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Lucas
Delores Fossen


Lucas Ryland always had a way with the ladies—until Hailey Darrow dropped him after a shared night of passion. Then he discovered her unconscious body in a wrecked car, with a fake ID and enough cash to disappear. Unbeknownst to him, the one who got away was leaving town with his baby…Now Hailey is out of her coma and still in danger. But hiding her at his Silver Creek ranch ignites old passions…and introduces new dangers. Lucas must use every protective instinct in his arsenal to keep Hailey and their infant son safe. And keep his body from remembering how good it felt to hold her in his arms…







A Texas Lawman will do anything to protect his son—even if it includes reuniting with the boy’s on-the-run mother…

Lucas Ryland always had a way with the ladies—until Hailey Darrow dropped him after a shared night of passion. Then he discovered her unconscious body in a wrecked car, with a fake ID and enough cash to disappear. Unbeknownst to him, the one who got away was leaving town with his baby…

Now Hailey is out of her coma and still in danger. But hiding her at his Silver Creek ranch ignites old passions…and introduces new dangers. Lucas must use every protective instinct in his arsenal to keep Hailey and their infant son safe. And keep his body from remembering how good it felt to hold her in his arms…

The Lawmen of Silver Creek Ranch


Before he could talk himself out of it, Lucas reached out and pulled her into his arms.

“I’m just so scared,” she admitted. “Not for me but for Camden and you. For your family.”

“No one is going to hurt Camden or my family,” he assured her. Not that he was in a position to give that kind of assurance. Not with hired guns after them. Still, those hired guns would have to get past him, and since he was protecting his son, Lucas had no intentions of making that easy for them.

Hailey looked up at him at the exact moment he looked down at her. He was so not ready for this. Well, his mind and heart weren’t anyway, but the rest of him seemed to think it was a good idea to kiss her or something.

Especially something.

The heat came. Memories, too. Vivid memories of Hailey naked and beneath him in his bed.

The very bed that was just up the hall.


Lucas

Delores Fossen






www.millsandboon.co.uk (http://www.millsandboon.co.uk)


DELORES FOSSEN, a USA TODAY bestselling author, has sold over fifty novels with millions of copies of her books in print worldwide. She’s received a Booksellers’ Best Award and an RT Reviewers’ Choice Best Book Award. She was also a finalist for a prestigious RITA® Award. You can contact the author through her website at www.deloresfossen.com (http://www.deloresfossen.com/).


Contents

Cover (#u58cf88d3-8748-56ef-a24a-9062b009c541)

Back Cover Text (#u5a191def-4763-53fd-bc5d-e155dee13745)

Introduction (#u03de3904-9d8d-5ce9-90bc-d9cec021947e)

Title Page (#u31fa9122-7666-5d8c-8714-9408138adde4)

About the Author (#u19670a88-6522-581e-b505-b2d41cbe3e5f)

Chapter One (#uca9196a9-22b5-548f-9101-6e74df6d6ad1)

Chapter Two (#u41b4245f-a3b7-517c-983c-98b6254872cd)

Chapter Three (#u5b102c93-62fc-5e66-9bb5-da8effd80c67)

Chapter Four (#u37d0e883-9d90-5c00-8bea-7fcee8ddd660)

Chapter Five (#u2c3ed002-c706-5ecc-bdc5-2c5601d67373)

Chapter Six (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter Seven (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter Eight (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter Nine (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter Ten (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter Eleven (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter Twelve (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter Thirteen (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter Fourteen (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter Fifteen (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter Sixteen (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter Seventeen (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter Eighteen (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter Nineteen (#litres_trial_promo)

Extract (#litres_trial_promo)

Copyright (#litres_trial_promo)


Chapter One (#u22dc40c6-d642-5aab-bd04-820e082802cd)

Texas Ranger Lucas Ryland stared at the bed in the room at the Silver Creek Hospital.

It was empty.

He touched his fingers to the sterile white covers, already knowing they wouldn’t be warm. According to the doctor, no one had been in that bed for at least the last fifteen minutes.

Maybe longer.

Mumbling something that Lucas didn’t catch, Dr. Alfred Parton paced across the room. The doctor had already told Lucas that he wasn’t sure how long the patient had been missing. That was one of the first things he had told Lucas when he called him. Of course, first Dr. Parton had dropped the bombshell.

Hailey Darrow is gone.

Lucas had rushed to the hospital to see for himself. And now that he had seen the empty bed with his own eyes, it didn’t help with the jolt of adrenaline he’d gotten.

“How the hell did this happen?” Lucas demanded.

“No idea.” Dr. Alfred Parton scrubbed his hand over his balding head, something he’d been doing a lot since Lucas had arrived. “I’ve asked everyone on the staff, and no one knows. But Hailey must have had some help. She wouldn’t have been able to get up and just walk out of here.”

No. Not after being in a coma for three months. She wouldn’t have been able to stand on her own, much less get out of the bed and leave the building.

Of course, that only brought on a boatload of questions for Lucas—had she awakened and managed to talk someone into helping her leave? It was a valid concern, because the last time Lucas had seen Hailey conscious, she’d been nine months pregnant with their child and running. Not just from some guy who’d been chasing her.

But also running from him.

He’d found her, finally, unconscious from a car accident. She’d plowed into a tree, and a limb that’d come through the windshield had given her a nasty head injury. She’d also had a fake ID and enough cash for Lucas to know that she had planned on disappearing.

Even now, three months later, that felt like a punch to the gut, but a “punched gut” feeling pretty much described his entire relationship with Hailey for the year he’d known her.

“We have some security cameras,” the doctor explained, “but none back here in this part of the hospital. They’re at the front entrance, the ER and the pharmacy. We’re still looking, but she’s not on any of that footage.”

Which meant she might still be inside the place. It wasn’t a huge hospital, but there were clinics, storage closets and probably some unoccupied rooms.

“You think she’ll try to go to the Silver Creek Ranch?” the doc asked.

Lucas cursed and yanked out his phone. He’d been so shocked by the news that Hailey was missing that he hadn’t even considered the next step of how this might play out.

But, yeah, if she was capable of moving, she would almost certainly try to get to his cousins’ ranch, where Lucas now lived. Hailey would try to get to the baby.

Camden.

His three-month-old son.

But he was Hailey’s child, too.

And Hailey would go after him. Or rather, she would try. As far as Lucas was concerned, Hailey had given up her rights to their precious little boy when she’d gone on the run before Camden was born. Hailey had endangered herself and the baby in that car wreck.

“Search every inch of the hospital,” Lucas ordered the doctor, though that was just the frustration talking because the staff was already looking for Hailey. “And let me know the second you find her.”

Lucas headed out the door, hurrying, but he didn’t call Camden’s nanny because he didn’t want to alarm her, yet. Instead, he called his cousin, Mason Ryland. Mason was a part-time deputy in Silver Creek, but since it was nearly 8:00 p.m., he’d already be home, and his house was just up the road from Lucas’s new place.

“I’m not coming into the office,” Mason said instead of a greeting. His cousin wasn’t the friendliest of the Ryland clan, but he would protect Camden with his life.

Lucas prayed it didn’t come down to that, though.

“Hailey’s missing from the hospital,” Lucas tossed out there. “I’m on my way home now, but make sure she doesn’t get anywhere near Camden.”

Mason cursed, too, and it was ripe enough that Lucas heard Mason’s wife, Abbie, give him a scolding about saying such things in front of their two young sons.

“You can explain when you get here,” Mason said. “I’ll head over to your place now.”

Lucas thanked him and hoped he did indeed have something to explain—like Hailey’s whereabouts and how she’d managed to escape. Right now, he didn’t know nearly enough.

He ran out of the building and across the parking lot to his SUV. The November wind swiped at him, but he didn’t duck his head against it. Lucas kept watch around him. A habit that had saved him a time or two while he’d been a Texas Ranger. But nothing seemed out of the ordinary.

The moment he was behind the wheel, Lucas started the engine. However, before he could throw the SUV into gear, he caught the movement from the backseat. Lucas whirled around, already reaching for his gun.

But it was too late.

Hailey was there.

She was sitting right next to the baby’s empty car seat, and thanks to the security lights, he could see that she had a gun pointed right at him. His gun. The one he kept as a backup in the glove compartment. Since he hadn’t seen her when he first approached the vehicle, it likely meant she’d ducked down out of sight. Hiding from him so she could—well—do whatever the heck she was doing.

