I’ll call you in a couple of days,” Blake told the private investigator then closed the door and turned around slowly.

Delaney stared at his feet, unable to raise her gaze to the eyes she knew regarded her, eyes that would be full of accusation and disgust. Any second he would unleash the fury she’d glimpsed when he learned she had Ben. The silence in the room screamed in her head as she held her breath, waiting. Words of explanation, of apology, of pleading died in her throat. Nothing seemed adequate. Guilt paralyzed her. Deep down, she’d known almost as soon as she’d met him that Blake wasn’t the kind of man her cousin had made him out to be. She’d been too afraid of losing Benjamin to accept what her heart had tried to tell her.

“Get your coat,” Blake said curtly then brushed past her, crossing the room with long angry strides. He disappeared into the kitchen. Less than a minute later he returned with his keys.

Delaney still stood in the same spot.

He threw her an impatient look then took his jacket off the hook by the door and yanked it on with stiff, deliberate movements.

When she still didn’t move, he strode to the chair where her coat lay draped over the back. He plucked it up and tossed it to her. Noticing her purse on the seat, he grabbed that too and slid the strap over his forearm.

“Let’s go.” Taking hold of her elbow, he led her out the door and down the walk.

“Where are we going?” Delaney almost had to run to keep up with him. When they reached his truck, he unlocked the door and held it open.

“Get in,” he said, not bothering with an answer.

Why wasn’t he barraging her with questions? Why wasn’t he demanding an explanation? Didn’t he care why she’d done what she did?

Delaney’s heart clutched. No, she realized with a sinking heart, he didn’t. He was shutting her out with no chance to explain, no chance for forgiveness.

“I said get in,” he repeated, not even looking at her, as if the sight of her made him sick.

“Not until you tell me where we’re going.”

“New York,” he ground out. “Where I intend to get the son you and your cousin stole from me.”

Panic spiraled through her. Blake would take Ben, and the two of them would disappear from her life…forever.

“You…you can’t. I mean, we can’t go now. It’s too late.” She glanced at her watch, trying to think of a way to buy time. “It’s a five hour drive. We wouldn’t get there until the middle of the night.”

The muscle in Blake’s jaw worked dangerously as he stared at some point beyond the truck. It probably wasn’t wise to push back when he looked so angry his body hummed with it. If he was hell bent on driving to New York tonight, though, she had to try to convince him otherwise.

“Please, Blake, please listen to me. If you’ll just give me a chance to explain.”

“Shut up!” He slammed the truck door. “Just shut up.” He spun away from her, pacing like one of the caged lions she’d seen when she took Ben to the Bronx Zoo.

“You’ve had weeks to explain,” he said as he swung back to face her. “Do you think I’d believe anything you said now?”

He prowled back and forth. “Damn you,” he swore, kicking a spray of gravel from the driveway.

 Delaney flinched.

“Man.” He shook his head and started to laugh. It sounded frighteningly hollow.

She wrapped her arms around her waist, as if that might chase away the dreadful cold that seemed to be invading her bones.

Blake stood in front of her and placed one hand on the side of the truck, near her shoulder. “You knew just how to play me, didn’t you?” He lifted his other hand and ran his thumb along her jaw, studying her face as though memorizing it. “Little innocent,” he murmured, a strange look coming into his eyes. For one hopeful moment she thought he might soften. Then his gaze narrowed, and he jerked his hand away as if he’d been burned.

“Blake,” Delaney gasped, maybe because she’d been holding her breath, maybe because she felt so desperate. “I’m begging you,” she pleaded, “please give me a chance to explain. Don’t I at least deserve that?”

“You think you deserve anything from me?” He looked incredulous. “Sweetheart, you used me. It was obvious I wanted you. You took advantage of that for your own ends, whatever they were. You should be glad I’m not planning on taking some kind of legal action against you.”

She hugged herself tighter. “I never meant to hurt you.”

“Right,” he said with a snort.

A possum scurried out of the brush and drew their attention. It froze when it saw them, looked around as if confused about which way to go, and then retreated back the way it had come.

“Tell me something,” Blake said, “were you planning on keeping my son as your own?”

