“I’m sorry this happened to you.”

His voice was gentle. Almost a whisper. And even though Rosalie figured that being in his arms was a very bad idea, she just didn’t have the strength to push him away.

Austin made a soft shushing sound and eased her deeper into his arms. Until she was pressed against him. Even with the tears and her heart shattering, she felt his body. Heard the quick rhythm of his breath.

Just as when she had spotted him at the table with his bedroom hair and eye-catching jeans, the trickle of heat went through her. A bad kind of heat that she didn’t want to feel for him. But felt anyway.

Rosalie pulled in her breath, taking in his scent with it, and suddenly everything that happened couldn’t compete with what she knew they were both feeling right at this moment.

Kidnapping in Kendall County

Delores Fossen

www.millsandboon.co.uk

USA TODAY bestselling author DELORES FOSSEN has sold over fifty novels with millions of copies of her books in print worldwide. She’s received the Booksellers’ Best Award and the RT Reviewers’ Choice Award, and was a finalist for a prestigious RITA® Award. In addition, she’s had nearly a hundred short stories and articles published in national magazines. You can contact the author through her webpage at www.dfossen.net.

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Contents

Cover

Excerpt

Title Page

About the Author

Chapter One

Chapter Two

Chapter Three

Chapter Four

Chapter Five

Chapter Six

Chapter Seven

Chapter Eight

Chapter Nine

Chapter Ten

Chapter Eleven

Chapter Twelve

Chapter Thirteen

Chapter Fourteen

Chapter Fifteen

Chapter Sixteen

Chapter Seventeen

Chapter Eighteen

Chapter Nineteen

Chapter Twenty

Extract

Copyright

Chapter One

Rosalie McKinnon tightened her grip on the Beretta that she’d stolen and stepped out of the house and onto the narrow back porch. She stayed in the shadows, away from the milky kitchen light that was stabbing through the darkness.

There was only a thin lip of an overhang on the roof, so after just a few steps, the December rain spat at her. Not sleet exactly, but close enough. Rosalie didn’t know if she was shivering from the fear or the cold. It didn’t matter. Shivering wasn’t going to stop her.

Nothing would.

Tonight, she would get answers. Even if she had to shoot him.

She made it down the slick, uneven limestone steps and into the sprawling backyard. She paused just a couple of seconds to make sure no one in the house had noticed that she’d left. With all the decongestants and antihistamines she had managed to slip into the guard’s coffee, maybe he’d be out long enough so he wouldn’t realize that she was missing.

If not...

Well, best not to go there.

Even though she had stolen the guard’s gun after he’d passed out, there were other armed guards on the grounds. If they discovered her, she’d be dead within seconds. Especially if they figured out what she was doing. They were no doubt capable of killing.

That also applied to the man she had to see.

Maybe, just maybe, he’d be sleeping, too, so she could get the jump on him. It was the only chance she had of making this plan work.

Hurrying now, Rosalie crossed the bare winter grass to a much smaller house at the back of the barn. Once, it’d probably been a guest cottage when the ranch was a real working operation. Now there was no livestock around, no hint of the life that’d once gone on here other than a tractor and hay baler that had been left to rust away. These days, the place was a glorified prison for the babies being processed for black market adoptions.

Since it made her sick to her stomach to think of that, Rosalie pushed the thought aside and tested the doorknob on the cottage.

Unlocked.

A big mistake on his part.

Rosalie opened the door and stepped inside. All dark and toasty warm. It smelled of too-strong coffee and the fast-food burgers that’d been brought in for their dinner.

The only light in the room of the cottage came from the kitchen in the main house, where she’d just been. It cut like slivers down the tiny front windows that were streaked with rain.

It took a couple of moments for Rosalie’s eyes to adjust, and in the shadowy silhouettes, she saw a desk, a sofa and the small bed against the wall. There were two interior doors, both closed, and from what she’d learned from the guard’s idle chatter, one was a bathroom. The other, a bedroom that was being used as a storage closet.

