That's My Baby!

Her tone grew bitter. “I was so worried about you catching whatever I had that I decided to get a prescription for antibiotics, hoping then I’d be less contagious.”

“I remember that, too. What does that have to do with—”

“See? You don’t know, either! Antibiotics can make birth control pills useless!”

So it was true. The realization washed over him in an icy wave. A child. He had a child. His baby wasn’t a refugee, yet still the images of those sad-eyed orphans rose up to taunt him. Life had let them down, and sure as the world, he would let down any child that called him father.

When panic threatened to overwhelm him, he looked for someone to blame. “If that’s true about antibiotics, it should be common knowledge! The doctor should have told you!”

“How could he think to? I ran over to one of those all-night clinics, and they were busy as hell. The guy who prescribed the antibiotics didn’t know me or my situation, and let’s not forget that I was supposed to keep it so damn secret that I was involved in a sexual relationship.”

He looked away from the accusation in her eyes. Guilty. He was so guilty. Loving a woman like Jess had been a mistake from the beginning. After only a couple of days of knowing her, he’d realized she was a white-lace-and-promises kind of gal. Pursuing her had been pure selfishness on his part.

But he’d wanted her in a way that reason and fairness couldn’t touch. He still did. One glance in her direction and the urge to take her came roaring back, especially now, when he was vulnerable and afraid. He’d discovered making love to Jess was magic. Holding her, pushing deep inside her, his fears always went away.

He could still taste her kisses. Her mouth was red from them, her skin rosy from the brush of his beard. The scattering of freckles across the bridge of her nose had been something he’d missed more than he realized. He loved her more now than ever before, as she stood there defiantly challenging him, her wild mane of red curls a riot of color around her tight, angry expression.

Then it finally struck him that she’d announced that they had a child, but she was here alone. “Where is the baby now?”

The defiance whooshed out of her in no time, and her expression became heartbreakingly sad. “In Colorado,” she said quietly. “At the Rocking D.”

“With Sebastian?” Alarm zinged through him. “Sebastian doesn’t know a damn thing about babies! How long—”

“Maybe we’d better go over there and sit down.” She gestured to a polished cherry table and two side chairs positioned by the window. “We have several things to talk about.”

He couldn’t come up with a better plan. It was as good a spot as any for him to be while she flung one hand grenade of information after another. Walking over to the window, he opened the drapes. He’d closed them while she was in the shower as part of his preparation for seducing her. Now he needed a feeling of space.

Below them the city still bustled even though it was nearly midnight. Which meant it was early morning in London. If his body ever stopped pumping with adrenaline, he’d probably keel over from lack of sleep. As it was, he felt as if he’d never be able to sleep again.

“Are you going to sit down?” she asked.

He turned. She was seated primly in one of the Queen Anne chairs, her elbows resting on the arms, her fingers laced together and her feet crossed at the ankles. He thought again how well she fit into this environment. She looked like a younger version of her mother.

He also had the ignoble thought of going over to that chair and trapping her within its arms while he ravished her. There was something very provocative about that bulky terry robe covering her naked body, and the untidy mass of her just-washed hair made her look like a woman in need of ravishing. She had freckles across the top of her breasts, too, and he’d been too busy to take proper notice of them the first time he’d opened her robe. Those freckles called to him.

She’d given birth to his child. He couldn’t take it in. His mind kept trying to reject the whole concept.

“I guess you’re not going to sit down,” she said. “I can understand you being agitated. I really had hoped to break this to you more gradually. But before I say anything more, I need to know if we can keep this between us, or if you will feel some obligation to contact my parents.”

He thought of the worry etched into Adele’s forehead, and the desperate gleam in Russell’s eyes. “They’re worried sick about you. They said you’ve been traveling…” He paused to stare at her. “Have you been hauling that kid around all over the place?”

“Her name is Elizabeth, and no, I haven’t. Like I told you, she’s been at the Rocking D.”

Elizabeth. Her name made her more real, which was not a good thing. “Since when?”

“Since March.”

“Holy shit! Is she okay? Is Sebastian—”

“She’s fine. I keep checking by phone.” Her knuckles whitened as she clenched her hands in her lap. “I had to do it like this, Nat. But first I have to know. Are you going to call my parents and tell them everything?”

“Don’t you think they deserve to know? My God, it’s their grandchild, Jess!”

“I know.” She swallowed. “But they’d want to swoop back in and protect me, and this time they’d include Elizabeth in their net. She’d become a little prisoner, just like I did. Once they knew the whole story, they might even get a court order giving them the right to do that.”

Gradually he began to piece things together. Her disguise, her separation from the baby, her traveling around. He walked over to stand directly in front of her. “What’s the problem, Jess?”

“I need your word that you won’t call my parents.”

“You’re not getting it. That might be the thing to do.”

She looked frantic. “No, it’s not! I won’t have my daughter grow up that way.” Her eyes begged for his understanding. “Please, Nat. Promise you won’t bring them into this.”

He shook his head. “No promises. I understand what you’re afraid of. I’ve seen Franklin Hall and I’m sure you were very lonely there. But there are worse things than being lonely.” And he was the guy who could testify to that. “You’ll have to trust me. I wouldn’t contact them unless I thought it was absolutely necessary, but if they’re your best alternative, and you’re being too pigheaded to see that, then—”

“You never lived there.” She pushed out of the chair and brushed past him, headed for the bathroom. “Tell you what. My main objective was to tell you about Elizabeth, and I’ve done that. All I ask is that if anything should happen to me, you’ll see about our baby.” She went into the bathroom.

He was across the room with one hand bracing the door before she could close it. “Stop right there.” His heart hammered in his ears. “What the hell do you mean, if something should happen to you?”

She looked at him. “There are no guarantees in life, are there? Now, if you’ll excuse me, I’ll get dressed and out of your way.”

“The hell you will.” Seventeen months ago he wouldn’t have thrown his weight around. That was before he’d lived in the middle of a war zone, where life could be snuffed out in an instant. He grabbed her wrist and pulled her back into the room. “You’re obviously in some kind of danger, and you are, by God, going to tell me about it.”

She resisted, trying to struggle out of his grip. Her color was high, and she was breathing hard. “This macho routine isn’t like you.”

“I’ve changed. Now tell me.”

“Why should I?”

Both fury and passion put the same bloom in her cheeks and the same hitch in her breathing, he noticed. He might not recognize the difference, except for the look in her eyes. “Well, for one thing—” he grabbed her other wrist “—you’re the mother of my child.” Saying it made him shudder, but the fact gave him some rights.

Her eyes spit fire. “I have always put Elizabeth first, and I always will. I’ll make sure she’s safe, no matter what happens to me.”

“She needs you.” He tightened his grip on her wrists. “And damn it, so do I.”

“No, you don’t!” Tears of frustration filled her eyes. “You just need me for sex!”

His throat ached with remorse. Of course she’d think that. He forced the words past the lump in his throat. “Oh, I need you for sex, all right. Like you wouldn’t believe. But that’s only the tip of the iceberg, sweetheart.”

Her response was low and choked with tears. “I don’t believe you. Now let me go.”

“No. Tell me what danger you’re in. I have a right to know.”

She gazed up at him and he could tell from the turmoil in her eyes how hard she was trying to be tough, how desperately she wanted to handle whatever she was dealing with by herself.

He couldn’t let her do it. “Tell me. For Elizabeth’s sake.” Saying the baby’s name, acknowledging her personhood, took another major effort on his part, but he figured it might turn the trick with Jess.

It did. Her shoulders slumped. “Someone’s trying to kidnap me,” she murmured.