Peekaboo Baby by Delores Fossen Read Free Book Online Page B

if you prefer—you can call me.”
    Her fingers brushed against his when she took the sheet of notepaper from him. It barely qualified as a touch.
    Barely.
    But she focused on their hands. Specifically, that touch. She drew her brows together, clutched the paper and retreated.
    Ryan took a similar mental step back. Whoa. It was a lot of reaction for a simple touch. A leftover effect from spent adrenaline maybe?
    Yes.
    That had to be it.
    He wasn’t about to entertain any other possibility.
    He glanced at the ring on her middle finger. “Your butterfly’s gone,” he said.
    â€œYes.” She glanced at it and nodded. Her forehead bunched up. “It broke off and must have fallen off in the water.”
    â€œWas it valuable?”
    Another nod. “To me it was.”
    Yet another feeling he didn’t want. Sheesh. Why did he have a sudden urge to head back to the ditch and try to find the butterfly?
    He was obviously losing it, that’s why.
    â€œI really am sorry for everything that’s happened,” she said.
    There was a slight hitch in her voice. An edgy nervousness that hadn’t been there before that whole touching encounter or the butterfly conversation. Ryan didn’t know which had caused the change, and he didn’t want to know.
    â€œI’m sorry, not just for tonight, but also for what went on with my father.”
    She didn’t give him time to respond. Not that he would have known what to say to her apology anyway. Delaney turned and headed for the door, leaving him alone in the quiet room to ponder what the hell had just happened.
    He looked down at his fingers, at the spot where they’d made contact. A spot just above his wedding ring that was still tingling. Potent stuff. Like his entire encounter with her.
    The hypothetical cloning.
    Her emotional reaction to his son’s photos.
    Their argument.
    The accusations.
    The car accident.
    All of it, every excruciating detail, was whirling around in his head until it was quickly becoming a blur. Still, Ryan forced himself to concentrate, to focus on one facet of the problem at a time. And one facet was definitely Delaney. Not her situation. But Delaney herself. His body wanted her, no sense denying that, but what he wanted more was answers about what was going on.
    Was the technology for cloning still in the hypothetical stage? Had the New Hope clinic done the unthinkable? Or better yet, had they attempted it, failed, but for some reason wanted to let Delaney think they had succeeded?
    While that theory made his heart ache for the son he’d never see again, it was a theory that had merit. And that brought him back to square one. Because that theory would no doubt involve some means of trying to get him to pay up for what was probably a hoax.
    In this case, Ryan had to wonder if that would lead them directly to Richard Nash, Delaney’s father.
    The door opened, and Ryan braced himself to face Delaney again, but he relaxed when he saw Sheriff Knight with a piece of paper in his hand.
    â€œI need you to sign at the bottom,” Knight instructed. “And then you’re free to go. By the way, your driver’s waiting for you out front.”
    Ryan complied, using the pen from the desk, and he handed the signed statement to the sheriff. “I’ll be hearing from you?”
    The man nodded. “As soon as I’ve had a chance to conduct a thorough investigation.”
    Thorough, perhaps, but it was an exercise that might not yield a thing. Ryan hadn’t remembered hearing the sound of the other car hitting its brakes, and there had been no collision between the two vehicles. And that meant, there probably wouldn’t be any physical evidence.
    â€œGo home,” Sheriff Knight added, as if reading his mind. “Get some rest. Let me do my job.”
    The sheriff was nearly out the door before Ryan stopped him. “But what about Ms. Nash? She’s in the ladies’