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Landon
Delores Fossen


The Rylands of Silver Creek are back and hungry for justice in USA TODAY bestselling author Delores Fossen's latest heart-stopping suspense!After returning home to investigate a brutal murder, Detective Landon Ryland is shocked to learn the body was discovered in the home of Tessa Sinclair, a woman he once knew intimately. Seeing Tessa again is like a jolt to his heart. Too bad the beautiful brunette has no idea who she is—or why she's cradling a newborn. With evidence pointing toward Tessa and the baby being next on the killer's hit list, Landon refuses to leave their safety in anyone else's hands. Or admit that losing them would permanently destroy the future he secretly envisioned.







The Rylands of Silver Creek are back and hungry for justice in USA TODAY bestselling author Delores Fossen’s latest heart-stopping suspense!

After returning home to investigate a brutal murder, Detective Landon Ryland is shocked to learn the body was discovered in the home of Tessa Sinclair, a woman he once knew intimately. Seeing Tessa again is like a jolt to his heart. Too bad the beautiful brunette has no idea who she is—or why she’s cradling a newborn. With evidence pointing toward Tessa and the baby being next on the killer’s hit list, Landon refuses to leave their safety in anyone else’s hands. Or admit that losing them would permanently destroy the future he secretly envisioned.


The baby.

She was still crying, and even though the sound was muffled, it was enough for Landon to pinpoint their location. Tessa was headed for the back exit.

And then he saw her.

Tessa saw him, too.

She didn’t stop. With the baby gripped in her arms, she threw open the glass door and was within a heartbeat of getting outside to the parking lot. She might have made it, too, but Landon took hold of her arms and pulled her back inside.

As he’d done by the barn, he was as gentle with her as he could be, but he wasn’t feeling very much of that gentleness inside.

“Please, just let me go.” Her eyes filled with tears. “It’s not safe for you to be with me.”

“What the hell does that mean?” Landon snapped.

She closed her eyes, the tears spilling down her cheeks. “I’m not who you think I am. And if you stay here with me, they’ll kill you.”


Landon

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 (#uaadb6e04-05ad-535b-8a20-b51dceec5011)

Back Cover Text (#uaa43b563-6076-5ed6-b7b2-b7899099ca1d)

Introduction (#ua231770f-bdec-5ad4-a566-4be3adb2ba9d)

Title Page (#ue4457243-ff97-5064-9b95-d72c75635eab)

About the Author (#uc946d917-eb44-5e83-8b75-6febb53b47be)

Chapter One (#u2e05f442-0cc8-557c-a467-5bed6fe42342)

Chapter Two (#u6d1b8374-0a3c-5f0e-bf29-c8da759de900)

Chapter Three (#u35be59b0-9179-5148-8381-cf6f4c0d4289)

Chapter Four (#u510fc00c-7639-573a-a305-4fdb2dad2529)

Chapter Five (#u7bea7fd0-5214-5f1c-83db-b50a4d042dbb)

Chapter Six (#ue47aa180-8cb0-52b5-9498-4c53aeffe3c5)

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)

Extract (#litres_trial_promo)

Copyright (#litres_trial_promo)


Chapter One (#ulink_ad02461f-610c-51f5-8abd-63440f7f1d58)

Deputy Landon Ryland was looking for a killer.

He stood back from the crowd who’d gathered for the graveside funeral, and Landon looked at each face of the fifty or so people. Most he’d known since he was a kid, when he had visited his Ryland cousins here in Silver Creek, Texas.

But today he had to consider that one of them might have murdered Emmett.

Just the thought of it felt as if someone had Landon’s heart in a vise and was crushing it. Emmett and he were cousins. But more like brothers. And now Emmett was dead, and someone was going to pay for that.

Especially considering how, and why, Emmett had died.

Landon knew the how, but it was the why that was causing his sleepless nights. He intended to give the killer a whole lot worse than just lack of sleep, though.

He glanced out of the corner of his eye when he sensed someone approaching. Landon didn’t exactly have a welcoming expression, and everybody had kept their distance. So far.

Since he was on edge, he slid his hand over his gun, but it wasn’t necessary. It was Sheriff Grayson Ryland, yet another of his cousins.

Grayson, however, was also Landon’s new boss.

The ink was barely dry on his contract with the sheriff’s office, but he was the newest lawman in Silver Creek. Newest resident, too, of the Silver Creek Ranch since he’d moved to the guesthouse there until he could find his own place. Landon just wished his homecoming had been under much better circumstances.

“You see anything?” Grayson said. He was tall, lanky and in charge merely by being there. Grayson didn’t just wear a badge—he was the law in Silver Creek, and everybody knew it.

Grayson was no doubt asking if Landon had seen a killer. He hadn’t. But one thing was for certain: she wasn’t here.

“Any sign of her yet?” Landon asked.

Grayson shook his head, but like Landon, he continued to study the funeral attendees, looking at each one of them from beneath the brim of his cowboy hat. Also as Landon had done, Grayson lingered a moment on Emmett’s three brothers. All grief stricken. And that didn’t apply just to them but to the entire Ryland clan. Losing one of their own had cut them each to the bone.

“Tessa Sinclair might not be able to attend, because she could be dead,” Grayson reminded him.

Yes. She could be. But unless Landon found proof of that, she was a person of interest in Emmett’s death. Or at least, that was how Grayson had labeled her. To Landon, she was a suspect for accessory to murder since Emmett’s body had been found in her house. That meant she likely knew the killer.

She could even be protecting him.

Well, she wouldn’t protect that piece of dirt once Landon found him. And old times wouldn’t play into this. It didn’t matter that once she’d been Landon’s lover. Didn’t matter that once they’d had feelings for each other.

Something that didn’t sit well with him, either.

But despite how Landon felt about her and no matter how hard he looked at the attendees, Tessa wasn’t here at the funeral. With her blond hair and starlet looks, she would stick out, and Landon would have already spotted her.

Grayson reached in his pocket, pulled out a silver star badge and handed it to Landon. It caught the sunlight just right, and the glare cut across Landon’s face, forcing him to shut his eyes for a second. He hoped that wasn’t some kind of bad sign.

“You’re certain you really want this?” Grayson pressed.

“Positive.” He glanced at his cousin. Not quite like looking in a mirror but close enough. The Ryland genes were definitely the dominant ones in both of them. “You haven’t changed your mind about hiring me, have you?”

“Nope. I can use the help now that I’m short a deputy. I just want to make sure you know what you’re getting into.”

Landon knew. He was putting himself in a position to catch a killer.

He clipped the badge onto his shoulder holster where once there’d been a different badge, for Houston PD. There he’d been a detective. But Landon had given that up when Emmett was murdered, so he could come home and find the killer.

Too bad it didn’t look as if he would find him or her here.

“I’ll see you back at the sheriff’s office,” Landon said, heading toward his truck. It was only about a fifteen-minute ride back into town, not nearly enough time for him to burn off this restless energy churning inside him.

This is for you, Landon.

The words flashed through his head and twisted his gut into a knot so tight that Landon felt sick. Because that was what the handwritten note had said. The note that had been left on Emmett’s body. Someone had killed Emmett because of Landon.

But why?

Landon had thought long and hard on it, and he still couldn’t figure it out. Since he’d been a Houston cop for nearly a decade, it was possible this was a revenge killing. He’d certainly riled enough criminals over the years, and this could have been a payback murder meant to strike Landon right in the heart.

And it had.

Somewhere, the answers had to be in his old case files. Or maybe in the sketchy details they’d gotten from witnesses about the hours leading up to Emmett’s death. Something was there. He just had to find it.

He took the final turn toward town, and Landon saw something he sure as hell didn’t want to see.

Smoke.

It was thick, black and coiling from what was left of a barn at the old Waterson place. The house and outbuildings had been vacant for months now since Mr. Waterson had died, but that smoke meant someone was there.

Landon sped toward the blaze and skidded to a stop about twenty yards away. He made a quick 911 call to alert the fire department, and he drew his gun just in case the person responsible for that blaze was still around. However, it was hard to see much of anything, because of the smoke. It was stinging his eyes and making him cough.

But he did hear something.

A stray cat, maybe. Because there shouldn’t be any livestock still inside that barn.

Landon went to the back of the barn, or rather what was left of it, and he saw something that had his heart slamming into overdrive.

