by Gina Wilkins
And then she drew a deep breath. “But even if I can’t be with you any more, I don’t want you to worry. Steve will do whatever is necessary to take care of you. He might be a complete jerk when it comes to business, but he would never do anything to put you at risk. When it comes to your safety and comfort, Steve can be trusted completely.”
She swallowed painfully, her eyes burning as she thought of how foolish she had been to trust him.
She wouldn’t cry, she assured herself. That wasn’t her style. When Steve arrived, she would hand him the baby, bid him a cool goodbye, and leave without another word. She wouldn’t give him the satisfaction of losing her temper again, or falling apart in front of him.
She would wait until she got home to do that.
Heavy footsteps on the front porch brought her head up. She hadn’t expected Steve to drop everything and return home after her call, but it appeared he had. To argue with her further? Or to try to charm her into continuing to help him? He wouldn’t succeed at either, she vowed.
He tapped sharply on the door. Too impatient to use his keys? Or had he not wanted to startle her? With Annie in her left arm, she threw open the door. “I wasn’t expecting you yet, but since you’re...”
Her voice faded when she realized the man on the other side of the door was not Steve.
He was fairly young, no older than thirty. Sandy hair. Gray eyes. Heavy chin. Sulky mouth. He eyed her, then glanced at the baby before speaking. “Where is she? Where’s janice?”
Casey frowned as she suddenly realized who this must be. “Janice isn’t here. I don’t know where she is.”
“Don’t give me that. You’ve been helping her. She’s hiding here, isn’t she?”
“No. I told you she isn’t here. Now if you’ll excuse me, I—”
He reached out to shove the door open when she would have closed it in his face. “I know she’s here, damn it I want to talk to her.”
His raised voice startled the baby, who began to fuss. Casey instinctively turned her attention to Annie for a moment. By the time she looked up, the man she assumed was Janice’s abusive lover, Rick Walls, was inside the house. “What the...? Get out of here!”
Ignoring her, he moved swiftly toward the bedrooms. “Janice?”
“I told you, she’s not here. Now if you don’t get out, I’ll...”
She might as well have been talking to the rocking chair. Walls moved from room to room, opening doors, searching grimly for Janice. Only after he’d checked the last room—the kitchen—did he seem to concede that Casey had been telling the truth. “Where is she?”
“What part of ‘I don’t know’ do you not understand?”
Her insolent answer made his eyes narrow and spark with anger. “You expect me to believe that?”
“I don’t care what you believe. She isn’t here, and I don’t know where she is. To be honest, I wouldn’t tell you if I did know. Now, please leave.”
“Fine. I’ll take my kid and get out You tell Janice, if she wants the kid, she’ll have to come to me.”
Casey’s arms tightened protectively around the baby. “You aren’t touching this baby.”
His jaw hardened. “I don’t see how you can stop me.”
“But I will,” she answered flatly. “I’m responsible for this child and I’m not letting her out of my sight.” Walls hadn’t even seemed in the least interested in the baby until now, when he had decided he could use her as leverage against Janice. Casey had no intention of allowing him to do that, no matter what it took to stop him.
Her defiance seemed to enrage him. “Maybe you want to call the police? Maybe you want to explain to them why you think you’ve got a right to keep a kid from its own father after the mother ran out on it? You think they’re going to let you—a stranger—keep her? Or that Lockhart guy, who’s got no more business butting into my affairs than you do?”
For a moment the threat shook her. Casey knew full well that her custody of Annie was on shaky ground, that the authorities would insist she should have called them immediately. She could all too easily picture Annie being taken away by stern-faced strangers, herself being led out in handcuffs by uniformed police officers. But then she regained control of her runaway imagination and brought herself back to reality.
She shook her head. “You don’t really want to call the police. I happen to know there’s a restraining order against you. You aren’t supposed to go anywhere near Janice. And you are not coming close to this baby.”
“We’ll see about that,” he said, taking a step toward her.
Casey backed away, her heart pounding against her chest She could make a run for it, she thought swiftly. The front door was still standing open behind her. If she held Annie very snugly and ran as fast as she could, there was a chance she could get away. Once she got out in the street, she would scream until someone came to her aid.
The first priority was protecting the baby.
“Give me the kind,” Walls demanded.
Casey whirled to run.
She might have made it had her long hair not swung out behind her with the movement She’d taken only a couple of steps when she was jerked back so sharply and painfully that it brought tears to her eyes and made her involuntarily cry out Already distressed, Annie began to wail noisily.
His hand still fisted in Casey’s hair, Walls yanked her backward. “I said, give me the kid,” he repeated loudly. “Now, damn it!”
“No!” Casey kicked out at him, now as furious, if not more so, than he was. “Get your hands off me, you—”
He lifted his free hand, apparently intent on hitting her. She braced for an impact that never came.
There was a blur of movement from somewhere behind her and then Walls was suddenly flying across the room. He landed with a loud crash and a jarring thud against a wall behind him.
“You want a fight?” Steve said, looming over the intruder in his house with murder in his eyes. “You just got yourself one. Get up, Walls. Let’s see how you stand up against someone closer to your own size.”
