Warriors,Winners & Wicked Lies: 13 Book Excite Spice Military, Sports & Secret Baby Mega Bundle (Excite Spice Boxed Sets)

by Selena Kitt

The tension between them thickened.

  Heat surged and her breath broke, but Weslyn managed not to arch her spine any more than it already was. Findley’s eyes were silver, his lips taut. Weslyn looked past him to focus all her attention on the P.A., but the woman was studiously bent over the ultrasound machine. Though her cheeks blazed red, the physician’s assistant made no move to stop Nolan from caressing his prisoner.

  Finally the woman cleared her throat and turned around. “All ready? Great. This might be a little cold.”

  The slick, thick fluid plopped onto Weslyn’s belly, making her wince. Then the woman pressed the probe to her stomach and the sound of her baby’s heartbeat filled the room. So did Nolan’s gasp. Weslyn closed her eyes.

  Chapter 5

  Nolan groped for the edge of the exam table and slid onto it without looking down. He shook too badly to remain standing and he refused to tear his eyes from the computer screen attached to the ultrasound probe. His lungs felt as if they were turning inside out, and yet his heart felt lighter than air.

  The computer screen showed nothing but some arching greenish lines, ever-changing as the woman swept the wand over Moon’s stomach in slow passes. But the rapid heartbeat of the baby filled Nolan’s ears, his mind, his gut… He gritted his teeth and held on to his composure by his fingernails.

  The woman found the fetus quickly—a blob had never looked so miraculous to Nolan. He shuddered and dragged in enough oxygen to keep from passing out, but he didn’t dare blink in case he missed something. In the next moment, the physician’s assistant moved her hand, and Nolan distinctly made out the head, the body of his child. Another shift showed him the baby’s spine and leg bones.

  “What—” He cleared his throat. “What is that dark, fluttery thing?”

  “The heart.”

  “The heart,” he repeated quietly. He covered his own as it picked up its pace. “Oh, hell.”

  Another moment went by in relative silence. The only sound was the magnified heartbeat of the fetus, but Nolan drank it into his senses and held it close.

  “Can you…” Moon moved, making the handcuffs clink softly. “Um, can you tell if it’s a boy or a girl?”

  Nolan tensed, but the woman shook her head. “It’s not in the right position to see the sex,” she told them.

  A splash of disappointment quickly faded, as Nolan caught sight of the outline of a foot. The little heart fluttered, the physician’s assistant indicated all the measurements were normal, and also validated the timeline of conception, with a due date perfectly in line with what Nolan had already estimated. All in all, everything seemed as it should, and Nolan’s relief vastly outweighed his desire to know if Moon carried his son or his daughter.

  The woman moved the probe again. “I think you should schedule an appointment for a transvaginal ultrasound to make sure everything’s as it should be. We don’t have the equipment here, we’re mostly looking at people’s runny noses, you know? But you should call your GP or, um, the prison doctors and—”

  “I’ve already had one,” Moon mumbled. “I went to the South Shore Women’s Health Center when I was eight weeks along. They told me we could schedule another ultrasound for later in my pregnancy.”

  “Women’s Health Center… That’s how I found you.” Nolan finally tore his gaze away from the computer screen and looked down at the criminal who had changed his entire life. She was still staring at the image of their child, her unremarkable face softened into a madonna’s rapture.

  Beyond beautiful, and it made him furious. “It took all this time to track you down after you stole my baby. And it is mine, isn’t it, Moon?”

  The physician’s assistant looked up, her gaze bouncing between Nolan and Weslyn. Her eyebrows lifted and her mouth worked. It seemed the woman had as much trouble breathing as he did, then she tossed the exam equipment aside and jumped off her stool. “I’ll just go get your…um…some paperwork.”

  Nolan ignored the woman as she fled, didn’t even flinch at the slamming of the door. He simply leaned closer to Moon and glared into her eyes.

  When he’d found her in her dingy motel room, he’d been prepared for the quiet, cautious mouse. He’d even been prepared for her to run or fight or lie. All survival skills he was sure she’d learned at some point during her tragic childhood. It was no wonder that she’d done her best to fade into the background—no makeup, few rash movements, even fewer words. Her silence was carefully crafted to make him forget about her.

  She was unforgettable. Even barring her theft of his semen sample, Nolan knew he would never have been able to look past Moon, in any circumstance. He was compelled to stand close, where her hidden energy seared his skin. She was more than he ever expected. Quiet, yes. Cautious, certainly. Plain—only to a blind man. Sweet, wholesome and standard for all-American prettiness, of course…but her eyes glowed like an angel’s, all-knowing and all-watching.

  He’d felt sucker-punched the moment she’d turned those neon blue orbs up to him. Terror shone from their depths. He hadn’t been able to see them clearly in any of the video footage, and the photos didn’t come close to doing them justice. But, no matter the emotion uppermost in them—and that had ranged from fear to wonder, in the short time he’d been in her company—her eyes still held a watchful quality, as if she’d seen it all, hoped for better, but steeled herself against further disappointment.

