The Bounty Hunter's Baby Surprise

by Lisa Childs

  Donny had barely escaped that time. He wasn’t sure he would be so lucky if he tried to scam Tom Kuipers again.

  “What about Lillian?” he asked. “Her boss is a maniac. He’s trying to kill her.”

  The color drained from their father’s face. They’d pulled off some scams and thefts, but they’d never really hurt anyone. Nor had they ever really been hurt, like Tom Kuipers wanted to hurt Lillian.

  “She has Jake Howard to take care of her,” Dave bitterly replied.

  “She’s not the only one in danger,” Donny said. And he wasn’t talking about himself.

  Kuipers had no idea he had that flash drive. At least Donny didn’t think so. Of course, one of those shootings had been near his apartment building, so maybe Kuipers had figured it out. Donny hadn’t told his family about that shooting, though, so they didn’t realize he could be in danger, too.

  “Who the hell cares that Jake Howard is in danger, too?” Dave asked. He was letting his hatred of the bounty hunter blind him to whatever love he had yet for Lillian.

  How could he forget that she was their sister? Their only sister? And so much like Mom...

  It felt like someone was squeezing Donny’s heart as he thought of their sweet mother. She would be so disappointed in him.

  “I’m not talking about Howard,” he said. He didn’t care about the bounty hunter, although he was glad he hadn’t hit him last night. He wouldn’t have wanted to kill the father of his sister’s baby. His niece or nephew.

  “She’s pregnant,” Donny said.

  His father gasped now. And Donny remembered how old the old man was, even though he didn’t look his age at all. He looked closer to thirty-five, like Dave was. But then Dave looked older than thirty-five now. Prison had probably aged both of them.

  Dad was too old for these kinds of shocks. So wouldn’t it kill him if someone killed Lillian? Because Tom Kuipers seemed pretty damn determined to make sure that she didn’t just end up in jail.

  He wanted her in the morgue.

  Chapter 18

  Jake had called in a favor from a friend who was still with the US Marshals. He’d found a better place to take Lillian than a hotel that took cash. But he wouldn’t have access to the place for very long.

  The guy only owed him so big a favor.

  Time was running out.

  Obviously, there weren’t any warrants out for his arrest yet, or Jake would have been taken into custody at the prison when they’d run his name through the system. As he’d thought, Tuttle and the O’Hanigans hadn’t admitted to anyone that Jake already had Lillian Davies in his custody.

  They were protecting him. He wasn’t surprised that Tuttle would. He knew Jake worked harder to protect his money than any other bounty hunter did. But why hadn’t the O’Hanigans turned him in?

  Sure, the rivalry had been more on their side than Jake’s and no doubt encouraged by Tuttle, but he’d hit Shane over the head. They really owed him one for that. But they must not have said anything yet.

  But what about her family?

  Would one of them turn him in?

  He wouldn’t put anything past the Davies family.

  “Are you okay?” Jake asked when Lillian stepped out of the bathroom.

  She had showered and put on one of the outfits he’d bought her. She looked beautiful in the blue dress she wore. She hadn’t needed the makeup she’d asked him to buy for her, but she’d used it to hide the dark circles he knew she still had. It didn’t hide the redness of her eyes or her swollen lids, though.

  She’d been crying.

  “I’m sorry,” he said.

  “Why?” she asked.

  “It’s my fault.”

  Her lips curved into a slight smile. “And here I thought Mr. Kuipers stole the money.”

  That was her defense—humor. It was how she’d dealt with what must have been a tough life. She kept an upbeat attitude. But it had to be a struggle for her to manage that now—with men trying to kill her and her own family turning against her.

  “This rift with your family,” he said, as guilt twisted his guts. “It’s my fault.”

  “You were only doing your job,” she said. “I was never mad that you brought them to jail.”

  She was only mad that he’d used her to do it.

  “I’m sorry,” he said again, hating that he’d hurt her then. And now...

  Going to her family today had been a bad idea. But he’d run out of good ones.

  “I have my friend with the US Marshals investigating Kuipers,” he said. But the guy hadn’t made any promises about when he could manage to look into it. He had several more pressing cases.

  She shrugged as if it didn’t matter. Maybe she’d given up hope. And maybe Jake should stop trying to bolster her hopes. But he needed that hope himself.

  “We’ll figure out how to prove your innocence,” he said. And he pulled her trembling body into his arms.

  She laid her head on his chest and clutched his shirt in her hands. Her tears dampened the material over his heart, which hurt with her fear and pain.

  He stroked his hands down her back. But he had no idea how to comfort her.

  Then she eased back and stared up into his face. And he knew...

  He lowered his head to hers and kissed her. As always, just that whisper-soft brush of lips across lips ignited the passion between them.

  Her face flushed with it.

  His pulse raced with it.

  “Lillian...”

  * * *

  Lillian needed Jake in a way she had never needed anyone else. She didn’t need him just to protect her. Or to help her prove her innocence. She needed him to breathe, for her heart to beat.

  And she knew that was crazy. He was only helping her because of the baby. Their baby...