But it was the man on the bed who grabbed her full attention.

He was on his side, facing away from her. No cover on him, and he appeared to be wearing the same jeans and shirt he’d had on when she had spotted him earlier in the yard.

The guard had called him boss.

She’d yet to see him up close, but Rosalie had gotten another glimpse of him from the upstairs window of the main house. His dark brown Stetson had covered most of his face, but she’d watched to see where he would go. And he hadn’t gone far—just to the cottage. All in all, it wasn’t the worst place to confront a monster because he was alone here, away from the guards who would protect him.

Keeping the Beretta by her side, she walked closer, her heart thudding with each soft step. She had to remind herself to breathe. And to keep a clear head. Her instincts were to shoot, or run, but neither of those things would get her what she needed.

Too bad she wasn’t a cop like her siblings. They would have no doubt handled this much better.

But then they would have never gotten into this place.

Not with their cops’ eyes and attitudes. Plus, they’d all been tied up with other leads and other investigations. Important ones. Her mother was about to stand trial for first-degree murder, and while finding the baby was critical, so was the trial since her mother was facing the death penalty.

That’s why she’d come up with her own plan several months ago while she was staying at her family’s ranch. A plan that’d started with finding any info to get her inside this place or any other place that would possibly lead her to her daughter.

Rosalie leaned over and jammed the gun to the back of the man’s head. “I want answers,” she managed to say even though her throat clamped shut. Her voice had hardly any sound.

He moved, just a fraction. “Darlin’,” he drawled.

Her shoulders snapped back, and it was that split second of shock that caused her breath and body to freeze.

The man reached out, lightning-fast, snagged her by the right hand and stripped her of the Beretta. In the same motion, he pulled her down onto the bed with him and rolled on top of her, pinning her beneath him.

That unfroze her.

Her heart jolted, throbbing in her ears, and Rosalie started to fight back. She couldn’t just let this man kill her.

“Play along,” he growled, his voice no longer a drawl but rather a whisper. “There’s a camera.”

She’d already brought up her knee to ram any part of him that she could reach, but she stopped. Stared at him. Well, she stared at what she could see of him, anyway.

“Rosalie,” he muttered.

Mercy. How did he know her real name? She was using a fake ID with the name Mary Williams. If he was onto her, why hadn’t he already told the guards?

“Who are you?” she tried to ask, but he put his hand over her mouth.

“I figured you’d drop by,” he said. No longer a whisper, and the cocky drawl had returned. “I saw you eyeing me earlier from the window.”

She had. She’d eyed him and committed everything she could see about him to memory from his sandy-brown hair to lanky build. He normally wore a shoulder holster, and judging from the bulge in the back of his coat, he had another gun tucked in the back waistband of his jeans.

And the keys.

Three of them.

They jangled from a metal ring hooked to his belt loop.

Rosalie believed one was for the truck she’d seen him driving, but one of the others was for the room inside the main house where she’d gotten a glimpse of computers and files. The room was always locked, and there was a camera mounted on the doorjamb, but she needed his keys to get a look at those files.

She glanced around, to try to see if there was indeed a camera here, but the room was too dark.

“Who are you?” she asked, shoving his hand from her mouth.

He pulled back, stared down at her, though she still couldn’t clearly see his face. “You don’t know?” But he didn’t wait for an answer. He mumbled some really bad profanity, and his grip tightened on her wrists. “Why the hell are you here, anyway?”

He didn’t shout it, but she had no trouble hearing the anger in his voice. Or maybe not anger, but something.

What was going on? She couldn’t see enough of his face to recognize him, and that raspy whispered voice wasn’t enough of a clue. He could be friend or foe, but clearly he fell into the latter category since he was the boss here.

So, what was her next move?

She hadn’t thought beyond getting answers and then trying to escape, but clearly she hadn’t expected this. Whatever this was.