Not a cat. A woman.

She had shoulder-length brown hair and was on her side, moaning in pain. But she was only a couple of feet from the fire, and the flames were snapping toward her.

Cursing, Landon rushed to her just as the gust of the autumn wind whipped some of those flames right at him. He had to put up his arm to protect his face, and in the same motion, he grabbed her by the ankle, the first part of her he could reach, and he dragged her away from the fire.

Not a second too soon.

A huge chunk of the barn came down with a loud swoosh and sent a spray of fiery timbers and ashes to the very spot where they’d just been. Some of the embers landed on his shirt, igniting it, and Landon had to slap them out before they became full-fledged flames.

The woman moaned again, but he didn’t look back at her. He kept moving, kept dragging her until they were finally away from the fire. Well, the fire itself, anyway. The smoke continued to come right at them, and it sent both Landon and her into coughing fits.

And that was when he heard that catlike sound again.

Landon dropped down on his knees, putting himself between the woman and what was left of the fire. Part of the barn was still standing, but it wouldn’t be for much longer. He didn’t want them anywhere near it when it finally collapsed.

“Are you okay?” he asked her, rolling her to her back so he could see her face. Except he couldn’t see much of her face until he wiped off some of the soot.

Ah, hell.

Tessa.

He felt a punch of relief because she was obviously alive after all. But it was a very brief punch because she could be hurt. Dying, even.

Landon checked her for injuries. He couldn’t see any obvious ones, but she was holding something wrapped in a soot-covered blanket. He eased it back and was certain his mouth dropped open.

What the heck?

It was a baby.

A newborn, from the looks of it, and he or she was making that kitten sound.

“Whose child is that?” he asked. “And why are you here?”

Those were just two other questions Landon had to add to the list of things he would ask Tessa. And she would answer. Especially answer why Emmett’s body was found in her house and where the heck she’d been for the past four days.

“You have to help me,” Tessa whispered, her voice barely audible.

Yeah, he did have to help. Just because he didn’t like or trust her, that didn’t mean he wouldn’t save her. Landon didn’t want to move her any farther, though, in case she was injured, so he fired off a text to get an ambulance on the way.

Both the baby and she had no doubt inhaled a lot of smoke, but at least the baby’s face didn’t have any soot on it, which meant maybe the blanket had protected him or her.

“Did you hear me?” he snapped. “Why were you near the burning barn? And whose baby is that?”

He wanted to ask about that dyed hair, too, but it could wait. Though it was likely a dye job to change her appearance.

Landon couldn’t think of a good reason for her to do that. But he could think of a really bad one—she was on the run and didn’t want anyone to recognize her. Well, she’d picked a stupid place to hide.

If that was what she’d been doing.

She stared up at him. Blinked several times. “Who are you?” she asked.

Landon gave her a flat look. “Very funny. I’m not in the mood for games. Answer those questions I asked and then tell me about Emmett.”

“Emmett?” she repeated. She touched her hand to her head, her fingers sliding through her hair. She looked at the ends of the dark strands as if seeing them for the first time. “What did you do to me?”

Landon huffed. “I saved your life. And the baby’s.”

At the mention of the word baby, Landon got a bad feeling.

He quickly did the math, and it’d been seven months, more or less, since he’d landed in bed with Tessa. And he hadn’t laid eyes on her since. Seven months might mean...

“Is that our baby?” he demanded.

As she’d done with her hair, she looked down at the newborn who was squirming in her arms. Tessa didn’t gasp, but it was close. Her gaze flew to his, the accusation all over her face.

“I don’t know,” she said, her breath gusting now.

That wasn’t the right answer. In fact, that wasn’t an acceptable answer at all.

He didn’t hold Tessa in high regard, but she would know who’d fathered her child. If it was indeed Landon, she might also be trying to keep the baby from him. After all, they hadn’t parted on good terms, and those terms had gotten significantly worse with Emmett’s murder.

Damn.

Were Tessa and he parents?

No. They couldn’t be. The kid had to be Joel Mercer’s and hers, and even though Landon had plenty of other reasons for his stomach to knot, just thinking of Joel’s name did it. That night, seven months ago, Tessa had sworn she was through with Joel, but Landon would bet his next two paychecks that she had gone right back to him.

She always did.

In the distance, Landon heard the wail of the sirens from the fire engine. It’d be here soon. The ambulance, too. And then Tessa would be whisked away to the hospital, where she could pull another disappearing act.

“Start talking,” Landon demanded, getting right in her face. “Tell me everything, and I mean everything.”

The baby and the ends of her brown hair weren’t the only thing she looked at as though she’d never seen them before. Tessa gave Landon that same look.

“Who are you?” she repeated, her eyes filling with tears. “Whose baby is this?” Tessa stopped, those teary blue eyes widening. “And who am I?”


Chapter Two (#ulink_b8dafe4e-9814-575c-bba4-b9fd8031d0eb)

She couldn’t catch her breath. Couldn’t slow down her pulse. Nor could she fight back the tears that were stinging her eyes. Her heart seemed to be beating out of her chest, and everything inside her was spiraling out of control.

Where was she?

And who was this man staring at her?

Except it wasn’t only a stare. He was glaring, and she could tell from the tone of his voice that he was furious with her.

But why?

With the panic building, she frantically studied his face. Dark brown hair. Gray eyes. He was dressed like a cowboy, in jeans, a white shirt and that hat. But he also had a gun.

God, he had a gun.

Gasping, she scrambled to get away from him. She was in danger. She didn’t know why or from what, but she had to run.

She clutched the baby closer to her. The baby wasn’t familiar to her, either, but there was one thought that kept repeating in her head.

Protect her.

She knew instinctively that it was a baby girl, and she was in danger. Maybe from this glaring man. Maybe from someone else, but she couldn’t risk staying here to find out. Somehow she managed to get to her feet.

“What the hell do you think you’re doing?” the man snarled.

She didn’t answer. It felt as if all the muscles in her legs had disappeared, and the world started to spin around, but that didn’t stop her. She took off running.

However, she didn’t get far.

The man caught her almost immediately, and he dragged them to the ground. Not a slam. It was gentle, and he eased his hands around hers to cradle the baby. While she was thankful he was being so careful, that didn’t mean she could trust him.

She heard the sirens getting louder with each passing second. Soon, very soon, there’d be others, and she might not be able to trust them, either.

“I have to go,” she said, struggling again to get away from him.

But the man held on. “Tessa, stop it!”

She froze. Tessa? Was that really her name? She repeated it several times and knew that it was. Finally, something was clear. Her name was Tessa, and she was somewhere on a farm or ranch. Near a burning building. And this man had saved her.

Maybe.

Or maybe he just wanted her to think that so she wouldn’t try to run away from him.

“How do you know me?” she asked.

He gave her that look again. The one that told her the answer was obvious. It wasn’t, not to her, anyway. But he must have known plenty about her, because he’d asked if the baby was theirs.

She didn’t know if it was.

Mercy, she didn’t know.

“You know damn well who I am,” he snapped. “I’m Landon Ryland.”

That felt familiar, too, and it stirred some different feelings inside her. Both good and bad. But Tessa couldn’t latch on to any of the specific memories that went with those feelings. Her head was spinning like an F5 tornado.

“Landon,” she repeated. And she caught on to one of those memories. Or maybe it was pieces of that jumble that were coming together the wrong way. “I was in bed with you. You were naked.”

That didn’t help his glare, and she had no idea if she’d actually seen him without clothes or if her mind was playing tricks on her. If so, it was a pretty clear trick.

A fire engine squealed to a stop, the lights and sirens still going, but Tessa ignored them for the time being, and she gave the man a harder look. She saw the badge then. He was a lawman. But that didn’t put her at ease, and she wasn’t sure why.

“Can I trust you?” she came out and asked.

He grunted, and then he studied her. “Is this an act or what?”

Tessa shook her head. Not a good idea, because it brought on the dizziness again. And the panic. “I don’t remember who I am,” she admitted, her voice collapsing into a sob.

He mumbled some profanity and stood when one of the firemen hurried toward them. “An ambulance is on the way,” the fireman said. “Is she hurt?”

“Maybe. But there’s also a baby with her.”

