LITMIR.BIZ

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danger, either. But all those old feelings.

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

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

      “Tell me about the delivery,” she said.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

      Because it meant Hailey would have to stay there.

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

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

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

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

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

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

      * * *

      HAILEY HOPED THIS medical exam wasn’t a mistake.

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

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

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

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

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

      Everything, including attempts to exclude her.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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