"He's right," Victoria intervened. "She should at the very least be advised that she can have an attorney present. But not you," she said pointing to Ben.

Ben agreed. "I have a colleague who can be here in fifteen minutes," he said, holding up his cellphone.

Noah cursed under his breath but Ben knew he understood they were all trying to protect both the witness and the successful prosecution of Ramone Vega.

"I'll go advise her of her rights," he said, heading into the room.

As if he'd actually spoken the words to her, Victoria nodded. "I'll go make sure her answer is duly recorded."

An hour later Victoria sat at one end of the long steel table, a legal pad and pen in front of her. To her left Alayna Jonas sat wringing her hands but squaring her shoulders, so determined she was to do the right thing. Ridge Langley, a defense attorney who Victoria had the honor of trying a few cases with and who had also gone to law school with her and Ben, sat right beside Alayna, his own legal pad and pen on the table as well.

Detective Noah Hannity, whom she'd learned was a good friend of Ben's and a trustworthy detective with the saddest dusky blue eyes she'd ever seen, sat at the other end of the table. He pulled a small tape recorder from his shirt pocket and pushed it so that it was now closer to Alayna. With an affirmative nod from Ridge, he pressed the record b.u.t.ton and asked Alayna to state her name and current address.

"Tell me what you know about the night Congressman McGill and his wife were killed," he said to her.

Victoria had warned him he needed to get a completely new statement from her, that the previous one had been missing information. She couldn't present anything Alayna had told her at the motel; that conversation had been off the record. But Alayna could and promised that she would speak honestly.

"Teddy said my daughter wasn't his," Alayna started, her voice soft. "She wasn't. I knew that. But I thought if that witch Myrna thought I had his child, she would finally let him leave and then we could be together." She took a deep breath then let it out. "I know it was stupid, everything I've ever done has been stupid. That's why I'm trying to make it right now. I'm trying to do what's right for my daughter. Lia's all that matters to me now."

Noah tried to look like he wasn't effected by the words of this young girl, but the slight slump in his shoulders said he was. Victoria knew what he was going through because she felt it too. Alayna was too young and too immature to have to deal with two cagey politicians and one dirty cop. It was such a shame.

"What time did you leave the congressman's house?" Noah asked.

"Almost ten," she said. "I drove to the cafe at the corner and waited there for about half an hour. Sometimes we would meet there, so I just thought that maybe if he and his wife got into an argument about the baby he would come looking for me." She shrugged. "He didn't."

"Did you see Ramone Vega at Congressman McGlinn's house?"

"I was leaving the cafe. I stepped out onto the corner and a car stopped at the red light. It was a gray car, I could tell because the lights from the cafe were really bright. There were two people in the front seat and one in the back because none of the windows were tinted. Plus it was kind of cool so I guess they didn't need to run the air conditioning. The back window was rolled down. Mr. Vega was in the backseat."

Noah nodded and proceeded with the questioning. An hour and a half went by while Alayna poured out all the information she had. Victoria's pen moved viciously across the paper, using up more than half the legal pad for notes. With Alayna on the stand, her case against Vega was ironclad. He wouldn't get off this time.

As for Alayna, who had thought she was safe in protective custody only to be kidnapped by Timothy Hall, then continuously raped and beaten for the ensuing months, Victoria could only pray that the young girl found some peace in her life. She prayed she would be a good mother to her daughter and not fall prey to cruel men again.

Speaking of which, even though she would never cla.s.sify Ben as being cruel, Victoria wondered what their first encounter after all today's events would be like. He'd looked so intense at the motel, so dangerously serene after he'd shot Timothy Hall, that she admitted-if only to herself-she was a little nervous. This thing with her and Ben had started so quickly, so dramatically, she couldn't help but remember that action movie where the hero warned the heroine that relationships started under extreme circ.u.mstances didn't end well. In the movie the heroine hadn't cared and they'd ended the movie on a long, pa.s.sionate kiss, amidst the wreckage of a crashed subway train that at a madman's whim had been traveling at a high rate of speed.

Neither Vega nor Hall had instigated any speeding vehicles to cause ma.s.sive damage, but they'd been deadly just the same. Not only was Hall on Pea's payroll, he was also the TH Services that sent regular payments to Alayna. The money was from Mayor Radcliffe. He'd been crocked for years and had just gotten a little greedier where Alayna was concerned because after a search of his apartment, officers had found proof that he was trying to blackmail the mayor about Alayna's existence. It was a good thing Ben and the others had gotten to him first. Hall was definitely on Vega's. .h.i.t list.