That put some concern on the fireman’s face. Concern in her, too, and she pulled back the blanket to make sure the baby was okay. Something she should have done minutes ago. But it was just so hard to think, so hard to figure out what to do.

The baby was wearing a pink onesie, and she appeared to be all right. Her mouth was puckered as if she were sucking at a bottle, and she was still squirming a little but not actually fussing. Tessa couldn’t see any injuries, thank God, and she seemed to be breathing normally.

“I’ll tell the ambulance to hurry,” the fireman said, moving away from them.

And he wasn’t the only one rushing. The firemen were trying to put out the rest of the blaze, not that there was much to save. There were also other sirens, and she saw the blue lights of a cop car as it approached.

She caught on to Landon’s hand when he got up and started toward that car. “Please don’t let anyone hurt the baby.”

That seemed to insult him. “No one will hurt her. Or you. But you will tell me what I need to know.”

Tessa didn’t think this had anything to do with that memory of them being in bed, but she had no idea what he expected from her. Whatever it was, he clearly expected a lot.

Landon pulled his hand out of her grip and started toward the man who stepped from the cop car. The second man was tall, built just like Landon.

A brother, perhaps?

The second man and Landon talked for several moments, and she saw the surprise register on the other man’s face. He kept that same expression as he made his way to her.

“Tessa,” he said. Not exactly a friendly greeting. “I’m Deputy Dade Ryland. Landon’s cousin,” he added, probably because she didn’t say anything or show any signs of recognizing him. “We need to ask you some questions before the ambulance gets here.”

Tessa nodded because she didn’t know what else to do. The baby and she were at the mercy of these men. Her instincts told her, though, that she should get away, run, the first chance she got.

Maybe that chance would come soon. Before it was too late.

But it wasn’t Dade who asked any questions. It was Landon. He put his hands on his hips and stared down at her. “We need to know what happened to Emmett.”

“He’s dead,” she blurted out without even realizing she was going to say it. “And so is his wife, Annie. Annie was killed in a car accident.”

Where had that come from?

“That’s right,” Dade said, exchanging an uneasy glance with Landon. “Emmett and Annie are both dead.” As Landon had done earlier, Dade knelt down, checking the baby. Then Tessa. Specifically, he looked into her eyes. “She’s been drugged,” he added to Landon.

“Yeah,” Landon readily agreed.

The relief rushed through her. That was why she couldn’t remember. But just as quickly, Tessa took that one step further.

Who had drugged her?

The drug had obviously messed with her head. And maybe had done a whole lot more to the rest of her body.

She had a dozen bad possibilities hit her at once, but first and foremost was that if someone had drugged her, they could have done the same to the baby.

The panic came again, hard and fast. “Did they give the baby something, too?”

“I don’t think so,” Dade said at the same moment that Landon demanded, “Tell me about the baby.”

Tessa latched on to what Dade said about the baby, but she had to be sure that the newborn hadn’t been drugged. It was something they’d be able to tell her at the hospital.

It’s not safe there.

The words knifed through her head, and she repeated them aloud. And something else, too. “Don’t trust anyone.”

They weren’t her words but something someone else had said to her. Important words. But Tessa didn’t know who’d told her that.

Or why.

Obviously, that didn’t make Landon happy. He said some more profanity. Added another glare. “She keeps dodging questions about the baby.”

That caused Dade to give her another look. This time not to her eyes but rather her stomach. Not that he could see much of it, because she was holding the baby, but he was no doubt trying to see if she had recently given birth.

“Did you set this fire?” Dade asked her, easing the baby’s legs away from Tessa’s belly.

Tessa flinched, and Dade must have thought he’d hurt her, because he backed off. But that wasn’t the reason she’d reacted that way. She’d winced not from pain but from his question.

“Someone set the fire?” she asked.

Landon didn’t roll his eyes, but it was close. “Take a whiff of the air.”

She did and got a quick reminder of the smoke. The breeze was blowing it away from them now, but Tessa could still smell it. And she could also smell something else.

Gasoline.

“Someone, maybe you,” Landon continued, “used an accelerant. Based on how the fire spread, I’m guessing it was poured near the front of the barn and was ignited there.”

And the person had done that while the baby and she were still inside.

Oh, mercy. That was a memory that came at her full force with not just the smells but the sensation on her skin. The hot flames licking at her. Her, running. Trying to get away from...someone.

She also remembered the fear.

“Someone tried to kill me,” she said.

Dade didn’t argue with that, but it was obvious she hadn’t convinced Landon. Well, she didn’t need to convince him. There weren’t many things Tessa was certain of, but she was positive that she’d just come close to being murdered. Or maybe the person who’d set that fire had been trying to flush her out.

But why would she have been hiding in that barn?

Tessa didn’t get to say more about that, and maybe she wouldn’t have anyway, because the ambulance came driving toward them. The moment the vehicle stopped, two paramedics scrambled out, carrying a stretcher, and they headed straight for her and the baby.

She studied their faces as they approached, trying to see if she knew them. She didn’t, but then, no one looked familiar. Well, except for Landon, and she didn’t have enough information to know if she could trust him.

Don’t trust anyone.

But if she hadn’t trusted Landon, why had she landed in bed with him?

After cutting his way past Dade and Landon, one of the medics checked her. The other, the baby. And they asked questions. A flurry of them that she couldn’t answer. How old was the baby? Any medical history of allergies? Were either of them taking medications?

“She claims she doesn’t remember anything,” Landon snarled. “Well, almost nothing. She knows Emmett’s dead.”

Yes. She did know that. But that was it. Heck, she wasn’t even sure who Emmett was, but even through her hazy mind, it was obvious that these two lawmen believed she knew a whole lot more than she was saying.

Or maybe they believed she was the reason he was dead.

While Tessa kept a firm hold on the baby, the paramedics lifted them both onto the stretcher. “Will you be riding in the ambulance with them?” one of them asked Landon.

Landon stared at her, nodded. “Please tell me once these drugs wear off that she’ll be able to remember everything.”

“You know I can’t guarantee that. She’s been injured, too. Looks like someone hit her on the head.”

Landon glanced back at the barn. “She could have gotten it there. When I got here, she was on the ground moaning. Maybe something fell on her.”

The paramedic made a sound of disagreement. “It didn’t happen today. More like a couple of days ago.”

“Around the time when Emmett was killed,” Landon said under his breath, and he looked ready to launch into another round of questions that Tessa knew she couldn’t—and maybe shouldn’t—answer.

However, one of the firemen hurried toward them, calling out for Landon before he reached him. “You need to see this,” the fireman insisted.

Landon cursed and started to walk away, but then he stopped and stabbed his finger at her. “Don’t you dare go anywhere. I’m riding in the ambulance with you to make sure you get there.”

It sounded like some kind of threat. Felt like one, too.

The paramedics lifted the stretcher, moving the baby and her toward the ambulance, but they were also carrying her in the same direction Landon was headed. Tessa watched as the fireman led him to the front of what was left of the barn.

Whatever the fireman wanted Landon to see, it was on the ground, because both men stooped, their attention on a large gray boulder. Dade did the same when he joined them.

She saw Landon’s shoulder’s snap back, and it seemed as if he was cursing again. He pulled his phone from his pocket and took a picture, and after saying something to Dade, he came toward her. Not hurrying exactly, but with that fierce expression, he looked like an Old West cowboy who was about to draw in a gunfight.

“What do you know about this?” Landon demanded. “Did you write it?” He held up his phone screen for her to see.

With everything around her swimming in and out of focus, it took Tessa a few seconds to make out the words. When she did, she felt as if a Mack truck had just slammed into her.

Oh. God.


Chapter Three (#ulink_2189f8b6-b852-5964-b560-f6e9f1ed6548)

While he waited on hold for Dade to come back on the line, Landon glanced around the thin blue curtain to check on Tessa again. Something he’d been doing since they arrived at the Silver Creek Hospital. She was still sitting on the examining table, feeding the baby a bottle of formula that the hospital staff had given her.

Tessa was also still eyeing Landon as if he were the enemy.

That probably had plenty to do with the message that’d been scrawled on the boulder back at the barn. This is for you, Landon.

The same words as in the message that’d been left on Emmett’s body. Except this time, there was a little more. Tessa’s dead now because of you.

