Drury

“Come on,” Drury said. He still had a firm grip on her arm. “We’ll go to the sheriff’s office and get this all straightened out.”

“They’ll look for me there if they don’t attack us along the way first. The baby could be hurt. You, too.” She almost added that she couldn’t live with that, but it was an old wound best left untouched.

“If you didn’t want me involved, then you shouldn’t have come here,” he grumbled.

“I swear I didn’t know the man would follow me. I mean, he was out from the stun gun, and he didn’t have his partner with him this time. Didn’t have the communicator in his ear, either.” A heavy sigh left her mouth. “I guess he had a lookout after all.”

Caitlyn figured Drury would ignore everything she’d just told him and demand once more that she leave with him.

But he didn’t.

His gaze volleyed from her to the baby. “Whose coat is that?” he asked.

She had to shake her head. “It was right next to the baby on the seat of the kidnapper’s SUV, and I grabbed it to cover her from the rain.”

“Put the baby on the sofa,” Drury instructed, and his tone and body language sent a chill straight through her. “It could have a tracking device—or something worse—in it.”

Sweet heaven.

Caitlyn hurried to the sofa, easing the baby onto it. The little girl was still sleeping, thank goodness.

“I checked her after I brought her into your house,” she explained. “No cuts or bruises.” It sickened her, though, to think there could have been.

Drury didn’t respond. He moved in front of the newborn, eased back the sides of the coat.

The baby was wearing a pink drawstring gown with little ducks on it. There was even an elastic headband with a bow holding back her dark brown curls from her face, and she had a thin receiving blanket around her. She was clean. Her diaper appeared to have been changed recently, and since she wasn’t crying, that probably meant she’d been fed. Whoever had her had at least taken care of her.

Probably so they could protect their investment.

Something twisted inside Caitlyn at the thought.

She almost hated to feel this kind of anger. This kind of love for that precious little girl. Because the baby might not even be hers.

Caitlyn repeated that to herself.

It didn’t seem to stop the flood of feelings that poured through her, and that love could mean she would be crushed if she had to hand over the baby to someone else.

“Lift her up,” Drury said, still searching every inch of the coat. “Gently.”

That gave her another jolt, and she prayed there wasn’t anything on or near the baby that could hurt her.

Caitlyn eased the newborn into her arms. Of course, it wasn’t the first time she’d held her, but without the coat around her, she could feel just how tiny and fragile she was.

Drury went through the coat pockets, coming up empty each time, and he turned his attention to the bow on the baby’s headband.

“Hell,” he mumbled.

Caitlyn watched as he gently slipped off the headband, and she saw it then.

“It’s a tracking device,” he said. “That’s how the man was able to follow you.”

Caitlyn shook her head. “I should have noticed it. Drury. I’m so sorry.”

“Save it.” He tossed the headband onto the coffee table. “In case I missed something, don’t use the blanket to wrap her.” He pulled a throw off the back of the sofa and handed it to her. “Use this.”

“Where are we going?” she asked, draping it over the baby.

“Away from here. And fast.” He took out his phone and sent a text. Probably to Grayson. “I don’t want any other hired guns coming to the ranch. Every one of my cousins has wives and kids, and they’re all right here on the grounds.”

That didn’t help steady her heartbeat.

Drury led her to the back door, grabbing a remote control from the kitchen counter. He used it to open the detached garage, and he stepped out onto the porch to look around.

The rain was still coming down hard, but the porch was covered so the baby was staying dry. However, she was starting to squirm, maybe because Caitlyn’s dress was damp and it was cool against her. She needed dry clothes. Baby supplies.

And a safe place to take her.

But where?

The sheriff’s office certainly didn’t seem like an ideal location since the man’s partners could go looking for her there.

“Wait here in the doorway, and I’ll pull the car up to the steps,” Drury said. He’d already started to walk away but then stopped and turned back around to face her. “So help me, you’d better not try to run.”

Since she was indeed thinking just that, Caitlyn wondered if he’d read her mind. Or maybe he could just see the desperation on her face.

Because she didn’t know what else to do, Caitlyn did wait. And she prayed. She trusted Drury, but her trust wouldn’t do a darn thing to protect him or the baby.

