Mommy Midwife (18 page)

His words embodied her worst fears about having a relationship with him. His job put him in danger. She couldn’t say goodbye with the knowledge that it might be for the last time. Damn it, she hadn’t wanted to care about him. She’d known that it would only bring hurt.

He continued, “According to current information, the terrorist cell is going to attack tomorrow. I want to be there with my men.”

“What about protecting me? You’re the one who keeps telling me that I’m in danger.”

“And you keep saying you aren’t. That there’s nobody who wants to hurt you. You believed Clark.”

“Just because I don’t wave my fear like a banner, it doesn’t mean I’m not scared.”

She turned away from him, hiding the tears that sprang to her eyes. Before she was pregnant, she never cried. Now, her eyes were a leaky faucet. Angrily, she dashed the moisture away. It was hard to admit that she wasn’t in control of her life. She hated asking for help.

“You’re right.” He rested his hands on her shoulders and lightly massaged. “I won’t leave. You’re my first priority. I need to be here with you.”

“Forget it.” She shrugged off his hands. “I can take care of myself. That’s who I am. An independent woman.”

“I’m staying.”

She whirled to face him. “Go. Get out of here. Do your damn job. That’s what you want, what you live for.”

“Nothing is more important to me than you and our son.”

“I won’t stand in your way or have you blaming me if—God forbid—something goes wrong in New York. You don’t have any obligation to me. I can handle this.”

He took a step back. “You’ve been pushing me away ever since you told me you were pregnant.”

“I don’t need you. I don’t need anyone.”

She saw the hurt in his eyes. An echo of his pain wrenched inside her, but she couldn’t stop herself. The engagement ring tightened on her finger. She yanked it off.

“This is yours.” She held out the diamond toward him. “I accepted it under false pretenses. Go ahead, take it.”

He turned and strode toward the door. Before opening it, he paused. “You’re wrong about not needing anyone. Any day now, you’re going to have a child. And you’ll never be alone again.”

He left her standing in the middle of the room with the diamond in her hand.

Chapter Sixteen

Olivia thought of herself as a calm, grounded person. A nurse. A midwife. Someone her patients could look to for guidance.
But not anymore.
Gone was the steady hand. Gone was the reassuring voice. Gone, gone, gone. She was out of control.

She’d been acting crazy with her weepy eyes and her demands for hot dogs and pickles, not to mention the unexpected waves of sensuality. Her hormones appeared to be in charge, and they weren’t very smart. She didn’t know if she wanted Troy to go or to stay or to take her with him.

Only one thing was clear in her mind. She didn’t want him to leave with her angry words ringing in his ears. Of course, she was irritated when he chose being with his team instead of staying with her. Losing him as a bodyguard didn’t really bother her. While she was staying in her sister’s secure house with both armed parents keeping watch, she felt safe enough. The real reason she wanted Troy to be here was because she could go into labor at any given moment. If he was in New York, he might miss the birth of their son.

She stood at the bedroom window, looking down on the front yard. Below her, Troy sat outside on the stoop, waiting for his brother to pick him up. Though it would have been expedient to return the rental vehicle at the airport, he left the Range Rover for her to drive. As if she had someplace to go? As if her parents would let her out of their sight?

If Troy stayed here, he could convince them to let her return to her home in the mountains with him. They trusted him more than they trusted her. If only he would stay...

Uncurling her fingers, she looked at the engagement ring nestled on her palm. He’d been proposing to her from the moment she told him she was going to have his baby. In spite of her constant rejections, he’d been undaunted. Now, when she finally wanted him, he was walking away.

His brother’s car pulled up to the curb.

“No,” she said.

In her less-than-graceful gait, she rushed from the bedroom and thudded down the staircase. Unmindful of the alarms, she opened the front door and charged down the sidewalk, catching up to Troy before he got into the car.

“Wait.” She threw her arms around his neck and kissed him hard on the lips. “Promise you’ll be back.”

“That was my intention.”

“I know it seems like I’m fighting you every step of the way.” As she looked into his dark and somewhat confused eyes, she realized how much she cared for him. The thought of never being held in his arms completely unnerved her. “I’m afraid.”

