Unless…
“McClendon’s lawyers could use my ordeal to question how reliable my memories are.” That didn’t help with the acid in her stomach. “And we don’t have proof that McClendon, Anthony or Jamie was the one who had me kidnapped.”
Kade nodded and eased his arm around her. He also eased her to him. “Two weeks is a long time, Bree. Anthony’s witness could pan out.”
And if so, that meant Coop would be arrested or implicated in something bad. It was a long shot and one she hoped she didn’t have to face.
“What if an arrest doesn’t end the threat against us?” she asked.
“Then, we keep looking.”
Kade pulled in a deep breath and brushed a kiss on her forehead. He didn’t look at her, and it didn’t seem as if he’d noticed what he had done. That made it even more scary. Had they become so comfortable with each other that a benign peck was standard?
Apparently so.
The danger was responsible for that. And Leah. Kade and she were joined at the hip now, and that wasn’t likely to end anytime soon. Their situation was bringing them closer together and keeping them there. For now. But Bree knew that bubbles often burst.
“I know you’re uncomfortable with all of this,” Kade said. He glanced at his arm slung around her and then at the spot where he’d kissed her.
So, he had been aware of what he’d done.
“I’m comfortable,” she corrected. “And that’s what makes me most uncomfortable.”
He laughed. It was smoky and thick. All male. And she realized it was the first time she’d heard him do that. It made her smile in spite of the mess they were in. And then the easy way she’d smiled only added to the discomfort.
Sheez.
She was in trouble here in more ways than one.
“If you take the danger out of the situation,” he continued, “then what’s happening between us might not be a bad thing. I mean, I’m attracted to you, and I’m pretty sure you’re attracted to me. That’s better than having us at each other’s throats.”
That created an image that she tried to push aside. Fast. Of Kade kissing her throat. Her, kissing his. Heck, she was just fantasizing about kissing him, period.
“The attraction isn’t going to make this easier,” she reminded him.
He paused, made a sound of agreement. Then, made another sound that could have meant anything. “Not easier, but I can’t seem to stop it. I dreamed about you.”
She risked looking at him, even though that put them face-to-face with their mouths too close together. Another kiss wouldn’t send them into a wild scramble to have sex on the sofa. Because Leah was there. But if the baby hadn’t been, then all bets were off.
And Grayson would arrive soon to take Leah.
What then?
More dreams, no doubt.
She didn’t question Kade about his dream. Didn’t need to hear the details. She’d had enough hot dreams about him when they’d played under the covers at the clinic. She doubted his dreams about her could be as hot as the ones she’d had about him.
The corner of his mouth lifted, and a dimple flashed in his cheek. That smile no doubt caused many women to melt into a puddle.
And it was doing the same to her.
But the puddle cooled down when she heard the sound. It was slight. Like a little squeak. However, it was enough to send Kade and her looking down at Leah. The baby squirmed, made another of those sounds.
And her eyes finally opened.
“About time you woke up,” Kade told her, and he kissed the baby on her cheek.
Bree did the same. A puddle of a different kind. How could she possibly love someone this much?
“I’ll miss her,” Bree whispered. And that was a huge understatement. It would kill a piece of her to see Grayson take her baby out that door.
“Yeah,” Kade agreed. It sounded as if he had a lump in his throat. He opened his mouth to say more, but another sound stopped him.
Footsteps.
And that meant Grayson had likely arrived to take Leah away. Bree instantly had to blink back tears.
However, it was Mason who appeared in the doorway, and while he wasn’t exactly out of breath, he had obviously hurried. He was also carrying a laptop. “We have another problem,” he told them.
Bree groaned. “Not another visitor?”
“Of sorts,” Mason verified. “You guys are real popular today. Someone just scaled over the fence. And that someone is armed.”
* * *
K
ADE CURSED AND DREW HIS GUN.
He didn’t want a confrontation with a gunman. Especially not with Leah still in the house. Not with Bree there, either.
Mason put the laptop on the table in front of them. The screen was split into six frames, each of them showing the feed from the various security cameras positioned around the grounds. Mason pointed to the top right where Kade could see an armed man behind a tree. He was armed all right.
