He didn’t have to search long.
The side door to Kylie’s garage flew open. Milky, yellow light speared into the darkness.
So did two armed men. Both were dressed from head to toe in dark clothes and were wearing ski masks.
And they weren’t alone.
They were dragging Kylie out of the house.
Chapter Three
Kylie had no time to react.
The two men came at her—fast. Rushing across the kitchen straight toward her.
Her only warning had been the soft click of her laundry room door. That was it. The lone indication that the two masked armed men had somehow picked the lock and had gotten inside her house.
She turned to run to try to get her gun, which she’d left on the table in the foyer.
She didn’t get far.
One of them latched onto her, using his beefy hand to stop her. He curved his arm like a vise around her neck. Her throat snapped shut, clamping off all but a shallow scream. But that didn’t stop her from reacting.
Her instincts cried out for her to escape. And she tried. She really tried. Kylie rammed her elbow into the man’s muscled stomach. He staggered back, just slightly, but not nearly enough for her to break free of his fierce grip.
Refusing to give up, she pivoted and went for his eyes using the heel of her hand.
It didn’t work.
The man was huge, well over six feet tall and heavily muscled. Literally overpowering her, he grabbed her and shoved her forward into the waiting arms of the other man.
“Remember, don’t hurt her or the kid,” the first guy snarled. “We’re to deliver her safe and sound to the boss. So they can talk.” His gaze slashed to hers. His frosty gray eyes were the only part of him she could see because he was dressed from head to toe in black, including a ski mask. His partner wore a similar outfit. “Well, unless she gives us no choice about that safe and sound part. I’m sure the boss will understand if she doesn’t cooperate.”
Terror and a sickening dread quickly replaced the surge of adrenaline. Oh, God.
They might hurt her baby.
She stopped struggling. But they didn’t stop. Kylie caught just a glimpse of the white cloth before one of the men shoved it against her face.
Chloroform, maybe.
They were obviously trying to knock her out. But at what cost?
She shoved the cloth away. “You said you wouldn’t hurt my baby,” she managed to say.
The man put the cloth right back in place, over her nose. “This stuff won’t hurt you or the kid,” he grumbled. But it wasn’t much reassurance coming from a would-be kidnapper.
If that’s what he was.
Was this a kidnapping? If so, why did they want her?
Kylie didn’t like the first thought that came to mind. Mercy. Was this related to that article she’d written about illegal surrogacy? But it didn’t matter if it were about that. If she didn’t do something, these men would likely succeed in taking her.
Forcing her breathing to stay shallow so the drug wouldn’t incapacitate her, Kylie tried to stay calm. She reminded herself that she had to stay alive and alert for the sake of the baby. It worked. Well, a little. She steadied herself enough so she could glance around the kitchen and laundry room for anything that she could use to escape.
But the men didn’t give her a chance to escape. They got her moving outside into the freezing cold night. Away from her weapon. Away from the phone that she’d hoped to use to call Lucas. They hauled her through the garage and out the side door.
Kylie struggled against the drug-laced cloth and managed to bat it away again. But it was already too late. Everything was becoming hazy, slightly out of focus. It probably wouldn’t be long before she completely lost consciousness.
She closed her eyes and decided to play along with that scenario. It was a long shot, but if her kidnappers thought she’d passed out, maybe they’d let down their guard long enough for her to escape.
Continuing the act, she let her legs and body go limp and would have fallen if her captor hadn’t caught her. As if she weighed nothing, he scooped her up in his arms and kept on walking through the dense woods.
Seconds crawled by.
Each one pounded in cadence with the syrupy pulse drumming in her ears. Kylie fixed the image in her head of Lucas holding his baby, and she used that as motivation to stay awake. She had to stay awake, to survive.
And she would.
For Lucas. For his baby. For the life that he deserved to have and for the life that she’d promised Marissa that she would give him.
She silently cursed the stupid things she’d said to Lucas so that he’d leave. I’m a big girl. Trust me, I can take care of myself.
But she obviously couldn’t.
Not only had she allowed two kidnappers to break into her home, she hadn’t even been armed at the time. Instead, she’d been fighting back tears over Lucas’s visit. Crying instead of grabbing her gun. And that was despite every primitive alarm going off in her head that something wasn’t right. So much for listening to her gut. She’d be lucky to get the baby and herself out of this alive.
She lifted her left eyelid a fraction and saw where they were taking her. In the direction of the lake. Probably to the road that circled it so they could escape. Or else they planned to drown her. But Kylie pushed that frightening thought aside. If they’d wanted her dead, they probably already would have killed her. And they certainly wouldn’t have come prepared to chloroform her.
Of course, she couldn’t rule out that they were taking her to a secondary crime scene, a place where they could finish her off and dispose of her body without leaving any forensic evidence behind.
She added some mental groans to her mental profanity. She couldn’t give in to these what-ifs and worst-case scenarios. If she did, she’d likely die.
Instead, she focused on the lake, on what she knew about it. After all, it was as familiar to her as her own home. It was where she took daily walks and did most of her writing. She figured that the men had parked off the road. If she got a break, one little distraction, she could dive into the water, and, uh…
Probably drown.