“Did you come here to kill me?” he demanded, still whispering.

“If necessary.”

Except a dead man couldn’t tell her what she needed to know. But she would have pulled the trigger if it’d come down to it. Unfortunately, she no longer had a gun as a bargaining tool. She had only shaky hands. Shaky body, too, and her heart just kept pounding.

The moments crawled by. Him, still staring at her and obviously waiting for an explanation. The only sounds were the rain pinging against the window and their rough breaths.

“Pretend,” he finally snapped.

Rosalie didn’t get a chance to ask what the heck that meant before his mouth went to her neck. He nuzzled it, as if kissing her, but he was still mumbling profanity, and his jaw muscles were way too tight for this to be a real kissing session.

So, what was this? Some kind of act for the person on the other end of the camera? If so, why was he trying to cover for her?

“I’m not leaving without answers,” Rosalie whispered. “And I want these babies safely out of here and back where they belong.”

“Pretend we’re having sex or you might not be leaving at all. You’ll be dead. And so will I.”

That was the only warning she got before the pretense went into full swing. He kneed her legs apart, yanking off her green scrub pants. He didn’t touch her panties, thank goodness, and he threw the covers over them.

He fumbled between them, pretending to unzip his jeans before the fake thrusting started.

“If necessary?” he said, repeating her response to his question of Did you come here to kill me? “If you’re not here for revenge, then why did you come?”

Revenge, yes, she wanted that. And justice. But more than those things, she just wanted answers.

It was impossible to think with everything going on. The sex was fake, but it was still a man’s body shoving against her. And then there was the fear. Obviously, this man knew her. Knew she was as phony as the sex they were having. So, why hadn’t he shouted out for the guard?

Why hadn’t he killed her?

After all, he had her gun and his.

“I’m looking for my baby,” she said. Her mouth trembled. And she felt her heart breaking all over again.

He stopped moving, met her gaze. For a few seconds, anyway. Then, he let out a loud groan, the sound of a man who’d just reached a climax, and he collapsed against her.

“You had a child,” he said. Not a question exactly but more like something a person would say when trying to piece things together.

She nodded. Bad idea. It caused her mouth to brush against his neck, and because his sex was still aligned with hers, she felt a stirring.

Yes, this was pretend, but his body was obviously having a hard time remembering that.

“I gave birth to a baby girl nearly a year ago.” Eleven months. Six days. Heck, she knew the hours and minutes.

“Nearly a year ago,” he repeated. “She was your fiancé’s baby?”

Again, not a question that she’d expected. Rosalie nodded and tried to tamp down the massive lump in her throat. Her eyes burned with tears that she couldn’t cry. Tears wouldn’t help her baby now.

“Sadie...that’s what I named my daughter. She was born eight and a half months after my fiancé was murdered.”

The memories of that day came. Of his shooting. That horrible flood of images that just didn’t stop. So senseless. Her fiancé, Special Agent Eli Wells, had died because of a botched investigation, and Rosalie had wanted to die right along with him.

And then she’d learned she was pregnant.

The baby had saved her. Because she’d put all her love and emotions into surviving, into the pregnancy, so she could have the child of the man she’d loved.

“Someone stole Sadie from the hospital just a few hours after she was born,” Rosalie added, “and I’ve been looking for her ever since.”

His breath was thicker now, practically gusting. “She wouldn’t be here. They only bring newborns here, and they’ve only used this place for a couple of months.”

Yes, she knew that from the guard’s ramblings before he’d actually dozed off from the meds that she had slipped him. “I thought there would be records on the computer in a locked room of the house.”

“There are. But only for the babies being held at this location. You’re sure the black market ring took your daughter?”

“No.” And it hurt to admit that. She wasn’t sure of anything, but she’d exhausted her leads and had gone with this different angle. “A criminal informant said there might be information here.”