Everything was falling into place, and the first thing she had to do was go into court next week and win this case.

No, that wasn't the first thing she had to do. She had to deal with Ben. There was no doubt in her mind he'd be waiting right outside that door and he'd be rightfully p.i.s.sed at her for leaving him in that hotel room and not mentioning that Alayna had contacted her. As reserved as she was about their confrontation, Victoria had never been one to run from her problems. She left the interview room with her note pad firmly beneath her arm and her head held high. She could handle Ben Donovan and whatever he dished out. She was almost positive of that fact.

Just as she'd expected, Ben had been sitting at another officer's desk, just outside the interrogation room. The minute he heard the door open, he turned to see her coming out. She tried for a small smile but it died the moment his gaze met hers. He was not happy, not at all. Well, okay, she knew she'd been wrong by keeping him out of the loop, but really, hadn't he done the same thing by taking so long to tell her everything that was going on? That made them even, she thought as she made purposeful strides towards him. She was an arm's length away when her cellphone rang. She'd taken it off vibrator after she'd called her mother and Grace to let them know she was alright. Now it echoed throughout the room like a siren. Good thing it was a normal ringtone and not some inappropriate song that normally blared through their office.

Stopping she pulled the phone from her pocket and glanced at the screen. With a small curse she answered. "Hey Grace. I told you I'm fine. I'm just about to leave the police station and I'll call you when I get home," she said without waiting for a greeting. Then had to pause. "What? Okay, I'm on my way!"

She'd barely switched the phone off when she felt his hand on her elbow.

"Grace is having the baby?" he asked.

She nodded.

"Let's go," he said without hesitation before leading her across the room.

CHAPTER 20.

Ben and Victoria rushed to the hospital. Their confrontation or conversation about today's events had to wait. Victoria was more than exhausted, but adrenaline had run through her veins the moment she clicked off her cell. To his credit, Ben, who she sensed was still a little on edge, had simply grabbed her by the arm and led her to the elevator at the police station. He took one of the SUVs from Trent and Devlin and began driving, not saying one word to her.

She supposed she could have talked to him during the ride, but she didn't bother. Instead she stared out the window, wondering if it were going to be a boy or girl. That seemed to be the easier train of thought, the more realistic one indeed.

The moment he pulled up in front of the hospital, she grabbed the door handle. "Thanks for the ride," she tossed over her shoulder as she moved to get out.

His hand on her elbow was unexpected, as well as his words.

"I'm going to park and we can go in together."

"But that's not necessary."

"It's what I'm going to do," was all he said in response.

Victoria didn't argue, mainly because he'd kept right on driving, quickly dispelling her notion of getting out of the truck. After he parked he once again took her by the hand, walking with fast strides to the parking garage elevators where they boarded one and took it to the main floor.

"Grace Ramsey?" she asked when they'd made it to the information desk.

"Labor and Delivery, fifth floor. Go right down this hall, make a left at the circle, take the elevators to the right," the sour faced nurse informed her without once looking up from her computer.

On any other day Victoria might have called her on her rudeness, but today just didn't seem like the day. Instead she turned, reciting the directions in a whisper and walked away. On the elevator she sighed and decided it was time for the inevitable.

"Look Ben, I know you're pretty upset with me right now and I can't really say I blame you. But this is not the time. My best friend is having a baby and there's nothing else I want in this world but to stand by her side at this glorious moment. I appreciate you bringing me down here but it's fine if you leave now. I'll call you in the morning."

"Are you finished?" he asked, releasing her arm finally.

Victoria took advantage of the moment and took a step away from him.

"I'm just trying to be honest."

"Oh, now you want to be honest." Ben chuckled, but it wasn't filled with any sort of humor or animation. "Look Victoria," he began mimicking her. "You are on point with the fact that I'm upset with you right now. But I've been to a few childbirths in my lifetime and I know that they are a time of joy and love. So I'm not going to go over how foolish and immature your actions were. I'm not going to say that you hara.s.sed me about being up front and honest with you, only to turn and do something dangerously stupid behind my back. No," he said holding up a hand when she would have begun speaking again. "I'm not going to say any of that, right now. For the moment I'm going to go to the fifth floor and sit in the waiting room while Grace, an old college friend of mine, has her first child. I'm going to smile and rejoice with her and her husband for this miracle they've brought into the world. Then I'm going to take you home."