He hurried to the garage, and it took only a few seconds before she heard the engine turn on. Only a few seconds more before he pulled the car to the steps with the passenger’s side facing her.

The moment Drury threw open the door and frantically motioned for her to get in, she knew something was wrong.

“Someone’s coming,” Drury said.

Caitlyn saw the headlights then. There was a car on the road. And it was speeding right toward them.

Chapter Three

Drury cursed himself for not getting Caitlyn away from the house any sooner. But he’d delayed because he hadn’t been sure what was going on.

Still wasn’t sure.

But he couldn’t wait around and find out if whoever was in that car had friendly intentions. Judging from the tracking device he’d found, his guess was no. No friendly intentions here. That vehicle was likely carrying more shooters who’d come after Caitlyn and the baby. And being inside the house wouldn’t necessarily help them if these morons opened fire.

Caitlyn ran down the porch steps, and Drury reached across the seat to pull her inside. The moment she was in, he gunned the engine to get them the heck out of there.

“You’re not going to drive toward that car, are you?” she asked. The fear was right back in her voice. Not that it’d completely gone away, but there was a triple dose of it now.

It was raining, they didn’t have a car seat and bullets might start flying at any second.

“We’re not going toward the car,” he assured her, and he bolted out of the side of his yard and headed not for the highway, but toward the main house.

It was a risk, but there were no completely safe options here.

Drury tossed her his phone. “Text Grayson and tell him what’s going on. And climb in the back with the baby. Get all the way down on the seat and stay there.”

She gave a shaky nod, and with the baby cradled in her arms, Caitlyn scrambled into the back. Drury heard her typing the text, but he kept his attention on the other car. Even though he hadn’t turned on his headlights, the driver of the vehicle must have seen him because he came after them.

Hell.

He had hoped the guy would just back off when he saw where Drury was headed. No such luck.

Drury drove toward the main house, but he certainly had no intentions of stopping. There was a security gate just ahead, and like everybody else on the ranch, he had the remote to open and close it. He started pushing the remote button the moment it came into view, and the metal gates dragged open.

It seemed to take an eternity.

And that car behind him just kept getting closer and closer.

“He’s got a gun,” Caitlyn said, and that’s when Drury realized she’d lifted her head and was looking out the back window.

“Get back down,” he warned her.

Yeah, the guy had a gun all right. Drury had no trouble spotting it because the passenger lowered his window and stuck out his hand, trying to take aim.

The moment the gates were open, Drury gunned the engine and flew through them, hitting the remote to close them.

It worked.

The gates closed before the shooter could get through. The driver hit his brakes, slamming into the gate, but the gates held.

Thank God.

Drury kept going, and he sped past the houses that dotted the ranch. He didn’t dare stop because the gunman might have a long-range rifle in the car, and Drury didn’t want to give the guy any reason to keep firing.

“Grayson says his brothers and the ranch hands have been alerted,” Caitlyn relayed after getting a response to the text she’d sent.

Good. Though he doubted that gunman would get out of the car and go in pursuit on foot, it was better to be safe than sorry.

Especially since Drury was already sorry enough for this fiasco.

He stayed on the road that coiled around the pastures, and once he was past the exterior security lights, it was too dark for him to see. Drury had no choice but to turn on his headlights.

“Where are we going?” she asked.

Some place she wouldn’t like. “The sheriff’s office. And before you remind me that these goons can follow us there, they can follow us anywhere. At least if we’re at the sheriff’s office, the deputies and I can protect you, and it’ll get these idiots away from my family.

“Don’t say you’re sorry,” he added, his voice a little harsher than he’d intended.

Drury had caught a glimpse of her face in the mirror and could tell from the tears that she was about to apologize again. Well, it wouldn’t help. Nothing would right now except getting her and that baby to safety.

His phone rang, the sound cutting through the other sounds of his heartbeat drumming in his ears and the wipers slashing at the rain.

“It’s Grayson,” Caitlyn said. She passed him the phone, but since Drury still had hold of his gun, he pushed the speaker button and dropped the phone on the seat next to him.

“Where are you?” Grayson asked. “And what the heck’s going on?”

