Читать книгу Mommy Midwife - Cassie Miles, Cassie Miles - Страница 11

Chapter Two

After Troy got down on his hands and knees to check around the edges of the cabinets and the floor where a photo might have fallen, he was ready to believe her. An intruder or intruders had entered her cabin and stolen a picture from the fridge. Why bother? A straightforward burglary would have made more sense.

“I want you to look around,” he said. “See if anything else was taken, maybe jewelry or documents.”

“I don’t have any valuable jewelry.”

“A family photo doesn’t have any intrinsic value, either. Just take a look.”

He followed her as she quickly rifled through a small jewelry box in her bedroom. In the living room, she sat at her desk and started sorting through the file drawers.

His thoughts focused on risk assessment. On intelligence missions, he was accustomed to walking into a situation and determining the course of action. He needed to know why her house had been broken into. If he figured out what the bad guys wanted, he’d know how far they’d go to get it.

“Was there anything unusual in that photo?” he asked.

“Not really. We were standing in the backyard at my sister’s house in Denver.”

“Who took the picture?”

“My sister’s boyfriend.”

“Tell me about the background. And the clothing.”

Olivia squinted as she remembered. “It was at a family barbecue last summer. There was a blue spruce behind us. We were all dressed casual. My dad had on a god-awful pair of plaid shorts. He’s tall and has really skinny legs. Like a stork.”

He nodded. Actually, he’d learned a great deal about her parents. The life history of Richard and Sharon Laughton made for interesting reading, especially for someone like Troy who had a high security clearance. “Can you think of any reason someone would steal this particular picture?”

“It was just us. The Laughton family at play.”

The obvious answer was that the photo would be used for identification. Though pregnancy had vastly altered her appearance, she still resembled the woman in the photo.

Troy had only one other clue: the footprint in the garage. Why would the intruder have gone into her garage other than to search? A lightbulb went on in his head. The bad guys were hiding in the garage, setting an ambush. “I know what’s going on.”

“Oh, good.” She swiveled in the chair behind her desk and looked up at him. “Because I can’t find anything missing in my documents. Most of my confidential stuff is on my laptop computer, and I took that with me to the hospital.”

“The intruder or intruders were in your garage, waiting for you to come home.”

Her hand fluttered to her mouth, covering a frightened gasp. “Do you think they were there when I pulled up?”

“It’s possible.” Troy cursed himself for not searching the garage first. He could have ended this before it escalated.

“Why? What do they want?”

“Nothing is missing. So I’m guessing that their intention wasn’t robbery.”

“Then what?”

“They wanted to take...you.”

She looked away from him, shielding her gaze as though she had something to hide. “A kidnap attempt.”

“You don’t seem too surprised.”

“I’ve had a feeling for the past couple of days.” Her hands rested protectively on her belly. “It’s been like someone is watching me. Earlier tonight in the hospital parking lot, I thought I heard a gun being cocked.”

The situation was more intense than he thought. They needed to retreat to a safe location. “You have five minutes to get packed.”

“Kidnapping doesn’t make any sense.”

“Later, we’ll talk. Now, get packed.”

“No. I’m not going to leave my house until I understand.”

He braced his hands on the arms of her chair and leaned close. Being near her was a distraction, for sure. The blue of her eyes contrasted her healthy tan and the pink flush of her cheeks. Was she glowing? Later, he’d take the time to appreciate the miraculous changes in her body. Right now, he needed for her to cooperate.

“The standard reasons for kidnapping,” he said, “are money or leverage. The intruders want to use you and our baby to get something they want.”

“It can’t be for ransom money. My family isn’t superrich.”

“Your mom and dad are in Denver this weekend.”

“How do you know that?” she demanded.

“I’m in intelligence,” he reminded her. “They’re in town, right?”

“Staying with my sister, Bianca. They want me to move in with her until after the baby is born.”

“They want to protect you,” he said.

“From what?”