“Of what?”

I don’t want to lose you.
But she couldn’t tell him. To admit how much she cared meant she needed him, and she couldn’t allow herself to go down that path.

He smoothed a wisp of hair off her forehead. “Keep your phone with you all the time, and I’ll call you every step of the way. You won’t even know that I’m gone.”

From the driver’s seat, Alex called out, “I’ve got to break this up. Troy needs to hurry if he’s going to make his flight.”

Her arms slipped off his shoulders. She held the engagement ring between them. “Take it. When you come back, ask me to marry you again.”

“And what will you say?”

“I promise that it’ll be the last time you make that proposal.”

He pocketed the ring, then leaned down and talked to her belly. “Hey, kid, don’t come out until I’m back.”

With a wave, he got into the passenger seat, headed into battle. Unable to stop him from being a hero, she watched the car pull away.

Her dad joined her at the curb and wrapped a comforting arm around her back. “Troy’s a good man. He won’t take unnecessary risks.”

It was the necessary risks that bothered her. He wasn’t going to New York for a stroll in Central Park. He and his team were facing a desperate terrorist cell.

She rested her head on her father’s shoulder. “You’re right. He is a good man, a really good man.”

“You should go inside.” He kissed her cheek. “Put your feet up and relax.”

“I want...” She exhaled a sigh. “I want a giant glass of straight whiskey.”

Knocking herself unconscious until Troy got back would have been a lovely solution. But she couldn’t indulge that whim.

“Would you settle for a cup of tea?” her dad asked.

“Don’t have another choice, do I? Did I set off the alarm when I ran out the door?”

“I caught it in time,” he said. “I was just getting ready to leave. I need to ask you for the keys for the Range Rover. You’re blocking my car.”

“They’re in my purse.” Along with the cell phone she had promised to keep with her at all times. “I’ll get them.”

Upstairs in the bedroom, she found her purse. Though she liked her oversize handbag for carrying lots of stuff, her purse wasn’t the best for handy access, and she needed to be able to grab her cell phone at any given moment. She slipped her phone into the pocket of her khaki-colored cargo shorts with the pregnant waistband that stretched to infinity.

Keys in hand, she went downstairs to where her father waited. Before she handed them over, she asked, “Where are you going?”

“This is business.”

Since his job was spying, that could mean anything. She gave him a grin. “No more secrets, remember?”

He cleared his throat. “It seems that Matthew Clark is angling for some kind of deal and wants to speak with me.”

If she could get Clark to tell her who was after her, the threat could be defused. She’d be free to return to the mountains to have her baby. “I’m coming with you.”

“Olivia, sweetheart, that isn’t necessary.”

But it was a risk she was willing to take.

Her mother came into the foyer from the kitchen. The worried expression on her face was a clear indication that she’d been eavesdropping. Once a spy, always a spy.

“It’s not safe,” her mother said. “Remember what happened last night when you followed Clark? You nearly got blown up.”

“This isn’t the same thing, Mom. The facility where Clark is being held is possibly the most secure site in Colorado. Armed guards all over the place. It’s really safe.”

She looked at her husband. “Is that right?”

Before her father could reply, Olivia was out the door with the car keys dangling from her fingers. “I’ll drive.”

Though her dad clearly wasn’t thrilled by her company, he didn’t comment as he climbed into the passenger seat and closed the door. She lowered the windows so they’d feel the breeze on this hot, summer afternoon. “Ready, Dad?”

“You’re just like your mother,” he mumbled. “Stubborn.”

“Isn’t that what you love about us? Our determination.”

“Pig-headed, that’s what I call it. You, your sister and your mother. All the same.”

She pulled into the street and drove to the stop sign on the corner. From this vantage point, she could see the mountains west of town with the sun glistening on distant peaks while afternoon shadows glided over the foothills. A view so magnificent usually lifted her spirits, but she had too much on her plate, too much to worry about.

At the intersection, a van crossed in front of her Range Rover. Instead of proceeding forward, the van stopped. The driver turned toward them with an automatic pistol in his hand.

