William is my son.
Right.
Nick didn’t know whether to laugh or curse some more. This woman was obviously delusional. Or maybe the person who’d hired her had brainwashed her into believing that she was indeed William’s mother so that she would do whatever had been asked of her.
Now, the question was—what had been asked of her?
Who had done the asking?
And how far was she willing to go to get it done?
Nick looked her right in the eyes. “Let’s try this again.” He held up his index finger. “Who are you?” Another finger lifted. “Who hired you?” He put up a third finger. “And explain to me why the hell I should just let you walk out of here alive.”
The threat garnered her complete attention. It also seemed to rile her a bit. Nick was almost positive he saw a flash of anger rifle through her jade-colored eyes.
She reached out and pushed down one of his fingers. “I’m Kelly Manning.” She pushed down another one. “I work for no one. Well, not on a regular basis anyway. I’m a freelance photographer in San Antonio.” She wasn’t so gentle when lowering his third finger. “And the reason I plan to walk out of here alive is because I’ve done nothing that warrants you trying to kill me.”
“That’s debatable.”
Kelly Manning. Nick silently repeated her name several times to see if it rang any bells.
It didn’t.
He was about to add another round of questions, but the door opened. It was Cooper Morris, the head of security for the ranch. A hulking man with a shiny shaved head and a body the size of a Sumo wrestler, Cooper took up most of the doorway. As if that wouldn’t be intimidating enough to his visitor, he had his weapon drawn and ready to fire.
“Are you all right, sir?” Cooper asked.
Nick debated how much he should tell him and decided to keep things vague for a while. Later, he’d find out why it’d taken Cooper so long to respond to what could have been a dangerous breach of security.
“Ms. Manning and I were just chatting.
Ms. Kelly Manning.
It’s possible that she’s missed a dose of medication or something.” That earned him a scowl from her. “Or perhaps the caterer is simply one of her many employers. Do a preliminary background check on her immediately. We’ll be waiting here for your report.”
Cooper glanced at her with his dark suspicious eyes before his attention came back to Nick. “Yes, sir.” As Nick knew he would do, Cooper gave an efficient nod and disappeared, closing the door behind him.
If the threat of a background check bothered her, it didn’t show. She certainly didn’t cower in fear. She got to her feet and caught on to his arm.
“I want to see William,” she insisted.
“Please.”
Even with the added
please,
he didn’t have to debate this particular issue. “Under no circumstance will I let you anywhere near him.”
Her grip tightened on his arm. “But I have to know if he looks like me. I have to know the truth.”
“The truth? And just what might that be? That you have some insane fantasy that he’s your son? Well, he’s not. Understand?
He’s not.
” He slung off her grip. “His mother was Meredith Beirce, my late friend, and she died the very evening she gave birth to him.”
“Yes, I know. On October eighth, at the Brighton Birthing Center just outside of San Antonio,” she said without hesitation.
Nick didn’t hesitate, either. “Anyone could have learned that from public records.”
“That’s not how I knew,” she insisted. “I met Meredith several times. We used the same obstetrician, and we went into labor on the same day. And, yes, I also know that she died at nine twenty-three p.m. of complications from a respiratory infection.”
Nick shrugged. “If you think knowing that information will impress me, you’re dead wrong.”
“It wasn’t meant to impress you.”
Without warning, she caught on to the waist of her skirt and shoved it down to expose her stomach.
Her bare stomach.
And then she lowered it even more. He could see the top of her ruby-colored panties, the ones he’d felt when he searched her.
“See that?” she asked. “It’s a C-section scar. I gave birth to a son the morning of October eighth at the Brighton Birthing Center.”
Nick glanced at the scar in question. He’d never seen a C-section incision but didn’t doubt that was one. “It proves nothing other than you’ve had a child.
A
child. It doesn’t mean that child was William.”
She groaned and fixed her skirt. He almost thanked her for covering herself. For reasons he didn’t want to explore, his body reacted to hers in the most basic male way it could react. It was purely a lust thing. No doubt about it. But he didn’t even want lust playing into this.
He wanted no connection whatsoever with this woman.
She plowed both hands through the sides of her short choppy blond hair and took several harsh breaths. “If I weren’t on the receiving end of these thug tactics, it might please me to know that you’re going to such great lengths to take care of William. You’re making sure he isn’t kidnapped by someone out to earn a quick buck. But how about you just hear me out before you start tossing around any more accusations?”
