thing you want. My father.”
He was barely holding on to his temper. “Who knew you were here?”
She didn’t answer. He thought he detected a slight shrug of her shoulders.
Joe heard someone coming up the stairs.
He turned and saw the patrolman who had been at the front door.
“Detective McCully wants to see you downstairs.”
He should have guessed his partner Mac McCully would remember Joe’s past transgressions where Nikki Walker was concerned and try to protect him from making more.
McCully would want to investigate the break-in without him. Convenient for his partner that the 911 call tonight had come in when Joe was out of the precinct.
He stared hard at the uniformed cop. “Tell him I’ll be there in a few minutes.”
The man shifted his weight from foot to foot. “He said I should tell you to get downstairs right away.”
“Tell him I’ll be down,” Joe growled at the uniform, who backed up quickly, turned and left.
Joe turned his attention back to Nikki.
Ignoring the fact that she hadn’t answered his last question, he decided to bring up the subject that had been burning in his gut since he’d left the station. “Where’s the baby?”
She went very still. “Go away, Joe.”
He hadn’t heard her say his name for a year. He didn’t realize just how much he had missed it. “Tell me, Nikki. Where is the child?”
“Please, go away.” Her voice broke on a little sob.
The sound tore at him. “Nikki—”
“Galtero, are you nuts?” His partner’s familiar voice came from behind him and Joe muttered a curse under his breath.
“Go away, McCully.” Joe didn’t take his eyes off Nikki as he spoke to his partner.
He could see her shaking from across the room.
“You want to lose your shield for good?” McCully whispered fiercely in his ear.
Joe spoke without turning around. “I know what I’m doing.”
McCully snorted. “I doubt that. You’re thinking with your zipper again.”
Joe shrugged. “I’m here as a friend of the family.”
That comment earned Joe an expletive. Then McCully said, “I just heard her say how much she wants you here.”
Joe shrugged. “Go investigate, McCully. I need to talk to Ms. Walker.”
“You have five minutes, then I’m coming back,” McCully muttered under his breath, turned and headed toward the back stairs.
There wasn’t any more time to coax her. McCully was such a mother hen Joe would be lucky if he gave them the full five minutes before he returned.
Joe crossed the room in three strides and reached out to tip her face up. He needed to see her expression when he asked her again about the baby.
Nikki twisted away from the palm he had cupped under her chin and hunched back down into the blanket, but not before he saw her wet cheeks and the purple bruise along her jaw.
“Son of a bitch.” A red haze of anger blotted out what little rational thinking he’d been doing since he’d heard about the baby.
How badly had they hurt her? He hooked his hands gently around her upper arms to lift her out of the chair.
She gave a startled yelp of protest and twisted away from him. The blanket slid off her shoulder. Her shirt was open down the front and he saw the infant she held to her breast.
Jostled by the sudden movement the baby began to wail.
Stunned, Joe stared, unable to take his eyes off the child.
Nikki curled her body protectively over the dark-haired baby and guided the small searching mouth back to her swollen nipple. She crooned and stroked the tiny cheek until the baby started to nurse again with a little huff of indignation.
Awkwardly Nikki tried to pull the blanket back over her shoulder with one hand.
“No, leave it.” He breathed the words, wonder displacing some of his anger. He pushed the blanket down farther so he could see more of the baby. He’d never seen anything more perfect. A feeling of awe and wonder bloomed in his chest.
She had the infant angled across her lap, tiny feet dangling just past the crook of her elbow. The baby’s lips looked pink against her white breast, and one perfect little fist curled against a small rounded cheek.
Nikki didn’t look at him. She continued to stroke the baby’s hair and rock from side to side.
“Is it mine?” Joe breathed the question, but he already knew the answer.
He had a child. Nikki had carried his baby for nine months. The baby had to be about three months old. All that time and she hadn’t told him.
A sharp stab of anger sliced through him. How could she keep something so important from him?
Finally she spoke. “Michael’s mine,” she said fiercely without looking up.
A boy. He had a son.
Overwhelmed, he stared at the baby, trying to take in the fact that Nikki had given birth to his child.
She’d known they’d made a baby for a year and never contacted him. He had seen her just this afternoon and she hadn’t said a word. If she hadn’t had the break-in, he still wouldn’t know.
Emotion came surging back in a hot rush. He took a step back, not trusting himself to keep his hands off her. He’d never put his hands on a woman in anger, but right now he wanted to shake Nikki.
“Galtero.” Joe glanced over his shoulder. McCully stood in the doorway.
“What?” he said, the agitation he felt plain in his voice.
Joe blocked his partner’s view while he covered Nikki and the baby.
“Joe, I need you downstairs. Now.”
In the worst way he wanted to turn a deaf ear to his partner but he knew it would be best if he left until he could get a grip on himself.
“Yeah, coming.” He took a deep breath to calm himself, then slid his hand under Nikki’s chin again and pulled her face up again until she had no choice but to look at him.
“Stay right here. I’m coming back.” He drew back the blanket and with a shaking hand he cupped his palm over his son’s head, his fingertips feeling the pulse beating in the soft spot on top of his son’s skull. “I’m coming back.”
Nikki
