“I don’t think this Denny Spencer’s made too many waves,” Cooper explained. “
Yet.
But I think we need to silence him with a payoff. Or else I could set up a few obstacles to keep him occupied elsewhere.”
“Neither.” Nick left the rest unsaid. If Spencer was a friend of Kelly’s, then it would only make the man more suspicious if someone tried to buy him off. “Put him under surveillance.”
Kelly murmured something to the baby. Something with a soft, rhythmic cadence. It seemed to settle Joseph because his babblings no longer seemed to be of protest. He appeared to be trying to mimic what she was saying. It was a familiar activity since William and he did the same thing.
“Keep me informed,” Nick told Cooper. He clicked off the phone in the middle of Cooper’s goodbye and slipped it back into his pocket.
“It’ll take me a couple of days to get back William’s DNA test,” Kelly whispered from the nursery, snaring Nick’s gaze from over her shoulder.
“You understand the need to keep all of this in the strictest confidence?” he asked.
“Of course.”
Her assurance wasn’t nearly enough. He’d take hers and Joseph’s DNA samples before he left, and a private lab, one that he controlled, would do both tests. As a further precaution, he was the only person who would get the real results. Any information after that would be filtered through him. It wasn’t an honest approach, but it could save Kelly Manning’s life.
He glanced in the nursery again. Kelly took a diaper from the stack next to the crib and started to change Joseph. Nick managed to get just a glimpse of the boy. But that glimpse had his imagination racing.
Dark hair. Not brown. But black.
Nick’s color.
Of course, plenty of babies had black hair.
Why couldn’t he put this out of his mind? There was only the possibility that Meredith had lied to him. A
small
possibility, since to the best of his knowledge she hadn’t lied to him about anything else. And she wouldn’t have taken on something like this by herself if—
“Heck, you might as well come in,” Kelly offered, interrupting his latest round of argument. “You’ve already given me a full body search, panties and all. Plus, I showed you my C-section scar. Seems a little late for modesty in the diapering department, doesn’t it?”
It seemed a little late for a lot of things.
He took a few steps closer and stood in the doorway, but Nick didn’t actually enter the room. It was best to keep some distance between them.
“You look shell-shocked. Did you get bad news from that phone call?” She looked away from him to continue diapering duty.
“Not really. Just a possible inconvenience.”
Kelly made a sound of contemplation. Paused. And made another sound. “Have you given any more thought to me seeing William?”
“No.” Not true. Nick had given it plenty of thought but decided it wasn’t going to happen. “I figured after the test results—”
“That I’d slink away, carrying my lies with me? Wrong. Because, you see, I’m not lying. And as much as you distrust me, I don’t trust you, either. You have the power and the money to doctor test results.”
He couldn’t possibly deny that because it was the truth. “You have the power and apparently the inclination to cause waves that shouldn’t be made.”
Her mouth went into a flat line. It was in contrast to the soft babbling sounds the baby was making. “I have a right to know if William is my son.”
“And I have the right to protect him.”
She huffed, finished diapering Joseph and turned to face him. “So we’re back to where we started. Don’t get me wrong, William’s safety is important to me, too. But I’m just not convinced there are real issues here. I mean, if you’ve proven he’s not your biological son, then why would he still be a threat to Eric?”
“Because as you so succinctly put, I have the power and the money to doctor test results.”
“Did you?” she fired back.
“No.”
Another huff but not an indignant one. This one was from frustration. “You know the truth, don’t you?”
Best to go for the sarcastic approach again since she seemed to be very good at detecting lies. “I know many truths. Did you have one particular in mind?”
“
The
truth. About Joseph. Now, I want you to cut through all these evasive tactics and tell me what you know.”
Nick stood there staring at her, but he couldn’t stop the idea from dominating his thoughts. Meredith and he had been lovers. The timing was right. Plus, Meredith would have known about the danger of giving birth to his child.
“I’m still waiting for an answer,” Kelly reminded him several moments later.
But he barely heard the reminder. Because at the exact moment she was speaking, the baby caught onto the crib railings and pulled himself to a standing position. He wore denim overalls and white cotton shirt. Joseph turned his head in Nick’s direction, and just like that, their gazes connected.
Nick’s breath froze in his lungs.
Joseph’s face was round. Almost chubby. And he grinned. Just grinned. Showing his dimples.