The doors to the elevator opened and so did Victoria's mouth, only to snap shut quickly because she didn't know what to say. So she simply walked off the elevator, approached another nurse-this one moderately nicer than the other-and headed to Grace's room. She was happy to see Ben hadn't followed her, but smart enough to know their real confrontation had only been postponed. If there was one thing she'd learned about Ben Donovan in these last couple of weeks, it was that he was a man of his word. If he said he was going to be waiting right there for her after Grace had the baby, that's exactly what he meant. She didn't know how things with the two of them would end or begin again, or whatever, and when she walked into the room to hear Grace's high-pitched scream, she figured she didn't really have time to consider it any longer.

After three hours of sitting in the waiting room, nodding off, going for coffee, playing Words With Friends on his cellphone, and trying desperately not to think about the gun that had been pointed at Victoria's temple, Ben was more than ready to call it a day. It had been a very trying twenty-four hours for him and to tell the truth he wasn't sure he could take much more.

But when he heard a rumbling that sounded strangely like wheels, he looked up. Every muscle in his body seemed to tense and retract in the span of ten seconds as he stood and watched while a nurse pushed a baby ba.s.sinet and Victoria looked at him with a million-watt smile. He walked to where they stood and was scarcely able to pull his gaze from her but for the tiny sound coming from the ba.s.sinet. He looked down and everything about today, every second of worry and doubt, of fear and helplessness, of adrenaline and impulsive action, was washed away.

"It's a girl," he heard Victoria whisper. "Melody Grace Ramsey."

"Melody," Ben whispered. "h.e.l.lo, little Melody."

As if she'd heard him, the baby's gla.s.sy eyes stared immediately in his direction. "Pretty little Melody," he continued, warmth rising in his body like flood.

"We'll be going to the nursery now," the nurse said and Ben stepped back from the ba.s.sinet, his fingers tingling with the urge to pick Melody up and cradle her in his arms.

"She's beautiful, isn't she?" Victoria asked from behind him.

"She is," was Ben's reply. Then he turned to face her. "And so are you."

He reached out, touching his fingertips to the spot where Hall's gun had touched. At that moment he'd wanted to yell with fury, to squeeze the trigger of his own gun, killing the b.a.s.t.a.r.d where he stood. But that moment had pa.s.sed. Then he'd wanted to yell at her, to vent his frustration at her leaving him at the hotel, for not trusting him enough to tell him what she was doing. Now, as she turned into his touch, closing her eyes slowly, Ben wanted something else.

Ben wanted to hold onto her for as long as he possible could. Stepping closer to her, he let his other hand slip around her waist, pulling her body up against his.

"I love you, Victoria. I've waited too d.a.m.ned long to tell you that," he whispered, his lips brushing lightly over her forehead. "And I apologize for being such an idiot when it came to you. My mother always said I was impulsive and stubborn as h.e.l.l. I guess I didn't learn from my mistakes ten years ago. But I want you to know that I respect you as an accomplished and independent woman. If I've ever come on too strong with you it's because I've always had a sense that you were something special. And I was right. You're too special for me to even consider letting you walk out of my life again."

He felt her fingers tangling in his shirt as she sighed, her body leaning into his.

"You are exactly the arrogant and self-important man I thought you were, Ben Donovan."

Ben would have been alarmed by those words but she was still touching him, still staring up into his eyes as if whatever she was going to say next was the most important thing he'd ever hear.

"But you're also a very loyal and caring man, one I respect as an excellent attorney and admire as a friend. We've both waited too long to admit how we've really felt. Today just proves how short life can be. We should really stop wasting time," she told him.

"I'm so glad to hear you say that," Ben told her, releasing his own heavy sigh. Then he used a finger to slip beneath her chin, tilting her face up to his. "There's something else I'll be glad to hear you say."

She smiled, slow and intoxicating, fresh and gorgeous.

"I love you, Ben Donovan."

Hours later Ben and Victoria were in the shower, letting the hot water trickle off their skin while both soliciting moans of gratification.

She stood in front of him, her bottom pressed into his groin, his erection growing persistently. He'd been holding her around the waist, but one of his hands slowly moved upward to grasp a plump breast. The other made a southerly descent, cupping the close-cut curls of her center. A finger slipped between her damp folds and she moaned. He loved the feel of her, so soft and slippery, ready and waiting. For endless moments he simply caressed her there, letting her desire trickle over his fingers the same way the water sluiced over their skin. In his other hand, her plump breast filled his palm inciting a jolt of pleasure from his hardened shaft.