  But she pushed that thought from her mind. Then when he swung her up in his arms, every thought left her mind. She could only feel—the passion, the need. She wrapped her arms around his shoulders, clinging to him as he carried her into the bedroom.

  Instead of laying her on the bed, he set her on her feet, her body sliding down the length of his. She felt his erection straining behind the fly of his jeans.

  He wanted her.

  She was pregnant and huge. How the hell did he still find her sexy?

  But the way he looked at her, his eyes dark with desire made her feel sexy.

  “You look so beautiful,” he said. He skimmed his fingers over her shoulder, over the dress he’d bought her.

  She loved it, too. He’d done so well choosing clothes for her, while she’d hidden in the SUV in the mall parking lot. Jake had been worried that someone might recognize her, if the police posted her photo as a wanted fugitive, so she hadn’t been able to go into the store with him.

  She hadn’t needed to, though. He knew her taste better than she’d realized. He knew her.

  “I almost hate to take this off you,” he said. But yet, there was no hesitation when he bent down and lifted it from the hem and pulled it over her head.

  Her hair tangled around her face before dropping over her bare shoulders. She wore her bra beneath the dress and a pair of panties that started below her belly.

  Her big belly...

  But instead of it turning Jake off, he leaned over and skimmed his lips over it. And his fingers shook a little as he ran them over the swollen mound.

  “You are so beautiful,” he said again as he straightened up.

  She smiled, moved that he was so affected by her pregnancy.

  Then he unclasped her bra and touched her breasts, sliding his thumbs over her nipples until they tightened. Pleasure shot through her, and a moan slipped from between her lips.

  Jake groaned. Then he lowered his head and moved his mouth over her breasts. When his lips closed over one of her nipples, she
cried out.

  And he pulled back. “Did I hurt you?”

  She shook her head. But the tension inside her was so intense it was almost painful. She needed the release only he could give her.

  She needed him.

  She reached for the button of his jeans, quickly undoing it before pulling down the tab of his zipper. Then she reached through the flap of his boxers and freed him.

  His skin was smooth in her hand and pulsating with the same need for release that burned inside her.

  “Lillian...” Her name sounded almost like a growl as Jake uttered it between clenched teeth. A muscle twitched in his cheek. “You’re driving me crazy.”

  She continued to slide her hand up and down the length of him. And he groaned again. Then he dragged off his shirt and kicked off his jeans and boxers. When Lillian dropped to her knees, he lifted her up before she could close her mouth around his erection.

  “You’ve tortured me enough,” he told her. Then he laid her on the bed and he proceeded to torture her.

  First, he focused all his attention on her breasts, lapping at the nipples, teasing and tugging on them.

  She shifted on the bed as her pulse pounded in her core, demanding release.

  Then he moved lower over the mound of her belly. He pulled off her panties and made love to her with his mouth until she arched off the bed and screamed his name.

  The orgasm was intense, but it still wasn’t enough. She needed him—inside her—as if he was part of her. And she part of him.

  He must have needed to feel the same way because he moved onto the bed. Instead of lying on his back, he knelt on the mattress. Then he lifted her until she straddled his lap.

  She reached between them, guiding his pulsing erection into her core. Biting her lip, she tried to hold in the cry of pleasure as she slid over him. But it slipped free.

  Then his mouth moved over hers, and he nibbled on her lower lip before sliding his tongue into her mouth. He moved his hips, thrusting them up. But he stilled and sweat beaded on his brow. “I don’t want to hurt you.”

  “You’re not hurting me or the baby,” she assured him. And she locked her arms around his shoulders and moved, sliding up and down the length of his erection.

  He groaned again, sounding as if he was tortured. Maybe she was torturing him. And herself.

  He moved with her. And finally, she found her release, crying out as she came. He tensed, then shuddered as he filled her.

  She wanted to cry out again. She wanted to profess her love. But it wouldn’t be fair to make that declaration now—not when she was so uncertain of her future.

  Uncertain if she even had one...

  And even if the charges were dropped against her, she wasn’t sure Jake wanted to be back with her. If he had, he would have sought her out months ago. Wouldn’t he?

  While he was protecting her and he seemed to care about the baby they’d made, she wasn’t sure that he cared about her—that he loved her like she loved him.

  And she didn’t want to wind up like her mother, dying of a broken heart. So she needed to keep the declaration and her feelings to herself.

  Jake Howard had already hurt her once.

  She couldn’t let him—or anyone else—hurt her again.

  * * *

  Tom’s cell rang but the caller ID came up blank. Whoever was calling didn’t want his or her identity known. That was fine with Tom. If someone had finally killed Jake Howard and Lillian Davies, he didn’t want their deaths linked to him.

  There couldn’t be any traceable record of calls between the killer and himself.

  But disappointment tugged at him. He wanted to kill Lillian himself—right after he made damn sure that flash drive didn’t exist.

  He clicked the accept button. “Yes?”

  “Mr. Kuipers?”

  He recognized that voice, the one of the man who’d swindled him. And despite the con artist’s efforts to hide his identity, Tom had recently learned it. Archie Wells had a friend in security at the bus terminal, and he had managed to get the footage from the day Tom had been tricked into paying for a blank flash drive.