Yes. Drown.
Another mental groan. She was already so dizzy that she couldn’t stay focused. Heaven only knew what would happen to her in the water.
Okay. Plan A was discarded. She moved on to Plan B. Too bad she couldn’t think of one. Sweet heaven, her head was spinning and she felt on the verge of throwing up. Still, she fought through that haze and forced herself to think. She had to come up with something.
The thudding noise and the howl of pain jarred open her eyes. Not that she could see much. But she was able to determine that the other man was no longer in front of them. He was on the ground, writhing and groaning.
“What the hell?” the one holding her growled, a split second before he let go of her.
Kylie managed to protect her stomach and break the fall with her hands. She immediately got to her knees so that she could get away and scurried behind a tree. It wasn’t easy but, dragging her way through the underbrush and soggy dead leaves, she somehow got there. It took her a few seconds to realize that her captor wasn’t coming after her.
It took a few more to realize why.
One of the men was still on the ground. And he was the one who was moaning and holding on to his leg. However, the other guy aimed his gun at a shadowy figure that appeared between two trees.
Lucas.
He’d come back.
“Lucas!” she called out to warn him. It wasn’t her best effort. More breath than voice. She sounded drunk and, worse, felt that way, too.
Still, he reacted. Lucas darted to her side just as the guy fired at him. The shot blasted through the woods, clipping a tree and spraying splinters and bark. The sound was deafening and shook her to the core. Not just because it drilled home the danger for herself and the baby, but because Lucas was now in danger, as well.
Oh
, God.
And she was responsible for him being here.
If he were hurt, or worse, it would be her fault. Kylie wasn’t sure she could live with that. She’d already caused enough devastation in his life.
Frantically, she searched the ground, looking for anything she could use to defend them. The dizziness and nausea didn’t help. Still, she kept searching, raking aside the leaves, and finally came up with a thick, long tree limb. It wouldn’t be much protection against a semiautomatic, but if she got close enough, she could do some damage.
Well, maybe.
With her focus fading in and out, she probably wouldn’t be much of a threat even if she’d had a loaded gun.
She peeked out from behind the tree. Neither of the kidnappers was anywhere in sight. Great. Just great. They could come at her and Lucas from any direction and, considering that she could only move slowly, she’d be a sitting duck.
“Shhh.” The sound was barely audible, but it was the only warning she got before Kylie felt a rough hand clamp over her mouth.
She automatically struggled, trying to defend herself with the tree branch, but the man—and it was definitely a man—pulled her to him. Right against his solid, rock-hard body. Her face landed against a buckskin coat. A familiar coat.
With an equally familiar scent.
“It’s me,” Lucas whispered. Without making a sound, he eased forward and positioned himself in front of her, using his body as a shield to protect her.
Kylie quietly laid down the branch and checked to make sure he wasn’t injured. Even with the full hunter’s moon, she couldn’t see much. Well, not much except the stalwart, determined expression on Lucas’s face.
Lucas didn’t take his vigilant gaze off their surroundings. He reached over, the fingertips of his left hand skimming over her stomach.
The baby kicked.
Right on the spot where Lucas was touching her.
If Lucas had noticed it, he didn’t say anything. Instead, he readjusted her robe. Putting it back in place. Most likely so that she’d stay warm. In all the chaos, she hadn’t realized that the only thing between her stomach and the cold night air was a thin white cotton gown.
“Are you okay?” he whispered.
She hadn’t been injured in the fall, but every muscle in her body was already aching and stiff from the fight and the adrenaline. Then, there was the chloroform or whatever had been on that cloth. It might be hours, or days, before she knew what effect that would have on her. And the baby. Especially the baby.
“I’m okay.”
And she prayed that was true.
Her reassurance didn’t do a thing to ease his vigilance. He kept his Glock aimed and ready. And she knew for a fact that he had a lethal aim. She only hoped that it was enough to get them out of this alive.
Kylie pulled in her breath and waited. She listened carefully, but all she could hear was the wind rattling through the towering oak trees. Reality quickly began to sink in. Yes, Lucas was there, and he was armed. And he was good. But sometimes good just wasn’t good enough.
Frowning, scowling really, Lucas brushed his knuckles over her lips. Barely a touch. Kylie flinched at the contact. However, she welcomed it in a weird, surreal sort of way. Human contact, even if it happened to be from Lucas, felt pretty comforting.
“You’re humming,” he whispered. “Out loud.”
Kylie stopped, considered that. “Am I?” she whispered back.
A crisp nod. “‘Jingle Bells.’”
No surprise there. Humming perky, out-of-season tunes was her way of dealing with stress. And right now, she was dealing with a lot of stress.
“Sorry,” she offered, and she clamped her teeth over her lip to make sure it didn’t happen again.
But her stress level soared when she heard someone moving through the woods.
Her heart began to pound even harder than before. She forced herself to breathe normally so that she wouldn’t hyperventilate.
Beside her, Lucas didn’t react, didn’t move a muscle. Definitely no threat of hyperventilation for him. Everything in him seemed to still, like a jungle cat waiting to move in for the kill.