He gestured for her to go ahead. But hopefully the scowl on his face would let her know that her explanation meant nothing.
“Thirteen months ago, on October eighth, I had a son, and four days later, I left the birthing center with the child I thought was mine.” Her bottom lip started to tremble, and tears glistened in her eyes. She quickly blinked them back. “This isn’t easy for me. I love my son, Joseph, more than life itself. And he’s all I have.”
He nodded. Nick could understand that. He felt the same way about William.
She returned his nod. “I’m not asking for sympathy, even though heaven knows I might need some before this over. Still, I don’t expect I’ll get it from you.” Rather than look at him, she stared at the mural behind him. “About a week ago, I got a visit from a woman named Collena Drake. She’s been going through files and records from an illegal adoption ring that the San Antonio police uncovered and stopped. Collena found a memo indicating that someone paid for two babies to be swapped at Brighton.”
Nick shrugged. “Why would anyone pay for something like that?”
She paused. Seemingly to steady her breath. But that pause didn’t do much to steady him.
Hell.
Nick didn’t like where she seemed to be going with this, but he reminded himself that she was almost certainly a liar.
“I have no idea why someone would want to switch babies, but I can’t dismiss that it happened. In fact, I have some proof that it did.”
“What proof?” he fired at her, feeling more and more uncomfortable with this whole conversation.
“My late husband and I had the same blood type,” she continued. She moistened her lips. “Joseph doesn’t. And before you ask—no, I didn’t cheat on my husband. In fact, he’s the only man I’ve ever had sex with.”
Nick had conditioned himself not to respond instinctively to anything, but this was testing the limits of his training. “And why would you think any of this would be of the slightest interest to me?”
Kelly Manning looked him straight in the eye. “Because it’s my guess that William and Joseph were the babies who were switched.”
After getting past the initial punch of shock, he gave that some thought, looking for a flaw in her theory, and he found one immediately. “There were probably dozens of babies born on that day.”
“Five boys,” she quickly furnished. “I’ve checked all of them. Either through blood type or ethnicity, I was able to rule them out. Except for William. He’s the last name on my list.”
It was a good attempt to get him to believe her. Very good. But it didn’t work. “If you suspected a baby switch, why didn’t you just go to the police?”
She flinched. Yet more of the proof that Nick was looking for. Well, maybe it was proof. If so, now he had to wonder why she was doing it. Money, maybe? Or maybe she really did work for his brother.
“Put yourself in my place,” Kelly Manning explained. “My husband, a police officer, was shot and killed when I was barely two weeks pregnant, and then I learned the child—our child—wasn’t really ours after all. I was afraid the police or social services would take Joseph from me until they could investigate what happened. So, I decided to try to get to the truth on my own.”
There was more to it. He’d bet his life on it, but Nick didn’t push it because frankly it didn’t matter. “If you carry this illogical speculation out to its equally illogical conclusion, then you’re saying that this baby, Joseph, is really Meredith’s biological son?”
“I think so, yes.” Her gaze snapped to his. “But she’s dead so she can’t take him away from me. And I checked—she has no living relatives.
None.
That’s why you agreed to raise William, right?”
Nick didn’t bother to answer that. It wasn’t any of this woman’s business that he’d felt an obligation to his former lover.
Kelly stared at him. “You don’t believe a word I’ve said, do you?”
“You’re a very perceptive woman. Which makes me wonder why you came here with this outlandish story in the first place. Did my brother, Eric, put you up to it?”
“No!” She repeated it, groaned and slapped her hand against the wall. “I don’t even know your brother. And I didn’t come here to kidnap a baby or do anything else that would harm him.” The outburst was short-lived, but it seemed to drain her. Her chin lowered a notch, and she turned away from him. “I just want to know the truth, all right? I want to know for certain if William is my son.”
He heard her breath shudder again. He heard the pain. And he saw her wipe the tear from her cheek. She was either a very good actress, or else…
Nick put a chokehold on that particular thought. He didn’t intend to give her any concessions until he had that background check from Cooper.
“All I’m asking for is a DNA test,” she said almost in a whisper. “A simple saliva swab.”
“That’s not going to happen. Not until I know more about you. And even then…”
Her sigh was long and weary. “Then just listen and do the math yourself. My late husband and I are both O negative. That means our child must be type O, as well. Notice the operative word there.