  Long-seeing, long-suffering eyes. Eyes Nolan felt certain no woman should ever have. They stared down into his soul and twisted him up inside, making him want things he refused to contemplate during the frustrating months he’d searched for her and researched her. As a man, as a law enforcement agent, the secrets that made Moon’s eyes glow formed a knife that slashed at his gut and his conscience.

  Just then, her glare rivaled robin’s eggs, under the overhead lights. She was trapped, at his mercy, though Nolan wondered what would happen if she gave a good tug against the equipment he’d secured her to. Her breathing, rather than speeding up, remained slow and steady, her lips were pressed together tightly. But her eyes were wide and expectant.

  “Did my wife hire you?”

  The air exploded from her mouth. “Wife?”

  “Ex.” Nolan could see from her expression that she’d had no thoughts of him being married. She didn’t know his ex, wasn’t hired by her to be a surrogate for the child they hadn’t been able to conceive together. Just as his ex-wife had maintained for four, long months.

  “Shit.” As suddenly as it rose, Nolan’s anger fled. He dragged a hand over his face and sat on the edge of the exam table again, lower this time, next to Moon’s hip. He placed his hand to the side of her belly-button and breathed deep. “Why me?”

  Her throat worked, she answered in a thin, little voice that shook the slightest amount. “I liked the way you looked.”

  “The way I…” He shook his head. “Why?”

  “You had kindness in your eyes. I’d like for my child to be kind.” Her lower lip trembled, but she continued on gamely. “There’s enough ugly in the world.”

  His heart clenched. “Yeah, and you’ve seen it all, haven’t you? I’ve read your file, Moon. Hell, I made your file.”

  She closed her eyes. “Mmm.”

  “You were lonely, weren’t you?” He couldn’t help but prod her. “And now you’re just another woman looking for her last chance at being loved. You think a child will love you unconditionally, filling all the holes your father created so long ago, right?”

  She didn’t answer, not that he expected her to.

  “But why knock over a sperm bank, Moon? Why? Why not just pick some guy up at a bar for a one-night stand? The odds of conception would have been higher.”

  “Nineteen percent was enough,” she muttered. “Besides, I didn’t want to touch anyone.”

  “Yeah, and now look at you.” Nolan glanced down at her exposed stomach, and the blue-tinged goop smeared across it. He reached out to snag a handful of paper towels from the dispenser hung ov
er the trash can across from the table. As gently as he could, he cleaned her up, hoping to buy himself some time while he thought of what he would do.

  He had to take her in. She was wanted, a fugitive. He couldn’t let her go. Besides, she’d have access to better prenatal care locked up than she would as a free woman, and the health of his miracle baby was very important to Nolan. But what to do later, after she had it, stymied him. DNA tests to prove paternity, a round of interviews with Child Protective Services to gain custody…

  She’d gone through an awful lot of trouble to conceive, but no way in hell would Nolan give up his child. He traced a pale scar that edged around her side toward her back as he tried to plot his next step.

  Moon’s voice broke into his thoughts. “You want this baby… Don’t you?”

  “Yes.”

  “Well, you can’t have it!” Her sweet, ordinary face became marred by a harsh expression of such ferocity Nolan blinked. He hadn’t thought his little mouse could be so fierce.

  Acting on impulse, he bent over Moon and placed his ear against her belly. He couldn’t hear the child within, but he imagined he could. Joy swept through him and he struggled to tamp it down, blinking to clear the sudden moisture from his eyes. On the heels of that, some new emotion gripped him—he didn’t know what, but it was sharper than anger and harder than the protective instincts already kicking in.

  “You’re mine, and I will never let you go,” he breathed over her belly. But, in that moment, as he raised his head to look up into the neon glare of his prisoner, he wasn’t sure if he was talking to his baby, or to Weslyn Moon.

  Chapter 6

  Nolan pressed his nose against the window of their taxi and scanned the crowd swarming the doors of the station. It seemed everyone in Chicago wanted to take the overnight train east. “Are you sure you don’t want to fly?”

  “It makes me sick,” Moon muttered.

  “I’ll lend you my medicine.” Nolan winced. He wasn’t all that fond of planes either, and it usually took a toll on him to sit calmly in a flying tin can, knowing he was trapped, breathing the same air as other people while children screamed and drunks got sloppy. Planes were much faster, but at least the train to Vermont had private sleeper cars.

  “The train will be better for the baby,” Weslyn finally said. “The change in altitude can’t be good for a fetus.”

  “Lots of other women do it.”

  “Different circumstances though, right? Everything might be fine now, but it could change, considering…”

  “Considering what?”

  “I’m under a lot of stress, Agent Findley.”

  Nolan turned away from the view of the train station’s main doors to scan Moon’s face. She looked tense, but that didn’t appear to be unusual for her. He shifted back in the seat of the taxi as they inched forward in line—he could have gotten out at any time, but he thought it best to get his prisoner as close to the doors as possible. Unfortunately, he wasn’t the only one willing to trade time for convenience at that hour of the night.

  He nodded. “Different circumstances, yeah. Sperm theft, artificial insemination, blackmail… And your birth certificate says you’re older than I had first thought, Moon. What happened? Biological clock became deafening?”

