Undercover Daddy (6 page)

“Kevin was killed only hours after he handed me the baby,” Elaina added.

Yeah. Luke knew that, and he’d come to the conclusion that Kevin hadn’t had the miniature disk with him. If he had, those men likely wouldn’t have come after Elaina.

“How about a computer?” Luke pressed. “Did you bring one to Crystal Creek with you?”

“My laptop, but Kevin never used it.”

Perhaps not when she was around, but Luke knew Kevin still could have used it. “I’d like to see the files, the clothing and the laptop.”

She stared at him, and for a moment he thought she might refuse. But then Elaina huffed, got up and indicated for him to follow her. Where did they go?

Her bedroom.

The last place on earth he should be.

Luke wanted to hit himself in the head with a rock for such a blunder, but he needed to see what Elaina had brought with her to Crystal Creek. It could help them figure out what was going on.

The room had been painted the color of fresh butter, and the bedding was a floral print with that same yellow and some mint green. There was very little furniture. Sparse but comfortable. In the short months that she’d been in the house, she’d turned it into a home.

“There’s the computer,” she said, pointing to the laptop on the small desk tucked in the corner.

Luke glanced at it while Elaina went to the walk-in closet. There was a small attic space just above the top shelf, and she stood on a footstool to reach the hatch door. When she reached up, her pajama top rose, and he got a great look at her bare midriff.

He forced himself to look elsewhere.

Unfortunately, elsewhere turned out to be her butt. Lifting her arms and standing on her tiptoes adjusted the fabric, as well, and he got an intimate view of the outline of her derriere. Great. He hoped that was the last of the torturing peepshow.

His body laughed at him for hoping that and begged to see more. Luke didn’t fulfill that wish. He nailed his attention to Elaina’s hands, figuring he couldn’t get in mental trouble with those.

He watched as she took out a small cardboard box. It definitely wasn’t in plain view, and she’d likely done that on purpose. She probably hadn’t wanted anyone to learn of Christopher’s adoption or Kevin’s activities.

She deposited the box on the desk next to him. When she didn’t say anything, Luke looked up at her to see if anything was wrong.

“Your shirt,” she said. “I hadn’t realized it was so wet.”

Luke glanced down and verified the wetness on his white button-down shirt. It was like her own top in the bathroom. Clingy. “I’ll change it in a few minutes.”

And then he remembered, he’d left his suitcase in his car at the parking lot of Elaina’s shop. Her expression said that she remembered even if he hadn’t.

“This shirt will dry,” he grumbled.

He made a mental note to get his suitcase when he went to the jail for the interviews. For that, Rusty and he would have to trade places, with his fellow agent staying with Christopher and Elaina. Luke didn’t want either of them anywhere near that jail with those two men.

Of course, Luke’s presence at the jail would mean a lot of questions from the locals, but he’d have to deal with it somehow. He couldn’t miss those interviews.

“These are the clothes Christopher was wearing when he came from the adoption agency,” Elaina said, taking a blue gown, a knit pom-pom cap and satin-rimmed blanket from the box. The gown and hat were tiny, and he couldn’t help but wonder how his son had ever fit into them.

Luke sat down at the desk and turned on her laptop. While it was booting up, he looked at what she handed him. Yeah, they were baby clothes all right. He put them closer to his nose and inhaled. It was probably his imagination, but he thought he could still detect his son’s scent.

He also suddenly became aware that Elaina was staring at him. Luke looked at her, figuring she would have a good laugh about a grown man sniffing baby clothes, but she didn’t. In fact, her eyes got a little misty.

“There’s more,” she said, clearing her throat.

She handed him the adoption papers. Unlike the clothes, he had no desire to sniff these. In fact, they made his blood boil. Because these were the documents the criminals had used to sell his son to the highest bidder.

The papers looked perfectly legal, right down to the official gold seal on the top document, but Luke knew they were phony. The documents had basically been created by an attorney who wanted to get rich. No rules had been followed, and no legal official had given it that seal of approval.

