The Baby Bargain

by Jennifer Apodaca

  “I know. I just want her back.”

  Meg squeezed her arm. “The judge should decide soon. I have to get back for my afternoon appointments.”

  “Thanks again,” Debbie said and headed toward her car.

  Megan jumped in her own car, and accessed her voice mail. Adam’s voice said, “Megan, got your call, but I’m out of town on business until Tuesday or Wednesday. And I have a friend staying at the house with Ellie, in case you were wondering.”

  Well, she had a day or two to figure out how to tell Adam about his son.

  A tap on her windshield made her heart stutter. She jerked her head around and laughed when she saw it was her mentor. She rolled down her window. “Lawrence, what are you doing here?”

  Resting his forearm on her car door, he leaned in. “You don’t know? I’m giving a deposition for Nathan.”

  “What? But why? I mean…” She trailed off, studying his face. His eyebrows were pulled in and his mouth tense. Angry. “Nathan pulled you into this?”

  He sighed. “I thought you knew. Once the McCrays split, and after your recommendation that Celtic Fire no longer show or breed, Nathan brought her to me for another opinion.”

  A hot sense of betrayal began to burn in her gut. She kept her voice cool. “And what is your opinion?”

  He raised his eyebrows slightly. “Megan, are you in trouble? You know you can come to me, right? If it’s money problems—”

  “What are you talking about?” Her cool professionalism changed to confusion.

  “I asked Nathan about the bribe. He said it didn’t happen. He told me you demanded two thousand dollars in cash for your testimony. He refused, but he thinks Debbie is paying you.”

  A hot flash of rage blasted through her. She shoved the door open.

  Lawrence jumped back.

  Megan stood up. “You don’t believe him. You can’t.” This man was her mentor. She’d interned with him in school, and gotten a job with him once she’d graduated.

  He pulled his mouth into a grim line. “You’ve been walking a fine line of ethics for a while now. I tried to warn you that you weren’t ready to go out on your own. But you insisted. Okay, I could understand that. But poaching clients from me?”

  “Are you accusing me of unethical business practices?” This couldn’t be happening.

  His eyes were shadowed with sadness. “Your actions speak for themselves. Nathan told me you took Debbie to dinner and convinced her to switch Celtic Fire’s care to you. I overlooked it because, frankly, I care about you. And you’re still young, but refusing to clear Celtic Fire for show, Megan?”

  “Her heart is damaged from the infection!” What was happening here? She stared at the man she’d known for a decade. The man she’d trusted. Her throat tightened. No, she would not get emotional. Forcing herself to calm down, she took a breath. “I did not poach Celtic Fire. You know I didn’t. I wouldn’t do that. And I do not shake down my clients for money. I charge legitimate fees for my services.” Never before had her ethics been questioned. She hadn’t done any of those things. What’s more, she wouldn’t do them. She’d become a vet because she loved animals.

  “Megan, you’re in over your head. Let me help you.” He reached out, touching her arm. “I can say you made a legitimate error, an understandable one given your inexperience, in your diagnosis of Celtic Fire. And I’ll claim no knowledge of you approaching Debbie about moving Celtic Fire to your care.”

  A sick, dizzy feeling made her want to crawl into bed and stay there. This testimony could destroy her practice. How could she defend herself against a well-established veterinarian like Lawrence? “How can you believe this?”

  He dropped his hand. “Look at you, Megan. You’ve changed. Everyone saw the way you behaved at your mother’s fund-raiser. What’s gotten into you?”

  Disappointment and disgust bled through his voice. Pulling herself together, she slid back into her car and pulled the door shut.

  “Megan.” Lawrence leaned into the window. “I’ll help you. I’ve always been there for you. You know that. We can fix this.”

  She looked directly into his cold eyes. “I didn’t do anything wrong. If you believe Nathan McCray over me, then there’s really nothing else to say.” She started the car, put it in gear, and drove away.

  Two days later, Megan was feeding Cole breakfast when there was a loud knock at the door.

  Max jumped up, barking.