  Her chin lifted slightly. “I wanted a baby.”

  “You wanted a baby before it got too late, though, right? Coming up on your thirty-fifth birthday, Moon, and the odds of something going wrong increase every year after that, don’t they?”

  “Lots of women have children later in life now. I just felt it was time.”

  “It was time, but you didn’t want to touch anyone. Okay.”

  She closed her eyes, and Nolan suddenly realized that she’d done the same thing every time she didn’t want to admit to something. A childish way to hide, but so telling, now that he’d figured it out. Nolan watched her face closely.

  “You’re thinner than is healthy for a baby, Moon, so if it was just a matter of good timing, wouldn’t you have more weight on you? Prepared yourself with cheeseburgers and milkshakes, or something?”

  Her lips pressed together as tightly as her eyelids. Nolan had re-cuffed her wrists in front of her for the taxi ride from the clinic, knowing it would be easier all around to have her hands more accessible for their travels. Her fingers were currently curled and just a little restless on her lap, as if she were fighting a reaction.

  “I don’t envy you,” he told her quietly. “Growing up with an abusive father, probably an abusive brother, too. Then your boyfriend, the only boyfriend I could find in your life, put you in the hospital.”

  “What do you know about it?”

  “I know everything about you.” Overcompensating for his snarl, Nolan injected more warmth into his tone than he wanted to admit to, when he said, “Took real courage to testify against him, Moon.”

  “What is your point?”

  “You didn’t want to touch anyone in order to conceive the old-fashioned way.” Nolan exited the taxi as they finally reached the station doors. He leaned back in to help Moon out as he said, “I already know you’re lonely, and I know that’s why you wanted a baby. But why now, why me?”

  “I didn’t want to wait anymore and I already told you why I picked you.”

  Nolan grabbed Moon’s elbow and paid the driver. Holding tight to her and the small bag he’d allowed her to bring, he tugged her all the way to the ticket counter, where he then asked Moon to hold the bag.

  Three seconds. That was the entire length of time he’d let her go to dig out his badge for the ticket agent. Three seconds, and Moon disappeared. He hadn’t expected that, after she’d been so meek in his company.

  Nolan spun in a circle, scanning the crowd as panic tried to choke him. Travelers mobbed the lobby, everyone rushing for their train or a taxi to take them elsewhere. The people jostled each other, and Nolan bit his lip against the knowledge that such a place was perfectly suited to letting people lose themselves in the crowd—a skill Moon excelled at.

  But she’d drilled into the meat of his brain. Everything about her was familiar to him, after months of investigation. He knew he could find her anywhere.

  At the far end of the lobby, Nolan caught a glimpse of a woman with light brown hair, free now when Moon had been wearing a braid before, yet he knew. He could feel her, calling to him with a silent pull on every one of his senses and hot, electrical surges over his skin. Predatory awareness. His little mouse didn’t stand a chance.

  He dove into the crowd, pushing and shoving, slipping into every available gap in foot traffic until he’d reached the exit. Nolan burst out onto the taxi stand and realized immediately that Moon couldn’t have taken one without antagonizing the long line of people waiting. No one seemed disgruntled, so he ran toward the corner of the station closest to the bus stop.

  He didn’t make it that far. He passed a narrow access alley leading back toward the platforms and heard a male mumble. He couldn’t understand the words, and normally wouldn’t have paid attention anyway, as the passageway was clearly marked for employees only. But the tone of the man’s voice and the gripping sense of urgency at the base of Nolan’s nape had him turning down the access, away from the lights.

  “Give me the bag, bitch.”

  In the shadows, Moon held on to her backpack as if it were all that she had in the world. Nolan couldn’t believe what he was seeing. Between two men, his little mouse was pressed to the wall, but her chin was lifted and defiance stiffened her spine.

  She was insane.

  The one man grabbed for the backpack’s strap. Moon bared her teeth and twisted, but Nolan was already moving in. His heart stopping completely, the rest of his muscles worked entirely under the influence of scorching adrenaline.

  Nolan slammed his fist into the back of the first guy’s head, dropping him like a stone. The second man spun and staggered, still half-determined to take Moon’s bag, but wholly determined to save his own life. Nolan whipped his gun f
rom his ankle holster.

  “Federal agent!” Nolan gave a short, sharp wave of his gun. “Get down on the ground. Now!”

  The man did as he was told. He fell to his knees, hands on his head, with a quick look at his partner in crime.

  “Don’t fucking move, Moon!” Nolan snapped. “I’m not in the mood to chase you further.”

  “You didn’t have to chase me this time,” she whispered.

  Nolan didn’t spare her a glance as he pulled out his cell phone and called the police. “I hope you’re happy,” he told her. “We’re going to miss our train, so that means you and I will be going by car.”

  “Car, Agent Findley? To Vermont?”

  “Yes.” He smiled, strangely satisfied. “It’s going to take a while. We’ll stay in hotels and avoid the crowds. That way, I won’t lose you again. It’ll be just you and me, Moon.”