“Leave your weapon in your holster,” she ordered, and it was indeed an order.

That was a hard look Hailey gave him. But the hardness didn’t mesh well with the beads of sweat on her forehead. It was chilly, definitely not warm enough weather for sweating, so this must have been from exertion. There was no color in her cheeks. She looked weak, and no doubt was, but she didn’t need much strength considering the gun she had in his face.

Lucas had no idea if she’d actually shoot him, because she clearly wasn’t thinking straight. Couldn’t be. Or else she wouldn’t have him at gunpoint. Then again, she had run from him three months ago, so it was obvious she hadn’t trusted him.

Still didn’t, apparently.

The head injury that had put her in the coma had healed with the exception of a thin scar near her scalp. Her blond hair was pushed back from her face now so the scar was easier to see, but in another month or two, it’d be practically gone. No signs of the trauma that had nearly killed her and the baby.

No visible signs, anyway.

Lucas would always remember. Always.

“Start driving,” Hailey insisted. “We can’t stay here.”

Because the hospital staff would look in the parking lot. But that didn’t explain why she was hiding and clearly trying to escape.

Hell, it didn’t explain a lot of things.

Lucas did drive. Not far, though, and only after he hit the child safety button to lock all the doors so that Hailey wouldn’t be able to get out. He drove out of the parking lot and went two blocks up before pulling over.

He purposely didn’t choose a spot in front of any businesses in case something went wrong when he wrestled that gun away from her. Instead, he stopped in front of the town park. Since it was already dark, the park was empty.

“All right. Now talk.” Lucas had a string of questions but went with the easiest one first. “How’d you get from your room to my SUV?”

“I walked.”

“Impossible,” Lucas fired back. He glanced around to make sure someone wasn’t out there ready to help her with more than just getting out of that hospital bed. “People who’ve been in a coma for three months just don’t get up and walk.”

She nodded. Dragged in a thin breath. That’s when he noticed she was shaking. “I’ve been out of the coma for nearly a week now, and I’ve been exercising my legs when no one was watching.”

Nearly a week.

Damn.

“And none of the medical staff noticed?” he snapped.

“I was never in a vegetative state, just a deep coma, so the monitor already showed plenty of brain activity for me. The activity increased when I woke up, but I tampered with the machine so that it looked as if it malfunctioned. I kept doing that, and the staff thought they had faulty readings.”

A nurse had indeed told him about the readings, and the hospital had called in someone to repair the machine. The Silver Creek Hospital wasn’t big or modern by anyone’s standards so they hadn’t had another monitor to use on Hailey. That’s why the nurses had been keeping a closer watch on her. Obviously, they hadn’t watched nearly close enough.

“How’d you know how to tamper with the monitor?” he pressed.

She glanced away. “I’m good with computers and such.”

This was the first Lucas was hearing about that, but it didn’t matter. Not when there were so many other things they needed to talk about.

“When I was trying to regain my strength, I made sure no one else saw me,” she added.

Obviously. Just as she’d made sure he hadn’t noticed her before he’d gotten in his vehicle.

Her gaze dropped to her stomach for just a second. “I listened to try to find out if I’d had a boy or a girl, but no one mentioned it. Not even you when you visited me on Monday.”

Clearly she’d known he was there. Lucas had indeed visited her, something he did a couple of times a week. Why, he didn’t know, because he couldn’t get answers from a woman in a coma. It riled him to the core, though, that she’d been awake during that visit and hadn’t said anything.

But what had he said?

Lucas wasn’t even sure—maybe nothing—but he’d almost certainly glared at her. He still was glaring now.

“So, you faked being in a coma for the last week, built up your strength, and just walked out of the hospital?” he asked, going through the probability of that as he said it.

He was skeptical.

Hailey nodded. “I ducked into a supply room, and when I heard the doctor call you, I knew you’d be arriving soon. I made my way to the parking lot and hid behind some shrubs.”

“And then you broke into my SUV,” Lucas snarled.

“The back door was unlocked,” she answered as if that was something she did all the time. To the best of his knowledge, she didn’t, but then, he really didn’t know much about this woman.

The mother of his child.

“Why didn’t you let me know you’d come out of the coma?” Lucas demanded.

Hailey stared at him a long time. “I’ll tell you that if you’ll tell me what I had—a boy or a girl?”

He debated bargaining with her. Even with that gun aimed at him. But it was probably best to give her the information so they could move on to something else. Something that involved his ripping that gun out of her hand.

“You had a boy,” he finally said. “He was born three months ago.”

“Three months?” she repeated. It sounded as if she had to choke back a sob. “That long.”

Yeah, that long. “The doctors had to deliver him by C-section because you weren’t conscious when you went into labor.”

She shook her head, her breath shuddering. “I don’t remember.”

“Comas are like that,” he said, and he didn’t bother to sound even marginally sympathetic. “I named him Camden David. But I have sole custody of him,” Lucas added.

Not a lie, exactly. He did have custody of him and had tried to make it permanent, but the judge had refused on the grounds that Hailey might come out of the coma and her parental rights could be reinstated.

Could be.

Lucas would make sure that didn’t happen.

Something went through her pale green eyes, and Hailey made a sound, part groan, part gasp. At first he thought maybe the reaction was due to his custody comment, but the tears proved otherwise. It was the reaction of a woman who’d just learned she had a son.

But she was a mother in name only.

“And he...Camden’s all right?” Hailey asked, still blinking back those tears. “There were no problems with the delivery?”

“Yeah. No thanks to you.”

“Is he safe?” she asked before Lucas could finish what he was about to say.

“Of course he is.” Lucas couldn’t stop himself from cursing. “What the hell were you thinking when you went on the run like that? And what happened to you? Were you driving too fast? Is that what caused the accident—and that?”

He pointed to her scar, but Lucas didn’t pull back his hand. He knocked the gun away from her, and it fell on the front passenger’s seat. Hailey immediately scrambled to retrieve it, but Lucas was a whole lot faster. He dropped it on the floor, well out of her reach.

“Don’t make me draw my gun,” he warned her and took hold of her wrist in case she was about to try to get out the door.

But she didn’t try to escape.

A hoarse sob tore from her mouth, and Hailey eased away from him. Just in case she had another weapon back there, Lucas leaned over the seat and did a quick check around her. He frisked her, too. Since she was wearing a pair of loose green scrubs, a thin sweater and flip-flops, there weren’t many places she could conceal a weapon.

Still, after what’d happened three months ago, Lucas looked.

His hand brushed against the side of her breast, and she made a soft sound. Not the groan she’d made earlier. This one caused him to feel that tug deep within his body. But Lucas told that tug to take a hike.

Their gazes connected. Not for long. Lucas finished the search and found nothing.

“Now, keep talking,” he insisted. “Tell me what happened to you. Why did you go on the run, and why didn’t you tell anyone before now that you were out of the coma?”

She opened her mouth and got that deer-in-the-headlights look. What she didn’t do was answer him.

“Enough of this,” he mumbled.

He took out his phone to call Mason and then the sheriff, but as he’d done with her earlier, Hailey took hold of his hand. “Please don’t tell your cousins. Not yet.”

Since most of his Ryland cousins were cops, that wasn’t what he wanted to hear. “Did you break the law? Is that why you were on the run?”

“No.” She closed her eyes and shook her head. Her head wasn’t the only thing shaking, though. She started to shiver, the cold and maybe the fear finally getting to her. “But I’m in trouble. God, Lucas, I’m in so much trouble.”

He was about to curse at her for stating the obvious, but something else went through her eyes.

Fear.

“It won’t take long for word to get out that I’m awake,” Hailey said, speaking barely louder than a whisper. “And he’ll find out.”

“He?” Lucas snapped.

Hailey’s voice cracked. “There’s a killer after me.”


Chapter Two (#u22dc40c6-d642-5aab-bd04-820e082802cd)

Hailey closed her eyes a moment, hoping it would help with the dizziness.

It didn’t.

It was hard to think with her head spinning, the bone-deep exhaustion and the muscle spasms that kept rippling through her body.

Hard to think, too, with Lucas glaring at her as if she were the enemy. Of course, in his eyes, that’s exactly what she was.

He obviously didn’t believe her. Didn’t trust her, either, but somehow Hailey had to make him understand. First, though, he had to take care of what was most important—the baby.