He held her chin, forcing her to look directly at him. “I know about your parents.”

She blinked, an automatic response from someone who had spent her entire life living with lies. “I have no idea what you’re talking about.”

“Richard and Sharon Laughton work for the CIA. They’re spies.”

* * *

T HOUGH IT WAS still hard to believe that she was the target of a kidnapping plot, Olivia couldn’t take chances in her present condition. She had to leave her cabin.

In the bedroom, she threw some of her belongings into a suitcase. Most of her pregnancy clothes didn’t fit anymore, making packing easy. She took everything she could still wear, even the fancy, lavender crepe toga-style gown that she’d bought for a hospital fundraiser.

Troy stood watch, slouching against the doorjamb with his gun in hand. Though his posture was relaxed, she could see the tension coiling through him. At the slightest provocation, he was ready to strike. This was a side of him that she hadn’t seen before—a little bit scary but also reassuring. If he hadn’t shown up at her house when he did, she could have been in real trouble.

“You know,” she said, “my parents aren’t the kind of spies who do what you do. They don’t go on active missions.”

“Sure.” Somehow, he made that one terse word sound like he didn’t believe her.

“They work in embassies. My dad is a paper-pusher, and my mother is a cultural attaché. She hangs out with ballet dancers and artists. She arranges events.”

“Are you done packing?”

She’d already scooped all her bathroom toiletries and hair stuff into a plastic bag that was at the bottom of the suitcase. Tossing in a book from the nightstand, she gave him a nod. “That’s everything.”

“We’re taking my car,” he said.

She objected. “There’s nothing wrong with my car, and I’m going to need it when we’re in Denver.”

“If it becomes necessary to use evasive driving techniques, you’ll be glad I wrecked the rental instead of your car.”

A shudder went through her. “I hope that’s a joke.”

“I’m not laughing.” His eyebrows pinched in a scowl that made his dark eyes even more fierce and intense. “From now on, we do things my way. This is my job, Olivia. I know how to keep you safe. Don’t argue with me every step of the way.”

His macho take-charge attitude would have been irritating if the potential for danger hadn’t been so real. She reminded herself that there had been intruders in her garage, waiting to grab her. For a while, her independent nature was going to have to take a backseat. “I understand.”

“We’ll turn out all the lights,” he said. “I’ll go first. You follow with the suitcase. Take it around to the back of the SUV, and then get in the passenger side. Move as quickly as possible.”

“That’s not real fast.”

“If I tell you to get down, hit the dirt.”

She really hoped that maneuver wouldn’t be necessary. In spite of her pilates and yoga exercises, she was just about as graceful as a hippo when she had to get up and down off the floor.

After he’d turned off the lights, they stood inside by the front door for a moment, allowing their eyes to adjust to the dark. Troy moved to the edge of her front window and peered into the front yard.

She asked, “Do you see anything?”

“Visibility isn’t great. I could really use a pair of infrared goggles.” He gave her arm a reassuring squeeze. “There’s no telling what we’ll find around the corner of the garage. But you don’t need to worry. I’ll be in front. Ready?”

“I guess.”

He eased open the door. Immediately, they were moving through her moonlit yard. She followed him, pulling her suitcase, struggling to keep up as he rushed forward.

Her pulse thumped hard. Adrenaline raced through her system. At the driveway, she dragged the suitcase to the back of his SUV, went to the passenger seat and climbed in. Before she’d finished struggling with the seat belt, he had loaded her suitcase and was in the driver’s seat. He started the engine, whipped into Reverse and zipped away from her cabin.

A glance at the speedometer showed her that he was well over the recommended speed limit for this narrow, winding road, but she wasn’t scared. Troy had control of the vehicle. He was fast but safe.

She craned her neck to look over her shoulder. She didn’t see headlights behind them. “Are we safe?”

“I don’t see anyone.”

The narrow road straightened a bit as they drove past a beaver pond. It was less than a mile to a main intersection. “What happens if they catch up to us?”

