Mommy Midwife (6 page)

“Did you give them a reason?”

“I tried.” She shook her head. “I told them pretty much the same thing I told you. You’re a great guy, but we don’t have a relationship. And I’m not interested in being married to someone who’s always traveling and putting himself in danger on a regular basis.”

“What if my career was different?”

She shot him a questioning glance. “Different in what way?”

“What if I wasn’t in the field?”

“But you love your work.” She rose to her feet and stalked toward him. “Please don’t tell me that you’ve resigned from special ops.”

He gave her a weak grin. “Surprise.”

“No way. I won’t let you quit doing something you love because of me and the baby. That’s the worst way to start a relationship. You’d blame me for ruining your life.”

He hadn’t been expecting her to turn handsprings, but he didn’t think she’d be outright hostile. Damn it, this was his decision. His life. “You know, Olivia, not everything is about you.”

A knock at the front door to their suite interrupted any further explanation. A voice called out, “Room service.”

Before he left the bedroom, Troy drew his gun. “I’ll deal with this. You stay here and make your phone call.”

He went to the door and cautiously eased it open. The same bellman who’d carried their suitcases to the suite stood outside with a cart. While Troy watched and kept his weapon hidden behind his back, the young man wheeled into the room and unloaded the plates onto a round table.

Hoping to pick up information, Troy commented, “This must be off-season for the lodge. Are many people staying here?”

“There’s a lot more when the ski slopes are open, but you’d be surprised. We get golfers, hikers, mountain bike riders and people who are up here for river rafting.”

There wasn’t a clever way to ask if the bellman had seen possible Hatari terrorists or a spy named Kruger from the last century. “Mostly families?”

“That’s right. And we’ve got a wedding party coming in tomorrow for the weekend.”

Troy gave him a generous tip before he locked the door and shoved a chair in front of it. If he’d been in the field, he never would have tasted food that hadn’t been prepared in his sight, but he had no reason to believe Olivia’s intruders had followed them to the hotel. He would have noticed a tail.

She emerged from the bedroom. “I talked to my sister and warned her about a possible threat. After she told me I was nuts, she reminded me that her house has an excellent alarm system. They’ll be safe.”

He held out his hand for the phone. “Can I talk to your father?”

“Mom and Dad are asleep. They were exhausted after the flight from Cairo, and my sister didn’t want to wake them.”

“I guess I’ll have to wait.” He was a patient man, almost to a fault. Patience and persistence were useful traits in his business, but Olivia was straining his reserves. She had a real talent for driving him to the edge and making him want to jump.

He went to the table and lifted the lids off their separate dinners. Pan-fried trout for her. A T-bone steak for him.

As she took her place, she gazed across the table with a guarded expression. “You said the decision to change your career wasn’t about me.”

“Correct.” He sliced into his steak, cut off a chunk and stuffed it into his mouth so he wouldn’t have to talk. The consequences of his decision were still painful, and he knew better than to look toward her for understanding.

“I’m listening,” she said.

He shrugged. “It’s time for a change.”

“Is this a military thing? Some kind of requirement?”

“The T-bone’s great. How’s the fish?”

“Delicious.” She poured water from a carafe into her glass and took a sip. “I didn’t realize how hungry I was.”

“I thought pregnant women were always eating for two.”

“Oh, I’ve done plenty of that. I’ve packed on thirty-three pounds, probably more than that. I quit weighing myself two days ago.” She picked up her fork. “And you’re changing the subject. I want to know about your career.”

Telling her about the career change was one of the reasons he’d come to Colorado. He was looking at a change in his life that might affect the way she felt about him. From the first time he’d proposed, she had made it crystal clear that she didn’t want to be married to a man whose occupation was full of danger and uncertainty. Now that he knew more about her family history, he had a greater understanding of that fear. But he still wouldn’t have quit if he hadn’t been ready to make the change. As it turned out, the timing was right for him to settle into a different phase of life.

He wanted a home.

He wanted to be a father—a real father, not a part-time visitor.

