by Lisa Childs
Cole had drawn his gun and returned fire in the direction he’d seen the glint of metal. But he hadn’t been able to see the shooter.
“Did I hit him?” he asked. It would have been a damn lucky blind shot.
When Manny and Cooper had rushed out of the house, Cole had pointed them toward the gardens. The shooter must have stood behind the arbor, concealed in the shadows of the thick vines.
Manny shook his head, then flinched as if moving it hurt him. Cole didn’t need to know the results of the CT scan to know that his friend had a concussion. He’d seen the blood on the patio the night before. It had stained the bricks near where Cole had dropped to avoid getting shot.
“I don’t think so,” Manny said. “We didn’t see any blood spatter.”
“Just these shells,” Cooper said, and he opened his hand to show the spent shells lying against his palm.
“From my gun,” Manny murmured with frustration and remorse. “I’m sure they’re from mine.”
“It doesn’t matter where they’re from,” Cooper assured him, trying to ease Manny’s guilt. “It matters who fired them. We need to find the shooter.”
But he was gone. For now. Cole knew that he would be back, though. The killer kept coming back to try again, for Shawna and for him. And once he learned that Maisy was a Bentler, he would probably try for her, as well.
Cole couldn’t risk it.
He couldn’t risk Shawna and Maisy getting hurt. He couldn’t risk his family hurting his…family. Shawna and Maisy were his family now.
And he had to do whatever was necessary to protect them.
*
Shawna felt trapped in her fear. Nikki wouldn’t let her leave the room to check on Cole, and she’d had to wait. Finally there was a knock at Maisy’s bedroom door, and his deep voice called out, “It’s me.”
The minute Nikki holstered her gun and opened the door, Shawna threw her arms around Cole and pressed her body against his. Her face buried in his chest, she was barely aware of Nikki stepping out of the room and closing the door behind her. “Thank God you’re all right!”
Nikki had told her that he was; she’d read Shawna the text she’d received from Lars saying that Cole was okay. But Shawna hadn’t really accepted it until now. Until she saw him. Felt him.
But something propelled Shawna to step back. And yet, it wasn’t Cole pushing her away; a little body burrowed between them, and Maisy wound her arms around Cole’s legs. He lifted her up, and the little girl clasped his neck and laid her head on his shoulder.
Shawna’s heart swelled with love for both of them. Then guilt constricted it. She had been so wrong to keep the truth from them.
“I’m so glad you didn’t get blowed up,” Maisy said.
“There was no bomb,” Cole told her.
“But I heard a ’splosion.”
Over Maisy’s head, Cole met Shawna’s gaze. She implored him to be careful with what he revealed. But Cole shook his head. He obviously had no intention of lying, or even of withholding the truth. Which probably meant he intended to tell Maisy the truth about everything. Even that he was father.
Shawna drew in a deep breath, bracing herself for whatever he might say and for however Maisy might react.
“That noise you heard,” Cole said, “was a gun going off.” But before Maisy could do more than gasp, he assured her, “Nobody got hurt, though.”
Maisy uttered a sigh of relief, but instead of loosening her arms around Cole’s neck, she tightened them. “I was scared,” she said. “Especially when Mommy asked Nikki where you were.”
Heat rushed to Shawna’s face. Despite trying to reassure her daughter, she’d frightened her more—because she’d revealed her own fear.
“I’m fine,” he assured the little girl. He gently cupped the back of her head in his palm the way he used to do Shawna. But then he’d bring Shawna’s face to his and kiss her, like he’d kissed her last night. He’d kissed her so many times over the years. But still it hadn’t been enough. It would never be enough for Shawna.
“I’m glad you’re okay,” Maisy said. She lifted her head from his shoulder and stared into his face, into his eyes. And then, out of the blue, she asked, “Are you my daddy?”
Shawna sucked in a breath. Not that she should have been surprised. She knew her little girl was intuitive, too much so sometimes. “Why—why would you ask that?” she stammered.