Luke thumbed through the papers, and the only signature he saw was Kevin’s. “You weren’t there when these papers were signed?”

She shook her head. “No. In fact, I didn’t really know what Kevin was up to. He’d mentioned an adoption, of course, but I figured it’d take months or even years. Then, just a few days later, he showed up with Christopher.”

“You weren’t suspicious?” he asked.

“Of course. But Kevin said that adoption happened faster because it was private and he was willing to pay more to expedite the paperwork.”

Yet more proof that it was illegal.

Not that Luke needed more.

While Elaina sat on the edge of her bed, Luke surfed through her computer. He didn’t immediately find anything out of place, but then, he wasn’t a computer expert.

“How did you get the money to buy this house and pay the lease for your shop?” Luke asked when he didn’t find any financial records. In fact, the only thing he did find was art software that she’d obviously been using to create her stained-glass designs.

“I had some money in an investment account that I set up when I sold my condo in San Antonio,” she explained. “I also sold some jewelry. None of the pieces were distinctive or unique enough so I didn’t think anyone who saw them would associate them with me. I didn’t touch the joint accounts I had with Kevin because I thought it’d create a paper trail that would lead those men to me.”

“It would have,” Luke mumbled. “I’d like to send this laptop to the Justice Department.”

“Okay. I use it to keep track of my Internet orders, but if you think it’ll help, send it. I’ve already got my files backed up on my jump drive.” She tipped her head to the thumb-size memory stick and then paused. In fact, she paused so long that Luke looked at her to see what was wrong. “We’ll be safe here, right?”

He certainly couldn’t doubt the sincerity of that question. Nor could he doubt that concern in her voice. “As long as those men are in jail.”

She wadded up the quilt in her hands, squeezed hard and then got up to pace. “But if you can’t keep them there, then what?”

There was no way to sugarcoat this. “We’ll have to leave. I’m trying to avoid that, of course. For Christopher’s sake.”

Elaina nodded. A shaky nod. “I’m tired. You can send any of the things in that box to the Justice Department, but when they’re finished with them, I’d like to have the clothes back.” She walked away.

That was obviously a good-night, and Elaina probably thought he’d sit in her room and pore over the papers. But he wouldn’t. He didn’t want to leave Christopher or her alone while he did that. So, he followed her.

She glanced over her shoulder, and even though the hall was dark, he was pretty sure she rolled her eyes.

“We can’t avoid this,” he whispered as they entered the nursery. “I’m sleeping in here with you.”

She turned around so quickly that he bumped right into her. In fact, his hands were suddenly filled with her. She was soft. And warm. And she smelled damn good. Not like cherries, this time. It was mix of baby shampoo and the spicy pasta dish she’d fixed for dinner. Normally, he wouldn’t have found that combination erotic, but he certainly thought so now.

Of course, he also thought he was acting like a fool.

Elaina didn’t stay in his arms long. Mere seconds. The night light provided the only illumination in the room, but he had no trouble seeing her expression. She was frowning and nibbling on her lip at the same time.

“I’m warning you, I snore,” she snarled.

If that was the worst thing he had to face, then that would suit him just fine. But Luke wasn’t very hopeful.

There were way too many things that could go wrong tonight.

Elaina dreamed. It was the nightmare again. A race against time, armed men and other terrifying shadowy things that could harm her baby. She would dodge one shadow, only to be faced with another.

One of those shadows was Luke Buchanan.

Even in the depth of the dream, she knew he was the greatest threat of all. She could run from the men. She could hide. But she couldn’t escape a biological father who wanted to raise his son.

She stirred, trying to force that painful thought aside, and she opened her eyes. The first thing she saw and felt was Luke. He was there. Right next to her. In fact, they were on their sides facing each other. Well, rather she had her face right against his bare chest. Sometime during the night, he’d obviously removed his shirt.