“They won’t.” He negotiated the rugged road like a grand prix champion. “I think we made our escape fast enough that they didn’t have time to plan another assault. It’s a good thing that you noticed that missing photo.”

“And a really good thing that you were with me.”

He cranked the steering wheel, and the SUV swerved onto a paved road. There was no other traffic in sight.

Breathing hard, she flopped back against the seat. This definitely wasn’t the evening she’d expected after a long day at the hospital. In usual circumstances, she would have thrown together a salad with fresh veggies, had a cup of tea and relaxed. No doubt, her poor feet were swollen. Her sneakers felt as tight as rubber bands.

Absentmindedly, she stroked her tight belly. Inside her, the baby started to kick, possibly in reaction to the rush of adrenaline when she fled the cabin. “Wow, it feels like he’s jumping hurdles.”

“Who’s doing what?”

“The baby. He’s bouncing around.”

Troy kept his eyes on the road, but reached his hand toward her. “May I?”

She appreciated that he asked. So many people walked right up to her and began touching without permission. Gently, she took his hand and placed it over the place where the child—their child—was tap dancing.

Troy reacted, pulling his hand away. “That’s the baby?”

“Oh, yeah. I think he got excited by our escape. I don’t do a lot of running these days.”

“It doesn’t hurt him, does it? I mean, he’s okay, right?”

His concern erased his macho facade. Feeling the baby move had turned this big, bad marine into a cream puff. His reaction was actually kind of cute.

“The baby’s fine,” she assured him. “He’s always active. Sometimes, I think he’s got a ping-pong paddle in there.”

Troy replaced his hand on her belly. As he experienced more kicks, a wide grin spread across his face. “That’s my boy.”

She shared his pride. After all the time and effort she’d spent resisting Troy, she felt closer to him now than ever before. Strange. When they’d made love the first time, it had been because of a personal disaster. Now, it took another potential disaster to bring them together.

“Where are we going?” she asked.

“We could continue on into Denver or stop at a hotel on the way. Your choice.”

“Hotel,” she said. “I’m too tired to face my parents tonight.”

“Lucky for us, I already have a suite booked in Keystone.”

“Why would you make reservations?”

“I needed a place to stay after you threw me out. Again.”

Was she really that mean? The answer, of course, was yes. She’d been pushing him away with both hands for eight and a half months, but she wasn’t going to apologize. She had her reasons. “Does this hotel have room service?”

“Count on it.” He gave her tummy a final pat and took his hand away. “Tonight, I’ll pamper you. This is a nice place, and you can have anything you want to eat.”

“Yay, I almost feel good about having my house broken into.”

“As soon as we get there, you need to call your parents and tell them what happened. The photo on the fridge was of all four of you. They might also be targets.”

She knew his analysis of the situation was correct. If someone was after her, the rest of her family could be in danger. Telling them would be difficult, nearly impossible. “Their work isn’t something we talk about. Not ever.”

When she and her sister were growing up, they knew their parents had contacts that went beyond their jobs in the diplomatic corps, and they had learned not to ask too many questions when their parents left town.

“Did your family travel a lot?” he asked.

“When I was little we did. But we were based in Washington, D.C., for years and years. I’d have to say that I had a very average childhood.”

Aware that she was swimming in a sea of denial, Olivia turned her head and stared through the window at the thick pine forest beside the road. No matter how many times she told herself that her early life was as normal as puppy dogs and lollipops, it was a lie.

“You can tell me the truth,” he said.

“What do you mean?”

“I have a high security clearance, and I’ve looked into your background thoroughly.”

“I don’t like that. I have a right to my privacy.”

For a few moments, he drove in silence. Then he cleared his throat and spoke again. “When you were a child, you and your mother were abducted and held captive for a week.”

He had flung open a door to her past that she always kept tightly locked. This was her secret, her life. And she didn’t want to look back.