Читать книгу Thunder Horse Heritage - Elle James - Страница 11

Chapter Three

All the air left Tuck’s lungs in a whoosh, and the image of the baby wavered like a mirage on hot desert terrain.

As quickly as his vision blurred, anger raged, red-hot and fiery, erupting through his body. “How dare you threaten me—with a gun or a baby. Do you really expect me to believe that this baby is mine?” He poked a finger at the woman’s chest. “Even if you’re telling the truth about your twin and you really are Julia, why should that make me trust you? You weren’t all that trustworthy when you married me and then walked out on me less than a day later. Do you think I’m stupid enough to believe anything you have to say to me?”

She hugged the child to her chest and then loosened her hold, titling her forward so that Tuck could see her face.

Nestled in a pink fluffy blanket, the infant’s mouth moved in a soft sucking motion, her shock of thick black hair stealing Tuck’s anger, sucking the fire right out of his veins.

“She looks like you,” Julia whispered. “She has your hair, your dark skin…your eyes.” Just as she said the words, the baby blinked up at him with dark orbs, already losing their baby blue for the ink-black so typical of the Thunder Horse family’s Lakota heritage.

Tuck’s chest squeezed so tightly, he could barely draw in air. The baby did look like him. “So, she has black hair.” He fought the urge to reach out and touch the baby’s rosy cheek. “That doesn’t mean she’s mine.”

“She’s four months old.” Julia stared across the baby at him. “You do the math.” His ex-wife reached around her neck with one hand and fumbled with the knot holding the sling, while balancing the baby in her other arm. When she had the sling loose, she handed the child across to Tuck.

He hesitated and drew back, his hands dropping to his sides.

“Hold her. She won’t bite.” Julia shoved the baby at him, giving him no choice but to take the squirming bundle.

He grasped the baby, holding her out like an alien being. Then Tuck stared at the infant girl, who stared back at him, her dark hair and dark eyes so very much like his own.

Then she smiled, the mere quirk of those tiny lips and cherubic cheeks nearly bringing Tuck to his knees.

His hands shook. Rather than drop the baby, he brought her close to his body and cradled her against his chest. “Are you sure?” Tuck glanced up at the woman standing across from him.

Julia’s lips trembled, her eyes glistening with tears. “Never more certain.”

“Why didn’t you tell me?”

She sighed. “I didn’t know I was pregnant until two months after we met…and then it snowballed, all happening so quickly.” She gulped, her head dipping low. “One minute I was a single woman with no cares in the world, the next I was scrambling to find a place big enough for a baby. The school semester started. I was working teaching kids. A lot of things were happening at once.”

“And it just slipped your mind? You never thought for a moment that I had a right to know?”

“Yes, you did.” Her belly twisted with her guilt. “I didn’t know whether or not you’d want to be a part of her life.” It was just an excuse, but it was the one she’d clung to, so that she wouldn’t have to get back in touch with the man she’d married and then run away from. So she’d made the choice for him.

“And you made the decision not to tell me.” He shook his head.

“After what happened between us, I thought it would be unfair to saddle you with a child you might not want.” She sighed. “I was wrong.”

She’d been wrong about so many things.

Marrying Tuck in the first place had been a mistake. Even now, she could hardly believe she’d done it. It was so unlike her to get carried away, swept off her feet. Jillian had always been the spontaneous one—not Julia. Julia was the thinker, the planner, the one who calculated cost and consequence for every decision she made.

If she’d taken the time to stop and think, she never would have gone to that little wedding chapel. She’d have taken the time to get to know her husband first—at least well enough to know what he did for a living. If she’d been aware before saying her vows that he was an FBI agent, then she would have realized that a relationship between them could never work.

Julia knew all too well what being an agent meant. Her father had spent most of her formative years away from home as a member of the bureau. She recalled how her mother had waited by the telephone every time he was on assignment, expecting the call that her husband had been injured or killed in the line of duty. Sadly, she’d gotten that call when Julia and Jillian were twelve years old.

Jillian had followed their father into the FBI.

Julia still couldn’t understand why her sister would do such a thing, knowing the dangers. Hadn’t losing a parent shown her how dangerous it was?

Julia had never considered joining the FBI or having anything to do with it. The job hadn’t just taken her father away from her—it had ruined her mother’s life, as well. Julia had seen the way the stress and anxiety of being an agent’s wife had weighed on her mother. It was a strain Julia refused to bear. Bad enough that she had to worry about her sister on the job. She refused to worry about a husband, too.

When she’d found Tuck’s badge in the hotel room, she’d lost it. Images of her mother trying not to cry as she sat by the phone had flooded her memories, bringing her to her knees on the bedroom floor of the hotel. She couldn’t get away from Tuck fast enough. She refused to be one of those wives who waited night and day for “the call.”

