Читать книгу: «A Stranger's Baby»

“You shouldn’t stay home tonight. Those men could come back. You can stay with me.”

The words came out on their own. Even as he said them, it seemed as if someone else was doing so. Sara looked just as surprised to hear them.

“Just for tonight. Until you figure out something else.” Part of him wondered who he was saying it for, her or himself.

“Okay, thank you. Let me get a few things.” Jake knew letting her stay with him was the right thing to do. She shouldn’t be alone, not in her condition. That didn’t stop him from wanting to call her back and revoke the offer. The uneasiness had returned with a vengeance, clawing at his insides with greater ferocity, for entirely different reasons than before.

Because he’d seen something else, too, shimmering faintly in her big brown eyes.

Gratitude.

And he knew more than ever that he’d finally made a mistake he’d been avoiding from the first time he’d seen the pregnant woman next door.

He’d invited her into his life. And now there was no turning back.

Kerry Connor
A Stranger’s Baby

This book was particularly challenging to write,

and is dedicated with my deepest thanks to the editors

without whom it wouldn’t exist: Sean Mackiewicz,

for making my dream of writing for Intrigue a reality and

for guiding me through the process with my first

two books; Denise Zaza, for the opportunity and

for believing in my work; and Allison Lyons, for

her kindness and patience, and for the words of

encouragement when I needed them the most. Thank you.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

A lifelong mystery reader, Kerry Connor first discovered romantic suspense by reading Harlequin Intrigue books and is thrilled to be writing for the line. Kerry lives and writes in Southern California.

CAST OF CHARACTERS

Sara Carson—One reckless night left her pregnant with a stranger’s baby.

Jake Armstrong—A man who believes he knows nothing about family is the only one who can help the pregnant woman next door.

Mark—The mystery man who fathered Sara’s child.

Roger Halloran—He was searching for answers and more than willing to use Sara to get them.

Kendra Rogan—She said that helping young people was her top priority, but did her noble claims mask darker intentions?

Noah Brooks—The friendly young man proved a ready source of information, but did he know more than he revealed?

Adam Quinn—A man who knew when it was time to move on, but whose true motives remained in question.

Contents

Chapter One

Chapter Two

Chapter Three

Chapter Four

Chapter Five

Chapter Six

Chapter Seven

Chapter Eight

Chapter Nine

Chapter Ten

Chapter Eleven

Chapter Twelve

Epilogue

Chapter One

Someone was in the house.

Sara stared into the bedroom’s darkness, wide awake when she’d been asleep seconds earlier. She wasn’t sure what had woken her from the first good sleep she’d had in weeks, any more than she knew why she was suddenly certain she was no longer alone in her home.

She simply knew.

One hand instantly moved to her belly. The other reached into the bedside table. Her fingers closed around the gun she’d put there for this very reason. Protection. A single woman living alone needed some way to defend herself.

Careful not to make a sound, Sara pulled the weapon to her and strained to hear any signs of an intruder. The pounding of her heart in her ears drowned out everything else. Even so, she didn’t think she detected anything. There was only the steady drone of the air conditioner, cranked up high because she was always hot these days. Eyes wide, she tried to spot what didn’t belong there in the darkness. Nothing moved, nothing seemed out of place.

Still, the certainty remained.

She slowly uncurled herself from the body pillow that was the only thing that had let her get any sleep the past several months and rolled onto her back. The lamp switch was just out of arm’s reach. She’d have to push herself up to get to it. Or should she even turn it on? Would the light scare off whoever might be out there or simply alert them to her presence and wakefulness, especially if she made too much noise shifting on the bed?

She should have gotten a dog, a big, scary one trained to ward off intruders. A dog would know if someone was in the house, confirming or dismissing her fears instead of leaving her searching for something that might not even be there. But she hadn’t known what she’d do with the dog when she went to the hospital. There was no one she could ask, and if she went into labor suddenly, the dog would be left behind alone in the house for days—

Her frenzied thoughts must have distracted her from her silent vigil. One moment the doorway yawned with emptiness. The next, so suddenly it seemed to have appeared in the time it took her to blink, a dark figure stood there.

