Deadly Memories (Hardy Brothers Security Book 18)

C
opyright
© 2016 by Lily Harper Hart

All rights reserved.

No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the author, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.

“
H
old him
.”

James Hardy stared at the infant his wife Mandy shoved in his direction and cast her a dubious look.
Is she kidding?
“No.”

Mandy, her sea-blue eyes flashing, made a face. “James, I need you to hold your nephew while I get his bottle ready. Are you really telling me you can’t hold a helpless baby for five minutes while I get his lunch?”

James sat in his favorite recliner in the living room of his Southeastern Michigan home, his dark eyes flat as he regarded the woman he loved more than anything. “How many times do I have to tell you that I can’t touch him until he can hold up his own head?” James adopted a reasonable tone, even though he had a feeling his wife was going to make things extremely unreasonable if he didn’t give in to her demands. “He’s too vulnerable, wife. I can’t hold him.”

Mandy scowled as she cradled Avery James Hardy to her chest. The baby was only a few weeks old – and he could mostly hold his head up on his own – but James refused to be responsible for the baby’s care and safety until he was more durable. That was the word James used, anyway. Mandy had no idea what that meant – but she was annoyed all the same.

“James, we’re watching Avery for exactly two hours,” Mandy pointed out. “I need your help. Please.”

James was almost moved by the plaintive expression on her beautiful face. “No.”

Mandy forced a smile as she looked down at Avery’s features. The baby – his full name a combination of her maiden name and her husband’s first name – stared back. He proved to be happiest when Mandy held him, almost as if he understood he was only alive and thriving because she helped his mother, Emma Pritchard, during a hard birth and delivery. He fussed with almost everyone else. He was content with her, though.

James and Mandy decided they didn’t want children – and the sentiment remained despite Avery’s arrival – but when Emma called and asked the duo to watch the baby so she could visit her brother in prison, Mandy felt trapped. That was more than an hour ago. Avery’s father and James’ brother Finn was expected to retrieve him once his shift at Hardy Brothers Security ended. Mandy was almost at her wit’s end, though.

“James, I’m trying really hard to hold it together here,” Mandy said. “I need you to help me. There’s too much to do. He cries if I put him in his little carrier seat. I need to make his lunch. I am begging you to help me.”

James never denied his wife anything, and when he saw her bite her bottom lip he gave in and held his arms out. “If something happens, you’re going to explain to Finn and Emma how it’s your fault.”

“Thank you,” Mandy said, sliding Avery so he rested comfortably in James’ arms. “I’ll be right back with his bottle.”

James stared at Avery’s round face, fervently hoping the baby – who had remained mostly quiet during his stay – wouldn’t pick now to start howling. Since Emma and Finn lived in the apartment above Hardy Brothers Security – the business he owned and operated with his brothers – James was well aware of the boy’s lung capacity.

“Don’t get any ideas,” James chided, making a funny face to elicit a smile from Avery. “No offense, but I thought we should’ve dumped you on Aunt Ally. She loves to dote on you. I’m a little bit frightened of you, if I’m telling the truth.”

Avery’s soulful eyes latched onto James’ and he smiled, causing James to smile back.

“You’re not so bad, are you?” James made sure to keep the baby solidly pressed against his chest out of fear he would drop him. “You’re kind of cute. You look like us Hardy men, which is fun. That means you’re going to break a lot of hearts.”

Avery blew a spit bubble as he chortled, almost as if he understood what James said.

“You’re sweet … and sometimes you smell okay when you’re not dropping a load in your pants … but you’re a lot of work, kid,” James said. “I prefer hot tubs to diaper changes. Some day you will, too. I can already see it. You’re going to wow women left and right.”

Mandy rolled her eyes as she returned to the living room. She watched James with the baby for a moment and then extended her arm to hand him the bottle. “Do you want to feed him?”

“Are you asking because that means I’ll have to change him when I’m done?” James was suspicious.

“I just thought you might like to feed him,” Mandy countered, moving toward the side of the chair and staring down at the baby. “I’m hoping he won’t need to be changed until Finn shows up.”

“Sit with us, wife,” James said, moving his arm so Mandy could settle on the wide chair with the baby and him. Once all three of them were comfortable, James took the bottle and smirked as Avery happily sucked away. “Does this make you want one of these?”

