Wanted: Father for Her Baby: Keeping Baby Secret / Five Brothers and a Baby / Expecting Brand's Baby. BEVERLY BARTON
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Although her reasons were apparently personal—and as a general rule none of his fellow agents nosed into other agents’ past lives—everyone at Dundee knew that Kate always took a keen interest in any case involving a kidnapped baby. Shortly before leaving her job as Dundee’s CEO, Ellen Denby had hired Kate, who was a former Atlanta P.D. officer, just as Ellen had been. And rumor was that they had worked together when Kate was a rookie.
Frank munched on a cheese danish, then washed it down with black coffee. If he hadn’t been such a sucker for a sob story—single mother, overwrought with fear, and an abducted two-month-old boy—he’d be on his way to Sawyer’s Hilton Head vacation retreat instead of being midair, flying off on an assignment that was sure to be pure hell on the nerves. Dealing with overwrought mamas wasn’t his speciality. He’d leave coddling the abducted kid’s mommy to Kate.
He swigged on the coffee, then set aside the dark blue mug with the gold Dundee emblem. “Exactly where are we going?”
“South,” Kate replied.
“Could you be more specific?”
“The deep South.”
“Why all the secrecy? It’s just a child abduction case, isn’t it? Nothing hush-hush.”
“Yes.”
An odd sensation hit him in the gut. Kate had rushed him around so much at his apartment, assuring him she’d give him all the info on their plane trip, that he hadn’t actually thought things through. But something didn’t feel right about this whole thing.
“We’re working on the case as partners,” he said. “That means I need to know everything you know.”
“Right.”
“So fill me in.”
“Okay, but I need to tell you things from the beginning. Or at least my beginning.”
He nodded.
“Daisy got in touch with me this morning as soon as she arrived at Dundee. A woman named Haley Wilson had phoned her and asked specifically for me. I returned Ms. Wilson’s call because she had told Daisy that we had a mutual acquaintance whose infant son had been kidnapped.”
“So this is personal for you?”
“In a way, but…”
Kate stared at him with a peculiar look of concern in her eyes, and Frank’s gut tightened painfully. “But what?”
“Ah, hell, Frank, there’s no easy way to say this.”
“So, say it, will you?”
“The mutual acquaintance is Dr. Lurleen Patton.”
Although he’d thought about her, dreamed about her, cursed her for nearly destroying his love life, no one had mentioned her name in eleven months.
“Leenie?”
“Yes, Leenie.”
It took him a full minute to wrap his mind around the idea that Leenie had an infant son. “Leenie has a baby?”
“A little boy.”
“How old?”
“Two months.”
He did the math quickly, but even before adding up eleven months since he’d been with Leenie, he’d known the truth. “The baby’s mine.”
“Yes.”
Then reality sucker punched him. “Leenie’s baby has been kidnapped?”
“Yesterday afternoon. Someone crashed their vehicle into the nanny’s car. The nanny was injured, but she’ll live. The woman who caused the wreck stole the baby from his car seat.”
“It is my baby, right?” How was it possible? he asked himself. Yes, he and Leenie had had sex. Repeatedly. But not once had he forgotten to use a condom.
“The lady who called me, this Haley Wilson, is Leenie’s best friend and she says the baby is definitely yours.”
“Why the hell didn’t she—God, Kate, I’m a father.”
She reached out and put her hand on his shoulder, then squeezed. “Ms. Wilson said that Leenie is trying very hard to be strong and brave, but she’s falling apart. She needs you.”
“She needs me now. What about when she first found out she was pregnant? Or when the baby was born?” Frank growled the questions, outrage bringing his blood to a boil.
“And even now, with our child abducted, she’s not the one who called and asked for me. Damn her!”
Leenie showered and changed clothes around noon, and at Haley’s insistence lay down on the bed. She’d been staring up at the ceiling for the past hour. How could she sleep when she had no idea where Andrew was or what had happened to him? Didn’t anyone understand that she was slowly going out of her mind? Although she’d tried to convince herself that it was only a matter of time before the FBI found her baby and brought him home to her, she hadn’t been able to escape the wide-awake nightmares that plagued her. What if Andrew had been killed, maybe even tortured?
Keening mournfully, Leenie wrapped her arms around herself and rolled over in the bed. Oh, God, please take care of Andrew. Don’t let anyone hurt him. Tears gathered in her eyes. She swallowed hard.
A sharp knock on the bedroom door gained her immediate attention. She sat straight up. “Yes?”
“Leenie, there’s someone here to see you,” Haley said through the closed door.
“I don’t want to see anyone. Please tell whoever it is that—”
The door flew open. Frank Latimer stormed into her bedroom. Frank? Frank! What was he doing here? How had he found out about—?
He marched across the room to the bed, reached down, grabbed her by the arm and yanked her to her feet. They stood there staring at each other. Leenie’s heartbeat accelerated at an alarming speed.
“Why the hell didn’t you let me know I had a son?” he demanded.
Leenie trembled from head to toe, but she kept her gaze locked with his. “How did you—who told you about Andrew?”
“I did.” Haley stepped into the bedroom, Kate Malone directly behind her. “Well, actually, I spoke to Ms. Malone and she told him about Andrew and what had happened.”
“Leenie, we’re here to help,” Kate said. “You have all of Dundee’s resources and manpower at your service. We’re going to work with Moran…with the FBI to find your little boy.” Kate came over and grasped Frank’s arm. “And despite his less than pleasant greeting, Frank is here to help you.” She shook his arm. “Aren’t you, Frank?”
He broke eye contact with Leenie long enough to confront Kate. “How about you two let me talk to Leenie alone, without an audience.”
“Is that all right with you?” Haley asked Leenie. She nodded.
Haley glared at Frank. “I’m the one responsible for your knowing about Andrew. Don’t make me regret what I did.” She hurriedly left the room.
After letting go of his arm, Kate hesitated. “The absolute worst thing that can happen when a child is kidnapped is for her—or his—parents to blame each other and be at each other’s throats. What Leenie needs right now, Frank, is your understanding and your support.”
He didn’t reply, but he released his tenacious hold on Leenie’s arm. Kate gave him a warning glare before leaving them alone. For several minutes the silence between them pulsated throughout the bedroom. A bedroom in which they had made mad, passionate love on more than one occasion. She couldn’t help remembering and her body warmed as those luscious memories encompassed her. Frank’s hard body pressing her into the mattress as he plunged into her. The feel of his strong arms holding her. His moist lips on hers, at her breasts. His fingers