Authors: Lorhainne Eckhart
“No
. I was scared of what would happen. It was the first time I felt like a prisoner, as if someone had control of me. He could have called that bitch of a doctor. She could have given me something and taken my babies now, just like I overheard.” She choked again on a sob. “I didn’t know where else to go.”
“Laura
, you were right to come here. Let’s just get that straight. Is Gabriel sleeping, Jed?” Diana gazed up at her husband, and they exchanged a look that spouses do when they are so connected to each other.
“He’s asleep in our bed.” Jed sighed. “Laura
, what exactly did you overhear?”
“Everything was going so well
. I really thought Andy cared for me. The doctor was supposed to come after lunch, but when I went downstairs, I heard her—the doctor, I mean—and she was talking to Caroline. Caroline asked if it was safe now for me to have my babies, and then the doctor asked her if she had everything taken care of and ready for them. I heard Caroline say she’d hired a nanny and the nursery was all ready for the babies. Then she said that Andy would finally be rid of me. It was Caroline who said Andy had been pretending with me and that he took after his father that way, and she didn’t know how he could stand to be around me. To her, I’m just trash. I always knew Caroline didn’t like me, but when I heard the doctor say she’d do a C-section on me and I wouldn’t see my babies... They were planning this. I’d wake up and my babies would be gone.” She gasped and covered her mouth. She was going to wake Danny and Gabriel if she kept talking, as she couldn’t keep the panic out of her voice.
Jed and Diana exchanged a look again
. There was an array of emotions that crossed Diana’s face. Jed rested his hand on her shoulder and squeezed, and Diana’s hand was trembling when she reached up and slid her hand in his.
“Laura
, I’m really confused. I know Andy can be a real bastard, and he’s done some things I’d like to knock his teeth out for. You heard this doctor and Caroline talking—was Andy there, too?” Jed asked.
“No
, I don’t think so. I didn’t hear him with them. When I heard Caroline and the doctor go into the dining room, I went back upstairs, and I tried to do it quietly so they wouldn’t know I was there. I was scared, and then I started opening doors to all the rooms upstairs. In the other wing, there was a nursery all put together, with cradles and two cribs and a rocker, clothes, diapers, and baby furniture...and it was all ready for my babies. I saw it. I didn’t know what to do, and when I was hurrying back to our room, Andy came up the stairs with the doctor. He pretended to care about me, and he knew something was wrong even though I tried to hide it. And...I couldn’t. I never could lie. He knows, or he has to suspect I know.”
Jed stepped back and wiped his hand roughly over his face. He strode down the hall
, and Diana watched her husband return a few seconds later, buttoning a plaid shirt, tucking it into his jeans, then shoving his feet into his cowboy boots. When he lifted his lined jean jacket from the hook, Diana said, “Jed, where are you going this time of night?”
He strode straight to his wife and leaned down
, touching her lips with his and cupping her face with his one hand. It was such a possessive thing to do that Laura was in awe watching them, as her entire security and sense of self crumbled all around her. Why couldn’t Andy have looked at her that way, loved her that way? It hurt to watch it when she longed to have that for herself.
“I’m going to pay my cousin a visit.”
Laura jerked her gaze up at Jed and felt panic sizzle the back of her neck. “Jed, no. Please don’t tell him I’m here. Please don’t talk to him. He’s got money and power, and he can make me disappear.” She was on her feet, her hands fisted at her side.
Jed reached for her
, both her arms, and held her much like he would a child he was about to give a talking to. “You’re safe here. No one is coming in and taking you. And his money, power, and crap means nothing here. You ought to know that, Laura. But he is my cousin, and if he did do this and is part of something this criminal and despicable, I will take him down. No one’s taking your babies from you.” Jed sat her back down on the sofa. “Diana, keep her inside. I don’t know how long I’ll be.”
Diana waddled over to the kitchen and yanked a cell phone from the charger. “Take this and call me.
Keep it on so I can get a hold of you.”