Mandy opened her mouth to answer, sliding a sidelong long at James as she ascertained his mood. “Does it make you want one?”

“I want to know how you feel,” James pressed. “I don’t want you answering a certain way because you think it’s what I want to hear.”

“Well, I’m kind of doing the same thing,” Mandy conceded.

“I want the truth,” James prodded.

“I … really don’t want a baby,” Mandy admitted. “He’s cute, and I don’t mind taking care of him for short bursts, but he’s so needy and I’m not good when others are needy.”

“He’s definitely a lot of work,” James said, pressing a kiss to Mandy’s forehead as she snuggled closer. “The thing is – and I know this makes me sound superficial and self-absorbed, so there’s no need to comment on it – but he’s only been here an hour and all I’ve been able to think about is that I can’t nap if I feel like it … or wander out of the house without making sure he’s taken care of … or take off on vacation at the drop of a hat.”

“That’s not self-absorbed,” Mandy said. “I think some people are built for children and some people are built to be the favorite aunt and uncle. Our lifestyle isn’t structured enough for kids. We like takeout and naked Sundays. Kids would change all of that. I don’t think either one of us wants to change that.”

“I agree with you there,” James said, watching as Avery’s eyes slowly drifted shut. The baby kept sucking even as sleep worked overtime to drag him under. “I just worry that people look at us and see selfish individuals because we’re more interested in each other than a baby.”

“I think it’s easier for you than it is for me,” Mandy said. “Women are supposed to be nurturing and loving. They’re supposed to want kids. I just … don’t.”

“You’re nurturing and loving,” James countered. “You’re also the most loyal person I know. I don’t care what other people think, though. I care what we think. As nice as it is to have him for an hour, knowing that I’ll be able to hand him off to Finn and get you naked in the hot tub for the rest of the night seems like the perfect life to me.”

Mandy snorted. “I think it’s good we don’t want kids,” she said. “We’d be the type of parents who would never stop embarrassing a tween.”

“Yes. Now we’re going to be the cool aunt and uncle instead of the embarrassing parents.”

Mandy lifted her mouth and kissed James’ strong jaw, raw emotion rolling over her as she realized how lucky she was to find the man of her dreams and know he would never pressure her to live a life she didn’t want. “I love you.”

“Right back at you, baby,” James said, offering her a soft kiss. “Once we unload this kid, I’m going to show you how much.”

Mandy sank back down, happy to let Avery sleep and cuddle with James until Finn arrived, but the sound of a ringing phone jolted her back to reality. “Are you expecting a call on the landline?”

“I didn’t even know that phone worked,” James said, moving to shift Avery to his wife’s arms.

“You hold him,” Mandy said, hopping to her feet. “I’ll get the phone. It’s probably just a telemarketer.”

“I know this is an elaborate scheme to make me change him if it becomes necessary,” James called to her back. “You’re not fooling anyone.”

“The baby wipes are in the diaper bag on the floor,” Mandy said, giggling at the murderous expression on James’ face as she scampered toward the phone in the kitchen.

M
ANDY
returned
ten minutes later and found Avery on the footstool while James stared at a new diaper as if it was a thousand-piece puzzle instead of a synthetic baby bottom cover with two tabs.

“Do you want me to do that for you?” Mandy asked.

“I’m not talking to you,” James muttered. “You left me alone with … this … and I’m no longer your biggest fan.”

Mandy wasn’t moved by James’ feigned plight. “Okay. Well, I guess I’m going to go upstairs and take a bath. You’ve got this covered, right?”

James’ mouth dropped open as he shifted his eyes to the woman he vowed to love for better or worse. “If you even think of leaving me alone with this poop factory, you’re sleeping alone tonight.”

As far as threats go, it wasn’t a particularly good one because they both knew James couldn’t sleep without Mandy’s familiar weight settled on his chest. “That won’t last once I serve tonight’s takeout option with no clothes on.”

James scowled. “Are you going to help me or not?”

“I offered to help and you said you weren’t talking to me.”

“Mandy, I need you to do this,” James whined. “I’ll cry if you don’t. No one wants that.”

“Then ask me to do it,” Mandy prodded.

“Will you please help with me this?”

Mandy knew James was serious because he didn’t even offer a moment of playful banter before capitulating to her demands. “Yes. Move over.”

Mandy knelt on the floor and took the diaper from James, smiling as Avery happily gurgled. “Can you get the wipes from that bag for me, please?”

