CHAPTER SEVEN

      QUESTIONS AND DOUBTS assailed Slade as they left Raleigh and headed back toward Sanctuary. Nash had seemed sincere in his concern for Nina.

      But his condescending attitude had irritated the hell out of him.

      Even though Nina had put on a brave face, hurt had laced her voice when she’d stood up to her father.

      If anyone should have believed her, her own father should have. So why hadn’t he?

      Nina might be slightly obsessed over finding the truth about her daughter, but she didn’t seem irrational or delusional. She also didn’t appear to be taking drugs as her father had suggested.

      And dammit, he understood her single-minded focus and the reason she’d asked questions. Obsession had driven him to keep looking for his sister until he’d located her. And although he hadn’t liked the outcome, at least he had closure. And his sister had received a decent burial.

      Nina deserved to have closure, too.

      Considering the fact that Nina was the only one who’d wanted the child, that left plenty of suspects. All who had means, motive and opportunity.

      Her father. William Hood. Hood’s mother.

      Any one of them could have paid someone to kidnap the baby.

      But they couldn’t have predicted that the fire would break out the night Nina had delivered. Still, Nina’s father and Hood might have come to the hospital when the baby was born, and jumped on the opportunity.

      He frowned and maneuvered around traffic. And Hood’s wife, Mitzi, topped his suspect list. Mitzi was upset about Nina’s pregnancy. What if she’d been afraid William would change his mind after the baby was born and decide he wanted Nina and his daughter in his life?

      Would she have been desperate enough to steal the baby?

      Hood’s mother was an even bigger question mark in his mind. She’d tried to bribe Nina to have an abortion. Had she kidnapped the baby so she wouldn’t have to live with the stigma of an illegitimate child in the family? Or maybe she’d been worried that Nina might demand money. The baby would have had legal rights to the Hood fortune….

      * * *

      NINA STARED AT THE passing scenery, desperately trying to wrestle control over her ping-ponging emotions. She would not behave like the delusional psychotic her father and William had described.

      “Nina?

      She braced herself for Slade to announce he was dropping the case. “What?”

      Slade slanted her a sideways look as he changed lanes. “Did your father come to the hospital when the baby was born?”

      Fresh pain squeezed her heart. “The doctor called him. He was on his way when I went in to have the C-section.”

      “Did he see the baby?”

      Emotions threatened to choke her as she remembered the harrowing birth. “No.” She rubbed her temple in thought. “He didn’t arrive until later, after the fire had broken out.”

      Slade twisted his mouth sideways. “What about Hood or any of his family members? Did they come to the hospital?”

      She heaved a breath. “It may sound crazy after the way William treated me, but I did call him when I went into labor. I thought he had a right to know that his daughter was about to be born, that he might change his mind when he saw her.”

      A muscle ticked in his jaw. “But he didn’t?”

      “No. He ordered me to sign the papers and give her away, and not to ever bother him again.”

      “Cold son of a bitch,” Slade muttered.

      His comment eased some of the tension knotting her shoulders. “I remember thinking that myself. How could anyone be so unfeeling about their own child?”

      A heartbeat of silence passed between them. “I don’t know either,” he said in a gruff voice. “But that apathy gives him motive.”

      “Does that mean that you’re not dropping the investigation?”

      The air vibrated with uncertainty and questions. “No, I’m not dropping it,” he said. “I may not find the answers you want, but I am a man of my word, and I will get you answers.”

      * * *

      SLADE REQUIRED VERY little sleep, but food was a different story. He pulled into the diner in town for a late lunch before heading to the hospital. He wanted to question the nurse on duty the night Nina had given birth.

      It was way past the lunch hour, and the diner was nearly deserted, so they slid into a booth in the back. Slade ordered the deluxe burger and fries, and Nina a bowl of homemade soup. But she barely touched it.

      “Have you had contact with William over the years?” he asked as he bit into his burger.

      She sipped her tea. “Not really. I heard things through the gossip vine in town. About his graduation from law school, when he took over his Dad’s practice. And I saw a write-up in the paper about his country-club wedding. Apparently it made the society page.”

      Climbing the social ladder seemed to be a high priority to the Hoods. But at what cost?

      “You were in love with William?”

      She shook her head and leaned her head on her hand, looking exhausted.

      “No. I was young, Slade. Trying to fit in. Shy. And I was trying to impress my father.”

      “You went out with William to impress your father?”

      A sarcastic laugh escaped her. “I realize that sounds ridiculous. But I was seventeen with no mother. More than anything I wanted my father to be proud. And the Hoods were the type of prestigious family he wanted me to end up with.” She offered a self-deprecating smile. “So I was flattered when he asked me to prom. Then later…”

      “Later what?”

      “Later, I saw how selfish and conceited he was, and I didn’t even like him, much less love him.”

      Slade ordered himself to resist the temptation to cover her hand with his, to soothe her distress.

      But he lost the battle and did just as his heart commanded. Her hand felt small and cold and in need of a big one to cling to, and something twitched inside him urging him to be that someone. That everyone else in her life had let her down.

      You might, too, a voice inside his head taunted.

      Her fingers curled beneath the weight of his hand as if grasping on, and panic set in. He couldn’t make promises to a vulnerable woman like her.

      Not when he knew he’d walk away in the end.

      He was too damn broken