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Elaina.
    The only mother his son had ever known.
    Christopher used her knees to pull himself up to a rather precarious standing position. He slapped at her hands until she lowered them. Despite her tear-stained face, the little boy smiled at her. It wasn’t an ordinary smile, either. It was a smile of joy and love.
    Seeing that love aimed at Elaina put a fist around Luke’s heart. On the one hand, he despised the woman who’d perhaps robbed him of months with his son. On the other hand, she was the center of his baby’s world.
    For now, anyway.
    She reached out and pulled Christopher to her. “You can’t take him away from me.”
    Maybe not right away he couldn’t, but if she was innocent Luke couldn’t see including her permanently in his life. Except for perhaps visitation rights. He only hoped that was enough.
    “Concentrate on the here and now,” Luke told her. “I will raise my son, and that’ll be a lot easier to do with your cooperation. ”
    That sent her gaze slicing to his. “And what do you consider cooperation?”
    “Help Christopher through this adjustment.”
    She huffed. “You’re talking about your plan. You want me to pretend to be your loving wife until you’re comfortable enough to take Christopher.”
    “I don’t want him to have too many changes at once,” Luke clarified. “I want this to be the easiest possible transition for him. If we’re in the house that he considers home, if you’re there, and if we can create a safe, nurturing environment for him, then—”
    “Then you’ll wait until he gets to know you and then take him.”
    Yes. But Luke couldn’t say that to her, not with those tears in her eyes. “We’ll see what we can work out,” he offered.
    And under the circumstances, it was the best he could give her.
    They sat there, both looking at the little boy they loved and wanted. And there was no doubt about it. Luke did love this child. Unconditional, total love. Even though he’d just met him for the first time, he couldn’t imagine a life without his son.
    Christopher babbled something indistinguishable and dropped back to the floor so he could crawl to his toys. Luke got down there with him, but before the playtime could start, his cell phone rang.
    Hating the interruption but knowing it could be critical, Luke answered the call. “Agent Buchanan.”
    “It’s me, Rusty,” he heard his friend say. “We made it to the jail without incident. The sheriff is booking the guys now. This is all just preliminary, but I checked their IDs. Their names are Damien Weathers and Simon Foster. Neither have a permit to carry concealed weapons so we can hold them. I ran their priors. Both also have records for burglary and some outstanding traffic tickets, but that’s it.”
    That didn’t mean the two were innocent of this particular count. Whatever this count was. And it didn’t mean they weren’t the ones who’d tried to hurt Elaina a year ago.
    “I’ll come down for the interviews,” Luke insisted.
    “There won’t be any, not for a while at least. Both lawyered up, and both are giving us the silent treatment. You’re not getting anything out of these guys.”
    Luke mentally cursed. “When will the lawyer be there?”
    “Not until morning. No interviews, no interrogations until then.”
    He mentally cursed even more. It wasn’t what he wanted to hear. But on the upside, as long as the men were behind bars, then Christopher was probably safe. Still, Luke wasn’t about to take any chances.
    “You take care of things there with your little boy,” Rusty insisted. “I’ll arrange to install the security equipment we discussed.”
    Luke had nearly forgotten about that. Not good. He needed to be totally focused because that equipment was a necessity. He wanted it installed in the wooded area behind Elaina’s house. With a motion-activated silent alarm, it would warn in advance if someone tried to sneak onto her property.
    “I can get one of the agents from the