He made no sound as he moved into the room, seeming to float through the passageway. Two others followed close behind.

She took no joy in the knowledge she wasn’t imagining things. Terror gripped her so suddenly she couldn’t restrain a gasp.

The sharply indrawn breath didn’t go unnoticed. The figures came to an abrupt stop, hovering there in the darkness.

“You’re awake,” she heard a low voice murmur in surprise.

“That’s right,” she said calmly, somehow managing to keep the fear out of her voice when every instinct wanted to scream. “And you’re trespassing.”

They began to drift closer again, undeterred by her words or her awareness. Suddenly she realized the one in the lead was raising his hand. The pale threads of moonlight peeking through the slats of her window blinds glinted off something he was holding.

Her heart jumped as recognition slammed into her.

A needle.

She instinctively spread her fingers wider on her abdomen, as though the small gesture could provide greater cover, more protection, to the child inside her.

“Don’t worry, Sara.” The voice came again, closer now, softened in a parody of a soothing tone. “This won’t hurt at all.”

Her response was to cock the weapon in her hand, the sound loud in the silence.

The figures froze.

She aimed right at the head of the one with the needle. “This will.”

And fired.

JAKE ARMSTRONG EASED HIMSELF out of the truck, first his good left leg, then the right that seemed to have failed him yet again. He tried to keep the weight off his right foot, gingerly setting it on the pavement and leaning on the left.

It didn’t help. A sharp pain shot down the limb starting at the knee. Gripping the door, he sucked in a breath through gritted teeth. He’d taken two pills as soon as he’d exited the all-night drugstore, downing them without water, needing them too much, hating that he did. For all the good they’d done him. The pills must not have kicked in yet.

Or maybe he’d waited too long and now would have to wait that much longer for them to start working. He hadn’t bothered refilling the prescription after he’d run out weeks ago, thinking he didn’t need the medicine anymore.

So much for that.

Damn. He’d thought he was doing well, too, enough so that he’d felt confident ignoring the initial twinges that had probably indicated something was wrong. He was used to fighting through pain. He was running farther and harder every day. He felt stronger. His old doctors would say he was pushing himself too hard, and for no reason. That he was lucky to be walking at all after they’d put his knee back together.

“Damn doctors,” he grumbled under his breath. “Don’t know what they’re talking about.” Which was exactly why they were no longer his doctors.

At least there was nobody else out on the street at two o’clock in the morning to see him hobbling around. Not for the first time, he was glad he’d gotten a place in this town outside of Boston, rather than staying in the city. The neighborhood remained still and quiet, every house darkened for the night.

He was about to slam the door shut when an explosion cut through the air, catching him off guard, causing him to stumble. Leaning into the door, he whipped his head toward the noise. He knew the sound of gunfire. It came in rapid succession, one shot after another after another.

He didn’t have to look far to determine the origin. The shots were coming from inside the house next door.

The house where the pregnant woman lived.

The bottle of pills fell from his hand, forgotten, as he reached for his cell and stabbed in the numbers. The sounds of the gunshots continued to hang in the air, uninterrupted by fresh ones.

“9-1-1. What’s your emergency?”

“There’s gunfire coming from my neighbor’s house. She’s a pregnant woman. Lives alone.”

“What’s the address?” the dispatcher asked with admirable calm.

He quickly gave it to her, answering her follow-up questions on autopilot as he surveyed the house. No lights were on in the building; there was no way to see inside. No further sounds came from within. The closest streetlamp was on the other side of the road, its steady beam barely reaching the lawn. The driveway was empty, her vehicle likely parked inside the garage. The house itself remained shrouded in shadows. He stared into them, but detected no signs of movement.

The echo of the gunfire faded from his ears, leaving nothing but a silence so absolute that he wondered, for a heartbeat, if he’d imagined what he’d thought he’d heard. He dismissed the thought a second later. He knew what he’d heard. It had been gunfire.

Which only made the endless silence that followed and lack of movement inside the house more disturbing.

As if from a great distance, he heard the dispatcher assuring him the police were on their way and asking him to stay on the line. The final words barely reached him. He was already hanging up, moving forward as fast as his gimpy leg would let him.