Nick had seen photos of himself as a baby. But he didn’t need the actual photo to know there was a strong resemblance.
“Meredith was your friend,” Kelly continued. She scooped up the baby in her arms. “So you must have some idea of who Joseph’s father is.”
Yes.
Unfortunately, that idea wasn’t a good one to voice. To anyone. Not even her. Just the hint of it would ultimately put all of them in danger. But it was especially dangerous for the child she held.
His
child.
The heir he couldn’t have.
“Well?” Kelly prompted her visitor. He’d done it again—Nick had gone to la-la land while she was waiting for an answer to one of the most important questions she would ever ask.
He blew off her question and headed for the kitchen. “I need a drink of water.”
Before she could follow him, Nick opened several cabinet doors, located a glass and helped himself to some tap water. He certainly looked as if he needed it, too. And was it her imagination that he looked a little shell-shocked? Kelly didn’t let that prevent her from pressing for an answer.
“Do you know who Joseph’s father is?” she asked.
Nick set his now empty glass on the counter and looked her straight in the eye. “No.”
She frowned. “That’s scary, you know that?”
“What?”
“Lying while maintaining direct eye contact. A lot of people wouldn’t be able to do it, yet you managed it with surprising ease.”
Now he frowned. “Who says I’m lying?”
“Me.” Kelly planted a kiss on Joseph’s cheek. “Meredith trusted you enough to raise her son. I can’t believe she wouldn’t tell you who the father is.”
“Perhaps I’m keeping a confidence that Meredith asked me to keep.”
Kelly nodded and shifted Joseph to her left hip. She went closer to Nick. “Yes. I thought of that, even though I can’t imagine why a dying woman would want to keep something like that a secret.”
“She had her reasons, I’m sure.”
That was all he apparently intended to offer. It was a clear signal that her mini-interrogation was over. Well, it was over as far as he was concerned. Kelly made sure Nick noticed her frown when she walked past him on the way to the pantry. Too bad she didn’t give him a wide enough berth. Her left breast grazed him. Hardly enough for her to notice.
But she noticed.
It sent a strange, unwanted curl of heat through her body, that she quickly pushed aside.
Figuring he had a new playmate, Joseph reached for their guest, specifically the buttons on his white shirt. Kelly managed to step away before Joseph could latch on.
Her visitor certainly wasn’t exactly dressed like a wrangling cowboy, though she knew for a fact that he was a real rancher. He wore a black suit. A suit that fitted his butt, thighs and chest extremely well.
And she hated that she’d allowed herself to notice something like that.
The suit wasn’t exactly stodgy, either. It was as expensive as they came and it had a GQ look to it. His white dress shirt was unbuttoned at the throat and upper chest, and he wore it as naturally and easily as he had his tux. She figured he’d be equally at home in his cowboy clothes and had a minifantasy about how he’d look in jeans.
Hot, no doubt.
Kelly mentally kicked herself. Jeans fantasies. Mercy, she was definitely not thinking straight.
Nick followed her to the pantry, carrying his undeniable presence with him. Why did the kitchen suddenly seem so small?
She took out a jar of toddler food, grabbed a spoon and bib and was about to put Joseph in his high chair when the phone rang. Cradling the phone between her ear and shoulder, she gave Joseph an adjustment on her hip. He didn’t seem to like that because he fussed.
“Kelly?” It was Denny Spencer, and just from that one-word greeting, she could tell that he didn’t sound pleased. “Is Nick Lattimer there?”
Only because she wasn’t up to an argument—and there would be an argument—she considered lying. But in all likelihood, Denny had already seen Nick’s car. Hence the reason for the call.
“He’s here,” Kelly verified.
She met Nick’s granite, blue-gray gaze when she answered. He lifted his eyebrow. A question, of sorts. Kelly ignored him and turned away. However, she couldn’t ignore Denny. He immediately started to curse.
“Have you lost your mind?” Denny demanded.
“I just want the truth,” Kelly reminded him.
“Well, you won’t get that from Nick Lattimer. He’s doing everything he can to stop you. And
me,
” Denny insisted.
Kelly was about to ask what he meant by that, but Joseph fussed even louder. She tried to slide off the high chair tray so she could get her son seated, but Joseph didn’t cooperate with that, either.
Nick came to the rescue.