There was a lot more to it than that, but Rosalie didn’t want to rehash everything it’d taken to bring her to this point. All the lies, the payoffs and the bogus identity she’d had to create.

“Why haven’t you killed me?” she came out and asked. “And how do you know who I am?”

Again, he took his time, looking down at her as if trying to figure out what was going on. Rosalie was doing the same thing to him.

“What criminal informant did you use?” he asked, obviously dodging the questions.

Of all the things that were up in the air here, that didn’t seem very important. “A guy from San Antonio. Lefty Markham.”

He groaned, cursed and rolled off her and to his side. But he immediately pulled her against him. Face-to-face. Like a couple having some pillow talk after a round of sex.

“He’s your stepbrother’s CI,” he whispered. “Why the hell didn’t you bring Seth in on this?”

Seth Calder, not just her stepbrother but also an FBI agent. So, not only did this man know who she was, but he also knew details about her life that he shouldn’t know.

“Because Seth’s checking out another lead over in El Paso. The CI said the baby-holding area here at the ranch wouldn’t be here much longer.”

“It won’t be. The plan is to move tomorrow.”

Oh, mercy. So soon. “I need to see those records. Please help me. Please.”

Yes, she was begging but she would resort to a lot more than that to learn where her baby had been taken.

“I’m Austin Duran,” he said.

His voice was so soft, barely audible, but it slammed through her as if he’d yelled it.

“Oh, God,” she said a lot louder than a whisper.

“Yeah.” He moved away from her so they were no longer touching.

The name was as familiar to her as her own. But not in a good way. It was a name she’d cursed. A bogeyman who’d robbed her of her hopes and dreams.

The man who’d killed Eli.

Not in the eyes of the law, though, and it certainly hadn’t been labeled murder. But Rosalie knew that Austin Duran was the FBI agent who had botched the investigation that’d led to Eli’s murder.

“Yeah,” he repeated. There was a lot of emotion hanging on that one word. The pain. The memories.

Everything Rosalie was feeling.

“You thought I’d come here to kill you,” she mumbled. “You thought I was avenging Eli’s death.”

He didn’t confirm that. Didn’t need to.

“I didn’t get a good look at your face.” And that’s why she hadn’t instantly recognized him. Strange that she hadn’t sensed that he had been so close, because she’d spent all these months hating him.

And Rosalie would use that hate.

In fact, it could be better than a gun.

“You’re here undercover?” she asked.

He nodded. “I’m looking for...someone.”

She didn’t care about that. Didn’t care about anything right now but her daughter. That included choking back her hatred for this man and making this work for Sadie and the other babies who were being held inside so they could be sold like cattle.

“You owe me,” she insisted. “For Eli’s death. And you’re going to help me find his missing baby.”

Austin didn’t jump to do just that. He lay there, silent as death, and Rosalie was about to repeat her demand when she heard the sound.

Something she definitely didn’t want to hear.

Footsteps.

Those steps were the only warning they got before there was another sound. The door flew open, and Austin scrambled in front of her.

But it was too late.

Two armed guards hurried into the cottage, and both pointed assault rifles at them.

Chapter Two

Austin had already spent the past twenty minutes or so cursing fate. And cursing Rosalie’s untimely arrival in the cottage. It wouldn’t do any good, but now he cursed the guards and those rifles trained on him.

“What the hell do you two want?” Austin growled, and he made a show of zipping up his jeans.

Austin didn’t know the guys’ names. Over the past week since he’d been undercover at the ranch, the flow of guards had stayed steady, none of them remaining in place for more than forty-eight hours. But it didn’t matter what they called themselves. Austin just needed to get them out of there.

“Well?” Austin added in his worst snarl. He made sure he sounded like the person in charge.

He wasn’t.

Heck, he didn’t even know who had that particular title of being in charge or who exactly was watching him on the camera. However, it was pretty clear that someone had gotten suspicious of Rosalie’s visit. The mock sex hadn’t fooled them, and if Austin didn’t do something fast to diffuse the situation, it could go from bad to worse.