It would take the police a while to get there, and even longer for an ambulance if one wasn’t called until after they arrived and determined it was necessary. She could be hurt. She could be dying, her and the baby. He couldn’t just stand there. He had to do something.

He stalked around the edge of the lawn, not wanting to cross directly and get too close too soon. Every second he braced himself, ready for another shot to come from the house, prepared to duck.

It never came. Reaching the front path, he followed it to the door. Hoping he wasn’t making a mistake, he pounded on it with his fist.

“Hey—” he started to call out, only to stop abruptly, suddenly realizing he didn’t know her name. She hadn’t introduced herself after he’d moved in last month, apparently no more interested in getting to know him than he was her. They’d exchanged nothing more than brief glances across their lawns whenever they both happened to be in front of their respective homes. She’d give him a polite nod, a short, shy smile as her gaze skittered away. She was pretty, from what he could tell, but evidently not social. Not that he could judge. He wasn’t, either.

“Everything okay in there?” he asked instead.

He waited for a light to flicker on inside or for her to answer the door.

A full minute passed. Nothing happened.

He repeated the knock and the call, to no effect.

The lack of a response only stoked his tension. He tried the knob and wasn’t surprised to find it locked.

Something was going on. He had to find another way inside the house.

From what he remembered, there was another door in the back of the building. He gave a quick check in the front window. Seeing nothing, he made his way around the side of the house. The other windows were no more illuminating, in more ways than one.

He knocked on the back door, then tried the knob. It turned in his hand. The door swung open silently at his touch. He stayed by the wall, out of view of anyone inside, waiting to see what happened.

Nothing did. Silence resounded.

“Hello?” he called into the darkness.

No response.

He slowly moved through the doorway, watching for any sign of trouble. Spotting none, he reached over and flipped the light switch, revealing his neighbor’s kitchen. It was empty.

“Hello?” he called again.

Still no response. He ventured farther, keeping his eyes moving in every direction, senses on high alert. The kitchen opened onto a darkened hallway, the gloom pierced by a faint light glowing from one of the rooms. A quick glance in either direction told him the hallway was empty. Reassured, he turned and headed toward the light.

“Lady, are you okay?”

Even as he said it, the floor creaked beneath his foot, betraying his location.

“Stay back!” a voice ordered, drawing him to a halt. “I still have a couple bullets left and I’m more than ready to use them. I’m calling 9-1-1.”

The voice was strong, firm and undeniably female. He half wondered if he should ask who he was talking to, because there was no way that hardened tone could be coming from the mouth of the woman with the shy smile and retreating gaze. But who else would be calling 9-1-1? Did she have someone staying with her? He hadn’t noticed anyone, but then, he hadn’t been paying attention.

“I already did. The cops are on their way.”

She didn’t say anything to that. He stood stock-still, listening to the ragged sounds of her breathing inside the room.

“Look, I’m just going to poke my head around the corner so you can see me. I’d appreciate it if you didn’t blow it off.”

Another long silence, then a reluctant “Okay.”

Her tone wasn’t reassuring. He wondered for a few seconds if he really wanted to risk it. It seemed like he’d gone past the point of no return now. Taking a breath, he leaned over with painstaking slowness and pushed his head into the doorway.

As promised and suspected, he found himself staring down the barrel of a gun. Even as he entered the doorway, his eyes focused on her, she made a nearly imperceptible correction, keeping them right in her sights. He had the feeling she had every intention of putting a bullet straight between them if he looked at her funny.

He did his best to ignore the gun, no easy feat, and met the steady gaze behind it. This was his neighbor, all right. His first impression was that he’d been right. She was pretty, even more than he’d expected. She had soft features, her face full and round, probably more than usual due to her condition. Not a classic beauty, but definitely attractive.

There was nothing soft about her expression. Dark brown eyes met his, unblinking.

The hands that held the gun were steady, as unwavering as her stare. She might be on edge, but there was no doubt she knew exactly what she was doing, and was ready to do whatever else she thought she had to.