Reading that obviously hadn’t helped lessen the fear he’d seen in Tessa’s eyes. Hadn’t helped this knot in Landon’s stomach, either. He had to find out what was going on, and that started with Tessa.

She’d insisted on the baby staying with her, so they had both been placed in the same room, where the doctor was checking them now. Maybe the doc would be able to give her something to counteract whatever drug Tessa had been given.

Or taken.

But Landon had to shake his head at that thought. Tessa wasn’t a drug user, so someone had likely given it to her. He needed to know why.

This is for you, Landon.

Someone clearly had it out for him. And that someone had murdered Emmett and had maybe now tried to do the same thing to Tessa and that innocent baby.

The baby had to be cleared up for him, too. If she was his child... Well, Landon didn’t want to go there just yet. He already had enough to juggle without having to deal with that. The only thing that mattered now was that the baby got whatever medical attention she needed, and Landon could go from there.

“There were no prints on the boulder,” Dade said when he finally came back on the line.

Landon groaned, but he really hadn’t expected they would get that lucky. The person who’d set all of this up wouldn’t have been stupid enough to leave prints behind. But he or she had left a witness.

One whose memory was a mess.

“The crime scene folks will do a more thorough check, of course,” Dade went on. “Something might turn up. Anything from Tessa yet?”

“Nothing. The nurse drew her and the baby’s blood when they got here. Once we have the results of the tox screen, we’ll know what drug she was given. And if that’s what is affecting her memory.”

Of course, there was still that lump on her head.

The doctor had examined it, too, right after checking the baby, but like the paramedic, the doc said it was an injury that Tessa had gotten several days ago. In the doctor’s opinion, it was the result of blunt-force trauma.

Landon figured the timing wasn’t a coincidence.

“I don’t think she’s faking this memory loss,” Landon added to Dade.

Tessa must have heard that, because her gaze slashed to his. Of course, her attention hadn’t stayed too far away from him since this whole ordeal started. And after seeing that message on the rock, he knew why.

“All of this is definitely connected to me,” Landon said to Dade. “The second message proves it.”

Or at least, that was what someone wanted him to believe—that both Emmett’s murder and this attack were because of something Landon had done.

“Did you find anything else in the old arrest records you’ve been going through?” Dade asked.

Landon had found plenty. Too much, in fact. It was hard to narrow down a pool of suspects when Landon could name several dozen criminals that he’d had run-ins with over the years. But there was one that kept turning up like a bad penny.

“Quincy Nagel,” Landon answered. The name wouldn’t surprise his cousin, because Landon had discussed Quincy with Grayson, Dade and the other deputies in Silver Creek.

Landon had put Quincy behind bars four years ago for breaking and entering. Quincy had sworn to get even, and he was out on probation now. That made him a prime suspect. Except for one thing.

Quincy was in a wheelchair.

The man had been paralyzed from the waist down in a prison fight. It would have taken some strength to overpower Emmett and to club Tessa on the head. Strength or a hired thug. But while Quincy had plenty of money from his trust fund to hire a thug, there was no money trail to indicate Quincy had done that.

“I’ll keep looking,” Landon said to Dade. Though the looking would have to wait for now, because the doctor stepped away from Tessa, and that was Landon’s cue to go in the room.

Landon knew the doctor. Doug Michelson. He’d been a fixture in Silver Creek for years, and while Landon had moved away when he was a kid, he still remembered the doc giving him checkups and tending to him on the various emergency room trips that he’d had to make.

“The baby’s fine,” Dr. Michelson said right off. “But I want to get a pediatrician in here to verify that. I’m guessing she’s less than a week old since she still has her umbilical cord.”

Since Landon didn’t have a clue what to say about that, he just nodded.

“Is she yours?” Dr. Michelson asked.

Landon didn’t know what to say about that, either, so he lifted his shoulder. “I’m hoping Tessa can tell me.”

The doctor scratched his head. “Probably not at the moment but maybe soon she can do that. I can use the baby’s blood test to run her DNA if you give me the go-ahead.”

“You’ve definitely got the go-ahead for that. And put a rush on it just in case Tessa’s memory doesn’t come back.”

“Will do. I did manage to get Tessa to let a nurse hold the baby so I could get an X-ray of her neck,” the doctor continued, but he stopped, obviously noticing the renewed surprise on Landon’s face.

“What’s wrong with Tessa’s neck?” Landon asked.

“She’s got a small lesion.” The doctor pointed to the area where his neck and shoulders met. “It’s too big for it to be an injection site for the drugs she was given. Besides, I found the needle mark for that. Or rather the needle marks. There are two of them on her arm. One is at least a couple of days old, and there was bruising involved.”

“Bruising that probably happened around the same time she was hit on the head?” Landon asked.

“Yes. The other is more recent. I’d say an injection given to her within the last couple of hours.”

So she’d been drugged twice. “Then what’s with the lesion?”

The doctor shrugged. “I might know once I’ve had a chance to look at the X-ray. For now, though, I need to get an OB in here to examine Tessa.”

Landon heard something in the doc’s voice. Concern maybe? “You think something’s wrong?”

“She doesn’t trust me, so I’m thinking she might not trust an OB to do an exam, either. But an exam is a must since we have to rule out problems other than just the head injury.” The doctor patted Landon’s arm. “Talk to her. Convince her we’re the good guys.”

He’d have an easier time convincing Tessa that the sun was green. Still, he’d try. Plus, the doctor didn’t give him much of a choice. He headed out, no doubt to round up the OB and pediatrician, leaving Landon alone with Tessa and the baby.

“Tell me what’s going on,” Tessa demanded.

Since that was what Landon wanted to ask her, they were at an impasse. One that he hoped they could work through fast. While he was hoping, he needed those drugs to wear off—now.

“Tell me,” she snapped when he didn’t jump to answer.

He didn’t jump because Landon wasn’t sure where to start. The beginning seemed like a lifetime ago.

“Stop me at any point if this is old news,” he began. “A year ago, you moved to Silver Creek to open a private investigations office. We met shortly afterward, had a few dates, and I ran into you again at the Outlaw Bar when I was in town visiting my cousins.”

He paused, waiting for her to process that. “Is that when you were naked in bed with me?” she asked, setting the baby bottle down beside her.

Of course she would remember that. But then, if the baby was his, she probably had it etched in her memory. Landon had it etched in his for a different reason. Because of the white-hot attraction that’d been between them.

But that wasn’t something he needed to remember now. Or ever.

“Yes. The following morning, you told me you couldn’t get involved with me,” Landon continued. “And then your scummy boyfriend showed up. Joel Mercer. Remember him?”

She repeated the name, shook her head. “If I had a boyfriend, why did I sleep with you?”

Landon had asked himself that many, many times. “You said he was an ex, but he sure didn’t act like it.” He stopped, huffed. “Look, are you sure you don’t remember simply because you’d rather not be talking about this with me?”

“I’m not faking or avoiding this conversation. Now, tell me about Joel. Why did you say he’s scummy?”

“Because he is. He’s a cattle broker—at least, that’s what he calls himself, but it’s really a front for assorted felonies, including gunrunning and money laundering. That’s why I was surprised when he showed up and said you two were together.”

Judging from her expression, Tessa was surprised, too. But it wasn’t the same kind of surprise that’d been on her face that morning seven months ago. Landon had seen the shock, and then she’d changed. Or something. She’d become all lovey-dovey with Joel and told Landon to leave.

But Landon hadn’t forgotten the look that’d gone through her eyes.

After he’d walked, or rather stormed, out, he’d gone back to Houston and hadn’t seen her since. And apparently neither had any of his cousins. Tessa had closed her PI office, and while she’d kept her house in Silver Creek, she rarely visited it.

That was maybe why no one had known she was pregnant.

Because if his cousins had known, they would have told Landon. Plenty of people, including a couple of his cousins, had seen him leave the Outlaw Bar with Tessa that night.

“What does Joel have to do with Emmett?” she asked.

Everything inside him went still. Until now he hadn’t considered they could be connected.

But were they?

Landon decided to try something to jog her memory. “Four nights ago, someone murdered Emmett in your house.” Man, it was still hard to say that aloud. Just as hard to think about his cousin dying that way. “Your cleaning lady found his body. He’d been shot three times, and there was a note left on his chest.”

“‘This is for you, Landon,’” she whispered.