“Are you sure Camden is safe?” she asked.

That caused a new slash of anger to go through his eyes. Probably because he believed she was dodging the news she’d just dropped on him.

There’s a killer after me.

“He’s safe,” Lucas finally said, but he spoke through clenched teeth. “Now, tell me why you need to make sure of that. Does it have something to do with the so-called killer?” He didn’t give her a chance to say a word, though. “Or are you trying to lie your way out of why you ran from me three months ago?”

“It’s not a lie.” She wished it was. “But I didn’t tell the truth about some other things.”

That tightened the muscles in his jaw even more. “Start from the beginning, and so help me, there’d better not be any lies this time.”

Hailey nodded but glanced around them. Since it was Tuesday and a school night, Silver Creek wasn’t exactly teeming with activity, but she did spot someone jogging in the park. She kept her attention on him until he disappeared around the curve of the tree-lined trail. Maybe it was nothing. Maybe the guy was just that—a jogger—but he could have been someone after her.

“We need to find a better place to talk,” Hailey told him.

Lucas gave her a flat look. Cursed. “I’m not taking you to the Silver Creek Ranch.”

That was no doubt where the baby was.

Camden.

Hailey mentally repeated that, something she’d been doing since Lucas had first mentioned her precious son’s name. Learning something—anything—about her baby caused her heart to ache. It felt as if someone was squeezing it hard.

Mercy, she’d lost so much already. Three months. And there was a lot more she could lose. Thank God the baby was okay, but it was up to her to make sure he stayed that way.

“I can’t see Camden,” Hailey answered. Saying it aloud added an even deeper pain. “Not until I’m sure it’s safe.”

“You won’t see him at all,” Lucas snapped. He spewed out more of that profanity. “You don’t have a right to see him.”

No, in his eyes, she didn’t. But if and when this was over, she would see her son. Even if she had to push her way through an army of Ryland lawmen. No one would keep him from her.

Since it was obvious Lucas wasn’t going to budge, Hailey tried to figure out the fastest way to convince him that it wasn’t safe for her to be out in the open like this.

That meant starting from the beginning.

“I’m not who you think I am,” she said.

A burst of air left his mouth, but it wasn’t a laugh. “Obviously. You slept with me and then sneaked out, leaving me a note saying you couldn’t see me again.”

Hailey didn’t need a reminder of that. She could have recited the note word for word.

Lucas, I’m sorry, but this was a mistake. I can’t get involved with you.

“That was the truth,” she continued. “I shouldn’t have let things get so...intimate between us.”

“But you did, and you got pregnant.”

Yes, she had. Since they’d used a condom, the pregnancy definitely hadn’t been something Hailey had been expecting. But that hadn’t stopped her from wanting the child right from the start.

“Mistakes aside,” Lucas continued, “you had no right to run away from me while you were carrying my baby.” He cursed again. “If you hadn’t had that car accident, I might have never found you. Of course, that was probably the plan, wasn’t it? To run away so that I’d never be able to see my child?”

Hailey didn’t even have to think about that answer. “No. That wasn’t the plan.”

He didn’t believe her, but it was the truth.

“I was trying to stay alive, trying to keep the baby from being hurt,” Hailey explained.

He tapped his badge. “I’m a Texas Ranger.” That was probably his way of saying that if something was wrong, she should have gone straight to him.

But Lucas had been in danger, too.

Something he didn’t know.

Yet.

Figuring she would need it, Hailey took another deep breath. “Two years ago, I was employed as a computer systems analyst in Phoenix for a man named Preston DeSalvo. I found out he was working with someone in the FBI. A dirty agent. And they were selling confiscated weapons. I went to the cops, DeSalvo was eventually arrested, and after I testified against him, I was placed in witness protection and given a new identity. The marshals relocated me here to Silver Creek.”

She paused, giving him a few moments to let all of that sink in, but Lucas didn’t take the time. He whipped out his phone again, and before she could stop him, she saw him press the contact for one of his cousins.

Sheriff Grayson Ryland.

“Don’t tell him I’m with you,” Hailey insisted. “The sheriff’s office could be bugged.”

She saw the debate Lucas was having with himself, but he didn’t stop the call. He did put it on speaker, though, and it didn’t take long before Grayson answered.

“I heard about Hailey,” Grayson said right off the bat. “I’ve sent two of the deputies to the hospital to help look for her.”

“Thanks,” Lucas said. And he paused. A long time. “Can you look up info on a guy named Preston DeSalvo?”

Grayson paused, too. Hailey knew the sheriff well because she’d worked for him as an emergency dispatcher shortly after her arrival in Silver Creek. Grayson had a lot of experience as a lawman and was probably suspicious.

“Is DeSalvo connected to Hailey?” Grayson asked, though she could hear the clicks of his computer keys.

“Maybe.”

More keyboard clicking sounds. “Well, Preston DeSalvo was sent to prison about eighteen months ago. He’s dead. Killed in a fight at a maximum security prison in Arizona a little over three months ago.”

“Why was he in prison?” Lucas pressed.

“A laundry list of charges, including murder, extortion and gun running. An employee, Laura Arnett, testified against him, and she’s in WITSEC.” He huffed. “Now, what does this have to do with Hailey?”

“Maybe everything. I’ll call you back when I know more. In the meantime, can you make sure the ranch is on lockdown?”

“Already have. Mason called and said you’d asked him to go to your house. You think Hailey could be headed there?”

“I’ll call you back,” Lucas repeated, probably so that he wouldn’t have to lie to his cousin.

But the stalling wouldn’t last long. Soon, very soon, his cousins would be demanding answers. Especially Grayson, since he wasn’t just the sheriff but also the head of the Ryland clan. However, Lucas would be demanding them first.

“Laura Arnett?” Lucas repeated. “That’s your real name?”

She nodded. “I haven’t thought of myself as that since all of this happened. I’m Hailey Darrow. For now, anyway. But I’ll have to come up with another identity. DeSalvo’s dead, but no one knows who his partner was,” she added.

“The dirty FBI agent,” he spat out like the profanity he tacked onto that. “And you believe he’s after you?”

“I know he is. Well, one of his henchmen, anyway.”

She glanced around again, praying that one of those thugs wasn’t nearby, looking for her.

“I don’t know how he found me,” Hailey continued. “Maybe he hacked into the WITSEC files, or he could have bribed someone to give him the info. But three months ago, I found an eavesdropping device in my house here in Silver Creek, and I knew my identity had been blown.”

“You should have come to me.” His jaw muscles were at war with each other again. “Or since you were in WITSEC, you could have called your handler.”

“I didn’t get a chance. Before I could do anything, a hired gun showed up at my house. I hid, but he yelled out that if I didn’t give myself up, he’d go after you and use you to get me to cooperate.”

The skepticism was still written all over his face. “Cooperate with what?”

Oh, he was not going to like this. “I have some computer files that I didn’t turn over to the cops. Files that incriminate Preston’s son, Eric. Nothing as serious as murder, but it would have put him away for a few years.”

“I’ll want to see those files.” And it wasn’t a suggestion.

She nodded. “It’ll take a while to access them. I put them in online storage with some security measures. I set it up so the files won’t open until twelve hours after I put in the password.”

“Clever,” he mumbled, but Hailey didn’t think that was a compliment. No. Lucas was silently cursing her for not bringing this to him sooner.

“I let Preston know I’d leak the files if anything happened to me,” Hailey explained, “and that his son would head to prison right along with him. It was my insurance, a way of making sure he didn’t send his hired thugs after me.”

Lucas lifted his shoulder. “But he sent them anyway?”

“No. Preston was dead by then. I think the person who sent the thugs is the dirty agent. First, though, he wants those files.”

“Or it could be his son who’s after you,” Lucas quickly pointed out.

“Maybe. But I didn’t personally mention anything to Eric about having incriminating info on him.”

Of course, that didn’t mean Eric hadn’t found out. Eric hadn’t visited his father in prison. Not once. But Preston could have said something to one of his lackeys, who in turn passed the info on to Eric. Which wouldn’t have necessarily been a bad thing. Because it could have kept Eric off her back, too, had he ever decided to come after her.

“How did you get away from that hired gun?” Lucas asked a moment later.

“I sneaked out the back of the house. I had a car, some cash and new identity papers in a storage unit.” Hailey huffed. “I’ll answer all your questions. I promise. But we can’t stay here. In fact, you can’t be with me.”

