A Gift For Baby. Raye Morgan

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СКАЧАТЬ however,” he murmured.

      “Huh?” Larry frowned. “What does that mean?”

      Mitch shrugged. “Never mind. Let’s get out of here.” He pulled open the door of the truck, ready to climb behind the wheel, but Larry couldn’t let the subject go.

      “Ah, you’re just jealous,” he ribbed as they got in and Mitch started the engine. “I know females. She’s dreaming about me right now.”

      Maybe he was right, Mitch thought rather grumpily as they drove toward the office of the veterinarian. After all, he hadn’t seen much evidence that she was much more than the bubbleheaded type who would go for a lightweight like Larry. And if she was dreaming about him, she probably deserved the fate that lay in wait for her. He certainly would do nothing to intervene. He just wanted to get this job over with and go back to something with a little more substance than this boring stint of surveillance.

      “You’re probably right,” he muttered to Larry, to quiet him down. “You’re probably right.”

      

      But Larry was wrong. Hailey’s thoughts, as she drove toward the ranch, were a thousand miles away. They were centered somewhere outside of Denver at the moment.

      “I could just keep driving,” she was whispering to herself. “I could just go and go until dark.” Looking in her rearview mirror, she could tell her bodyguards hadn’t caught up with her dust trail as yet. “I could take a side road and lose them in minutes. No one would ever catch me.”

      But she laughed ruefully, knowing it was only a fantasy. She’d promised her father that she would stay put, and that was what she was going to have to do, no matter how agonizingly boring it became.

      The first two weeks hadn’t been too bad. She’d spent a lot of time catching up on her reading and her sleeping and her sunbathing. But now time was dragging, lengthening before her eyes, and she desperately needed something new to do.

      She’d come here reluctantly. “Daddy,” she’d insisted when her father had first brought it up. “I can handle myself. I’ve lived in the big city for too many years to be scared off because some sleazy mob guy is on my tail.”

      “It’s more than that, sugar,” he’d told her, shaking his shaggy white head of hair. “Much more. If someone got hold of you, they could buy my silence in a minute, and they’re going to know it.”

      “Oh, Daddy.” She loved the man so much. Ever since she’d lost her mother when she was entering her teen years, she’d depended on him in ways her friends never seemed to depend on their fathers. He was her confidante, her staunchest supporter, her buddy, her rock in a sea of uncertainty. The fact that he’d disappointed her in major ways in the past didn’t matter. Her love went beyond that. She looked at his handsome, aging face and sighed. “Oh, Daddy,” she said again softly.

      “I mean it, honey. These guys play rough.”

      By now it was a foregone conclusion. Of course she was going to do as he asked. But she didn’t tell him yet. Instead she played for time. “But…how did you get involved with these people in the first place?” she asked him.

      “Doing business, sugar. My restaurants have been three of the most popular places in San Francisco for the past ten years. When you have success like that, the jackals start to circle. There are always people who try to horn in and get a share.”

      “But…”

      He shook his head decisively. “I’m not going to listen to any more opposition on this, Hailey. I’ve found a place for you. It’s a resort, really—horses, swimming, peace and quiet. You’ll have time to read all those books you keep telling me you’ve been putting off reading because you just don’t have time. You’ll be in the nice warm sunshine while the rest of us are still dealing with winter. You’ll have the time of your life.”

      She knew she was going. Still there were loose ends to tie up. “But my job…” she reminded him. She worked as a buyer for Ganby’s Department Store, and she loved the career she was blazing for herself. It would be hard to put it on hold.

      She might have known he would already have that problem taken care of. “I’ve talked to Warren. He understands the situation and he’s willing to give you a leave of absence. He’ll hold your job for you.”

      There had been times when she’d cursed the fact that her boss and her father were good friends, but this seemed to be an instance when it would help rather than hinder. She sighed. They were ganging up on her, weren’t they?

      “How long will it take?” she asked, her submission already clear in her voice.

      He smiled at her. “I don’t imagine it will be for longer than three or four weeks at the most.”

      “Oh, Daddy.”

      He put an arm around her shoulders and drew her closer. “Sugar, I hate to be dictatorial, but you’ve got to do this. If you don’t, I won’t be able to testify, and I might have to leave the country.”

      She looked at him sideways. He sounded quite sincere and she truly wanted to believe him. He’d lied to her before, lied in ways that had cut into their relationship and almost ruined it. But that was in the past. She’d dealt with it, accepted that he was what he was, and moved on. He was her father. She loved him. And there was absolutely no reason she could think of that he would be hiding anything from her. She decided he had to be telling the truth. This time.

      There was nothing left to do but agree. So here she was, and the desert that had once looked magically mysterious now looked hypnotically tedious.

      The wind tugged at her scarf as she made the turn onto the ranch roads. Ahead she saw the ranch house, a large, imposing building atop a gentle hill.

      “Home sweet home,” she murmured to herself sardonically as she pulled up before the entryway. She jumped out of the car and turned to wave as the gray sedan came sliding into the yard. But before the men reached her, she’d opened the boot of her car and pulled out her packages and was starting up the steps into the house.

      “With all due respect, you drive too darn fast, Miss Kingston,” one of them called to her.

      She waved again, laughing, and took the steps two at a time. “Jen?” she called, knowing the house should be empty except for the household staff.

      Dressed in the pale blue uniform all the house help wore, Jen came clattering down the stairs, ebony hair flying behind her. “Did you get it?” she cried, her dark eyes sparkling.

      “Shh!” Hailey glanced at the back of the hall and put her finger to her lips. “Yes, I got it. Let’s go and try it on.”

      Jen gave her a grin, snatched a couple of her bags from her and whirled. “Great,” she said, leading the way back up the stairs. “I can hardly wait to see the transformation.”

      Hailey followed a bit more slowly. She had struck up something of a friendship with the younger woman who was working as a housekeeper’s assistant to pay her way through the nearby college. Together they had hatched a plot to get Hailey out of the house for an evening. The packages she’d picked up m town were the first step. The two of them made their way into the bedroom at the corner of the house and carefully closed the door.

      “Here СКАЧАТЬ