Joanna Wayne - Surprise Package

“Would you like some coffee?” Ashley asked when she joined her in the kitchen.

“No, I’ve already had my one cup limit. Too much caffeine isn’t good for the baby. I’ll take a glass of milk if you have one.”

Ashley opened the refrigerator door and stared at the meager contents while Lily peered over her shoulder. “No milk. I have Diet Coke.”

Lily walked to the cabinet and pulled out a glass. “Water’s good for me.” She filled the glass with cool bottled water and took a seat at the breakfast nook. “I think your assessment of the baby’s age is probably accurate.” She sipped her water. “Did you tell Kyle that I recommended immediate testing to determine if he’s the father?”

“I did.” Ashley took the seat opposite Lily. “He wants to try to locate Tessa Ortiz first. He seems sure that if he’s the father, Tessa is the mother.”

“Are you sure he’s not just putting off the inevitable, trying to delay finding out the truth about whether or not he’s the father?”

“I’m not sure of anything.”

“But you’re getting involved all the same.”

“No way. I offered to help out this one day, watch the baby while he tries to track down Tessa. Tomorrow I’m back on the job. The world needs beef, and it’s my job to convince them of the fact.”

“Well, if your hunky neighbor is going to keep this baby, he’ll have to find someone to watch her. Four-month-old babies require constant care.”

“Do me a favor. Never mention the word hunk in front of him. He takes it to heart.”

“I’ll watch my tongue.” Only she wasn’t going to watch it about everything. She’d driven all the way into town. She might as well say her piece. “Even if he only keeps the baby a few days, she’ll need clothes, toys, food, a crib. Babies don’t just camp out.”

“He plans to buy those things today.”

“He’s also taking a risk. If something happens to the baby while she’s in his care, and she’s not his baby, he could face a lawsuit or worse.”

“He’ll be over here in a minute. You can tell him all of that to his face, and I hope you get further than I did.” The phone rang and Ashley jumped from her chair. “That’s probably him now.”

Lily watched as Ashley spoke a series of hellos into the phone, then slammed the receiver down. She stood staring into space, her lips pulled tight.

“What was that about?”

“I’m not sure. I thought it was a crank call at first, but just before I hung up, a man with a deep-set voice warned me to stay away from Kyle Blackstone. He said the man couldn’t be trusted. Before I could ask what he meant, he hung up.”

Lily stood, walked over and put a reassuring arm about Ashley’s shoulders, though she didn’t feel particularly calm herself. “Did you check the caller ID?”

“It said unable to identify.”

“Has this happened before?”

“Never.”

Lily grew uneasy. She didn’t want to frighten Ashley, but this whole situation was sounding fishier by the minute. Ashley was proficient, intelligent and ambitious, but she was still a bit naive when it came to the ways of the world. Lily was probably partly responsible for that. She and her brother Dylan had both been overly protective where their little sister was concerned.

“What do you really know about Kyle Blackstone?” she asked, other than the fact that he frequents the same health club you do and lives across the hall?”

“Not all that much. He’s an attorney with Bragg, Cotton and Lerner. He works out two or three evenings a week and he has women out the kazoo.” Ashley dropped to a chair. “You think that call might be on the up and up, don’t you? That someone actually thinks I need to be warned about Kyle.”

“I just think you need to be careful. Don’t rush into any kind of relationship with him. I know how easy that would be if the two of you start tending to this baby together.”

“I’m not getting involved with him at all. I’ve made that clear to him.”

“Then you have nothing to worry about.”

She’d probably said too much, made Ashley uneasy when it was unlikely there was anything dangerous going on. It was just that searching for missing persons had exposed her to some pretty ugly situations, taught her that a lot of people were not what they seemed.

“I wouldn’t worry, Ashley. Just be careful and keep your eyes and ears—” Before she could finish, the front door burst open and a man stepped inside. Though Lily had never met Kyle Blackstone before, she immediately recognized him from her sister’s descriptions. The only difference was that the man was even better looking than Ashley had admitted, even in his present state. Right now he looked like a little boy who’d just lost his ice-cream money.

Lily watched Ashley’s reaction to the man, saw her tense the second she picked up on his agitated state. Observed the look that passed between them. It appeared a lot more than neighborly to her.

Ashley crossed the floor and stopped just in front of Kyle. “What happened? Did you get in touch with Tessa?”

He shook his head and exhaled sharply. “But I finally got in touch with Tessa’s sister. The news was not good.”

CHAPTER FOUR

A FATHER. Kyle had always expected to be one—one day. He’d imagined himself tossing a baseball, taking a son to football games, putting together a train set on Christmas Eve. He’d never been opposed to having a daughter, either, though he’d never given that possibility much thought.

The whole concept of fatherhood had loomed somewhere in the distant future. A contingency for much later—when his career was firmly established. When he’d sown his wild oats, driven his share of fast cars and grown bored with skiing in the mountains of Colorado and scuba diving off some exotic island in the Bahamas. When he was ready for a life of bottle-feeding and diaper changing.

That was indubitably not now.

Ashley stepped closer. “Did Tessa’s sister say that she’d given birth? Is Tessa in some kind of trouble now?”

“No, nothing that specific. Actually, nothing that offers any real solutions. She hasn’t seen or heard from her sister since a year ago. She’s pretty sure she’s moved out of town. Evidently they had a major argument and parted company.” He dropped to the couch and that’s when he noticed the other person in the room. She was taller than Ashley, her hair long where Ashley’s was short, but she had the same expressive green eyes and dark, shiny hair. And the evidence was jury-proof. She was most definitely pregnant.

“I’m Lily,” the woman said, walking over to shake his hand. “If this is personal, I’ll be glad to step into the bedroom while you and Ashley talk.”

He stood and extended his hand. “No, you already know about as much as I do anyway.”

Ashley sat down on the couch beside him, but not too close. Lily took the chair across from them, lowering herself slowly and holding her back as she did. He tried to picture Tessa in the same condition. Awaiting the birth of a daughter that for some reason she had decided to keep from him. He had trouble with the image. Tessa wasn’t the type who liked to suffer alone. That much he did know about her.

Ashley turned to face him. “A year ago... Tessa would have had to be pregnant even then, but maybe not far enough along to realize it. When did the two of you break up?”

“Right after Christmas. We’d been living together. She moved out.”

“Did you talk to her after that?” Lily asked.

“She came by to pick up her mail a few times. I asked how she was doing. She asked how I was doing. That was about it.”

“So why are you suddenly so upset?” Ashley asked. “An hour ago you were vehement that you weren’t the father. Now you seem worried that you are.”