Page 6 of The Duke's Surprise Heir

Edward stood up, cradling the infant in his arms. It had taken only fifteen minutes for him to fall in love with this little man. He was adorable! And so easy! He’d always thought taking care of babies was difficult, but he truly enjoyed sitting on the floor, handing his son various toys and observing Kyle’s fascination. There was something profound about a baby’s happiness and curiosity, he thought as he held Kyle in one arm and searched through the massive fridge to find the ingredients for a grilled cheese sandwich, which was about all he knew how to make.

“Edward?” Macie called out.

“We’re in here!” he yelled back, grabbing cheddar cheese and a round of sourdough bread. He also needed butter, but his hands were full with Kyle. He looked around, not sure where to put his son while he cooked.

“Okay, all of those complaints from stay at home moms is starting to make sense,” Edward told Kyle softly.

“Good grief, you have an enormous house,” Macie commented when she stepped into the room. Then she noticed the massive kitchen. “Wow! I bet you could cook up just about anything in here!”

Edward was still holding Kyle, the bread, and the cheese. He wasn’t sure what to say. “I don’t actually know how to cook many things,” he admitted. “I was going to make you a sandwich, which is the extent of my culinary capabilities.”

As he watched, she finally looked at him, then blushed. Had she been avoiding his eyes? Yep! Interesting!

“What’s going on, Macie?” he asked, setting the cheese and bread down on the granite countertop, then turning to look at her. “Why are you here? Why now?”

Macie froze, staring up at him. After a long moment, she looked around again, but he got the sense that she wasn’t really looking at the kitchen. She was looking at something else. Something in her head.

Kyle saved the day by letting out an impatient squawk, then holding out his hands, demanding that Macie hold him.

She moved closer and Edward could smell the sweet, feminine scent of her. And the exhaustion.

“I just…I need a place to hide out for a bit. If you don’t want me here, then Kyle and I can keep going. I have other friends. And friends of friends. I know how to hide and can stay hidden for a long time.”

“Why do you need to hide? And who are you hiding from?”

Macie took Kyle, carrying him over to the counter where tall stools were pushed under the granite countertop. She pulled one out and sat down, placing Kyle’s tiny butt on the counter in front of her and taking his hands, encouraging him to balance.

“I’m fine,” she replied.

Impatiently, Edward huffed and frowned at her, bracing his hands on the countertop as he watched her. “Obviously, you’re perfectly fine. You traveled almost fifty-five hundred miles just to prove that you’re okay. You arrive on my doorstep at the crack of dawn, panicking and rushing through the door in a pathetic disguise, because you are fine.”

Macie laughed at his summary of the situation. Taking a deep breath, she focused on Kyle as she steeled herself to explain. “Did you know that your airline is shipping illegal weapons to Africa, Romania, and Indonesia?”

She smiled at Kyle as he wobbled slightly, but her strong, little guy held steady.

“What the hell are you talking about?”

Macie shrugged, still not looking at Edward. “I saw the weapons. I memorized the numbers of the ten crates that were stored in the New Jersey warehouse. That crate was loaded onto one of your Linx airplanes heading to Nigeria.” She let Kyle cling to her thumbs, helping him to balance.

“We have seven planes heading to Nigeria today. What the hell are you talking about? None of the cargo includes arms shipments.”

Macie finally looked directly into his eyes. Was he telling the truth? Her gut whispered that Edward was a good, honest man. She knew his net worth and knew that he didn’t need the additional income from an illegal arms shipment.

But her house had been broken into, her car tires slashed, and now her house burned down. All because she’d looked at the wrong numbers and opened the wrong crate at the wrong moment. Now her infant son was in danger and that wasn’t something she could allow.

“Are you sure?” she asked softly.

Edward sighed and leaned in. “Macie, there are no arms shipments. We would never allow it. My partners and I don’t advocate for violence. Just the opposite. In fact, one of the planes heading to Nigeria is filled with vaccines, food, and tablets to help clean water for rural villages. It’s our way of helping the world. We wouldn’t involve ourselves in arms shipments. It’s antithetical to our mission.”

She stared at him again, looking deep into his brown eyes. Something there, a flash or some odd bit of assurance, told her that he was telling her the truth.

“Admit it,” he coaxed. “If you thought I was corrupt, you wouldn’t have come here to hide.”

Pulling her eyes away from Edward, she beamed at her son, who gurgled happily back at her. “So, should we tell him?” she asked in a singsong voice. “Should we tell him that someone in his organization is sending weapons to third world war lords?” She leaned closer. “Or should we keep it a secret?”

Kyle smiled his gummy smile, then smacked his tiny hand against her nose.

“I agree. Let’s keep it a secret.”

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