Alias: Daddy Read online

  “Put her in the Blazer,” Roman ordered.

  Cage deposited Glynna on the front passenger seat. Roman and Kerrie set the girls on the backseat and fastened their seat belts. Kerrie said, “I’ll move it away from the house and call for a fire truck. Go get Philip.”

  But Cage was already returning with Philip when Roman reached the front door. Philip was also coming around. They set him down on the grass a good ten feet from the mansion, then ran back inside for Charlie.

  Blaring sirens accompanied the arrival of the patrol car and ambulance. Kerrie backed the Blazer several feet down the driveway, clearing a path for them. Fear sat on her heart. Twice in two days, she’d been forced to watch the ravages of fire. Both times because of the same person. Where was Cindy Faber?

  INSIDE THE HOUSE, Roman and Cage ducked low, covering their faces with their coats. They made their way to Charlie Wong. He was moaning. In the corner against the French doors, Roman caught the soft weeping of a distressed woman. “Sophia?”

  She lifted her head. “Yes, here. We’re over here. Please, help me with Lucinda.”

  Cage muttered, “I checked her vitals—Cindy is dead.”

  “Sophia!” Roman shouted over the crackling of the fire. It had grown into a fence separating them. “Cindy is gone. Get out Go out the French doors. Now.”

  “You killed her, Donnello.” Sophia’s voice sounded disembodied. “You’ll pay for this.”

  “Come on, Roman,” Cage urged. “Before none of us can get out of here. The cavalry has arrived. They can take care of Sophia.”

  As they hauled Charlie through the front door, one of the two uniformed patrolmen stopped them. “Detective Muldoon says there’s still a woman and her daughter inside. Whereabouts?”

  Roman shook his head. “The daughter is dead. I shot her as she tried to escape. Her mother may have fled through the French doors on the other side of the house. She’s an accessory in five murders in Seattleand an arson. Another two murders in New Jersey and this fire.”

  The patrolman commanded his partner to watch the front door and set off at a run for the corner of the mansion. Roman and Cage abandoned Charlie at the ambulance.

  “Donnellol” Sophia’s cry rang through the smoke. She appeared a second later, her hair singed and smoking, her face streaked black. She lifted her hand. Cage shouted, “She’s got a gun.”

  A second later, Cage lurched back, knocking Roman off his feet. Then Cage stared down, looking surprised to see a large red blotch forming on his shirtfront. As he crumpled to the ground, Kerrie screamed.

  The uniformed cop jumped Sophia, wrestled her to her knees and cuffed her. The bleat-bleat of a fire truck punctuated the morning air.

  Roman leaped up, and brushed himself off. He spotted Kerrie, kneeling beside Cage. “Paramedic! Now!”

  The emergency team hurried to Cage. “We’ve gotta stop this blood.”

  “Come on, Irish. Let them do their work.” Roman pulled Kerrie to one side. She held herself stiff, trembling, watching the paramedics working on Tully. Her face was ashen, and tears slipped down her cheeks. Roman’s heart was in his throat. He folded her into his arms.

  She clung to him. “He saved our lives, Roman. We should have trusted him. We thought he was Loverboy. I’ll never forgive myself.”

  Roman’s gut was in knots. Cage had just taken a bullet meant for him. He wouldn’t forgive himself, either. Kerrie said, “What if he doesn’t make it?”

  Roman held her tighter, issuing reassurances as Cage was loaded onto a stretcher and hurried into the ambulance. It didn’t look good. He’d heard the paramedic say Cage’s pulse was thready; he’d lost a lot of blood and he’d be lucky to make it the hospital.

  THE NEXT TWO HOURS passed in a blur of activity. The fire department contained the blaze at the Waring estate to the living room, but smoke and water damage were extensive. Kerrie and Roman drove the “poison” victims to the hospital in Roman’s Blazer. It turned out they were only suffering from a mild sedative. All three had been revived and released.

  Charlie, his services no longer needed, took a taxi to his condo in Centreville. Still, Kerrie was frightened, edgy. Loverboy’s reign of terror had ended and Philip’s insurance would repair the mansion, but Tully Cage was in God’s hands. He had made it to the hospital. Into surgery. And now they awaited the outcome. The twins were playing on the floor of the surgical waiting area with their bunnies and “Moman” whom they were now calling “Daddy.” Kerrie paced back and forth across the room. As she passed the chairs where Philip and her mother were seated, it struck her that Roman’s friend was a very good-looking man. Not boldly so, like Roman. Not plastichandsome like Dr. Jon Vauter. But in an understated way that complemented her mother.

