Billionaire’s Missing Baby Read online

  “Thank you so much,” she replied with sincerity. “Annie will feel much better with a stable roof over her head. This last month’s been a real nightmare.”

  Maggie stepped inside the furnished apartment and gratefully closed the door. Sure, she’d just had to spend a huge portion of her own money to pay her way in here, but the manager—a fellow immigrant, though he was from Mexico rather than South Africa—had completely understood. He hadn’t asked her if the baby was hers, and she hadn’t offered up any information one way or the other. That, at least, would make James happy.

  The real problem was, she didn’t know what she would do if James didn’t send her another infusion of cash. Sure, maybe she’d been spending it a bit faster than she should. She’d bought a whole bunch of new things using the credit card and mailing them to her home in Los Angeles. She’d even sent money to her neighbor, Molly, to put everything inside her door for her whenever it arrived. But at this rate, she had no idea if she’d even be able to return there.

  Theresa had accused James of something, though she wasn’t quite sure exactly what it was. But from what she had said, it didn’t sound like she had known. Like maybe she had legitimately thought Jim Connors was James’ real name, and that she was really his wife. Maybe that act he’d wanted to put on—holding hands and smiling and such—wasn’t just for the nurses and the doctor. Maybe it had been meant to fool Theresa, too.

  It would put the whole thing into a different light if the mother didn’t even know who they really were. That would mean that she was involved in something totally illegal. Hell, she wasn’t even using her real name—well, not that she had been since she’d changed her last name when she moved to the States to begin with, but still.

  In any case, the documents to this place had been signed by a Maggie Steward, the name James had told her to start using when he’d moved them into that cheap motel a week ago. It was the same name that was programmed into the little flip phone he’d sent to replace her fancy smart phone as well. She had no more delusions that James was a nice guy, that he cared about this baby, or that he cared about her.

  Up until the baby had been born, James had become quite attentive to her. Taking her to fancy restaurants, and telling her that Adam’s baby was her niece, too. He’d never gotten around to actually making love to her, but he’d convinced her that it was a possibility. The tabloid she’d found at the grocery store with the Costanza love child story had her thinking otherwise.

  Their father was a racist. James had insisted that Adam was racist, too. Yet when they’d all been in that hospital room together last year, the older brother had seemed much too kind for such sentiments to be a part of his world. Plus, if he was a racist, then what was he doing knocking up this black girl? It didn’t make any sense, now that she was far enough away from James not to be fooled by his smooth-talking words. If one of the Costanza sons really was racist, it seemed much more likely that it was him. She realized that, other than holding her hand at the hospital while that baby was being born, James had never really touched her. Despite all his sweet words, and his insinuations about their future together, he’d never made any intimate gesture towards her. He’d never once allowed himself to touch Annie, either. It should have been obvious he was just as disgusted at the idea of touching a black person as John had been. Maggie had just been too caught up in the moment to notice.

  She was done listening to him now, though. She wanted to know what was really going on. This whole mess reeked of lies, and she couldn’t afford to get caught up in it. If she was caught doing something illegal, immigration was going to revoke her visa and deport her, no questions asked. That was if she didn’t get thrown in jail here first. Either way, she had already quit her job, which was one of the requirements for being here, and now she was running around hiding with an illegally obtained baby. She’d gotten herself into quite a mess.

  Whenever she looked at Annie, though, her heart went out to the child. No matter how she might have been conceived, no matter who the real father might be, and no matter whether Theresa Plummer was worried about her or not, the facts were the facts: the woman had given her up. She may have been deceived, but she had gone through with the exchange. That meant Annie needed someone. She was the only mother the baby knew; the only one who really seemed to want her. Maybe she could make it work. Maybe she could find some way, with the last bit of money she still had, to make the whole thing legal. Make Annie her own baby, and figure out a way to raise her on her own.

  Only, hadn’t James told her that John Costanza wasn’t going to let that happen? Hadn’t he told her they were hiding to keep Annie safe? If John really did think of the baby like James said, as nothing but the polluting of his bloodline, it was obvious what he might do about it. The man would want to see them dead.

  Maggie started having some serious reservations about using the name James had given her to rent this place. She should have thought ahead. She should have realized that if they could find her using that name, which obviously James believed was the case or he wouldn’t have told her to move again, then they could just as easily use that name to track her here.

  But no. James had been lying about everything else, ever since the day he’d come to her with this whole crazy scheme. John Costanza was about to die. He was much too ill to bother with her and Annie, wasn’t he? Besides, she was tired of running away. Annie was tired.

  All of this running around couldn’t be good for her. Ever since they’d come to Reno, the sweet-tempered little girl had changed. She cried all the time now. She didn’t seem to sleep, even for a few hours at a time. And as a nurse, Maggie knew that she might just fail to thrive. A baby needed a stable environment, with good and loving family surrounding them and encouraging them to survive. Coming into the world in a situation like this one, how could the little one possibly do well?

  No, stability was what little Annie needed, and what Maggie intended to provide. She would just have to figure out how to adopt the baby herself and get a job again, then everything would be okay.

  Wouldn’t it?

