Covert Conception

Both Natalie and he cursed.

“What now?” Natalie asked.

It was too risky to have her stop so he could confront the other driver because Rick had no idea who or what they were dealing with—carjackers, someone with a case of road rage or idiots who’d taken a car out for a joyride. Natalie might be hurt in a confrontation, especially since she probably wouldn’t just stay put and let him handle it.

Still, he had to do something.

He pointed to an upcoming intersection. “Take that turn, and drive toward the police station on Arbor Street.”

Rick also considered calling the cops, to report what was going on, but he realized he might sound a little paranoid. And he likely was. Besides, if he made the call, there’d be a police report, and he might have to bring up the drugging and the pregnancy. He didn’t want to do that yet. Not until they’d spoken to Macy and gotten the information about the caterer.

Natalie took the next turn that would get them to the police station. “What’s going on?” she asked. There was more than a tad of desperation in her voice, and though he hadn’t thought it possible, she was gripping that steering wheel even harder than before.

Rick didn’t mention his theory about road rage or carjackers. Instead, he went with the most benign scenario. “It’s probably kids taking their parents’ car for a joyride.”

But he couldn’t discount that this was yet another incident of unnerving things that just didn’t make sense. First, someone had drugged them. From the looks of that video, it’d been a date-rape-type drug. Or maybe some weird, powerful aphrodisiac that’d induced memory loss.

And why?

So that Natalie and he would head to her bedroom and therefore place themselves in a compromising position?

Was that it?

Had this really been some sort of elaborate blackmail or revenge scheme? Had someone taken pictures of them having sex and was that person planning to use them in some sinister way?

He gave that some thought and decided that didn’t make sense, either.

Nothing about this made sense.

Neither Natalie nor he was married. Nor were either involved in a relationship. It was the same for their jobs. Their businesses wouldn’t be adversely affected if their customers learned they’d had sex.

So, what could possibly be the point?

Rick didn’t have an answer for that, either.

Frustrated and concerned, he checked the side mirror again and didn’t think it was his imagination that the SUV was even closer. He considered having Natalie slam on her brakes, which would almost certainly cause a rear-end collision. That would allow him to get a good look at whoever was following them, but it would also put Natalie at risk.

And perhaps the baby.

Not only did he have to consider Natalie’s safety, but they both had to consider the child.

“We should be at the police station in about five minutes,” Rick let Natalie know. He’d hoped that would relieve some of the tension in her body. It didn’t.

Instead, her eyes widened.

Rick’s attention went back to the mirror. The SUV had sped up again. And it was no longer behind them. It’d moved out into the lane to the left of them. It pulled up, driving until the two vehicles were side by side.

“Can you see who’s behind the wheel?” Natalie asked. She glanced over at the SUV just for a second.

Rick tried and failed to see who was inside. “The windows are too heavily tinted. Just keep driving and try to stay calm. Nothing’s going to happen. It’s still broad daylight, and there are three other cars nearby.”

However, high visibility apparently wasn’t enough to deter the SUV driver.

The vehicle swerved to the right, moving directly into their lane. Natalie veered to avoid it, but the SUV immediately repeated the maneuver. That wasn’t the action of a bad driver. Or a joyrider.

This person was trying to run them off the road.

Rick caught onto the steering wheel so he could help Natalie maintain control of her car. He kept watch on the front end of the SUV, and every time it made a move toward them, Rick and Natalie moved her car out of the way.

“We’re going into the emergency lane,” Rick explained just seconds before he steered the vehicle in that direction. “Hit the brakes now.”

She did, and instantly there was the sound of tires screeching on the hot asphalt. The SUV apparently hadn’t expected them to do that because it sped on ahead.

Rick saw the other vehicle’s brake lights, but it was too late to try to cut into the emergency lane and back up. There were cars coming directly behind them. The SUV had to speed up to keep from being hit.

Rick held his breath until the other vehicle was out of sight. “Are you okay?” he asked Natalie.

“No. I’m not.” She groaned, and Rick pried her hands off the steering wheel so that she wouldn’t have bruises. “What is going on?”

“I don’t know.”

She smacked her hand on the steering wheel. “Do you think this is all connected to the pregnancy?”

“No,” he answered.

And he hoped that was true.

