The place was huge, with acres of pastures still green despite it being late fall. They passed by two houses; one looked decades old and the other was much newer.
“Harlan and Caitlyn live there.” Slade tipped his head to the older house. “Dallas and his wife, Joelle, live in the other. Clayton and Lenora’s house is on the back part of the property.”
“How secure are the grounds?” she asked.
“The ranch hands are keeping watch for anyone. Plus, we’ve moved Lenora to the main house with my foster father, Kirby.”
Lenora, the pregnant sister-in-law, and Kirby, who was apparently battling cancer. Maya hated that both could be in danger, and she prayed all the security measures would be enough to keep everyone safe.
Clayton pulled into a circular drive and stopped directly in front of the sprawling house. Maya didn’t wait for Slade. She got out and practically ran up the porch steps to the front door. It was locked, but before she could ring the bell, Slade came up from behind her and punched in some numbers on the keypad.
The moment she was inside, Maya heard the voices, and she followed them through the foyer and toward the back of the house to the huge eat-in kitchen. She immediately spotted Declan, Caitlyn and another man wearing a badge.
But Evan wasn’t there.
“The baby’s upstairs with Stella,” Caitlyn jumped to say, probably because Maya looked on the verge of panicking.
“Stella?” That wasn’t a name she’d heard before.
“A friend of the family,” Slade supplied. “This way.” He led her to some back stairs and to the second floor.
There seemed to be dozens of rooms, but Slade took her to one toward the center. A woman with graying auburn hair was standing in front of a crib, and she put her finger to her mouth in a be-quiet gesture.
Stella, no doubt.
Maya probably made more noise than the woman wanted when she raced to the crib. She wanted to scoop him into her arms and kiss him, but Evan was sound asleep, snuggled beneath a pale blue blanket.
“He was just tuckered out,” Stella whispered. She smiled when she looked at Maya. “You appear to be, too. I’m Stella Doyle.”
“Maya Ellison.” She shook hands with the woman. “You have children of your own?” Because she’d obviously done a good job putting Evan to bed. Her baby was on his side and with nothing near his face to interfere with his breathing.
Stella shook her head, and some kind of pained look went through her eyes. “Wasn’t blessed with ones of my own, but I did enough of caring for this lot when they were at Rocky Creek. I was the cook there.”
The horrible place where Slade had been raised. But apparently she hadn’t been responsible for any of that horror or she wouldn’t be here. Yet more family. And Maya was beginning to feel as if she was up against an entire united clan who could challenge her for custody of Evan.
Stella hitched her thumb to the king-size bed on the opposite side of the room. “You could probably do with a nap yourself. If you need to freshen up a bit, you’ll find everything you need in the bathroom. The housekeeper, Loretta, keeps this room all fixed up for guests.”
Obviously, guests with children. Maya hadn’t expected the ranch to even have a crib, but she was thankful for it. Especially since she wasn’t sure how long they’d be staying.
Hopefully not long.
Stella’s attention landed on Slade when he slipped his arm around Maya’s waist and looked down at Evan. The woman made a soft sound of surprise and gave Slade’s arm a gentle pat.
“Never figured fatherhood would settle this good on you.” Stella didn’t wait for Slade to say anything. She walked out and eased the door shut behind her.
“I’m sure Stella can get some extra clothes and baby supplies for Evan and you.” Slade kept his gaze nailed to Evan and his voice at a whisper.
That was good to know, but it was Stella’s fatherhood comment that Maya needed to discuss.
“No,” Slade said before she could utter a word.
Maya’s eyebrow lifted, challenging that he didn’t know what she’d been about to say.
“I didn’t bring Evan here so I could shut you out,” Slade clarified.
Oh. So he’d known what was racing like wildfire through her head. “But you have so many people on your side.”
He still had his arm around her and pulled her closer until she was right against him. “There’s only one side here, and it belongs to him.” He glanced down at Evan.
It was the perfect thing to say to lessen her fears, and that was a Texas-size red flag. “Careful,” she mumbled, “or you’ll really lose your bad-boy image.”