“Hi,” he said lamely. “We haven’t officially been introduced. I’m Jake Armstrong. I moved into the house next door last month. I just came over to make sure you’re okay.”

Her gaze raked over his face, as though scrutinizing every inch for any sign he wasn’t who he said he was or who he appeared to be. He waited, hoping to high hell he passed her inspection.

Finally, just when he was about to coax her to do just that, she lowered the gun. Not entirely. No more than a few inches really. Her finger didn’t release the trigger, leaving the impression she was prepared to jerk the weapon back up and fire at the slightest provocation.

Still, it was a start.

Her expression didn’t relax, either. Her gaze narrowed, slowly traveling down the length of him and back again. She gave a small nod, as though satisfied. “You’re not one of them.”

“Who?”

“The people who broke in to my house. You’re too big.”

Not the first time he’d heard that one. “Who was it? What did they want?”

“I don’t know.”

A troubled note entered her voice, and the hard lines of her expression softened slightly, betraying the first hint of the fear she must have been feeling. She eased her left hand off her weapon and moved it onto the swell of her belly, as though reassuring herself it was still there, still safe.

His eyes tracked the gesture, a feeling of dread pooling in the pit of his stomach. The obvious answer would have been robbery. That she hadn’t said so must mean she believed it was something else. Something related to her baby, judging from the way her hand clutched her stomach.

Why would someone break in to her house because of her baby?

A few answers came to mind, none of them good.

And he had to wonder just what would have happened here if she hadn’t had that gun.

Chapter Two

“I’m telling you, I was not dreaming.”

Sara did her best to fight her rising impatience, but was still unable to keep the aggravation completely out of her tone.

The police officer who’d finally responded to her neighbor’s 9-1-1 call gave her that condescending look that was the cause of most of her irritation. Then he opened his mouth and delivered the source of the rest of it.

“I’m sorry, Ms. Carson, but like I said, we checked the whole house and weren’t able to find any signs that anyone else was here. There’s no indication the door was tampered with, no footprints inside or outside the house. No blood or any other reason to believe you shot anybody.”

“They ducked and ran,” she said for what seemed like the millionth time.

The officer—Dawson, she recalled him introducing himself—didn’t even acknowledge the interruption. “None of your neighbors saw anything, and you say nothing was taken.”

“That’s because I scared them off before they had the chance,” she returned. “Not that I think they were here to steal anything.”

“Right,” he said on a sigh. “The needle. Are you sure that’s what you saw? If the lights were off, in the dark…”

“It was shiny, and they said ‘This won’t hurt.’ It was a needle.”

“Do you know of any reason why someone might break in and try to harm you or your baby?”

“No.”

“Who else has a key?”

“No one.”

“And you’re sure you locked the back door before you went to bed?”

“Yes.”

The officer sighed again. “Ms. Carson, you said you haven’t been sleeping well. A woman living alone, in your condition, it’s understandable you might have a bad dream, or think you see something that isn’t there—”

“I’m pregnant, not deranged.”

His eyebrows went up and his gaze slid away, an expression that clearly said “Is there a difference?” She hadn’t missed the wedding ring on his finger and wondered briefly if he had kids. If so, she hoped he’d been more empathetic to his wife than he was being with her. Or maybe that experience was the cause of his current attitude.

Sara shot a glance at the other officer standing in the living-room doorway. He had a small smirk on his face, with slightly more impatience. She wouldn’t be getting any help from him.

She returned her attention to Dawson. “I know what happened,” she said stubbornly.

“I know you believe that. We just have to go by the evidence.”

“So you’re not going to do anything?”

Dawson held out his hands in a helpless gesture. “I’m not sure what I can do. Even if there was somebody here, we don’t have any way of tracking them down unless there’s something else you’re not telling me.”

Even if there was, what was the point? It wasn’t as if what she had told him had done her any good. “There’s not.”

“Look at it this way. If somebody did break in, they probably won’t be coming back. I’d say you did a darn good job scaring them off. They won’t want to mess with you again.”

“I guess,” she muttered, unconvinced for reasons she couldn’t quite explain, but which scared her all the same.

“Tell you what. I’ll have somebody drive by a couple times the rest of the night, just to make sure everything looks okay.”

