He raised a hand again and shook his head. “Sorry.”
“You just can’t help yourself.”
“I’m trying. Okay, that’s enough to start. I’ll drive over to the hotel. Try not to worry, I’m sure something unexpected came up.” He stared deep into her eyes, then he smiled the old familiar Zac smile.
She caught his hand. “You’ll come back? You’ll tell me what’s wrong even if it’s—unpleasant?”
“What do you mean ‘unpleasant’?”
“Like he’s hurt or…I don’t know. Missing, maybe.”
“I’ll tell you whatever I find out.” He stared at her a moment longer, and then he leaned down and brushed her forehead with his lips.
“I’ve always valued our friendship,” she mumbled as their eyes met.
“I know,” he said softly, and then he was gone.
ZAC FOUND FAITH by the nurses station, holding a slender vase in one hand and gripping the countertop with the other. She was talking to a nurse on the other side. The colorful smock the nurse wore looked a lot cheerier than either woman’s expression.
Faith shook her head as he joined her. “It’s no use, rules are rules. Olivia is going to have to wait.”
Zac turned to the nurse. “Have a heart.”
“As I told this lady,” the nurse explained patiently, “we’re waiting for Mrs. Capri’s doctor to give the okay. He’s been called into emergency surgery. When he has time, I’m sure he’ll release her.”
“She’s a new mom. There’s no real reason for her to have to wait. She’s a very fit young woman who’s been athletic her whole life. Let her call the shots of what she can and can’t do.”
“Not without—”
“I mean, how would it sound,” Zac mused, “if the press got wind that the new mother of quads couldn’t see them?”
The nurse’s eyebrows rose. “Maybe you have a point,” she said. “It doesn’t do to be a slave to rules.”
“I agree with you,” Zac said with a smile.
“I’ll go take her vitals and if everything checks out, I’ll get a wheelchair.”
“Excellent,” Zac said. “Thanks.”
He and Faith watched the woman hustle down the corridor toward Olivia’s room, snagging a vitals cart as she passed one. Faith said, “That was smooth.”
“Maybe she could sense I was ready to shoot her if she didn’t cooperate.”
Faith grinned. She was short and willowy with a pale complexion and pretty, girl-next-door looks—the opposite of Olivia, who was tall and graceful with dark, exotic beauty. Faith was a teacher by trade, patient and good-tempered by nature, a homebody. Olivia could be impulsive and restless. Faith dated regularly, though she’d yet to find the love of her life. Olivia kept men at arm’s length, always too busy planning for the day she could strike out and see the world. That is, that’s what she’d been like before Anthony Capri came along.
“Is Juliet Hart still in with the babies?” he asked.
“No, I just saw her. She left Olivia’s sisters to look after things while she arranges a press conference. She wants to make sure the babies hit the state news before Olivia takes them back to Westerly. I think she’s afraid they’ll fade into obscurity before she gets her moment in the sun as the grandmother of the state’s newest quadruplets.”
“I wanted to ask her if she’s heard from Anthony.”
“She hasn’t, I asked. Olivia told you about him?”
“That he didn’t come for the births? That he left her here alone?” A knot worked in his jaw as he reined in his temper and said, “She’s convinced he’s had an accident or some kind of unavoidable delay.”
“Is she?”
“Isn’t she?”
Faith shrugged. “I’m not sure.” She studied his face for a second before adding, “I’m glad you came, Zac. I kind of thought you might show up before, while she was stuck in here—”
“I didn’t want to get in the way,” he said quickly. “Stay close to her, will you?”
“I’m on leave from the school for the rest of the spring semester, and then I have all summer. I’m not going anywhere.”
“She’s going to need help.”
“She’ll get it. I’ll be her unofficial nanny. The rest of Westerly is behind her and Anthony.”
“They’ve known Olivia forever,” Zac said. “She does the bookkeeping for half of the small businesses in town.”
“And everyone likes Anthony,” Faith said, “even though he’s a newcomer. Plus, you know, Anthony is rolling in dough. Olivia can afford to quit work and hire help.”
He had nothing to say to that. It was true. Anthony could give Olivia the life she wanted. Travel, excitement, adventure. Only right now, all she wanted was his presence. “I have an appointment later that I can’t break. Between now and then I’ll do what I can to track down the new daddy. Call me if he shows up here.”
Faith’s small hand wrapped around his forearm. “Zac, Olivia’s gut is telling her Anthony isn’t happy about becoming a father. I think she’s worried he’s run out on her.”
“I’m sorry to hear that,” Zac said, though he wasn’t surprised. The Anthony Capris of the world liked to be the center of attention. Being relegated to second fiddle behind a beautiful wife and four adorable babies wouldn’t appeal to him. “Maybe he just got new-dad jitters. I’ll try to find him and talk some sense into him.”
Faith bit her bottom lip, something she often did when she wasn’t sure if she wanted to say something or not. She obviously decided to go for it. “There’s something else. Grant Robinson is making noise. He says Anthony hasn’t been returning calls. Hugh is mad as a hornet, too, but you know Grant, he’s the one who runs around making threats. You know what a hothead he can be.”
“Great,” Zac said. “If I take the sheriff job, I’ll inherit the Robinson brothers. Well, one thing at a time. First I find Anthony.”
“Hurry,” Faith said. “I didn’t tell Olivia this, but I called the hotel, you know, to get someone to knock on his door in case Anthony, well, you know, overslept or got sick or something.”
“And?”
“They couldn’t find his reservation. I didn’t have time to go through the whole process of them figuring out what they’d done wrong, but Zac, I have a bad feeling about this.”
Chapter Two
Anthony Capri hadn’t been missing long enough to tap official channels. For that matter, he wasn’t missing at all. He just hadn’t shown up where he damn well should have been.
Why? How does a man forget such a thing as his wife giving birth to quadruplets? Everyone from Westerly to Seattle knew about it!
That left an accident or foul play. Zac didn’t like the man, that was true. Capri was a natural born salesman, glib and charming, self-deprecating and able to relate to anyone. That, in Zac’s book, made him as slick as a shucked oyster, the kind of guy who could talk a snake into buying socks. Zac just plain didn’t trust him.
But Olivia did, and right now, that was all that mattered.
The month of May could be beautiful in Seattle and today was one of the better examples. Fluffy white clouds, crystal blue skies, the distant peak of Mt. Rainier—the city looked like one of the postcards