He looked at her as if she’d just sprouted wings. “You think I’m going to dump you out here on the street?”

“No, but I was hoping you’d arrange to get me a car. Or let me use this SUV for a couple of hours.”

“That’s not going to happen. But I am taking you somewhere—to the sheriff’s office.”

“No.” She couldn’t say it fast enough, and Hailey went to the edge of her seat so she could take hold of his arm again. “Didn’t you hear me? The office could be bugged. My hospital room was. That’s why I didn’t say anything to any of the medical staff. I wasn’t sure who’d put it there or if I could trust any of them.”

Lucas had already put the SUV in gear to drive away, no doubt to head toward the sheriff’s office, but that piece of information stopped him. He turned, studying her, probably to decide how much of this was the truth.

Before he could make up his mind, his phone rang, and again she saw Grayson’s name on the screen. She doubted Lucas would keep her secret much longer. He would spill everything to the sheriff.

And that meant she had to get out of there—fast.

But how? Lucas had all the doors locked, and she wasn’t nearly strong enough to break the windows.

“We might have a problem,” Grayson said when Lucas answered, and he put the call on speaker. “Dr. Parton called, and he said right after you left, a man showed up looking for Hailey. He claimed he was her brother.”

Oh, God. “I don’t have a brother,” she mouthed.

“Doc Parton got suspicious,” Grayson went on. “And he just sent me the surveillance footage of the guy coming in through the ER entrance. I put his photo into the facial recognition program and got an immediate hit.”

Lucas groaned, no doubt because he knew what that meant. If the guy was in the system, he had a record. “Who is he?” he asked the sheriff.

“Darrin Sandmire. A low-life thug.” He paused. “Sandmire often works as a hit man.”

Her heart slammed against her chest. It was happening. Her worst fears. The killer wasn’t just after her. He was here in Silver Creek.

“Sandmire left the hospital before the security guard could stop him, so he could be anywhere in town. Now, you want to tell me what this is all about?” Grayson demanded.

“Yeah. I’ll be at the sheriff’s office in a few minutes.” Lucas paused. “Hailey’s with me.”

The panic shot through her, and she tried the door handle even though Hailey knew she was trapped. If Lucas took her to the sheriff’s office, she might be putting not only herself in danger but also all of them. Lucas put the SUV in gear again, but something must have caught his eye, because his attention zoomed to the driver’s side window.

To the park.

Hailey saw it then, as well. The jogger she’d spotted earlier. But this time, he wasn’t on the trail. He was coming straight toward the SUV.

And he had a gun in his hand.


Chapter Three (#u22dc40c6-d642-5aab-bd04-820e082802cd)

“Get down!” Lucas shouted to Hailey.

His first instinct was to draw his gun and take aim at the man running toward them. But Lucas didn’t want to get into a gunfight on Main Street where innocent bystanders—or Hailey—could be hurt.

Lucas wasn’t sure he believed everything she’d just told him, but it was obvious she had someone after her. Later he’d find out who that was, but for now he wanted to put some distance between this armed man and them. He hit the accelerator.

Just as the guy took aim.

And fired.

The bullet slammed into the side of the SUV, missing the window and Lucas by only a couple of inches.

“I need a gun,” Hailey said, climbing over the seat to get to the passenger side. She started to fumble around for the weapon that he’d knocked away from her.

“Stay down,” Lucas warned her, but her search took care of that. Hailey crawled onto the floor.

At least, it took care of it for a couple of seconds. Once she had the gun, she got back in the seat and took aim out the back side window.

She fired.

The sound blasted through the SUV, causing Lucas to curse. He hadn’t actually expected her to shoot. Too bad she missed, because the gunman sent another bullet their way.

Lucas sped off. The thug got off one more shot before Lucas took the first turn he reached. He wasn’t driving in the direction of the sheriff’s office, but he could double back.

Lucas tossed Hailey his phone. “Call Grayson and tell him there’s an armed man near the park at the intersection of Main and Everett Road.”

Hailey made the call, but she kept watch behind them, making sure that goon wasn’t in pursuit. The moment Grayson answered, she rattled off the information. Then she hit the end call button. No doubt because she didn’t want to answer Grayson’s questions. That was okay. For now.

But as soon as they reached the sheriff’s office, Hailey had better come clean about everything.

Lucas took another turn. Then another, meandering his way back to Main Street. That particular part of the park was only about seven blocks away from the sheriff’s office, so it wouldn’t take Grayson long to get a pair of deputies there to catch the guy.

“Do you know if that was Darrin Sandmire?” Lucas asked her.

“I have no idea. But I’m pretty sure that was the same man who came after me three months ago.”

Hell.

Lucas had to rein in the anger that sliced through him. That was the SOB who’d put Hailey—and therefore, Camden—in danger. Too bad Lucas hadn’t managed to shoot him. But then he rethought that. He didn’t want the guy dead, not until he had answers from him.

Like who hired him.

Thugs like Darrin Sandmire always worked for bigger thugs. Maybe DeSalvo’s son, Eric. Maybe that unidentified rogue agent. Soon, Lucas intended to find out who’d paid this killer to come after Hailey.

Lucas took another turn, the tires squealing against the asphalt. The moment he was on the side street, he saw something he didn’t like.

A truck.

It wasn’t right in the middle of the road, but the front end was jutting out from the parking space in front of a motorcycle repair shop.

Lucas hit his brakes.

“You think someone’s inside the truck?” Hailey asked. Her voice was shaking like the rest of her.

Lucas didn’t know, and it was next to impossible to see inside the truck’s cab. There was a streetlight and a lit sign for the motorcycle shop, but the tint was so dark on the windshield that he couldn’t tell. He pulled up a little farther though so he could get a better look at the front license plates.

“Out-of-state plates,” he mumbled under his breath.

Maybe that in itself meant nothing, but Lucas got that feeling in his gut. The feeling that told him to get the heck out of there.

He threw the SUV into Reverse.

But the second he did that, the truck door opened, and a man bolted out.

The guy had a rifle.

“Get down,” Lucas repeated to Hailey. “And this time, stay there.”

Whether she would or not was anyone’s guess, but he didn’t want to have to worry about her being shot. He hit the gas, the SUV speeding backward. But he didn’t get out of the path of that rifleman fast enough.

The bullet slammed into the windshield.

Since this wasn’t the vehicle he used for work, the glass wasn’t reinforced. The shot tore through the safety glass, the bullet exiting out the back.

Great. Just great.

Now he had two thugs after them, and Lucas had no choice but to go back in the direction he’d seen that other shooter in the park. Maybe the guy was long gone by now. Or better yet, maybe one of the deputies had managed to capture him.

When Lucas reached the side street, he spun the SUV around so he could drive forward. He definitely didn’t want to head right into the middle of an ambush, so he headed for a better lit area.

“The truck’s coming after us,” Hailey said.

And that’s when he realized she’d lifted her head and was looking out the side window.

Lucas pushed her right back down. “Don’t make it easier for them to kill you,” he snapped. Yeah, it was harsh, but Hailey was clearly the target of some very determined attackers.

Whoever was in the truck fired another shot at them, this one slamming into the rear end of the SUV. A second shot quickly followed.

Then a third.

“There must be two of them,” Hailey muttered. She hadn’t figured that out by looking at them, though. She was still on the floor.

But Lucas knew there had to be two, as well. Those shots were too well aimed for someone who was trying to negotiate the turns and dodging the cars parked along the street.

“Hang on,” Lucas told her a split second before he turned onto another side street. He was thankful he’d grown up here and knew these streets like the back of his hand.

His phone buzzed, and since Hailey still had hold of it, she answered it and put it on speaker.

“Where are you?” he heard Grayson immediately ask. “Someone just called about shots being fired near Henderson’s Motorcycle Shop.”

“Someone in a blue pickup is shooting at us. We’re on Bluebonnet Street, coming up near the Corral Bar.” It was a risk since there’d be customers still inside, but Lucas didn’t plan on stopping or even slowing down. “I’ll turn back on Main Street and head in your direction. Please tell me you found the first shooter.”

“Not yet. But I’ll send Dade and Josh your way to help,” Grayson said, and he ended the call.

Good. Dade and Josh were both cousins, both deputy sheriffs, and maybe having backup would cause these thugs to quit firing.