All Julia had wanted was a safe home with someone who would be there to love her. A father who put his family ahead of his work. A man who wasn’t destined to die of gunshot wounds earned in the line of duty.

Just a glimpse of that all-too-familiar badge had been enough to make Julia run. She’d departed the hotel, leaving a note that she was sorry and that their marriage had been a mistake. Annulment papers had been easy to obtain, and within forty-eight hours she wasn’t married.

Of course, there were still consequences she never could have anticipated. Consequences like the precious baby girl cradled for the first time in her father’s arms.

For a long time he stared down at the baby. “I have a daughter.” He shook his head, his eyes widening. “I have a daughter. What did you say her name was?”

“Lily. Lily Amelia.” She looked down at her hands. “You said your mother’s name was Amelia. I thought it was pretty.”

She’d named his daughter after his mother. Tuck touched a finger to the baby’s rounded cheek, marveling at how soft and smooth her skin was. “You had no right,” he whispered. The baby had been born four months ago. Four months he could have been getting to know her. “You had no right to keep her from me.”

“Agreed.”

Anger and regret made a resurgence through him. “Then why?” He glared at her. “Why now? There must be something you want, or you wouldn’t have contacted me.”

Julia stepped forward. “Like I said, we need your help. We’re in trouble.”

“The same trouble that took your sister’s life?”

She flinched, her lips trembling. “Yes.”

“Who was behind the murder?”

“I don’t know. My sister and I had gone to the casino. She was on vacation, visiting me.” Julia swallowed hard before she could continue, her words coming out in a rush. “Jillian was making a video of me on the path outside the casino—the one that leads to the marina. She wanted to get the lake in the background. I was turning to get in a better position when I saw movement by the docks.”

She pressed a hand to her mouth, her eyes widening. “When I looked closer, I could see a man being held at gunpoint and then shot in the chest down by the water. Jillian caught it all on her camera without realizing what was happening. I was too shocked to say anything. It happened so fast.” She stared up at Tuck, all the horror she must have witnessed reflecting in her watery blue eyes. “But then the murderer glanced our way. I don’t think he saw Jillian, but he definitely saw me.”

Tuck’s hands tightened around the baby. “What happened?”

“I told my sister.” Julia’s head moved back and forth as if she were in a daze. “She went after him.”

“Where were you?”

“She made me promise to go home and wait for her. To take care of Lily until Jillian came for me.” She stopped talking, tears dripping down off her chin. “My sister never came back.” Julia’s words thickened. “God, I shouldn’t have let her go.” Her eyes filled with tears and overflowed, rivulets of grief running down her face.

With the baby in his arms, Tuck could do nothing to comfort her. Nor should he want to, given their history together. She’d lied by omission. Something as important as a child of his own wasn’t a fact you kept from a father.

Besides, she hadn’t come to him for comfort—she’d come to him for help. She’d said she was in trouble, and it was up to him to get to the bottom of it. “Did you notify the authorities about your situation?”

“Yes, I called you.”

“No, I mean did you call the sheriff?”

“No.”

“Why the hell not?”

Julia gave him a watery smile. “Because Jillian told me not to. I never saw my sister after I left her in front of the casino, but I did hear from her one more time. I was waiting at home when I got a text message. The attachment was the video Jillian made of the murder. It’s just enough someone with the right equipment might be able to make out the murderer. The message told me to take Lily and run—and not to trust anyone, not even the police, and definitely not the FBI.”

“Dam—” Tuck clamped his lips closed, frowned and held out the baby. “Maybe you’d better take her.”

“She’s yours.” Julia stepped back, her hands held up in surrender.

“And yours.” He continued to hold the child out to Julia. “Take her.”

Lily whimpered, squirming in Tuck’s hands.

“You’re scaring her.” Julia hesitated, her arms rising then falling to her sides. “Please. You hold her. I feel so shaky right now, I’d probably scare her even more.” She dug in a pocket and pulled out her phone, her hands trembling so badly, she almost dropped it. “She must have sent the text as she was…d-dying. Why wouldn’t she trust anyone in law enforcement? My sister works…worked for the FBI. She was a special agent, like you.”

Tuck’s brows rose. “Your sister was FBI?”

“Yes.” She looked down at the floor, but not before he had a chance to see that her blue eyes were glazed with unshed tears.

Her grief tugged at Tuck’s heart, when he had no business reacting to anything about her. He didn’t know her, other than the one night they’d spent in bed. One night.

Apparently, one night was all it took. His gaze shifted to the baby in his arms. He was amazed by the fact he was a father. One night, and a beautiful baby was conceived.

