Kidnapped For Her Secret Son. Andie Brock
of adrenaline Leah imagined reaching out to him, linking her arms around his neck and pulling him closer, finding his lips, kissing him, having him kiss her back. Because despite everything she still wanted that kiss. Despite everything she had gone through in the past twelve months, everything she had so sternly told herself, she still wanted Jaco.
For a moment he gazed at her—as if reading her thoughts, as if he knew exactly what was going on in her head. Then with a slight curl of his lip—a gesture so deliberately dismissive that it curdled Leah’s stomach—he looked away.
‘Get some clothes on.’
Leah watched as he stowed the precious passports in the inside pocket of his jacket.
‘We are leaving.’
Fleeing to the bedroom, Leah pulled on a sweatshirt and a pair of jeans, picking up her phone and slipping it into her handbag. Then, bending over the crib she gazed down at her baby son, still sleeping soundly through all the drama. Her heart swelled with anxiety and pride.
With his arms flung out on either side of his head, his little fists closed, he looked as if he was ready for a fight, ready to take on the world. But Leah knew that was her job—that she would do absolutely anything to protect him, to keep him safe. Even if right now that meant scooping him up and taking him God knew where, obeying the orders of a man who, she now realised with dread in her heart, was far darker and far more than dangerous than she could ever have imagined.
Reaching for the baby sling, she slid it over her head, holding Gabriel against her shoulder as she lowered him into it, tucking him in so carefully that he barely even stirred.
‘You are ready?’
Jaco had silently come to stand beside them—the closest he had ever been to his son. Leah held her breath, waiting to see how he would react, expecting him at least to want to take a peek at the small, dark head pressed snugly against her chest. But instead he turned away, checking his watch and then picking up her case before leading them out of the room.
As Leah closed the door to her apartment behind her she realised she had no idea what was happening or where she was going. No idea when she would ever be back here again.
LEAH LOOKED DOWN at her baby son’s head. The furious suckling of a few minutes ago was easing off now as he had almost had his fill. She rocked him in her arms—more to comfort herself than him. Gabriel was perfectly happy. He had his mother and a convenient source of food and that was all he needed.
He didn’t have the slightest concern that the two of them had been abducted, spirited away in the night. Bundled first into a limousine that had driven them to an exclusive apartment block, then whisked up to a helipad on the roof, strapped into a waiting helicopter, piloted by Jaco himself, and finally landing several hours later at wherever on earth it was that she found herself now.
Exhausted by shock, she had dozed off on the flight, only waking as the helicopter had banked steeply in preparation for landing. Peering through the window, she hadn’t been able to make out anything at all in the darkness, and it had been clear that Jaco had no intention of telling her where they were, so she’d had to let herself and Gabriel be helped into a Jeep and just watch in stupefied silence as Jaco got into the driver’s seat and navigated the steep and twisty road that had led to the residence she now found herself in.
But at least now it was daylight. Once she had Gabriel settled she would take stock of her surroundings and work out where on earth she was. The GPS on her phone should tell her that—when she managed to find it, that was. She had searched everywhere for it last night, with no success.
From looking around her, all she had managed to ascertain was that they were staying in some sort of luxury single-storey dwelling. Her bedroom was all cool elegance, with exposed stone walls and polished hardwood flooring, and a bed big enough to accommodate a small family. The en suite bathroom was of grey marble and had a sunken tub and succulent cacti growing behind a glass wall, while the floor-to-ceiling windows offered a view of a carefully landscaped garden, with ancient olive trees and time-worn granite boulders left in situ, but not much else.
A sharp tap on the door made her jump.
‘Yes?’ She hugged Gabriel closer to her.
The door opened and Jaco strode in. Wearing faded jeans low on his hips and a sleeveless black vest, he was all masterful authority. That was until he caught sight of Leah holding Gabriel to her breast.
‘Oh...my apologies.’
Leah fixed him with a haughty stare. She wasn’t going to look away. Breastfeeding a baby was the most natural thing in the world. And besides, she was perfectly decent. ‘What do you want, Jaco?’
Jaco hesitated, then moved into the room, towards the chair where Leah sat with Gabriel. Leah noticed that his eyes did not quite meet hers, or move to the bundle of baby in her arms, but hovered somewhere over her shoulder.
‘I came to see if you had a comfortable night.’
‘Huh!’ Leah snorted. ‘Like you care.’
Her sharp voice made Gabriel’s eyes flicker beneath the paper-thin skin of his closed lids. When his mouth fell from her breast Leah adjusted her clothing, and then moved to settle him in the crib by the side of the bed.
She had no idea how that crib had got there. She couldn’t imagine it being the sort of thing Jaco would have had stashed away for the convenience of his guests, but miraculously it had been there when they had arrived last night, along with disposable nappies and other essential baby equipment.
‘I obviously care enough to be asking you now.’ A muscle twitched beneath his eye. ‘Do you have everything that you need?’
‘Oh, yes, everything.’ She flashed him a combative stare. ‘Everything apart from my freedom, of course.’
‘You will have your freedom.’ Jaco matched her glare. ‘All in good time.’
‘And when might that be?’
‘A couple of weeks.’
‘A couple of weeks?’ Leah advanced towards him like an impending storm. ‘You really think you can keep me and Gabriel hidden away here for two whole weeks?’
‘I don’t think—I know. I can keep you here as long as I like.’
‘And you believe that’s acceptable behaviour, do you?’ Leah inhaled a furious breath. ‘Gloating over the way you can hold us prisoner?’
Jaco shrugged. ‘I believe the bounds of acceptable behaviour have already been crossed. Not bothering to tell me I am a father, for example.’ His eyes held hers.
Leah scowled. ‘You are not fit to be called a father—not in the true sense of the word.’
A couple of angry steps brought her right in front of him, but her bare feet gave Jaco even more height advantage than usual.
She threw back her head to look up at him. ‘You try to make out that being a father is so important to you, and yet you haven’t even looked at Gabriel. Not once.’
Jaco ground down on his jaw. ‘I will make my son’s acquaintance when I feel the time is right.’
‘Make his acquaintance?’ Leah openly mocked him. ‘You don’t make your baby son’s acquaintance, Jaco, you pick him up, hold him—love him.’ Her voice quavered with unwanted emotion. ‘Something you know nothing about.’
‘Is that right?’
His fingers curled possessively under her chin, holding it firmly so she had no choice but to look into his eyes.
‘And what leads you to that conclusion?’
‘I...I just know.’ Caught in the spell of his