the edge of the table. “It’s hard to break away, and at first I thought things might change.”

“That wasn’t any of my business. Sorry.”

“I don’t mind your asking anything. Sloan was so spectacular, a star athlete, successful, popular, handsome, wealthy, powerful. Too often he made me feel as if I were the one who was at fault or inadequate,” she said quietly.

“Do you have any proof of his abuse, if he takes you back to court?”