Pregnant and Protected

by Lilian Darcy

  He met Lauren’s glare a moment later without flinching. “It was his idea.”

  “You could have told him no!”

  “I want him here, Lauren. I want his input.”

  Lauren suppressed a sound of violent disagreement and waited for the inevitable.

  “You’re right,” she agreed an hour and twenty minutes later. “They’re obscene.”

  Daniel had gone to the parking garage on his way through the city and had taken some snapshots of the messages, sprayed in red paint on the wall nearest her space. His boys were building block towers in the great room with Eileen, while the other three adults held what Dad was calling “a crisis meeting.”

  He had brewed coffee and they were in his study, which was filled not with file cabinets and bound company reports but with books on the North American wildlife and flora that was her father’s passion in his spare time.

  “And I think you’re right, too, John, in feeling we may get further on this if we stop looking to the police,” Daniel said. “This is an insignificant case, as far as they’re concerned. I want to look at what we know and see what it suggests.”

  Lauren had known he was working on the issue privately, but she hadn’t realized he was already this organized about it. He spread out a printout detailing the dates of each letter, the postmark on each envelope and the wording of their contents, as well as the facts they had on the other incidents. The tires, the file cabinet and now the graffiti.

  “If there’s a pattern to any of it, it isn’t obvious,” Daniel said.

  “Except that our guy specializes in making my holidays memorable,” Lauren commented. “The tire thing was the day after Thanksgiving.”

  Dad laughed. “Note that down on your profile, Lock. Perp dislikes turkey.”

  “I might just do that, because otherwise my profile is looking pretty thin,” Daniel answered. “Ben’s company had approximately sixteen thousand investors, all over the United States. The letters have been mailed from six different locations, according to their postmarks. Two different post offices here in Philadelphia, two in the Boston area, one in New York and one in Connecticut. Three of the letters have useful prints, from three different sets of fingers, but they didn’t match anything the police have on file.”

  He shrugged.

  “You don’t have any training in this area, do you?” Dad asked.

  “No, I don’t. You won’t be treading on my toes, John, if you hire someone who does. My expertise is in preventing crimes, not solving them.”

  “I don’t want to do that. Not yet.” He got up and began to pace the room. “Have you told Ben about any of this, Lauren?” he asked.

  “No, we’ve hardly communicated at all. I’m still waiting to hear what he wants to do about the baby.”

  “You should. Tell him, I mean. Maybe it’d prod him at least a small step in the right direction.”

  He shook his head slowly, as if the enormity of Ben Deveson’s failings was more than he could handle. Lauren was flooded with the renewed surge of determination that always hit her when Dad seemed out of his depth. She could handle Ben, whatever he came up with. She could handle her mysterious stalker. Ben didn’t need to hear about it. She was fine.

  “I’m going to sleep off my lunch for an hour.” Dad went on. “Why don’t you two take those little boys for a walk? Lauren, you look like you need some fresh air.”

  Yes, but not in Daniel’s company.

  She didn’t say it out loud, just nodded. Dad looked tired. This whole business was getting to him more than it was getting to her. She shouldn’t have pushed him on the Christmas thing.

  “I’ll get my coat, Daniel.”

  “I have the boy’s snowsuits in the car.”

  “I’ll chase them for you, and you can use the time to think. Dad’s right about the fresh air.”

  “I’m not convinced you could chase anything faster than an inchworm,” Daniel told Lauren after her father had left the room.

  He was hoping to earn a laugh, but all he got was a half smile. Was she angry or just wary? She had a right to be both, after the way he had frozen her off yesterday. His remorse didn’t suggest a useful strategy for getting over the problem. Apologize? Only if he wanted to start what would have to be a very uncomfortable discussion. Kiss her, maybe?

  Oh, yeah, I like that idea, his body said.

  No.

  How many times had he already started back at square one with this woman? He didn’t want to have to do it again. At some point, surely, their relationship had to progress! Ships in a stormy sea eventually reached port. Even after the darkest night, dawn did break. At some point, he had to stop simultaneously wanting her and distrusting her, and hating himself for both feelings. At some point, what he felt toward Lauren had to become safe.