Maisy’s face flushed, and she lowered her gaze. She knew she wasn’t supposed to be eavesdropping so she reluctantly admitted, “I hear Grampa’s family talking in the house.” She looked up again, but at Cole. “I heard some of your friends talking.”
Cole’s face flushed. “Did Nikki say anything to you?”
“She thought I was sleeping,” Maisy said. “She was talking to Lars.”
“Of course,” Cole murmured.
“You shouldn’t eavesdrop,” Shawna admonished the little girl.
“It’s how I find out things,” Maisy said. “Important things.”
“But not everything you hear is the truth,” Shawna cautioned her. “It might just be people speculating.”
“Speck-u-whating?” Maisy repeated.
“Just gossiping,” Shawna said. “Guessing. They don’t know the truth.”
Maisy turned toward her. She and Cole both stared at Shawna, their identical pairs of blue eyes narrowed. Cole waited for a long moment, as if he was waiting for her to say it first.
But then he must have concluded that she couldn’t be trusted to tell the truth. “This time, Maisy, the speculation wasn’t gossip. It was true. It is true.”
The little girl turned back to him and lifted her hand to his face. She stared deeply into his eyes, maybe in recognition that they were nearly the same, because she said with absolute certainty, “You are my daddy.”
His jaw clenched so tightly a muscle twitched in his cheek, and he just nodded.
Maisy turned back to Shawna, and her little brow furrowed with confusion. “Did you know?”
Shawna gasped again. Her little girl never failed to surprise her. “I—Yes, I knew. But Cole didn’t know until yesterday. He was gone a long time.”
“And I had a daddy,” Maisy said.
Cole flinched.
“But that daddy’s dead now,” Maisy said. She patted Cole’s cheek again. “I don’t want you to die, too.”
He shook his head. “I don’t want to die either. And I want to keep you and your mommy safe, too. That’s why you need to pack up your favorite clothes and toys.”
“Where are we going?” Maisy asked.
Was he taking their daughter away just as Shawna had feared? Was this his revenge on her for not letting him know she’d had his child?
She would fight him, just as desperately as she’d fought to get out of that garage and away from the intruder.
“I’m going to take you someplace safe,” Cole said.
Maisy asked the question burning in Shawna’s mind: “What about Mommy?”
“I’m going to take you and your mommy someplace safe,” Cole assured her.
Shawna shook her head, but she waited until Cole set their daughter down. While Maisy rushed over to her closet to collect her favorite toys, Shawna grasped Cole’s arm and tugged him toward the door. “I want to talk to you,” she murmured.
He nodded and opened the door. As they stepped out, Nikki stepped back inside to protect Maisy. Before closing the door between them, the female bodyguard told Cole, “I’m glad you’re all right.”
Shawna suspected those shots had come closer to hitting Cole than he’d admitted.
The minute Nikki closed the door and they were alone, Shawna asked, “What the hell do you think you’re doing?”
“I’m protecting you and our daughter,” he replied. “I’m getting you out of this house.”
“I can’t leave,” Shawna told him.
“Why the hell not?” he asked. “Someone in this house killed your husband and has tried and nearly succeeded
at killing you. And now they’re trying for me, too, and damn near succeeded again.”
Her heart contracted with fear. Sure, she’d love to run off somewhere with him and their daughter and hide from the danger. But she shook her head. “I can’t leave here because I can’t leave your grandfather.”
Cole clasped his hand around her wrist and tugged her toward the stairs. “Let’s talk to him,” he said. “I’m sure I can make him fire you.”
She was sure he could, too. Xavier cared about her and he loved Maisy. He would fire her for certain if he thought it would protect her. But then who would protect him?
“He needs me,” Shawna said.
Cole snorted. “He’s not an invalid. He’s tough as hell.”
“He’s an old man with a bad heart,” Shawna said. “And he doesn’t take care of himself. He needs me.”
