Baby By Chance. M.J. Rodgers

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СКАЧАТЬ expertise is tuned to the sounds and sights of wildlife. Mine is human behavior. Were we out in the wilds, you could probably tell me all about the feeding, mating and migrating rituals of a bird in a tree merely by hearing its call or noting the shape of its wing. Isn’t that true?”

      “For most species,” she admitted.

      “And I would be duly impressed since I have no such skills. We are both professionals with special talents. Now, tell me how my talents can be put to use in helping you.”

      He was right. Instead of being uncomfortable, she should be rejoicing that she had found someone possessing the skills that he had so competently displayed. He had not only eased her into talking, but had also maneuvered her into revealing things about herself and surmised the rest with impressive insight. The time had come for her to put her problem in his hands.

      “I need you to find a man.”

      David retrieved a pad of paper and a pen from his desk drawer. “His name?”

      “Todd.”

      “Last name?”

      “I don’t know.”

      “Address?”

      “I don’t know.”

      He looked up. “What do you know about Todd?”

      “He’s several inches taller than me, about five-ten would be my guess. Light hair, eyes. Slender. Maybe thirty.”

      David jotted down a few notes before continuing.

      “Why do you want me to find him?”

      “I want to learn everything I can about him. We met in a seminar at the local community center six weeks ago as of last Friday, and we didn’t have much time to get acquainted.”

      “What kind of seminar?”

      She paused before answering. “Self-improvement.”

      “What were you trying to improve?”

      “Is that really important?”

      “I have no preconceived idea of who you are or what you should be, Ms. Carter. I’ll be in and out of your life in as brief a time as possible. This is to your advantage. With me, you don’t have to pretend.”

      “I’m not pretending anything. I just don’t think that my reason for going to the seminar has any bearing on why I’ve come to you. Look, this is simple. I should have gotten Todd’s address and telephone number before we parted. I didn’t.”

      “You haven’t seen Todd again since the night of the seminar?”

      “No.”

      “What did you and Todd do together that night?”

      “We…talked.”

      “And after you talked?”

      “He walked me to my vehicle.”

      David let a moment pass, silently watched her. She knew he was waiting for her to continue. She didn’t.

      “A woman doesn’t hire a private investigator to find someone who merely spoke with her and walked her to her vehicle,” he said finally. “Tell me everything that happened.”

      She considered his words. Of course he was right. A woman wouldn’t just want to find a man after such a brief interaction. She was going to have to tell him. Although there was something in this man’s quiet self-confidence that made her suspect he already knew what she was going to say.

      “We slept together,” she said.

      His calm expression didn’t change. She was certain now that he’d already known, maybe from the moment she’d mentioned Todd.

      “Todd didn’t offer you his last name.”

      “No.”

      “Did you offer him yours?”

      “No.”

      “Do you think that Todd might be trying to find you?”

      “No.”

      “Does that…distress you?”

      “No.”

      “And you haven’t tried to find Todd in the intervening six weeks since you met?”

      “Last Friday I went back to the community center and asked if they had a list of attendees from the seminar six weeks before. They told me the seminar was open to the public and did not require advanced enrollment, so they had no such list.”

      “Did that answer seem reasonable to you?”

      “Yes. I just walked in myself.”

      He regarded her quietly before asking his next question. “Why do you want me to find Todd for you?”

      “Like I said, I want to know more about him.”

      “Like what?”

      “Anything and everything you can learn.”

      “And why is that?”

      His questions were focused, like he was following a road map with a definite destination in mind. She had no idea what that destination was and that made her even more nervous.

      “I just want to know about him,” she said. “Isn’t it natural to want to know about someone you’ve been intimate with?”

      “Ms. Carter, I’m going to need a more direct answer.”

      She forced herself to meet his eyes. A woman had to make her presence felt in order to be taken seriously. She had learned that maintaining eye contact was an important defense against being summarily dismissed.

      “I don’t understand what you want me to say.”

      “I want you to say the truth—the whole truth. What exactly do you intend to do with the information that I give to you about Todd?”

      “Try to use it to understand what kind of man he is.”

      “You’ll forgive me for saying so, but isn’t that something a woman normally does before she sleeps with a man?”

      She’d been feeling anything but chipper since the beginning of this conversation. But that last comment made her stomach churn.

      “No, Mr. Knight, I won’t forgive you for saying that. I’m not asking for your approval of my actions. I’m asking for your help in finding out about Todd.”

      Where there had been only an open expression on David’s face before, suddenly there was a sharp, focused intensity. “And if you like what I find out about Todd, are you going to tell him you’re pregnant with his child?”

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