Hide and Seek (3 page)

“You might be persuasive, but I’m not some meek little girl. I can handle you.”

He grinned a huge, feral, toothy grin.

“I can’t wait to see you try. Let’s go back to my place, it’s not too far from here and I can give you a lift back to your motel room afterward if it’ll make you feel better.”

Josephine nodded. She couldn’t tell how she knew, but she was safe with this man. Her instincts had proved her true and right to date, no sense in ignoring herself just now. She might doubt herself sometimes, but never really her intuition. She just had to remind herself she could only linger and indulge in the one night.

“One night,” she reminded herself and him. His grin widened.

“We’ll see.” He laughed. Waving to his brother, he escorted her out.

Josephine felt excitement tingle her every nerve and the rapid beat of her heart. She deserved this night and this man, and then she would move on.

* * * * *

William didn’t know what it was about this woman, but she seemed such a contrary mixture of things. She was obviously classy, but dressed in old, rather worn clothes. She hung out in a total dive he would never have expected any woman to be drinking in, and she seemed so wary of him he couldn’t help but feel protective of her. His instincts told him she had a very long, involved story behind her, yet he felt far more interested in stripping her naked and indulging himself in her body and scent than anything else. Plenty of time for questions later, his libido assured him.

He in no way questioned his confidence in convincing her to stay for a couple of weeks. Lately that’s all he’d been able to keep interest in any one woman. He enjoyed women, would rather cut his leg off than hurt one, yet he couldn’t help but grow a bit weary of constantly being unfulfilled with them.

He knew this woman would be no different, knew she would be simply another person to pass the time with. Yet something about her felt…different. He couldn’t really put his finger on it.

He smiled down at her as he led her into his apartment, determined to share most of his secrets and find out all of her own, and then they could move on and see where they led.

* * * * *

Two weeks later.

He’s a COP!
Her brain screeched at her. Gently, carefully, Josephine extracted herself from the large, warm, comforting embrace. William had come to be the one bright spot in her increasingly frustrating life.

Contrary to her original plans, William had somehow seduced her into more than the one night she had promised herself. One night had become two. Two had become three, and before she had known it they were sharing brunch a week and a half later planning a real, honest-to-goodness date, not just a multiple screaming-when-they-came sexual marathon.

They had gone out to dinner, chatted ordinary small talk for a few hours, and then raced each other to bed. They simply set the sheets on fire, daring each other to go further, to do more. She simply couldn’t get enough of his body. He was her physical refuge.

Then late last night, still bloated on his success at gaining a real-live date with her, he had asked her about her work. When she had smiled and replied that there wasn’t anything very interesting about being a waitress in an almost-seedy cafe, he had looked almost bashful. She asked him what he did, and when he replied that he was a cop, she had frozen, totally blindsided.

William had chattered happily for a time, while Josephine pulled herself together. After they had made fierce love, Josephine tried to stifle her tears. She would need to move on again, she really should have done it ages ago.

She had trouble answering to Joey, which she had been calling herself in Montana. She had finally confessed to William that her full name was Josephine, simply so she would pay attention when he called her name. The elaborate web of lies and partial truths she had set up for herself was mostly intact, but she was certain that William knew her too well now to be deceived for much longer. Strange how this man knew her better after approximately two weeks than all her years-long friendships back in Seattle knew her.

In fact, William seemed to simply stare at her every now and then, as if trying to read her thoughts and secrets. It didn’t weird her out as it might have in another man— yet she knew sooner or later he would ask questions she wasn’t sure she felt ready to handle answering. William, though she mostly knew of him in a sexual sense, was an upright, honest man who seemed to genuinely always want to do the right or best thing. In bed, he was a fierce, consuming lover who always gave her satisfaction.

He had a slightly animalistic streak, which surprisingly, totally turned her on. Considering her usually tame taste in men—almost to the point of boredom—she sometimes questioned her sanity for feeling comfortable with this man. Even so, the inherent safety she felt with him overcame any and all of her doubts.

Yet somehow at the same time, Josephine wasn’t exactly sure what William would do if he found out the woman he had been sleeping with was actually an alleged criminal who had a warrant on her head for questions with relation to drug charges. Where they even got the alleged evidence was beyond her. She didn’t believe he would be very understanding about it, yet neither was she sure he would throw her out on the streets and join the hunting party. It was confusing and Josephine simply didn’t know how she felt about it all.

As the light of dawn started to penetrate the sky, Josephine collected her clothes scattered all across the comfortable room. If her worst nightmares came true, if William did feel honor bound to turn her in, to take the cop’s side of the story, she wasn’t sure she could survive the heartbreak. Worse would be how he would react to learning she hadn’t been fully truthful with him from the start.
That
she felt certain, if nothing else, would upset him. She didn’t think she could bear seeing the disgust, the condemnation in William’s eyes if she tried to explain her plight to him, undoubtedly digging herself deeper and deeper into the mess.

It was simply easier to move on. She always had her bags half-packed in her closet. She kept her cash wrapped safely in envelopes and stashed in a few secure places, in case she had to run suddenly.

While she knew this wasn’t the same sort of emergency she had faced all those months ago, Josephine knew she had to move out of town and quickly, before she felt too burdened with her pain and problems and talked herself into confiding in William.

Taking one last look at the gorgeous sleeping man behind her, Josephine blew him one more kiss, her eyes soaking up his body and relaxed posture, his long hair spread over the still-warm spot she had laid in beside him. Blinking away her stupid tears, she silently apologized once more to him and closed the door sadly behind her.