  She wondered at that wayward thought. “Are you sure you’re both all right?”

  “I’m fine, Kerrie Carleen,” Glynna assured her.

  Philip nodded. “We’re tougher than we look.”

  Her mother patted her hand. “You save your prayers for Tully.”

  “I am.”

  In unison, Philip and Glynna said, “He’ll be fine.”

  They glanced at each another, grinned and linked the little fingers of their right hands. Philip leaned toward her mom. “What goes up the chimney?”

  Glynna answered, “Smoke.”

  “What comes down the chimney?”

  “Santa Claus.”

  They shut their eyes, then looked at each other and said, again in unison, “Let your wish and mine never be broken.” They wrenched their fingers apart and laughed.

  Amazement swirled through Kerrie. Philip was superstitious. Her mother had found a soul mate, and if she wasn’t mistaken, he was as smitten with her as she seemed to be with him.

  Dr. Jon had never made her mother glow like this. Only her dad had done that. Kerrie smiled wistfully at the thought. Roman was right. She still had her memories.

  She moved across the room and sank into a hard plastic chair. Roman scrambled up off the floor and came to her. He hunkered down on his heels, took both her hands in his and gazed at her pensively, seriously. “The past couple of hours were a reality check. For the first time in my life, I was scared and didn’t enjoy it.”

  She didn’t know where this was going, but she’d also done a lot of soul-searching. She grinned wryly. “Losing your edge, Donnello?”

  “Falling in love, fatherhood, they’ll do that to a man.”

  She laughed softly and shook her head. “We are pathetic.”

  “No, we’re just a breed apart from most. We’ve always gotten a kick out of danger—it’s one of the reasons we both went into law enforcement. But we have more important priorities to consider now.” His golden eyes glowed with love. “I want to be a full-time father. I want to be your full-time husband. I don’t want some other man spending his days and nights with any of my girls.”

  Kerrie felt a tingle of warmth starting through her, felt the chill easing from her heart and she had an abiding sense that everything would turn out well after all. “You know what you’re saying?”

  Roman nodded. “Yes, Irish, I’m ready to talk compromise.”

  Cage’s surgeon entered the room.

  Epilogue

  Nine months later

  “Tully Cage, you are a sight for sore eyes.” Kerrie held open the door of her new house and ushered him inside. He looked wonderful. The bullet had gone clean through his chest missing every vital organ by millimeters. Somehow he’d survived despite the massive loss of blood. He claimed he’d lived to make Roman and her pay for thinking he was Loverboy.

  Whatever had kept him alive was fine with Kerrie. He was a man she would always want on her side. His crew cut had grown out. His tawny hair was swept off his forehead. She’d never realized it before, but he slightly resembled the actor Don Johnson. “Ready to get back to work?”

  “Tomorrow will be soon enough. Right now, I want to see my godchildren.” He draped his arm around her shoulder and kissed her o
n the temple. “How’s their mommy feeling?”

  “A little fat, but otherwise, the doctor says I can start back to work next week.”

  “So soon? With all you’ve done in the last two days?”

  “A few hours a day at first. Come on. Roman is in the great room.”

  She led him out of the entry, her heart content, her new life and her new home more than she’d ever imagined they would be. The foyer opened onto a spacious room furnished with desks and computers and filing cabinets. “This is the business area. It’s adjacent to the main living quarters back there.” She pointed to a set of closed double. doors. “We have six bedrooms upstairs.”

  “Seems you’re doing your darndest to fill them.” Cage teased.

  She grinned. The extent to which Roman and she had compromised was a true measure of their love. They’d both quit their jobs, bought five acres in Middleburg, Virginia, and built this two-story, colonial house with a huge fenced backyard. “The business is gaining solid ground.”

  “I’m honored that you and Roman wanted me on the team.”

  “We’re the ones who are honored.” The business was Bodyguards, Inc., a security company Roman and she had started shortly after their honeymoon. It had been Roman’s idea to run the business from home, so they could both be both working and stay-at-home parents.

  She crossed the office with Cage following. “Charlie already has an assignment for you.”

  “Wong’s been promoted to manager?”

  “Just the past five days. Good thing he was between assignments when I went into labor. He’s the only one, besides Roman and me, who knows office procedure.”

  She pulled the double doors open, revealing one large room that comprised both a country-size kitchen and great room. Another compromise was visible in the decor. Instead of black leather furniture, they had settled on forest green leather furniture with burgundy accents and black accessories. The adult comforts interspersed with a children’s play area where toys abounded.