The sounds continued. They were closer now. Definitely footsteps. Despite the roar in her ears, she could measure the pace of whoever was walking. Slow, methodical steps. Not from the side, but from behind them.
God, from behind them.
They were about to be ambushed.
Lucas whipped around and fired a shot. “I’m Sheriff Lucas Creed,” he called out, his voice even more of a warning than the bullet he’d just fired. “I know your partner’s injured because he’s got my knife in his leg. My advice? Surrender. He needs medical attention now.”
The footsteps stopped.
And the silence returned.
Long, agonizing moments.
She waited. Trying to stay conscious and to still her body as Lucas had done his. Of course, the baby chose that moment to kick like an NFL punter. Kylie slid her hand over her stomach and rubbed gently.
Lucas’s gaze came to hers. He didn’t speak, but his left eyebrow slid up. It was a question. Are you truly okay? That unsaid question touched her.
Until she made the connection.
His concern wasn’t for her per se. This was some kind of transference because of his own impending fatherhood. Of course, he had no way of knowing that the kicking baby was his baby.
She’d done everything within her power to keep it a secret. And she would continue to do that. Not just through the pregnancy and delivery, but forever.
The thought of that broke her heart. She could never let this child know that she was his or her mother.
Never.
Sometimes, like now, that seemed too high a price to pay, but then she’d created a huge debt because of that fatal shooting three years ago. And she’d made that promise to Marissa. This was the one way she could repay Marissa and Lucas. Her heart would be broken, but his would finally be healed.
“They’re gone,” she heard Lucas say.
Kylie listened and heard the sound of a vehicle on the lake road. Driving away.
Or better yet—getting away.
“You have to go after them,” she whispered frantically.
But just saying those few words robbed her of what little energy she had left.
“No,” Lucas answered. “I can’t leave you. Not without backup.”
Part of her greatly appreciated that. Especially since she was unarmed, barely conscious and a couple of steps past being defenseless. But another part of her, the former cop part, knew that without suspects in custody, she might never learn why they’d come after. The two ski-mask-wearing men might simply disappear.
Which would create a real nightmare for her.
She’d always be wondering, worrying when, where and if they’d strike again. What little peace of mind she had would be a thing of the past.
With that realization, Kylie gave up the fight.
Because she had no choice, she leaned her head against the tree, and the murkiness and the winter night closed in around her.
Chapter Four
“This isn’t necessary,” Kylie grumbled. Again.
Lucas ignored her. Again.
Balancing the cell phone that he had sandwiched between his shoulder and his ear, he gently deposited Kylie onto the paper-covered examining table. She was still groggy, but not so groggy that it prevented her from insisting that she could have walked into the clinic on her own.
Yeah, right.
She was wearing only those flimsy socks. And the temperature had been below freezing. The ground had been hard and slick with frost. Still, if Lucas hadn’t been concerned that she might fall flat on her face, he would have given in to her protests and let her test her theory concerning her walking capabilities. But a fall might have injured her baby. Or even her. Despite how he felt about Kylie, Lucas hadn’t been about to risk that.
“You can wait out there, Lucas,” Dr. Finn McGrath insi
sted. And to clarify what he meant by out there, Finn hitched his thumb in the direction of the empty reception area just outside the examining room.
“She’ll be okay, right?” Lucas asked.
That earned him a flat look from Finn, a man he’d known all his thirty-one years of life. His best friend.
“I know, I know. Your psychic skills are a little rusty,” Lucas jested.
“But you’re in luck,” Finn replied. “I’m not too rusty in the medical department.”
Lucas appreciated his friend’s attempt to settle him down, but the attempt was wasted. “They drugged her with something,” he explained.
“Yeah. Figured that out.” Finn put a hand on Lucas’s back to get him moving. “I’ll examine her. But since examining her means making sure she doesn’t have any injuries beneath her gown, I don’t think Kylie will want you to be in the room for that. Doubt you’ll want to be there, either.”
No. He didn’t. And it made Lucas more than a little uncomfortable to think of Kylie and what was beneath that gown. Best to think of her only as his former deputy.
As his enemy.
As his most recent 911 call.
Unfortunately, it was impossible to leave out the part about her being pregnant and apparently in a whole boatload of danger.
“I need to bag her clothes,” Lucas reminded Finn. “I can send them to the crime lab in Austin to see if they recover any trace evidence.”
“Yes, I figured that out, too.” Finn pressed a little harder on Lucas’s back. “Don’t worry. Clothes will be bagged and tagged, and I’ll scrounge up something around here for her to wear.”
Lucas nodded and stepped into the reception area. He hadn’t really noticed it on the way in—mainly because his brain had been too occupied with Kylie and her need for medical attention—but he saw the recent changes Finn had made in the office. A wall mural of a serene pasture dotted with bluebonnets and longhorns. A children’s corner stocked with all sorts of toys and books. Gone was the old loveseat, and in its place were four navy leather chairs. Nice ones. But Lucas was too antsy to make use of the chairs. And he was too tired to pace. So, he leaned against the wall and waited.
Secret Surrogate Page 3
