Victoria Morgan smiled at the young woman about to purchase the most elaborate Sophia Tolli bridal gown in her boutique. A vibration made Vicki turn and peek at the screen on her vibrating cell phone. Did you have a kid and not tell anyone?

Her lips parted and her heart skipped a beat. While she waited for the credit card to process, her unsteady fingers typed a reply. Call me.

Can’t. Vicki’s hands shook while she tore the receipt from the printer and handed it to the bride-to-be. Her phone vibrated again. “You’re going to be so happy,” she managed, handing the woman a pen, then glanced at her brother’s text.

Colt’s at my house with a little girl that looks like you.

She looks like me?

After shoving the receipt beneath the register tray, Vicki walked around the counter and placed trembling fingers on the soon-to-be-bride’s back as she guided her to the exit. “It’s a gorgeous gown, and you’ll be an even more gorgeous bride.”

Vicki managed to remain upright through the parting pleasantries until the moment the door latched shut. Her chest constricted, and she grabbed for a counter and doubled over, gasping for air. It couldn’t be. Her baby had died. It was why she’d left town years ago. Right?

“Josie, I have to go,” she called to her store manager, as she fumbled for her phone and checked her bag for keys.

“Sure. You’re white as a ghost,” Josie answered, as she glanced at Vicki from behind a pouf of white lace she’d been steaming. “Hope everything is okay. Can I do something to help?”

“No, thank you.”

The phone vibrated again. Get over here, now.

On my way. Stall him.

She ran out the door.

Her brother, John Morgan, was engaged to Alice Collins, Colt’s little sister. Vicki swallowed as she fumbled to get her keys. Her father, Mitch Morgan’s fingerprints were all over this. Her father had been the only person with her the day she found out her own daughter died, and he had always intended her to help Morgan Enterprises succeed.

His pressure to date one of his future acquisitions was why she let her family believe her to be dead.

How did Colt Collins get involved in this? And why would he have her baby?

She had a pain in her chest as she dropped the keys onto the ground. She fell to her knees to pick them up.

Her mind swirled. Alice had mentioned to her Colt was leaving his service with the Marines soon. She hadn’t mentioned a child. Vicki’s gaze clouded.

She brushed her knees then ran in the parking lot.

Had Colt stolen their daughter? Images of the past all collided in her head, where nothing made sense. This was too much to believe, considering how things ended between them. She hadn’t told him she was pregnant. Then, the day of her baby’s birth, she’d run and disappeared. Colt had been at boot camp then. He couldn’t have taken her baby. She needed to breathe. Vicki ran to her Lexus SUV parked behind in the lot.

Her heart raced, and she fumbled with her keys as she tried to get them into the lock, but she succeeded and jumped into the driver’s seat. Tugging at her ear, she started the engine and waited for someone in the next spot to close a car door. Her skin prickled with unease.

Finally, she drove out of the back gate.

One fact repeated itself over and over in her brain as she stared at the red light. Her father had been the one with her at the hospital the day she gave birth then lost her baby.

Everyone in the House of Morgan had one person to blame, including her.

Her adrenaline spiked, but she worked out the situation. The Marines didn’t let out cadets during advanced training to be an officer and they didn’t let them return with infants, but Mitch Morgan had specific ideals on how he could profit on her life, like she was a business deal.

She nodded to herself. This was logical. Something else happened, and the foul taste in her mouth reeked of a Morgan trick.

Her heavy stomach refused to accept this. Her baby being alive changed everything. Cocking her head to the side of the road, she saw sunshine that beamed onto the street in front of her. What if what John texted was true and her daughter lived? Her hand flew to her chest, like she could hold in the hope growing there.

Like the humidity in Miami, the sensation pressed through faster than lightning in her skin.

Someone walked across the street, and Vicki slammed on the brakes. She’d almost missed the red light. Lowering her forehead to the steering wheel, she took a deep breath and waited for the dizziness to abate and her thoughts to clear. She inhaled deeply. She’d been so stupid.

The light turned green and she continued on. Touching her mother’s necklace around her neck helped steady her. Vicki shook off the powerful fear and turned down the last street. Colt had been the most honest man she’d ever known. He was nothing like the men who wished to impress the House of Morgan, her father’s way to say “family.”

After driving well over the speed limit, she finally parked in John’s driveway and fixed her gray floral skirt and pink blouse. She stepped out into the pressing, never-ending heat, and took a deep breath to stop her stomach from flipping.

She massaged her throat and stared at the white door. Then she gazed into the front yard. Colt’s old blue pickup truck and a Marines license plate made her knees buckle. He was here. Breathlessly, she told herself there was a reason, but it didn’t matter.