The corner of his mouth lifted, and she felt the jolt of that blasted smile again. If Slade knew just how much it weakened her defenses and made her go all warm, he would probably use it more often.
But she rethought that.
Slade didn’t need to do anything to make her go all warm, and he wasn’t a man to resort to tricks to seduce a woman. She came up on her toes, intending to give him a quick brush of her lips. But he made a rumbling sound deep within his throat, turned and snapped her to him.
Definitely not a touch of lips.
He put his mouth to hers and kissed her as only Slade could do. Gently but somehow thoroughly at the same time. And the kiss was just for starters. The taste of him slid through her, easing away all the stress caused by the danger and revving up a different kind of tension.
Sizzling heat.
Before she’d met Slade, it’d been so long since she’d been in a man’s arms, and this particular man’s arms felt as if they were right where she belonged. Against his body, too, and Slade made sure she could feel every last inch of him when he repositioned her, bringing her breasts against his chest.
“If this makes you feel like panicking, let me know,” he mumbled before he took her mouth again.
It took her a moment to cut through the hot haze in her head and realize he was talking about the attack. The last thing that’d been on her mind. Mercy. How could Slade do that? With just a few kisses, he could make her forget something that had been forever branded in her memory.
He shifted again, moving her away from the crib and to a recessed area on the other side of the wall. At first she didn’t know why he’d done that, but she soon figured it out. He pinned her hands to the wall and took his clever mouth to her neck.
Maya melted.
Worse, she wanted to melt. She fought to get her hands from his grip, and Slade met her gaze as if he were about to stop. But stopping was the last thing she wanted. This kiss,
this,
made her feel something she was desperate to feel. And not with just any man.
Only with Slade.
That was another red flag. She couldn’t think of him that way. As a lover. But her body was in control of those thoughts now. In control of her. And the second she got her hands free from Slade’s grip, she wrapped her arms around him and pulled him even closer. Until his sex was aligned with hers.
She didn’t just melt. She saw stars.
“You want me to do something about this?” Slade asked, but he didn’t ask permission to slide his hand beneath her top and into her bra.
He pulled back, obviously waiting, but not just waiting. He dampened his fingers with his mouth and slid all that dampness over her now exposed right nipple.
Maya heard the sound she made. Pure need. The sound of a woman ready to be dragged off to bed.
“Well?” he prompted. And he gave her left nipple the same treatment. “Let me know what you decide.”
He pushed up her top, lowered his head and tongue-kissed her breasts. More fire. More ache. More everything.
“We can’t,” she managed to say. “Not here, not in the same room with Evan. And the door isn’t locked.”
He was already lowering himself to her stomach, but that stopped him, and he gave her a flat look. “That’s a mixed signal.”
“I know.” She groaned. “It’s because I really, really want you to lock that door, but Evan’s here. And your family’s downstairs. And we have other things we should be doing.” Though she couldn’t have named one other thing that didn’t involve getting into bed with Slade.
It took him a moment and some mumbled profanity, but he finally eased back up, dropping a few more kisses on her breasts before he fixed her clothes. What he didn’t do was move away. Slade stayed right there, his body pressed to hers and with every part of her wanting every part of him.
“I’m used to sex meaning little or nothing.” He pushed her hair from her face. “I’m guessing it can’t be that way with you?”
She wanted to lie, to say that she could let him satisfy this ache he’d built inside her. But Maya had to shake her head.
“That’s what I thought.” Slade still didn’t step back. And his erection was still pressed against her, making her body rethink that head shake.
“Does that mean you’ll never have sex with me?” she came right out and asked.
Now he shook his head and brushed one of those mind-blowing kisses over her mouth. “It just means I’ll know beforehand that it’ll be screwing things up.” Another kiss. “Right now you’re starting to trust me. You don’t tremble when I touch you.”
Maya checked. “I’m trembling now.”
“Not a bad tremble.” No kiss, just a deep-down gaze that seemed to slide right into her soul. “But I don’t want you trembling for all the wrong reasons when I’m inside you.”