And she’d cuddled right up to him.

And there was no mistake about it, this was cuddling. Body against body.

Just as she’d expected, his body was toned and perfect. He was all strength and muscles, and he smelled warm, musky and male. It was a dangerous combination that had her pushing aside the nightmare and remembering things that she hadn’t even realized she missed.

Like French kisses and sex.

Things that weren’t going to happen between Luke Buchanan and her.

Elaina scrambled away from him and winced when she banged her foot on the baby bed. It was loud, and maybe because the room had been so quiet, the noise seemed to echo.

The noise created a simple chain reaction. Luke woke up. Not a slow, drowsy wake up, either. His eyes shot open, and in the same motion he reached for his gun on the floor next to him. His attention sliced around the room, and he relaxed when he realized there was no threat.

Christopher woke up, too. Not quietly, either. He let out a baby howl, and he sat up. He used the bed railings to pull himself to a standing position.

Luke and she got up at the same time to reach for the baby. She won, only because she was closer. She scooped Christopher into her arms and tried to soothe him with a kiss which didn’t work.

Elaina checked the clock and realized why. It was well past 8:00 a.m., which meant it was well past his breakfast time.

How could she have possibly overslept with Luke in the room? And then she remembered. It’d been the wee hours of the morning before she’d been able to fall asleep. She knew for a fact that it was the same for Luke, because he was still awake when she’d finally drifted off.

“He’s hungry,” she grumbled.

Normally, she would have put Christopher in his high chair while she fixed his breakfast. But then, normally her baby wasn’t crying. The late start had thrown everything off schedule.

“I’ll take him,” Luke said obviously sensing her dilemma.

“I figured you’d need to get dressed and go the sheriff’s office for the interrogations.” In other words—
leave,
Elaina tried to convey.

“There’s no need to go in until the lawyer arrives. Rusty will call when that happens.” Luke reached for Christopher again.

“He’ll need to have his diaper changed first,” Elaina informed him.

Luke blinked, but the hesitation didn’t last long. “I’ll do it.”

Elaina hesitated, as well, but Christopher’s tears helped her with a quick decision. She handed the baby to Luke and headed for the kitchen.

While she fixed baby oatmeal in the microwave, she listened for any sounds that Luke was in over his head. Christopher stopped crying, and it was because of the near silence that she heard Luke make an odd sound. Elaina raced back toward the nursery.

By the time she made it there, her mind was already ripe with possibilities as to what had caused Luke to make that noise. Bad possibilities. But all she saw was Christopher on the changing table. He was smiling and kicking his legs. Luke’s chest, however, was wet.

“He’s got good aim,” Luke mumbled.

Elaina couldn’t help it, she laughed. “I should have warned you about the hazards of diapering a baby boy. He’s peed on me more than a time or two.”

The corner of Luke’s mouth lifted, and they shared a smile. Along with Christopher’s happy gurglings, the moment turned a little weird. It was too intimate. As if they were a family. Which they weren’t.

The happy moment ended as quickly as it’d come.

“I’ll get back to making breakfast,” she told Luke. “You might want to use the baby wipes to clean yourself.”

Feeling awkward and warm at the same time, Elaina made her way back to the kitchen to finish the oatmeal. What was wrong with her anyway? She’d started the morning thinking about French kisses and sex. Now, she was thinking about family. Talk about insane notions.

Or was it?

She was almost afraid to let the thought fully materialize in her head, but she couldn’t seem to stop it, either. After all, it was Luke who wanted to pretend to be a loving, happy couple. For Christopher’s sake. But what was wrong with continuing that pretense until they could figure out what to do about shared custody and such?

Plus, there were the men in jail. Having Luke around would mean that Christopher would be safe, because Elaina knew he would protect his son.

Of course, the downside to having Luke around was that she was starting to feel things that she thought she’d never feel again. Feelings she’d buried with Kevin.

Feelings that Luke would never be able to feel for her in return.