Must.
” She paused a moment. “Joseph is type B. B negative, to be exact.” Another pause. “So, this is more than a wild guess, but William has type O blood, doesn’t he?”
He did.
So did millions of people.
However, that wasn’t what sent Nick’s mind racing and his heart pounding. It was the added remark his visitor had tossed out there. The other child’s blood type.
B Negative.
Nick’s own rare blood type.
His mind continued to race until the possibilities crashed down on him like an avalanche.
If Meredith had lied to him. If his first instincts had been right after all. If she had indeed been pregnant with his child when she walked out and left him.
Then, maybe he had a son.
If that were true, then he would certainly come face-to-face with his worst nightmare.
Because any son of his would automatically be a target for murder.
“Did you hear what I said?” Kelly asked.
Somewhere in the middle of her crucial explanation about blood types, Nick Lattimer had taken a mental hike. Sweet heaven, he was either totally heartless, or he didn’t have a clue what this was doing to her.
“I heard you.” He slid his hands into the pockets of his perfectly tailored tux and strolled to one of the bay windows that flanked the fireplace.
“Then you no doubt understood that Joseph can’t be my biological son.”
He made a sound that could have meant anything, and continued to stare out the window.
Because she had no choice, Kelly kept trying. “That’s why I need to do the DNA test on William.”
She felt the tears threaten again and forced them back. She wouldn’t cry. Not in front of him, anyway. Showing such weakness might make him go for her jugular, and right now she felt way too exposed.
“There have already been DNA tests done on William,” he let her know.
“Yes, but those were to prove that he isn’t
your
son. We need to do another one. A maternity study, they call it. So we can compare William’s DNA to mine.”
“And then what?” he fired back.
Kelly fully understood the implications of that simple question, and she didn’t like it any better than he apparently did. “I don’t know. Honestly, I don’t. But I can’t just forget what I’ve learned. I can’t walk away and pretend this never happened. Believe me, I’ve tried.”
“I’ll bet you have.”
“So, we’re back to the sarcasm.” Kelly didn’t let it deter her. “Look, I don’t have all the answers, but this test is a start. We’ll get the results and go from there.” She waited a moment, hoping her voice would remain steady. “If there are any existing DNA samples for Meredith, I could have them compared to Joseph’s.”
“There are no samples. Meredith was cremated at her request and her ashes scattered on the grounds of her childhood home.”
Well, that was that. Another roadblock. Or else another stonewall attempt. Either way, it was a very hard place for her to get past.
But not an impossible one.
“Then, what about the biological father?” Kelly had to take a hard breath before she could continue. “Is there a chance he’d try to take Joseph if he finds out about him?”
She braced herself for whatever Nick Lattimer was about to tell her. It could easily be a bombshell that she wasn’t ready to have dropped on her. But he didn’t say a single word. He just kept his stiff back turned to her while he looked out the window.
Kelly groaned. “Look, this silent treatment is getting on my nerves. This might sound like a bad cliché, but I’m not even sure if I can handle the truth. Still, I have to know, all right? I can’t go on wondering if I have a son that I’ve never even met.”
He glanced at her over his shoulder. She thought she might have seen some sympathy in his eyes, a sliver of it anyway, but if so, he didn’t get a chance to voice it. There was a knock at the door. One sharp rap.
“Come in, Cooper,” Lattimer ordered, not even bothering to verify that’s who was at the door.
However, it was indeed the bald-headed giant who’d made an appearance earlier. He gave her a considering glance. And a distrustful one. The feeling was mutual. Kelly didn’t trust him either. Of course, that probably had something to do with the fact he worked for Nick Lattimer.
“I’ve got the preliminary background check,” Cooper told his boss.
“Read it.”
The bald guy gave her another glance. “Out loud, sir? With her in the room?”
“Read it,” Lattimer insisted, the impatience straining his voice.
Those repeated two words and the stark edginess were apparently enough for the man to spring into action. “Her name is Kelly Baker Manning. I confirmed it with the photo on file at the Department of Motor Vehicles. Age twenty-eight. No criminal record. Self-employed as a photographer—she does mainly weddings and birthday parties. Widowed. Spouse was Louis Manning, vice detective, San Antonio PD. Killed in the line of duty. She has a thirteen-month-old son, Joseph Louis Manning. I also have her address and phone number.”