Lily’s dark eyes blinked up at him. She looked so much like a Thunder Horse, it hurt to think of her in any kind of danger. Tuck’s jaw hardened. “Let me call a friend of mine and see what’s happening with the investigation. We’ll take it from there. But I’m not making any promises.”

Julia’s eyes widened. “You won’t tell them about me and Lily?”

“I won’t say a word.” He hugged Lily close to his chest. A wave of protectiveness made his arm tighten around the tiny bundle. He’d do anything to keep this child safe.

“Are you sure you can trust the man you’re about to call?” Julia chewed on her lower lip, the movement capturing Tuck’s attention. She was so beautiful, with her blond hair and blue eyes.

“I’d trust him with my life.”

She leveled her gaze at him. “What about the life of your baby?”

His baby. The words struck him all over again. The tiny human in his arms was his child, a part of him and completely dependent on him to protect her from harm. The baby’s eyes drifted shut, her cheek resting against his chest, trusting him to keep her safe and warm. “I trust him,” he repeated. Josh had saved him on more than one occasion, and Tuck had returned the favor. They were as tight as brothers.

Julia nodded, gathered Lily from his arms and walked around the small living area, gently rocking the baby back to sleep.

Still in a state of semishock, Tuck dialed Josh’s personal cell phone and waited, his gaze on the woman and baby who’d completely rocked his world. The phone was answered on the second ring. “Josh?”

“Yeah, Tuck.”

“Anything new on the murder case?”

“I just got off the phone with Bismarck. I can’t go into a lot of detail, but it’s never good when we lose an NIGC. They want answers, and fast.”

“Typical. Got any leads on who did it?” Tuck asked.

“No, and from what the sheriff said, we don’t have any live witnesses.”

Tuck glanced across at Julia. The one witness they had was too afraid to come out of hiding, the only other evidence on a cell-phone video.

His blood ran cold. That put Julia right in the middle of the investigation. If the killer knew that Jillian had sent Julia that video, he’d do anything to eliminate all eyewitnesses and destroy any physical evidence. And he might be ruthless enough to use a baby to get what he wanted.

“What about the Anderson woman?” he asked.

Julia’s attention swung back to him, her eyes wide.

“That’s the sad part. She was identified as a local schoolteacher. All we can figure is that she witnessed the murder and was killed for her trouble. Strange thing is that there were no signs of a struggle.”

“None?”

“No. And unlike the NIGC rep, who was shot, the woman was stabbed. She might have known the killer. We checked in at her apartment, and the neighbors said she had a baby, which is strange.”

“How so?” Tuck asked.

“The babysitter who lives next door said Julia picked the kid up around the same time as the murder. The murderer could have killed her close to her apartment, but no one’s seen the baby since. We have an Amber Alert out. I hope the killer doesn’t have her.” Josh sighed. “It’s tragic when the innocent become collateral damage.”

Tuck knew exactly where the baby was, but he clamped his lips shut, not ready to reveal any more than he had to. “Anything else?”

“Yeah, the babysitter mentioned a sister who came to visit. There’s a suitcase and clothing, but we haven’t located the sister, and there wasn’t any identification in her belongings. Maybe she’s taken off with the baby, running scared. We’ve initiated a background check to see if we can locate the sister.”

“Let me know what you find.”

Josh snorted. “Man, you’re supposed to be off. I’m sorry I dragged you all the way down here.”

“Yeah, but I knew the victim. Now I’ve got a stake in this.”

“We meeting for breakfast in the morning?” Josh asked.

“Sorry, Josh. I think I’ll sleep in. That little bit of jet lag is kicking in. But call me if you learn anything else or if Rick wants to leave early.” Tuck’s gaze met Julia’s. The dark smudges beneath her eyes and the tears trembling on her lashes made his chest ache. When he clicked the off key, he stood for a long moment, his world having made a one-eighty.

“You didn’t tell him I was here. Does that mean you’re going to help us?” She hugged Lily closer. “Because if you aren’t, I’m out of here.”

“Fort Yates won’t be safe once the killer figures out there’s another witness. You better hope he didn’t find your sister’s phone.”

Either way, Tuck knew that Julia would be in danger by morning, if she wasn’t already. Once the forensics team did their job, it wouldn’t be long before they discovered the dead woman was really Jillian Anderson. Whoever had killed her would put two and two together after it came out that Jillian had a twin named Julia, alerting the killer to the possibility that the woman who witnessed his crime and the woman who came after him were two separate people. And God forbid he’d found Jillian’s phone. It would show that her last communication was to send Julia the video with evidence of the murder. He’d be after Julia, and Lily would no longer be safe if she stayed with her mother.