Her high heels clinked on the pavement of the driveway. She tried to not believe. Her baby was dead. She shouldn’t let her heart race so fast. Everything was a probably a misunderstanding and wishing on her part.

Squeezing her eyes shut, she battled to steady her racing pulse. She finally pressed the doorbell and waited for someone to open. Questions flew through her head. What would her baby look like? She must have her blonde hair for John to recognize her. Perhaps her eyes too?

Seeing with her own eyes her baby being alive was all that mattered, as her foot tapped against the stoop and she heard Alice’s voice inside.

Vicki stared at the ground, forced herself to inhale and exhale, but her hands twitched at her side. The lock clicked and Vicki waited. A memory flashed to the day at the hospital. Her father hadn’t said anything when the nurse told her, except he said everything was as it should be.

Her breath hitched as the door opened. Mitch Morgan’s crimes grew if he truly did this.

Heaviness spread down her spine and pressed against her heart.

The doors opened, and she hesitated. Vicki rubbed her forearms and fought the chill spreading through her body. Alice smiled at her and opened the door wider. “Hello. We weren’t expecting you, Vicki.”

She gazed into Colt’s brown eyes. Her childhood crush’s face lost its color, and the tension in her body lessened. For four weeks, Colt had been hers, and her mouth fell open slightly. The Marines had transformed him from sexy, cute boy to hard-bodied, muscular man. Those strong arms, wide shoulders, and deliciously sexy body were all new. But the coldness he stared back at her with kept her silent.

Alice called out, “John, Vicki’s here.”

She then walked backward and went to the bedroom.

Vicki couldn’t breathe. She did a double take. Colt wouldn’t lie. Her father had always lied. What happened? And where was her baby?

She swallowed, and her gaze went to bedroom door.

John stood in the kitchen with a tray and coughed for her attention. She turned toward him, but she was lightheaded. Her heart cracked open. The air in the room held something, and she was in the right place. Her eyes met her brother’s stare, and she asked, “Where is she?”

John’s eyes widened. Vicki refused to listen. Not now. John nodded at her. “In the other room.”

A moment later Alice ran out of the bedroom chasing a blonde, blue-eyed little girl. “Vicki, this is my niece Clara.”

Vicki’s heart melted as she stared at her daughter.

Her ears replayed the named Clara, and she swallowed. Colt had chosen his mother’s name.

He had to have known from the beginning.

Impossible. Her heart beat faster, so fast it almost fell out of her ribs. Stepping backward in the hall, Vicki stared at the girl. Her heart screamed that she had found her daughter. She covered her mouth; the fluttering in her stomach had her skin all a tingle.

Colt stepped in her vision, shook his head, and picked up the little girl immediately. “Clara, honey, it’s time to go.”

Vicki gripped the end table, but knocked the lamp over. No. Colt could not take her away.

Alice stared at her wide-eyed. “My brother is home to stay and brought his daughter over to visit me. Vicki, you’re white as a ghost.”

Another betrayal, but this time from her best friend. The thought brought back some coherency.

“His daughter?” Vicki asked in a shaky voice. Then she stared at the little girl. She had her blonde hair, not Colt’s dark hair. But she had her father’s face. “Did you know, Alice?”

Alice’s eyes narrowed. “Know what?”

Vicki pursed her lips. A heavy cloud descended upon her brain as she thought one word to herself: lies. Fumbling for words, she met Colt’s narrowed and stormy stare. She’d ask Alice later, but right now she turned, gulped, and asked, “Haven’t you been in Afghanistan? How do you have a daughter?”

“Someone had to care for her.” Colt’s strong arms held that girl tight to his chest. “I made time for my daughter, as any man would.”

The girl laughed. “Daddy, who’s she?”

Colt kept the girl wrapped in his arms. “No one, sweetheart. We have to go.”

John stepped next to Alice and called out, “Colt, wait. We all have eyes. My sister faked her death for years. She will have a good reason.”

“Clara deserves more than excuses.” Colt stepped away and grabbed a small bag.

Vicki’s voice cracked. “What? Colt, is she—”

“You know who she is, and why I don’t want my daughter hurt,” Colt interrupted, and carried his daughter toward the door. “Leave us alone, Victoria Morgan.”

Alice called out in a small voice, “What are you talking about?”

Right now Vicki couldn’t let him leave. Six years of her life were all a lie. Vicki stepped forward and got in Colt’s way as he made a beeline for the door. She inhaled, and Colt had the same smell of oranges mixed with oak trees. Her nose turned toward him despite everything, and no argument formed. All she could do was ask, “Please, Colt, what’s going on?”

“Why am I the one with answers?” He kissed the girl, who giggled in his arms. “I came home from war and wanted my daughter to visit my sister and her soon-to-be husband. What are you asking me?”