As if he’d done it a thousand times, and maybe he had, he took off the tray, eased Joseph from her arms and deposited the baby onto the seat.
“Finish your call,” Nick insisted.
Kelly’s first instinct was to say no, but Nick just took over. He snatched up the bib, put it on Joseph and proceeded to feed him. She would have protested if he hadn’t been so darn good at what he was doing. And if Joseph hadn’t stopped fussing. Not only did he stop, her son began to wolf down the baby beef stew mixture, and he gave Nick the reward of a grin.
Only because she was watching the two so closely did she see the softness in Nick Lattimer’s eyes.
Yes, softness!
It was both surprising and a little frightening. Because that wasn’t the look of a care giver. It was the look of someone who genuinely loved children. She prayed that didn’t mean he would give her a custody fight to keep William.
“Did you hear me?” Denny snarled.
Actually, she hadn’t. “Could I call you back? Things are a little hectic right now.”
That earned her another raised eyebrow from Nick, probably because it was a lie. Joseph had settled nicely into his feeding and wasn’t fussing.
“No. You can’t call me back,” Denny countered. “You need to hear this, and when you do, I’ll come over there and throw Nick Lattimer out of your house.”
Since Denny was talking quite loudly and since she didn’t want Nick to overhear any part of this conversation, Kelly walked toward the nursery. She didn’t close the door because she wanted to keep an eye on her baby, but she did lower her voice to a whisper.
“What do I need to hear?” she asked.
“I’ve been investigating what went on at the Brighton Birthing Center, but suddenly everyone is stonewalling me. I can’t get access to the records, and no one is talking. One guess as to who’s responsible for that—Nick Lattimer.”
Kelly couldn’t deny it. Her visitor certainly had the power and resources for stonewalling. Better yet, he had a motive. He thought all of this digging for the truth would alert his brother, Eric. And that brought her to something that could put an end to any possible threat from Eric Lattimer.
“Denny, could you drop by in about a half hour?” She glanced at Nick and Joseph to verify that the feeding was still going well. It was. And Kelly looked at the trio of buccal swab kits on the changing table. “I need you to take a DNA sample to a lab.”
He didn’t answer right away. “Lattimer actually agreed to give you DNA from his ward?”
“Yes.”
Silence. Kelly welcomed it because it gave her a moment to think, something she hadn’t had time to do since the moment Nick had stepped into her house. Did Nick’s willingness to give her the sample mean that he was sure there hadn’t been a baby swap? Or like her, did he simply want to know the truth?
But she immediately rethought that last question.
Nick and she had zero trust between them. So, why would he have given her the very thing that she could ultimately use to take William from him? Judging from the way he was gazing at Joseph, he loved kids. She had no doubts that he loved William. So why was he making it easy for her?
Or was he?
She eyed the empty water glass on her kitchen counter. “I want you to have something else tested,” she whispered to Denny. “A glass. I want the DNA on it compared to Nick Lattimer and William. Will you take care of that for me?”
“You know I will, but that doesn’t answer the question about Lattimer himself. You shouldn’t be there alone with him, Kelly. He’s dangerous—”
“I know. I’ll be careful.”
And with that, she hung up because she knew that Denny was about to launch into round two of his argument. She appreciated his concern. She truly did. But more than concern, Kelly needed to know the truth. If William was her son, then she needed to prove that and get him away from Nick. That, in turn, would assure that he’d be safe from Nick’s brother.
Kelly grabbed Joseph’s DNA test and her own from the changing table and walked back into the kitchen so she could place the phone into its cradle. Joseph was on the last few bites of his lunch, and he seemed to be enjoying the attention from this stranger. Ditto for the stranger. Nick didn’t even react when Joseph splattered some of the beef stew onto his white shirt.
She automatically reached for a paper towel, dampened one end and began to wipe away the blob. Not the best idea she’d ever had. Because it meant she was wiping Nick’s chest.
He was solid, but then, she already had proof of that when he searched her at the ranch. However, it seemed more intimate touching him now.
She stepped back as if he’d scalded her.
He snared her gaze and reached out to her. For a moment Kelly thought he might touch her. And for a moment, one crazy insane moment, she thought she might like that. But he didn’t touch. He merely took Joseph’s and her DNA test kits from her hand and slipped them into his jacket pocket.
“Your P.I. friend warned you about me,” Nick announced.