“How the hell did you know that?” He hadn’t intended to raise his voice, and the baby reacted. She started to whimper.

“I’m not sure. But I saw your reaction when Dade showed you what was on the boulder. I guessed it must have been something to do with Emmett since the majority of your questions had been about him.” She rocked the baby, kissed her forehead. “And her.”

Yeah. And he would have more questions about her when he was finished with this.

Landon took out his phone, and even though he knew the picture was gruesome, he searched through his pictures and found the one he’d taken at the crime scene.

Emmett’s body in a pool of blood.

There’d been blood on the note, too.

“Does this look familiar?” Landon asked, putting the phone practically in her face.

She gasped, turned her head and closed her eyes for a moment. “No.” And she repeated it in a hoarse sob.

Landon didn’t have a heart of ice. Not completely, anyway, and whether he wanted to or not, he was affected by that look on her face. Affected, but not to the point where he was stopping with the questions.

“Why was Emmett there at your house, and how did you know he was dead?” he pressed.

She shook her head. “I honestly don’t know.” Tessa paused, swallowed hard. “There’s something about that photo that seems familiar, but I don’t know what.”

Good. Because if it was familiar, then it meant she was possibly there and might have seen who had done this.

Landon went to the next picture. A mug shot this time of Quincy Nagel. “Recognize him?”

Tessa moved closer for a long look and gave him another head shake. “Who is he?”

“A person of interest.” Too bad Landon hadn’t been able to find him yet. “A thug I arrested who might have wanted to pay me back by killing my cousin.”

Tessa kept her attention on the baby, but because Landon was watching her so closely, he saw the small change in her. Her mouth tensed. A muscle flexed in her cheek. He hoped that was because she was concerned for the baby rather than because she was withholding something about Quincy. The little girl went beyond the whimpering stage and started to cry.

“So I slept with you, got pregnant.” Tessa stood and rocked the baby. “Or maybe you believe she’s Joel’s daughter? You’re not sure, but you’ll demand a test so you can be certain.”

He nodded. Though he would be surprised if she was Joel’s. Yes, Tessa had been more than just friendly with Joel, but Landon didn’t think she was the sort to go from one man straight to another. But he’d been wrong about stuff like that before. He didn’t think so this time, though.

“Or maybe she’s not my baby at all,” she added. Tessa shuddered, dodged his gaze.

Landon lifted her chin, forcing eye contact. “Are you remembering something?”

“No.”

Her answer came much too fast, and Landon would have jumped right on that if his phone hadn’t buzzed. It was Grayson, which meant it could have something to do with the investigation. Since the baby was still crying, Landon stepped just into the hall so he could hear what the sheriff had to say.

“We found something,” Grayson said the moment Landon answered. “A car on a ranch trail not far from the barn. The plates are fake, the VIN’s been removed, but it has some baby things in it. A diaper bag and some clothes.”

Tessa’s car.

Or one that she’d “borrowed.”

“We’ll process it, of course,” Grayson went on, “but something really stuck out. The GPS was programmed to go to your house in Houston.”

Landon wanted to say that wasn’t right, that there’d been no reason for her to see him, but if the baby was indeed his, maybe Tessa had been on the way to tell him. Of course, that didn’t explain the other things: the dyed hair, the hit on her head, fake tags, no vehicle identification number on the car. Those were all signs of someone trying to hide.

Landon stepped out of the doorway when he saw Dr. Michelson approaching. There were two other doctors with him. The pediatrician and the OB, no doubt, and maybe one of them could talk Tessa into having the examination.

“What about the area leading from the car to the barn?” Landon asked Grayson. “Were there any signs of a struggle?”

“None, but something might turn up. In the meantime, ask Tessa why she was going to see you. Hearing about the GPS might trigger her memory.”

He ended the call, intending to do just that, but Dr. Michelson pulled back the blue curtain and looked at him. “Where’s Tessa and the baby?”

Landon practically pushed the doctor aside and looked into the room. No Tessa. No baby. But the door leading off the back of the examining room was open.

Damn.

“Close off all the exits,” Landon told the doctor, and he took off after her.

He cursed Tessa, and himself, for this. He should have known she would run, and when he caught up with her, she’d better be able to explain why she’d done this.

Landon barreled through the adjoining room. Another exam room, crammed with equipment that he had to maneuver around. He also checked the corners in case she had ducked behind something with plans to sneak out after he’d zipped right past her.

But she wasn’t there, either.

There was a hall just off the examining room, and Landon headed there, his gaze slashing from one end of it to the other. He didn’t see her.

But he heard something.

The baby.

She was still crying, and even though the sound was muffled, it was enough for Landon to pinpoint their location. Tessa was headed for the back exit. Landon doubted the doctor had managed to get the doors locked yet, so he hurried, running as fast as he could.

And then he saw her.

Tessa saw him, too.

She didn’t stop. With the baby gripped in her arms, she threw open the glass door and was within a heartbeat of reaching the parking lot. She might have made it, too, but Landon took hold of her arms and pulled her back inside.

As he’d done by the barn, he was as gentle with her as he could be, but he wasn’t feeling very much of that gentleness inside.

Tessa was breathing through her mouth. Her eyes were wide. And she groaned. “I remember,” she said.

He jerked back his head. That was the last thing Landon had expected her to say, but he’d take it. “Yeah, and you’re going to tell me everything you remember, and you’re going to do it right now.”

But she didn’t. Tessa just stood there, her attention volleying between him and the parking lot.

“Please, just let me go.” Her eyes filled with tears. “It’s not safe for you to be with me.”

“What the hell does that mean?” Landon snapped.

She closed her eyes, the tears spilling down her cheeks. “I’m not who you think I am. And if you stay here with me, they’ll kill you.”


Chapter Four (#ulink_c25b58d3-e62b-511e-900a-dcb72a04c807)

Tessa tried to move away from Landon again, but he held on to her.

“Explain that,” he demanded.

She didn’t have to ask exactly what he wanted her to tell him. It was about the bombshell she’d just delivered.

If you stay here with me, they’ll kill you.

There were plenty of things still unclear in Tessa’s head, but that wasn’t one of them.

She glanced behind her at the parking lot on the other side of the glass door. “It’s not safe for us to be here. Please, let’s go somewhere else.”

Landon stared at her, obviously debating that, and he finally maneuvered her to the side. Not ideal, but it was better than being in front of the glass, where she could be seen, and at least this way she had a view of the hall in case someone came at her from that direction.

“Now that the drugs are wearing off, I’m remembering some things about Emmett’s murder,” Tessa admitted.

His eyes narrowed. “Keep talking.”

“I didn’t see the killer’s face.” Though Tessa tried to picture him, the bits and pieces of her memory didn’t cooperate. “I came into my house, and this man wearing a ski mask attacked me. Emmett was there, and they fought.”

Landon stayed quiet for a long time, clearly trying to process that. “Why was Emmett there?”

She had to shake her head. “I don’t know. I don’t know why the other man was there, either. Maybe he was a burglar?”

That didn’t sound right at all, though. No. He wasn’t a burglar, but clearly there were still some blanks in her memory. And because he was wearing a ski mask, she didn’t have even fragmented memories of seeing his face.

Tessa looked down at the baby. Did that man have something to do with the newborn?

“A burglar,” Landon repeated, “wouldn’t have left a note like that on Emmett’s body. His killer was connected to me and obviously to you since the murder happened in your house.” He tipped his head to the baby. “And where was she the whole time this attack on you was going on?”

“In my arms.” Tessa was certain of that. “She was also in my arms when I ran from the man. No, wait.” More images came. Then the memory of the pain exploding in her head. “He hit me with his gun first.” That explained the bump on her head. “Emmett tried to stop him, and that’s when I think the man shot him.”

Landon dropped back a step, no doubt taking a moment to absorb that. Those details were still fuzzy, and Tessa was actually thankful for it. She wasn’t sure that right now she could handle remembering a man being murdered. Especially so soon after nearly dying in that barn fire.

“You were close to Emmett?” she asked but then waved off the question. Of course he was. And apparently she had been, too.

After all, Emmett had been at her house.

“I think his killer might have been a cop,” Tessa added.

Landon huffed. “First a burglar, now a cop?”