The parking lot of the Corral Bar was lit up better than the rest of the street, and Lucas glanced in his side mirror at the truck. Definitely two men. And the one on the passenger side was doing the shooting.

“I can return fire,” Hailey insisted, already climbing into the seat and lowering the window. “Please don’t stop me. This is all my fault, and I have to do something to stop them.”

“No way.” And he meant it. It might indeed be partially her fault for not coming to him sooner, but she wasn’t sticking her neck out to fire any shots.

Hailey didn’t get a chance to argue with him. That’s because the sound of sirens stopped anything she was about to say. In the distance, behind the truck, Lucas saw the flashing blue lights of a police cruiser.

Dade and Josh, no doubt.

The driver stopped following Lucas and took a very quick turn off a side street. A street that would lead them straight to the highway.

No, hell, no.

Lucas didn’t want these clowns getting away, but it wasn’t smart to go in pursuit with Hailey in the vehicle. Besides, Dade and Josh went after them, and Lucas could only hope they’d catch them.

“Keep watch for the other shooter,” Lucas told Hailey.

He hated to rely on her for help, but with the glass in the front, back and side windows cracked and webbed, they had reduced visibility. That would make it hard for them to see the guy hiding between one of the buildings where he could shoot at them as they drove by.

Lucas held his breath, going as fast as he could, and he didn’t release that breath until he made it back onto Main Street. Definitely no sign of the shooter, so he headed for the sheriff’s office.

“Can you run?” he asked her.

“I’ll try,” she assured him. Which meant she couldn’t. “I had to use a cane to walk to your SUV.”

Definitely couldn’t.

The SUV squealed to a stop directly in front of the door to the sheriff’s office, but he didn’t get out. Lucas waited until Grayson hurried to the door and threw it open.

“I’m carrying you in,” Lucas insisted, and he didn’t leave any room for argument.

He scooped her up in his arms and rushed her inside the building, with Grayson locking the door behind them. But Lucas didn’t stop there. He hurried her past the squad room to the hall that led to Grayson’s office and the break room. That way, if someone did come in with guns blazing, she’d have some protection.

“Dade and Josh are in pursuit,” Lucas told Grayson. “Arizona plates, but there was something covering the numbers. Mud, I think.” Probably not an accident.

“Arizona?” Hailey repeated.

Lucas knew the reason for her concern. DeSalvo had been from Arizona, which meant his son, Eric, likely was, too. So, had Eric sent those goons after Hailey?

Now that they weren’t in the SUV, Lucas got a better look at her. Especially a better look at the fear in her eyes. And the fact that she was having to grip the door to steady herself.

“As soon as it’s safe, I’ll have the doctor come over to see you,” Lucas told her.

But she was shaking her head before he even finished. “I can’t trust Dr. Parton. Or anyone in the hospital. Someone planted that bug on the table next to my bed.”

Lucas certainly hadn’t forgotten about that. The device needed to be checked, but that would have to wait, because Grayson no doubt had every available deputy on this manhunt for the shooters.

“When there’s time, Hailey will need to give you a statement,” Lucas told Grayson.

Grayson nodded. He still had his gun drawn, was still keeping watch on the area just outside the building. “Is she in WITSEC?”

“Yes,” Hailey answered. “But I don’t want the marshals to know I’m here.”

Grayson mumbled something Lucas didn’t catch, but he didn’t need to hear the words to know that Grayson wasn’t pleased about all this going on right under his nose.

“Hell, you worked for me,” Grayson added.

She nodded. “I figured it was a way to keep an eye on what was happening in town, just in case something went wrong.” Hailey paused. “And something did go wrong.”

Yeah. And Lucas wondered if sleeping with him was in that something-gone-wrong category.

“I’ll call Mason and give him an update,” Grayson said after he shot Hailey a glare.

Hailey dropped back a step, holding onto Grayson’s desk. Lucas was volleying his attention between her and the outside. However, she got his complete attention when she made a soft gasp.

Lucas hurried to her, following her gaze to the computer on the desk. It was obviously the security feed that the doctor had sent Grayson. In the shot, the tall, lanky man was coming through the glass doors of the ER. Grayson had paused it and zoomed in on the man’s face.

Darrin Sandmire, no doubt.

Lucas had no trouble seeing the renewed fear in Hailey’s eyes. “That’s definitely the man who came to my house three months ago. And the man who ran me off the road that night.”

Lucas hadn’t needed to hear anything else about the guy to know that he wanted him caught, questioned and punished.

Hailey touched the screen to get the security feed moving again. Darrin disappeared from view when he walked past the camera and to the hall. Since it would have taken him several minutes to get to her room, Lucas sped up the footage, watching for Darrin to reemerge.

He did.

But the man wasn’t alone.

There was a woman with him, walking right by his side, and it was obvious they were talking. The woman was a blonde, and she kept her head down. Right until she was close to the camera.

Now Hailey’s gasp wasn’t so soft.

“I know her. That’s Colleen Jeffrey.”

The name meant nothing to Lucas, and he didn’t recognize her, either. “Who is she?”

There were tears shimmering in Hailey’s eyes when she looked up at him. “My half sister.”

Damn.

Lucas was about to assure her that maybe this was a coincidence. But it didn’t look like that to him. He needed to get this woman in for questioning right away.

He heard the footsteps. Hurried ones, and they put Lucas right back on alert again. Though he hadn’t exactly been relaxing.

“We’ve got a problem,” Grayson said, stepping into the doorway. “Someone tripped the security sensor near the back fence at the ranch. One of the ranch hands spotted a gunman.”


Chapter Four (#u22dc40c6-d642-5aab-bd04-820e082802cd)

Hailey’s breath froze. She wanted to scream, to shout out for Lucas to hurry to the ranch so they could protect their son, but the words and sounds were wedged there in her throat.

No. This couldn’t be happening. This monster couldn’t get to her baby.

Even without her warning, Lucas thankfully understood just how dangerous a situation this could be, because he took off running toward the front of the building. Hailey followed him. Or rather, she tried.

Lucas must have remembered she was still hobbling, because he spun around, scooped her up in his arms and hurried toward his shot-up SUV still parked just outside the door.

“We need to use a cruiser,” Grayson called out to them. “Because this could be a trap to lure you into the open.”

Lucas stopped, and while everything inside Hailey wanted to move, to hurry to the ranch, she knew Grayson was right.

“Wait right here for me,” Grayson insisted. “I’ll bring the cruiser around to the front.”

Hailey didn’t want to waste precious minutes while he did that, but they didn’t have many options here. Lucas and she waited, the time crawling by slower than a snail’s pace, and it seemed to take an eternity for Grayson to drive up. Even before the cruiser came to a stop, Lucas and she jumped into the backseat, and Grayson took off again.

“I’ll call the ranch and get an update,” Lucas said.

As much as she wanted to know what was going on, Hailey didn’t want anyone there distracted right now. She wanted all the focus on protecting the baby.

Camden.

The name seemed foreign to her. Probably because she’d yet to see her son, but maybe that would change soon. Maybe they’d get to the ranch and put an end to the danger.

“Tillie,” Lucas said to whoever answered his call.

“One of the nannies,” Grayson provided to Hailey, but he didn’t even glance back at her when he spoke. He looked all around, no doubt in case someone was trying to follow them.

Or attack them again.

Hailey couldn’t hear what the nanny was saying, but since Lucas’s arm was pressed against her, she felt his muscles relax just a little. “We’ll be there as fast as we can.” He paused. “Hailey’s with me.”

The nanny perhaps hadn’t even heard she was out of the coma, so this could be a real shock. An unwanted one. Hailey didn’t know Tillie, but she doubted she was going to get a warm reception from anyone at the Silver Creek Ranch. It wouldn’t matter that she thought she’d done the right thing.

Still did think that.

But a family of lawmen wouldn’t see it that way. They would believe she should have trusted them. However, maybe they could see now that all the trust in the world wouldn’t have put an end to the danger.

Oh, mercy.

That reminder came at her hard, like a heavyweight’s fist. The reason she’d tried to escape was to avoid this. To keep her child safe. And now he wasn’t safe because of her.

“Whoever’s behind the attacks will use Camden to get to me,” Hailey said under her breath.

She hadn’t intended to say that aloud, and it stung even more when Lucas made a sound of agreement. He’d finished his call with the nanny and now was keeping watch. Along with glancing at her.