  Who was at her door so early? It was barely eight a.m.

  Adam?

  Her heart stuttered as she quickly wiped Cole’s hands and lifted him out of the high chair. No, it couldn’t be Adam. This wasn’t how she wanted to tell him. What would she do—just hand him Cole and say, “Congratulations, you’re a father”?

  Another round of sharp knocking sent Max into a frenzy. He stood with his nose at the door, his fur ruffling at the aggressiveness of the sound. Summoning her courage, she went to the door and looked out the peephole.

  Not Adam.

  It was the police.

  “Sit, Max.” The dog sat. With Cole on her hip, she opened the door. Two men stood there, stern and official. She recognized one of the officers as a client of hers. “John, what’s going on?”

  “We have a report of a stolen dog.”

  “I don’t understand.” Cole buried his head in her neck, wrapping his little fist around a thick lock of her hair. Max sat at her side, alert and ready.

  John sighed. “Megan, it’s Celtic Fire. Mr. McCray says either you or his ex-wife took her. Do you have her?”

  Outrage heated her blood, but she answered calmly. “Of course not. That’s ridiculous. Why would I steal her?”

  “Look, if there’s been a misunderstanding, we need to clear it up. That dog is worth a lot of money. Stealing her, or hiding her, is a felony.”

  They were seriously asking her if she stole a dog. Two cops came to her house and all but accused her. One of them was a client of her practice. “If the dog is missing, I had nothing to do with it.”

  “You’re sure?”

  “The only dog here is Max. As you can see, he’s not Celtic Fire.”

  “We’ll be in touch.” They walked back to their squad car.

  Slowly, Megan shut the door, then walked across the floor with Cole in her arms. What the hell was going on?

  First, Lawrence turned on her, which was just too weird. But she’d come to the conclusion that she was professional and respected, and nothing would come of Lawrence’s ridiculous claims. But now Celtic Fire was missing…

  Nathan McCray’s words came back to her. I made Raven’s Cove the town it is today and I can destroy you and your veterinary practice with a few phone calls.

  Setting Cole on the floor to play with Max, her thoughts spun. Nathan had tried to bribe her, but she hadn’t taken the money. Then he’d told Lawrence that Debbie had paid her for her testimony. But in the end, it was just her word against Nathan’s. It wasn’t enough to destroy her. Maybe she was being paranoid.

  Megan forced herself to breathe in and—

  Her phone rang. Reaching over, she picked up the cordless at the end of the table.

  “Dr. Megan Young?”

  “Speaking.”

  “This is Derek Hahn with Raven’s Cove Press. I’m following up on an anonymous tip that you are accepting bribes in exchange for expert testimony in a dispute over custody of a show dog. Do you confirm or deny?”

  Goose bumps broke out on her arms as she sat there, trying to process what she heard. Who would…Nathan. It had to be him who phoned in an anonymous tip. He’d threatened to destroy her, and framing her for stealing Celtic Fire would do just that. It was the only explanation she could come up with.

  She watched Cole and Max playing on the floor, while trying to think how to respond.

  “Dr. Young? It’s a straightforward question, did you accept…”

  “No comment.” She disconnected, got up and paced, trying to think. What else was Nathan doing? How could s
he protect herself? Worry gnawed at her belly. How long until there was enough evidence for her to be arrested?

  Cole’s giggles broke into her frantic thoughts. She turned to see her boy laughing at Max as he pawed at a ball. Another worry slammed her. Cole! If she was arrested…nausea ripped through her guts. She was the only parent the authorities knew of. He could be placed in protective custody. Cole was barely two years old. Panic tightened around her until she was panting.

  She was not the scared, desperate girl she’d once been. The one so desperate for love, she’d convinced herself Adam would love her. She’d finally grown the hell up. Determined to be a strong mother for her son, she’d taken control of her life.

  And now her first priority was to protect her son. For that, like it or not, she needed Adam. His father.

  Chapter Nine

  “How’d the job in Florida go?” Logan Knight asked Adam.

