BEVERLY BARTON - The Black Widow

A couple of times during the night, he could have sworn he’d heard footsteps in the hall outside his door. And then once, he woke up because he was dead certain he’d heard someone scream. But when he had checked the hall, it had been empty and silent. Apparently, he’d been suffering from some really weird nightmares.

It didn’t help that he hadn’t been able to stop thinking about what Maleah had told him about Jordan. The lady had lost two husbands and a fiancé in the span of twelve years, each man having met an untimely death. Okay, so it was possible that she was simply very unlucky in love. But what were the odds that a woman who hadn’t even celebrated her thirty-fifth birthday would have buried three men who had loved her?

While Rick shaved and showered, he listed all the reasons he should not jump to conclusions, reasons he should not assume Jordan was guilty of murdering her husband. Then he listed the logical reasons why she could have murdered three men. By the time he had dressed and was ready to go downstairs for breakfast, he had come to one conclusion—he should call Nic and ask her to replace him on this assignment. The bottom line was simple: he suspected his employer of murder. Before he phoned Nic, he needed to speak to Jordan. She would be expecting his first report this morning and the least he could do was confront her with the information and give her a chance to defend herself.

Once downstairs, Rick caught a glimpse of Tobias as he entered the dining room.

“Good morning, Mr. Carson.” Tobias nodded, then carried a silver coffee pot into the dining room and placed it on a silver tray atop the sideboard.

Rick paused in the open doorway. “Has Mrs. Price come down yet?”

“Yes, sir. Miss Jordan is in her study.”

“Thanks.”

Rick checked his wristwatch as he headed toward Jordan’s study at the back of the house. Seven-thirty. Apparently, she was an early riser, just as he was. Except for the servants, the downstairs appeared to be empty of other inhabitants. He wondered just how many people had actually spent the night here and how many had finally made their way home.

When he neared Jordan’s study, he heard voices coming from inside, but he couldn’t make out the conversation. The door stood ajar, more than halfway closed, so he paused and listened without making his presence known.

“You don’t have to do this today,” a female voice said.

Rick thought it sounded like Rene Burke, but he wasn’t a hundred percent sure.

“The sooner the better,” Jordan said. “The longer we wait, the more speculation there might be about who the father of this child is.”

Child? What child?

“You make a valid point,” Rene replied. “I’ll put together a press release, that is, assuming you don’t want to make the announcement yourself.”

“No, I think it would be in poor taste for me to speak publicly so soon after Dan’s death. But please express how happy I am about the baby and how much Dan and I wanted this child.”

The news hit Rick like an anvil dropped on his head. Jordan Price was pregnant!

“Oh, sweetie, if Dan had only known…,” Rene said. “At least this way, you’ll always have a part of Dan with you. We all will, all of us who loved Dan. And anyone who knows you would never question your child’s paternity.”

“Thank you for saying that,” Jordan told her assistant. “From now on, the most important thing in my life is my child. He or she comes first. I will do whatever it takes to protect my baby and give him or her the best life possible, even without Dan here to help me.”

“He will have Devon and his Uncle Ryan for male role models and all of us to love him. And he’ll grow up knowing what a fine man his father was.”

After knocking on the partially closed door, Rick swung it open all the way. “Am I interrupting anything? If so, I can come back later.”

The two women turned quickly to face him, both obviously surprised by his intrusion.

“No, please, come in,” Jordan said. “Rene was just leaving.” She turned to her assistant. “I’d like to read over the press release before you contact the media.”

“Certainly.” Rene offered Rick a forced smile as she walked past him and out of the room.

“Would you care for coffee?” She indicated the carafe on her desk. “I’m afraid it’s decaf. Or if you prefer hot tea, I can—”

“Coffee’s fine, but it can wait. I’m here, as promised, to report to you.”

“Yes, of course. I suppose I wasn’t expecting anything this soon.”

Rick looked her over, from head to toe. She didn’t look pregnant. No tummy bulge, not even a slight one. She was slender and pale. Too pale. Weren’t pregnant women supposed to glow?

How could he confront a pregnant woman with his suspicions? He had already asked her if she’d killed her husband and she’d told him that she hadn’t. What if he pointed out that she’d lost two husbands and a fiancé and implied how unlikely that all three died of natural causes and it upset her? He didn’t like the idea of upsetting Jordan, especially considering her condition.

“Look, I think you should know that I overheard your conversation with Ms. Burke,” Rick confessed. “At least enough to know that you’re pregnant.”

Sighing, she nodded slowly. “My pregnancy isn’t a secret. Everyone in my family and close circle of friends already knows. And after the press release later today, the whole world will know.”

Rick glanced at her flat stomach. “You’re not showing. You must not be very far along.”

“About six weeks.”

“And the senator didn’t know you were pregnant?”

“No. I had planned to tell him that morning when I found him in his study.”

“You want this child, don’t you? I heard you say that your child was the most important thing in your life.”

“We wanted a child. Dan and I. I just wish he could have…” She swallowed hard.

Rick gritted his teeth. She seemed so sincere, so genuinely sad.

“Dan would have been such a good father. He was a good man. Kind and caring. He would have loved this child so much.”

When she unconsciously laid her hand over her belly in such a gentle, protective movement, Rick sensed how much this child meant to her. She wasn’t faking the depth of her feelings. And if she loved his child, didn’t it stand to reason that she had loved Dan Price?

“Look, is there anything I can do for you?” Rick took a tentative step toward her, desperately wishing he could erase the pain he saw in her eyes.

“I’m sorry, Mr. Carson…Rick.” Jordan tried to smile. “I’m all right. Really I am.” She changed the subject quickly. “You’re here to give me a report, aren’t you?”

He watched while she poured herself a cup of decaf from the carafe on her desk. She took a sip of the black coffee.

“I really don’t have anything to report,” he said. “Nothing you don’t already know.”

She took several more sips of coffee, then set the cup and saucer on her desk and glanced at Rick. “I sense there’s something you wanted to say to me.”

“It can wait.”

“Please, won’t you sit down? Have some coffee and tell me whatever it is.”

His experience with pregnant women was very limited. He’d never been married or fathered a child. His sister was older than he, so he hadn’t seen his own mother pregnant. And after devoting most of her life to her career, his sister had married only a couple of years ago and she and her husband had adopted a ten-year-old last year.

Rick didn’t sit. Instead, he walked over to Jordan and looked her right in the eyes. “I received a report from Powell’s last night.”

“A report on what?” she asked, her expression one of total innocence.