Then abruptly he released her and stepped away. He turned his back to her.
Kari stared at him mutely, feeling rejected and humiliated by the willingness she had demonstrated. She pulled down her sweatshirt and raised a trembling hand to her lips. They felt bruised and swollen. To her further dismay, tears filled her eyes.
He must have heard her tremulous sob because he turned back to her instantly. The tension in his face collapsed. “Oh, baby, don’t. I can’t go on kissing you like that.” With infinite tenderness, he touched her lips with the back of his index finger. Then he dropped his hand to his side. “Because I want to make love to you.” His voice lowered to a husky whisper. “And I can’t do that, either.” He took off his glasses and rubbed his eyes. When he reopened them, he looked at her wearily.
“Kari, do you have any idea what you’ve done with this hospital story of yours?”
She opened her mouth to speak, but closed it without making a sound. She hadn’t expected him to be upset about that and was unprepared to answer his question. “I’m sure it opened a can of worms over there.”
He laughed shortly as his gaze hit the ceiling before bouncing back to her. “A bit more than that. You’ve destroyed months of undercover work.”
She gazed at him blankly. When she read the frustration on his face, she sank onto the edge of the sofa. Clasping her hands together, she began to shake all over. “You had undercover detectives working in the hospital?”
He nodded. “And now, with this story you aired tonight, you’ve destroyed the progress they were making. No one will be talking anymore. They’ll be walking on eggshells over there for fear of reprisal. Those officers are as good as useless to me. And they were making good headway. Now it’s all shot to hell.”
“I’m sorry,” she said with genuine regret. “I had no way of knowing.”
“Then you should have cleared the story with me first,” he shouted.
She shot off the couch, immediately defensive at his heavy-handed tone. “I never clear a story with anyone but Pinkie.”
“He hardly had the authority to approve this one.”
“In that newsroom, he is the authority, not you, Mr. District Attorney.” When his face went dark with fury, she retreated. “I’m sorry. That was unnecessary.” She sat back down on the arm of the sofa and looked up at him. “A story like that can’t be suppressed, Hunter. It was a dynamic news story.”
“Good for ratings, I suppose.”
“Yes!” To hell with appealing to his reason. If he was going to play hardball, so would she.
“And your ratings are more important than months of police work?”
“No, of course not. But how was I to know you had men planted over there? I had no way of knowing that I was sabotaging a whole network of investigation.”
“Did you think I laughed off the disappearance of three babies, told the parents that I was very sorry, but I couldn’t find their kids, better luck next time? Do you think when I’m not actually in court I’m sitting over there twiddling my thumbs?”
Her chin went up at his condescending tone. “You don’t have to justify your job to me any more than I have to justify mine to you.”
He cursed beneath his breath. “Dammit, Kari, this isn’t a contest between you and me. It’s bigger than that. Do you realize what we’re talking about? We’re talking about three missing babies, six desperate parents, and an army of frustrated investigators.”
All the fight went out of her then. He was right. This had nothing to do with them and she was behaving childishly. “I said I’m sorry, Hunter, and I am. Of course I realize the gravity of the situation. To think that someone, anyone, could steal an infant from a hospital nursery. …” She shuddered. “I sympathize with those parents. That’s why I wanted to get that story on the news. Did you ever stop to think that instead of impeding the investigation, my story might help it?”
Hunter’s anger had abated, too. He looked tired as he shook his head. “Not this time. We have a strong suspect. We’ve been keeping tabs on him for months. He’s come into large, unaccounted-for sums of money. But that’s not enough to arrest him. We need evidence, facts, dates. Now he’ll burrow under, cover his tracks, and we may never get him.”
He took a step closer and drilled into her eyes with his. “Can you help me, Kari?”
“Not any more than I have. Everything I know was in the story.”
“Did your source mention the name of the doctor? The nurse?”
She was shaking her head emphatically. “No. I swear it.”