  Ellie’s head rested on Adam’s thigh. He petted her absentmindedly. She’d been glued to his side since he’d walked into the house an hour ago. He and Logan were sitting in the backyard getting a healthy dose of caffeine before Logan left to register at the hotel.

  “Like a mission,” Adam said. “Cooper tracked down the blackmailers who stole the company secrets in order to sell them back. I convinced the client to bring in the police at that point, and it was a clean bust all around.”

  “What’s interesting to me is that you called me here to dogsit while you took off to handle that.”

  “I’m the boss.” The client had been high profile, and Adam’s young company couldn’t afford any screwups. Work, that’s what he was good at. Well, that and sex. Look how that had turned out. He’d slept with Meg, then emotionally hurt her. Shit. He had to call her, find out what she needed.

  “You keeping that dog? She’s timid as hell.”

  “Can’t. I travel too much.”

  Logan reached over to pet Ellie. “Dude, you’re letting the dog get attached to you. Not cool.”

  Adam looked down at the dog’s head resting trustingly on his leg. “It’d be the same for anyone who fostered her until a permanent home is found. She’ll be okay.” Right. When he’d first insisted on taking the dog, he’d really been thinking about his goal of reconnecting with Megan, not the dog. Now here he was hurting another innocent.

  His doorbell rang, surprising him. It was before nine a.m. Ellie followed him as he walked through the house and past the last box of his parents’ stuff. Just the pictures and documents. He had to make a decision: keep them or destroy them.

  The bell rang again and Ellie looked up at him with questioning eyes and a small whine of anxiety. Rubbing her ear, he said, “It’s okay, girl. We can handle whatever is on the other side of the door.” He pulled the door open.

  Or maybe not.

  “Megan.” She stood on his porch, backlit by the morning sun and trying to steal the breath from his body. An ache of longing lodged deep in his chest. He wanted to rub the spot to make it stop. “I was going to call you. Just got back this morning.”

  “I took a chance you were home. I need to talk to you.”

  Her voice was tense. She wore flats and a flowing skirt paired with a rust-colored top. Her hair was pulled back, revealing tight strain on her face. His desire cooled as concern took over.

  He and Ellie stepped back. “What’s wrong?”

  Megan walked in a few steps, then froze. “Oh, sorry. You have company.”

  Adam glanced at the other man, noting his too-interested gaze, and said, “Megan, this is Logan. He’s one of my operatives. He’ll be in town working until the security job for the Celebrity Golf Tournament is complete.”

  Logan strode up to her with a dumb ass grin on his face. “Hey, Megan. Nice to meet you.”

  Her smile was forced. “You too, Logan. Sorry to intrude.” Dropping his hand, she turned back to Adam. “Maybe we can talk outside?”

  “No need, I’m just leaving.” Logan grabbed his travel bag, pet Ellie one last time, then headed out the door.

  “Want some coffee?”

  “No. Thanks.” She glanced around, as if searching for something, then sucked in a breath. “I wanted to do this better, ease into it or something. But now…”

  His guts clenched at her rising tension, and that ache in his chest was getting downright annoying. To give himself a minute to gather his composure—he hadn’t expected Megan to show up wearing a tight, worried expression—he looked down at the dog pressed up against his leg. “Go lie down,” he told Ellie.

  She ducked her head, then went to the blanket he had for her by the table where he worked.

  Adam watched as Ellie settled herself on the comforter, then turned back to Megan, ready to deal. “Whatever it is, just spill it.”

  “I’m in trouble.”

  He crossed his arms, refusing to give into the urge to touch her. He’d touched her for hours in that cottage, and it still hadn’t been enough. But this need right now? Not sexual. It was caveman possessive and insanely protective. “What kind of trouble?”

  She fidgeted with the strap of her purse. “I think I’m being set up. I could be arrested.”

  “For what? Who is setting you up?”

  She shook her head. “That’s not what I need your help with. Besides, you don’t want to get involved with that.” She turned and went to the front window and looked out. Wrapping her arms around herself, she looked so alone. “It involves Nathan McCray, and that’s a problem for you since he hired your company to provide security for the golf tournament.”