The pair of guards exchanged glances as if trying to figure out what to do, but the guy on the right had a communicator in his ear, so he was no doubt receiving instructions.

“Why is she here?” The goon on the right tipped his head to Rosalie.

Austin gave him as cocky and flat of a look as he could manage. “Why do you think?”

“She’s supposed to be inside,” he snapped.

“The babies are asleep,” Rosalie volunteered as if that explained everything.

It didn’t, of course.

There were two newborns inside, along with a nanny and the guard. Since Rosalie had no doubt been hired as a nurse, she should have been inside and nowhere near Austin’s quarters.

“I’ll be going,” Rosalie mumbled. She fished around on the floor for her scrub pants and pulled them on. She also pushed her long blond hair from her face.

Austin noticed that both her voice and hands were shaking, but hopefully the guards would think that was a reaction from being caught in the act of a lover’s tryst. And nothing else.

Soon, if they got out of this, he’d need to convince Rosalie to leave so he could get on with his investigation.

This was a bad place for her to be.

She started for the door, but the men blocked her path. And they didn’t lower those rifles. “You two know each other?” one of them asked.

“We do now.” Austin shot her a sly smile. “But I’m ready for her to leave. Gotta get some sleep.”

And he waited.

The guards still didn’t move, though he could hear some chatter on the one guard’s earpiece. Austin wished he could snap his fingers and make the real boss appear so they could settle this man-to-man, but so far he didn’t have even a description of the person responsible for so much pain.

“Walk her back to the house,” one of the guards finally said to Austin. “Make sure she stays put.”

Austin tried not to look or sound too relieved, but he was. Rosalie and he had just dodged a bullet or two.

For now, anyway.

The real boss obviously didn’t trust him, or the goons wouldn’t have been sent in to see what was going on. Maybe that meant Rosalie and he would be placed under a more careful watch. However, she wouldn’t be reined in like that.

Nope.

There’d be no deterring Rosalie from looking for her stolen baby. Austin knew how she felt, but he also knew that her persistence would get her killed the hard way. He couldn’t let that happen.

She was right about one thing. He did owe her.

But that was a debt he could never repay.

Still, maybe he could do something to bring his late partner’s baby back to her mother’s arms.

The guards stepped back. Finally. And as soon as they were out of the doorway, Austin grabbed his shoulder holster and coat from the peg near the door. He still had his backup weapon in the holster in the back waistband of his jeans, but if this little walk to the house went wrong, he wanted all the firepower he could get.

“Come on,” Austin told Rosalie and got her moving.

He picked up her Beretta, as well. Or rather, the guard’s Beretta. Austin wasn’t sure he wanted to know how Rosalie had gotten it from the man.

She glanced back at the guards, who were now making their way to the barn. Not an ordinary one, either. It had become a modified command post and living quarters to house the guards and all sorts of people who’d been coming and going. Austin had sneaked some photos and jotted down license plate numbers, but he was a long way from piecing this together.

“Why didn’t my brother know the FBI had undercover agents working the black market adoptions here?” Rosalie whispered.

“Because the FBI doesn’t know I’m here.”

Her mouth dropped open, and she looked ready to accuse him of something, but she must have remembered that she’d sneaked in here, too. Of course, he had the training to carry out undercover work.

Rosalie didn’t.

But she obviously had some kind of contacts to get her in this place. Austin sure had. Well, one contact, anyway. A former FBI agent who’d helped him create the bogus background and references so Austin would look “legit” to someone running a criminal operation. It had worked, and he’d been hired as head of security at this particular site.

Austin purposely kept their steps slow to give them time to talk, and he looped his arm around her waist so they’d look like the lovers they were pretending to be.

“Who hired you for this job?” he asked.

Rosalie shook her head. “I made all the arrangements through the criminal informant. He said word on the street was the operation was looking for nannies and nurses. I’m an RN. So I had a fake ID made. Created fake work and a computer bio, too.”