“I’m at the back of the ranch on one of the trails and about to come out on Miller’s Hill. The car with the gunmen didn’t get past the gate.”

“No,” Grayson agreed. “Gage had eyes on the car, and he said the driver turned around and sped off. He got the license plate numbers, but they’re bogus. Gage and Dade went in pursuit.”

Both men were Grayson’s brothers. And his deputies.

“I’ll take the back roads to get to the sheriff’s office. I should be there in about twenty minutes.” Drury paused. “Caitlyn Denson is with me.”

Grayson paused, too, and then cursed. A rarity for him since he was the father of a five-year-old son and had cut way back on his bad language.

“Caitlyn?” Grayson repeated like the profanity he’d just used. “You’re not involved with her again, are you?”

“No, not like that.” And Drury couldn’t say it fast enough.

“Good. Because the last time you hooked up with her...”

Grayson didn’t finish that. Didn’t need to finish it. Because Drury remembered it well enough without any reminders. Caitlyn had been a CPA in those days. A CPA who’d been helping Drury investigate the crime family that had employed her.

At least Drury had believed she was helping him.

However, he’d been wrong. Because Caitlyn had ended up marrying the very man whose family Drury had been investigating. But those were old memories, and he didn’t have time for them now.

“So, why is Caitlyn with you?” Grayson pressed. “And are those gunmen after her?”

“They’re after her.” That was the easy question to answer. The first one, not so much. “There might be another baby from Conceptions Clinic.”

He gave Grayson a moment for that to sink in.

“Caitlyn and Grant Denson’s baby,” Grayson concluded.

“Yeah. At least that’s what a man told Caitlyn.” Drury could still see her in the glimpses that he was making in the rearview mirror, and she was hanging on to every word. “According to her, a man demanded a ransom. She paid it, but he reneged.”

Grayson mumbled some profanity. “Where’s the baby now?”

“In the backseat of my car with Caitlyn. She was waiting inside my place when I got home.” He figured it wouldn’t take Grayson long to fill in the blanks.

And it didn’t.

“Caitlyn came to you for help.”

Drury settled for another yeah and didn’t miss Grayson’s disapproval about that. Well, Drury wasn’t so happy about it, either.

“I don’t know for sure, but the guy you caught is probably the same one who had the baby. He should have stun-gun marks on...” Drury looked back at her so she could provide that.

“The left side of his neck.”

Grayson made what sounded to be a weary sigh. “I’ll have the doc check for it. I got a name on the guy already. Ronnie Waite. He was in the system not because he had a record but because he used to be a prison guard.”

Interesting. Drury would have bet his paycheck that the guy had a record. But then maybe whoever was behind this had made sure to use someone who was clean.

“Ronnie Waite,” Drury repeated to Caitlyn. He turned onto another road and glanced around to make sure they weren’t being followed. “Do you know him?”

Caitlyn repeated the name, then shook her head. “Is he in charge of this or just a lackey?”

“Don’t know yet,” Grayson answered. “How did Ronnie or anyone connected to this contact you?”

“Only one man contacted me,” Caitlyn answered, “and he always called. I used the internet to do a reverse number lookup, but it wasn’t listed.”

Probably because the phone had been a burner or disposable prepaid cell. No way to trace that. But if Ronnie still had the phone on him, Grayson would have it checked.

“Does Caitlyn, or the baby, need to see a doctor?” Grayson asked.

“Yes,” Drury said at the same moment that she answered.

“No. I mean, I want the baby checked out, but I’m fine. And I don’t want to be in the hospital while Ronnie is still there.”

“Caitlyn’s not fine,” Drury argued. “She might have a concussion. But I agree about not going to the hospital. She shouldn’t be there until we’re certain Ronnie can’t get near her.”

“I’ll have a medic come to the office then.” Grayson paused. “We’ll get into all of this once you’re here, but I’ll need you to think of anyone who could have hired this man.”

“Helen,” Drury and Caitlyn said in unison.

“All right. I’ll get your former mother-in-law here for a chat,” Grayson agreed without hesitation. “I’ll also see if there’s any way to connect her to Ronnie.”