All the information was correct. Kelly checked her watch. Less than ten minutes, it’d taken him to get her life story. Well, most of it anyway. In this case, the bare facts didn’t really tell what she’d been through.
Or what she was no doubt facing.
“She didn’t lie on her job application to the caterer,” Cooper went on. “Not that I can tell anyway. I’ll keep digging though.”
No surprise there. By morning, she’d be an open book to them. Which wasn’t necessarily a bad thing. Maybe then Lattimer would believe some of what she’d told him and allow the DNA test.
Of course, maybe he’d have her arrested for trespassing.
“She asked the nanny about the baby and the location of the nursery,” Cooper explained further.
“I know,” Lattimer informed him. “And the nanny purposely gave her false information and then alerted me as she’d been instructed to do.”
That’s how Lattimer had known she was there in the fake nursery. So much for her plan. She’d underestimated him right from the start.
Cooper aimed a scowl at her. “Should I call the authorities or escort her off the ranch?”
“No. I’ll take care of the situation.” There was an unspoken adios and get-lost at the end of Lattimer’s remark, and Cooper obeyed without so much as batting an eyelash.
“Satisfied that I’m not some criminal?” she asked Lattimer the moment Cooper shut the door.
“No.”
Mercy. It was like banging her head against a wall.
Just when Kelly thought that things couldn’t possibly get any more frustrating, she felt the phone vibrate in her pocket.
“What’s wrong?” he asked.
Only then did she realize that Nick Lattimer was looking at her. And not just looking, either.
Staring
at her. The way he’d done when they first laid eyes on each other.
“That’ll be from my sitter.” She took out the phone just long enough to glance at the text message to verify that’s indeed who it was. “I told her to text me if Joseph woke up in the night. He did. He’s not used to me being gone, and I didn’t want him to be frightened.”
He stayed quiet a moment. “Do you need to go to him?”
“Not really. He’s not crying or anything, or she would have said. He should be all right.”
A muscle flickered in his sleek jaw. “Still, there’s no reason we have to work out all of this tonight. You should go home to him. I’ll have someone drive you.”
“That’s not necessary. My car is already here. Besides, I don’t want to be brushed off. I want to know—”
“I’ll consider your request for another DNA test for William, and I’ll inform you of my decision as soon as I’ve made one.”
The abrupt about-face along with her tangled nerves nearly caused Kelly’s legs to give way. “Why the change of heart?”
“Because you’ve caught my attention. Hopefully, you haven’t caught anyone else’s.” He didn’t add more regarding that ominous comment. “If I do consent to the test, I’d prefer to have a complete picture. Or as you so cleverly put—
a start.
That means you’ll allow me to have your son’s DNA tested, as well.”
It made her ache to think of someone, some stranger, out there who might have a legal claim on Joseph. However, she understood his request all too well, since she felt the same need to find out the truth about William. Blood wasn’t necessarily thicker than water, but she couldn’t deny the pull it had on her.
“Do you happen to know who Joseph’s biological father is?” Kelly asked, dreading the answer, but knowing that she needed it.
The muscles went to work again in his jaw. “No.”
She was either paranoid, or that was a lie. “Meredith and I talked a few times. She didn’t mention him, other than to say he wasn’t in the picture.”
“She didn’t talk about him to me, either,” he insisted, his voice tight.
So, unless the father was dead, he was out there somewhere. But what Kelly had going for her was that he hadn’t tried to claim William so far, and that meant he probably wouldn’t try to claim Joseph, either.
She prayed.
And that was one of the reasons she hadn’t wanted this baby switch in the hands of the police. Or the press. Newspapers tended to pick up that kind of story, and while she couldn’t keep Joseph’s biological father from seeing him, she truly hoped Meredith was right—that he wasn’t in the picture.
This way, Kelly could proceed with her plan. First, verify that William was her son. Then petition the court for custody of both boys.
Well, she could after she got past one more obstacle.
“You said you had no plans to adopt William.” She paused, and mentally wrestled with how she should say this. “Is that because you don’t want children?”
Nick Lattimer turned, faced her. Behind him, the rain and the wind assaulted the window. There was even a dramatic slash of lightning across the night sky. He stood in the center of the glass. Calm. Except for one thing. His right hand had clenched into a fist.
“You honestly don’t know about my brother?” he questioned.