Austin tried not to groan. Lefty Markham was a piece of slime who’d sell his mother for a quarter.

“The job interview, if you can call it that, was done over the phone,” she added. “Along with transportation arrangements. This morning, a truck arrived at an abandoned gas station just off the interstate to pick me up, and the driver made me put on a hood so I couldn’t see where he was taking me.”

That was standard practice for this operation. So, the fake bio and ID must have fooled the person in charge of hiring her. Still, that didn’t mean anyone trusted her.

Nor him.

The camera proved that, and Austin was well aware that he was constantly being watched. Even now.

“You said your daughter was taken eleven months ago?” Austin whispered. He kept them walking at a slow pace toward the house.

Rosalie nodded. “Why? Do you know something about her?”

She sounded hopeful, but Austin would have to crush those hopes right off. “No. I’m here looking for my nephew. He’s a newborn, and someone kidnapped him.”

Rosalie pulled in a hard breath, and even though it was dark, he thought he might have seen some sympathy in her eyes. “So we can find them both.”

“No.” He stopped, turned her so she could see that this wasn’t up for negotiation. “I’ll find them, and you’re getting the heck out of here. I don’t care how. Pretend you’re sick or something. I just want you off the grounds tonight.”

She was shaking her head before he even finished. “I can’t leave. I have to find my baby.” Her voice broke, and he saw the tears shine in her eyes.

Austin huffed. “Look, I know you have no reason to trust me, but you won’t be doing your baby any good by getting yourself killed. These men are dangerous, Rosalie, and they’ll do whatever it takes to keep this operation secret and profitable.”

He could tell by the little sound she made that he hadn’t convinced her, so Austin would have to do more than talk. “Then I’ll make the arrangements,” he added. “But one way or another, you’re leaving tonight.”

Before she could respond, or argue, the back door to the house creaked open, and the guard staggered onto the porch. Unlike the other two, Austin knew this one. Walter Ludwig. Not very bright but trigger happy.

A bad combination.

Walter had a rifle in his right hand and aimed his left index finger at Rosalie. “She drugged me and stole my gun.” And even though he was still staggering, the man pointed the rifle at her.

Austin stepped between them, held up his hands in a calm-down gesture. “Everything’s okay,” he lied. “It was all just a misunderstanding.”

Not the best excuse, but Austin didn’t want to say too much. Every word now could be risky.

“She drugged me,” the guard repeated, and he came down the steps, closer to where they stood. “And now she’s gonna pay for that. Get out of the way, boss.”

“Not happening. Just put down the rifle, Walter, and we’ll talk about this.”

“Don’t wanna talk.” His words were slurred, and he had to lean against the porch post to steady himself. “I just want her dead real quick.”

Austin cursed under his breath. He had to figure out a way to diffuse this now, or else the other two guards would hear the raised voices and come running. They were already suspicious of Rosalie and him. Which meant the pair just might encourage Walter to commit murder.

“Move away from her!” Walter growled, and despite his unsteady footing, he came off the porch. Charging right toward them.

Austin pushed Rosalie to the side so he could latch on to the rifle and turn it away from her. Walter’s finger was on the trigger. Poised and ready to fire.

“If you shoot, a bullet could ricochet and hurt one of the babies,” Austin tried again.

His attempt at logic didn’t work. Walter was in a rage. Every muscle in his body primed to fight, and it was obvious he wasn’t going to listen to reason.

“I’m gonna kill her!” Walter snarled, and when he tried to bring up the rifle to do just that, Austin knew he had no choice.

He bashed the Beretta against the side of Walter’s head. It wasn’t a hard enough hit to kill the man, but it caused him to drop like a bag of rocks to the ground.

“What’s going on?” someone asked, and a moment later, the nanny, Janice Aiken, looked out from the kitchen door. She gasped, pressing her fingers to her mouth.