But Rick had a nasty feeling in the pit of his stomach that the driver of that SUV had wanted to harm them.

“I fired a mechanic about two weeks ago,” Rick said. He kept a close watch on the cars speeding past them. He wanted to make sure that SUV didn’t do a turnaround and come right back at them. “Maybe the guy was more riled than I thought he was.”

Natalie nodded and she seemed to calm a little. “I had to let someone go, too. A housekeeper. About a month ago. Because she was stealing things.” She paused. “That might explain who was in that SUV, but even a pair of disgruntled former employees probably wouldn’t have come up with a plan to punish us with drugs and a pregnancy. It’d be easier just to hurt us. Or kill us.”

Rick was on the same page with her. But that didn’t mean there weren’t answers out there.

“Macy,” he mumbled.

Natalie repeated her mother’s name under her breath. “Give me a few minutes to compose myself, and then let’s have that chat with her.”

Definitely.

And he prayed that Macy would have answers.

“YOU WON’T be able to see your mother this evening. She’s had a difficult day, and I don’t want her disturbed.”

Natalie stared at her mother’s personal assistant, Troy Jackson, as he delivered his message. Troy, the blond, blue-eyed, beefcake pretty boy, was doing his best to block the front door so that Natalie and Rick couldn’t enter.

No amount of blocking would work this evening. Rick rolled his eyes and just muscled Troy aside.

Troy might have a weightlifter’s body, but Natalie figured he was essentially a wimp and wouldn’t attempt to take on Rick. She didn’t blame Troy. With Rick’s fierce expression and don’t-mess-with-me demeanor, it was clear he meant business.

So did she.

Natalie was tired of having lost control over her life. She was tired of having things happen that didn’t make sense. She was especially tired of not having a logical explanation for what had happened. Only after Rick and she got that explanation would they be able to figure out what their course of action might be.

“You tell Macy that we have to speak to her,” Rick called out as Troy barreled up the stairs—probably to tattle to Macy that they’d barged their way in. “If she’s too tired or upset to come down, we’re coming up. Because one way or another, we’re talking to her tonight.”

Rick was obviously so furious that Natalie considered trying to calm him down. But she wasn’t in a calming-down sort of mood herself. She was pregnant, and someone either wanted to scare her, torment her or kill her. And it was entirely possible her mother could give them some clues as to why this was happening.

Nope.

There’d be no calming down, and this conversation was going to take place.

“Are you sure you’re up to this?” Rick asked.

She glanced at him and saw that he was watching her. Studying her, really. Probably because she didn’t look too steady. “Trust me, I’m up to it.”

“Because if you’re not, I can do this alone.” His attention drifted down to her stomach.

Oh.

She understood then.

Rick was questioning her delicate condition. Not a bad term for it, either. She did feel delicate. Fragile. Dazed. And confused. But fortunately, the need for answers outweighed the early symptoms of pregnancy and the adrenaline fatigue caused by the incident with the SUV.

“I could do this alone as well,” she countered.

But the sudden steel in Rick’s jaw let her know that he was staying put.

That didn’t surprise her. Rick was the sort of take-charge man who was rock-solid in a crisis. He would indeed stay put and stand by her.

For how long though?

That was a sobering question. Natalie would have preferred someone else’s help—anyone else’s—but she had to admit that Rick had a vested interest in this.

He was the baby’s father.

Just thinking about that little fact caused Natalie’s stomach to sink. Fate certainly had a strange sense of humor.

“You need to sit down,” she heard Rick insist. But he didn’t just insist, he caught onto her arm and led her into the adjacent living room.

Natalie nearly protested the kid-glove treatment, but she quickly realized it was necessary. She was indeed dizzy, and Rick had no doubt noticed that she wasn’t too steady on her feet. He plopped her down on the sofa and went to the bar to pour her a glass of water.

She took the water from him, meeting his gaze over the top of the cut-crystal glass. “Thank you.”

Before Natalie said that last part, he’d looked ready for battle, but the steel in his jaw softened a bit, and after a heavy sigh, he eased down on the granite coffee table across from her. “I don’t want you to worry,” he said. “I’ll get to the bottom of this.”

She believed him. However, Natalie believed in her abilities as well. They would get to the bottom of it. But that wouldn’t change one vital point.

