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A shadow loomed in the doorway, and she jumped until she realized it was Ryan. “You’re home late.”
“As always.” He entered the room and dropped onto a lounge chair where he propped his stockinged feet. “I could just sleep here. And what are you doing up? It’s after one.”
“Couldn’t sleep,” she admitted.
“You seem to have that problem a lot.”
“Comes with listening for a baby to cry.” The scent of a woman’s flowery perfume drifted from his direction. “Big date tonight?”
“Not so big. The average sort.”
“Did you do anything fun?”
“Just went barhopping. How’s the search going for your grandma’s twin?”
“Slow. Lucas has a list of possible people after the egg. Roger Adams, the Russian mafia, and Ivan Bury. Lucas is trying to keep us all safe and the egg protected. It’s been hard to find time to visit the woman he suspects might be Elizabeth, but we have a trip planned tomorrow.”
He nodded. “I get it.”
“Any idea when we can move back into the house?”
He hiked a brow. “You’re eager to leave our humble abode?”
“I know it’s a lot to have us here, and I just brought in another baby. The chaos can’t be easy for either of you to take.”
“We’re both gone so much I don’t consider it a problem. And I doubt Lucas does. He’s always following his nose to uncover crime.”
She had a quick flash of Lucas’s face as a bloodhound and nearly laughed out loud. Something about Ryan’s confession had brought down the wall that had been between them for so long. The admission of his weakness made her like him more somehow. Maybe because she no longer put him on a pedestal like she once had. It was hard to stand in the light of someone else’s perfection.
“I think Lucas is tired of having us here. He’s been distant,” she blurted out.
Ryan shrugged. “Lucas is a hard guy to read. He’s probably just immersed in work. I’ve seen the way he watches you. He’s crazy about you.”
Heat flooded Carly’s cheeks, and she fiddled with the edges of her laptop. “I think you’re exaggerating.”
“I know my brother better than anyone. If he’s acting strange, it might be because how he feels is freaking him out. He never thought he’d get married, you know. He was engaged once when he was in his midtwenties, and his fiancée couldn’t stand worrying about him. He decided then and there never to let his heart get involved. And he hasn’t. Until now.”
Carly found it hard to breathe with Ryan’s knowing gaze on her. She’d thought something was developing between her and Lucas, something more precious than the egg. But his recent behavior had made her doubt it. And since finding out the perfect Ryan had cheated, too, she wasn’t so sure she wanted to get involved either. Lucas’s change of direction had likely saved her from making a decision that would hurt them both.
If she ended up raising Eric’s other child, any kind of relationship would move to the back burner. She’d have her hands full.
“I can see the wheels turning,” Ryan said.
“Just thinking about Caroline. Kelly isn’t doing well. She might not make it.”
His eyes widened. “What would that mean for you?”
“I couldn’t let Noah’s sister vanish into the system. She might be adopted, and he’d never get a chance to know and love her.”
“So you’d raise her?”
“Of course.”
A slow grin spread across his face. “When did Lucas start acting weird? Yesterday when you brought the baby home?”
Ryan was right. She gave a jerky nod. “You think he doesn’t want to get involved in case I’m stuck with Caroline?”
“I wouldn’t want to put it quite that bluntly, but could you blame him? It’s one thing to be prepared to raise one baby that’s not your own, buttwo? And infants to boot? I mean, Lucas is a great guy, but he’s not a saint. That’s a whole other level of commitment, and it would be a lot to take that on.”