“Yes.” Though she had no idea how he’d known that it was Denny on the phone. Despite his uncanny knack for identifying a caller, Kelly was thankful for the conversation. Anything to distance her from the reaction she’d just had to him. “Denny’s worried about me.”
“Your friend has a reason to worry. If you continue to press for this DNA evidence, you’re only putting yourself in more danger.”
“I don’t believe that.”
“You should,” he warned.
He didn’t get a chance to say more because his cell phone rang. Kelly took over the feeding duties. Not that there was much left to do. She gave Joseph the last spoonful and wiped his face. She took his from the high chair while she tried to eavesdrop on Nick’s call.
But eavesdropping was useless.
The man spoke in single-syllable responses, even though she was certain this was a conversation that was important.
Nick was a pacer. He moved across her kitchen and into the adjoining family room. And he paced. Not some awkward, angry gait. He was smooth. Interesting. With his pricy suit and rugged but somehow aristocratic face. He was a man accustomed to wielding power.
The sunlight from the windows was amber clear and at the perfect angle to bathe him in light. When he paused by the fireplace, Kelly had the sudden urge to shoot him. With her camera, that is. She could use a 135mm range with one added stop of exposure. Fast-speed film would be more forgiving, but with a slower-speed film, she could capture every nuance of that gritty intensity. That face. Those incredible features.
And she had to remind herself—again—that while the Italian-suit-wearing rancher might make a good photographic subject, she should not be referring to any of his features as
incredible.
He finished his call and put his phone back into his pocket. She waited for an explanation of what had caused the pacing and the intensity, but he didn’t provide her with one.
“I want you to consider staying at my ranch until we have the test results.”
Kelly wouldn’t have been more surprised if he’d stepped into a song and dance. “Excuse me?”
“It’s for your safety.”
But he wasn’t looking at her. He was looking at Joseph. And then he did something else that surprised her. He reached out and touched his index finger to Joseph’s cheek.
Alarms the size of Texas went off in her head. Because that wasn’t the look of concern.
It was the look of a father.
But it couldn’t be.
Could it?
She immediately considered the ramifications of that. No, it couldn’t be.
“I can’t go to your ranch,” she managed to say, though how she didn’t know. Kelly could hardly catch her breath.
She took Joseph from the high chair and headed toward the nursery. Of course Nick followed.
“What’s wrong?” he asked.
“Nothing,” she lied.
But everything was wrong. Well, everything if Nick, Meredith or both had told the ultimate lie.
Mercy, was he really Joseph’s father?
Kelly couldn’t help it. She glanced at both of them. The hair was the most noticeable similarity. But then, black was a common hair color. And they didn’t have the same color eyes. Nick’s were stormy gray, and Joseph’s were more blue. Though there were times when they looked gray, as well. Still, those two things meant nothing.
And then her son smiled, showing those precious dimples. Kelly had seen that smile hundreds of times, and she’d cherished every one of them. But it was Nick’s reaction that she didn’t cherish.
He smiled, too.
At Joseph.
Nick’s dimples flashed, too.
She couldn’t dismiss those dimples. It was as if a brick wall had fallen on her. Kelly couldn’t breathe, and she felt on the verge of a panic attack. She hadn’t had one for nearly two years, not since the night her husband was killed, but she didn’t think she could fight it off this time.
Things started to move fast. Her heart. Her thoughts. The blood in her veins. Everything seemed to be racing out of control, and she couldn’t catch on to anything to anchor herself.
Kelly grabbed the jacket that she’d left on the counter, coiled it around Joseph and headed for the back porch. “I need some fresh air,” she insisted.
And she needed some privacy so she could deal with this. Kelly stepped onto the back porch and shut the door behind her.
Thankfully, this time Nick didn’t follow.
Because she couldn’t stop, because she couldn’t stay still, she wrapped the jacket tightly around Joseph and hurried out into the backyard. It was a peaceful place. Two white bird fountains and red granite rock beds. In the background, the massive live oaks were still sporting their emerald leaves and were swaying in the breeze.
The serene scenery and the cold air helped. But nothing could stop her thoughts. If Meredith had lied and Nick was indeed Joseph’s father, then…
But Kelly couldn’t even let herself finish that.
God, why hadn’t she seen the resemblance between Joseph and Nick sooner? Why had she put all of this into motion by going to Nick Lattimer?