  Solve it, then you can get out of her life. Find the guy.

  Like Lauren, he was intuitively sure that it was a guy. But who?

  Out in the big garden, the boys soon had bright pink cheeks. They toddled on legs that were stiffer than usual, thanks to their thickly padded snowsuits, one sky blue and one bright red. There had been a heavy fall of snow in this area about a week ago, and deep drifts of it still remained in hollows and beneath trees.

  They loved the stuff, and Lauren responded to their squeals and laughter by getting pink-cheeked and active herself. They made snowballs and a very small, lumpy snowman. Her father had produced an old red plastic sled, into which both boys just fit. At their age, they didn’t need a high-speed ride, so Lauren pulled them along the flat, crunchy drifts and they acted as if it was the Space Mountain ride at Disneyworld.

  She looked like a big, pink glacé Christmas cherry in her bright cherry-crimson coat with matching hat and gloves. Daniel didn’t realize how hard he was grinning at the whole scene until his face started to ache.

  How come he couldn’t stop watching her? How come she looked away so quickly every time she saw him doing it? Her hair had fallen out of its clip at the back and was bunched up above the collar of her coat. Her nose was getting shiny with cold. She kept pressing those sweet lips of hers together to keep them warm and stop them from getting chapped.

  At one point she tripped and almost fell against the snow. He lunged toward her, but she shook her head. “I’m fine. I’m off balance these days.”

  “You sure? Do you want to go in?”

  “I’m fine,” she repeated, lifting her chin and throwing him a stubborn grin.

  I want to do this for her, he realized. It’s nothing to do with being able to get out of her life once the thing is solved. Even if I thought the police would crack this case tomorrow, that wouldn’t be good enough. She’s had such a rough time—including from me!—yet she’s still here, chin up, laughing and waddling around like a tipsy duck.

  I want to do this for her.

  “Their gloves are sopping wet, Daniel, and their fingers are frozen. They’re going to start crying soon.”

  “He’s a kid. He’s got to be. It’s the only thing that fits.”

  For a moment, Lauren didn’t understand, but then she looked at Daniel’s face. His dark eyes glittered and there was an energy and triumph to his expression that was new. Somehow, he looked bigger than usual. His strong shoulders looked even broader. His stance was as solid as the trunk of the oak tree just behind him.

  And he was punching one gloved fist into the palm of his other hand as if it was a baseball and he was ready to pitch.

  “You mean the guy,” she said.

  “Yes.” He bent down and pulled off Jesse’s sodden wool gloves. “Gee, you’re right about their fingers. Let’s get them inside.”

  He picked up both boys and they settled into their usual position on his hips. Corey began to whimper, and Daniel asked, “Quick, what can I distract them with?”

  “A promise of hot chocolate with marshmallows on top?”

  “Did you hear that, guys?”

  “I’m sorry, I should have looked at their gloves soone
r.”

  “No permanent damage. I want to think about this some more. About our guy. Out loud.”

  “I’m interested.”

  Way too interested, Lauren decided.

  Not just in “our guy.” In the way Daniel’s strong legs moved when he was in a hurry. In the way he narrowed his eyes and stuck his tongue between his teeth as he thought. In the way he managed to deal with his boys and think about the problem of the stalker at the same time. Men weren’t supposed to be able to do that with kids the way women did. The six-things-at-once thing. Daniel, she guessed, had had to learn.

  “At college, probably,” he said. “A young college kid. Not as bright as he’d like us to think, because if he’s seriously trying to hack into your bank accounts, he hasn’t gotten close to doing it.”

  “Not according to the checks we’ve been able to make.”

  “So he’s a lightweight. That doesn’t mean he’s not dangerous.”

  “Why, though, Daniel? Here, let me take one of the boys.”

  “I’m fine.” They’d almost reached the house. “I’ll sit them by the fire and warm them up while you get the hot chocolate.”

