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Laura, good or otherwise, and I don’t like to add someone else’s problems to my own. But the fact is, you’re here, and I don’t like playing in the dark.”
    She was tired, tired of running, tired of hiding, tired of trying to cope entirely on her own. She needed someone. When his hand was covering hers and his eyes were calm and steady on hers, she could almost believe it was him she needed.
    â€œThe baby’s father is dead,” she began, picking her way carefully. She would tell him enough to satisfy him, she hoped, but not all. “His parents want the baby. They want . . . I don’t know, to replace, to take back, something that they’ve lost. To . . . to ensure the lineage. I’m sorry for them, but the baby isn’t their child.” There was that look again, fierce, protective. A mother tiger shielding her cub. “The baby’s mine.”
    â€œNo one would argue with that. Why should you have to run?”
    â€œThey have a lot of money, a lot of power.”
    â€œSo?”
    â€œSo?” Angry again, she pushed away. The contact that had been so soothing for both of them was broken. “It’s easy to say that when you come from the same world. You’ve always had. You’ve never had to want and to wonder. No one takes from people like you, Gabe. They wouldn’t dare. You don’t know what it’s like to have your life depend on the whims of others.”
    That she had was becoming painfully obvious. “Having money doesn’t mean you can take whatever you want.”
    â€œDoesn’t it?” She turned to him, her face set and cold. “You wanted a place to paint, somewhere you could be alone and be left alone. Did you have to think twice about how to arrange it? Did you have to plan or save or make compromises, or did you just write a check and move in?”
    His eyes were narrowed as he rose to face her. “Buying a cabin is a far cry from taking a baby from its mother.”
    â€œNot to some. Property is property, after all.”
    â€œYou’re being ridiculous.”
    â€œAnd you’re being naive.”
    His temper wavered, vying with amusement. “That’s a first. Sit down, Laura, you make me nervous when you swing around.”
    â€œI’m not going to break,” she muttered, but she eased into a chair. “I’m strong, I take care of myself. I had an examination just before I left Dallas, and the baby and I are fine. Better than fine. In a few weeks I’m going to check into a hospital in Denver and have my baby. Then we’re going to disappear.”
    He thought about it. He almost believed the woman sitting across from him could accomplish it. Then he remembered how lost and frightened she’d been the night before. There was no use pointing out the strain she’d been under and its consequences for her. But he knew now what button to push.
    â€œDo you think it’s fair to the baby to keep running?”
    â€œNo, it’s horribly, horribly unfair. But it would be worse to stop and let them take him.”
    â€œWhy are you so damn sure they would, or could?”
    â€œBecause they told me. They explained what they thought was best for me and the child, and they offered to pay me.” The venom came into her voice at that, black and bitter. “They offered to give me money for my baby, and when I refused they threatened to simply take him.” She didn’t want to relive that dreadful, terrifying scene. With an effort she cleared it from her mind.
    He felt a swift and dark disgust for these people he didn’t even know. He buried it with a shake of his head and tried to reason with her. “Laura, whatever they want, or intend, they couldn’t just take what isn’t theirs. No court would just take an infant from its mother without good cause.”
    â€œI can’t win on my own.” She closed her eyes for a moment