She didn’t blame him for being skeptical, but her mind was all over the place, and it was so hard to think, especially with that warning that kept going through her head.

That it wasn’t safe here. That she couldn’t trust anyone.

That she was going to get Landon killed.

“The killer held his gun like a cop,” she explained. “And he had one of those ear communicators like cops use.”

“Criminals use them, too,” Landon was just as quick to point out.

True enough. “But he said something about a perp to whoever he was talking to on the communicator. That’s a word that cops use.” Tessa paused. “And when I saw your badge, I got scared. Because I thought maybe... Well, it doesn’t matter what I thought.”

“You thought I had killed Emmett,” he finished for her. Landon added a sharp glare to that. “I didn’t, and I need you to remember a whole lot more than you just told me.”

So did she, but before Tessa could even consider how to make that happen, she saw some movement in the hall. Landon saw it, too, because he moved in front of her. From over his shoulder, Tessa saw Dr. Michelson and a security guard. But there was another man with him. Tall and lanky with blond hair. Wearing a suit. It took her a moment to get a good look at his face.

Her heart jumped to her throat.

“Joel,” she said. Even with the dizziness, she recognized him.

Landon looked back at her, a new round of displeasure in his expression. “So you remember him now?”

She did. And unlike the other memories, these were a lot clearer.

Oh, God.

This could be bad.

Joel kept his attention on her, obviously studying her dyed hair, but she soon saw the recognition in his eyes, and he picked up the pace as he made his way toward her.

“Tessa?” Joel called out. “Are you all right?”

Landon didn’t budge. He stayed in front of her. “Someone tried to kill her. What do you know about that?”

Until Landon barked out that question, Joel hadn’t seemed to notice him. But he noticed him now. “What are you doing here?” Joel snapped.

Landon tapped his badge. “What I’m doing is asking you a question that you will answer right now.”

Despite the fact that Landon’s tone was as lethal as his expression, Joel made a sound of amusement when he glanced at the badge. “What happened? Did you lose your job as a Houston cop and have to come begging your cousin for work?”

That jogged her memory, too. Yes, Landon had been a detective with the Houston PD, but Tessa doubted he’d lost his job. He had likely come back to Silver Creek to solve Emmett’s murder. Good thing, too, or else there might not have been anyone to save her from that barn fire.

But he couldn’t help her get out of this.

“How did you know I was at the hospital?” Tessa asked Joel.

Obviously, that wasn’t what he wanted to hear from her. He probably expected a much warmer greeting, because he stepped around Landon and reached out as if to hug her.

Landon, however, blocked his path. “How did you know she was here?” he pressed.

Joel looked at her. Then at Landon. And it must have finally sunk in that this was not a good time for a social visit. If that was indeed what it was.

“What happened to you?” Joel asked her.

“I’m not sure.” That was only a partial lie. “Someone drugged me and then tried to kill me.”

Joel nodded. “In the barn fire. My assistant got a call from a friend who works at the fire department. He told her that you’d been brought here to the Silver Creek Hospital. I came right away.”

“Why?” Landon demanded.

Joel huffed as if the answer were obvious, but he snapped back toward Tessa when the baby made a whimpering sound. He peered around Landon, and Tessa watched Joel’s face carefully so she could try to gauge his reaction.

He was shocked.

She hadn’t thought for a second that the baby was his, because Tessa was certain she’d never slept with Joel. She definitely didn’t have any memories of him being naked in her bed. But she’d considered that he might have known if she’d had a child.

If she had, that is.

Joel stepped back, the shock fading, and in his eyes, she saw something else. The raw anger, some directed at her. Most of it, though, was directed at Landon.

“You two had a baby,” Joel snapped. “That’s why I haven’t heard from you in months.”

Months? Had it been that long? Mercy, she needed to remember.

“I didn’t think things were serious with you two,” Joel added. “You said it was just a one-time fling with him.”

She figured Joel had purposely used the word fling to make it seem as if what’d happened between Landon and her had been trivial. Of course, that was exactly what she’d led Joel, and even Landon, to believe.

Tessa needed to settle some things with Joel, but she couldn’t do that now. Not with the baby here. And not until she was certain that this jumble of memories was right.

“I want the name of the person from the fire department who contacted your assistant and told her about Tessa,” Landon continued.

It took Joel a few moments to pull his stare from her and look at Landon. “I’ll have to get that for you. My assistant didn’t mention a name, and I didn’t think to ask.”

Well, it was a name that Tessa needed so she’d know if Joel had someone in the Silver Creek Fire Department who was on the take.

“I’ll want that information within the next half hour,” Landon added. “And now you’ll have to leave because Tessa and the baby have to be examined by the doctors.”

Joel turned to her as if he expected her to ask him to stay. And she might have if Tessa had had the energy to keep up the facade so she could try to get what info she could from Joel. She didn’t. It was time to regroup and tell Landon what she’d remembered, but she couldn’t do that in front of Joel.

“Landon’s right. The baby and I need to be examined,” Tessa stated to Joel. “Please just go.”

She could see the debate Joel was having with himself, but Tessa also saw the moment he gave in to her request. “Call me when you’re done here,” Joel said. “We have to talk.” And he walked away as if there were no question that she would indeed do just that.

Tessa and Landon stood there watching him, until Joel disappeared around the hall corner.

“I’ll need a minute with Tessa,” Landon told the doctor and security guard.

The doctor hesitated, maybe because Landon’s jaw was clenched and he looked ready to yell at Tessa. But Tessa gave the doctor a nod to let him know it was okay for him to leave. As Landon and she had done with Joel, they waited until both men were out of sight.

Since she knew that Landon was about to launch into an interrogation, Tessa went ahead and got started. “I don’t think the baby is ours,” she said. “And I’m certain she’s not Joel’s.”

“How would you know that?”

She got another image of Landon naked. Good grief, why was that so clear? It was a distraction she didn’t need. Especially since the man himself was right in front of her, reminding her of the reason they’d landed in bed in the first place.

“I just know,” she answered. An answer that clearly didn’t please him.

“Then whose baby is that?” Landon snapped.

Even though Landon wasn’t going to like this, she had to shake her head. “Memories are still fuzzy there, but I don’t have any recollection of being pregnant. I think I would have remembered morning sickness, the delivery...something.”

“And you don’t?”

“Nothing.” She wasn’t certain if he looked relieved, disappointed or skeptical. But she wasn’t lying.

“The doctor will be able to tell once he examines you,” Landon reminded her.

She nodded. “I do have plenty of memories about Joel, though.” Tessa had to lean against the wall when a new wave of dizziness hit her. “And some memories about me, too. I’m not a real PI.”

Landon stared at her as if she were lying. “But you have a PI’s license. A real one. I checked.”

Of course he had. Landon probably wouldn’t have asked her out unless he’d run a basic background check on her. And he definitely wouldn’t have slept with her.

Then she rethought that.

The sex hadn’t been planned, and it’d happened in the heat of the moment. Literally.

“Yes, I have a license.” Best just to toss this out there and then deal with the aftermath. And there would be aftermath. “But I had it only because of Joel. He said he wanted me to get it so I could help him vet some of his business associates. It’s easier for a PI to do that because I had access to certain databases.”

She got the exact reaction she expected. Landon’s eyes narrowed. Tessa wasn’t sure of all of Joel’s activities, but there were enough of them for her to know the kind of man she was dealing with. Landon had called him scummy, but he was much worse than that.

Because Joel was a dangerous man.

With that reminder, she looked around them again. Tessa could still see the parking lot and the hall, and Landon made an uneasy glance around, too.

“You’ll want to keep going with that explanation,” Landon insisted. “But remember, you’re talking to a cop.”

The threat was real. He could arrest her, but it was a risk she had to take right now. She needed Landon on her side so he could help her protect this baby. Maybe from Joel.

Maybe from someone else.

Mercy, it was so hard to think.

Tessa had to clear her throat before she could continue. “I think Joel might have murdered someone.”

His eyes were already dark, but that darkened them even more. “Who? Emmett?”

But she didn’t get a chance to answer.

Landon stepped in front of her, drawing his weapon. That was when she saw the man in the hall.

He was coming straight toward them.

And he had a gun.


Chapter Five (#ulink_06fd55f9-dfd9-5b28-a2b8-997a174cff17)

Landon had a split-second debate with himself about just shooting at the armed man who was coming right at them.

