Protective Custody Read online

  Ian silenced her with his lips. He kissed her until she couldn’t think straight. The feel of his firm lips against hers, the heat of his tongue as he invaded her mouth, melted Nicole’s resolve. He squeezed her hand in his, then broke the kiss, tasting her one last time before drawing away.

  “I never say anything I don’t mean,” he said matter-of-factly. “I love you. I’ve loved you for three years. And whatever our differences, we’ll find a way to work them out.”

  Nicole’s heart was pumping madly, the machine next to her bed tracked the speedy staccato. She smiled, her face a contradiction of emotions as the tears slid down her cheeks. Any minute now the nurses would come running. “Am I supposed to agree to your terms?” she asked teasingly. “Just because I’m in love with you too doesn’t mean I’ll cut you any slack.”

  “I wouldn’t expect you to make it too easy for me,” he returned in that tone that was equal parts elegance and danger. “That’s half the attraction.”

  “So,” Nicole lifted her chin in challenge. “What’s the plan?”

  “You get well, and when they release you I’ll take you to my place in Chicago.”

  “Why your place?” she retorted.

  Ian lifted one dark brow and gave her a look that said she should understand without his having to explain. “Well the last time I was at your place it was a bit hot for my liking.”

  Nicole frowned. “Oh, yeah, I’d forgotten that little detail.”

  “There’s something else,” Ian said solemnly, his gaze suddenly somber. “I was going to tell you earlier, but the doctor thought it would be better if I waited until you were—” he shrugged “—out of the woods.”

  A bone-deep chill settled over Nicole. She wasn’t sure she could handle any more excitement—good or bad. She scrunched her toes and shifted her feet just to be sure. Everything seemed to be in working order. “You said I was going to be fine,” she reminded him. Worry flickered in those silvery depths watching her so very intently. “It’s not that simple, is it?”

  “No.” Ian brushed her cheek with his fingers. “There’s more.”

  He paused, to give her time to brace herself, she supposed, but she would rather he get it over with. If she was never going to walk again, or if she had lost something she couldn’t function properly without, she would just as soon know it now.

  “When you arrived at the ER you had lost a great deal of blood. There was no time to waste. You were rushed into surgery, and numerous routine tests were run on the blood samples they took.” His fingers tightened around hers. “Apparently, that first time we were together—” he glanced down at their joined hands, then back to her face “—you conceived. The trauma from the gunshot and the necessary surgery—”

  “You’re saying I’m pregnant?” Nicole interrupted, her thoughts whirling inside her head. Everything he said after conceived was lost to her. Surprise, then wonder claimed her. She felt cold, then hot, then frightened. A baby? Ian’s baby?

  “Yes, that’s what I’m saying.”

  Nicole studied the pained expression on his face. What was he thinking? Was this why he had confessed his love for her? “Are they sure?” How could they know? It had only been a week. Trauma. The words echoed through her, but before she could say anything Ian spoke again.

  “The blood test is conclusive within a few days of conception,” he explained.

  “Trauma,” Nicole interjected before he could say anything else. “You said something about trauma.”

  “The trauma you sustained has put the pregnancy at risk.” He inhaled a harsh breath. “There’s a possibility that you’ll lose the baby.”

  Nicole felt more vulnerable than she had ever felt in her entire life. A new kind of pain welled inside her. Her hand went instinctively, protectively to her belly. She closed her eyes against the mixture of joy and pain fighting for her attention. She was pregnant with Ian’s baby, but the baby might not survive. A dozen emotions washed over her, intensifying with each wave. How could something she hadn’t even known that she wanted feel suddenly as if it were all that mattered? The conversation in the airport restaurant abruptly flitted through her mind. Ian wanted children. He had said as much.

  She opened her eyes and leveled her gaze on Ian’s. “Is this why you’ve suddenly decided you’re in love with me?”

  Ian looked surprised by her question. “I love you, Nicole, and I’ll love our baby, this one and however many others we choose to have.” He pressed a tender kiss to her forehead, and whispered his next words close to her ear. “And if we lose this child and never have another, I’ll still love you.”