Rocking the screaming baby comfortingly in her arms, Casey felt her shoulders sag. “It’s all right, sweetie. Everything’s okay now,” she murmured, pressing her lips to Annie’s silky forehead. “Steve’s here.”
Maybe she was still furious with him. And maybe she didn’t trust him farther than she could throw him, when it came to business. But if there was one thing Casey did believe, it was that Steve would never let any harm come to this baby, or to her.
He would give his life for them, if it came to that—and she assured herself fervently that it wouldn’t.
In that respect, at least, she trusted him completely.
12
STEVE HAD NEVER thought of himself as a violent man. Rarely in his adult life had he had the impulse to do bodily harm to anyone. And he’d certainly never felt even the slightest urge to kill.
That had changed the moment he’d walked into his house and had seen this bastard’s fist in Casey’s hair, his other hand poised to strike her. Just the realization that Casey and Annie were being threatened had made fury erupt in Steve like a volcano. He didn’t even dearly remember hitting the guy, he thought as he leaned over him.
He would make sure to remember the next time he hit him. “Get up,” he repeated softly.
“Steve...” Casey murmured from behind him.
“Take the baby and go somewhere safe, Casey. Her carrier is beside the couch.”
“No, I...”
“No!” Walls struggled to his feet, wiping a trickle of blood from the corner of his mouth with the back of one hand. “That’s my kid. You got no right to take her anywhere.”
“First, you have no proof that this is your child. For all you know, she could be mine. But regardless of that, we’re taking care of her now, and you aren’t touching her.”
Walls made a move toward Steve, but backed off when Steve spread his feet and held up his hands in a beckoning manner. “Just try it,” he chall
enged.
For only a moment, Walls looked tempted. Steve almost hoped the other guy would give him an excuse to pound his face in. But then Walls dropped his fists.
“Wise move, my man,” someone said from the still-open doorway, the words just audible over the baby’s cries.
Steve glanced over his shoulder. Looking perfectly at ease amid the chaos in the living room, Blake leaned against the doorjamb. Steve knew his almost lazy pose was deceptive; should Steve need assistance getting Wells out of his house, there was no one he’d have preferred at his side more than Blake.
“Who the hell are you?” Walls demanded.
“Just call me Blake. I’m a private investigator, and I know a great deal more about you than you can probably imagine, Walls. I think you’d better go before I put some of it to good use.”
Outnumbered now, Walls ground his teeth. “All right, I’ll go. But you can tell Janice I’ll be back.”
“No, I don’t think I will tell her that,” Blake said meditatively. “You’re facing parole violation charges, Walls. Several of them, I believe. Ignoring the restraining order Janice has against you isn’t going to sit well with the authorities. I’ve talked to Janice and we’re working out a plan to make sure you never get near her or the baby again. I’d advise you to put her behind you and get on with your life—such as it is.”
“Don’t tell me what to do,” Walls snapped, almost trembling with impotent frustration.
Blake shrugged. “It was just a suggestion. By the way, I’ve got quite a few friends in the Missouri legal system. A couple of calls from me and you’ll be back behind bars in a matter of days. Since I don’t think you want that, I’d suggest you get lost.”
“I’ve got a few friends in local law enforcement,” Steve added. “They won’t care much for the way you broke into my house and assaulted my friend.”
Confident now that Walls was subdued, Steve stepped close to Casey and ran a hand over the hair Walls had yanked so viciously. “Are you all right?” he asked her.
She nodded, patting Annie’s back. “Just get him out of here.”
“With pleasure.” Steve looked at the other man and motioned toward the door. “Get out. And stay away from Janice, her baby, and Casey, or you’ll have me to deal with.”
“And me,” Blake added.
“Ms. Gibson’s family would probably like me to add their names to that list,” Frank Claybrook commented as he entered the house. “She has a couple of brothers who didn’t take kindly to finding out their little sister had unwittingly become involved with an abuser. There were some vague threats about breaking bones and bashing teeth—I don’t think I’d mess with them, if I were you, Walls.”
Steve wondered how many more people were going to wander uninvited into his house. Maybe he should close the front door—after he’d booted Walls through it, of course.
Walls tried one last attempt at bravado. “You can’t keep me from my kid.”
“The courts can,” Steve said. “I suggest you hire a lawyer if you really want to fight for visitation rights. I hope you can afford the best—that’s what it’s going to take for you to ever set eyes on this little girl again.”
Growling obscenities, Walls stormed out Blake reached out and closed the door.
“Well,” he said. “That was pleasant.”
Casey rolled her eyes and shifted Annie to her shoulder. The baby had stopped crying now and was beginning to suck her fingers, something that seemed to have become a soothing habit for her. “Were you serious?” she asked Steve. “About Walls getting an attorney, I mean? Is there a chance that he could get custody of Annie?”
Blake was the one who answered. “Not a chance in hell. You haven’t seen Walls’s record. I have. No sane judge would trust him with an infant.”
Casey looked at him. “Have you really talked to Janice? Do you know where she is?”
In answer, Blake walked to the door that led into the kitchen. “He’s gone now, Janice. Why don’t you join us?”
