Page 2 of Child In Jeopardy

“Come in,” Slater muttered.

Lana stepped inside, and she spared him a glance before her attention slashed to the baby. The breath she released seemed to be one of relief, but there was no relief on her face. She locked the door behind her and went to the window as if keeping watch.

She hadn’t changed much in the past eleven months and looked more like Stephanie’s twin than a younger sibling. Also, while Stephanie went for glamour, Lana clearly didn’t. Her darkbrown hair was short and with a choppy cut. No makeup. She wasn’t wearing an actual uniform, but her outfit had a military vibe to it with her dark jeans, black T-shirt and boots. It didn’t seem to Slater that she’d recently had a baby. That sort of thing, though, could be hard to tell.

“Start talking,” Slater insisted.

She nodded, then swallowed hard. “Is the baby yours?” Lana asked.

This night had already had some huge surprises, but that question was another one. “No.” But he did do a quick mental calculation to see if that was possible.

His last relationship had lasted for over a year and had ended six months ago when the woman had taken a new job in Dallas. It’d been an amicable breakup, so Slater was still in touch with her, and if she’d been pregnant, she would have told him.

“No,” he repeated with much more conviction. “Is he yours?”

Lana took another of those deep breaths. “No. Stephanie gave birth to him.”

Slater automatically glanced back to see if he recognized any of Stephanie’s or Lana’s features. The baby had dark brown hair, but other than that, there wasn’t a resemblance that stood out.

“Stephanie said she was your surrogate,” Lana explained. “That she was carrying the baby for you. Did she?”

Well, hell. That was another surprise. And an out-and-out lie on Stephanie’s part. Slater wanted kids someday, but he doubted he’d ever go the surrogate route.

“No,” he said for the third time just as his phone rang.

The sound echoed through the room, causing the baby to stir and then whimper. Lana hurried to him, automatically rocking the carrier and murmured soothing sounds, something he’d seen his siblings do to quiet their babies. Still, Slater kept his gaze on Lana and the newborn while he looked at the phone screen.

“Duncan,” he muttered.

“Don’t tell anyone I’m here,” Lana insisted.

Slater felt his frown deepen. “Duncan is the sheriff,” he spelled out.

She nodded. “Please don’t tell him or anyone else I’m here,” Lana repeated.“Please.”

Even though he didn’t have nearly all the answers he wanted and didn’t know why Lana had made such a request, Slater decided to take the call. “I’m chatting with my visitor now,” Slater immediately relayed to the sheriff.

“Do you need backup?” Duncan asked.

“No.” And he tried to figure out the best way to deal with this.

Stephanie had lied about being his surrogate. He’d need to know why. But if Stephanie had carried through with that lie for whatever reason, she might have also had Lana bring the baby to him. Of course, that prompted even more questions.

“Hold off on sending anyone out to my place for now,” Slater settled for saying. He didn’t want to have this talk with Lana while CPS or backup deputies were trying to arrest her or take the baby. “I’ll call you back in a few minutes.”

Slater hoped Lana heard the “few minutes” part because that was all the time he was giving her before he let Duncan know that she was his visitor.

“You’re really not the baby’s father?” she asked, and he could tell she was hoping the answer was yes.

“I’m not,” Slater verified. “Now, why did your sister lie, and why do you have her baby?”

Lana pressed her lips together for a moment, but Slater still heard the sob that was threatening to tear from her throat. Tears shimmered in her eyes, but she blinked them back. After several long moments, she opened her mouth, then closed it as if rethinking what she’d been about to say.

“Seven months ago, Stephanie came to me and told me she was pregnant and that she was carrying the baby for you,” she finally muttered. Lana made a visible attempt to steel herself up. “I’d just gotten out of the air force and had started working for a security company, and Stephanie wanted me to help her set up a fake identity and a secret place where she could stay while she was pregnant. A sort of safe house.”

“A safe house?” he questioned. “Why? Was she in danger?”

Again, she took her time answering. “Our parents would have disowned her if they’d found out she was pregnant. At the time, they were pushing for her to marry someone within their social circle.”