Confused, she shook her head, not sure where this was leading. “I know you have one,” she said. Kelly tried to recall her research notes. She’d read a mention or two of his brother, but that was it. She couldn’t imagine what he had to do with any of this.
“Among other things, Eric is
possessive,
” he explained. He shoved his hands back into his pockets. “With things, not people. He inherited the bulk of the family estate, which, according to the terms of my mother’s will, he doesn’t have to share with me.”
Oh. She got it. Kelly quickly filled in the blanks. “But Eric would have to share with your heirs?”
He nodded. “Except he wouldn’t share. My brother is a violent, dangerous man.”
That sank in quickly, too. Kelly flattened her hand over her chest and dropped back a step. “Are you saying he would hurt a child of yours?”
Nick Lattimer walked closer, his footsteps punctuated with a roll of thunder. “Not
hurt.
Eric would eliminate the child.”
That sent her heart to her knees and stole her breath. “I’m sorry. So sorry. Now, I understand why you were concerned. You thought your brother sent me here to get the DNA sample.”
“It wouldn’t be the first time. But I thought that after three tests, one of which I let his personal physician perform, that Eric’s fears would be put to rest.”
It was a chilling revelation, but Kelly couldn’t help but think this would fuel her case to get custody of her son. Nick Lattimer might even welcome having William away from his brother’s paranoid watchful eye.
Kelly knew she would welcome it.
She didn’t want her son associated with a would-be killer, and as long as William remained at the Lattimer ranch, he would be in danger. It was sickening to think of it. She wouldn’t go through that again.
She couldn’t.
She hadn’t been able to save her husband, but she could certainly do something to save their child.
“May I see William?” Kelly had to clear her throat and repeat it so it would have sound.
Lattimer didn’t respond. Seconds passed. Very slowly. And even though there were no overt signs of the debate he was having with himself, Kelly knew there was indeed a debate. But after what he’d just told her, she could understand why. Maybe he still didn’t trust her. Maybe he thought she was working for his brother, Eric.
And maybe he simply realized that he could lose William to her.
After all, he’d raised William for thirteen months and no doubt loved him as she loved Joseph.
“A photo will do for now,” Kelly added. “If you agree to the test, well, maybe then…”
He hitched a shoulder toward the doorway where she’d first spotted him. “Follow me.”
She did, after Kelly got past the initial shock and after she got her legs to cooperate. Nick Lattimer had already given her a huge concession just by agreeing to think about doing the DNA test. She certainly hadn’t really expected him to allow her to see William.
The adjoining room was just as lavishly decorated as the fake nursery. A sitting room of sorts. With another fireplace, a pair of oversize cushiony chairs, and a great view of the formal gardens. It’d be an ideal place to spend some quiet time with a child.
All along, since the moment she’d known she would be coming to the ranch, Kelly had tried not to think of how her biological son was being raised. Literally, in the lap of luxury. There was no way she could compete with this.
Yet, even that certainty wasn’t enough to stop her from getting the truth. Or from getting custody. Because she could give William something that Nick Lattimer couldn’t. She could give him safety, away from Nick’s brother.
He pressed something on the underside of the mantel, and the serene pastoral painting above it disappeared. It’d been a hologram on a thin screen. A very convincing one. Another room appeared.
A nursery.
A real one.
Without saying a word, he pressed more buttons beneath that mantel so that a camera zoomed in on the crib. No blue-satin-trimmed blanket this time. The child was covered with a very homey-looking quilt. A mobile of colorful butterflies dangled overhead.
Kelly had tried to prepare herself in case this moment ever came, but there was nothing that could have prepared her for this. William lay there, sleeping. And thanks to the high quality of the surveillance camera, she could see him clearly.
She pressed her fingertips to her mouth to muffle the sound that was trying to make its way past her throat. He was, well, precious for lack of a better word. A round angelic face. Golden-blond hair that tended to curl. His lips were pursed slightly. He seemed healthy. And perfectly content.
That didn’t do a thing to lessen the guilt that was starting to roar through her.
The guilt went up a significant notch when she caught sight of Nick Lattimer’s expression. Definitely not the face of a heartless, callous businessman.
It was the expression of a loving father.
And it cut her to the bone.
Because she could factor in many elements. The fact that Joseph’s birth mother was dead. The fact that his biological father likely wouldn’t challenge her for custody. But Kelly couldn’t discount that Nick Lattimer loved this child as his own.