door, still smeared with fingerprint powder, was bolted, but one look through the window told him the huge four-car garage was empty.
When he’d arrived earlier Nikki’s car had not been in the alley or in front of the house. He’d expected to find her BMW in the garage.
Calling himself a fool for not going upstairs and checking on her when he’d first come in, he took the thickly carpeted steps two at a time.
She’d run from him once before, but now things were different. Now if she’d left she’d be taking his son.
He came around the corner into the hallway just as she opened her door. He heard her gasp of fear.
She stood poised in the open door, the light from her room spilling out behind her. Her face was as white as chalk, and she was clutching one of her father’s golfing trophies.
He skidded to a halt on the thick carpeting as she stumbled back a step into her bedroom. She wore only a thin white nightgown that bared her arms and most of her legs.
He knew he would find only smooth silky skin if he ran his hand up under her gown.
Angrily he jerked his attention back to the statue in her hand.
“Who did you think was coming up the stairs?” he demanded, not entirely sure he wasn’t her intended target.
Her eyes, dilated with fear, blinked rapidly and her chin quivered. “The men who broke in,” she said, her voice hitching.
Fool woman. Was she planning to take them on? He could have wrenched the weapon out of her hand with very little effort.
Joe took a deep breath and because she was so scared he tried to get past his anger and find a normal tone of voice. “Next time you hear someone coming and don’t know who it is, stay in your room with the door locked and call 911.”
He’d overreacted when he thought she’d run off again. What was new about that? He always overreacted around her.
Seeing her fear had not subsided, he softened his tone even more. “Your car isn’t in the garage.”
“What?” She blinked again, her eyes still huge in her white face. “My car?”
“Did they take it?” If the men who had broken in had taken her car they’d dump it. Even if they wiped it down, forensics might be able to lift prints from the vehicle.
She looked puzzled. “Who?”
“The men who broke in.” He shook his head at her confusion.
Her cheeks flushed. “No. My car…isn’t here.” She seemed to recover her composure.
Finally she lowered the trophy. “Were you trying to scare me, coming up the stairs like that?” she demanded, sounding more like herself.
He ignored her question, not about to tell her he had been on the edge of panic, thinking she had run from him again. “How did you get here?”
She put the trophy on top of the dresser just inside the door and stepped into the hallway, closing the door behind her, her lips pressed together in a thin line.
“What I do or how I do it is none of your business.”
“Why won’t you tell me?” He’d searched databases for her for a year. He wanted to know where she’d been.
She had that stubborn “I don’t have to tell you anything” look he knew so well. She crossed her arms over her stomach and gave him a pointed stare.
He knew so little about her, but he knew every square inch of her body. Her breasts were fuller. Probably from nursing the baby, he assumed.
A year ago, whenever they had been this close to each other they’d ended up naked. The smell of her, so familiar he would dream about her and wake up expecting his bedroom to hold her scent, floated in the charged air between them.
Not being able to keep his mind off their past or keep his body under control had him fuming. He took a step forward so that he backed her up against the door, a perverse part of him needing to intimidate her.
“The only thing that does matter right now is the baby. Why didn’t you tell me?”
Her face pinched up in a bitter expression as she brought her arms up and pressed her body back, trying to put some space between them.
“Consider yourself a sperm donor. Nothing more.”
He stared at her, stunned, as his simmering anger came ripping back full force. A sperm donor? After what they had shared? Furious, he grabbed her hard by the upper arms and looked into her eyes, his voice harsh.
“I consider myself a whole lot more. Don’t you ever forget it.”
At her gasp he let go, chagrined he couldn’t control his thoughts or his hands.
“Sorry,” he muttered and stepped back, ashamed that he had so little restraint around her he would grab her in anger.
Nikki, chest heaving with emotion, gripped the crystal doorknob and tipped her face up to him, throwing him a “screw you” expression.
“Don’t ever touch me again,” she said, enunciating each word very carefully.
Fat chance. He couldn’t seem to dredge up the command to keep his hands off her.
Even now, when she stood there hating him, he wanted her so badly he ached with it. His gaze kept drifting to the outline of her hard nipples through the thin fabric of her gown. There were subtle differences in her body and he yearned to relearn every inch of her.
Joe took a deep breath to calm himself as they stared each other down. What he really wanted, he thought, more than any explanation of where she’d been, was to haul her into her bed and bury himself in her.
He thrust his hands in his pockets. Sperm donor, he thought with disgust. He had a son and he would be a father to his child, no matter what she considered him. The baby was his flesh and blood, and he’d be a part of his life. No way he was going to back away from his responsibilities, he thought, trying to get control of his anger.
He wanted to yell at her until she listened to him, even though he knew she wouldn’t pay attention to reason or logic. She’d proved that to him a year ago, refusing to consider the facts about her father’s disappearance.
Joe took a deep breath. “Look, I’m sorry.” He wasn’t even sure what all he was apologizing for, but it seemed like a good place to start. They couldn’t go on the way they were.
“You and I have a lot to work out, but nothing changes the fact that Michael is my son. And I will be a part of his life.”
“How? By taking him away from me?” Her voice broke in the middle of the question.
Her words seemed to hang in the air between them, then he noticed she was shaking all over.
He had threatened to take his son. He’d wanted her to understand the danger she was in. He hadn’t stopped to consider how intimidated she might be by his warning.
“Look, Nikki…” He reached for her, needing to apologize and offer comfort, only to have her flinch away from him. The look of fear and uncertainty on her face made him take another step back. He had been rough with her and now she was afraid of him.
He wondered if he could screw this up any worse than he already had.
He raised his hands, palms up, in a conciliatory gesture he hoped would reassure her and deliberately softened his tone. “Where is the baby?”
She didn’t answer right away, her lips pressed into a thin, trembling line as she visibly struggled for control. Finally she said, “Asleep.”
“Where is he sleeping? I need to know where you both are in order to protect you.” There was always a chance whoever had broken in could try again.
She