A rifle with a scope.
Bree pulled Leah even closer to her. “How far away is he from the house?”
“Half mile,” Mason answered.
But the moment Mason spoke, the guy darted out and raced for cover behind another tree. He was moving closer to the house. Closer to Leah.
“I’ve alerted the ranch hands,” Mason continued. He drew his gun. “And I’m about to head out there myself.”
Kade wanted to go with him. He wanted to be the one to confront this SOB and one way or another get some answers from him.
But that would mean leaving Bree and Leah alone.
He couldn’t do that. Too big of a risk.
“I’ll watch the surveillance and call you if there’s a problem,” Kade assured his brother.
Mason nodded, switched his phone to the vibrate mode so that it wouldn’t be heard, and he hurried out of the room.
Bree moved closer to the laptop screen, her attention fastened on the man who was wearing dark camouflage pants and shirt. He had a black cap that obscured the upper part of his face.
“How tall do you think he is?” Bree asked.
“Six feet, maybe.” He glanced at her. “Why? Do you recognize him?”
She kept studying him. “Maybe. I think it could be the man who kidnapped me. There’s something about the way he’s holding that rifle that looks familiar.”
Then Kade wanted the man alive. Of course, his brother already knew that. Because this goon could give them answers. Kade wasn’t sure if he could keep his temper in check if this was the man who’d put Bree through hell and back.
“Your captor held a rifle on you?” Kade wanted to know.
Bree nodded, and that only added to the anger he’d felt. Each little piece of information only worsened the description of hell that she’d been put through.
The gunman moved again, going behind another tree. The shift in position only highlighted more of his face. Kade couldn’t see the guy’s eyes, but they had a clearer image of his mouth and chin.
“Recognize him?” Kade pressed.
Bree shook her head. “I never saw his face,” she reminded him. “Nor the woman’s.”
Still, it was obvious that she thought this could be the guy, and that was enough for Kade.
Kade looked at Leah to make sure she was okay, and thankfully she’d fallen back asleep. His baby girl didn’t have a clue what was going on, but he didn’t want her sensing any of Bree’s fear. Except maybe it wasn’t fear because Bree was staring at the man as if she wanted to rip him limb from limb.
Good.
Fear was natural, but it was determination and some luck that would get them through this.
“There aren’t any more trees between that part of the pasture and the house,” Kade let her know. “So, if he wants to get closer to fire that rifle, he’ll have to do it out in the open.”
Where Mason and the ranch hands could spot him. And hopefully stop him. But just in case the guy managed to get off a shot, Kade needed to take some more precautions.
He grabbed the laptop and took it toward the other side of the room. Toward the front of the house and far away from the windows on the rear where the gunman would no doubt be approaching. Kade helped Bree onto the floor behind the sofa. The bathtub would have been safer if it weren’t for the two windows in there.
Kade kept his gun ready, and he watched. On one screen he could see Mason and three ranch hands. All armed, all headed toward the gunman. The gunman stayed put behind the tree, but he took a small device from his jacket pocket and aimed it toward the house.
“The gunman has infrared,” Kade mumbled along with some profanity.
Kade fired off a text message to let Mason know that the gunman now had a way to get a visual of who was in the house. He wouldn’t be able to see actual images, but he could tell from the heat blobs on his screen where they were.
“He came here to kill us.” Bree’s voice was barely a whisper, and Kade heard the fear now.
She turned so that her body was between Leah and the gunman. She was protecting their child, and Kade moved in front of them to do the same.
Kade braced himself for the gunman to come closer, especially now that he no doubt knew where they were.
But the man didn’t do that.
He dropped the infrared device and fired. Not at the house. He fired in the direction of Mason and the ranch hands. They all dived to the ground as the bullets pelted around them.
“They’re pinned down.” The fear in Bree’s voice went up a notch.
Kade felt his own fear rise, too, and he frantically searched the screen to see if any other ranch hands were close enough to respond and provide Mason and the others with some backup.
