She put the ring back in its hiding place and returned to the bed, which had grown icy-cold in her absence. It was stupid to worry about what some imaginary boy would think of her, she told herself as she tried to find a position of maximum warmth and ease for her pregnant body.

First she had to assure herself that she had a future to worry about.

Miss Montgomery had lied to her. Obviously the housekeeper didn’t want her anyplace near the car. But why? Did she think that in spite of all the surveillance and the security gates Jamie was going to run away?

Not that the thought hadn’t crossed her mind. She had, after all, intentionally hidden a spare set of keys to her car and the remote gate opener that she had taken from Lester’s truck. And she had memorized the access code for the ranch-house alarm system.

But she had done those things just in case…

In case what?

In case she decided it was not in her best interest or that of the baby to honor the contract she had signed.

If indeed, as doddering old Mary Millicent had insisted, Amanda’s dead son was the father of the child Jamie carried, and if Amanda planned to raise this child as her own natural-born offspring, then she might very well worry that the biological mother of the child could present a threat. Amanda’s life would certainly be tidier and more comfortable if the baby’s birth mother ceased to exist.

And even if Amanda herself did not harbor such thoughts, her brother might. And if Jamie were to believe Mary Millicent, Gus Hartmann had the power to do anything he wanted and never pay the piper. If that were true, would he really allow her to drive away in her old Chevy?

And there was the other consideration. The most important one of all. What was her responsibility to this baby?

Jamie put her hands on her stomach and thought of how her grandmother, as a woman well past seventy, had taken in a seven-year-old child. Granny had done that because it was the right thing to do.

The next morning, Jamie called the security office for an escort, explaining that she wanted to take a walk and stop at Hartmann City on the way back.

A burly, middle-aged man named Hugh picked her up, explaining that Lester had the day off.

Jamie headed down the driveway. Ralph was ecstatic and took off at a dead run. Even though the temperature was above freezing, the biting wind cut right through her. Still she struggled on for fifteen more minutes before waving at Hugh.

She opened the door, and Ralph jumped inside. “Dogs ’posed to ride in the back,” Hugh said.

“Not my dog,” Jamie said as she got in. “I’m ready to go to Hartmann City now.”

When Hugh stopped the truck in front of the ranch store, Jamie told him that she would be at least an hour. Maybe he should return for her later.

Amazingly Hugh didn’t object. Apparently no one had briefed him as to the limited extent of Jamie’s privileges.

“What about the dog?” he asked.

She reached in her pocket and pulled out a leash. “He’ll be fine.”

With Ralph at her side, she walked into the store and bought a small coffee. At noon, men began drifting into the store, buying sandwiches and soft drinks and congregating on the wooden benches grouped around a pot-bellied stove. Jamie meandered around the store for a few minutes before leaving through the side door.

The front office of the motor pool was empty. Ralph followed her as she walked the length of the building, past vehicles in various states of repair, smiling and nodding at two mechanics working on the motor of a John Deere tractor, making her way to the back corner where her Chevy resided. On blocks.

The car was covered with a thick layer of West Texas dust.

Jamie turned on the lamp and knelt beside the old woman’s bed. “Mary Millicent, it’s Jamie,” she said.

“I don’t know anyone named Jamie,” Mary Millicent said without opening her eyes.

“Jamie, the girl from downstairs.”

Mary Millicent’s eyes fluttered open. “You had the baby yet?”

“Not for six more weeks. Has Amanda said anything to you about the baby?”

“She told me it’s Sonny’s baby. A baby boy. She’s going to let me hold it if I behave myself. I want to hold a baby again. I love babies.”

“Tell me what else Amanda said.”

“She said that it was all God’s plan. The baby is God’s chosen. She said that maybe the baby will pray for me and get me into heaven after all. I wonder if my husband still loves me. He never knew that I fooled around on him. God wouldn’t tell, would he?”

“No, I’m sure that God will keep your secret,” Jamie said. “Did Amanda say what would happen to me after the baby is born?”

“I asked her that very thing, and she said that you were Gus’s problem and none of her concern.”

“And how would Gus handle this ‘problem’?” Jamie persisted.

Mary Millicent tilted her chin back, took her index finger, and swiped it across her throat.

Jamie scrambled to her feet. “But Amanda is a good person. She wouldn’t let something like that happen.”

“It’s easy to be ‘good’ when you have someone do your dirty work for you,” Mary Millicent said with a giggle. “When her new puppy chewed up her favorite doll, Gus hung it by its neck from the second-floor gallery. Amanda had a wonderful time putting on a funeral out in the backyard. She made a floral wreath and wore her favorite dress and sang her favorite hymns and even shed a few tears.”

Jamie backed away from the bed.

“Hey, where are you going, girl?” Mary Millicent demanded. “I’m not through talking yet.”

Jamie turned and hurried across the room, with Mary Millicent yelling for her to stop. With her heart pounding, she hurried down the stairs-for the last time, she promised herself.

Back in her apartment, she calmed herself by hugging Ralph. She still didn’t know anything for sure. Except for one thing. She was going to leave this place and have the baby someplace else. Someplace where she felt safe. And then she would find an attorney to help her untangle the mess she had gotten herself into. But not just any attorney. She would go to a public library and use a computer to track down Joe Brammer. If he didn’t want to represent her, he would help her find someone else. Someone she could trust.

Her decision made, Jamie felt as though a world had been lifted from her shoulders.

Except that she had to get herself off this ranch. And that would take planning. Careful planning.

Chapter Twenty-one

GUS WAS JUST heartbeats short of ejaculating when he realized that Felipe was knocking on the door.

The door opened just the tiniest crack, and Felipe announced that Gus had a phone call.

“Shit!” Gus muttered. Something must be terribly wrong for Felipe to interrupt. But he would have his pleasure before dealing with whatever it was.

“Quickly,” he told the woman, rolling onto his back.

Suzette was her name. She crouched beside him and within half a minute Gus’s body shuddered its way to a climax. Then he pushed her away and told her to leave.

She regarded him for a heartbeat or two with her huge dark eyes before grabbing her clothes and racing toward the door.

Gus clutched a pillow to his chest, allowing himself a moment for the aftermath of the orgasm to subside. He took a deep breath and willed his racing heart to slow down. “Damn,” he muttered. “Damn! Damn! Damn!”

Beautiful Suzette. She was like something out of a Toulouse-Lautrec painting, with those eyes and her masses of dark curls, pouty mouth, lily-white flesh, black garter belt, and even an authentic French accent. The last time he had asked her to stay with him for a time. And they had talked about French cinema. She was quite knowledgeable.