LITMIR.BIZ

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Or a half dozen other unsavory things, including but not limited to Eric’s employee.

      On the other hand, if she truly was an innocent party in all of this, then God help her. She’d just wandered into a viper’s nest.

      And he was one of the very vipers that could end up getting her killed.

      “Sir, I’m asking you to rethink this visit,” Nick heard Cooper say. “You shouldn’t go to see this woman alone.”

      But that was the only way this visit would happen. It was too dangerous otherwise.

      “I’ll be fine, Cooper. Besides, you have one of your men posted nearby.” It wasn’t a question. Nick had seen the security guard in the dark-green car and knew it was one of his vehicles and employees.

      “I do. But he won’t be inside.”

      “Nor do I want him there,” Nick insisted, making sure he got his point across. He appreciated Cooper’s concern, but this visit had to happen solo. The authoritative tone was a surefire way to make certain Cooper backed off.

      Nick brought his car to a stop one block up from her house. He took his phone off the speaker function, got out of his car and, despite the crisp air from the cold front moving in, walked the rest of the way. Best not to announce to the world that he was there, by parking his car right in front of her house.

      “Keep looking for more of Ms. Manning’s layers and whatever turns out to be beneath them,” Nick instructed Cooper. “If she’s hiding anything, or if you find even a remote connection to Eric, I want to know immediately.”

      Nick ended the call and stopped in front of Kelly Manning’s house. It was an odd little place. Though it was still on the fringes of the city, it was almost like a fairy-tale cottage with its charcoal-gray-slate-tiled roof, pristine ivory exterior, pale yellow shutters and cobblestone walkway. There were now empty flower beds beneath the pair of front bay windows, but he imagined that in the spring those beds would be bursting with color.

      The only thing missing was a white picket fence.

      However, the picture wasn’t quite so pastoral to Nick. For one thing, the house was isolated on a huge lot choked with thick trees and shrubs. Securing it would be a nightmare. Yet it would have to be done.

      And soon.

      Nick checked his coat pocket to make sure William’s DNA sample was there. It was. He also had two other sterile buccal swabs enclosed in their equally sterile containers. One was for Kelly Manning. The other for Joseph. Even now, nearly thirty-six hours after her visit, Nick was still debating if he should give William’s DNA sample to her. A refusal might lessen the danger.

      Maybe.

      Or maybe it would just make her dig even harder to get to the truth.

      Digging in this case wouldn’t be a good thing. If her search alerted Eric’s people, and it almost certainly would, then it’d be more than her life at stake. So, it was probably best to give her the sample and then monitor anyone who had access to the results. If worse came to worst, then he could always alter the tests to keep everyone safe.

      Nick followed the cobblestone walk to the front porch. He paused a moment, to make sure he could pull off his famous iceman act, but the door opened before his pause had hardly started.

      And there she was.

      Kelly Manning was staring up at him through the clear glass storm door. “I’d just about decided that I’d have to make another visit to the ranch,” she greeted. She wiped her paint-splattered hands on an equally paint-splattered rag.

      The comment was friendly enough, but he heard the nerves simmering right there beneath the surface. The wait had obviously put her through hell. Little did she know it’d done the same to him.

      “Did I come at a bad time, Ms. Manning?” he asked.

      “Well, that’s the polite thing to ask, but you and I both know there is no good time for this.” She held open the storm door. “Oh, and drop the Ms. Manning part. Kelly will do.”

      “Nick,” he reciprocated.

      Without the door between them, Nick could see what she was wearing. Faded, well-worn jeans that rode low on her hips and a snug little stretchy top the color of a chili pepper. It outlined her breasts. Of course, her breasts were the last things that Nick wanted to notice. He was going to have to ignore the fact that she was attractive.

      Damn attractive.

      It was the lust factor. It had to be. Why his body began to hum and simmer when he was around this woman, he didn’t know. He didn’t want to know, either. Nick just wanted it to stop.

      “Come in.” She stepped aside so he could enter.

      The place didn’t smell like paint, even though she’d obviously been working on an oil portrait just a couple of yards away from the door. Instead, he caught a whiff of baby powder.

      And her.

      Something distinctly female. Somehow, it was that unique scent that cut through everything and made its way to his nose. Nick reminded his nose not to get any bad ideas to pass on to the rest of his body.

      He forced his attention away from her and looked around the simply furnished room. It evidentially did double duty as a living area and studio. It was clean, uncluttered and efficient. A lot like the woman who owned it. What was missing was the baby, Joseph. But there were two rooms just off to his left. One of them was probably the nursery.

      She motioned for him to take a seat on the perky floral sofa. “Why did you think the guards were necessary?” she immediately asked.

      Nick blinked. “Guards?”

      She pointed to the window. “The one up the street who followed me home the other night. Either he or his partner has been sitting out there the entire time. They’ve changed off shifts and cars, of course, probably so they wouldn’t be so conspicuous. It didn’t work.”

      This time he suppressed the blink. “The guards are just a precaution.”

      “You know, you do that a lot—avoid answering very direct questions.” She dropped down into the chair across from him and tucked her feet beneath her. “If the guards are here to keep an eye on me, to see if I’m up to anything criminal, then they’re wasting their time and your money.”

      “That’s one of the reasons they’re here,” he admitted. “But I was also concerned about your safety.”

      “How admirable of you.” And she didn’t sound as if she meant it. “But my safety won’t be an issue once I prove that William is my son. Both he and I will be safe then.”

      Nick wouldn’t bet on that.

      Since this visit was getting more uncomfortable in just about every way possible, he held up the test kit with William’s DNA sample. It was clearly labeled to prevent a mix-up with the other kits.

      She stared at it a moment before she tossed her paint rag on the lamp table and took it from him. “Is that what I think it is?”

      “Yes.” Nick didn’t add more. He let her take the lead.

      “Wow.” She flexed her eyebrows. “I would have liked to have been a fly on the wall when you finally made the decision to go through with this.”

      “It would have been a very boring event to witness.” The battle had all been within. He could say the same about the particular battle he was fighting now. All within. Well, except for that blink.

      “No gnashing of teeth?” she asked.

      He shrugged. “Maybe some. But I figured this was the fastest way to disprove your allegation.”

      “Ah, so you’re back to thinking I’m a liar. Of course, ‘disprove your allegation’ sounds so much more civil, doesn’t it?”

      “I thought so,”

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