P18 - Keeping Baby Secret by Beverly Barton

Author:Beverly Barton
Format: mobi
Published: 2010-02-14T04:00:00+00:00

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Chapter 7

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Leenie awakened early the next morning and for a few seconds remembered nothing except the pleasure she had experienced with Frank. He hadn't stayed the night in her bed. After they'd made love for a second time, they had showered together, fixed sandwiches together and talked about Andrew. Being able to share this horrific experience with Andrew's father somehow comforted her in a way she had never dreamed it could. Although there had been no promises exchanged, no words of love spoken between them, Leenie truly believed that Frank cared about her. And about Andrew. Perhaps Kate had been right. Was it possible that Frank loved her and just didn't know it?

After slipping into her thick velour robe, Leenie ventured into the hallway. Silence permeated the house at this early hour. Perhaps Kate and Frank were both still asleep, after all it was only half past five and still dark outside. Wintertime dark. As she made her way into the kitchen, a chill racked her body. Was it a sense of foreboding or simply the chilliness of the house? She'd turn up the thermostat after she set the coffeemaker.

If only Frank had stayed in bed with her all night. Even without sex, it would have been such a comfort to have him within arm's reach, to have been able to reach out and feel his strong presence beside her. How many times had she longed for him during her pregnancy?

Expecting the kitchen to be empty, Leenie gasped when she opened the door and found Frank sitting at the table reading the morning newspaper and drinking a cup of coffee.

"Morning." He glanced up at her and smiled. She returned his smile, even if it was somewhat tentative and uncertain. "Good morning." She had no idea what last night had meant to him. Had it been nothing more than sex? Just a way to relieve the unbearable tension?

"Sleep well?" he asked.

"Yes, as a matter of fact I did." She looked away from him and toward the coffeemaker on the counter. "Coffee. Wonderful. I could use a shot of caffeine."

When Frank didn't respond, she walked past him, lifted a mug from the mug rack and poured a cup of black coffee. "Is Kate still asleep?" she asked, her back to Frank.

"As far as I know. She's still in her room." Frank set his coffee mug on the table.

"She stayed out pretty late last night, didn't she? She probably didn't get to sleep until well past eleven."

"Closer to midnight," Frank said. "She and I stayed up for a while and talked about things."

"About Andrew?"

"About the feds' case involving the infant abduction ring. Kate is more than just a little interested in it, maybe even a little obsessed. I've never seen her quite so involved in a Dundee assignment. She's taking your situation personally, almost as if—"

"As if she understands what it's like to have a child kidnapped?"

Frank closed the newspaper, folded it in half and laid it aside, then looked at Leenie as she pulled out a chair and sat across from him.

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