“That doesn’t mean you’re going to try to take him and disappear,” Lucas snapped. There wasn’t a shred of gentleness in his tone. In fact, it was the same tone he likely used with criminal suspects.

“It’s too late to take him and hide,” Hailey agreed. “Too late for me to disappear, as well. Because now that they know I’m awake, they won’t stop, and they’ll try to use the baby to come after me.”

That meant she needed to find out who they were. And fast. For that to happen, she needed to rely on Lucas.

Something that wouldn’t please him.

It didn’t please her, either, but no one would work harder than Lucas to keep Camden safe. Of course, once that happened, and this snake was captured and behind bars, Lucas and she would have another battle to fight.

For custody.

But that was a fight that would have to wait for another day. Right now, Hailey had enough to deal with.

“The fences are all rigged with security alarms?” she asked.

“Yeah,” Grayson and Lucas answered at the same time. It was Lucas who continued. “There are also sensors on the grounds. Cameras, too. Since this clown tripped a sensor, the ranch hands and my cousins will be able to pinpoint his exact location before he can get near one of the houses.”

Good. But pinpointing him wasn’t the same as stopping the threat.

“Hurry,” Hailey said to Grayson. She was speaking purely out of frustration, because he was going as fast as he safely could.

The rural roads that led to the ranch weren’t exactly straight. Plenty of sharp curves and turns, and it certainly wouldn’t help them if Grayson wrecked.

Something she knew all too well.

Hailey couldn’t quite choke back a gasp when the cruiser tires squealed around one of those turns and it felt as if Grayson was losing control of the vehicle. All the memories of that other night came flooding back.

The frantic rush to get away from the person trying to kill her. The adrenaline and the fear. Even the feeling of the impact.

The pain.

But more intense than the pain and the fear had been the sickening dread that she’d failed.

“Flashbacks?” Lucas asked.

She nodded. “I remember that you’re the one who found me that night. If it hadn’t been you...”

Hailey didn’t finish that thought. No need. Lucas had found her, and while it hadn’t made things perfect, it had allowed her to deliver the baby safely.

Grayson took the final turn, and Hailey saw the ranch come into view. To say it was sprawling was an understatement. It’d been huge, but now that the Ryland cousins were buying up the adjacent land and building their own homes, the place stretched out for miles and miles.

They’d also added more security since the last time she’d visited. There was now a large security gate, and she saw several men near it. Ranch hands, probably, since she didn’t recognize any of them.

“Get down,” Lucas told her as they approached the gate. He lowered the window. “Anything?” he asked the men.

“Yep. Just a few seconds ago Sawyer called to say he shot at a guy who’d crossed over the fence. He and two of the other hands are chasing him.”

Hailey sucked in her breath. Sawyer was his cousin as well as an FBI agent. “Did Sawyer have to fire shots anywhere near the houses?”

The guy volleyed glances among Lucas, Grayson and her. Maybe he was trying to figure out if it was okay if he answered since he probably didn’t even know who she was.

“No, the shooting happened in the back pasture,” the guy said after Lucas gave him a go-ahead nod. “Mason said, though, that y’all should wait down here until they’ve made sure there’s only one.”

Oh, mercy.

As hard as that was to hear—and it was even harder for her to stay put—Hailey knew he was right. The attacker might not be alone. Heck, he could have brought an entire army with him, and it was best to aim that army at her rather than launch an attack near the houses.

Still, waiting was hard.

Even if she lifted her head, something Lucas wouldn’t like her to do, Hailey couldn’t see Lucas’s house from this part of the road, but she knew it was less than a half mile away. She knew because he’d taken her there for the one night they’d been together. The night she’d had a serious lapse in judgment and gotten way too personal with a man she should have avoided. Or so it’d seemed at the time. But without that night, she wouldn’t have her son, and despite everything that’d gone on, the one thing she was certain of was that she loved her baby.

Lucas didn’t seem to be having an easier time waiting than she was. He put the window back up, mumbled some profanity and took out his phone. This time she saw that he was calling the nanny again.

“Just checking to make sure everything is okay,” Lucas said when Tillie answered.

Hailey automatically scooted closer so she could hear what the nanny had to say, but that only earned her a scowl from Lucas. He put the call on speaker, her cue to inch away from him. She did.

“The baby’s fine,” Tillie assured Lucas. “He went straight to sleep after his bottle. And Mason’s still here just in case.”

Just in case everything went from bad to worse. Hailey hated that it was a possibility, but Mason was another lawman, so it was good to have him there. She prayed, though, that he wouldn’t be needed and that the danger would end soon. With this idiot intruder not just in custody but also willing to tell them the name of the person who’d hired him.

“You said earlier that Hailey was with you,” Tillie went on. She paused. “Is, uh, everything okay? Did that man try to get onto the ranch because of her?”

“Yeah,” Lucas admitted. Now he was the one who paused. “I’ll need to take the baby someplace safe. Will you be able to come with us?”

“Of course,” Tillie quickly agreed.

Hailey was shaking her head before the nanny even answered.

The head shaking caused Lucas to scowl again. “I’m going to protect my son,” he snarled as if she didn’t want the same thing.

She did. More than anything, she wanted him safe. Lucas and his family, too. “But I want to see him.”

That got Lucas’s muscles tightening again. “And then what?”

It was a good question. Hailey didn’t have anything resembling a good answer. “I don’t know,” she admitted. “I need some answers, and I think the place to start is with my sister.”

“I agree,” Lucas said without hesitation. “I’ll want her contact info and anything recent you have on her. I’ll especially want to know why she could want you dead.”

“I don’t know any of those things,” Hailey had to admit. “I haven’t seen or heard from Colleen since I’ve been in WITSEC.”

Lucas huffed, clearly not pleased that she hadn’t given him something to go on. “You two were close?”

“Once.” But that was another round of bad memories. “We were both working as computer systems analysts for Preston DeSalvo’s company. I testified against him, but Colleen didn’t. She claimed she didn’t see the incriminating evidence that I found.”

Lucas jumped right on that. “She lied?”

“Maybe. But I can’t believe she’d be the one behind this. I’m still her sister.”

He gave her a flat look. “Cain and Abel were brothers, and you know how that ended.”

Yes, with one murdering the other, but Hailey had to hang on to something, and that something was that her only sister hadn’t betrayed her like this. Still, she wanted to talk to Colleen and get this all sorted out.

She nearly reached for his phone to make a call, but there was no one who came to mind that she could trust. Well, no one other than Lucas.

“I’ll bring Colleen in for questioning,” Lucas said as if reading her mind. He didn’t get a chance to add anything else because the sound got their attention.

A shot.

Even though it was in the distance, it still caused Hailey’s heart to slam against her chest. She held her breath, waiting, and even though she tried to steel herself for whatever would happen next, she still gasped when Lucas’s phone buzzed.

“Mason,” he said looking at the screen before he answered it and put the call on speaker.

She hadn’t thought her heart could beat any faster, but she’d obviously been wrong. Mason was with the baby, and if he was calling then maybe that meant the shot had been fired close to the house.

Or in it.

Hailey pressed her fingers to her mouth and listened, praying.

“Sawyer fired the shot,” Mason said. “The guy’s alive for now.”

“Is he talking?” Lucas asked.

“No, but I just called an ambulance, so maybe he’ll say something on the way to the hospital. Sawyer has a way of getting dirt to talk.”

Good. But that didn’t mean this was over. “Are there any other attackers out there?” Hailey pressed.

Just as the ranch hand had done, Mason hesitated. “No. Nothing else is showing up on any of the security feeds, either. It looks as if this clown came alone. And I don’t think he came here to kill anybody. He had surveillance equipment on him.”

So there could be others on the way. It was too much to hope that this guy’s injury and arrest would get the person behind this to back off.

“It’s safe for you to come to the house,” Mason continued. “If you want to come, that is.”

She knew what he meant by that. Mason was giving his cousin an out in case Lucas didn’t want her to see the baby. Hailey was about to insist that happen when Lucas gave Grayson the go-ahead to get moving.

Toward the house.

Hailey sat back up, keeping watch around them, but she was also looking for the house. It finally came into view since it was the first building on the ranch road. All of the interior lights were off, probably as a safety precaution, but there were security lights on all four corners of the property. Enough for her to see the barn and corral that hadn’t been there a year ago.