But he couldn’t.

It would be a huge risk to start shooting in the hospital around innocent bystanders.

A risk for Tessa and the baby, too.

The man obviously didn’t have a problem doing just that. He lifted his gun and took aim. Landon hooked his arm around Tessa and yanked her out of the line of fire.

Barely in time.

The bullet smacked into the concrete block wall where they’d just been standing. The noise was deafening, and the baby immediately started to cry.

Landon pulled Tessa and the baby to the side so that he could use the wall for protection, but it wouldn’t protect them for long, because the idiot fired another shot and sent more of those bits of concrete scattering.

“Tessa?” the man called out. “If you want the bullets to stop, then hand the kid to the cowboy cop and come with me.”

Because Landon still had hold of her, he felt her muscles turn to iron, and she held the baby even closer to her body.

“Oh, God,” she whispered.

Landon mumbled something significantly worse. This was not what he wanted to happen.

Of course, Landon had known there could be another attack since someone had tried to kill Tessa in that barn fire, but he hadn’t thought a second attempt would happen in the hospital with so many witnesses around. Plus, the guy wasn’t even wearing a mask. That meant he either knew no one would recognize him or didn’t care if they did. But whoever he was, one thing was crystal clear.

This thug wanted Tessa.

Later, Landon would want to know why, but he figured this had something to do with one of the last things she’d said to him before the guy started shooting.

I think Joel might have murdered someone.

Landon didn’t doubt it for a second. Nor did he doubt this armed thug was connected to Joel. But why exactly did Joel want her? Had she learned something incriminating while she was working for him vetting his “cattle broker” associates?

“Tessa?” the man called out. “You’ve got ten seconds.”

“He knows you,” Landon whispered to her. “You recognize his voice?

“No,” she answered without hesitating.

“Think about it,” the guy added. “Every bullet I fire puts that kid in danger even more. Danger that you can stop by coming with me.”

“He’s right,” Tessa said on a rise of breath.

She moved as if preparing herself to surrender, but Landon wasn’t going to let that happen.

“Stay back,” he warned her.

Landon leaned out, trying to time it so that he wouldn’t get shot, and glanced into the hall. The guy was no longer out in the open. He’d taken cover in a doorway.

Hell.

Hopefully, there wasn’t anyone inside the room where this man was hiding or he would no doubt shoot them.

On the second glance, Landon took aim and fired at the moron. The guy ducked back into the room, and Landon’s bullets slammed into the door.

He couldn’t stand there and trade shots with this guy, because sooner or later, the gunman might get lucky. Certainly by now someone had called the sheriff, and that meant Grayson would be here soon. Although it might not be soon enough.

“Let’s go,” Landon told her.

He leaned around the corner and fired another shot at the man, and Landon hoped it would pin him in place long enough to put some distance between those bullets and Tessa.

Staying in front of her while trying to keep watch all around them, Landon maneuvered her down the back hall toward the other end, where there was another line of patients’ rooms. He prayed that all the patients and staff had heard the shots and were hunkering down somewhere.

The baby was still crying, and even though Tessa was trying to comfort it, her attempts weren’t working. Too bad. Because the sounds of the baby’s cries were like a homing beacon for that shooter.

Landon had no choice but to pause when he reached the junction of the halls, and he glanced around to see if there was a second gunman waiting to ambush them.

Empty.

Thank God.

But his short pause allowed the shooter to catch up with them. The guy leaned around the corner where Landon had just been, and he fired at them.

Since it was possible for the gunman to double back and come at them from the other end of the hall, Landon needed better protection. Again, it was a risk because he didn’t know what he was going to find, but he opened the first door he reached.

Not empty.

And the young twentysomething woman inside gave him a jolt until he noticed that she wore a hospital gown and was hanging on to an IV pole. She was a patient.

He hoped.

“Go in the bathroom,” he ordered the woman. “Close the door and don’t come out.”

She gasped and gave a shaky nod but followed his instructions. Landon would have liked to have sent Tessa and the baby in there with her, but he couldn’t risk it. Anyone bold enough to send this gunman could have also planted backups in the rooms.

“Keep an eye on the woman,” Landon whispered to Tessa.

Tessa’s eyes widened, probably because she realized this could be a trap. Of course, that was only one of their problems. The baby was still crying, the sound echoing through the empty hall.

Landon heard the footsteps to his right. The gunman, no doubt. And he readied himself to shoot when the man rounded the corner. But the footsteps stopped just short of the hall junction.

He glanced back at Tessa to make sure she was staying down. She was, and she was volleying glances between him and the bathroom door. In those glimpses that Landon got of her face, though, he could see the stark fear in her eyes. He would have liked to assure her that they’d get out of this alive, but Landon had no idea how this would play out.

“Tessa?” the guy called out. “Time’s up.”

Landon braced himself for more shots. And they came, all right. The guy pivoted around the corner, and he started shooting right at Tessa and him. Landon had no choice but to push her deeper into the room.

“Deputy Ryland?” someone called out. It was the security guard, and judging from the sound of his voice, he was on the opposite end of the hall from the shooter. “The other deputies are in the building. They’re on the way now to help you.”

Good. Well, maybe. It could be a bluff since it’d been less than ten minutes since the shooting had started, and that would be a very fast response time for backup. Still, even if it was a bluff, it worked.

Because the shots stopped, and Landon heard the guy take off running.

His first instincts were to go after the guy, to stop him from getting away, but Landon had no way of knowing if the security guard was on the take. Hell, this could be a ruse to lure them out of the room so that Tessa could be kidnapped or killed.

Landon waited, cursing while he listened to the thug get away, but it wasn’t long before he heard another voice. One that he trusted completely.

Grayson.

“Landon?” his cousin called out. “Don’t shoot. I’m coming toward you.”

It seemed to take an eternity for Grayson to make it to them, and when he reached the door, Landon could see the concern on his face. Concern that was no doubt mirrored in Landon’s own expression.

“Come on,” Grayson said, motioning for them to follow him. “I need to get the three of you out of here right now.”

* * *

TESSA’S HEART WAS beating so hard that she thought her ribs might crack. Her entire body was shaking, especially her legs, and if Landon hadn’t hooked his arm around her for support, she would have almost certainly fallen.

She hated feeling like his. Helpless and weak. But at the moment she had no choice but to rely on Landon and Grayson to get the baby and her away from that shooter.

The sheriff led them up the hall, in the opposite direction of where the gunman had fired those last shots. Since that back hall also led to the parking lot, Tessa suspected he was getting away.

That didn’t help slow down her heartbeat.

Because if he escaped, he could return for a second attempt. But an attempt at what? He obviously had wanted her to go with him. Or maybe that was what he had wanted her to believe. If she’d surrendered, he could have just gunned her down, done the same to Landon. Heaven knew then what would have happened to the baby.

“This way,” Grayson said, and he didn’t head toward the front but rather to a side exit.

The moment they reached it, Tessa spotted the cruiser parked there, only inches from the exit and apparently waiting for him. When Grayson opened the door, she saw Dade behind the wheel.

Even though she now believed she could trust the Ryland lawmen, seeing him and Grayson still gave her a jolt. If she’d been right about Emmett’s killer being a cop, then it was possible the killer worked at the Silver Creek sheriff’s office.

Landon hurried her onto the backseat, following right behind her, and the moment he shut the door, Dade took off.

“Are you all okay?” Dade asked, making brief eye contact in the rearview mirror.

Landon nodded but then checked her face. Tessa did the same to the baby. The newborn was still making fussing sounds, but she wasn’t hurt. Thank God. That was a miracle, what with all those bullets flying.

When she finished examining the baby, Tessa realized Landon was still looking at her. Or rather he was staring at her. No doubt waiting for answers.

Answers that she didn’t have.

Someone had attacked her twice in the same day. Heck, maybe even more than that since her memories were still hazy.

“Maybe he’s one of Joel’s hired thugs?” Landon asked.

She had to shake her head again. Then Tessa had to stop because a new wave of dizziness came over her. It was so hard to think with her head spinning. “I only got a glimpse of him before you pulled me back, but he didn’t look familiar. I don’t know why he came after me like that. Do you?”

“No,” Landon snapped. “But I want you to guess why he attacked us. And the guessing should start with you telling me everything you know about Joel. The baby, too.”