Chapter One

Six months later

“They’re
what
??”

“Twins,” the nurse repeated, still looking at the ultrasound monitor. Without even glancing at her patient, she leaned closer into the monitor. “Would you like to know their gender?”

Josephine drew in a couple of deep breaths. The last thing she needed was to start hyperventilating and have the nurse bring in a doctor or two who would want to run more tests. Firmly steadying the quivering in her stomach, Josephine barely registered what the nurse said.

“Yeah, sure,” she replied, not even certain what she was answering.
Twins
, still echoed in her brain, mocking her.

How could she continue hiding with
two babies
? She had been daunted enough with the thought of keeping one child safe in her strange new life. Her savings account was totally drained, so the thought of feeding and clothing
two
babies on the meager salary she earned as a waitress did nothing to help calm her nerves.

She fiercely wished she could go back to accounting, to earn a decent wage again. The shiny, wonderful thought of being able to rely fully on herself without the constant pressure she had been facing over the last few months almost made her mouth water. But the thought of having her name circulating back in the accountancy circles was enough for a fresh wave of fear to crash over her.

With the warrant still out for her questioning, she was far too scared of being dragged back to Seattle, and she couldn’t get a decent job under a false name without her credentials. Her degree and all her memberships were under her real name, not the pseudonym she now used.

Josephine sighed. She had finally become accustomed to answering to Joey Lane, but the indignity of using a false name and living from her cash-in-hand waitressing was getting tiresome. Plus her boss had started talking rather loudly about how pregnant women were supposed to stay at home, eat, and get fat more quickly than she was. He had a fundamental problem with a six months pregnant mother-to-be working on tables.

Josephine knew she would be pounding the pavements again soon looking for work, or she wouldn’t be able to afford the shabby but clean boarding house room she had found. In fact, she could hardly believe her luck when they hadn’t bothered to check her ID, finding such luck twice in a row was more than even
she
would believe in.

Yet again, for the zillionth time since she had crept out in the pre-dawn light, Josephine thought of William and the possibility of returning to him. She had left the city constantly looking over her shoulder, as she had a number of times since that fateful night, always hiding, never staying long in one place.

Yet whenever she felt most scared, whenever she was certain she couldn’t continue this farce, she thought of William and the temporary safety she had felt in his arms. The tenderness and yes, even love, she had felt in his embrace.

Josephine sighed at her soft thoughts. Maybe it really was time to stop running and confront her fears. She certainly couldn’t continue as she had been with two babies, she really couldn’t have done it even with one baby. Maybe she should go back and talk to William. Much as she hated to admit it, she had probably overreacted to his being a cop. She couldn’t see him throwing her out to be murdered or abused by anyone, pregnant or not.

As badly as she wanted to believe and fantasize that William would take her in, hold her close and protect her, a much smaller, half-hidden part of her still scorned herself for her fantasy. She couldn’t begin to count the number of times she had held a public phone, desperately craving to call him, to hear his voice, both before and after she had found out she was pregnant. Yet because she couldn’t be certain of his reaction to her plight, she had always hung up the phone in disgust with herself for her lack of courage. She stubbornly clung to relying on herself, depending on herself, and not the man whom she cared for more than she should.

Even after she had found out about the baby,
babies
she mentally corrected herself, she hadn’t wanted to simply turn up on William’s doorstep and lean on him. She had always been self-reliant, sufficient in and of herself. Turning to a man simply because she was pregnant galled her beyond belief.

And so she had been stubborn and pigheaded and refused to turn to the one man who wouldn’t abuse her trust. William had so much strength he always seemed to expect everyone around him to lean on him. Josephine supposed that in itself was part of her reason for refusing to cling to him. She was a modern woman, used to relying on herself.

Now she was supposed to be adult enough to see to not only her own needs, but also be responsible for those of her twins. It was the latter responsibility that weighed on her. She didn’t mind doing stupid, stubborn things when only she would pay the consequences. Surely it was better for her to swallow her pride and ask William for help? She didn’t have to live with the man or anything, she could just ask for his opinions, get his advice on what she should do.

Josephine smiled sadly. It had taken an ultrasound and the reality of seeing her two little babies to make her realize what she should have known six months ago. She could not only trust William, but returning to him wasn’t relying on him as such, it was
sharing
herself and her burden.

She didn’t need to turn into some sappy spineless woman simply because she had turned to a man for help. They could work something out together as equals.

Josephine frowned. It made a hell of a lot of sense, but in the confusion of the last few months her perspective seemed to have changed. She was no longer the completely cool, logical thinker she had always assumed she was.

“…yes, definitely two boys, see that? There, and there, definitely two very fine young men you’re carrying, Ms. Lane.”

Josephine finally tuned back in to the gushing nurse.
Twin boys
, she thought, her heart lifting slightly, her deep contemplation diverted for now. Two happy, healthy young men, who would probably be the very image of their father and steal her heart the instant she laid eyes on them.

“So, Ms. Lane, looks like you got the two-for-one deal,” the nurse chirped, taking away the ultrasound. “Two little boys, probably identical you realize, though we can’t be sure, of course. Your partner will be so happy.”

Josephine felt a pang of guilt; William really should have been here with her to experience this. Not for the first time Josephine wondered if being pregnant had scrambled her brains. Her usually logical, practical brain had seemed to leave her when she drove away from Seattle. Everything seemed such a mess. Feeling the crushing burden fall back on her shoulders after the lightness she had wallowed in with her unborn sons, Josephine knew she needed to go back to her small but clean room back at the boarding house and think more about her predicament.