Delaney swallowed, knowing how damaging the admission would seem right now.

Blake cupped her chin and raised her head so she had to look at him.

“Were you?”

“I, I was planning on adopting him,” she admitted, knowing how incriminating it must sound. “I love him, Blake. And Benjamin loves me too. I was trying to do what was right for his sake. Please try to understand that.”

Delaney watched his eyes harden into shards of cold amber as the fingers encircling her jaw flexed. An involuntary shudder shivered down her spine. He stared at her a moment longer, giving no clue to his thoughts, then released his hold.

“I’ve changed my mind,” he said, surprising her. “The mood I’m in, I don’t think it’d be a good idea to get behind the wheel right now.” He backed away from her then started for the house. “We’ll leave first thing in the morning.”

Delaney sagged against the side of the truck. Maybe by morning his anger would have cooled enough that she could talk to him. She reached into her purse and withdrew her car keys.

“What time would you like me to be here in the morning?” she asked, trying to be accommodating.

He turned and gave a derisive laugh. “Be here? You don’t think I’d be stupid enough to let you leave here alone?” He walked back to stand only inches from her, his face so close she could feel his breath, could feel the warmth of it against the cooler night air. “You’re staying with me,” he said. “Until we leave for New York I don’t trust you enough to let you out of my sight.”

Delaney’s mouth dropped open.

“Oh, don’t worry. I’m not going to try to get amorous.” The look he gave her made it clear that was the last thing on his mind. “I just won’t risk you taking off again before I can get my son. Once I do, I never want to see you again.”

Delaney stiffened at the sting of his words.

“Come on.” Blake put his hand against the small of her back and steered her toward the house.

At least this buys me a little time, she thought through the pain, as she let him lead her back inside.

DELANEY WOULD have sworn she’d only been asleep a few minutes when she felt Blake shaking her awake. She opened her eyes to see him standing next to the bed. His hair was tousled and wet, as if he’d just gotten out of the shower. He’d put on a pair of clean jeans. They were a little faded, but not worn, zipped but not buttoned.

He hadn’t bothered with a shirt yet. He looked so achingly handsome in his rumpled, half dressed state it hurt.

“Get up,” he said. “I want to be on the road in twenty minutes. He went over to the closet and pulled out a button-down shirt, yanking it on as he headed for the door. “I’ll be waiting downstairs.”

Delaney swung her legs over the side of the bed as she sat up. “I know you’re anxious to leave, but could I please get a shower first?”

Blake stopped in the doorway, and she saw his shoulders slump. She expected him to turn around with a scowl and demand she be ready to go immediately, not even giving her the twenty minutes he’d originally said she had. He didn’t.

“Make it a quick one,” he agreed without looking at her, and then walked out.

When she descended the stairs a short time later, he was standing by the front door. Whether he heard her or not, she didn’t know, but he turned and watched her come the rest of the way down.

Delaney reached up and smoothed her hair. Not that it mattered what she looked like. They’d shared a bed last night and might as well have been on different planets as effectively as he’d shut her out.

“Your purse and coat are already in the truck,” he informed her stiffly. “Let’s go.”

Delaney would have liked to have some toast, or at least a cup of coffee to brace for the long ride ahead. She didn’t want to risk igniting his anger again, though, at least not yet, so she inclined her head and continued forward.

“I’ll get my purse and keys from the truck, and then you can follow me.”

“You’re riding with me.”

“I can’t ride with you. What about my car?” She stopped on the porch and stared up at him. He couldn’t be serious.

“I’ll get it to you after I return here with Ben.”

“What sense does that make when you can just follow me?”

“Like I said last night, I’m not letting you out of my sight. Don’t worry.  You’ll get your car. I’ll pay one of my guys to drive it to New York then take a bus back or something.”

There was no point arguing with him. Besides, this could be the last chance she’d get to talk to him. With a resolved sigh, she walked to the truck and got in.

HOW COULD he have been so wrong about her? He was sick of wondering. He lost a whole night’s sleep and for what? He fought the impulse to look at her, to talk to her, to make excuses for her. There was no excuse for what Delaney had done. Once he got his son that would be the end of it. So what if he never saw her after today. The time they spent together had been a lie, one he’d remember a lifetime.