"I love your touch," she murmured.

That was just grand because Ben didn't think there was anything more he loved than touching her. His response came with action instead of words as he pressed her up against the tiles, dipping his body with hers so that his erection could slip right through her wetness to thrust into her center.

"Ben!" She gasped his name.

"Yes, Victoria," he sighed, his lips flush against her ear, his hips moving in a sensual motion.

The water had gone cold by the time they stepped out to dry off. Ben carried her to his bed and they slipped between the soft sheets with the intent to sleep the actions of the day away. Instead, they made love throughout the night, whispering their newly found devotion to one another, planning for a future they prayed would come.

Two weeks later Victoria was walking out of the courthouse, briefcase, purse and a small box of trial paraphernalia in hand. She'd parked in the garage across the street, as she'd hoped today would be the last day of trial. She'd been correct. After only a day and a half of deliberation this time, the group of twelve men and women of various races had unanimously found Ramone Vega guilty of capital murder.

Mayor Larry Radcliffe still hadn't come forward to say that Alayna's baby was his, but on her grandmother's urging Alayna had filed a child support claim. Whether Radcliffe wanted it to be or not, the news would be very public, very soon. As for Sal Pea, he had a business to run and so Victoria figured someone within the ranks would be promoted as Vega headed off to prison to await his sentencing, which some were hoping would be the death penalty.

It was all behind her now, she thought as she walked down the front steps of the Justice Center. The trial was over. She could put these last few stress-filled months behind her. As she walked, she tried not to think of how hurt she was that Ben hadn't been there to hear the verdict. She'd texted him herself to tell him the jury was back, but he hadn't shown up in the courtroom. Disappointment weighed heavily on her shoulders as she walked. They'd become so close in such a short time, she already felt like he was a huge part of her life. Maybe she'd jumped too fast, maybe...

A white limousine pulled up to the curb just as she stepped off the last step onto the sidewalk. It was pristinely shined and as long as two regular sized vehicles put together. She was just about to keep walking in the opposite direction when the back door opened and Ben stepped out. In his hand was once again a bouquet of balloons, this time all white. On his face was a grin so wide she thought for sure he'd strain some facial muscles.

Victoria couldn't help it. She smiled as she walked towards him. "I'm beginning to think you just have a fetish for balloons," she told him.

He shook his head, leaning forward to place a loud, quick kiss on her lips. "Nope. Just remembered you really didn't get a chance to enjoy the other ones I bought. And with your big victory, I decided we'd celebrate."

The driver had come from out of nowhere, since she hadn't seen him get out of the car, but now he was at her side taking the box and briefcase out of her hands. He moved to put them in the trunk as Ben motioned for her to get into the backseat of the limo.

"I hope this celebration includes dinner reservations. I'm starving," she said as she slid across the leather seats.

Ben stuffed the balloons in first, causing her to giggle when she had to push them out of her face.

"No dinner reservations."

"What? Are you planning on starving me?"

Ben leaned forward as she spoke grabbing a bottle of champagne from the ice bucket on the console between them.

"I cannot drink on an empty stomach," she continued. "I'll be dizzy and sick and..."

He'd already poured each of them a gla.s.s as she'd been talking. He put one right up to her lips and leaned in until his face was scant inches away from hers.

"I made plane reservations instead," he told her.

"What? Plane? Are you going somewhere?" she asked, not totally sure what he was leading too, and almost afraid to wish.

"I'm going to Sansonique for the Donovan family reunion and you're coming with me."

"Where?"

"It's a private island that my family owns. We're having our annual reunion there next week. And you're going to join us."

"But I haven't met anyone from your family but Trent."

"I know. That's why I figured this would be the perfect time for you to meet them all. I mean, everyone won't be there, conflicts in work schedules and all that. But the majority of us will be and you'll have a great time. They're going to adore you, half as much as I do I think."

She didn't know what to say, didn't know what to think. It was like a fairy tale, those things Victoria swore she didn't believe in. But just like a handsome prince Ben had come in and wowed her with the simplest things. Not that a private island was simple, but the balloons, the lasagna late one night in her kitchen, the lunch in the diner had all been memorable times that she loved, almost as much as she realized she loved this man.

COMING SOON.

Heart of A Donovan.