And she’d neglected him. Since the explosion, she hadn’t been watching over him like she should. She hadn’t been making certain that he took his meds and stayed away from the cigars and scotch.
As they neared the den, she quickened her step. She felt so guilty for having been remiss in her duties. Of course she was well aware that hadn’t been Xavier’s only motive for hiring her. She’d thought then that he’d only wanted to spend more time with Maisy, especially after his heart attack when he’d realized how precious life was. She should have realized he was up to something else, like probably getting her back together with Cole.
Of course, Emery had still been alive when Xavier had hired her. But then, Xavier had always known that theirs wasn’t a real marriage.
The door stood ajar, like someone had left the den in a hurry. She pushed it open and peered inside anyway. But there was no one inside. Of course the gunshots would have drawn him out of the den.
“Was he outside with you?” she asked.
Cole shook his head and pushed the door farther. “No, he didn’t come out on the patio at all.”
That was weird. Xavier wasn’t the type to avoid danger. He was the type to put himself in danger because of others.
She stepped into the room. And then she saw him, lying on the floor behind his desk. He was face down in a pool of something foamy looking.
“Oh, my God,” she murmured in horror.
She froze for just a moment. Fear filled her that she was too late, that he was already gone. Then she dropped to her knees beside him and focused on saving him. If she could…
If she wasn’t already too late…
*
She was too late. She had to be too late. The killer stood with the others, outside the den, watching as Shawna worked on Xavier.
Somebody murmured that the gunshots must have brought on a heart attack. If that were true, Xavier had been down a long time. Those shots had been fired a while ago.
How had they missed? How had every damn bullet missed hitting Cole?
It must have been the gun. The sight had to be off. Or maybe it had been fired from too far away. Because Cole should have been dead, instead of standing anxiously over Shawna as she worked on his grandfather.
She’d pulled out a black bag, like she was a doctor rather than an old man’s nurse and companion. But Xavier had hired her away from the ER, so she must have experience and training in trauma. In saving lives…
First, she’d pushed a device into his mouth and suctioned out something white and foamy. When she could get no more, she put an oxygen mask over his face. But the old man’s eyes—those Bentler-blue eyes—remained closed. Despite all her efforts, he didn’t regain consciousness. He could not regain consciousness.
In the distance, sirens wailed as an ambulance approached. But they would be too late, as well.
Wasn’t the old man dead already? Xavier was old and weak. He couldn’t survive another heart attack. That was what his doctor had told all of them. He would have already had another, if Shawna hadn’t been here taking care of him. She was all that had stood between him and another heart attack. That was why she had needed to die.
But now it looked like Xavier would instead.
So maybe Shawna could live. But Cole—Cole still had to die—even sooner now.
Chapter 17
Cole closed his eyes. For the first time in years, he felt tears burning his eyes. If he let himself, he could have cried. He wanted to cry. But instinct had him fighting back those tears. Really there was no reason for them. He blinked his eyes open and focused on the doctor standing over his grandfather. “You’re sure?”
He couldn’t believe it.
“It wasn’t a heart attack,” the doctor assured him.
“Then what the hell was it?” Cole asked. Fear still gripped him. He couldn’t forget how he and Shawna had found the old man, lying face down in his own vomit. He’d been certain he was dead. And even though the man was old, Cole wasn’t ready to lose his grandfather.
“It was some kind of other episode,” the doctor replied, as if he was choosing his words carefully.
“Episode?” Shawna asked. She stood beside the hospital bed, next to Cole. “We found him unconscious.”
And she’d sprung into nurse mode, suctioning the vomit from his mouth so he didn’t aspirate. Then she’d given him oxygen. While Xavier hadn’t regained consciousness yet, Shawna had probably saved his life.
Cole had seen up close and personal the woman Shawna had become. He’d known the girl for years, what seemed like all of his life. But now he was getting to know the woman—the nurse, the mother. She was nothing like the damsel in distress he’d accused her of being. Even then, he’d known she wasn’t weak and helpless. But he’d had no idea exactly how strong she was, how capable of taking care of not just herself but others, as well.