That pretty much stole her breath. Mainly because she could practically feel him inside her. She could feel all the touching, the kissing and the pleasure he would give her. And Slade was right—it’d screw things up.
Still, she wanted it but clamped her teeth over her bottom lip so she wouldn’t blurt it out.
It took her a moment to realize the buzzing sound wasn’t in her head but that it was Slade’s phone. He reached in his pocket. Not easily. Because his erection had made his jeans a very tight fit. And he extracted his phone.
“It’s Declan,” he said, and Slade hit the speaker button.
Just like that, the heat vanished, and she knew this call could be a warning that someone had come to the ranch looking for them.
“I hope to hell this isn’t bad news,” Slade growled.
“It’s news. Not sure if you’ll consider it good or bad.” Declan paused. “I got the result from the DNA test.”
Chapter Twelve
Slade felt as if someone had punched him. Not because he’d forgotten about the DNA tests. He hadn’t. But with everything else going on, it hadn’t been foremost in his mind.
Even though it could change everything.
Maya sucked in her breath and held it. “Breathe,” Slade reminded her. “We’re listening,” he said to Declan.
“This is the result on the second kidnapped baby, Caleb Rand. He’s not a match to you or any of our suspects.”
Maya finally let out the breath she’d been holding, but then the renewed fear flashed through her eyes. With one baby ruled out, that meant either Will Collier or Evan was likely to be Slade’s son.
Fifty-fifty.
Odds that Maya no doubt hated.
“We did get a match for the baby’s birth father. He’s barely sixteen and spent some time in juvie lockup for an attempted B and E. Definitely not a suspect for the kidnappings. He hasn’t got the money, the connections or the motive.”
So the birth father hadn’t given up the child and then tried to reclaim him. That really narrowed their suspects, and that meant they were back to the Colliers, Randall or Andrea.
“When will we have Evan’s results?” Slade asked.
“Soon. And we might also have Will Collier’s DNA.”
Slade shook his head. “The estate burned to the ground. I didn’t think there was any recoverable DNA.”
“There wasn’t in the house. But we had CSIs go through the vehicles, and they found a blanket that had fallen under the seat. They managed to get a sample, but they’re not sure it’s enough to run a comparison.” Declan paused. “If it is, we’ll compare it to yours.”
“And Randall’s,” Slade insisted.
“Yeah. We have someone headed over to see Randall now to get a sample. And we have a court order in case he refuses.”
Good. Well, it was
good
if this gave them some answers, but Slade had to consider that neither baby could be his son. Even though Deidre’s doctor had said he was certain, he could have been wrong about the exact delivery date. And if that was the way the tests panned out, then his investigation was just getting started. His baby was out there somewhere. Hopefully, alive and well.
And Slade would find him.
“I’m sorry,” Maya said to him the moment he ended the call with Declan.
“Thanks.” He looked at her kiss-swollen mouth. Then at Evan. He could stay here with Maya in his arms, but that wouldn’t do either of them much good. He had work to do, and Maya needed some rest.
“Why don’t you take a nap?” And just in case she objected, he scooped her up and took her to the bed. His stupid body got an equally stupid notion that this was to continue the kissing session, so Slade made it quick. He deposited her onto the bed, gave her a chaste kiss on the cheek and headed for the door. “If you get hungry, just use the phone next to the bed, and I’ll bring you up something.”
“Slade?” she said just before he could leave. “Don’t withhold any news from me, okay? Whether it’s good or bad, I want to know.”
It was a tall order because there was potentially some really bad news out there, but he nodded. And he meant it. It was hard to hold back with a woman he wanted more than his next breath.
Slade went back downstairs to find both Declan and Clayton on their phones. Stella was at the stove fixing what smelled like a pot of chili. There was corn bread baking in the oven. Dallas was seated at the table, on the phone as well, but he had his wife, Joelle, on his lap, and despite what sounded like a serious conversation about the investigation, Joelle was nuzzling his neck. Caitlyn was helping Stella but was also on the phone with her fiancé, Harlan, and it was clear from what she was saying that she missed him.