Her heart raced, though her muscles went rigid. “Who’s her mother?”

“Don’t do this in front of her.” Colt shook his head and tried to cover the girl’s ears. “Step out of the way, Victoria.”

“Daddy, is that lady my mom?” Clara’s singsong voice and trust in Colt knocked Vicki hard in her stomach. “She’s awfully pretty.”

Vicki’s breath hitched. Her baby was alive.

Colt bounced the girl in his arm. “Doesn’t matter, sweetheart. Daddy loves you.”

“Am I?” Vicki repeated the question with a high voice, her hand on her chest. She needed to hear the affirmation.

“This isn’t possible.” Alice shook her head. “When in the world did my brother date my best friend?”

Vicki didn’t look at her friend, though her heart hammered as she stared into Colt’s brown eyes.

“Don’t hurt her, Victoria Morgan. The House of Morgan has done enough damage.” Colt stepped around her and opened the front door. He kept his daughter in his arms, and outside, on the front stoop, he called to his sister, “Alice, we’ll get together another time.”

A sudden coldness hit Vicki’s core. She doubled over the second the door closed and she heard his truck engine. The words hadn’t formed in her mouth to say something to stop him. Her muscles went rigid again. She couldn’t believe Colt Collins would deceive her. Unlike her father, Colt had always been a stand-up guy. A small part of her heart whispered that he’d been the one to keep Clara safe.

Her baby’s name was Clara.

It was a pretty name.

John came over and hugged her. Turning to her brother, she let him hold her trembling body.

Alice sat on her couch with her mouth open. Then she rubbed her pregnant belly. John repositioned himself to hold his fiancée’s hand too. Alice tapped his leg and then switched seats with John to sit next to Vicki. Vicki hardly noticed anything until Alice took her hand. Her friend now smelled more like a mom as she quietly asked, “Did you have a baby with my brother, Vicki?”

Vicki’s eyes widened. She’d never spoken about this. Everything in her head was fuzzy, but she nodded.

Alice clutched her stomach, and John dropped hers to massage his wife’s shoulder and arm.

Alice pressed her lips together. “Why didn’t you say anything? I didn’t know you even dated my brother.”

“A month doesn’t count as dating.” Clawing her nails into the seat cushion, Vicki forced herself to relax. She gazed at the marble floors and then up to the windows that showed Biscayne Bay. The water view somehow cleared her mind. Vicki swallowed and stared at Alice. “My baby died the day she was born.”

“No one told me about you and Colt.” Alice shook her head. “For years, your name never came up. Please explain this one more time. How did you have my brother’s baby without me knowing?”

Vicki bit her lip then answered, “Before college, we both went on that trip to Paris, for the orchestra. You weren’t there.”

“The church-sponsored choir? I don’t believe it.” Alice pushed John’s knees down then asked, “Why didn’t you tell anyone?”

Vicki closed her eyes and let the words fly out. “Dad said he’d take care of me if I stayed home, and didn’t start at UM right away. He’d say he’d fix everything so that we weren’t giving up on my dreams.” Her stomach rolled.

John quietly said, “I never came home from college, Vic. I should have been here for you.”

Vicki’s gaze flew to her brother’s. “The House of Morgan is above everyone else.” Vicki’s lips curled as she repeated her father’s infamous words. “John, you escaped because Peter was the oldest, but I believed our dad. He lied to everyone, but I thought I was the exception.”

“He hurt all of us.” John’s arm went around Alice, and he nodded. “A baby would interfere with his plan to marry you off to the highest bidder.”

“The House of Morgan doesn’t answer to anyone.” Vicki jerked away and stared at her brother. He had their father’s nose, though Peter had more of the personality. Tears that she refused to shed formed in her eyes. “You knew him. We were his pawns.”

Alice made a sound in her throat and everyone stared at her. Then she asked, “Why didn’t you tell my brother?”

The humidity outside the air-conditioned walls would push Vicki toward the ground and take over. Her body felt hot. She swallowed her retort that he’d slept with another woman the day he left. Alice would defend her brother. Vicki’s cheeks felt wet from tears that refused to stop. “I wanted to tell Colt, but he had gone to basic over the summer, then officer school in the fall. When the time came closer to my due date, I was ready to tell him. I told Dad my plan to go to DC before Colt shipped out. Dad threatened to take our family fortune away from me if I tried. It was to be my daughter’s inheritance.” The whine in her voice shouldn’t exist. She had no one to blame. “I wish I had told Colt. A few months after giving birth, I ran away.”

“You didn’t know Dad went that far.” John leaned closer to pat her knee. “You told me in confidence at the will reading how you lost your baby. The second I saw the little girl with Colt, I saw you, Vicki. She even has the Morgan birthmark on the bottom of her foot.”

