M.J. Rodgers - Baby By Chance

This was not the time for him to be admitting to any kind of weakness.

“I came to talk to you,” he said simply. He stared at the bushes that lined the road, although he couldn’t have described them if he tried.

“How did you know I’d be here?”

“I’m a private investigator, remember?”

She was quiet for a moment, but he could feel her studying his face. He wondered what she saw, then reminded himself not knowing was a lot safer.

“What did you want to talk to me about?” she asked.

He dug into his pocket. But he didn’t retrieve his brother’s business card. Instead he pulled out the ad from the personal column he’d clipped out of the paper. “This isn’t going to flush out Todd.”

She gave the clipping of the ad he handed her a brief glance before stuffing it in the pocket of her parka and getting to her feet.

“What I do or don’t do to contact Todd is my business, Mr. Knight. Now that we’ve closed that subject, what direction do I take to get to the lodge from here?”

He squinted up at her. She had delivered those last two sentences with enough frost to freeze a man, and she still had the guts to look him directly in the eye. She had a backbone.

He pointed. “The lodge is a mile that way.” He raised his other hand and pointed in the opposite direction. “Your SUV is a mile that way. Makes more sense to head for your SUV.”

“Aren’t you just full of helpful suggestions this morning.”

Her sarcasm was delivered so sweetly he almost smiled. “I thought you were a sensible woman,” he said with a shrug. “My mistake.”

She stared down at him. “Do you know what a nature photographer’s most valuable asset is?”

He didn’t see the connection to his comment but he gave the answer a try. “A good eye?”

“An obliging bladder.”

He blinked at her in surprise.

“Unfortunately, there’s something about being pregnant that can transform the most obliging bladder into a most unobliging one,” she said.

He knew his flippant comment about her being a sensible woman had goaded her into explaining. She smiled down on him with ill-concealed satisfaction, confident that her explanation was going to make him feel sheepish.

She wasn’t wrong.

He gulped down the last of the hot chocolate. “I’ll drive you over.”

THE CAMP LONG LODGE had a rustic, airy feel with its high ceilings, tall windows, a stone fireplace and hardwood floors.

As David waited for Susan, he stood on the outskirts of a large group gathered around a naturalist who was pointing to a map that showed the route they would take on their upcoming hike.

The naturalist was a knockout—a big, bosomy brunette who was making several of the men in the crowd openly drool. The effect was calculated. She had on thick eye makeup and painted lips the same deep red that adorned her long nails. She wore blue jeans and a red sweater, both a size too small.

David took the scene in like the clinician he had been once and the man of indifference he had become.

Then he saw Susan emerge from the lodge’s rest room. No painted lips and no painted nails. She carried her parka over her arm. The turtleneck she had worn underneath was faded cotton, quite loose, and in a pale shade of natural pink.

He watched her approach. There was a sweet grace to the sway of her shoulders and hips, as though she walked to music she alone could hear. The mid-morning light fell through the tall windows, turning her long, braided hair into a rainbow of shimmering browns and gold.

There was nothing calculated about her. Just a natural sensuality that took his breath away.

Still, only an idiot in his position would do anything about an attraction to a woman in her position. He was no idiot.

She stopped in front of him. “You didn’t have to wait.”

The naturalist was raising her voice to get the attention of the group. David took Susan’s arm to move them out of earshot. The worn cotton of her top proved to be soft and yielding.

But there was a muscled arm beneath, which quickly pulled away. She did not like to be touched. At least, not by him.

“Thought you might like a ride to your SUV,” he offered.

“The walk will do me good.”

He shrugged, careful to convey nothing but nonchalance. “Suit yourself. But if you faint again, you could break an arm. Might even land on your camera.”

The way she had so carefully tended to her camera before attempting to descend from the tree told him that hurting her camera would rank right up there with hurting an arm. Her quick change of mind didn’t surprise him.

“On second thought, Mr. Knight, I would appreciate that ride.”

They stepped out of the lodge to find the mist had lifted. The air was still chilly. When she swung the parka around her shoulders, he grabbed the sleeves to help her put her arms through. But he was careful to touch only her jacket this time.

They didn’t talk on the drive. Once they reached her vehicle, he circled around his truck to open the door for her. He held out his hand. She didn’t take it or attempt to get out.

“You didn’t come here just to tell me my personal ad wasn’t going to work, did you?” she asked.

“No,” he admitted, dropping his hand.

She held onto the door frame as she slipped off the seat. She stood before him and raised her eyes to his expectantly.

David knew the time had come to apologize for rejecting her case without explanation and to hand her his brother’s business card. But he also knew that he wasn’t going to do either of those things.

“I’ll find out about Todd for you.”

He turned around and headed toward her dark-green SUV. He opened the passenger door, slipped her backpack off his shoulders and laid it on the seat. By the time he’d closed the passenger door, she’d walked to the driver’s side.

But the question still hadn’t left her eyes. “Why?”

“You do want me to find out about him, don’t you?”

“Yes, but I meant why did you change your mind?”

“I have a case to finish up today, but after that, my schedule will be free. What time will you be home tonight?”

“Around six, I guess, but—”

“I’ll be by at seven.”

He whirled away from her then and quickly closed the distance to his truck. He purposely did not give her a chance to respond. He slipped behind the wheel and drove off, not once looking back.

On the long drive around Puget Sound to Silver Valley, David congratulated himself on the solid logic behind his decision. Handing Susan’s case off to Richard made no sense.

Today he and his brother, Jared, a detective in the Sheriff’s Department, would see that the bastard who seduced, videotaped and then dumped his underage teenage victims was arrested.

But after he wrapped up that last loose end, he had a clear schedule. Richard would still be tied up on his current case for another week. David already had knowledge of Susan and her request.

Handling Susan’s case was the professional thing for David to do.

Besides, his dad was right. His attraction to Susan was simply a sign that he was ready to get off his self-imposed celibacy bench and back into the game. Of course, playing any games with her still remained out of the question.

She was a vulnerable, pregnant woman in need of his help. He would never take advantage of a woman in such a situation. Besides, now she was his client. The number one rule for a private investigator was never to get personally involved with a client.

David was a man who knew how to follow the rules.

SUSAN WAS RELIEVED that David had agreed to find Todd for her. He was obviously a very good investigator. But she also couldn’t help feeling annoyed.

David was coming to her home tonight. She did not invite men to her home, and she had not invited him. He had invited himself.