LITMIR.BIZ

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And it has been a long time….”

      Lucinda nodded. “You’re right, it has, and my mood really doesn’t have a thing to do with Holden.” It was a lie, but not entirely. She’d been feeling like hell for weeks now. She’d get the results of her ultrasound test tomorrow, and she was dreading what she’d hear. She had a pretty fair idea about what was going on with her body.

      “I probably shouldn’t have taken it out on him,” she said, but she didn’t mean it.

      “What is bothering you, Lucinda?”

      She shook her head. “Oh, the usual. You know, with every baby I deliver it seems I hear my biological clock ticking louder than before.”

      Claudia smiled. “Got that urge, huh?”

      “I’ve had that urge for some time now. And my time’s running out.”

      “Don’t be silly. You’re only…”

      “Thirty-four,” she said, lowering her eyes to hide the fear she knew she couldn’t hide. “And then there’s the clinic.”

      “Still can’t get the funding, huh?”

      Lucinda shook her head. “Health care for lower income women around here is practically nonexistent. And my big plans to change that state of things don’t seem to be going anywhere.”

      “I don’t see why you won’t just let Matthew and I back you.”

      “I need several backers, not just one. The amount I need to get this clinic up and running is too much to expect one person to give. And taking money from friends—especially the kind of money we’re talking about here—is never a good idea, Claudia. You know how I feel about that. Besides, the Fortunes aren’t the only wealthy family in Texas. I want to do this on my own. I just have to convince the local bigshots to open up their pockets for a good cause.”

      “Just know you can count on us if you need to,” Claudia said.

      Lucinda nodded and squeezed her friend’s hand. “I do know. And I’m grateful.”

      “Come on,” Claudia said, tugging Lucinda toward the back of the room and the wide, curving staircase. “Let’s go up and see if Bryan’s ready to make his big entrance.”

      “Hey, hold on a minute. We’ll come with you,” a voice called from behind.

      Lucinda stiffened, because it was Holden’s voice. The voice that could still send delicious shivers up her spine yet make her want to claw his eyes out all at the same time. She turned, fixing a false smile onto her face as Holden and Matthew joined them at the foot of the stairs.

      Maria had been quietly observing all of them, watching the women parade around in their expensive clothes, perfect hair, glamorous nails and real jewels. Watching the men, who watched the women. Rich bastards, all of them. When it looked as if the party was in full swing, and most of the guests had arrived, Maria slipped away again, up to the nursery to collect James. It was time for the big announcement. Time to watch them all pale with shock when they realized that she had mothered one of their own. That she wouldn’t be content to be merely tolerated or seen as a former servant, or as the daughter of Ryan Fortune’s whore. No. She’d be one of them now.

      She slipped into the nursery, and leaned over the bassinet, cooing softly. Then she went still, because all that lay inside was the rumpled, down-soft blanket, and a large sheet of paper.

      “James?” she whispered. What…

      A soft gurgling noise made her turn her head sharply toward the massive crib at the far end of the room. That was it. Someone must have moved the baby. She quickly went to the crib, only to stop dead again. It wasn’t James staring up at her with wide, baby-blue eyes and a toothless, dribbly smile. It was Bryan. Matthew’s legitimate son.

      Oh, God, where was James?

      Her heart in her throat, Maria rushed back to the bassinet. Only then did she begin to panic. That sheet of paper seemed to stare up at her, daring her to look at it, to read what it said.

      With the tip of a fingernail, she lifted the top fold.

      We have taken Bryan Fortune. He will be returned unharmed, as soon as you have delivered fifty million dollars in cash.

      “Fifty million…” Maria whispered. Kidnapped! Her son—her James—had been kidnapped! Mistaken for Bryan Fortune. Whoever had done this probably hadn’t even noticed the other baby in the crib across the room. Maria hadn’t when she’d first come in.

      Fifty million dollars. Who would give fifty million dollars for an illegitimate little boy like James? Not the Fortune family. Even if they knew he was one of their own, even if Maria could somehow prove it to them…no, because James’s appearance in this family would throw their golden lives into chaos. They’d never pay. They’d let the kidnappers sell him or…or worse.

      Maria’s throat went dry as she backed away from the bassinet and the cruel reality that was forcing its way into her mind. There was no way to get her baby back. No way…

      Her back touched the crib, and the other child inside it cooed and chirped at her. She turned.

      What if the Fortunes believed that it was Bryan who’d been taken? No one knew James even existed. What if…

      What if she took little Bryan…for just a little while? Just until the ransom was paid and James was safe again. Then she’d switch the babies back, make it all right. Somehow….

      Somehow.

      She bent over the crib, gathering Bryan Fortune into her arms. “You won’t mind so much, will you, little one? I’ll take good care of you, and you’ll be back with your mamma in no time at all. It’s not so much to ask, is it? To save my baby’s life?”

      The baby smiled as if in response, and Maria wrapped him in a blanket and snuggled him close, smelling his baby smell as tears welled up in her eyes. “God, this all went so wrong…so wrong…”

      She paused on the way out, licking her lips as she looked once more at the note in the bassinet. This had to look real, it had to be convincing. Cradling the baby close with one arm, she quickly picked up the note, using the edge of a receiving blanket to cover her fingers. No fingerprints. She mustn’t leave a trace. She carried the note to Bryan’s crib, dropped it inside, and hurried away before she could change her mind.

      Two

      As they walked up the stairs, Claudia and Matthew fell into step, side by side, hand in hand, leading the way. Leaving Lucinda to walk at Holden’s side. And the whole time, she swore he never took his eyes off her. She got the feeling he had some special X-ray vision that could see right through her clothes. Then again, that view was one he’d seen before—and it hadn’t made much of an impression on him then.

      He certainly did seem to be paying attention now, though.

      Men. She wished she could think like they did, feel like they did. All she wanted was a relationship that could develop into something…something like Claudia had with Matthew. She wanted a husband, a baby…

      God, she wanted a baby so much….

      But all her efforts at relationships had turned out in one of two ways. Either the man she was seeing wanted no commitment at all or he wanted too much of one. Mostly the latter. One man after another had bid her adios when it became apparent that she wasn’t willing to give up her practice, or her plans of building a clinic, to devote her full attention to him.

      Maybe she didn’t need a man at all. Maybe all she needed was a willing sperm donor. A one-night stand.

      “So, Lucy,” Holden said. “What are you doing after the party?”

      She blinked at his interruption of her rather uncharacteristic and slightly shocking train of thought. She told herself not to imagine his gold-blond hair and sky-blue eyes on a little

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