James wordlessly retrieved the canister of baby wipes and watched as Mandy expertly wiped Avery down and switched out his diaper. She hoisted the baby up when she was done and smiled as Avery giggled.

“Uncle James needs to learn a few things if he wants to hang out with you on a regular basis, doesn’t he?” Mandy bounced Avery and delighted in the way he laughed.

“Uncle James isn’t touching him again until he’s out of diapers,” James replied flatly. “I don’t care how you try to con me – or what kind of sexual favors you offer. I’m done.”

“Well, if you’re not going to hold him, that means you have to throw the diaper away,” Mandy said, wrinkling her nose to amuse Avery. “It can’t be in the house either, because it will stink everything up. You have to put it in the garage.”

“Why can’t you do it?”

“I’m holding the baby,” Mandy replied, swooping her arms around as Avery giggled at the movement. “I can’t do both. You either have to handle the baby or the dirty diaper. Take your pick.”

“You’re a shrewd negotiator, baby,” James said, irritated. “I don’t want to do either, though. I will massage you for an hour straight in the hot tub tonight if you hold the baby and take care of the dirty diaper.”

It was an interesting proposition, but Mandy refused to back down. “You’re going to massage me no matter what,” Mandy said, keeping her voice light and airy for Avery’s benefit. “You still have to either hold the baby or handle the diaper. Take your pick.”

James groaned. “Fine. Hand me the baby.”

“I knew you would say that,” Mandy said, carefully transferring Avery to his uncle’s waiting arms. “Make him laugh while I handle the diaper.”

James watched as Mandy wrapped the soiled diaper up in a plastic bag and transferred it out of the room. By the time she returned she was smiling. She’d won, and they both knew it.

“You’re feeling pretty good about yourself, aren’t you?” James asked, jiggling Avery as he held him against his chest. “You got your way and you’re still going to use your feminine wiles to get me to massage you in the hot tub. You’re on top of the world.”

“I’ve been on top of the world since I married you,” Mandy corrected, causing James’ expression to soften. “I am amused at your curmudgeonly act, though. We both know you like the baby.”

“I didn’t say I didn’t like him,” James clarified. “I merely said that he smells and he’s so small it freaks me out. I’ll like him better when he’s not so … vulnerable.”

“You keep saying that, but babies are tougher than they look,” Mandy said, perching on the arm of the chair as James held his nephew. “You’re good with him. Don’t be afraid of him.”

“You were afraid of him,” James reminded his wife. “You didn’t hold him for weeks despite Emma’s whining. How come it’s only an issue now that I don’t want to hold him?”

“I didn’t want to hold him because I … well … I just had a few issues to work out first,” Mandy said, referring to the harrowing tale of Avery’s birth. His grandfather, a notorious child molester named Lance Pritchard, wanted to kidnap Avery and run away with him. Mandy foiled his plan – and ended up with Pritchard’s blood on her hands as she protected Emma and her nephew – and the fallout took Mandy a few weeks to bounce back from. “I got over it, though. You should, too.”

“I know,” James said. “I shouldn’t have brought it up. In fact … .” He broke off, licking his lips. “How is your therapy going?”

After struggling with guilt over killing a man – even though it was a terrible man who wanted to kill her – Mandy finally agreed to talk to a professional to air her feelings out. James was never sure how far he should press the issue.

“It’s okay, James,” Mandy said, resting her hand on his shoulder. “We can talk about it if you want. It’s going fine. We’re just discussing the guilt I feel.”

“Which you shouldn’t feel because you were a hero that night,” James grumbled.

“I know you don’t understand, but I like it and I’m going to keep going,” Mandy said. “It’s going well. I’m happy and relaxed. Isn’t that all that should matter?”

“Yes,” James said, not missing a beat. “I always want you happy.”

“Thank you.”

James kissed the tip of Mandy’s nose. “Who was on the phone, by the way? Was it telemarketers?”

“Oh, that,” Mandy said, returning to more mundane matters. “That was a guy named Aaron Bradshaw.”

“Aaron Bradshaw?” James racked his memory. “The name sounds familiar, but I can’t remember why.”

“He’s the guy you asked to find stuff from Sophie’s past a few months ago,” Mandy supplied, referring to Sophie Lane, a local reporter who also happened to live with James’ other brother, Grady.