But that wasn’t the only voice that Austin heard.

The barn door opened, and he knew it wouldn’t be long before both guards came out to see what was wrong. This had plenty of potential to end in the worst possible way.

“What should we do?” Janice asked. “I’ll help.”

“She’s on our side,” Austin explained to Rosalie.

Well, maybe.

He didn’t have time for details and especially didn’t have time to make sure that he trusted Janice. So far, it appeared the nanny was ready to put an end to the black market baby operation, but he wasn’t a hundred percent sure of that. He definitely hadn’t counted on trusting her this soon. But one thing he did know: the babies were worth a lot of money, so even if Janice was in on the scheme, she would indeed protect them.

For now, that had to be enough.

Austin turned to Rosalie, took out one of the keys and handed it to her. “It’s for the truck. Use it in case something goes wrong. For now, go inside and help Janice get the babies ready to move.”

Rosalie gave a shaky nod and hurried into the house with the nanny. They’d barely gotten the back door closed when Austin reeled around and faced the pair of guards who were storming toward them.

“What the hell happened?” one of them demanded.

“Personal dispute. Walter here wanted to sample my lady friend, and I didn’t want to share.”

Walter moaned, twisting on the soggy ground. “She drugged me.”

And despite the moans, that accusation came through crystal clear.

Austin smirked at the man. “I think Walter just had a little too much to drink.”

Yeah, it wasn’t much of an explanation, but Austin didn’t think he could say or do anything at this point that would convince the guards that this was nothing that concerned them.

The guard on the right glanced at Walter. Then, Austin. And finally at the house. “Get the woman out here now so we can talk to her.”

That put a hard knot in Austin’s stomach. “And then what? You kill her and leave us without a nurse? What happens if one of the babies gets sick, huh?”

The man lifted his shoulder, took aim at Austin. “Nurses are replaceable. And so are you. Drop your weapons.”

Oh, man. He really hadn’t wanted it to come down to this because the guards likely knew some critical information that would help him find his nephew. And Rosalie’s baby. That wouldn’t happen if he had to kill all three of them.

Or if they managed to kill him first.

Austin adjusted the grip on his gun so he’d be ready in case the bullets started. He’d have to shoot the one on the right first, dive to the side and hope he got lucky enough to take out the second before the guy got off a shot.

Risky at best.

But his only option now.

Austin brought up his hand, ready to fire, but it was already too late.

The guard pulled the trigger.

Chapter Three

Rosalie and the nanny barreled up the stairs toward the nursery, but the sound of the blast stopped Rosalie in her tracks.

Oh, mercy.

Had the guards killed Austin?

It didn’t matter that he was essentially her enemy. She didn’t want him shot, especially since he’d been trying to cover for her.

Rosalie hurried into the nursery, running past Janice to get to the window. She braced herself to see a dead Austin lying on the ground, but the only person she saw was Walter. He was crawling back toward the porch. No sign of Austin or the two other guards.

“What’s happened?” the nanny asked, and she scooped one of the sleeping newborns into her arms.

Rosalie shook her head just as she heard another shot. It was so loud that it seemed to shake the entire room.

She managed to get a glimpse of Austin. He was still armed, but he was pinned down near some shrubs on the side of the house. The guards had taken up cover behind what was left of the tractor and hay baler.

“We need to get out of here,” Janice reminded her.

Yes, they did. But Rosalie watched as Austin had to scramble away from yet another shot. He was doing this to give them a chance to escape, but it could turn into a suicide mission for him.

“Let’s go,” Janice pressed. She put both of the tiny babies in a single carrier seat and looped the handle over her left arm.

“Is there another gun in the house?” Rosalie asked.

Janice’s head jerked up. “There’s one on the top of fridge. It’s in the way back, so it’s hard to see and reach. But you can’t be thinking of helping him.”