  “Will you have one, too?”

  “Yes, please. And as to why, why do I think it’s a college kid, do you mean?”

  “Yes.”

  “It was what you said about him making your holidays memorable. His home must be here in Philadelphia, but he’s at college someplace else. Boston, probably. His personal appearances in your life are limited to vacation times. This is a game for him, not a full-time occupation. Or that’s the theory, anyhow. I could be way off base.”

  They went in through a side door and she led the way to the great room, where an open fire was burning. Daniel set the boys down in front of it, and they held out their reddened hands.

  “They’re brave little guys,” she said. “I thought they’d really howl.”

  “Yeah, they’re okay kids,” he said casually, then grinned.

  She saw it and grinned back. “Like they’re not the most precious beings you could ever imagine, Daniel Lachlan!”

  “All right, don’t push the point. They’re extremely okay. I feel like I’ve solved this,” he said. “I shouldn’t.”

  “Haven’t you solved it? I’m totally impressed, so far.”

  “It’s not solved,” he insisted, bending down to peel the boys out of their snowsuits.

  “Hot chock-it right now?” Jesse asked in a hopeful tone.

  “Almost right now, buddy. We just know which track to take,” Daniel added.

  “That’s a lot, isn’t it?” Lauren had learned to follow his switches from kid-speak to adult conversation. She was as proud of the new skill as she’d have been if she’d upholstered a couch or re-tarred a driveway. “A lot more than we had to go on a couple of hours ago. I’ll put them in the dryer in a minute,” she finished, taking the damp suits.

  “We have to convince the police to look at it that way.”

  He still wouldn’t take credit and she didn’t push it. Instead, they focused on the boys and their wet clothes. It was tough for two-year-olds to drink hot chocolate neatly, she found. The rich, sweet drinks made them sleepy, along with the effects of fresh air and firelight. With Jesse nestled on her lap, slurping hot chocolate and still enchanted by the open fire, she felt a strange new sensation of warmth pooling inside her.

  What tender skin and silky hair he had. How focused his big, round eyes were. He hadn’t even noticed that she was watching his absorption in the flames. Impulsively she kissed his cheek. It felt like warm satin. Would her own child be this perfect, this bright, this happy? Daniel was lucky. Luckier than he knew.

  He didn’t seem like he was in a hurry to leave. He stretched himself back on the fat chintz cushions of the two-seater couch, while Lauren sat in the matching armchair. Now that they’d finished their hot chocolate, the boys simply lay down on the rug, and were soon hypnotized into sleep by the dancing blue and orange flames.

  “How long will they sleep?” she asked.

  “Two hours, if I let them. But then they’ll be up until midnight, so I’ll give them maybe an hour. Listen, I only let it happen because I wanted a chance for us to talk in peace.”

  “About the guy? I’m kind of—”

  “No, not about the guy.”

  “I’m sick of the guy,” she said.

  “I know. I meant I wanted to talk about what I said yesterday. Telling you to go, because you were making Bill late. It was…pretty rude, and I’ve been wanting to apologize ever since.”

  She had two choices. Accept it or challenge it. The first choice would be the easiest.

  But I’ve gotten into the habit of taking the hard road since last spring, Lauren realized. Seconds later, she heard herself saying, “If that’s true, why did you say it in the first place?”

  Daniel’s choice now. Hard road or easy? She could see him making it, weighing it. After a thick pause, he finally answered, “I don’t know.” His expression was closed, discouraging any kind of challenge.

  She was shocked at the level of her own disappointment. It was like the sharp cut she’d accidentally sliced into a finger a couple of months ago while cooking one of her obsessively nutritional meals. Now as then, understanding kicked in before pain. He was lying, and it hurt.

  She hid it well, though. “Let me know when you work it out.”

  He stared into the fire. “Yeah, I’ll do that.”

  Another fob off, and more choices. Get angry? Let it slide?

  Oh, for mercy’s sake, it was a little thing, compared to the litany of raw, emotional moments they’d shared.

  Maybe he didn’t agree.