She drew in a deep breath and looked down at the baby sleeping in her arms. “I have to get Lily out of Fort Yates.”

“First thing in the morning. Right now, you look dead on your feet.” As soon as the words left his mouth, he could have bitten his tongue.

The ready tears spilled from her eyes, running down her wan cheeks. “I’m sorry. I just can’t seem to stop crying.”

“Understandable. You just lost your sister.” The thought of losing one of his brothers hit Tuck so hard that before he could think straight, he pulled Julia and his baby into his arms and held them. The fear of what might happen to them outweighed the fear of losing his heart all over again.

Yeah, his life had just gotten a whole lot more complicated.

* * *

JULIA LAY AWAKE in the king-size bed of the hotel suite, Lily sleeping quietly beside her.

Through the crack in the bedroom door, she watched Tuck moving around. The coolly efficient FBI agent was worlds away from the funny, attentive, passionate man she’d met and married a year before.

Her life had come full circle—not just bringing her back to Tuck, but also landing her last adult relative in the morgue. The career path that had frightened her all her life, that had taken away her father, broken her mother’s heart and driven her away from Tuck all those months ago, was now the reason why she’d turned to Tuck for protection. She trusted him to keep her and Lily safe. But what would happen when all of this was over? He knew about Lily now, and if the look on his face when he held the baby was any indication, he wouldn’t let Julia just walk away with his child again.

She really didn’t know anything about Tuck, his family, where he grew up, what his parents were like. He’d mentioned his mother, but did he have siblings? Were they anything like him? Would they want to know Lily? They hadn’t had time in their whirlwind courtship to find out all the important details.

What if Tuck wasn’t a fit father for Lily? Julia would take Lily and raise her all by herself if that’s what it took.

But what if he was every inch the good man he seemed to be? If he was capable of being a good father, then she had no right to keep him from his daughter. Yet could she let him become part of their lives without developing feelings for him? Feelings that would place her right in her mother’s shoes, spending all her life worrying over him all the time?

In the outer room, Tuck unbuttoned the blue chambray shirt he wore and let it slide down over his back.

Julia’s breath caught in her chest.

Tall, broad shoulders, swarthy skin, hair hanging down almost to his shoulders, he could have been in a commercial promoting the Lakota Indians of the Dakotas, or an extra in a Wild West movie.

No wonder she’d fallen in bed with him. What single woman wouldn’t want to? It was hardly surprising she’d been too caught up in the moment to think of taking necessary precautions. She looked down at the sleeping bundle nestled at her side. She couldn’t regret, even for a moment, anything that brought her daughter into her life. But still, she knew she could have handled the situation much better.

During her pregnancy, she’d struggled with the truth, knowing she should tell Tuck about the pregnancy. Julia knew it really boiled down to Tuck’s work with the FBI. She’d been determined to raise Lily on her own, proving she didn’t need a man, especially one who was in such a dangerous line of work.

Guilt lodged like a twisted sock in her belly. She should have told him. He had every right to see his daughter. He could have been there for her when Lily had been born. Maybe things would have worked out for them. Tuck might be luckier than her father and sister. He might live to see his own grandchildren brought into this world.

Sure, and pigs can fly.

Pain washed over her anew. What more proof did she need? Her FBI agent father had died in the line of duty. Her sister worked for the FBI, and now she was dead. More tears welled in Julia’s eyes.

Tuck sat on the sofa and pulled his cowboy boots off. Then he stood and unbuttoned his jeans.

Julia should have turned away and allowed him his privacy, but she couldn’t. Her tears continued to slide down her cheeks, even as her gaze was drawn to the agent like a moth to a flame.

He loosened the button, his fingers grasping the zipper, then he paused. As if he thought better of it, his hands dropped to his sides and he glanced toward the bedroom.

Julia squeezed her eyes shut, feigning sleep.

The soft shuffle of bare feet on carpet let her know he’d entered the bedroom.

Carefully, Julia peeked through her lashes.

Tuck Thunder Horse leaned over the bed, staring down at the baby beside her. He reached out and brushed a finger over her cheek, his dark eyes fathomless, his square jaw rigid.

He bent and brushed a kiss across Lily’s forehead. His gaze shifted to Julia, his expression unreadable. As quietly as he’d entered the room, he moved on to the bathroom.

Julia’s gaze followed his retreating figure, an uncomfortable twinge of jealousy making her wish she’d been the one to receive the kiss, recalling how nice his lips felt on hers so long ago.

She shook her head, forcing her thoughts to clear. She couldn’t let herself fall into her attraction for Tuck again. This situation was temporary, just until the danger was resolved.

Her damp cheeks reminded her of what was glaringly important in this scenario. Her sister was dead, and she and Lily might be next.