“No matter who’s responsible, I’m still four weeks pregnant.”

“I know.” He groaned and scrubbed his hand over his face. “I can’t go back and change that. Sorry.”

He was sincere. Natalie didn’t doubt that. She also didn’t doubt that this was as much of a life-changing experience for him as it was for her. Which led her to the next question.

What were they going to do about the baby?

It wasn’t as if they were a couple. They could barely tolerate being in the same room with each other.

Well, that wasn’t exactly true at the moment.

They were in the same room together. On the same side, so to speak. With a huge shared concern.

Their baby.

Even though she couldn’t recall the sex that had created the child, the pregnancy itself created a new sort of intimacy between them. An intimacy that she was certain neither of them was prepared to deal with.

“What are the odds?” Rick asked. He didn’t wait for her to ask what he meant. “That we’d have drugged sex at the very time you’d be ovulating?”

Natalie had already been through this during her frantic pregnancy tests and trips to the doctor. Unfortunately, that little detail only made all of this seem more sinister. Had someone planned that, too? Other than herself, there weren’t a lot of people who knew about the timing of her menstrual cycle. Kitt, maybe.

Perhaps even Macy.

Rick opened his mouth. Closed it. And it seemed as if he changed his mind a dozen times about what he wanted to say. “Will you, uh, keep the baby?”

“Yes.” Natalie answered so quickly that he probably believed she’d given it no thought. She had. Plenty of it. “Call it my personal beliefs, whatever, but this child is mine… Ours,” she corrected. “I’ll definitely keep it.”

Though that ours had not come easily.

It might take her a lifetime to begin to feel comfortable including Rick in any part of her life. Still, that discomfort didn’t extend to the baby. Now that she was beginning to come to terms with the fact that she was indeed pregnant, she had also come to realize that she would love this child no matter how it had been conceived.

Rick nodded, but she couldn’t tell if that was a nod of approval or if he simply didn’t know how else to react. She didn’t have time to ask because Natalie heard footsteps. Macy’s footsteps, no doubt. Caused by a pair of ridiculously high spike heels coming down the staircase.

Natalie set her water glass aside and watched her mother make her way from the foyer and into the room. Macy didn’t seem too steady on her feet, perhaps because of the heels. The footwear complimented her outfit: a short, slim lipstick-red dress that would have been more appropriate for a college student on a date than for a fifty-two-year-old woman. Not that Macy looked her age. Far from it. Of course, at least a half dozen cosmetic surgeries and a pampered lifestyle were responsible for that.

“Rick. Natalie,” Macy greeted. But it wasn’t much of a greeting. As Macy walked closer, Natalie could see that her mother’s eyes were red, and her mascara was smeared as if she’d been crying. The extra proof of that was the wadded-up handkerchief she held in her right hand.

“I know why you’re here,” Macy said. “I know that you’re pregnant.” She slowly walked to the chair. Sighing deeply, she sank down on the cushion, and she made eye contact with Natalie. “Your sister dropped by about an hour ago and let me know what was going on.”

Natalie should have anticipated that her sister would do that. Kitt was looking out for her. And Kitt was also probably trying to prepare her mother for the shocking news. Judging from her mother’s teary eyes and shaken demeanor, Macy was already on her way to coping. Which was good. Because unfortunately, Rick and she were going to have to press Macy for information.

Macy leaned back against the chair, and Natalie could see that her mother’s perfectly manicured fingers were trembling. “Kitt said you believe you were drugged the night of your birthday party?”

“We were,” Rick verified, his tone tense but somehow still respectful. “I had lab tests done so I have proof of that.”

“So it’s true.” Macy shook her head and swiped at another tear. “I’d prayed it wasn’t true.”

Rick reached over and gently put his hand over hers. “Macy, what do you know about the caterer you hired for Natalie’s party?”

Macy reacted with a sharp gasp, and her eyes widened. “Oh, God. You don’t think…” But she didn’t finish it. She ended with another “Oh, God.”

“We don’t know what to think at this point, but we need the name of the caterer,” Rick pressed. “It’s important that we ask him or her some questions.”

“Of course.” Macy nodded. “It’s Antoine Dupree, but I don’t think he did the work himself. I remember him saying he was going to have to subcontract because he was busy with a wedding.”