There was a definite note of finality in his tone. Even as he said it, he was rising from his seat. Clearly they’d wasted enough time on the delusional pregnant woman.

“Fine,” she said begrudgingly. She didn’t bother to rise with him. They’d be able to make it to the next county by the time she hoisted herself from the chair.

Touching the brim of his hat, he offered one last “Ma’am” and headed to the door, following the other officer out.

As soon as they were gone, Sara wiped a hand over her face and released the frustrated breath she’d been holding. She knew she hadn’t imagined what had happened. Someone had broken in to her home, someone who’d intended to harm her. There just didn’t seem to be any way to prove it.

Which meant she was on her own to figure out what to do now. Not that that was anything new.

A soft tap against the door frame startled her. Her eyes flew to the entryway, her heart in her throat. Her neighbor stood there, the sight instantly reassuring. Jake, he’d said his name was. Just like the first time she’d seen him, she was struck by his sheer size, which was only emphasized in the smaller confines of her house. The man was massive, well over six feet tall and brawny, his shoulders filling the frame, his head barely clearing the ceiling. His size was such a defining characteristic that she’d had no trouble knowing he wasn’t involved in the break-in. She would have recognized this mountain coming at her in the dark.

From the few glimpses she’d had of him when they’d nodded to each other in passing, he’d struck her as deeply intimidating. Up close, he was slightly less so, if only because she could see his face more clearly. He wasn’t exactly handsome, but there was definitely something appealing in the blunt masculinity of his features. He’d always had this fierce expression on his face. She’d never seen him smile. He wasn’t now, either.

“I guess I’ll take off, too,” he said. “I just wanted to make sure you’re okay.”

“I’m fine,” she said, because it was easier than trying to convince someone else otherwise. Just hallucinating,evidently. “I never thanked you for calling 9-1-1 and coming over to check things out.”

He nodded shortly, lowering his eyes, as though embarrassed by her gratitude. “Don’t mention it. What are neighbors for, right?”

“Right,” she echoed with a pang of guilt, all too aware she hadn’t really lived up to that unspoken rule. She’d done what she always did, kept to herself. Because it was easier. Because she was a coward. But then, until tonight, so had he.

“The back door is locked. I can get the front on my way out.”

His way out. He was leaving. And she’d be alone. “Great,” she said, her tension tangling in knots in her stomach.

Her nervousness must have come across loud and clear. “If you don’t feel safe, maybe you shouldn’t stay here. Call a friend.”

Sara shook her head, embarrassed to admit the truth. “I don’t know anyone around here.”

If he wondered why she didn’t when she’d lived here longer than he had, he didn’t comment on it. His expression didn’t change. “Get a hotel room for the night.”

“Maybe I will,” she said halfheartedly, already thinking of all the things she’d have to do. It would take her a while to get some things together—another reason she should have put her overnight bag for the hospital together by now—and she’d have to call a cab to take her, since she didn’t trust herself to drive in her current state. Given how fast she moved these days, it would probably be dawn by the time she made it to a hotel. Hardly worth the trouble, since she didn’t think they would try anything in broad daylight.

It was the hours until then that worried her.

“Well, if you stay, I wouldn’t worry about it,” her neighbor said. “You’ll be fine.”

“I’m sure you’re right,” she replied, because there didn’t seem to be anything else she could say.

For a long moment he didn’t say anything either or make a move for the door. She felt a brief hope that he might linger. Desperation fueled the feeling from a flicker to a full-blown inferno that swept through her.

Please stay.

It was such a ridiculous impulse she didn’t even start to open her mouth to form the words. She didn’t know this man. He didn’t owe her anything, had already done more for her than most people would have bothered with, risking himself to come over and investigate. Asking for anything more would be too much.

But if he offered to do it himself…

He cleared his throat, not looking at her. “Okay, then. Good night.”

Disappointment washed over her, the feeling too familiar to have much of an impact.

“Good night,” she murmured.

He turned and walked out of the doorway. She listened to his heavy tread retreating, the sound of the front door closing, then to the empty silence echoing around her.