“There has to be a surrogate out there, too,” Caitlyn added. “I’m not sure how to find her, but she might be linked somehow to Ronnie.”

“I can question Ronnie about that. And check for a Jane Doe DB who might have recently given birth.”

DB as in dead body.

Caitlyn made a slight gasping sound. Probably because she’d just realized what Grayson was saying—that the surrogate could have been murdered after she gave birth. Whoever was behind this wouldn’t have wanted to keep a surrogate alive unless, of course, the surrogate was in on the plan.

“I’ll have Mason call the lead investigator who handled the Conceptions Clinic case,” Grayson went on, “but if Helen’s the one who did this, would she have had access to the embryo? In other words, could someone at the clinic have legally given it to her?”

“No. Not legally.” Caitlyn drew in a long breath. “In fact, when Helen found out that Grant and I had visited the clinic, she tried to bribe one of the nurses to get info about what we were doing. When I found out, I had our counselor put a note in my file that no information should be given to the woman.”

“That doesn’t mean Helen played by the rules,” Drury reminded her. In fact, he’d be surprised if she had. But there was someone else in that scummy family who was also a rule breaker. “What about Grant’s brother, Jeremy?”

Drury couldn’t be sure, but he thought Caitlyn shuddered. “Jeremy wouldn’t have done that. And yes, I’m sure. The last thing Jeremy would want is another heir to share the inheritance he’ll get from his mother.”

“Okay,” Grayson said, “this is enough to get things started. How far out are you now?”

“About ten minutes. No one’s following us, but when we get to the sheriff’s office, I want to get Caitlyn and the baby inside ASAP.”

“No problem. Park right in front of the door.”

Drury hit the end-call button and took another glance back at her. “I know you don’t want to go to the sheriff’s office, but you can trust Grayson. If there’s anything to link Helen to this, he’ll find it.”

And so would Drury. He hadn’t especially wanted to get involved with Caitlyn, but this wasn’t about her. It was about that baby in her arms.

“You think I’m a fool for getting involved with Grant,” she said. “But I swear, I didn’t know what Grant was when I married him.”

“You should have. You knew what his family was, knew that I was investigating them.”

“Yes,” she whispered. And she repeated it. “His family but not him.” She paused. “I think Jeremy might have been the one who killed Grant.”

“Killed? I thought he died in a car accident.”

“He did. One that Jeremy could have arranged.” Though she shook her head right after saying that. “I don’t have any proof, and knowing Jeremy, there won’t be proof to find. But I meant what I said about Jeremy not wanting any competition for his mother’s estate.”

The last time he’d tangled with the Densons, he hadn’t fared so well. Drury had ended up with a black mark on his reputation for getting involved with Caitlyn, a woman who’d clearly double-crossed him and had almost certainly been sleeping with him to get info about his investigation.

Of course, that hadn’t stopped Drury from trying to go after the Densons again. Until his boss had finally gotten him to back off when Helen had threatened a lawsuit for harassment. Drury hadn’t wanted to hurt the Bureau for what had essentially become a personal vendetta on his part.

“I hate being drawn back into the viper pit.” He hadn’t intended to say that loud enough for Caitlyn to hear.

But she heard. Because she gave him another “I’m sorry.”

He kept the next comment to himself. Was she sorry she’d dumped him for Grant? Or sorry that she hadn’t gotten that safe fairy tale that she wanted?

Drury wanted to tell her that she couldn’t create “safe.” The cut on her head and baby in her arms were proof of that. Still, he couldn’t fault her for trying. After all, she’d seen her own father—a Texas Ranger—gunned down right in front of her when she was only eight.

Hard to get past memories like that.

Drury took the final turn toward town, and he tried to shut out everything so he could focus on their surroundings. It was late, nearly midnight, and with the rain there wasn’t anyone out and about. Still, those thugs could be waiting on a side street, watching for them.

He held his breath and didn’t release it until he saw the sheriff’s office. And Grayson in the doorway. The moment Drury had brought the car to a stop, Grayson hurried Caitlyn inside, and Drury followed right behind her. He got her away from the windows—fast. Even though they were bullet resistant, he didn’t want to take any chances.