Delaney shifted in her seat. As much as he wanted to block her out, he was aware of every time she glanced across the seat at him, of every breath that sounded a little deeper than the one before.

Blake focused on the tractor trailer in front of them. He channeled his attention on the brake lights. There were four on the bottom, two on the left, the right, and two on the top. In bold letters across the top rear panel was the acronym D. O. T. It stood for Delivery On Time. Below that was an eight hundred number and the question, How’s my driving? Like anyone ever called.  Above the door latch someone had written WASH ME in the dirt.

Delaney crossed her hands in her lap.

“YOU CAN’T just pick Ben up and leave.” She broke the torturous silence that had filled the truck for most of the drive. He’d made it clear early in the trip he had no interest in anything she had to say, and then he tuned her out so completely she could have been making faces at him the whole way, and he probably wouldn’t have even noticed. But with less than a mile to go before they arrived at her parents’ house, she felt like she had to try one last time to get through to him.

“Blake, please. I know you don’t want to talk to me. But this isn’t about you and me. This is about what’s best for Ben. You can’t just walk in, pick him up, and take him home with you.”

“It’s not your call.”

“Think about it,” she implored. “He’s barely four years old. He doesn’t know you, and if you take him so abruptly, he’ll be frightened.”

“Whose fault is that?” He glanced at her without softening. “You and Connie created this situation. Ben’s young; he’ll adjust.”

“I’m just asking you to give him a day or two to warm up to you before you take him away from everything he knows. Is that really too much?”

He didn’t respond. Delaney didn’t know if that meant he’d closed her out again or if he was thinking about it. She prayed it was the latter.

Although her first concern was Ben, she needed the time too, time for goodbye. How could she watch the child be swept out of her life with no opportunity to say even a few last loving words to him?

As much as her heart was breaking, she would not do or say anything that might heighten Benjamin’s fear. Neither did she want to jeopardize his relationship with Blake. Despite her frustration over his inflexibility, she knew Blake would be good to Ben.

What hurt Delaney most about Blake’s reaction was that he made love to her as if he really did care about her.  Then when she had tried to explain her actions, he’d disregarded everything she said as lies. He hadn’t even seemed to want to understand. If he really cared about her, wouldn’t he want to work things out as much as she did?

Delaney watched out the window as Blake drove down the long driveway that led to the house she’d grown up in. By all accounts, the home and grounds were stunning. Beautiful gardens reflected her mother’s skillful eye. Every tree and shrub fit some design, even where the effect appeared to be carefree abandon.

She loved this place. Her childhood had been happy here…nothing there for her but good memories. What would Blake think of her home? Would he feel the loving warmth that seemed to wrap itself around her here like a down comforter making her want to snuggle into its depths?

“You can park in the drive in front of the house,” she told him. When he did she opened her own door and slid out. She started up the walk then turned and waited for him.

Blake came around the front of the truck. Tension seemed to roll off him like steam from a New York City grate. He looked stiff, all the panther-like grace that reminded her of that huge cat whenever she watched him, gone.

The rigid expression of his face was set, no softer than steel. His eyes, which could burn as warm as an August sun, or harden to fossilized amber in a flash, locked with hers. She’d expected his anger, but what she hadn’t anticipated was the vulnerability she thought she glimpsed lurking in their depths.

The sudden realization that Blake might be nervous stunned her. She’d been so enveloped in her own emotional upheaval she hadn’t stopped to consider what he must be feeling. Blake had come to claim a son he’d never known.

Delaney’s heart went out to him. It must have been awful for him all these months not even knowing if Benjamin was alive. She took a step forward, wanting to offer some kind of reassurance.

Blake stopped a couple feet in front of her.

“This is where you grew up?” He looked at the house.

Delaney nodded silently.

He frowned. “Let’s go, princess.”

She bit her lip. Right now she was the easiest target around. There was already too much widening the gap between them, and she suspected that little dart would feel like a love stroke compared to what lay ahead.

He took her elbow and led her forward. They were at checkmate. She saw no way out.