  She wasn’t making any sense. He put his hands on her too-tense shoulders. “What’s Nathan done?” The guy was an aging celeb trying to hold onto his fame. But not a criminal. “How could he set you up?”

  “He and his ex-wife Debbie are in a custody battle over their valuable show dog, Celtic Fire.”

  Adam listened as she explained the whole story. Nathan’s attempt at bribery, his subsequent apology, the deposition, her run-in with the asshole mentor, and this morning, police asking her if she had the dog Nathan claimed was stolen.

  He pulled her against his chest. “Easy, you’re too tense. We’ll figure this out. Nathan can be a blowhard, completely full of himself, but I don’t think he’d risk hiding the dog in an attempt to frame you.”

  She pushed out of his hold. “I’m not asking you to get involved in that. I know Nathan hired you, so of course—“

  “Of course what?” he snapped, anger crackling through him.

  She kept his gaze. “You can’t risk the reputation of your security company by getting involved in this. I get that.”

  Her reasonable voice just pissed him off. “Then why are you here? If that’s what you think of me, that I wouldn’t help you, why are you here?”

  She looked away from him, went to the couch, and sat down heavily. “I need your help with something else.”

  Adam couldn’t remember ever being this confused. “What then, Meg?”

  She twisted her hands in her lap. “I think at some point I’m going to be arrested.”

  “You might be overreacting.”

  “I thought that too. But after the police left, I got a call from a reporter. He said he had an anonymous tip that I was taking bribes in exchange for my expert testimony in the dog custody case.” She paused, pressing her lips together for a brief second. “That’s not a coincidence. How is it the reporter called right after the police left?” She shuddered. “I’m being set up and I’m going to be arrested.”

  Adam went military straight. That did have the sound of something carefully coordinated. “Did you see anyone watching your house?”

  “I didn’t look, but it feels creepy.”

  “Shit.” All his instincts went hot. He moved around the coffee table and sat next to her. “First, we make sure you’re safe. You’re not staying in your house alone. Move in here, or—”

  “Wait, slow down, Adam.” Megan paused a second. “I’m still getting to what I need from
you.”

  This was worse than defusing a bomb. Every wire he pulled revealed a more dangerous one. “How much worse does this get?” He put his hand on her arm. “Meg, you didn’t take the dog, did you?”

  She frowned at him. “No. Now you don’t believe me, either?” She closed her eyes then opened them. “Never mind. I’m not here for me.”

  “Okay, what are you here for?”

  She took a deep breath. “I need you to help me protect our son.”

  Adam jerked his hand back from her arm and jumped to his feet. He hadn’t heard her right. She could not have said what he thought she had. “What did you say?”

  She reached into her purse and pulled out her cell phone. While fidgeting with it, she said, “I got pregnant when you were here three years ago. He’s two years old now.” She held out her phone, a photo displayed on it. “This is Cole.”

  He swung around, striding across the room, damn near tripping over the box of pictures and documents. “You got pregnant? And didn’t tell me?” He clenched his fists, fear making his heart pump. “Is this some kind of sick joke? What the hell is wrong with you? I don’t have a son. I don’t have any children. I am always careful.”

  Color flushed her pale cheeks and she stood up. “How would I have contacted you, Adam? You told me you were never coming back. I didn’t have an e-mail or a phone number. What was I supposed to do?”

  “Oh, I don’t know Megan, maybe contacted the property management company that was renting out this house for me? Or hey, this is just a wild shot in the dark, but see if the U.S. Marine Corps knew where I was? Rumor has it they actually keep track of their Marines!” He realized he was bellowing.

  It was all too fucking familiar. He was yelling like his mom after she’d gotten into the booze. The sarcasm, blame, and ugliness were like old friends he couldn’t shake. Adam wouldn’t wish that on any child, yet there he was, acting just like his mom when she was drunk. And he was stone-cold sober, so he didn’t even have that excuse.

  “Yeah, I could have. And then what? What would you have done? Told me to get rid of it?” She yelled right back at him.