To him, she was the enemy. She was the woman who’d robbed him of all these months with his son. The only feelings that Luke would ever have for her would be part of this pretense.

And that was okay.

Elaina repeated that to herself.

She already had enough to deal with without adding feelings and emotions to the mix.

By the time Luke and Christopher joined her in the kitchen, Elaina was reasonably sure that her little talk with herself was working. She was getting her mind back on the right things. Then, she saw Luke’s bare chest, watched him lovingly put Christopher in his high chair and she needed another attitude adjustment.

It was going to be a
long
day.

Luke had just sat down to start feeding Christopher the oatmeal when his cell phone rang. Elaina took over the feeding duties while he took the call.

“Hello, Rusty,” he answered after glancing at his Caller ID.

Elaina divided her attention between feeding Christopher and watching Luke’s reaction. She knew the call could be important, but judging from Luke’s tight jaw, something had gone wrong. Unfortunately, she couldn’t tell what.

Other than simple yes and no responses, she did hear Luke request a “safe house” which sent a shiver of panic through her. Did he honestly think they needed something like that? Unfortunately, Elaina had to wait until he’d finished the call before she could get an explanation.

“That was Rusty who’s down at the sheriff’s office,” Luke relayed to her. “He said he’ll drop off my suitcase this morning so I won’t have to leave you to drive over there.”

She studied him. “Then, why are you scowling?”

“Well, it’s not because of the suitcase. The lawyer’s been delayed. He won’t be in Crystal Creek until tomorrow afternoon at the earliest. That means the interviews aren’t going to happen until then.”

She scowled then, too. She wanted this over and done, and that couldn’t happen until the men gave up some information.

“And the safe house?” Elaina asked. “What was that all about?”

“A precaution. I asked Rusty to request a safe house just in case we have to release those men tomorrow. I don’t want Christopher or you here with them loose.”

Neither did Elaina. But then, a safe house seemed a little extreme. Unless…“Does this mean you think the men will be released?”

Luke shrugged. “We have reason to hold them, so I don’t think they’re going anywhere, but we have to be prepared, just in case.” He leaned against the counter and watched her feed Christopher. “There’s also the likelihood that these men aren’t working alone.”

“Yes,” she said, feeling that panic again. “They could be working for T.”

“It’s also possible that one of the men could be T,” Luke quickly pointed out.

Elaina prayed that was true, because if so, that meant the threat was contained. Too bad she didn’t know how long that would last.

There was a soft knock at the door. Because she’d been deep in thought about the threat, she embarrassed herself by gasping.

Luke took the knock seriously, too. He hurried to the bedroom and retrieved his shirt and gun before he went to the front door and looked out the peephole.

“It’s not my neighbor, Gary, is it?” Elaina whispered.

“No. It’s two women.” He slipped on his shirt. “One of them is your assistant, Carrie.”

No more panicked feeling, but Elaina was a little concerned. Carrie wasn’t in the habit of dropping by for an early morning visit. That was especially true since her assistant no doubt thought she was on what was essentially a second honeymoon.

Elaina sprinkled some dry cereal bits onto Christopher’s tray so that it would keep him occupied, and she joined Luke at the door. She glanced out and saw not only Carrie but Brenda McQueen, a frequent visitor to the shop. Both women looked apprehensive.

“The other woman is a customer,” Elaina explained.

“You know her well?”

Elaina shrugged. “Not really. Her name is Brenda McQueen. She moved here a couple of months ago, and she works out of her home as the editor of a children’s magazine.”

“I didn’t run a background check on her,” he mumbled. “But I will.”

Her first instinct was to say that wasn’t necessary, but Elaina no longer knew what was necessary or not.

“I’ll see what they want,” Elaina told Luke. She disengaged the security system so that it wouldn’t go off when she opened the door.

Luke tucked his gun in the back waist of his pants and stepped to the side so she could face their visitors.