All the smells and sounds of home and all the things that usually would have sent Slade heading off to his bedroom. Even though this was his family in every sense of the word, he’d never actually felt part of it like the others. But it was good to have them all on his side because that meant they were helping Evan, too. Even if it turned out that Evan wasn’t his, he wanted to do everything humanly possible to keep the baby safe.
Joelle got up from Dallas’s lap and went to him. “How’s Maya holding up? How are
you
holding up?” she added when their eyes met.
Since Joelle had been with him and all of his foster brothers at the Rocky Creek facility, she knew him a little better than Slade liked people knowing him. She must have seen the stress and worry all over his face. He tried to adjust his expression so it wouldn’t show.
“It’ll be better once we have some answers,” Slade settled for saying.
Joelle gave a soft sigh, probably because he hadn’t bared his heart and soul, and she kissed his cheek. Slade frowned, not because it wasn’t a nice gesture. It was. But since it was a first, Joelle must have figured things were pretty darn bad to try to comfort him with a sisterly kiss.
“Hungry?” Caitlyn asked, holding up a spoon of chili for him to sample.
But before Slade could decline, his phone rang, and he saw Randall’s name on the screen.
“My P.I.s found a lead on Gina,” Randall greeted. His words were rushed, and he sounded excited. “The doctor at the free clinic that Gina used decided to talk since he’s worried for her safety. He admitted to delivering the baby. A boy. On September 16, the same birthday as the kidnapped babies.” Randall finally paused. “That could be my son.”
Yeah. And it could be the reason why these kidnappings were happening if Randall had known about the child days earlier.
“Gina used a fake ID when she had the baby, and the doctor admitted she had made plans for a private adoption. He claims he doesn’t know the name of the adoptive parents.”
Or maybe he wasn’t saying.
Declan had already said they were sending someone over to chat with the doc, so maybe he’d spill more to the marshals than he would to P.I.s hired by the prospective birth father. Who was also a suspect in two kidnappings, two more kidnapping attempts and the murder of a hired gun who’d stolen an SUV.
“Where’s Gina?” Slade asked.
“The doctor didn’t know. He claims he hasn’t seen her since she gave birth, and none of her friends have, either. Not that she has many friends, and they could be lying. Like Gina, her friends don’t tend to be reliable.”
There it was again, that jab at his ex. Ironically, Randall and he were in similar situations with an ex who’d possibly given birth to their child. And that led Slade to his next question.
“You think Gina could be dead?”
“Not a chance. I think she’s laying low so I won’t find her and demand to know if she stole money from me.”
“Money? This is the first I’m hearing about possible stolen money.”
“Because I just found out about it. My accountant was going through my books, and he found the discrepancies. If he’s right, Gina might have stolen ten grand from me.”
That was a good-size chunk of money, but it wouldn’t go far if Gina was trying to disappear. “So you think Gina’s in hiding because she stole money?”
“Why else?”
“Maybe because she’s afraid of you.” And Slade made sure it sounded like the accusation that it was.
Randall cursed. “So we’re back to that. Look, I just want to get to the bottom of this so I can clear my name. I have no interest in Gina herself or the kid she gave up for adoption.”
Which was another reason for Slade to dislike Randall. It took a special piece of slime not to care about his own child.
“I’ve instructed my P.I.s to keep looking for Gina for another twenty-four hours,” Randall continued, “but if she hasn’t turned up by then, I want this investigation to end. I’m a businessman, and something like this could hurt my reputation beyond repair.”
“So would your being arrested for murder.” Yeah, it was a cheap dig, but Slade was tired of this. Of this investigation. And especially tired of not having answers. He clicked the end-call button just as Declan finished his call.
“The DNA sample from Will Collier was good to go. They’re already running a preliminary test, and we might have something by tomorrow.”
That soon? Slade figured either way the test went, it could pose new problems, but he decided to put those on the back burner. He already had enough to deal with.
He heard the footsteps behind him and knew they belonged to Maya before he even turned around. She had Evan in her arms, and the baby was wide-awake.
“No nap, huh?” Slade went to her, took the baby and motioned for her to sit at the table. “You need to eat something anyway.”
