Hide and Seek (4 page)

Maybe Adam would be around. Adam was the scraggly bellboy-cum-errand boy the boarding house employed. They had become fast friends when she first arrived, tired and sick, the third month of her pregnancy making her so ill she wished for death.

Adam had made a joke, insinuating she looked so battered and worn because she was running from the mob, the boss of which had knocked her up. When Adam had gallantly offered to marry her and save the life of her unborn child, she had laughed and they had chatted over hot chocolate, instantly becoming good friends.

Maybe finally confessing the full story, not the partial story she already had confided to Adam, and asking his opinion on what she should do would give her a fresh perspective on everything. Adam knew full well her opinions on relying on anyone other than herself. Although Adam was not the most logical, practical person she had encountered, her own scrambled thought processes might return with his helpful input.

Josephine knew that Adam liked her just for being herself, and she loved him in return like a little brother. Even though he was a few years her senior, he acted so much like a horny teenager that it was hard to see him in any sense other than a rascally little brother. The knowledge that it wasn’t just her life she was now organizing, but those of her sons as well, lent a far more serious note to her contemplations.

She sighed. Refusing to feel guilty over how long it had taken her to shape up and recognize she couldn’t do this alone anymore, she adjusted her clothes as the nurse finished cleaning the ultrasound equipment.

Yes, she would return to the boarding house and chat to Adam in her small room. He always had a joke or two to cheer her up, and when she could convince him to get serious, his opinions meant a lot to her. Taking the hand the friendly nurse was offering, she climbed off the small, cramped bed and finished rearranging her clothes.

Heading out into the chilly Montana wind, Josephine pulled her coat tighter around her rather large belly. Keeping her head down, she headed back the short distance to the house. Checking her watch, she knew Adam should be around. The thought of some hot chocolate along with a good long chat with her dear friend spurred her to walk faster in the cold day. She knew a good long talk would help her sort her mind out, but a sinking part of her knew already both what her friend would say and what she would end up doing.

Return to William.

It was the right thing to do. Even though she would never feel bad about the last few months she had learned to live alone and the confidence she had built in herself, Josephine knew she should have headed straight back to William as soon as she had seen the positive pregnancy tests.

All three of them.

She would talk to Adam, confide the whole story to him. Josephine felt her stomach tighten and turn over as her babies played inside her.

Returning to William. Josephine felt excited and scared simultaneously.

Chapter Two

“What do you mean you’re not sure? Dammit, Samuel, we’ve been searching for
months
! I thought you were this hot-shot private eye?”

William Rutledge paced the length of the comfortable inner-city office his younger brother, Samuel, used as his base for his private investigations firm. Running an agitated hand through his long, dark brown hair, he resisted the impulse to start pulling the strands out or to open the window and start baying in frustration out into the street below.

It had been six very, very long months since he had woken up alone that first time. Originally, he had been piqued, depressed over how Josephine could have left him without a note or even a simple, “See you around, it’s been fun.” When he had finally confessed his depression and anger to his new sister-in-law, Sophie, after two weeks of angst and anger, he had realized that there might have been more to Josephine’s leaving than he realized.

Sophie, his elder brother Artemais’ new wife and mate, had pointed out that Josephine might have been running, or scared, or any number of horrible things he didn’t want to contemplate. Sophie had gently urged him to dig a little into her background and find out what really was happening.

When he had performed a cursory police check into Josephines from the Seattle area, including her vital stats and the scanty tidbits of information he had gleaned about her over the two weeks they had been seeing each other, he had found some rather disquieting news. There was a warrant for questioning out on one Josephine Lomax, from the outer Seattle area. Even though the surname wasn’t that of his Josephine, the physical description and rough time of leaving the area fit his woman perfectly.

William hadn’t believed for a moment that his Josie dabbled in drugs, in any sense. But the fact that she had a warrant out on her head made him worried for her. Why was she running? He
knew
there was a misunderstanding somewhere, but why not explain to the police what was going on? Why run, when it made her look so guilty?

The questions had been whirling around in his head for all these long, cold months, and the more time that stretched by, the more worried he became. He surreptitiously checked daily in the logs and records of the Seattle branch of police where the warrant originated.

No one anywhere seemed to have heard from her, so he at least had the consolation that no one else had found her. But that left a set of different worries in his head.

Was she hurt? Was she cold? Hungry? The frustration he felt at not being able to help her, protect her, was driving him nuts. He felt proud that she was so independent, and so frustrated at the same time he felt like roaring out his anger or at the very least kicking something inanimate. Hard.

“Are you even listening to me, bro?”

“Huh?” William turned back to where Samuel, two years his junior, was leaning back in his old-fashioned padded chair. “Of course I was listening. Sort of. Maybe want to repeat it?”

Samuel sighed disgustedly, and put his fedora hat back on his head, his detective pose back in place.

“I said your chick is obviously living on cash. Her bank accounts had a couple of hefty withdrawals on the night she ran, but since then no money has come in or out of them. She hasn’t re-registered with any of her Accountancy clubs, so it’s unlikely that she is working a proper full-time job. Unless your girl knew beforehand that she would be running and has set up a full and proper set of alternate credentials—”

“No, no,” William interjected. “She didn’t have any details or accounts under Joey Lane, she often didn’t even respond to the name at the start of our relationship. I really think this was a spur of the moment thing that just stretched on and on since the warrant was released.”

William ignored the slightly pitying glance Samuel gave him.