  Chapter Nineteen

  When Theresa opened her eyes the next morning and stirred, she felt the weight of someone’s arm draped across her hips, holding her down. She glanced sleepily over her shoulder at Adam and furrowed her brow.

  How did they get here? She remembered they’d been talking well into the night, finally getting to know about each other. She thought she might have drifted off while they were sitting on the couch. If that was the case, obviously Adam must have put her to bed. Why had he stayed there, then?

  “Hey, Adam?” she asked softly, rolling toward him. “Why are you still here?”

  His eyes popped open and he rubbed the sleep out of them as he rolled over. “Sorry. I was trying to be all valiant by carrying you to bed, but I was so sleepy at the time I must have passed out when I got you here.”

  Theresa chuckled. “I suppose we only needed one room after all.”

  He grinned wryly. “Good to know,” he said, his voice sounding slightly husky as they looked at each other. His hand moved back to her hip again, and Theresa’s moved to his as her heart began to pound. She was sure he could feel the rapid pulse through her wrist, but then he added, “However, since this is a rescue mission, this is also something we have no time to explore.”

  Theresa felt a little bit of guilt wash over her as he leaned in and kissed the tip of her nose before he let her go. He headed for the door.

  “Where are you going?” she wanted to know.

  “I need to get my things from the other room,” he replied, glancing at his watch. “It’s almost eleven already. We’re supposed to check out within the hour.”

  “We’ve been sleeping that long?” she gasped, springing to her feet as well.

  “Sleeping with you is pretty damned comfortable,” Adam confessed with a grin. “Who knew?”

  He darted out of the door before Theresa could say anything else. However, after a few mom
ents of fuming, she started to giggle instead. Apparently sleeping with him was pretty damned comfortable, too.

  She grabbed her bag of Twizzlers, which was the only bag she’d kept for herself, and brought it down to the lobby, handing her key over to the man at the desk.

  “The continental breakfast has pretty much been picked clean,” he told her apologetically. “I was about to clear it away, so if you want anything you might want to get it now.”

  “Do you have any tea?” she asked hopefully.

  “Help yourself,” he shrugged, pointing towards the small dining area.

  Thinking of Adam as well, Theresa made herself some tea and poured him a cup of coffee, adding the cream and sugar she knew he liked before capping both drinks with lids. She grabbed the four remaining English muffins and buttered them, warming them in the little microwave enough to melt it in.

  Adam arrived, his hair slick from taking a quick shower. His clothes were still a bit wrinkled from their inadvertent bedtime cuddles, but she could tell he’d tried to smooth them out. Wet and still a bit sleepy, the man looked sexier than ever. Theresa’s libido heartily agreed.

  What had that been after they’d woken up, anyway? That almost kiss thing? Because it kind of felt like a promise. One that she would be more than willing to keep.

  There were pressing issues at hand, however. First, they needed to get to the address outside of Vegas and see what they’d find there. Hopefully they’d find Anne and Maggie. Theresa could care less if they ever did find James, except to have him clapped in handcuffs for kidnapping. That would be gratifying to see.

  “I just saw the exact moment your thoughts switched from my anatomy to his right now,” Adam whispered outrageously in her ear as he took two of the English muffins from her hands. “A guy could hope it would take a little longer, but I completely understand.”

  Blushing furiously, Theresa moved to put grape jelly on her bread without saying anything. Adam’s chuckle did crazy things to her insides, and she couldn’t help but notice his close proximity as he reached for the strawberry. Their torsos brushed slightly, and this time Theresa really did lean back, if only briefly.

  “We need to get going,” she reminded him. “I want to reach Paradise before evening.”

  “If you want to do that, we’d have to stay here,” he teased with a wink.

  Theresa’s jaw dropped, and she chuckled as she turned to face him. “You’re feeling awfully bold this morning,” she commented as he wrapped her into his arms. “How come you stopped being so nervous around me?”

  “Because I wasn’t sure before,” he admitted.

  “Sure?”

  “About what you really wanted,” he replied, blushing. “I mean, I’m not wrong, am I?”

  Theresa smirked as she tiptoed up and kissed the tip of his nose. Not satisfied with this, Adam caught her chin with one hand and kissed her lips instead. He didn’t do anything more than that, though, but set her away from him resolutely.

  “This is not getting us where we need to go,” he said with conviction. “Grab some of the stash, Momma, and let’s head out.”

  Theresa dutifully took some of the groceries they’d hauled in last night back to the car again, and the two of them piled in. Adam didn’t immediately head for the interstate, though, instead pulling in at a local fast food drive-thru and ordering a more substantial meal.

  “Do you want anything?” he asked her. “They’ve switched to the lunch menu.”

  “Burger and fries will do,” she told him with a shy smile.

  When he received the order he set it between her thighs, then playfully squeezed her knee. “You’re riding shotgun. You get to divide.”

  Theresa liked the new, more confident man at her side. She might miss his shy side eventually, since he was so adorably boyish in his uncertainty, but she was going to enjoy the man a whole lot more.

