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pieces.” Megan saw by the look on his face that he wanted her to be more specific. But she didn’t want to launch into that now. She wanted to wait until they were all together. “But I’ll contain my curiosity until tonight.” She turned to Lacy. Though none of what Lacy had gone through thispast year was her fault, she wanted to make things up to the girl. “Right now, I think we need to get this big boy changed and ready to go.”
    â€œGo? Go where?” Lacy asked.
    â€œShopping,” Megan replied brightly. She held Chase in the air, and the baby gurgled, shoving his fist into his mouth. The drool that followed told Megan another tooth was coming in soon. “I think in honor of his being officially recognized as a Maitland, he needs to get additions to his wardrobe befitting his station in life.” Laughing, she inclined her head toward Lacy. “Humor me, I feel like lavishing money and attention on him—and his mother.”
    Lacy wasn’t about to accept charity, not even from someone as nice as Megan. “Oh, no, that’s not necessary. You’ve already bought so much for Chase, I—”
    Megan wasn’t about to put up with excuses. “The only thing that’s necessary,” Megan told her, cutting Lacy off, “is for you to pack away your pride and say yes. Pride’s all well and good in its place, but it’s a poor substitute for having things. Take it from a woman who knows.” She saw the skeptical look on Lacy’s face. “There was a time that church mice thought of me as being poorer than they were.”
    Lacy couldn’t believe that Megan had experienced anything less than living in the lap of luxury. “You?”
    â€œMe.” A tinge of pride entered Megan’s voice.“When I married William Maitland, his family thought he’d taken leave of his senses and that I would drag him down.” Her smile was sunny, almost transforming her into the young woman who had caught William’s eye and heart. “I turned out to be the best thing that ever happened to him and his stodgy family.” Megan winked at both of them. “Or so he liked to tell me. Now come along, no more excuses or dragging your feet.”
    â€œYes, ma’am.”
    â€œThere, that’s what I like to hear. Complete compliance.” She glanced over her shoulder at Connor just before she and Lacy left the room with Chase. “You could stand to learn a thing or two from this girl, Connor.”
    He already had, he thought, watching them leave. And that was just the problem.

CHAPTER THREE
    â€œW ELL, WELL, WELL, aren’t you the little princess?”
    Straightening her shoulders, Janelle tossed her hair over her shoulder, its deep chestnut color a sharp contrast to the drab prison-gray dress she was wearing.
    Her lips curled in an expression that was half smirk, half sneer as she regarded the visitor the guard had ushered her in to see. If she’d been expecting Connor, she gave no indication of her disappointment. Instead, brassy insolence defined every inch of her countenance.
    She dropped into the chair that faced Lacy’s across the visitor’s table, determined to remain in control over the other woman the way she had all along. “I was wondering if you’d get around to coming to see me.”
    Alone in the small five-by-nine room with Janelle, Lacy knew there was a policeman right outside the door. All she had to do was call and the man would instantly be in the room, ready to stop anything that was happening. Janelle couldn’t hurt her anymore.Couldn’t steal her baby away the way she had twice already.
    But logic didn’t really help quell the uneasiness shimmering through her.
    With effort, Lacy drew her courage to her. Cutting the shopping trip short, she had left Chase in Megan’s care with a fabricated excuse, borrowed a car from her and driven to the police precinct