The Mommy Mystery by Delores Fossen Read Free Book Online Page A

he’d had earlier when he learned that Lucas was his biological child.
    Neither of them were having anything close to a good day, and under normal circumstances, Gabrielle might have actually felt sorry for him. But she had more to lose here. She’d carried Lucas, given birth to him and hadtaken care of him for the past six weeks. As cold and hard as it sounded, Houston didn’t even know the baby.
    She wanted to keep it that way.
    “I had no idea my father knew about this,” he said, the emotion straining his voice.
    “I don’t care.” She tried to throw off his hand, but Houston held on. “None of this matters. Lucas is my son, not yours.”
    “But he is mine,” Houston reminded her. “And even though I didn’t have anything to do with what happened to you, I can’t just let you walk out.”
    Gabrielle tried again to break free from him, but it was hard to do with the tears streaming down her cheeks. The raw sensations didn’t help, either. She felt totally drained and defeated. But that couldn’t last. She had to dig deep and fight her way out of this situation.
    “I have to go,” she insisted.
    Gabrielle threw her weight back, so she could wrench herself out of his grip. And she succeeded. For a few seconds, anyway. Then Houston grabbed her by the shoulders and put her against the wall.
    “I can’t just let you walk out,” he repeated.
    A dozen different emotions went through her, and she pounded her fists against his chest. But Houston held on, pinning her in place with his body. He took every one of her punches. He just stood there and waited her out.
    It didn’t take long before Gabrielle spent what little energy she had left. The tears came harder now, and her hands dropped to her sides.
    “I can’t lose Lucas,” she managed to say. “I love him. He’s my life.”
    She waited for Houston to counter that with his ownargument, but he didn’t. He stood there staring at her, and then he did something that shocked her.
    He reached out and pulled her into his arms.
    Gabrielle put up a token resistance. She pushed her shoulder against his, but she was too exhausted to fight him anymore. Her legs gave way, and if it hadn’t been for Houston holding her, she would have slid straight to the glassy marble floor. She didn’t want to take this comfort from him, but she did.
    “You look like you’re ready to pass out,” he told her, his voice barely a whisper.
    She was. Everything in the room started to spin. Gabrielle leaned into him and let him support her. For just a moment, she assured herself. This didn’t mean anything, even though it was hard to forget that Houston Sadler was a man.
    An attractive man at that. A man who was essentially her enemy. She forced herself to remember that. She couldn’t rely on Houston for anything.
    “My life is falling apart,” she mumbled. “And someone tried to hurt us. Or worse.” She stopped and considered that a moment. “Your father—”
    “He didn’t try to kill us today,” Houston said. “That’s what he was trying to tell you when you ran out of his office. He didn’t hire the men who were in that black car.”
    Gabrielle shook her head. “He could be lying.”
    “Why would he lie about that? He told us the truth about what happened at the Cryogen Clinic.”
    “Only because I had proof that he’d followed me in the Range Rover. And because he must have guessed you would get to the bottom of this by going to Cryogen. Youwould have eventually learned what happened. Besides, if your father’s plan was to try to buy the baby from me, then he would have had to come clean with you, once he had Lucas.”
    In fact, that’s probably what Mack had been trying to do when he was following her. But Gabrielle had thwarted his plan because she’d managed to lose him and then move to a different hotel.
    Losing him had been blind luck, though.
    A minor car accident behind her vehicle and in front of the Ranger Rover had given her just enough time to