Lucas was making this place a home.

Part of her was thankful for that. Their son deserved it. But she was betting there was no place in this home for her.

Grayson pulled to a stop directly in front of the porch, and the door opened. Mason. Yet another unfriendly face, but then, Mason usually looked unfriendly. As he’d done at the sheriff’s office, Lucas got her in—fast. This time, though, he didn’t carry her. He looped his arm around her waist to steady her, and the moment they were inside, he moved away from her.

Hailey immediately looked around for the baby. But there was no sign of him or the nanny. She was about to demand to see him, but Mason stepped in front of her.

“Just got a text from Sawyer,” Mason said, his voice low and dangerous. “The guy he shot is drifting in and out of consciousness, but this is what the guy said.”

He held his phone screen up for her to see, and the words there caused her to drop back a step.

Hailey Darrow paid me to take the kid.


Chapter Five (#u22dc40c6-d642-5aab-bd04-820e082802cd)

Lucas didn’t know who looked more shocked by the accusation that the wounded gunman had just made. He or Hailey.

“I didn’t,” she said, her gaze firing between Mason and him. “I only left the hospital a couple of hours ago.”

Mason didn’t seem convinced. “You were conscious for a week. You could have called someone and set this whole thing up.”

The anger flared through Hailey’s eyes, and she opened her mouth as if ready to return verbal fire, but she was obviously spent. Heck, so was Lucas, and while part of him hated to defend the woman who’d tried to run from him, he couldn’t see how this would have played out.

“There was no phone in her hospital room,” Lucas explained. “And yes, she could have borrowed one from someone on the staff, but that kind of thing doesn’t stay a secret very long.”

Lucas could have gone on and mentioned the part about Hailey not having touched her bank accounts since she’d been in the coma, and it wasn’t as if she’d had wads of cash lying around the hospital to pay someone to carry through on something like this.

Even Lucas’s own explanation didn’t seem to convince Mason. “You trust her, then?” Mason asked.

“No,” Lucas readily admitted. “But if Hailey intended to take the baby, she wouldn’t have done it this way.”

At least, he hoped like the devil that she wouldn’t. The baby and other members of his family could have been hurt by the thug who’d trespassed onto the ranch.

“Thank you,” Hailey said to him.

For some reason, that riled Lucas. Maybe because he didn’t want to do anything for her that would cause her to say something like that.

“So, who did hire the lying sack of dirt?” Mason asked.

Hailey shook her head, but it was clear from the way she was looking around that her attention was elsewhere. She obviously wanted to see the baby, and Lucas tried to remind himself that if their positions were reversed, he would have wanted the same thing.

Of course, their positions would never be reversed because he would have never gone on the run from the law.

“I’ll question Hailey’s sister, Colleen, and Eric DeSalvo in the morning.” Lucas tipped his head to the hall that led to the bedrooms. “Is Tillie in the nursery?”

Mason lowered his phone and nodded. Even though he didn’t voice his disapproval as to what was about to happen, it was on his face. “I’ll wait here until I get the all-clear from Sawyer.”

Lucas thanked him and made a mental note to thank all the others who’d pulled together to keep Camden safe. For now, though, he had to focus on getting through this. And this was having Hailey see the baby.

From the moment Camden had been born, Lucas had known it might come down to this. But as every day had passed with Hailey in a coma, he’d also considered that she might never wake up. That she might never have a claim on their child. Now, here she was, and Lucas was having to face one of his worst fears.

That he might lose his son.

Not to a kidnapper, either. But to Hailey. She wouldn’t be able to get full custody of Camden. No way would Lucas allow that, but she would be entitled to visitation rights. Considering she was in WITSEC, that was going to be tricky. And not very safe for any of them.

Moving ahead of her, Lucas led her down the hall. She caught onto the side of the wall to steady herself, and she was probably moving as fast as she could go.

When they reached the nursery, Lucas stepped in, his gaze immediately connecting with the nanny’s. There was just as much concern in Tillie’s expression as there had been in Mason’s. But she stepped aside so that Lucas—and Hailey—had the crib in their direct line of sight.

Where Camden was sleeping.

“I’ll be in the living room if you need me,” Tillie said, but her offer seemed to be a question, as if maybe he wanted her to stay.

Lucas nodded, giving her the go-ahead to leave, but Hailey didn’t wait for Tillie to be out the door before she hobbled her way to the crib. The sound that left her mouth crushed at his heart. Part moan, part sigh.

All love.

It was a sound and a look that Lucas felt all too well because he got that same punch of emotion every time he was near his son. And even when he wasn’t.

“He’s so beautiful,” Hailey whispered, touching her fingers to the wispy strands of dark brown hair.

Lucas had to agree with her, but he was certain that was the reaction of most parents. Certain, too, that Hailey would want to do more than just touch his hair. She looked back at him, as if waiting for permission. She didn’t wait long, though, before she scooped Camden up in her arms.

She made that sound again and kissed his cheek. Even though Camden stirred a little, he went right back to sleep. Good. Even though his son was too young to know what was going on, Lucas didn’t want to risk Camden being upset by having his sleep interrupted. He also didn’t want to risk Hailey falling with the child, and since her legs were obviously still wobbly, he helped her to the nearby chair.

“Is he healthy?” she asked.

“Yeah.” It was hard for him to talk about something so—well—normal. “He’s right on target for his height, weight and milestones.”

She nodded and looked up at him, and that’s when he saw the tears in her eyes. “I was so scared that he’d been hurt in the accident.”

“He could have been,” Lucas quickly pointed out, but then instantly regretted the jab. It was the truth, but stating the obvious didn’t make him feel any better.

“I know. I’m so sorry. When I ran, my only thought was to keep him safe.”

Lucas nearly went for another jab by reminding her that the safe thing to do would have been to come to him, but that ship had already sailed. They were here now and had to deal with this. Not just the danger, either. But all those old feelings.

He’d been attracted to her once and vice versa. That’s what had landed them in bed in the first place. And while there were still some lingering traces of the attraction, it wouldn’t play into this. He hoped the bitterness he felt over what’d happened wouldn’t, either. Right now, bitterness wouldn’t help.

He was about to question her more about the night of the accident, to see if she remembered any details that would help them find out who was responsible for the attacks, but Hailey spoke before he did.

“Tell me about the delivery,” she said.

Lucas paused, not because he intended to hold anything back, but because remembering that night still felt like a punch to the gut.

“I was scared,” he admitted. “We didn’t know if there’d been trauma to the baby, and since you were so close to your due date, the docs did a C-section on you. But everything turned out okay. Everything except that you were in a coma,” Lucas added.

She, too, paused. Then nodded. “I’ve heard that some people remember and hear things while they’re in comas. I didn’t.” She brushed another kiss on Camden’s cheek. “I wish I could remember seeing him as a newborn. He’s already so big.”

Camden was, but while Hailey had indeed missed a lot, the baby wasn’t old enough to have noticed that his mom hadn’t been around.

Hailey looked up at Lucas again, those tears still shimmering in her eyes. “I know this is hard for you. You haven’t had to share him with anyone for the past three months.”

Lucas wasn’t sure how to respond to that and didn’t get a chance to say anything anyway, because Mason appeared in the doorway. One look at his cousin’s face and Lucas knew something else had gone wrong. Apparently so did Hailey, because she slowly got to her feet, her attention nailed to Mason.

“The gunman died on the way to the hospital,” Mason said.

Hell. Lucas had wanted him alive so they could get answers. But maybe they could still do that. “Did he have a phone on him? Maybe his boss’s number is in his contacts?”

Mason nodded. “Grayson will check for that, but there’s more.” He paused. “The ranch hands did a thorough search of the fence line in that back part of the ranch, and it appears the dead thug didn’t come alone. There were enough tracks back there for three people.”

Lucas bit back the profanity that he nearly blurted out, something he’d been training himself to do now that he was a father. Still, it was hard not to curse about that. “Any other signs of the men?”

“No. They’re apparently gone. For now, anyway.”

That didn’t mean they wouldn’t be back. Maybe even tonight, since the darkness would give them an advantage for an attack.

“I’ve got men patrolling the entire ranch,” Mason went on. “I also called everyone and told them to lock down and stay inside.”

By “everyone” he meant his brothers and their cousins. No one would be leaving and coming onto the ranch unless Mason gave the okay. Which he wouldn’t do until he was certain it was safe. And Lucas knew what that meant.