“He had vomited,” Shawna was saying.
“And that might have been what saved his life,” the doctor said.
Shawna nodded as if she’d gotten confirmation of some question she hadn’t asked yet. “The blood you’ve taken—have you ordered tox screening on it?”
“Yes,” the doctor replied. “And I’ll notify the authorities as soon as the results are back.”
Realization dawned on Cole. He waited until the doctor left before he turned to Shawna. “You think someone poisoned him?”
“I don’t know for sure,” she said. “It’s been a long few days for him. He’s been drinking too much alcohol, smoking too many cigars.” Regret passed through her eyes. “That’s my fault.”
“You haven’t been pouring the scotch or lighting his cigars,” Cole told her.
“And I haven’t been stopping him the past few days,” she said, clearly beating herself up, “like I should have been.”
“You were a little busy,” Cole reminded her. “Nearly getting blown up and nearly getting suffocated in a garage and getting…” Emotion choked him as he thought of everything she had recently endured. Despite all that, she’d been taking care of their daughter and his grandfather, as well.
Cole could imagine just how much of a caregiver she was when she wasn’t preoccupied with planning a memorial for her dead husband and trying to stay alive herself. She had to be unstoppable.
Was that why someone was trying to kill her? Because she stood between his grandfather and whoever was trying to kill him? The thought had occurred to him once already—just before he’d gotten shot—that someone had gotten sick of waiting for the old man to die.
But Shawna had been keeping Xavier alive. Maybe someone had wanted to get her out of the way. Maybe they didn’t even know that Grandfather had changed his will.
But if they were made aware…
“I need to call Cooper,” he said. They needed reinforcements. His grandfather needed guards at the hospital to make sure he wasn’t in danger. If the toxicology report came back that he’d been poisoned, then Xavier was the one somebody really wanted dead. And they would undoubtedly try again.
But even if his grandfather had been the intended target all along, Cole couldn’t take a chance with Shawna’s saf
ety. If something happened to his grandfather, once the will was read, she would be in even more danger than she had already been.
Cole hadn’t told her yet what his grandfather had done. And knowing how she felt about Xavier, he was reluctant to tell her the truth. He remembered how disillusioned and hurt she’d been when Cole had broken their engagement. Learning what Xavier had done would disillusion her, as well. She would undoubtedly be as furious as Cole had been over how the old man had tried to manipulate them both.
*
Shawna sat between Lars and Cole in the back seat of Xavier’s town car. Astin wasn’t driving. He hadn’t been released from the hospital yet, but he would be soon. She’d checked on him before she had agreed to leave the hospital.
She’d wanted to stay with Xavier until he was completely recovered. Manny was posted outside the old man’s hospital room along with a sheriff’s deputy. Since the explosion, the police had been investigating. Their involvement had increased with the events of the day before and now with Xavier possibly being in danger.
For several reasons, he was a very important member of the community. As the owner of several businesses, he supplied most of the jobs in the area, and as a philanthropist, he contributed to all of the charities and any unfunded community project. The town needed him.
So did Shawna. Since she’d lost her parents and Cole had brought her home to meet his family, Xavier had been a constant in her life. When Cole had left for boot camp and his deployments, she and his grandfather had grown even closer in their concern and fear. “Are you sure Manny is well enough to protect him?” she asked.
“He won’t have to be there long,” Cooper answered her from the driver’s seat. “I called in backup. One of my brother’s is sending some of his bodyguards. They booked the next flight out of River City.”
Would they get there soon enough to help?
“One of them should be a pilot like Cole,” Lars murmured. “Then they could have gotten here faster.” He was worried. From the muscle twitching in Cole’s cheek just above his clenched jaw, he was worried, too.
“You really think Xavier might have been poisoned?” Cooper asked.