  “Donny Davies,” he said, letting the man know he was no longer anonymous.

  Tom had his name and his death warrant signed.

  There was a long pause.

  “Nothing to say for yourself?” Tom asked.

  “I don’t have to talk,” Donny said as he began to do just that. “All I have to do is turn over this flash drive to the authorities.”

  “If you were going to do that, you would have already,” Tom said, which made him more certain that the thing had never existed.

  Lillian Davies wasn’t smart enough or brave enough to go after him. Was she?

  “It will go to them if anything happens to me or my sister,” Donny said.

  Tom had played poker for years. He recognized a bluff when he heard one. “I don’t believe you,” he said. “If there was any evidence on that flash drive, your sister would not be a fugitive. She would have showed up in court with it in her hand.”

  And Tom would be the fugitive. At least he had the money and the means to elude justice, though.

  Lillian Davies did not.

  Even if she’d been in on the con with her brother, they hadn’t asked for much money. They’d probably already burned through what Tom had had delivered to the locker in that bus terminal. And that must have been the real reason for this call: money.

  “I have the flash drive,” Donny said. “She doesn’t. I can give it to her, though. Or I can give it to you.”

  Tom almost felt sorry for Lillian. Her own family was using her. All she had was that damn bounty hunter in her corner. But that wouldn’t be for much longer.

  Tom had put out a hit on Jake Howard, as well as her and her dim-witted brother. Because Donny Davies was such a dimwit, he would probably walk right into Tom’s trap.

  “I’ll pay you,” Tom said, “but I want to check out the flash drive before I give you another dime.”

  And once he’d checked it out, he would put a bullet in Donny Davies’s pea brain.

  Chapter 19

  “You hit me over the head and expect me to do you a favor?” Shane O’Hanigan asked, his deep voice booming out of Jake’s cell phone.

  “Who said I hit you over the head?” Jake asked. One of Shane’s brothers might have seen him do it, though.

  But Shane hesitated long enough that Jake knew the guy had no proof. Just like he had no proof.

  What the hell had Lillian’s brother done with that flash drive? He needed help finding it and help finding Donny.

  But Jake had learned a painful lesson when he’d deceived Lillian. Nothing good ever came of lying. And yet, getting close to Lillian—making that baby with her—hadn’t been bad. The pain he’d caused her, though, was greater than what he’d caused Shane O’Hanigan.

  “I did hit you,” Jake admitted. “And I’m sorry.”

  Shane cursed him out for a long moment.

  “It’s not like I could actually hurt you, though,” Jake said. “You’re legendary for having a hard head.” He was actually surprised he’d knocked the thickheaded Irishman unconscious. He must have hit him harder than he’d even intended. Guilt weighing on him, he asked, “Are you okay?”

  Shane snorted. “You want to know if I’m well enough to do this favor you want me to do?”

  “I need your help,” Jake said, and it killed him to admit it.

  Shane knew him well enough that he must have realized how hard that admission was for Jake to make, because he expelled a ragged breath that rattled the phone. “Wow, this is serious. So it is your kid she’s carrying?”

  “Yes.”

  “Congratulations?” Shane asked, clearly uncertain if this was news that would make Jake happy.

  And wi
th that question, Jake realized that he was happy. For himself. The poor kid was probably doomed. But Jake was happy that he would always have this connection with Lillian. That something good had come of the lies he’d told her.

  “Thanks,” Jake said. “I have to make sure the kid’s not born in jail, though.”

  “That would suck,” Shane agreed. “So what do you want our help with?”

  “I need you to find Lillian’s younger brother, Donny Davies.”

  “You’re the expert on the Davies family.” Shane snorted. “Obviously. So why do you think we can?”

  “Because you’re good,” Jake begrudgingly admitted. They’d found his secret safe house, so he could no longer say that his rivals didn’t have skills. He was counting on those skills to do what he couldn’t.

  “There’s no bounty on him,” Shane said.

  “I’ll pay you,” he offered. He knew the brothers were like Tuttle—all about the money.

  There was a long silence as if Shane was debating. Maybe he’d even muted the call to talk to his brothers. The O’Hanigans worked as a team. Jake envied them that, envied their genuine loyalty for each other despite their incessant bickering.

  Finally, Shane spoke again. “I don’t want your money, Jake.”

  He cursed. Damn it. He couldn’t keep Lillian safe and track down her idiot brother.

  But then Shane continued, “I want your car.”

  “What?”

  “The Nova,” Shane said. “I want that.”

  Jake nearly chuckled. Shane must not have seen the Nova in its current battered condition. “Man, you’re driving a tough bargain.”

  “I’d rather drive that car,” Shane said. “Is it a deal?”

  Jake paused a long moment before adding, “On one condition.”

  “We’re not going to kill him for you,” Shane said.

  A twinge of disappointment flashed through Jake. He’d have liked to kill Donny Davies Junior himself for all the trouble he’d caused Lillian.

  “There’s not even a bounty on him,” Shane continued as if he might have considered it if there was.