Jed didn’t hesitate and s
hoved the cell phone in his jacket pocket. “I won’t be long.” He grabbed his cowboy hat, stuck it on his head over his sleep-tousled short brown hair, and jingled the truck keys as he yanked open the door. “Lock this behind me. Don’t let anyone in.”
Diana strode
to the door as Laura listened to a truck start up. Diana locked the door and peeked through the curtains. “Laura, Jed is right. I’m hoping what you heard was all a misunderstanding, but I also know that Caroline is a dangerous snake. She comes from old money, a family that lives and breathes corruption, destroying anyone who gets in her way. But why would she want your babies? I can’t figure that one out. Nevertheless, you’re safe here. My husband will not allow this to happen, Laura.” Diana stepped away from the curtains and sat beside Laura on the sofa.
“Thank you
, Diana. I’m so sorry. I just didn’t know what to do.”
Diana
picked up Laura’s hand. She stared at the diamond-encrusted band and frowned. “Is that new?”
“Yes
, it is. Andy bought it for me. I know it cost a fortune. I don’t know why he did it.”
“Hmm.”
Diana patted her hand.
“What does that mean?” Laura asked.
“It means that we wait for Jed. We wait for my husband to talk to your husband. So get comfortable, honey; we’re in for a long night.”
Chapter 20
“Where the hell is she?” Andy barked at Jules, who was in her robe, her hair in curlers.
H
e’d woken the entire household while looking for Laura, and he still couldn’t believe she was gone. Walking into their room to get ready for bed and finding the bed empty, the covers thrown back in a crumpled heap, he’d checked the bathroom. When he couldn’t find her, he wondered if maybe she was looking for him, but when he spotted Gabriel’s open door and peeked in, it had taken him a second to realize the bed was empty. He had flicked on the bedroom light, and sure enough, he was gone.
Maybe Gabriel
had woken Laura. Maybe he was thirsty. Andy had jogged down the stairs and gone into a darkened kitchen, flicking on the light. There wasn’t even a glass on the counter or in the sink of the spotless kitchen.
He
had searched his library, the sunroom, the entire downstairs, and then he went back to their bedroom. The open closet door beckoned, and when he stepped in and looked around, he had spotted the empty shelf where the running shoes he’d bought her were gone. A price tag lay on the floor, and as he bent over and picked up the white ticket, he felt sucker punched. A sense of betrayal blew through him. He knew she had been upset all day, as if she couldn’t stand his touch or to be around him. He’d ignored his instincts, which had been sending off alarm bells inside, screaming that there was a problem. Instead, he had listened to the doctor, who said women this far in pregnancy often became irritable and didn’t want to be touched. Yeah, bullshit. He’d known something wasn’t right. Hell, it had only been hours since he’d taken her on the bed, a slow ride so full of passion that he couldn’t get enough of her. He had felt the sparks he was shooting off inside her.
“Sir
, we’ve looked everywhere. She’s not here, but Thomas found the door by your mother’s wing unlocked.”
The doorbell chimed. Andy started back down the stairs
. It was after midnight, so dread deepened and squeezed his heart with each step. No one in their right mind was out knocking on doors this time of night. He yanked open the door and stared into the hard face of his cousin.
“
You missing someone, cous?” Jed snapped. He pushed his way inside, bumping Andy as he stepped in.
Andy shut the door
, and when the stairs creaked behind him, he spun around, his gaze landing on Jules, who hovered halfway down the stairs. “That’s all for tonight Jules.”
She gave a curt nod and climbed down the stairs,
heading to where her small suite was at the rear of the house.
“Where is my wife
, Jed?” Andy snapped.
“She showed up damn near falling apart on my doorstep with Gabriel, both of them wet and
cold and crying. She told quite the tale, as well, of how you’re plotting to take her babies from her with some lady doctor.” Jed shoved his hands on his hips, and Andy knew from the look in his cousin’s eyes that Jed wouldn’t hesitate to punch him in the face.