Steve watched Casey’s jaw drop when Janice walked into the room. He imagined he wore much the same stunned look.
“Janice,” he said, stepping quickly forward to greet the heartbreakingly pale and fragile-looking young woman. “Are you okay?”
She looked at him through the tears that swam in her dark eyes. “I’m so sorry to have gotten you involved with this. I didn’t know where else to turn. I didn’t know what else to do when that man found me in the hospital and told me I had to take Annie, and go back to Rick. I panicked. I was so afraid Rick would hurt Annie. I thought if I could leave her someplace safe and lead him away from her, maybe I could come back afterward and take her away with me where he couldn’t find us. I guess—I guess I didn’t think it out very well. I was so scared.”
Steve reached out to rest a supportive hand on her shoulder. He could almost feel her bones through the thin fabric of her shirt. She looked as though she could keel over any minute. “Why don’t you sit down in the rocking chair with your baby?” he suggested gently. “I’ll get everyone some coffee and we can talk.”
He watched as Casey approached Janice with a smile. “It’s so good to see you, Janice. I know Annie has missed you,” she told her, her voice warm.
Janice returned the smile shyly. “Mr.—um, Blake told me how much you’ve been helping with her. I don’t know how to thank you, Ms. Jansen.”
“You can start by calling me Casey. And taking care of this beautiful baby was no hardship at all. I feel as though I should thank you for allowing me to spend time with her.”
If Steve hadn’t already been head over heels in love with Casey, he would have fallen at that moment. She was being so kind to Janice, so sympathetic. Granted, Janice had made some bad choices, but now was not the time to remind her of them. Now she needed friends—and she had them here.
Janice wiped her hands on the oversized T-shirt she wore. “I’m a little nervous about taking her,” she admitted to Casey. “I’m sure she doesn’t even remember me. She’ll probably think I’m a stranger.”
“Nonsense. You’ve only been gone a few days. She’ll know her mommy. Why don’t you sit down and I’ll lay her in your arms? I think that will be the easiest way to make the transfer.”
Janice followed Casey’s suggestion and a moment later, Annie was in her arms, staring up at her in rather fierce concentration. “See?” Casey said with a smile. “She knows exactly who you are.”
She took a step backward. “She’s probably going to be hungry soon. I’ll go make a bottle for her.”
Janice didn’t even seem to hear her as she bent over her baby, making adoring sounds to her.
Steve turned to Blake when Casey left the room. “Want to catch me up here?”
Blake had been talking quietly to Claybrook. They both turned to Steve.
“Janice had decided to return to her family in St. Louis,” Blake explained. “They’ve sent a message through Frank, here, that they want her to come home. They want to meet Annie, and they want to help them get on their feet.”
“My parents sent a letter,” Janice added. “They asked me to forgive them for everything they did to hurt me, and they’ve forgiven me for the things I did to hurt them. They promised to treat me like an adult if I come home, and to put the past behind us. I think it will be good for me and for Annie to go back. Annie needs to know her grandparents and her uncles and cousins.”
“Yes,” Steve agreed with a smile. “She does. As much as we’ll miss you here, I think you’ve made the right decision, Janice.”
She nodded. “They’ve promised to assist me in the situation with Rick, too. One of my brothers is a St. Louis cop. He sent word that he can help me.”
“Good.” Steve knew how hard it was for a woman to get away from an abusive man. Too many had died trying. But perhaps Walls would think twice about bothering Janice now that she wasn’t alone and vulnerable to him.
He wondered if there was anything he could do to make certain of
that.
Casey returned with the bottle. “I heard everything from the kitchen,” she confessed. “I’m glad you’re going back to your family, Janice. I hope everything works out for you.”
“Thank you, Ms.—um, Casey.”
Claybrook was set to accompany Janice back to her family. He was driving a rental car, he explained. They would fly back as soon as they could make arrangements.
“That’s not a problem,” Steve said. “I’ll call B.J., my pilot He’ll take you this afternoon.”
“You can use one of my planes,” Casey asserted quickly. “I’m sure there’s one ready to fly right now...and a pilot to take you.”
Blake chuckled. “It’s not often you have rival companies both offering free flights,” he said to Janice. “You’d better take advantage of it while you can.”
“I won’t choose between you,” she said with a faint smile. “I’m sure whatever the two of you work out will be fine.”
Claybrook nodded. “A free charter flight sounds good to me. Let me know when and where and I’ll make arrangements with Janice’s family.”
Casey looked at Steve with a renewed hint of resentment in her eyes. “You offered first,” she muttered. “If B.J. isn’t available, let me know and I’ll call one of my pilots.”
He nodded. He hadn’t meant to irritate her again. Seemed like just about anything he did had that effect today.
He was ready to speed his guests on their way so he could try to repair his budding relationship with Casey. “I’ll call B.J.”
Casey nodded. “I’ll get Annie’s things together. We bought her a few necessities,” she added to Janice.
“Thank you. I’d like to repay you...”
“You’ll do no such thing. Consider it a parting gift from your employers.”
Janice’s eyes filled with tears again. “Thank you.” She looked from Casey to Steve. “Thank you both. Annie and I owe you so much.”