“Elaina,” Carrie greeted. Her voice was strained, as was her expression.

Both women stood there. Carrie, in a pair of jeans and a blue hoodie. Brenda wore black sweatpants and a Duke sweatshirt that brought out the blue in her eyes. The winter wind whipped at Brenda’s midnight-black hair that she’d gathered into a loose ponytail, and it would have done the same for Carrie’s if she hadn’t been wearing a French braid.

Carrie glanced at Luke who was standing just behind Elaina. “I’m so sorry to bother you—”

“I insisted that we come,” Brenda interjected. “I was out for my morning jog and saw that the front door of your shop was open.”

Sweet heaven. What else could go wrong?

“I locked it before I left work,” Carrie insisted.

“Why don’t you come in,” Luke offered.

Elaina followed Luke’s gaze to see why he’d said that, and she quickly noticed that he had his attention fastened on Gary, her neighbor. Gary had his Golden Retriever on a leash and was walking the dog on the sidewalk just in front of Elaina’s house.

Or rather, Gary was lingering with the dog.

Luke obviously didn’t trust the man. Elaina knew how he felt. She was beginning to not trust
anyone.

“Nothing is missing from the shop,” Carrie volunteered as they stepped inside. Luke shut the door and buttoned his shirt. But not before both visitors eyed his chest.

Elaina knew how they felt.

She’d done some eyeing herself.

“The lock wasn’t broken, either,” Carrie continued. She went to Christopher and gave his cheek a pinch, but the cheerfulness of the gesture wasn’t present in any part of her body language. “I guess it’s possible that I didn’t fully close the door when I locked up, but I could have sworn I did.”

“We were going to report it to the sheriff,” Brenda added. “But since nothing appears to be stolen, we wanted to check with you first, just to make sure you weren’t the one who’d left it open.”

“I’ll take care of it,” Luke insisted before Elaina could say anything.

Brenda stared at him, and that’s when Elaina realized that she’d failed to make introductions. “Brenda, this is, uh, my husband, Daniel.”

“Obviously,” the woman said, her mouth bending into a smile. She directed her comments to Luke. “I’ll bet you’re not so happy about us bursting in here like this. I hope we didn’t interrupt anything too personal.”

“We were just feeding Christopher,” Elaina said because she didn’t know what else to say.

That seemed to be Luke’s cue to slip his arm around her waist. Elaina didn’t fight it. In fact, she felt herself leaning into the embrace.

Carrie leaned down and kissed Christopher on the top of his head. “Brenda, we should be going.”

“Absolutely.” But the woman didn’t head for the door. Instead, she pulled Elaina aside and whispered in her ear. “I think I might have started my period, and I don’t have anything with me.”

Oh. So, it wasn’t anything huge. Elaina was getting weary of the huge stuff. “You’ll find some
supplies
in the master bathroom,” Elaina whispered back. “Under the sink.”

Brenda thanked her and disappeared down the hall. Elaina welcomed the reprieve. She liked Brenda, but she wanted a minute with Carrie. Obviously, so did Luke.

“Did it look as if someone had picked the lock on the shop door?” he asked Carrie.

“No. I checked for scratches or some kind of marks but nothing. I’m so sorry this happened, Elaina—”

“You don’t have to apologize. That shop door is old, and I should have had it checked months ago.”

And she hoped that was all there was to it. An old door with an old lock. Elaina didn’t want to think about an intruder. Or what an intruder might have been looking for inside her place of business.

“Would you like me to take Christopher today? I could drive him to the sitter’s or take him to the shop.” Carrie asked. “You two must want some alone time.”

“We’ll get our alone time,” Elaina insisted. Besides, she didn’t want Christopher anywhere outside until Luke had been able to confirm that there’d been no break-in.

“Were you with Brenda when she discovered the shop door open?” Luke continued.

“No. She called me on her cell phone. I was still at home. She knew you had gone home, and Brenda wasn’t sure if she should interrupt you guys.”