The Billionaire's Borrowed Baby(33)

Luc teetered on the edge of his own personal hell. Hattie was offering herself to him, coming to him of her own free will.

He was almost positive she was falling in love with him. Women couldn't   hide things like that. Hattie didn't sleep around. And even though he   was her husband, she wouldn't have shared his bed just for sex.

So why was he hesitating?

The dark knot of remembered pain inside him said, Do it. Tell her to go   to hell. Tell her you don't need a wife who's been bought and paid for.   Tell her you don't want her.

Would she see through the lie?

Could he instead reach for the rosy future that seemed almost within his grasp? A wife, a baby, a happily-ever-after?

People he loved left him. His parents. Hattie. If he brought her and the   baby into his heart and home and then lost them, he wasn't sure he'd   survive.

He clenched his fists, fighting the urge to grab her and pull her close.   Instead, he shrugged. "We should probably reevaluate our relationship.   See where things stand with the custody situation. I have a hell of a   lot to catch up on at work … and you'll be spending time with the baby."

Hattie's face went white, her expression agonized. "So you were just using me in Key West because I was convenient?"

"Don't cast me as the villain in this drama," he said roughly. Sexual   desire and searing regret choked him. "If anything, we used each other.   You were wet and willing."

"You're a selfish ass," she said, tears choking her voice and welling in her beautiful eyes.

"I gave you what you wanted. You and the baby are safe. Don't ask for the moon, Hattie."





Eighteen




Don't ask for the moon, Hattie. The careless words jangled in her head.   She barely slept at all, and when dawn broke, she knew what she had to   do. It would have to be a covert operation. Ana and Sherman couldn't be   caught in the middle.

Breakfast was miserable. Despite Deedee's chortling happiness, Luc and   Hattie barely spoke, concentrating on brief exchanges of information   that left her grieving and heartsick.

By ten o'clock the house was empty. Ana and Sherman had gone to the   market. Patti was back at school. Luc was at the office. As soon as   Deedee went down for her morning nap, Hattie started packing. She walked   the hallways back and forth, barely able to concentrate, her skin cold   as ice. The pain was crushing. When the suitcases were in the car, she   fled. Out the door, down the steps, the baby clasped to her chest.

Luc had sent Hattie's clunker car into the shop for an overhaul. The   stylish new minivan that she was still learning to drive was backed into   the garage. She snapped Deedee into the car seat, hands shaking,  jumped  into the driver's seat, put the car in gear and tore out of the   driveway.

She drove on autopilot, her heart bleeding. Luc would never love her   again. She had killed those feelings in him. He wanted her body, but   with his iron control, he was clearly able to deny them even that.

If she stayed in his house an hour more, she might be reduced to   begging. And Luc didn't deserve that. He had helped her when she needed   it most, but that reason no longer existed. She and Deedee were on  their  own.

The miles flashed by as she cruised the interstate. Where would she go?   What was the next step? She had credit cards galore, but what if Luc   disabled them in order to force her home?

Hastily, she did a mental accounting of the cash in her purse … maybe four   hundred dollars at the most. That wouldn't last long. But she had to  go  someplace where no one could find her. At least until she figured  out  what she was going to do.                       
       
           



       



Luc leaned back in his office chair and rubbed his neck. He had a killer   headache. Thank God Leo was coming over for dinner tonight. His  company  would be a welcome diversion from the stilted, overly polite   conversation to which he and Hattie had been reduced.

For the first time since the honeymoon, Luc arrived home at five-thirty. Leo was not far behind him.

Luc's brother wore a rumpled suit and offered a rueful apology. "Sorry   for arriving unfashionably early. But I had a meeting in this part of   town, and it didn't seem worth driving back to the office at rush hour."

Luc led him into the library and poured them each a finger of whiskey.   "No worries. Deedee is starting to pull up on things, so Ana says she   thinks Hattie and the baby went shoe shopping. They're not even back   yet. We've got time to relax before dinner."

Leo settled his large frame into a spacious easy chair. After downing   his drink in one gulp, he sighed, closed his eyes and spoke. "How are   the two of you getting along?"

"No problems." Luc paced restlessly.

"Do you love her?"

"Who are you? Dr. Ruth? I'm not sure what love is."

"Then why did you marry her? Our lawyers have the ability to make   mincemeat out of old Eddie. Tying the knot was totally unnecessary. So   why did you do it?"

Luc had asked himself that same question a hundred times. The answer was   clear, but it was too soon to tell his brother. Leo's propensity for   mischief shouldn't be underestimated.

"It was the right thing to do. Protecting the baby."

"I'll give you that. You always did love playing the hero. But there's got to be more."

Sherman appeared in the door. "Excuse me, Mr. Luc. Ana found this note with your name on it. It was on the desk in the kitchen."

Luc ripped open the envelope and stared at the words without comprehension.

Leo came to stand beside him. "What is it? What's wrong?"

Luc had never been as scared as he was at this moment. "She's gone. She has custody, and she's gone."

His brother snatched the piece of paper and scanned it rapidly, cursing   beneath his breath. "We'll find her. She can't have gone far."



But they didn't. One day passed. Then two. Then three. Hattie's cell   phone was turned off, so the GPS locator was useless. None of her credit   cards showed any sign of activity. It was as if she and Deedee had   vanished off the face of the earth.

Luc was surviving on black coffee and three hours of sleep a night. His   frustration with the police was enormous, but even he had to admit that   there was no indication of foul play.

Hattie had left of her own free will. And she had taken his heart with   her, dragging it in the wake of the speeding car, shredding it as the   miles passed.

Leo was a rock. He moved in, and between the two of them, they hired the   best detectives their considerable fortune could buy. But the P.I.   reports were little comfort. When a person wanted to disappear, it could   take weeks, months to track them down.

Luc lay in bed, night after night, dry-eyed, his body ice-cold. Pride.   Injured pride had caused this debacle. All he'd had to do was tell   Hattie he loved her more than life. Assure her that he had no plans to   ever be parted from her or from Deedee.

If the lawyer had managed to give the news to Luc first instead of   Hattie, Luc could have been prepared. But Luc had been too damn busy to   listen to his voice mails.

On the fourth day, he caught a break. In her haste, Hattie had left   behind the baby's antibiotic. Since Deedee had only been taking it a few   days, there was a good chance the child's infection would return   without the whole course of treatment.

Once Luc realized the omission, the detectives started monitoring the   pediatrician's office with the cooperation of the doctor who was a   friend of Luc's. At two-thirty in the afternoon of the fifth miserable   day, a call came in requesting a replacement refill.

Luc practically grabbed the detective by the throat. "Tell me you got some information."

The grizzled sixtysomething veteran nodded, his gaze sympathetic. "The   call originated from a Motel 6 in Marietta. Here's the address."



Hattie walked the floor, trying to soothe the cranky infant. Based on   the last time she'd started the medicine, Deedee might not feel any   better until at least forty-eight hours had passed.

Right after the honeymoon when the baby was ill, Hattie had been backed   up with Luc's help and support. Now she was completely alone. The   feelings of desolation and heartbreak were too much to bear. Her psyche   adapted by shutting down all of Hattie's emotional pain sensors.                       
       
           



       

She was calm, too calm, but the unnatural state enabled her to function.