She ducked. Her dad did the same.

While her dad reached for the weapon in his ankle holster, a man wearing a balaclava appeared at the passenger side. He stuck his arm through the open window and fired a stun gun into her father.

Olivia screamed. She flipped into Reverse. But another car had pulled up behind them. No escape. There was no escape.

Her dad was hit. Thousands of volts of electricity charged through him. He shuddered violently and passed out in his seat.

She tried to help him, felt for his pulse at his throat. He was still alive. A shock like that could cause serious injury. He was older, susceptible to a heart attack.

Her door was ripped open. Instantly, she turned in her seat and held up her hands. “Don’t use the stun gun. I’m pregnant.”

“Get out of the car.”

“Whatever you say.”

Every fiber in her body wanted to fight, but she couldn’t risk it. She had to think of the baby.

The masked men whisked her toward the van that still blocked the path of the Range Rover. There wasn’t any way to stop them. She wasn’t even armed. All she had was the cell phone in her pocket.

They pushed her into the back of the van. She heard gunshots. As the van door closed, she glimpsed her mother down on one knee in the street with her handgun braced in front of her, firing repeatedly.

Olivia jolted as the van raced away from the intersection.

* * *

T
ROY CHECKED HIS
wristwatch as his brother zipped onto the highway headed toward Denver International Airport.

“We’re running late,” Alex said.

“I guess.”

Making the flight wasn’t all that important to Troy. If he’d been truly motivated, he could have pulled strings and gotten private transport that would take him directly to his team on the ground. He couldn’t stop thinking about what he was leaving behind. When he checked the rearview mirror, he saw nothing but traffic, an endless stream of vehicles rushing to their various destinations.
Where am I going?

His choice was to join his team. A sense of duty and responsibility dictated his decision, but it was more than that. To be sure, his team might benefit from his expertise, especially when it came to dealing with the other intelligence agencies involved. His knowledge of terrorist activity and strategy might also be useful. But that wasn’t why he was on the road. Loyalty was what drove him. The men on his team were his brothers. If they were in danger, he needed to be there.

What about Olivia? How the hell could he leave her? Even if she couldn’t admit it, the woman needed him.

“You can still change your mind,” Alex said. “I can get off at the next exit and take you back to her sister’s house.”

“Is that where you think I should go?”

“It depends. Are you a soldier or a father?”

“Both.” One occupation didn’t exclude the other. “There’s no reason why I can’t be a daddy and a marine.”

“What’s your priority? In my professional opinion, Olivia looks like she’s ready to give birth. It’d be a shame for you to miss that.”

“Not being a medical person,” Troy said, “I’m not so enthused about the hospital part. When Olivia is in labor, she’s going to be in a lot of pain, right? There will be yelling and cursing, and she’ll tell me that I’m a scumbag for getting her pregnant.”

“Olivia isn’t going to freak out. She’s delivered hundreds of babies. I’m guessing that she’s got everything figured out, and the birth will be natural and serene.”

“And gross?”

“For a guy who’s been to war, you’re kind of a wuss.”

His brother could be a real ass. “Thanks for your opinion, macho doc.”

“If you don’t want to know what I think, don’t ask,” Alex said. “You know whether you should be with your team or with your woman. Cut to the bottom line.”

Taking his feelings out of the equation, Troy balanced the odds. His men were trained, well-equipped and had each other for support. Olivia was alone. All she wanted was to get back to her mountain cabin and have her baby. He could give her that. “Turn around.”

“Good choice.” Alex took his hand off the steering wheel to punch his shoulder. “When do we tell Mom and Dad?”

Troy winced. His parents lived a quiet life in retirement off the coast of Oregon. For years, they had wanted a grandchild. “Don’t push it. I can still change my mind.”

His cell phone rang. The caller ID showed it was Olivia. Happily, he answered. “Miss me?”

“Excuse me.” She sounded far away. There was a lot of background noise. “Where are you taking me?”

Someone answered her in a low growl. “Shut up, bitch.”

Troy sat up straight. Adrenaline shot through his veins. Olivia was being taken somewhere. She’d been abducted.