“What the hell
? That is absolutely insane.” Andy stalked into his library to grab his keys from the desk, shoving them in his pocket.
“You
ain’t going out there, Andy, not until I find out what the hell’s going on. I gave Laura my word she’d be safe, and I mean that. She will. Now I want to know why your wife is so freaked out.” Jed was right behind him, lifting the cowboy hat from his head and dumping it on Andy’s desk. “Sit down, cous.”
“I’m not sitting down
. I want to talk some sense into my wife. Where in the hell would she come up with a ridiculous accusation like that? I thought we were past this.” Andy tried to go around Jed, because right now he wanted nothing more than to put his hands on Laura and shake her senseless, but Jed put his hand out on Andy’s shoulder and stopped him.
“Whoa there
, Andy. I guess you’re not hearing me. You’re not going out there now. She’s a mess, and she’s terrified of you. My wife is about ready to deliver any day, so you’re not turning my house upside down.”
Andy held up both his hands in surrender.
“Where would she get the idea I’d take the babies from her? What kind of monster does she think I am? I wouldn’t do that. I just got her and Gabriel back. I...” He had to stop himself, because he had almost said he loved her.
“Apparently
, she overheard your mother and that doctor planning a C-section for her and saying they would take the babies away before she could see them. Your mother told this doctor woman that everything’s been taken care of: A nanny’s been hired, and the nursery is ready and waiting for the babies. She said you were anxious to be rid of Laura and that all you’ve been doing is pretending with her, that apparently you take after Todd that way.” Jed then stared at Andy, watching him and waiting for his response.
Andy couldn’t find his voice
. Everything he’d worked for with Laura had disintegrated like fine sand through his fingers. He sat on the edge of his desk and took a deep breath. He didn’t know what to make of this tale Jed was telling. Laura couldn’t have heard right.
“We haven’t even planned a nursery yet for the babies. I never thought that far ahead
. I was worried about Laura. This makes no sense; she couldn’t have heard that.” He gestured with his hands sharply as he paced. “What the hell would my mother want with babies? God, I was just an afterthought for her, an annoyance and an obligation to carry on the name. She had to have heard wrong. Doctor Richardson is one of the best OBs around. What’s in it for her? This makes no sense.”
“
Andy, apparently Laura found the nursery in this house. She said it’s in your mother’s wing.”
Andy snapped his head up and felt a surge of fire
rocketing him off that desk. He took the stairs two at a time, and Jed was right behind him. Andy started opening doors at the end of the hall, banging them open, flicking on lights. He froze in the third room, his hand still hovering on the light switch, as he stared at the suite, decorated in white and lavender with a hint of gold on the trim. It was a fully furnished nursery with two of everything, as if waiting for his babies.
“Oh my
God.” It was all he could say as he stepped in the room, jamming his fingers in his hair and yanking. He turned in a circle and stared at Jed, who was frowning and eyeing the entire room. “Jed, I swear to God I didn’t know this was here. I’d never do this to Laura.”
Jed was watching him in
a hard, mysterious way. Andy didn’t know what he was thinking. Then he flicked his gaze away and nodded.
“Yeah
, well, you can be an unscrupulous bastard, Andy, but I didn’t think this had you written on it.” Jed faced Andy again. “You know Laura’s not going to come back here.”
“I know. But I need to see her.”
Jed nodded and started out the door. “Well, it might help if you tell her how you really feel about her, too.”
“I’m not letting her go
, Jed.”
Jed started walking
. “Yeah, well, I was hoping you would say that. Do you want to ride with me?”
Andy hurried down
the stairs, side by side with Jed. “I’ll follow you. Just do me a favor, Jed.” He stopped at the bottom of the stairs, watching Jed study him in that inflexible way of his. “When you call Diana, don’t tell her I’m coming for Laura. You and I both know she’ll start running again.”
“You right behind me?”
Andy grabbed his leather coat from the closet. “Let’s go.”