They weren’t.
Probably because Mason had ordered everyone to stay away from possible gunfire. And they were doing just that. At least a dozen of them were guarding the house, but it wouldn’t do Mason and the others any good.
“I have to go out there,” Kade told Bree. He hated to tell her this, but he had no choice. “I can approach him from this direction.” He tapped the screen to the gunman’s right. “While he’s keeping my brother pinned down, I can sneak up on him.”
Bree shook her head, but then she groaned and squeezed her eyes shut a second. She knew this had to happen.
“Be careful,” she said.
“That’s the plan.” Kade gave Leah and her one last look. Hopefully, a reassuring one, and he grabbed the Colt .38 from the table so he could put it by Bree’s side. Things would have to have gone to hell in a handbasket if she had to use it, but Kade didn’t want to leave her defenseless.
He raced out of the room, barreling down the steps and out the front door. He stopped just long enough to holster his handgun and grab a rifle from the weapons’ safe just off the foyer.
“Text Mason for me,” Kade instructed the ranch hand guarding the front of the house. “Tell him I’m approaching the shooter from the west side.”
The shots kept coming. Not rapid fire any longer, probably because the guy wanted to conserve ammunition, but the bullets were spaced out just at the right pace to keep Mason and the others on the ground.
Kade ran to the side of the house and peered around, but the angle was wrong for him to see the gunman. He headed toward the first outbuilding—the stables—and he raced along the side until he reached the back.
Now, he had the right angle.
The shooter was still a good distance away, but the guy wasn’t looking in Kade’s direction. Or, thankfully, the direction of the house.
Kade took aim. Not for a kill shot. But for the man’s right arm.
And he fired.
The shot blasted through the air. Kade saw the man’s body snap back when the bullet slammed into his shoulder.
But the shooter didn’t drop the rifle.
Despite the bullet wound, the guy pivoted, lightning fast, aimed at Kade. And he fired.
Kade ducked behind the stables in the nick of time. The shot slammed into the exterior wall in the exact spot where his head had just been.
Whoever this guy was, he wasn’t an amateur.
Kade stayed low, glanced around the stables, but before he could get a good look, another shot came at him.
Then another.
Kade tried to see this as a good thing. This way, Mason might be able to return fire, but it was hard to see the good side of things with the bullets coming at him.
He got even lower to the ground and looked out again. The man had taken aim but not at Kade.
At the house.
His heart went to his knees. Yes, Bree and Leah were somewhat protected, but this guy could maybe get off a lucky shot.
Kade couldn’t risk that.
He came out from the stables, his rifle already aimed at the intended target. No arm shot this time. He went for the kill.
And Kade pulled the trigger.
Even from this distance, he heard the sickening thud of the bullet tearing into the shooter’s body. The man’s rifle dropped to the ground.
Seconds later, so did the man.
Kade started running toward him.
Maybe, just maybe, he could get to him in time, before he took his last breath. And then Kade could learn the identity of the person who’d sent this monster after Bree and his baby.
Chapter Nine
Bree almost wished the latest adrenaline crash would numb her to the fear and desperation that she was feeling. Not for herself.
But for Leah.
Their situation wasn’t getting better, and judging from Kade’s stark expression, he felt the same way. He sat across from her, his elbows on his knees and his face in his hands.
“I’m sorry,” he repeated to her.
“You had no choice but to kill him.” Bree knew that was true because she’d watched the nightmarish ordeal play out in front of her on the laptop screen.
First, she’d been terrified that Kade, his brother or one of the others would be killed. Then, her terror had skyrocketed when the shooter took aim at the house. For a couple of horrifying moments, Bree had thought he might shoot. That a bullet could tear through the walls and reach Leah.
But Kade had made sure that didn’t happen. The gunman hadn’t even had time to pull the trigger again before Kade shot him.
And killed him.
She’d watched that, too, while she’d held her baby close and prayed that nothing else bad would happen. Leah was okay, thank God. But the shooter hadn’t been able to say anything before Kade got to him. No dying confession to clear his conscience, and that meant they were right back at square one.