Читать книгу Whose Baby? - Delores Fossen, Delores Fossen - Страница 10

Chapter Five

“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.