  ***

  The address at Paradise was a dead end. The two of them found nothing there other than a small mobile home and a mailbox on a stick, fenced in on the smallest size lot imaginable. Adam and Theresa sat in the car and stared at it in disgust.

  “Well, someone still might be in there,” Theresa pointed out, though the idea of finding her baby holed up in a place like this nauseated her.

  “Stay here,” Adam said, squeezing her thigh before removing his hand from the place it had resided most of the way there. “We don’t know if it’s safe.”

  “And you think separating is safe?” she scoffed. “We’re supposed to be a team here.”

  Adam rolled his eyes at her as he shrugged. “If you're coming along, you’d better keep your eyes open. The last thing I want is for someone to kidnap you, too.”

  The thought hadn’t crossed Theresa’s mind, but it probably should have. Now she followed nervously at Adam’s heels, doing the best job of watching his back that she could. They easily reached the door.

  “It’s not locked,” Adam said in a whisper. He reached behind him and drew her to his side, then dipped down and kissed her. “For luck,” he explained, followed by a wink.

  He cautiously opened the door and the two of them stepped inside. The place seemed to be used for storage, but the lights didn’t work when he flipped the switch. He let Theresa go and she waited as he briefly opened each of the doors, confirming that they were alone.

  “There’s a little room in the back with a whole bunch of paperwork. It looks like some things it would be a good idea to go through,” Adam told her as he came to the front again. “I think, since this is the only lead we have, that it would be a good idea to sit tight and see what we could find. Only, I’d rather bring the papers along and get another room for the night, since there’s no power around here.”

  “How many papers are we talking about?” Theresa asked as she headed down the hall. Her face fell as she realized there were stacks and stacks everywhere. “Wow, I suppose we’d better get to moving them if you’re going to want them all.”

  A few hours later Adam and Theresa found themselves in a nearby motel, choosing to stay in one room together this time. The building was made so that each unit’s door opened directly to the parking lot, making it easy for them to haul in one stack of paperwork at a time.

  Adam pulled out his cell phone and ordered a couple of pizzas while Theresa began organizing the paperwork into piles. As she sorted them by topic, Adam called Chris to check in with all that they’d found.

  “Did he have anything useful to tell us?” Theresa asked hopefully when he’d hung up again.

  He stepped over behind her wooden chair and kissed the top of her head. “Only that we’re in the right state already. The signal coming from Maggie’s phone was definitely in Nevada, except it was a lot closer to Reno than it was to Vegas. Chris started looking for Maggie to have checked in somewhere in that area, and found a motel she was in about a week ago, but she only stayed there for one night.”

  “And then?” she prodded, eager for information.

  “He’s cross-referencing all check-ins within the city of Reno and its borders for a black woman with a child over the past week now,” Adam shrugged. “Sounds like it might take him a while.”

  “Maybe he shouldn’t be looking at just motels and hotels,” Theresa chimed in. “You said that Maggie owns her home. That means she likes stability, and as a nurse she also knows that’s something a newborn would need. I’d be looking at some of the new rentals as well. Is there some way to do that?”

  Adam snapped his fingers and began to text something into his phone. “I’m suggesting it now,” he said with a smile. “Brilliant idea, by the way.”

  Finished with his text, he leaned down and kissed the side of her neck. Heat coiled all down her body, and she could tell he knew it. Wicked man.

  “We’ve got a whole lot of work to do,” she reminded him, though she couldn’t keep the purr out of her voice. “Plus there’s a pizza delivery guy on the way.”

  “Hmm, I don’t really like to share,” h
e replied, chuckling when she bristled.

  “You’re terrible,” she giggled.

  “You do know that unless Chris miraculously finds Maggie tonight, we might be here for a little while, right?” he pointed out as he slid his fingertips down the sides of her arms. “I’m sure that all this work isn’t going anywhere.”

  Theresa couldn’t remember a time when any man touching her arms had ever made her body temperature raise by three degrees in the space of a heartbeat. There was a first time for everything, though.

  “Adam…” she said breathlessly.

  He yanked her out of the chair and into his arms so fast it made her head swim. Their bodies collided and pressed together, and the tension between them mounted exponentially. His lips crashed down on hers, mouth slightly open this time. Her own lips parted, letting his questing tongue in with a blissful sigh.

  So long, she’d daydreamed of the nervous, shy, sexy man who had once asked her for a coffee date. So many times she’d touched herself to the visual of his face. This was like finally reaching the door to the candy store and knowing exactly what she wanted to taste.

  Adam’s fingers slid back to the tops of her arms again. The next time they moved down, their target area was the sides of her breasts. She groaned at the feel of it. Her own hands slid down to cup his ass.

  There was a knock at the door, effectively cooling their jets before they’d even begun. With a grumble, Adam let her go and greeted the delivery man. He paid for the pizzas and brought them in.

  “Well, I guess we’ll have to save that for a while,” he said with a sigh as he set the boxes on the bed. “Like I said, we’ll probably be here at least another night.”

  “Yeah,” Theresa agreed, even though she wanted to throw the food out of the way and shove him down on the bed in its place. “Since this is still a rescue mission, and all.”