All he had to do was convince Olivia. It was a risky proposition. If he told her and she still rejected him, he’d know that her reason for avoiding a relationship with him wasn’t just his job. She’d be saying no because she didn’t like him.

“I’m thirty-six years old,” he said. “For somebody who does my kind of work, that’s over-the-hill. My reflexes aren’t as fast. My aim isn’t as sharp as it used to be.”

“It sounds like you’re being too hard on yourself.”

Since he was coming clean, he might as well let her know everything. He left the table and went to his duffel. From a front pocket, he removed a case, took out a pair of silver-rimmed eyeglasses and stuck them on his nose. Wearing them was an admission of declining vision, but it was nice to be able to see the food on the plate. “Right now, I just need them for up close. My long-range vision is okay.”

“I like the glasses,” she said. “They make you look smart.”

He winced. “And it’s well-known that a high IQ strikes terror in the hearts of bad guys.”

“Is that what you want? To strike terror?”

He shook his head. “I’m still in better shape than ninety percent of the guys out there. That’s not my point. I need to be the best, the fastest, the sharpest. Otherwise, I could be putting my men in danger.”

“This must be hard for you,” she said. “Will you miss the action?”

He thought for a moment before responding. “In spite of what you might think, I’m not an adrenaline junkie. I don’t get a thrill from putting my life on the line. My proudest accomplishment as a leader is that I’ve never lost a man, not a single one in fourteen years. I’m happy to quit while I’m still ahead.”

When he looked across the table and met her gaze, he noticed a glow that he’d never seen before. Approval? She smiled gently. “What will you do now?”

“I could continue to go along with my men in a supervisory position, staying behind the lines and giving orders. Or I could opt for a training position at Camp Lejeune. I’d rather be a trainer.”

“A desk job?”

“Hell, no. I couldn’t handle that. I’ll have some time on the training courses and some in the classroom.”

As her smile grew brighter, her blue eyes glimmered. Definite approval. He felt like he’d won the lottery. Her voice was warm. “You’ll be a good teacher.”

“Why do you think so? Is it the glasses?”

“You’ve got the patience for it.” She lifted a forkful of green veggies to her mouth. “You’ve been able to put up with me for all these months. And I can be pretty stubborn.”

“Like a mule.”

“But you never gave up,” she said. “Even though I said no, you asked again and again and again and—”

“You liked it,” he interrupted. “On some level, you liked that I sent flowers for your birthday. You always thanked me.”

“Just being polite.”

He knew it was more than that, but he didn’t push. This dinner was going well. The food was good, and conversation was beginning to come more easily. She talked about what she wanted to do after the baby was born, and they discovered a common interest in rock climbing. He mentioned his interest in historical books and biographies, especially those of presidents and statesmen.

“Do you like politics?” she asked.

“It’s not the politics,” he said. “It’s the strategy that goes into decision making. What do you read?”

“Fiction, all kinds except espionage for obvious reasons. I’ve been into vampires for a while, but that’s not the best kind of book to be reading while I’m sitting with a mom in labor. It’s a little too gory.” She leaned back in her chair, rested her hands on her bulge and grinned. “This is nice.”

“We haven’t spent a lot of time like this...just talking.”

“Well, we only had two quickie dates before I showed up on your doorstep and pounced.”

Things would have been different if they’d gone through a regular courtship. He doubted the outcome would have been the same. From the first time they’d met, there had been physical chemistry, but there had also been logistical obstacles with his international assignments and her mountain lifestyle. There might have been a couple more dates, but they didn’t really have a lot in common—not until she’d pounced.

Her cell phone rang, and she picked it up. A frown pulled at the corners of her mouth. “My sister.”

“Answer it.”

She talked for half a minute. Her frown deepened.

Thrusting the phone toward him, she said, “It’s my dad.”

Reluctantly, Troy took the call. His relationship with Olivia had progressed more in the past forty-five minutes than it had in eight months. They were enjoying each other’s company, growing accustomed to each other.

He was pretty sure that talking to Richard Laughton would change the situation.

