LITMIR.BIZ

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asked.

      Luke automatically went through a mental checklist. According to the sitter, the baby was asleep. The men were likely only minutes away. Maybe less. And basically, once he’d verified that the doors were locked, Theresa’s house was about as secure as he was going to be able to make it without equipment and assistance.

      “I can’t believe this is happening,” Elaina mumbled. She rubbed her hands up and down her arms and paced.

      Yeah. Luke was having a hard time believing it, as well. “You’re sure these guys are a real threat?”

      She stopped in midpace. “Oh, they’re real. I’m just wondering why they didn’t go to the shop after Theresa told them that’s where I was.”

      Probably because the shop was so close to the police station. If the men were up to no good, that’s the last place they’d want to confront Elaina. More likely scenarios were that they’d either hang around her house. Or they’d come here.

      “Everything’s locked up,” Theresa said, returning to the room.

      Luke took out his gun and pulled back a lacy white curtain so he could see outside.

      “Please tell me what’s wrong.” Theresa said. She sounded on the verge of tears.

      Elaina answered before he could. “There are war protestors who might have followed Daniel to Crystal Creek. You know how some people are opposed to the military being overseas. Daniel just doesn’t want to take any chances that these protestors might be fanatics.”

      Luke wasn’t surprised that Elaina’s lie had come so easily, but this time, he was thankful for it. He needed to focus on what had to be done. Because, simply put, his son could be in danger.

      “Go to Christopher,” he instructed Theresa. “If the windows aren’t locked, then lock them. Close the curtains, turn off any lights and stay with him until we’re certain these protestors are gone.”

      Theresa nodded. “Should I call the sheriff?”

      Luke didn’t really want to have to deal with the locals on this. Not until he was certain what he was dealing with. “No. Don’t call him yet. This might turn out to be nothing.”

      The sitter rushed away again, headed toward one of the side rooms of the house, and Luke turned his attention to the street. Would the men arrive in a car, as they’d apparently done at Elaina’s, or were they on foot? Luke had to be prepared for either.

      He took out his cell phone and pressed in the number for his backup: a friend and fellow agent, Rusty Kaplan. He was waiting just a few miles away.

      “I need your help,” Luke told Rusty. “Look for two men driving around town in a black car. One is blond. The other is wearing an eye patch. If you find them, take them in for questioning.”

      Rusty assured Luke that he would, and Luke hung up, slipping the phone back into his jacket pocket.

      “I blame you for this,” Elaina snarled in a hoarse whisper. She frantically looked around the room and extracted an umbrella from a tall reed basket by the door. Presumably, she planned to use it as a weapon.

      Luke moved to another window in the living room where he had a better view of the street and the side of the yard. He kept his gun ready.

      “How do you figure?” he asked.

      “Those men must have followed you to Crystal Creek.”

      Luke couldn’t completely rule it out, but that scenario wasn’t very likely. “If someone followed me, I would have noticed.”

      “Maybe not,” she fired back.

      “I would have noticed,” he insisted.

      Maybe someone hadn’t followed him per se, but they might have gotten the information from Collena Drake and backtracked until they found Elaina.

      Now the question was—what the hell did they want?

      Luke didn’t want to get into a lengthy discussion, or argument with Elaina to try to figure all of that out. Later, he would have to learn what kind of hornet’s nest her dead fiancé had left her to deal with. Because according to what Elaina had said, these men were almost certainly connected to Kevin.

      Unless…

      There was an outside shot that they were connected to him. Oh, man. He hoped that wasn’t the case.

      Elaina moved to the window next to him and stared out. “Do you see them?”

      “No.” In fact, no one seemed to be around.

      Except Elaina, of course.

      She moved so close to him that he caught her scent. Something fresh, floral and feminine. Something that he didn’t want to smell or notice. Luke stepped away from her and moved to a window in the adjoining dining room.

      Of course, she and her feminine scent quickly followed him. “How long before you hear something from your partner?”

      “Soon. He’ll be as thorough and as fast as he can possibly be.” Luke only hoped that it wouldn’t be hard to spot two strangers in the small town. Thankfully, there wouldn’t be many guys with an eye patch.

      “This is a nightmare,” she mumbled. “And this is what I’ve been trying to avoid for over a year.”

      Luke spared her a glance to see how she was physically reacting to the situation. Elaina had a white- knuckled grip on the perky yellow umbrella, but other than that, she seemed to be holding up.

      “You sure that’s all you were trying to avoid?” he asked.

      Elaina’s grip tightened even more. “What’s that supposed to mean?”

      “Maybe you were trying to avoid me because I’m Christopher’s father.”

      She probably would have pounced on that accusation if Luke hadn’t noticed the car driving toward the house. He held up his left hand to cut off anything she might have said, and then raced back to the front door so he’d have a direct shot if it became necessary.

      Luke waited, his heart in his throat, as the black four-door car slowly approached and stopped in front of the house. A blond man was driving. The guy with the eye patch was riding shotgun.

      This didn’t look good.

      He took out his phone and called Rusty Kaplan again. “The suspects are at the sitter’s house. Get here ASAP.”

      He put his phone away so he could focus on keeping his weapon aimed and ready. Beside him, Elaina did the same. She lifted her umbrella.

      Luke rolled his eyes at her attempt to defend herself. “Get down on the floor,” he ordered.

      “I want to protect Christopher,” she countered.

      “Well, it won’t happen with an umbrella. Get on the floor in case they fire shots.”

      “Oh, God,” she mumbled.

      She was obviously terrified at the thought of bullets flying.

      So was Luke.

      But it wouldn’t help matters if Elaina got hurt. In fact, it was his responsibility to keep everyone in the house safe. He might not have been the one to bring these men to Crystal Creek, but there was too much at stake for him to not make sure they did no harm— especially to his son.

      Instead of getting on the floor, she stooped down next to him and put her shoulder against the door so she could peek out the stained-glass sidelights. “I can’t just hide. I have to do something to stop them.”

      Luke knew how she felt.

      “For now, the best way to help is stay put. Backup in on the way.”

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