The Pregnancy Plot. Carol Ericson
Skinner had been a redhead. The baby could be an interesting combination of Mom and Dad.
Then the truth punched him in the gut. If her ex-fiancé and the father of her baby was dead, she had a right to know. They had only Max Duvall’s word for that now, but once they received confirmation, he’d convince Jack Coburn that they had to tell Nina.
He didn’t like it when people kept the truth from him, and he wouldn’t be a party to doing that to someone else.
Of course, he was in the wrong line of work for those sentiments.
The fire danced higher, creating a wall of warmth, and Nina held her hands out toward it, wiggling her fingers.
“Are you warming up?”
“Slowly but surely.” She pointed to his cup, still brimming with pale gold liquid. “You’re not drinking your tea.”
“I’m not the one who wound up treading water in the sound for ten minutes.”
“True, but you did give up your flannel and had to cross the bay in nothing but a flimsy T-shirt.” Her gaze flicked over his chest, and he resisted the urge to flex.
That glance alone did more to heat him up than ten cups of chamomile could.
She snapped her fingers as if to break the spell between them. “I hung up your shirt in the bathroom, but maybe it would dry faster in front of this fire.”
She scooted forward on her chair and he held up his hand. “I’ll get it. Tell me where.”
“Down the hall past the staircase, through the door and the bathroom’s the first room on your right. Those quarters are separate from the rest of the B and B.”
He pushed up from the chair, taking his cup with him. He made a detour to the kitchen and placed it in the sink.
Nina called from the other room. “You could’ve asked for something stronger.”
“I hate drinking alone.”
She turned in her seat as he came out of the kitchen and she cocked her head. “How’d you know I wouldn’t join you? You didn’t ask.”
“You seemed hell-bent on tea.” He shrugged and ducked behind the staircase.
Idiot. He planted the heel of his hand against his forehead. If his boss could see the way he was conducting this assignment, Coburn would pull his secret agent card.
He pushed open the door to the small bathroom and snagged his shirt from the shower curtain rod.
His hand hovered at the corner of the medicine cabinet and then he abruptly turned and exited the bathroom. He was here to watch over Nina, not spy on her.
His agency didn’t suspect her of any wrongdoing and she deserved her privacy.
He shook out the still-damp shirt in front of him as he returned to the great room. After he’d boarded the boat to go after Nina, he suspected he might have to go into the water after her, so he’d stashed his weapon and shoulder holster on the neighbors’ boat. He hoped they didn’t decide to take it out for a spin.
The fire was in its full glory, and the glow from the flames cast an aura over Nina, backlighting her dark hair as she turned toward him and giving her face a rosy sheen.
“Is it still wet?”
“A little.” He dragged an ottoman in front of the fireplace and spread his shirt on top of it. “This should do the trick.”
He sprawled in his chair, wedging his ankle on the opposite knee. “So what made you come out here and open a B and B?”
“I grew up here, and it seemed like a good idea to come home and try to get this place back into shape. My mom and stepdad ran it until...their health failed. That’s why it’s just a mess now.”
“Sorry.” He opened his mouth to say more, but a horn from a boat bellowed outside. “What is that? Sounds like an angry moose.”
“That—” she struggled to her feet from the deep chair “—is the county rescue boat. They must be pulling my craft into the dock.”
Jase snatched his warm shirt from the ottoman and stuffed his arms into the sleeves. “I’ll go have a look.”
“I’ll join you. It’s my boat.” She slipped her feet into a pair of clogs and grabbed a hoodie from a hook by the front door.
Sure enough, the big red Harbor Patrol boat had backed Nina’s damaged craft against her dock.
They approached a member of the rescue team who was leaning over the side of the boat and writing something on a clipboard.
“Afternoon, folks. This your boat?”
“It’s mine.” Nina waved her hand. “I made the call.”
“You must be Bruce and Lori’s girl.”
“That’s right. I’m Nina Moore.”
“Well, Nina Moore. I’m afraid I have some bad news for you.”
Jase instinctively stepped in front of Nina. “What’s the bad news?”
“This hole here?” The man jerked his thumb over his shoulder. “Someone did that on purpose.”
Jack Coburn had been right about this assignment and the need to watch over Skinner’s ex-fianceé. Someone had Nina in his crosshairs already.
Two vertical lines formed between Nina’s eyebrows, and she kicked the toe of her clog against a wooden post. “I figured it was just a matter of time.”
He jerked his head up. Nina knew about Tempest?
The patrol officer tipped his hat back. “You have an idea who did this, Ms. Moore?”
“You can call me Nina, and yes. It has to be my stepsister, Lou.” She swept her arm across the bay as if the mysterious Lou lurked somewhere out there on the water.
“Oh, yeah, Lou.” The officer nodded in a way that made Jase feel completely out of the loop. “I remember her. Do you have any proof she did this?”
“None at all, except that someone in town mentioned they’d seen her around. So, she’s back on the island.”
“Watch your back, Ms.—Nina.” The officer smacked the side of Nina’s boat and jumped onto his own.
Jase watched the Harbor Patrol boat for a minute as it maneuvered away from the dock, and then turned to Nina. “Why would your stepsister be putting holes in your boat?”
Keeping her gaze on the retreating patrol boat, she crossed her arms over her waist and her sweater outlined a small bump below, the first visible sign of her pregnancy—at least to him. Nina’s lean runner’s frame would probably take a while to show evidence of her condition, but she had to be at least four or five months along, judging by the last time she saw Skinner.
He’d seen pictures of Maggie pregnant at about the same stage as Nina, and she’d had a distinctive rounded belly, but then Maggie was smaller and more rounded in general than Nina.
When Nina swung her head around, his gaze jumped to her face.
“My stepsister, Lou, is a disturbed person. She’s had some problems with drugs and alcohol, but her issues go beyond that. When her father married my mother and Mom and I came to live with them when she and I were both children, she had a fit. It only got worse from there. I knew when Dad, Bruce, left this B and B to me, she’d never let it go.”
“So, you think she’s bent on sabotage?” Noticing a tremble rolling through her body, he took Nina’s arm. “Let’s go back inside. You’re still chilled from your swim in the sound.”