Chapter Five

Olivia glared at the closed bedroom door where Troy had retreated for his conversation with her father. Apparently, he needed privacy to discuss how the two of them would handle the potential threat to her life. Heaven forbid that she be consulted.

For most of her life, she’d been proving to her parents that she was an independent woman who was fully capable of managing her own life. Sometimes, Mom got it. But Dad? No way. He still tried to hold her hand when they crossed the street. No doubt, he and Troy would come up with a plan to swaddle her in bubble wrap and lock her away in a fortress until the bad guys were gone.

Not that she blamed them for being protective. She would, of course, do anything necessary to keep herself and the baby safe. But she couldn’t let her dad and Troy take over her life, especially not when it came to how she would deliver this baby. This was her area of expertise, and she’d spent a significant chunk of time imagining what it would be like when she was in labor. Her hope was to bring this child into the world in the most natural way possible. The atmosphere would be serene, filled with light and love.

From behind the bedroom door, she heard Troy laughing. The sound grated on her ears. Were they swapping spy stories? Telling secret agent jokes? Exchanging passwords? Though she told herself that it was a good thing for them to get along with each other, she had serious misgivings. If they partnered up, these two could get into all kinds of trouble.

As she cleared the dinner plates off the table onto the room service cart, she thought about Troy’s announcement that he was becoming a trainer at Camp Lejeune. His rationale for leaving the front lines of action made sense. It was a life change—
his
life. But what did it mean? What were the further implications? He hadn’t actually said that he was going to buy a house near Camp Lejeune and settle down with her and the baby.

In fact, he hadn’t proposed since she’d seen him. She didn’t think he’d changed his mind about getting married. After all, one of his phone messages said, “Marry me.” But he hadn’t pushed. Was it possible that he’d finally taken the hint? And why did that make her feel somewhat bereft?

With their room service dinner cleaned up, she eyeballed the sofa and the huge television screen. If she sat, she might not get up again; maneuvering her weight had become something of an issue. Probably she should skip the sit-down and just crawl into bed. After her long, exhausting day with the triplets, she ought to sleep as soundly as a hibernating grizzly. But she didn’t feel tired.

She rested her hands on her belly and felt the baby move. Looking down at the bulge, she asked, “Should I go to bed?”

The kicks were an indecipherable Morse code that she interpreted to mean that the baby wanted her to stay awake for a while. She needed to think about how much danger she was in and about seeing her parents tomorrow and about Troy.

Their dinner conversation had been strangely stimulating. Even with the wire-rimmed glasses, he looked like a man of action—tall and strong with a square, masculine jaw and deep-set, dark eyes that were constantly alert. As they’d talked, he’d allowed her a glimpse of another side to his personality. He’d been a history major in college. He read scholarly books. He was smart and sexy. Who knew?

She went through the door into the corner room with the hot tub. Two of the walls were paneled, and the other two were floor-to-ceiling windows with a sliding glass door. Should she indulge in a soak? Well, why not? Troy was enjoying himself with a spy chat; she might as well do something for herself. She turned on the hot water and went to the bathroom to gather more towels and a white terry cloth robe.

By the time she returned, the tub was half-full. She tested the water. Perfect! She turned off the overhead light, allowing the soft glow of starlight to filter into the room. In the semidark, she could see the outline of pine trees outside the windows. With her long hair twisted into a knot on top of her head, she slipped out of her nightgown and lowered herself into the warm, soothing liquid.

The tub was large enough for her to stretch out prone with her head at one end and her feet at the other. Her belly and breasts bobbed on the surface of the water like round, white islands. As soon as the water was high enough, she activated the jets and positioned her back against the massaging gush of water. Pure relaxation spread through her.

The door behind her opened, and Troy asked, “May I come in?”

“As long as you don’t turn on the lights.”

Moving closer, he leaned his elbows on the edge of the hot tub. Moonlight fell across his wide shoulders and glistened in his dark hair. Since she could see him clearly, she knew he could see her, too. Even with the swirling water, he’d be able to make out her naked outline below the water. A little embarrassing but not enough that she was going to worry about it.