You Only Love Twice (Masters and Mercenaries #8)(17)

The baby was bouncing, using her bound body to pull himself up and then to do that thing where he bounced and gurgled and looked so proud of himself.

“No, that’s Aidan, love,” an Irish accent said.

Liam? She couldn’t move and now it wasn’t because her hands and feet were tied. She was on her side and she could have rolled to get a better view, but then Aidan would fall and he’d probably cry, so she stayed perfectly still. “Do you want to explain why I’m a jungle gym?”

Li O’Donnell knelt down beside her. He was a gorgeous man with inky black hair and green eyes to die for. He actually looked a lot like her Jamie, but somehow she preferred Jesse’s blond hair and blue eyes now. “Let’s say I’m running a little experiment of me own. Be careful. You’ve got incoming.”

She felt something patting her cheek. A fat little baby hand came into view and then Tristan was staring down at her, his eyes wide and grinning like this was the funnest game ever.

“So you’re some kind of super spy,” Liam said.

She didn’t feel like one now. “Would you believe this is all a misunderstanding?”

Tristan patted her hair while baby number three showed up, though Carys was more of a toddler. Sean and Grace Taggart’s daughter plunked herself down beside Phoebe’s head and started babbling to Tristan.

“Not for a minute, though I do suspect Ian’s wrong about you. You see, I’ve been thinking about this for days. Ever since we discovered you aren’t who you seem to be. Everyone else runs around protesting that they knew it all along. Bloody liars, they are. You fooled everyone, but I think somewhere along the way, you fooled yourself, too.”

Tristan chose that moment to lean forward and give her a big gooey kiss. And then proceeded to gnaw on her ear. He was teething, but luckily the little sucker hadn’t broken through yet. “Are you going to let the babies eat me? I read somewhere that if you lie still long enough pretty much any animal will try to eat you, even deer and bunnies. I’m a little worried babies are the same.”

“Ah, the joys of Stockholm syndrome. You have a really bad case of it, love. Tell me something. Were you really going to pull the trigger?”

That was an easy question to answer, though it was made infinitely more difficult by the fact that now she was trying to balance three babies. “No. I wouldn’t have killed Jesse, but you have to know someone else will. Please, Li. You might think I’m lying about everything else, but you have to believe me on this.”

The door opened and she saw a nice pair of kitten heels striding her way. They stopped right next to Li and tapped impatiently. “I thought you were going to be the voice of reason here, Li.” Avery O’Donnell. She knelt down beside her husband and her blue eyes were worried as she looked down. “Phoebe, are you all right?”

“I’m covered in babies.” She would accentuate the positive around Avery. This would be so much easier if she was dealing with Taggart. He wouldn’t let babies kiss her, and he’d never sat up talking to her about life and love the way Avery had. Phoebe had kept quiet, but she’d learned so much about strength from the woman who had lost a husband and child and fought her way back. She wanted to be Avery, not be her enemy. “So I’m pretty good.”

“Li, why don’t you let her go?” Avery asked.

He put his hands up. “Not my op, love. But I will make her more comfortable. I’ve learned what I need to know. Come on, you little ankle biters.” He stood and scooped up his son and Carys, hefting them easily and with obvious affection. “Auntie Phoebe’s gotten herself into a mess, hasn’t she? She thought she could be the big bad spy but she’s a softie.”

He couldn’t know that. It might be true but she was going to defend herself. “I’m not a softie.”

“Really?” Li stared down at her. Tristan was still mauling her ear in his sweet baby way. “You’re the super-tough spy who can’t even knock a damn baby over to make herself more comfortable. You’ve been perfectly still because you didn’t want to hurt any one of them. Face it, Phoebe. You got in and we got to you. This is Jesse’s op. Tell him you care. This will go so much easier for everyone if you drop any pretense of not caring. You love those kids and I bet you love a few of us, too.”

Tears threatened again and she tried to blame the drugs still in her system. She kept her mouth shut.

Li sighed and Avery picked up Tristan. She was alone again and she felt it. Before she knew it, Li was gently hauling her up and she felt her hands come free, though he kept her legs tied. He settled her on one of the office chairs. Now she realized she was in the conference room with the big bay windows and the view of downtown.

He shouldn’t have showed her such kindness, but then he went further. “Aidan needs a bottle. Do you want to feed him?”

Stupid, stupid tears. She nodded and found her arms full of baby boy. Avery passed her a bottle and Aidan cuddled right in her arms.

God, she’d wanted a baby with Jamie. She’d been ready to give up work and stay home and be the kind of mom she’d never had.

Lately when she dreamed, her baby had blond hair and blue eyes.

The door opened and she heard Charlotte yelling at her husband. “What? Are you going to execute her in front of the children?”

Charlotte did have a flair for overstating her case.