  Roman sat in the middle of the deep cushioned, leather sofa. His raven hair was mussed, falling seductively over his forehead, his concentration on the newborn babies lying one on each of his thighs. His face showed utter rapture.

  “Fatherhood looks good on you, Donnello,” Cage said,his accent thick with emotion.

  Roman lifted his face and beamed at Tully and Kerrie. She’d conceived on the night her house had been brokeninto. The one night they’d made love without protection. The odds of it happening twice in one lifetime were phenomenal. A fact that laid all of Roman’s misgivings abouthis sterility permanently to rest. “It feels even better, myfriend.”

  “So these are the new twins.” Cage sounded ill at ease. He wiped his hands on his pant legs as he strode to Romanfor a closer look.

  “I wanted boys,” Kerrie said.

  “I wanted girls,” Roman said.

  “And you got one of each,” Cage said. “Who do theylook like?”

  “I wanted them to look like Roman.”

  “I wanted them to look like Irish.”

  “I’d say you both prevailed. Their daddy’s thick blackhair and their mommy’s stubborn chin.”

  The front door burst open to the unmistakable exuberance of Gabriella and Maureen, who came crashing into-the great room a moment later. Glynna and Philip followed. They had married almost a month to the day aftermeeting, and still had the glow of newlyweds. For Kerrie,the best part was having her mother so near, only fourminutes up the road.

  “Mommy, we missed you!” Maureen said.

  “Missed you!” Gabby nodded. “We rode Poppy Phil’spony.”

  Laughing, Kerrie stooped and rained hugs and kisses onher daughters. “Oh, I missed you, too, my darlings.”

  She raised back up and hugged her mother. “Mom, Philip, thank you so much for keeping them.”

  Glynna released her and smiled “We love babysitting.”

  Philip nodded. “Anytime. They fill the house with joy.”

  Maureen said, “You’s tummy’s not fat.”

  Gabby said, “Did those baby get out of you’s tummy?”

  The adults laughed.

  “Yes, Gabby. Daddy has the new babies now. See.” Kerrie pointed toward Roman. The girls were three years old and talked incessantly, but seeing their places on their daddy’s lap usurped by two new babies, silenced them.

  Roman laughed and beckoned them over to him to meet their brother and sister for the first time. They hurried to the couch and cuddled against him, one on each side. Seeing her husband surrounded by their children stole Kerrie’s breath away. She thought her heart would burst with joy.

  Roman glanced at Gabby, then Maureen, then at their son. “This is your new brother.”

  Gabby touched the baby’s tiny hand. Her eyes widened as the baby grabbed hold of -her finger. “Who’s his name?”

  Roman smiled. “Nick.”

  He repeated the process with their new daughter. This time it was Maureen who was closer. She didn’t reach for the baby’s hand, but hugged Roman’s side tighter. “Who’s shes name?”

  “Diamond,” Roman said.

  An incredulous chuckle burst from Cage. “You named the twins Nick and Diamond?”

  Kerrie ran her hand through her wild red hair and smirked at him. “What else would we name them?”

  eISBN 978-14592-6841-8

  ALIAS: DADDY

  Copyright © 1997 by Adrianne Lee Undsderfer

  All rights reserved. Except for use in any review, the reproduction or utilization of this work in whole or in part in any form by any electronic, mechanical or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including xerography, photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, is forbidden without the written permission of the publisher, Harlequin Enterprises Limited, 225 Duncan Mill Road, Don Mills, Ontario. Canada M3B 3K9.

  All characters in this book have no existence outside the imagination of the author and have no relation whatsoever to anyone bearing the same name or names. They are not even distantly inspired by any individual known or unknown to the author, and all incidents are pure invention.

  This edition published by arrangement with Harlequin Books S.A.

  ® and TM are trademarks of the publisher. Trademarks Indicated with ® registered in the United States Patent and Trademark Office, the Canadian Trade Marks Office and in other countries.

  Printed in U.S.A.

  Table of Contents

  Cover Page

  Table of Contents

  Excerpt

  Dear Reader

  Dedication

  CAST OF CHARACTERS

  Chapter One

  Chapter Two

  Chapter Three

  Chapter Four

  Chapter Five

  Chapter Six

  Chapter Seven

  Chapter Eight

  Chapter Nine

  Chapter Ten

  Chapter Eleven

  Chapter Twelve

  Chapter Thirteen

  Chapter Fourteen

  Chapter Fifteen

  Chapter Sixteen

  Chapter Seventeen

  Chapter Eighteen

  Chapter Nineteen

  Epilogue

  Copyright