Found: One Secret Baby. Nancy Holland

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       Chapter Two

      The ice princess was back in place as soon as Morgan reminded Ms. Walker why he was here. He missed the very different, very attractive, person she had become when she smiled, but he couldn’t undo what needed to be done.

      “I’m not surprised,” she said blandly.

      “Because you lied to me?”

      “Because privacy laws protect people like Márya, Ms. Mendelev, from people like you.”

      “People like me?”

      “People who want access to someone’s medical records so they can use the information for personal gain.”

      He leaned forward. “I have absolutely nothing to gain from this. I’m here on behalf of my stepmother, who only wants what’s best for her grandchild, if she has one.”

      “What’s best for the child—or what’s best for her? Does she really care about this supposed grandchild, or does she see it as a chance for a do-over on motherhood, since she didn’t exactly do a great job the first time around? You’ll forgive me if I remain unconvinced it’s Márya, or any child she might have had, that interests either you or your stepmother.”

      It rankled to hear his own worries about his stepmother’s motives echoed by this sanctimonious lady lawyer, but Morgan bypassed an angry reply.

      Instead he tried to do as Lillian suggested and play to the woman’s friendship with Márya Mendelev. “Do you think your friend would want her child to be shuffled through the foster-care system when it has a grandmother, a wealthy grandmother, who’s eager to love it and raise it as her own? Would she want to deny her child the chance to have the best of everything?”

      Ms. Walker scowled. Apparently Lillian’s wealth didn’t impress her.

      “You must be aware, even if your stepmother isn’t, that the odds a healthy baby will remain in foster care for long are slight these days, given the high demand for adoptable infants.”

      “Before the child could be adopted, there would have to be a good-faith search for any living relatives. Given Charlie’s criminal record, we wouldn’t be hard to find.”

      A flash of some strong emotion crossed Ms. Walker’s face before the professional mask dropped back in place.

      “Which is one more reason to believe there was no child. Or, if there was, that it might have been claimed by relatives on Ms. Mendelev’s side of the family.”

      Was that who she was protecting? He made a non-committal sound, clicked open his smartphone and scanned the file of emails from the P.I. No, he remembered correctly.

      “According to Ms. Mendelev’s application for a student visa, she had no living relatives. Her family was wiped out in the civil war in her home country. Unless she lied to the immigration people.”

      The woman across from him licked her lips, drawing his attention to their soft fullness, reminding him of that fleeting smile. He gave a silent sigh and refocused on the business at hand.

      “How did you gain access to that information?”

      “The private investigator …” had better luck bribing the staff at the college the Mendelev woman had attended than he’d had bribing the staff at the homeless shelters, but Morgan wasn’t about to tell the lady lawyer that. “… accessed her records online.”

      “Be that as it may, I’m afraid you’ll have to accept the fact that this supposed child was a figment of your P.I.’s imagination.”

      He leaned in, temper tightly reined. “You said yourself Ms. Mendelev was pregnant when you first met her.”

      She leaned forward as well, green eyes fixed on his. “Do you want to know how many times your brother had kicked her in the belly before she managed to get away from him?”

      He couldn’t help but flinch as he settled back in his chair. “You’re saying categorically that she was no longer pregnant by the time she arrived in Los Angeles County?”

      No hesitation, no shifting of her eyes. “Yes.”

      So it was over.

      He dreaded telling Lillian, but at least he could get back to Boston tomorrow. And Charlie’s mother didn’t need to know all the unpleasant details.

      His eyes slid to the colorful painting over Ms. Walker’s head.

      Tomorrow was Saturday. Maybe he could stay here over the weekend and do the icy lady lawyer a favor. After all, she had helped the Mendelev woman get away from Charlie and taken her to a hospital, so in a way she’d tried to save Lillian’s grandchild.

      Now they’d gotten all that behind them, maybe he and Ms. Walker could start over again, without any ulterior motives to interfere with the magnetic hum of attraction he felt for her, an attraction he’d bet his last million she felt as strongly as he did.

      Rosalie made a show of gathering up the few scattered papers on her desk, but Mr. Danby didn’t take the hint. Instead, he crossed his long legs and gave her a calculating look.

      “Have you and your father considered selling your mother’s work? You could get several thousand dollars apiece for them.”

      Obviously a man who put a cash value on everything.

      “My father has been out of the picture since before Mother … before she started to paint seriously,” she told him with as thin a veneer of politeness as she could manage. “And even if I wanted to sell any of her work, I wouldn’t know how.”

      “I might be able to help you. I’m not an art critic, as you put it, but I do have a private collection that has allowed me to develop relationships with several very successful art dealers. I know of one in Beverly Hills who specializes in the kind of paintings your mother did.”

      “I’m surprised you’d buy anything from someone who deals in, quote, middle-brow art.”

      “Not my usual taste, but I bought something for a friend who enjoys that sort of thing.”

      “Why would I want to sell my mother’s СКАЧАТЬ