He didn’t miss the shocked looks on his brothers’ faces, probably because it was the first time they’d seen him voluntarily hold a child. He’d had some cases that’d involved babies and children, but Slade had been careful to avoid being hands-on with them.
Maya was nibbling on her lip when she sat down, but Caitlyn, God bless her, came to the rescue with a smile and a bowl of chili.
Joelle smiled, too. “So what’s it like to be a mom?” She patted her own stomach. “Dallas and I have one on the way.”
“It’s amazing,” Maya said without hesitation. She didn’t sample the chili until Stella, Clayton and Joelle had dished up some for everyone. “Exhausting, though. You won’t get much sleep.”
“After you eat, go ahead and take a nap,” Slade offered. “I’ll watch Evan.”
Again that earned him some shocked looks, and Declan’s was so bad that Slade scowled at him. The scowl was still on his face when Slade’s phone rang again. Not Randall this time but another of their suspects.
“Nadine Collier,” he mumbled. Since this call probably involved the investigation they were all a part of, Slade put it on speaker.
“I need your help,” Nadine said the second that Slade answered. “Look at the two pictures I’m sending you. Do it
now.
”
That brought the others hurrying to his side so they could see it, as well. The photos took a while to load, and they were grainy, but he had no trouble spotting the man.
The guy was wearing a ski mask.
And he was holding something in his arms.
The second photo showed exactly what he was holding.
“He has the baby.” Nadine’s voice cracked. “He has us both at gunpoint.”
Maya took Evan from his arms, and Slade got to his feet. “Who’s holding you at gunpoint and who’s the baby?”
“I don’t know.” It sounded as if she was crying. “On both counts. He won’t let me see his or the baby’s face, and he had the baby’s head covered with a cap so I can’t even tell the hair color. He used a stun gun on me when I was in the parking lot, and he drove me to this place. I don’t know where we are, but he’s holding me in a barn.”
None of this could be good. Or the truth. “What does he want?”
“Money.” A hoarse sob tore from Nadine’s mouth.
A ransom demand. Slade had been waiting for another of those, but he hadn’t expected it to come like this. “Put the man on the phone.”
“He won’t talk to you. I already tried. If you don’t come, if you don’t help, he says he’ll kill me, and no one will ever see the baby again.”
Hell. This was not what Slade wanted to hear.
“You have to come,” Nadine insisted. “You and Maya, and you have to bring as much cash as you can get your hands—”
“Wait a minute,” Slade interrupted. “Why does he want Maya?”
“He won’t say.”
The color drained from Maya’s face, and he probably went a little pale, too. The last place he wanted her was in the middle of a ransom exchange. It was bad enough that Nadine was there. Of course, Nadine could have orchestrated all of this, so maybe the only danger was this plan to get Maya and him out in the open.
Slade cursed. “Give your phone to our masked friend.”
Nadine repeated that the man wouldn’t talk to Slade, but he could hear the movement. “I got my orders,” the man snarled into the phone. “If Maya Ellison doesn’t come with you and if you don’t have a boatload of cash, this kid is on the next flight to Mexico.”
Slade tried not to react, but he wasn’t immune to that threat. Even if this wasn’t his baby, the infant was still in danger, and God knows what would happen to him.
“Meet me at the old Weston ranch,” the man said. “You know the place?”
“Yeah.” It’d been abandoned for several years, and there was only one road in and out. It was a good fifteen-minute drive from their own ranch.
“I’ll go,” Maya said.
“No, you won’t,” Slade insisted. He had to try again to bargain with the devil in the picture holding that baby. “I’ll come alone.” A lie. He’d have at least one of his brothers hidden away as backup. “And I can bring $20,000.” They probably had that much in the safe in the ranch’s office.
“Bring more,” the man countered. “And don’t come alone. If Maya’s not with you, then the deal is off. It’s the same if you bring any of your law enforcement buddies. Just Maya and you. You’ve got thirty minutes, or I start shooting.”
“No. I need a different plan,” Slade said, but he was talking to himself because the kidnapper had hung up.