After everything that’d gone on, Drury hadn’t expected a warm greeting from Grayson and Mason. And he didn’t get one. Mason was on the phone, scowling. But then, that was something Mason did a lot.

However, Grayson was scowling, too.

At Caitlyn.

“Is there any part of your story you want to rethink?” Grayson asked her.

That put some alarm in her eyes, and Caitlyn shook her head. “No. Why?”

“Because I just got off the phone with the doctor who’s patching up Ronnie Waite, and Ronnie says that’s his daughter and that you kidnapped her. He’s demanding a warrant for your arrest.”

Chapter Four

Caitlyn felt as if someone had knocked the breath right out of her. She shook her head, tried to deny what Ronnie had claimed, but the words were trapped in her throat.

“Is it true?” Grayson snapped.

It was more of an accusation than a question, and Caitlyn was thankful it had come from Grayson and not Drury. Still, that didn’t mean Drury believed she was innocent. He was staring at her, clearly waiting for her to say something.

“Everything happened just the way I told you,” she insisted.

Drury just kept staring, but Grayson made a sound, one to let her know she was going to have to do a whole lot better than that if he was to believe her.

“The baby isn’t his,” Caitlyn tried again. “I paid him one ransom, and he demanded a second one. Since I figured he wasn’t just going to hand over the baby, I hit him with a stun gun and took her from him.”

“I don’t suppose you recorded any of that encounter?” Grayson, again. And he used the tone of the lawman in charge. Which he was. He also made this sound, and feel, like an interrogation.

Mercy. If she couldn’t convince him of her innocence, he might take the baby. He might arrest her. That couldn’t happen because if she was behind bars, she wouldn’t be able to protect the baby.

“He clubbed me on the head,” Caitlyn added, and she looked to Drury for help. She held her breath, hoping that he would back her up, and he finally nodded.

“When I found Caitlyn in my house, she was scared. And bleeding.”

Grayson lifted his shoulder, and even though he didn’t say the actual words, his expression was a reminder that she’d fooled Drury before. That’s the way the Rylands would see it anyway. But she hadn’t fooled him so much as she’d been fooled.

By Grant.

But that was an old wound of a different kind.

“Think this through,” Caitlyn continued because she clearly had some more convincing to do with Grayson. “Why would I steal a baby and run to Drury?”

Grayson stayed quiet, probably because there was no scenario he could come up with where she’d do that. Because she wouldn’t.

“So, the baby is really yours?” Grayson asked.

Caitlyn hated to hesitate, but she didn’t want to withhold anything. Considering her track record with the Rylands, it would be hard enough to get them to trust her if they caught her in a lie.

She looked down at the newborn. At that precious little face, and she got that same deep feeling of love that she’d gotten the first time she saw her. Of course, she’d been wrong about her feelings before, but Caitlyn didn’t think that was the case right now. In fact, she would stake her life on it.

“Other than the test I had run on the DNA sample the kidnapper sent me, I don’t have any proof,” Caitlyn admitted, “but she looks like the pictures of me when I was a baby.”

Grayson groaned, an almost identical reaction to the one Drury had had when she’d first told him.

“I can get the proof,” she insisted. “I can have her DNA tested again and compared to mine and Grant’s. I just need time.” She stepped closer to Grayson and looked him straight in the eyes. “But I’m not going to give her to you so you can hand her over to the very man who tried to kill us.”

Grayson’s attention shifted to Drury then. “You believe her?”

Drury didn’t answer for several long moments. “The guy shot at me when I pulled up in front of my house. If he was truly just after Caitlyn to get his child back, then why go after me like that?” He tapped his badge. “I identified myself, and he still shot at me. Plus, he had those items in his vehicle.”

No head shake from Grayson this time. He nodded. Apparently, that was enough to convince him that Ronnie was lying.

“I’ll post a deputy outside his hospital room and keep digging into his background to see what turns up,” Grayson said. “Why don’t you two wait in my office while I call the doctor and get him down here?”

Caitlyn wasn’t sure she could trust the doctor. Any doctor. But her options were limited. She couldn’t just go running out into the rainy night with the baby, and she didn’t even have any supplies.

“Could you please have someone get the baby some formula and diapers?” she asked.