This time he wasn’t able to stop himself from cursing.

Because it meant Hailey would have to stay there.

Of course, he probably wouldn’t have been able to talk her into budging since she’d want to be near the baby, but Lucas had planned on having her sleep far away from the Silver Creek Ranch. Far away from Camden, too.

“I’m so sorry,” Hailey whispered. Maybe she was apologizing again for the danger. But one look in her eyes and Lucas knew the reason for this “I’m sorry.” She had also figured out what the sleeping arrangements would be.

“You can stay in the guest room,” Lucas growled. It was at the end of the hall, as far away as he could get her while still having her under the same roof.

Hailey mumbled a thanks, and while Lucas thought part of her looked relieved, that was still fear he saw in her eyes. Worry, too. Especially worry when she looked at Mason again. His cousin wasn’t budging. Mason continued to stand there, his hands bracketed on the doorjamb.

“What else happened?” Hailey asked Mason. Her voice was shaky again, probably because she knew they were about to get another dose of bad news.

“Grayson tried to get in touch with Colleen, so he could bring her in for questioning.” Mason paused again. “But there’s a problem. Colleen is missing.”

* * *

HAILEY HOPED THIS medical exam wasn’t a mistake.

She wasn’t certain about the ER physician, Dr. Parton, but Lucas had assured her that Parton wasn’t the one who’d planted that bug in her hospital room, that the doctor was trustworthy. So, that’s what Hailey was going to do—trust him. Besides, she needed to make sure she was okay. Not just for her sake but to soothe some of the concern on Lucas’s face.

Of course, she had plenty of her own concerns, too.

There were so many things for her to worry about, and that’s what she’d done through the night and now the morning. The constant threat of an attack. Her missing sister. The obvious tension between Lucas and her. Between her and his family, too.

But it was hard for Hailey to focus solely on all of that when she was looking at her son’s face while Lucas was holding him.

For the entire time she’d carried him, she had considered how he might look. Considered as well the love she would feel for him, but she’d way underestimated that love. She couldn’t believe how deep it was for this child, and even though it crushed her heart, she knew that same feeling of love was the very reason that Lucas would do everything to hang on to his child.

Everything, including attempts to exclude her.

Those attempts wouldn’t work, of course. Or maybe they wouldn’t. If they couldn’t stop the threat of another attack, then she might have no choice but to disappear. She’d do that if it meant keeping Camden safe.

She’d started that process by using Lucas’s laptop and putting in her password for the storage cloud for the files she’d gathered on Eric DeSalvo. It’d be a few more hours before she could open them, but once Lucas had a chance to go over them, maybe he could find something he could use to arrest Eric. It might not put an end to the attacks, but at least it would get him off the streets for a while.

“Follow the light with your eyes,” Dr. Parton instructed her.

Hailey did, though it meant taking her attention off her son. And Lucas. Lucas was feeding the baby his bottle while he had his phone sandwiched between his shoulder and his ear. She wasn’t sure who was on the other end of the phone line this time, but Lucas had obviously adapted to juggling his work with fatherhood.

“From what I can tell, you’re fine,” the doctor said, stepping back from her. “You’ll need a thorough exam, though, and some tests that I can do only at the hospital. Any idea when it’ll be okay for that?”

It was the million-dollar question, and Hailey didn’t have a clue what the answer was. She shook her head. “We’re waiting on some information.” Information that would ideally lead to an arrest.

The doctor didn’t seem especially pleased with an indefinite delay to those tests, and Hailey knew why. There could be brain damage. And damage to her legs. The muscles felt a little stronger, but she was nowhere near a hundred percent and might need physical therapy to regain all her strength. No way could she risk going to PT or taking those tests now, though, and she didn’t want to speculate how long it would be before that happened.

The doctor gathered his things and headed to the door, where Mason was waiting to escort him back to town. They left, leaving Hailey to sit there and watch as Camden finished his bottle. As if it were the most natural thing in the world, Lucas put the bottle aside and moved the baby to his shoulder to burp him.

A year ago, if someone had told her that the tough cowboy cop would be the doting father, she wouldn’t have believed it. Lucas likely wouldn’t have, either.

Tillie came out of the kitchen and made eye contact with Lucas. “You want me to take him?” Tillie mouthed.

“No, thanks. I’m finished with my call.” He put away his phone and looked at Hailey. “That was Grayson. Still no word on your sister, but Eric DeSalvo should be arriving at the sheriff’s office any minute now.”

Good. Hailey figured the best place to start with getting those answers would be with Eric. And Colleen. It sickened her to think that her sister might be involved in this.

“What about the other gunmen who were around the ranch last night?” she asked. “Any signs of them?”

“No. And the dead guy, Darrin, was using a burner cell phone and didn’t have any contacts stored there. In fact, the phone hadn’t been used, so there’s nothing to trace.”

Another dead end. Literally. Since Darrin had lived only long enough to accuse her of hiring him.

“Grayson had the medics take Darrin’s picture,” Lucas went on. When he reached to take his phone from his jeans pocket, it caused the baby to move, and Camden stirred, lifting his head just a little.

Hailey figured Camden was too young to see her from across the room, so she went closer. Lucas didn’t scowl, exactly, but it was close. He took out his phone and handed it to her.

“Take a look at the picture Grayson sent, and see if you recognize Darrin. Is he the same man who went after you the night you were trying to get away?”

She took the phone, her fingers brushing against his. Lucas noticed. Noticed, too, that she was volleying glances between the baby and him. He pulled in a long, weary breath.

“Sit down,” he growled. “You can hold Camden while you tell me about the picture.”

Hailey moved as fast as she could, making her way back to the chair. Lucas went to her, easing the baby into her arms.

There it was again. That punch of emotion.

Though it was hard to focus with Camden staring up at her, Hailey studied the photo. It wasn’t the best shot since the man’s face was twisted with pain, but Hailey picked through the features.

And remembered.

She sucked in her breath so fast that she nearly got choked. “He definitely looks like the man who ran me off the road.”

Other memories came flooding back. The car following her. Her frantic attempt to get away. Then the crash.

“He rammed into the back of my car, forcing me into a ditch,” she explained. “That’s when I hit my head.”

Thank goodness she’d been wearing a seat belt. That had prevented her from being thrown from the car, but it hadn’t stopped the tree limb from coming through the windshield and hitting her.

Lucas stared at her, clearly waiting for more details. Hailey had more, but she had to fight the panicky feeling rising in her again. It wasn’t that night, but it suddenly felt as if it was.

“After I crashed, Darrin came to the side of the car,” Hailey continued. “He looked at me.” But then she stopped, her attention going back to Lucas. “Why didn’t he just kill me then? I was helpless, barely conscious.”

“Maybe he didn’t want you dead,” Lucas said. “He probably wanted those computer files and would have been willing to torture you to get them.”

Yes. That had to be it. “But he didn’t get a chance to kidnap me, because that’s about the time you drove up. Did you see Darrin leave?”

“I saw his SUV speeding away. I couldn’t go in pursuit.”

That’s because she had needed medical attention ASAP. Lucas had saved her life. Camden’s, too, by staying with them. Lucas didn’t seem any more comfortable thinking about that night than she did, and he looked relieved when Tillie came back into the living room.

“Is Camden ready for his bath?” the nanny asked, her voice tentative, probably because she knew that Hailey wanted to continue holding him.

Lucas nodded. “Best if he sticks to his routine,” he told Hailey. “Plus, we need to do reports for the attack.”

Yes, paperwork. Necessary, but she still hated having to hand her son over to the nanny. She’d gotten so few minutes holding him. Of course, a lifetime would be too few.

“You can watch,” Tillie added, glancing at Hailey. “That way, you’ll know how to do it.” She also glanced at Lucas, and Tillie seemed to ignore the slight scowl that was on his face.

Maybe a scowl because it would mean a delay in doing those reports, but also because Tillie was including her.

Hailey didn’t give Lucas a chance to veto Tillie’s offer. She stood, following the woman as best she could to the bathroom just across the hall from the nursery. Lucas followed, too. Good thing, because just before Hailey reached the door, she stumbled and would have fallen flat on her face if Lucas hadn’t caught her.

And just like that, she was in his arms.

The memories came. No way to stop them. Not with Lucas and her being body to body. Hailey got some flashes of even more body contact. Of when they were naked in bed.




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