Apprehension clawed up her spine, prickling at the nape of her neck. She scanned the familiar space of her living room. The bookshelves filled from top to bottom on one wall. The comfortable, mismatched furniture, each piece personally chosen. She tried to tell herself that she was just as safe here as she’d been before she’d gone to bed. Maybe the officers were right. Maybe it had just been a bad dream.

Maybe…

But try as she might, she couldn’t make herself believe any of it. The truth remained too vivid in her memory.

She unconsciously rubbed a hand over her belly. “Just you and me, little guy,” she whispered, getting a kick against her palm in response. She couldn’t be disappointed. It was how she’d expected it to be from the beginning. Just her and the baby.

She’d just never felt more alone than she did in that moment.

Or more afraid.

JAKE TRIED NOT TO FEEL guilty as he left his neighbor’s house. She’d be fine. He’d talked to the cops himself, heard how they hadn’t found anything. They’d seemed convinced she’d just had a bad dream, fueled by pregnancy hormones and a lack of sleep, and suffered an extreme reaction, firing at phantoms that weren’t there. It made more sense than people breaking in to her house to attack her and leaving no trace of their presence behind.

Besides, he couldn’t let himself get involved. A pregnant woman, with no sign of a father in the picture, was exactly the kind of woman he couldn’t be around. She could grow attached too easily, come to depend on him. And he didn’t have anything to offer her, or her kid.

His reasons made sense. They just didn’t help erase the uneasy feeling that dogged him as he made his way back to his house.

She’d seemed so sure.

The look in her eyes tugged at him. When she’d stared at him over the gun. When they’d said their goodbyes moments ago. There’d been dark shadows beneath her eyes, a sign that she wasn’t sleeping much, as she’d said. But her eyes had been clear and focused. Afraid.

And sure.

His gut clenched. Was it possible? The cops hadn’t ventured much beyond the house, finding enough, or not enough, there to satisfy their belief that she’d imagined the whole thing. But then, there’d only been two of them, not really enough to do a thorough search. If they thought something had really happened, they might have called for more officers.

He stopped midway between his house and hers, considering. If someone had broken in to her house, they’d probably used the back door, the one he’d found unlocked. And they likely wouldn’t have approached the house from the front and made their way to the back from there, in plain view of the street. They would have approached from behind.

He slowly turned in that direction. Several rows of trees lined the backs of their houses, forming a thick natural border with the homes on the other side. If someone had broken in to her house, the best way to approach—and to disappear—was through the trees, maybe even parking in the driveway of the house on the other side. He didn’t know for sure, but he thought he remembered something about that house being empty. There would be no one to notice a vehicle arriving in the middle of the night and making use of its driveway.

Before he could question the impulse, he quickly moved back to his truck and retrieved a flashlight, then headed toward her backyard. It was a cloudy night, the moon only briefly and occasionally showing itself. The trees lay covered in darkness.

Switching on the light, he reached the edge of the woods behind her house and floated the beam across the ground. It didn’t take him long to spot where the dirt had been disturbed. He crossed to the location and leaned closer, having no trouble identifying the marks.

Fresh footprints.

There was no reason they should be there. He couldn’t picture his neighbor wandering around back here, leaving a cluster of footprints in shoes that looked too big to be hers. He didn’t know why someone from the other side would be over here, even if the house was occupied. She might have had somebody working in her backyard, although he couldn’t think of a reason they’d have been back this far. Not to mention the lawn didn’t look like it had been mowed that week.

The prints were messy and indistinct, as though whoever had made them had been moving too quickly to leave much of an impression. Quickly, as if they were running from a pregnant woman with a gun?

Jake stared at the marks for a long moment, trying to convince himself he wasn’t putting more stock in them than he should be. He had no reason to believe the impressions were connected to what had happened in her house tonight, and every reason to believe nothing had occurred.

Unless the intruders had been so careful to leave no trace of their presence that in their haste they overlooked this one, maybe counting on someone to discount it.

Unless he’d just missed them disappearing into the darkness as he came around the side of the house.

Unless he was already inside when they started their vehicle and drove away, if the sound had even been audible from the house.