Page 69 of Colton Baby Conspiracy (Coltons of Mustang Valley)

“Oddly enough, nothing,” she answered. But it was obvious, even to her, that her response wasn’t 100 percent the truth.

“But?” he asked, waiting for the rest of her statement.

Looking uncertain, Marlowe laid down her napkin. “I’m still waiting for my stomach to reject the breakfast you made. No offense,” she qualified. “It’s not a reflection on you. It’s just that since this little guy moved in,” she said, placing her hand over her abdomen, “a living hell has been going on inside my stomach.”

“Maybe you’re over the worst of it,” Bowie theorized.

 

; She closed her eyes, afraid to allow herself to even begin to entertain that idea because of the disappointment attached to it if she turned out to be wrong.

“Oh, if only that were true,” Marlowe responded wistfully.

Bowie seemed determined to have her think positively. “Maybe it will be,” he told Marlowe. “Tell me when you’re ready to go,” he said.

Within five minutes, finished with the meal Bowie had made for her, Marlowe retired her fork and pushed away her empty plate.

A small smile quirked her lips. “I’m ready,” she declared.

“And you’re sure you want to go in to the police station to give your statement?” Bowie asked.

Marlowe nodded. “To the police station and then to work. You can just drop me off at Colton Oil,” she added. “I think it might be better if I face my family alone and tell them what happened.” Knowing how her father thought, she didn’t want any possible fallout to hit Bowie.

He could guess what was on her mind. “I’m not afraid of your family, Marlowe,” Bowie said.

“I didn’t say you were, but I think it just might be better giving them the details on my own. Having you there would only be a distraction.”

Wanting to lighten the moment, he asked, unable to keep the smile from his lips, “You mean for you, or your father?”

“For now,” Marlowe answered, “let’s just say both. But you know what will be nice?”

He was game. “I’ll bite—what?”

“Going into work and not having to look over my shoulder every few minutes.” It had taken her the entire length of the night, but she had finally managed to allow Bowie to convince her that her stalker no longer posed a threat to either one of them, that he wouldn’t suddenly reappear in her life.

Chapter 22

The moment that Marlowe walked off the elevator and approached her office, members of her family began to appear, converging and surrounding her. They all but swallowed her up as they fired their questions and concerns at her.

Her father outdid them all. He came storming down the hallway as soon as he was alerted that Marlowe was in the building.

Payne Colton’s eyes met and held his daughter’s. “Where the hell have you been?” he demanded loudly, frowning at her.

Confronted with her father’s harsh greeting, it made Marlowe regret that she had turned down Bowie’s offer to come with her to her office. He would have definitely been her buffer.

No, she thought, she was a big girl, a mother-to-be. She could fight her own battles.

Marlowe searched her father’s face, doing her best to try to read between the lines. Had he heard about the stalker? Did he even care? She didn’t have a clue.

“And hello to you, too, Dad,” she responded cryptically.

What happened next took her totally by surprise. Her father threw his arms around her, embracing her and giving her what amounted to a bear hug.

“Dad?” she asked uneasily, utterly stunned by his action. She could count on less than five fingers of one hand just how many times her father had demonstrated this sort of affection for her. Holding her breath, she waited for an explanation.

Releasing her, Payne drew back his shoulders. “Chief Barco stopped by the house late last night to notify us that he arrested a lunatic stalker working in the mail room and that lowlife had tried to kidnap you. Barco scared your mother half to death,” her father informed her in an accusatory voice. “That poor woman must have called you more than a dozen times.” He demanded, “Why didn’t you pick up?”

“I turned off the phone,” she explained, trying to subdue the wave of guilt she felt. “After what happened, I just wanted to put the whole thing behind me and try to get back to my old self.”

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