  Nicole blinked back the renewed rush of tears. “Okay,” she said, her voice a little shaky. “Which one of us is going to stay home with her?” she demanded, hoping to lighten the somber mood.

  Ian smiled one of those genuinely charming smiles that stole her breath. “We’ll take turns staying with him.”

  “We’ll need a bigger house,” Nicole suggested.

  “I know just the neighborhood,” Ian agreed.

  “A minivan and a nanny,” she added for good measure.

  Ian shrugged nonchalantly. “I can live with the minivan as long as I get to select the nanny,” he offered generously.

  “Forget it, Michaels,” Nicole informed him. “You’re going to be entirely too busy keeping me happy to concern yourself with a nanny.” She grabbed his shirtfront and pulled him down for a kiss.

  Ian brushed her lips with his own. “I look forward to the challenge.” He sealed his words with a long, hot kiss.

  Epilogue

  “Do we have an update on the Richland case?” Victoria Colby asked as she scanned the report in her hand.

  “Not yet,” Ric Martinez told her as he shuffled through his stack of notes. “You know how Alex is, she calls in when she thinks about it, which isn’t often. I don’t have Ian’s report either. He and Nicole went for their first ultrasound this morning,” he added. “The baby is terrific, and they’re ninety percent sure it’s a girl.”

  “Excellent,” Victoria said with a smile. “Those two deserve the best.” Victoria removed her reading glasses and studied Ric. He was still a little rough around the edges, but she was pleased with his progress. Ian had taught him well. “I’m sure Ian appreciates your handling this status meeting for him. With a new wife and a baby on the way, he’s more than a little preoccupied these days.”

  Ric shot her one of those killer smiles that had every secretary in the building swooning. His Latin good looks only made the gesture more appealing.

  “Yeah, well, Ian’s a lucky man. That Nicole is a real heartbreaker.” Ric rubbed the bridge of his nose. “When she’s not breaking other things.”

  Victoria set the report and her glasses aside, and leaned back in her chair. “I’m hoping to convince her to come to work for me if she decides not to go back to the bureau after her maternity leave.”

  “Nicole would be a definite asset,” Ric agreed. He frowned then. “Speaking of assets, what’s the deal with this Sloan guy?”

  “Sloan?” Victoria couldn’t hide the surprise in her voice. “Why do you ask?”

  “Alex used him to gather some hard-to-come-by intel when Ian and Nicole were working the Solomon case. You were on vacation. Alex mentioned that Sloan once worked here. She called him some sort of legend.”

  Victoria almost smiled. It had been a very long time since she had thought of Sloan. She was surprised that he had agreed to help Alex. Maybe his circumstances had changed of late. Victoria would have to make it a point to give him a call. “He was with my husband from the agency’s inception,” she replied. “Sloan helped James to build the Colby Agency. And then he helped me keep it going after James’s death.”

  “So he was second in command, like Ian,” Ric suggested.

  “Yes,” Victoria told him, though that didn’t begin to adequately describe Sloan. She wasn’t sure she could properly relate in words the kind of man Sloan had been.

&nbs
p; Ric shrugged one shoulder. “What was it that made him so special that Alex would refer to him as a legend?”

  Victoria thought about that for a while before she answered. Sloan wasn’t the kind of man who could be summed up in few words. “Sloan was the best tracker in the business. If you wanted to find someone no one else could, you called Sloan. He had this uncanny ability to read people even before he laid eyes on them. He studied their past, what they left behind, and he instinctively knew where to look to find them.”

  “Sounds like a handy guy to have around in this business,” Ric commented.

  “He was the best,” Victoria admitted, too many memories flashing across the private theater of her mind. “The very best.”

  “Why did he leave the agency?”

  Victoria pulled her attention from the past and back to Ric. “Things happened, he changed,” she explained without really explaining at all. “Sloan isn’t the same man who worked for the Colby Agency all those years ago.”

  “But the legend lives on,” Ric offered.

  “Yes,” Victoria allowed. “I suppose it does.”

  ISBN: 978-1-4268-7164-1

  PROTECTIVE CUSTODY

  Copyright © 2001 by Debra Webb

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