The Agent's Secret Baby. Marie Ferrarella

importantly, why did the sight of him make her yearn like this? She weighed a ton, for God’s sake. Women who weighed a ton weren’t supposed to suddenly want to have their bones jumped, especially not by someone they knew dwelled with the dregs of society.

      Eve did her best to sound distant. “I don’t care what you believe,” she told him coldly. Tossing her hair over her shoulder, she ordered, “Now go, get out of here. I never want to see you again.”

      This was where he should retreat. She’d given him the perfect out. He’d come, he’d seen for himself that Eve was pregnant, now it was time to go. He was still undercover and the stakes were now larger than ever. The person he was after was the main player, the head of the drug cartel. The center of the drug trafficking that was filling the local colleges with heroin.

      He couldn’t jeopardize that. Eve had made it perfectly clear that she didn’t want him around. And she’d heatedly denied that he was the father. That meant that he could walk away with a clear conscience.

      But he couldn’t leave.

      It didn’t matter what he wished, the fact remained that Eve had been with him a little less than nine months ago. With him in every sense of the word. He knew in his gut the baby was his. If he could do the math, someone else in the organization would do the same. The time to back away, to pretend she’d never been part of his life, was over. Eve and her unborn child were at risk. They needed his protection. He was not about to have them on his conscience.

      He frowned, then calmly told her, “The calendar doesn’t back up what you just said.”

      “Then get a new calendar,” she retorted. “This is not your baby.” Her voice rose in anger. “Don’t you understand? I don’t want anything from you. You’re free to walk away. So walk,” she ordered.

      Instead of leaving, he pushed the door closed. The click echoed in her head. Nerves rose to the surface even as she struggled to at least look calm.

      “Is this why you left?” he asked, his eyes indicating her swollen abdomen. “Because you found out you were pregnant?”

      She took offense, although she didn’t even know why. Her hormones raged, playing tug-of-war with her emotions.

      “No,” she retorted hotly, “I left because I found out that you were a drug dealer.”

      He needed for her to be safe. Needed to watch over her. He knew that he couldn’t just post himself on her block indefinitely. This was the kind of neighborhood where an unknown car would attract attention if it was seen lingering for more than a few minutes—and that would inevitably result in a call to the police.

      The last thing he wanted was to get involved with the local law enforcement agency, at least not until he could bring down the leader of this little high-class operation. Otherwise, he and a lot of other people would find themselves throwing away two years on a failed mission. And another drug lord would find himself with a free pass.

      He owed it to Mona not to let that happen.

      In order to do what he needed to do, he knew he needed to lie.

      To Eve.

      Again.

      “Then you’ll be happy to know,” he told her, “that I’m not part of that world any longer.” His eyes held hers and he hated himself for what he was doing, but at the same time, he knew he had to. “I’m just a simple used book dealer.”

      For just a moment, Eve’s heart leaped up in celebration. She was ready to seize the information and clutch it to her chest like an eternal promise. But he had lied to her before—who knows how many times—and once that sort of thing happened, trust was badly splintered if not shattered. Rebuilding the fragile emotion was not the easiest thing in the world.

      “How do I know you’re not just lying?” she challenged, praying he had an answer that would somehow satisfy her.

      “You don’t,” he admitted simply, surprising her. “You’re just going to have to trust me.”

      And that, Eve thought, was the problem in a nutshell. More than anything in the world, she wanted to believe him. But at the same time, she knew that she just couldn’t. Not yet. Not until he proved himself to her and gave her a concrete reason to believe him.

      Just then, she thought she felt the baby begin to kick her again. Kick her harder than it had ever kicked before.

      Caught off guard, immersed in this new drama, Eve gasped as tears welled up in her eyes.

      Sensing both her mistress’s anxiety and her pain, Tessa began to pace nervously about before her as Eve clutched at her belly.

      Adam reacted immediately. His arms closed around Eve as if he was afraid that she was about to sink down to the floor.

      “What’s wrong?” he demanded, concern weaving itself through his voice. His eyes searched her face. “What can I do to help?”

      Just hold me, Adam, the little voice in her soul whispered to him. Just hold me and make everything all better again.