  He shifted on the couch and added, growling the words, “I’ll let you know, Lauren, when I’ve worked out why everything I feel about you scares me so much. For now, ‘I don’t know’ will have to do.”

  “Okay,” she answered lightly, as if it didn’t matter.

  The problem was, everything about Daniel Lachlan was starting to matter to her more and more, and fighting it just wasn’t working.

  “It didn’t check out.” Daniel raised his voice as he spoke into the phone, to drown out the sound of his boys yelling and running up and down the hall.

  “I’m sorry?” Lauren asked, at the other end of the line.

  “No, I’m sorry. It’s the boys.” He reached behind him with one foot and kicked the kitchen door shut, bringing a slight reduction in the volume of noise. It was just quiet enough for him to hear her laugh.

  “Don’t ever apologize for those little guys, Daniel,” she said. Her voice was warm and a little husky. “They’re great, and I love them.”

  It wasn’t just a throwaway line. He knew she really meant it. The idea made him emotional in a way he didn’t have time to analyze right now. With difficulty, he returned to the reason for his call. “I wanted to tell you that I just had a call from the police.”

  “Yes? Tell me!”

  “It’s not great news, Lauren. They followed through on all Ben’s investors in the Philadelphia area—anywhere close to the Philadelphia area, in fact—and my theory didn’t check out. There was no one with a kid, male or female, at college in Boston. The closest was a senior at Georgetown University in Washington, D.C. They interviewed him and the facts didn’t fit. I’m sorry.”

  He heard the familiar phrase drop yet again from his mouth and swore under his breath. “Lauren, all I ever seem to be doing at the moment is delivering these apologies to you. I hate it! I really thought I was onto something last week.”

  “It’s not your fault. Maybe it was just a coincidence that the tires and the graffiti both happened around holiday times.”

  “But it fit. It was more than a coincidence. It felt like it fit.”

  “I know.”

  “I’m going to be a little late picking you up, is the other reason I’m calling. My mother can’t get here to mind the boys until seven.”

  “Cancel if you want,”
she offered at once.

  “I don’t want. That part of the assignment I can do. Your dad wants me to take you to the Van Shuyler corporate New Year’s party, and I’m going to do it. I’ll be so intent on scoping out the terrain, watching your back and surveilling anyone you speak to that you’ll have the worst evening of your life. But, hey, at least I’ll be there, doing my job. And I’ll bring you home in one piece.”

  She laughed, a warm, delighted gurgle, and he felt a ridiculous degree of satisfaction.

  What was it with this woman and his response to her? All the things he couldn’t do for her, all the ways he kept failing her and now he was preening just because he could make her laugh? He seriously wasn’t holding out a lot of hope for staying awake until midnight tonight. At this rate, the way he assessed his odds of giving her a good time, he’d have delivered her home and he’d be tucked up in bed himself by about ten forty-five.

  Wrong. By hook or by crook, Lauren wasn’t going to let that happen.

  He got the first clue to this fact when he picked her up at seven-fifteen. She looked fabulous in a strappy black dress with a velvet-on-chiffon pattern that showed a cinnamon underdress. The dress clung to all the places where clinging was still possible and draped over the places where it wasn’t. Her bared shoulders and back were pale and perfect, and his lips almost sizzled with their need to touch that warm, creamy flesh.

  She greeted him with a dazzling smile—too dazzling?—and blue eyes that glowed like Las Vegas neon. Since he’d expected her to mirror his own indigestible mix of largely negative emotions, he raised his eyebrows. “You got a late Christmas gift, or something?”

  “I talked myself into a change of attitude,” she said, picking up a chic little black evening bag and throwing a black wrap of fine wool around her shoulders. Her voice and her movements were crisp, decisive. “This is the year my baby is going to be born. I’m planning for it to get off to a good start.”

  “There’s not much that you take lying down, is there?”

  “I’m stubborn, and I’m a fighter,” she agreed, closing the door of her town house. They went down the half-dozen steps to where Daniel’s car was parked at the curb.