That was not what Natalie wanted to hear. If the caterer had indeed hired out the work, then it would be another level to dig through to come up with names of possible suspects. It also wouldn’t help if there’d been a huge staff. She couldn’t remember a lot about her own party, but Natalie figured there were at least a half-dozen people working.

Any one of them could have been responsible.

“We know the caterer or someone on his staff would have had the opportunity to put a drug into the food or drinks,” Rick continued. “But what we don’t know is why someone would do this. There have been no blackmail attempts. And judging from the surveillance tapes, no one entered Natalie’s bedroom to take incriminating photos of us. That leaves us with no motive for this crime.”

“Did the surveillance tapes show you leaving Natalie’s bedroom?” Macy asked. “Or the better question would be—did it show anyone taking you out of there?”

Rick shook his head. “Someone or something jammed the surveillance feed.”

“Kitt said it wouldn’t be that hard to do,” Natalie added. “But that means the person would have known in advance about the security system. In other words, they would have had to bring the jamming equipment with them. Coupled with the drugging, that makes it premeditated.”

When Macy didn’t respond, Natalie asked what both Rick and she needed to know. “Can you think of any reason why the caterer or someone on his staff would want to do this to us?”

“I can think of a reason. A bad reason.” Her voice broke, and Macy stood slowly and made her way to the window. “God help me. I should have told you sooner.”

Natalie froze. She’d wanted to hear her mother’s denial. Any denial. However, this didn’t sound like the start of something like that.

“I’m not really sure if this is all connected. But maybe it is…” Macy turned and faced them. “Your father and I and Rick’s parents were all friends at university together, and we became involved in eugenics research. Specifically, we became involved with the Cyrene Project.”

Natalie repeated those last two words under her breath. It wasn’t the first time she’d heard them. No. As a child, she’d heard her parents say them.

In whispers, sometimes.

Other times, the words had been parts of rather loud arguments.

In fact, Natalie had heard her father mention the Cyrene Project the day he walked out and left his family when she was barely six years old. His leaving had preceded a very bitter divorce. It’d continued to be bitter until her father’s accidental death when she was seventeen.

“The Cyrene Project?” Rick commented, sounding very skeptical and not at all pleased with the topic. “What does this have to do with the drugging?”

“Maybe everything,” Macy said softly. Not her usual drama-queen level of emotion, either. Her voice was small and thin. “The Cyrene Project was an experiment to produce genetically superior babies.”

Natalie had speculated as to what the project was, but she hadn’t even come close in her conjecture.

She stared at her mother and tried to process what she’d just heard.

She couldn’t.

Natalie glanced at Rick, but he didn’t appear to understand this any more than she did. Her mother had been having episodes of odd behavior, and Natalie couldn’t help but wonder if she was having one now.

“Your father and I were paired because our DNA was compatible,” Macy continued a moment later. “That’s why we married. That’s why we had children.”

Rick cursed again. “Macy, you’re not making any sense.”

“I’m making perfect sense,” Macy insisted. “And I’m telling you the truth. Your parents were paired as well, even though they weren’t a couple before. Did you know that your mother was dating your uncle Carlton until the Cyrene Project?”

Rick shrugged. “I knew they’d dated.” He said it in a matter-of-fact tone, but Natalie could see that he was trying to piece all of this together. So was she.

“Your mother agreed to marry your father because he was the most suitable DNA candidate,” Macy insisted. “We wanted superior babies through eugenic matching, and that’s exactly what we got. All of you, including Natalie’s brother and sister, are superior in every way.”

Superior.

Yes, that was true. All four of them had higher-than-average intelligence. All had been better-than-average athletes. Natalie hadn’t really considered that before, but she considered it now.

“All right,” Rick said. He aimed his index finger at Macy. Lowered it. And he started to pace. “For argument’s sake, let’s say this project existed. Actually, it’d explain a lot because heaven knows there wasn’t much love in my parents’ marriage. It was the same for you, Macy. I could see that even though I was just a kid. But what does the Cyrene Project have to do with anything that happened to Natalie and me?”

Macy swallowed hard and lowered her head. “It has everything to do with you. Everything. It’s because of the Cyrene Project that Natalie’s pregnant.”

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