“You’ve got it bad, bro. I want to find this chick even more than you do simply so I can see what kind of woman can have you tied up in knots like this. The only other interesting tidbit I’m inclined to share is that Petrelli, the guy in charge of the investigation, recently left Seattle. He was just promoted to Detective and got assigned to the case. Then he filed for a month’s leave a couple of days ago. I have no idea if it’s important, I’m just keeping you up to date. I do have a few other semi-leads, but I want to see how they pan out, and it’s getting late. What say we hit the bar, meet up with Dom and have a night out?”

William wasn’t much in the mood for partying, especially the style of partying Samuel and Dominic would probably do in the bar. Dominic was the youngest and certainly wildest of the four brothers. William’s taste for casual flings and one-night stands had never been strong, and had become nonexistent since he met Josephine.

Yet, neither did he really want to return to his large home where he lived with his three brothers and new sister-in-law. Artemais and Sophie had only just had baby Christiana, and while he loved his little niece, he felt restless.

“I think I’ll pass tonight, bro. I might just pick up some takeout and it’s getting late. I’ll chase down a few leads of my own tomorrow before heading back to the house to help Sophie and Christiana settle in. They only came back from hospital the other day.”

William smiled and waved at Samuel as he headed out the door, determined to get some more work done tonight.

Collecting some Chinese from the store on the corner, he retrieved his car and drove back to his small but tidy apartment. As he walked down the corridor leading to his apartment, he heard an achingly familiar voice reply loudly, almost in a panic.

“No really, Mrs. Peterson, I’ll be fine. I can come back later, really!”

Quickening his pace, he rounded the corner, wishing like hell he hadn’t chosen the apartment in the furthest back corner of the floor. He was half-afraid he was imagining her voice, having hallucinations. He dimly heard Mrs. Peterson, bless her soul, insisting the “young lady and her friend” come inside her apartment for a pot of tea and a bit of a sit-down. That he, William, would be back soon undoubtedly, and she would hate for them to wait out in the drafty corridor.

William came around the final corner to where his and Mrs. Peterson’s doors were, almost at a run. He worried Josephine would disappear before he could grab her. His legs halted as he saw her, even more beautiful than he remembered. Her shoulder-length auburn hair glowed with the inner reddish-brown color of a delicious flame.

He loved her hair, had spent hours staring and brushing it when they had spent quiet evenings after intense lovemaking. As she heard his approach, she had turned to him, and he felt his breath freeze when he stared into that lovely, heart-shaped face. The green eyes he had dreamt about for months were sadder, lonelier than he remembered. He desperately wanted to bring that mischievous sparkle back into them that he knew could be present.

And then he felt his mouth gape as he saw her
huge
belly and much fuller breasts.

Oh my Lord, she’s pregnant! Largely pregnant. Is it…?

He left the incredibly masculine and possessive thought of
Mine
untouched. He didn’t want to get his hopes up. After six cold, lonely months of contemplation he half-reasoned she
had
to be his True Mate.

It would certainly explain a few things, like how he could never, no matter how busy or stressed, get her out of his mind. How he dreamed about her almost nightly. How he loved her scent…and a million other things. Sure, he could have picked up some nameless woman and fucked her raw to try and sate his craving for Josie, but why hurt the poor girl by kicking her out of his bed as soon as he was done? Even the thought of fucking some other woman left a bitter taste in his mouth. He only wanted his Josephine.

Stepping forward, closing the distance between them, he dropped the bags of food on the floor and rested one hand gently, yet possessively over her rounded stomach. Feeling the tiny movements of life, sensing the spirit encased in her womb, he mentally confirmed that she was indeed pregnant. Needing desperately to know if the child was his, he scented her deeply.

Almost drowning in her beloved scent, that one he had craved like a drug in these last barren months, he allowed himself to wallow in the flowery, feminine smell that was uniquely Josephine. He concentrated his senses on the baby, scented himself and Josephine mingled in their baby.

He felt his heart lighten and nearly explode with happiness. Josephine was having his baby,
their
baby. She had to be his True Mate, as no other woman alive could bear his children. For a split second, William blushed, imagining what his brothers, Artemais in particular, would have to say to him.

“You didn’t recognize your True Mate? After sleeping with her for two straight weeks and impregnating her? Let’s go back over these lessons I taught you twenty-odd years ago…”

Even knowing the verbal and likely not-so-verbal abuse he was likely to cop in the very near future, William still felt as though all his birthdays had come at once. He felt that giant piece of him that had been missing with her absence click back into place.

Now she was his.

He could claim her, mate with her, do all the things he had fantasized about in the dark of night over the last six months. He felt elated, and surrounded his essence around his little child. As he searched, he frowned for a moment, confused. There was another scent, almost identical, yet somehow…

“Twins?!!”

It took him a moment to realize that in his shock and joy he had spoken aloud. William felt his mind spin dizzyingly. He looked back down to Josephine, and the surprise flaring in her eyes.

He dropped his hand and took a step back. Hearing plastic bags rustle, he realized he had dropped his Chinese, now threatening to leak all over the carpet, and he hadn’t even been aware of it. Hastily scrambling to collect the bags, smiling as sweetly as possible at Mrs. Peterson, he tried to herd Josephine and her un-looked-at friend into his apartment without making any more mess with the now-useless Chinese.

“Thank you so very much, dear Mrs. Peterson, for looking after my fiancée and her friend. I was running a tad late…”

“What?”

William ignored Josephine’s cry, hastily opening his door and shoving the two of them inside before he exploded from pride and curiosity. Barely pausing for a breath, he continued to Mrs. Peterson.

“…and am so glad you kept her here. I’ll stop in sometime soon and we can catch up over some tea and those scrumptious scones of yours, hmm?”