His tone wasn’t as sharp as it’d been before, and his glare had softened some. Maybe he was starting to believe that this wasn’t her fault.

Well, not totally her fault, anyway.

Tessa tried to concentrate and latch on to whatever information she could remember. It was strange, but the memories from years ago were a lot clearer than the recent ones. In fact, some of the recent ones were just a tangle of images and sounds.

“Tell me about Joel,” Landon pressed, probably because she was still trying to figure out what to say.

“Joel,” she repeated. And Tessa went with what she did remember. “I started working for him two years ago as a bookkeeper. I didn’t know what he was,” she added. “I was an out-of-work accountant, and he offered me a job. Later, he wanted me to be a PI so I could run background checks for him.”

“But you soon found out what he was,” Landon finished for her.

Another nod. “But I didn’t know how deep his operation went, and he was hiding assets and activities under layers of corporate paperwork.” Tessa had to pause again, brush away the mental cobwebs. These next memories were spotty compared to the ones of her starting to work for Joel.

“Back at the hospital, you said you thought Joel had killed someone,” Landon reminded her. “Who? Emmett?”

Tessa closed her eyes a moment, trying to make the thoughts come. Finally, she remembered a piece of a memory. Or maybe it was just a dream. It was so hard to work all of this out.

“No. Not Emmett. I think the murder might have had something to do with the baby’s mother,” she said. “But...no, that’s not right.” She touched her fingers to her head. “It’s getting all mixed up again.”

“Her mother?” Landon questioned. “So you’re positive she’s not yours...ours?”

“Yes, I’m certain.”

She couldn’t tell if Landon was relieved about that or not. He didn’t seem relieved about anything. Neither was she. The child might not be theirs, but Tessa still needed to protect the newborn.

But who was after the baby? And why?

Her gaze dropped to the baby. “I think I know the reason I have her, though. Because a killer was after her mother, and she left the baby with me for safekeeping.”

“A killer,” Landon said. “You mean Joel?”

“I just don’t know.” Tessa groaned softly. “If I could just rest for a while, maybe that would help me remember?”

“You’ll get some rest later. For now, tell me what happened to the baby’s mother,” Landon demanded.

Tessa had no idea. But this wasn’t looking good. If all of this had happened four days ago, then the mother should have come back by now. If she was able to come back, that is.

Landon cursed. “Is the mother dead or hurt?”

But before she could even attempt an answer, Dade was on the phone, and she heard him ask if there was any information on the baby’s mother that would match the sketchy details she’d just given them.

“Is it possible the woman who had this baby didn’t have anything to do with Emmett?” Landon pressed.

“I just don’t know.” She paused. “But maybe Emmett was helping me find some evidence against Joel?”

As expected, that didn’t go over well with Landon. He didn’t come out and say that she should have contacted him instead of Emmett, but she knew that was what he was thinking.

“But why would Emmett have been helping me?” Tessa asked.

Neither of the men jumped to answer that, maybe because they didn’t have a clue, but it was Landon who finally responded. “Emmett was a DEA agent in Grand Valley, and Joel had a business there.”

The memories were coming but too darn slow. She huffed and rubbed the back of her neck. Or rather she tried to do that but yanked back her hand when her fingers brushed over the sensitive skin there.

“Does it hurt?” Landon asked. He leaned closer, lifted her hair and looked for himself.

“Some.” Not nearly as much as her head, though. “Why? How bad does it look?”

“It looks like a wasp sting or something. But the doctor took an X-ray. If it’s something serious, he’ll let us know.”

Now that the drugs were partially wearing off, she tried to remember what’d happened to cause this particular injury. But nothing came. Everything was still so jumbled in her head, and that couldn’t last.

There were secrets in her memories, secrets that had caused someone to try to kill her, and until she unlocked those secrets, she wouldn’t be able to figure out who had sent that gunman after the baby and her.

And figure out who’d killed Emmett and why.

“Good news, maybe,” Dade said when he finished his call. “There have been no reports of a seriously injured or dead woman who gave birth in the past week, but Josh will keep calling around and see if something turns up.”

“Josh?” she asked, hoping it was someone she could trust. Of course, at the moment Tessa wasn’t sure she could trust anyone.

“Our cousin,” Landon explained. “He’s a deputy in Silver Creek.”

Like Landon. Tessa prayed this Josh was being mindful of those calls and that he didn’t give away any information that could put the baby’s mother in further danger. Of course, it was possible the woman was dead. Just because the cops hadn’t found a body didn’t mean there wasn’t one.

Oh, God.

Another wave of dizziness hit her, and Tessa had to lean her head against the seat. She closed her eyes, hoping it would stop. Hoping, too, that the car would soon stop, as well.

“Where are we going?” she asked. And better yet—how soon would they be there? But the moment she asked the question, Tessa got yet another bad feeling. That feeling only increased when neither Landon nor Dade jumped to answer.

“Where?” she repeated.

“Someplace you’re not going to like,” Landon grumbled.


Chapter Six (#ulink_c02aff8d-99d2-51ca-bd0e-13e78b7c5649)

Landon had told Tessa that he was taking her someplace she wouldn’t like. Well, it wasn’t a place where he especially wanted her to be, either, but his options were limited.

And that was why Tessa was now sleeping under his own roof.

Or at least, the roof of the guesthouse at the Silver Creek Ranch where Landon had made his temporary home. Until he could come up with other arrangements, it would be Tessa and the baby’s temporary home, too. With more than a half-dozen lawmen living on the grounds, it was safer than any other place Landon could think to take them.

Landon poured himself a fourth cup of coffee, figuring he’d need a fifth or sixth one to rid him of the headache he had from lack of sleep, and checked on the baby again. She was still sacked out in the bassinet his cousins had provided. Maybe Tessa was asleep, as well, because he didn’t hear her stirring in the bedroom.

Since Tessa had been the one to do the baby’s 2:00 a.m. feeding, Landon had brought the infant into the living-kitchen combo area with him so that Tessa could sleep in. Of course, he’d done that with the hopes that he might get in a catnap or two on the sofa—where he’d spent the night—but no such luck. His mind was spinning with all the details of the attack. With Tessa’s situation. With Emmett’s murder. And despite all that mind spinning, Landon still didn’t have the answers he wanted.

But maybe Tessa would.

By now, those drugs she’d been given should have worn off, and that meant maybe she would be able to tell him not only who was behind the attack at the hospital but also who’d murdered Emmett.

Landon had more coffee and checked outside. Something he’d done a lot during the night and yet another of the reasons he hadn’t gotten much sleep. No signs of gunmen. Thank God. But then, the ranch hands had been told not to let anyone other than family and ranch employees onto the grounds. Maybe that would be enough to stop another attack.

However, the only way to be certain of no future attacks was to catch the person responsible. Joel, maybe. He was the obvious person of interest here, but Landon wasn’t ruling out Quincy. Too bad neither Landon nor any of his lawman cousins had been able to find any evidence to make an arrest for either man.

Landon heard the two sounds at once. The baby whimpered, and Tessa moved around in the bedroom. He didn’t wait for Tessa to come out. Since it was time for the baby’s feeding, Landon went ahead and got the bottle from the fridge and warmed it up, just as the nanny had shown him when they’d arrived yesterday. Thankfully, there were three full-time nannies at the ranch now, so he hadn’t had to resort to looking up bottle-warming instructions on the internet.

He eased the baby from the bassinet, silently cursing that his hands suddenly felt way too big and clumsy. The baby didn’t seem to mind, though, and she latched on to the bottle the moment it touched her mouth.

Without the baby’s fussing, it was easier for Landon to hear something else. Tessa’s voice. She wasn’t talking loud enough for him to pick out the words, but it seemed as if she was having a conversation with someone on the phone. The guesthouse didn’t have a landline, but there was a cell phone on the nightstand for guests—something that apparently Tessa had decided to make use of. But before Landon could find out who she was calling, Tessa quit talking, and a moment later the bedroom door opened.

And there she was.

Landon hated that slam of attraction. Yeah, he felt it even now, and it was proof that attraction was more than just skin-deep. Because despite the bruises on her face, the fatigued eyes, and the baggy loaner jeans and shirt, she still managed to light fires inside him that he didn’t want lit.




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