The Baby Invasion (Destiny Bay-Baby Dreams) Read Online Free PDF Page B

coming if he thought she scared so easily.  
    “No, Mr. Carrington. You didn’t scare me. What you did was tempt me. Like that serpent in the Garden of Eden holding out the apple. And what I’m doing is turning it down.” She gestured for him to leave. “So nice to have met you. Thank you for the apricots.”  
    “Cathy...”  
    She smiled as she waved him out the door and closed it behind him. But the smile faded as soon as he was out of sight, and she sank against the cold, hard wood, staring into space.  
    How was it possible that a strange man could affect her like this? He was right. He had scared her a bit. It was irritating to think she had come close to losing perspective so easily. She would have to be more careful in the future.  
    Carelessness was what had always gotten her into trouble. She’d married Joey on the spur of the moment, swept off her feet by the handsome baseball player just on the verge of signing a major league contract. She’d had Beth and Barnaby, right away, so sure that Joey would love them the way she did, that it would cement their marriage with love and happiness.  
    Instead, it had torn them apart, especially when Beanie had come along, a surprise to them both. The children she’d thought of as symbols of their love had been burdens to Joey. As far as he was concerned, they just got in the way.  
    If she’d been more careful, she would have realized the truth. She’d learned her lesson. She was careful now. Every move was thought out. She would never take for granted again that someone she loved would look at the world the way she did.  
    She would never take love for granted, either. Love was supreme carelessness. It was just too dangerous to risk.  
    The annoying buzz of the telephone split the air. She opened her eyes and stared at it, dreading it, letting it ring. But then she began to make her way slowly toward it. After all, April could be at the other end of the line. She couldn’t take the risk of missing her.

CHAPTER THREE:
    Super Beanie

    Cathy took the receiver in her hand and hesitated before putting it to her ear. “Hello?’  
    A rasping sigh of exasperation was her answer. “It’s you again, isn’t it? Listen, lady, I’m sick of this stupid runaround game you want to play. Where’s April?”  
    He’d sounded from the first like some gangland hood.  
    Cathy had had about enough; she’d told him over and over that April was missing. What good did it do to just say the same things over and over if he never believed her?  
    Okay.   This time it would be different.   She put on a phony telephone operator voice and said shrilly. “To whom did you wish to speak, sir?”  
    “You know damn well who I want to talk to.”  
    “Sorry. There is no one here by that name. Please try again on some other occasion.”  
    With a flourish, she replaced the phone in its cradle.   Staring at it, she willed it not to ring again. Hadn’t he learned by now that he wasn’t going to get anything out of her?  
    She jumped when the phone sounded, and then she sighed. This man was her albatross, it seemed. Resigned, she picked up the phone.  
    “Hello,” she said sadly.  
    His voice was strained and harsh. “Don’t play cute with me, lady. You know what I want. If I don’t get it, right now, I’m going to come over there and terrorize you a little.’”  
    That was exactly what she was most afraid of. Yelling at her over the phone was one thing. Coming over and yelling at her in front of her children was quite another. Her fingers curled more tightly around the plastic receiver.  
    “Listen. I wouldn’t play games with you if you would only listen to me.   I don’t know where she is.   And if you’d just stop making these phone calls, I would stop acting silly.”  
    “I’m not making these phone calls for my health, lady. I want April.”  
    Cathy closed her eyes and nodded. “So do I, mister. You don’t know how badly I want her