Undercover Christmas. B.J. Daniels

she stumbled to her feet. “But Vanessa killed it.”

      “What?” Marni cried, jumping to her feet Surely Lilly was too drunk to know what she was saying.

      But Marni felt a chill as she witnessed the fear she saw in the woman’s eyes as Lilly lurched around the side of the staircase at the sound of Vanessa’s high heels thumping across the hardwood floor toward them. Marni started to follow Lilly, afraid the woman would hurt herself in the state she was in, but Lilly motioned for her not to. The pleading in her wide-eyed gaze stopped Marni. What was she so afraid of? Vanessa? Or Vanessa catching her this inebriated?

      Marni watched in surprise as Lilly touched the wall behind her and a narrow door silently slid open. Lilly slipped into what appeared to be a passageway and disappeared, the door sliding shut behind her with only a whisper.

      “Are you ready?” Vanessa demanded.

      Marni jumped as she swung around to find Vanessa glaring at her. The conversation in the library must not have gone well.

      “Is something wrong?” Vanessa asked, her gaze narrowing as it settled on the empty glass resting on the bottom stair where Lilly had left it.

      “You just startled me,” Marni said quickly.

      Vanessa nodded suspiciously. Then she picked up the empty wineglass with obvious annoyance, and placed it on the marble-topped table to the left of the stairs. “Hilda should have your room ready.” Without giving Marni a backward glance, Vanessa started up the stairs.

      Marni followed her up the wide circular staircase, realizing that the longer she was in this house, the more questions she had about Chase and his family. She shook her head, confused but too smart to ask Vanessa anything.

      As she climbed the stairs, Marni found herself looking over her shoulder. You’re getting a little paranoid. Yeah? Well, who wouldn’t be in this house? She tried to laugh off the feeling that she was being watched. Spied on. That someone definitely didn’t want her here. She almost laughed at the thought. No one wanted her here and it wasn’t as though they’d made a secret of it.

      As Vanessa led her toward the third floor, Marni glanced back again, thinking about Chase Calloway. She had so many questions, but only one that really mattered. Could it be possible he was the man Elise thought he was and this was just a misunderstanding because of his memory loss? Then why, her skeptical side questioned, is he so adamant that El couldn’t be carrying his child?

      Marni had almost reached the top of the stairs when suddenly her right foot slipped. She grasped for the railing but wasn’t close enough to reach it. She felt herself teeter and start to fall backward. Two strong hands grabbed her.

      “Are you all right?” Hayes cried as he steadied her.

      It took Marni a moment to assure herself she wasn’t at that moment cartwheeling to the bottom of the long, curved staircase. She looked up, wondering where Hayes had come from so suddenly, and realized he’d been waiting in a small alcove on the stairs. As odd as that seemed, Marni was thankful he’d been there. It also explained that paranoid feeling that someone was watching her. She almost laughed in relief.

      “Thank you. I must have slipped.” Marni spotted the cause of her near accident—a colorful silk scarf on the stairs—about the same time as Hayes and his mother did.

      Vanessa”s hand went to her throat, her look one of shock. “Did I drop that? I didn’t even realize I was wearing it.” She stepped back down the stairs to pluck up the scarf. “How careless of me.”

      “Mother,” Hayes said, the reprimand clear in his voice. “She could have been killed and the baby—” He stopped, distress in his expression

      “It mustn’t happen again,” Hayes said to his mother.

      Vanessa looked as if he’d slapped her. “It was an accident.” Her voice sounded close to tears.

      A chill wrapped its icy fingers around Marni’s throat as she watched Vanessa retie the scarf around her neck. It mustn’t happen again?

      “Go find your wife,” Vanessa said to Hayes. “She needs you.”

      Hayes glared for a moment at his mother, a silent accusation in his eyes that even Marni couldn’t miss before he turned and left.

      Vanessa led the way to what Marni guessed was the guest bedroom. What had Hayes meant by “It mustn’t happen again"? Had there been other falls down the stairs? Marni wondered as she stepped through the doorway Vanessa now held open for her. Is that how Lilly had lost her baby? Or had he meant another baby mustn’t die in this house? Whatever, it gave Marni a chill not even the fire in the small rock fireplace in the corner could throw off.

      The bedroom was spacious and not quite as masculine as the library was, even with the king-size log bed, matching log furniture and antler-based lamps.

      The covers had been turned down on the bed and the flannel sheets looked inviting. So did the huge claw-foot tub she glimpsed in the bathroom.

      Marni glanced a little apprehensively at the adjoining bedroom door, however.

      Vanessa must have noticed. “The room next door is Chase’s.”

      Whose idea was that? Marni asked herself.

      “It locks from either side,” Vanessa said.

      “Thank you,” Marni said, still curious about the woman’s antagonism toward her. That had been an accident on the stairs, hadn’t it?

      Marni noticed a light blue striped shirt and a black velour robe had been left for her on the bed. Both garments were obviously male. Vanessa frowned when she saw them and Marni wondered whose they were.

      “There are candles beside the bed. When it storms, the power often goes out. If there is anything else you need…” Her voice trailed off, then, “Breakfast is at eight.”

      Marni could see that being forced to be nice was taking its toll on the woman. “I’ll be gone first thing in the morning,” she said. “Right after I talk to Chase.”

      If she thought that news would please Vanessa, she was sadly mistaken. The woman gave her an icy stare. “Good night,” she said and left, closing the door firmly behind her.

      Marni stood in the middle of the room suddenly too tired to move. What a day! She felt worn-out by everything that had happened and even more tired by trying to understand Chase Calloway and his decidedly weird family. That wasn’t fair, she told herself. She’d thrown his family into turmoil by showing up in an advanced stage of pregnancy claiming to be carrying Chase’s child.

      She considered knocking on the adjoining door and trying to talk to him, but it was late and she didn’t feel up to it. Morning would be soon enough to have her final say before she left.

      Marni walked to the window and looked out into the storm. Outside, a Montana blizzard raged. Snow fell, dense and deep, smothering the mountain landscape with cold white. It was as beautiful as it was confining. A white Christmas. Marni had to remind herself Christmas was just days away. Little in the Calloway house reflected the season. And something told her there wouldn’t be much Christmas spirit at the Calloways’ this year.

      She started to move away from the window, but stopped as she heard a faint sound. It seemed to be coming up through the heat vent. She leaned closer, surprised to hear a baby crying softly. Marni frowned. All that talk about the first grandchild at dinner…Whose baby was this? she wondered.

      The sound stopped as abruptly as it had begun. With a shiver, Marni stepped away from the window to lock the hallway door. A hot bath. That’s what she needed. Something to get her mind off El, Chase, his family, this house—

      As she entered the bathroom, Marni stopped, shocked by what she was doing. Waddling. She was taking this whole pregnancy thing way too seriously.

      She started filling the tub, splashed in a generous amount of the vanilla-scented bubble bath she found on a shelf at