“You saw that?” Vicki’s eyes watered fully now, but she saw through her soaked eyelashes. “I’m so grateful. Ever since that day, I’ve never been whole.”

“Neither of you better think, for one second, my brother would steal Vicki’s baby from her. That’s insane,” Alice added fast, and crossed her arms. “Colt is one of the best men I know, and I’m not saying that because he’s my brother. He’s moral and fair and awesome.”

Vicki blushed. She shook her head, then wrung the edge of her blouse. Her heart still raced. “No. Dad would have, not Colt. The House of Morgan must always stand, or something like that. I was so stupid.”

Vicki’s spine was rigid, and she squirmed in her seat.

Alice sighed. “I don’t understand. If you think that, why would you have not told my brother he was going to be a father? Just because you’re the heirs of a fortune doesn’t mean your family controls you.”

“Our father controlled everything.” John turned to her and placed his hand on her knee. “You say that because your parents love you, unconditionally. We never had that.”

Alice shook her head, but said nothing else.

Vicki held her head in her hands and stared at the ground. Her stomach flipped like she was still the teenager whose father thought her the worst daughter. She’d not get sick. “I was eighteen and knocked up by a man with ties to government agencies that might threaten my father’s business empire.”

“We own a farm, though Dad had been in the service and my brother joined the Marines,” Alice said. “Was your father selling to both sides of any war?”

“Probably, but the ties you have, it was enough.”

“Look, you’re my best friend, but Colt’s my brother. I’m trying to understand. Let me put the dots together. Your brother Peter is still dating the horrible Jennifer, though he’s been kind to all of us lately. John came to town on a mission to destroy your father, which is how we fell in love, and I know you faked your death, Vicki. I can believe all of this, but my mind is still trying to grasp what you said about Colt. He’d have protected you just as he watched out for Clara. Why didn’t you go to him?”

“I couldn’t. I stupidly wanted to be a good daughter, and then it was too late.”

Alice smacked her lips, but said nothing.

“Colt was the perfect guy that I was forbidden to date.” Vicki rubbed the back of her neck and hoped the heat vanished. “He was off limits because he was a Collins, but my heart told me he was so different than everyone else.”

John added, “Alice thought I was a spoiled, rich brat, and until recently hated my guts.”

“I didn’t hate you. I just didn’t like you.” Alice smiled, and Vicki watched the engaged couple tighten their handholding. “Then you stole my heart.”

Part of Vicki’s heart soared. Love was supposed to be happy, like with these two. Her life was complicated.

She gave a closed-lip smile, then Vicki told them, “I found out as I packed my bags for college of my pregnancy, and Colt shipped out the next day for basic. He had his life planned to leave Miami for a while and never come back. I had my life planned with music that helped keep my sanity in my father’s world. We were going our separate ways. So I thought my life changed with a baby. Then my dad promised to support me, and he’s all I ever knew.”

Alice narrowed her eyes. “Colt’s had Clara since the day she was born. I didn’t know you were the mother. He never said anything to me, and I never guessed you’d have had sex with him.”

“The girl has my hair,” Vicki argued fast, though she regretted the words.

“Lots of women are blondes. I didn’t know you even liked Colt.” Alice stood and twirled like she would go to the kitchen. Then she stopped and gazed at Vicki. “You’re going to have to talk to him, but he had that look of a bear out to protect his baby just now.”

“Where does he live?” Vicki asked. She had to pull herself together. She had to talk to Colt and make him understand. “I’ve not seen him since we came home from that summer trip to Europe.”

Alice stood, walked over, and opened the refrigerator, and refused to stare at Vicki. Vicki gazed at her friend as she pulled out vegetables to chop. Alice found a large knife and went to the counter to dice. Finally Vicki followed and stood next to her. Alice wiped her face dry, shook her head, and finished. “He’s staying at our family’s ranch now, and our parents live in Palm Beach, near the beach, as a sort of retirement.”

To see Clara, she’d face Colt. “So he’s alone with Clara?”

Alice chopped the celery. “Until his new fiancée, Belle, gets out of the service and joins him here. She’s never been to Florida, but the wedding is in two months. They planned to move north to the bigger ranch and tend to the planting up there, but now I don’t know. I can call my dad, but I’d guess Colt’s seen enough war. He wants to stick to his farm and not come off it.”

Vicki closed her eyes and, despite having to face down Colt, fought back a fit of hysterical laughter. Her baby had lived. She’d been a fool, but she had a second chance. Motherhood meant she was necessary. She had risked her neck, but now giddiness rose in her. For the first time, it was enough. “I’ll head there, then. My daughter will need her mother.”