Yes, that’s exactly what she was thinking. Rosalie wasn’t sure she wanted to trust this woman with the truth about what she was really doing there, but the bottom line was that Austin might be her best bet in finding her daughter. Because it was personal for him, too, since he was on a mission to find his nephew.

Plus, there was the part about his owing her for Eli’s death.

It wasn’t exactly fair to play the guilt card, but she was many steps past being desperate. She’d do anything to find Sadie.

“Here,” Rosalie said and pressed the truck keys into the nanny’s right hand. Too bad she didn’t have a phone to give her, as well, but the guards had taken those from them. “The truck’s out front, away from the gunfire. Get the babies out of here.”

“But what about you? The boss said we should leave,” Janice reminded her.

Rosalie ignored that and got Janice moving. Thankfully, the sound of more shots caused the woman to hurry, and they made their way down the stairs and to the front of the house.

“Drive toward the interstate,” Rosalie instructed. “And stop at the first police or fire station you see.”

Janice gave a shaky nod and one last look before she raced out the door and to the truck. Rosalie didn’t wait to watch her leave. She figured the moment the guards heard the roar of the engine that they’d try to stop the nanny from fleeing with the babies.

That couldn’t happen.

Rosalie hadn’t been able to protect her own child from being taken, but she could do something about these two. She went to the kitchen, slapped off the lights and stood on her tiptoes so she could search the top of the fridge.

She found the gun.

It didn’t take long, just a few seconds, before she heard the truck start. The guards heard it, too, and one of them lifted his head, ready to bolt toward the vehicle.

Austin stopped him.

He fired a shot, sending the man back behind the tractor. But he didn’t stay put. The guard and his partner started firing. Nonstop.

All the bullets were aimed at Austin.

Walter kept crawling, coming closer to the house, and Rosalie saw him lift his rifle toward Austin. She wasn’t sure Austin would be able even to see the man, and it was a risk she couldn’t take.

Rosalie didn’t think beyond giving the babies the best possible chance at escape. She opened the kitchen door, and the fridge, as well, so she could use it for cover once she fired.

Walter spotted her right away and pointed the gun at her. However, she pointed her gun right back at him.

And she got off the first shot.

She hadn’t aimed for any particular part of him, but the bullet slammed into either his chest or his shoulder, causing him to drop back to the ground.

God, had she just killed a man?

As horrible as that thought was, it would be worse if Walter had managed to shoot Austin, Janice or the babies.

The other guards cursed at her, and both fired into the house. Even over the sound of those shots and her own heartbeat crashing in her ears, she heard Austin.

“Get down!” he yelled.

Rosalie didn’t do that. She fired another shot at the guards. Austin did the same, and it kept the men pinned down long enough that they weren’t able to stop Janice from escaping. Rosalie caught just a glimpse of the truck taillights as the nanny sped away.

The relief flooded through her.

And the fear.

What if the guards had already managed to call someone to get them out there to the road? And what if they managed to stop the truck? She doubted they would hurt the babies. There was too much money to be made from them.

But they’d kill Janice.

“You’re both gonna die!” one of the guards shouted.

The threat had no sooner left his mouth when Austin fired again. Two shots. One for each guard. And both men dropped to the ground.

Everything seemed to freeze. The cold rain. The echo of those shots. The lifeless guards. Everything except Austin. With his gun still pointed at the guards, he jumped onto the porch and went straight toward her.

“Whoever’s on the other end of the cameras will send someone after us,” Austin warned her. “We have to move fast.”

Rosalie knew he was right, but like the rain and the guards, she felt frozen. Austin helped with that, too. He took her by the arm and ran out of the house with her. Not toward the driveway, where Janice had just driven away. But rather toward another barn that looked ready to collapse under the weight of an old, sagging roof.

“Firing at those guards was stupid,” Austin snarled. “You could have been killed.”

She wanted to argue, wanted to remind him that he could have been killed, as well, but Austin kept her moving. Running. And when he threw open the barn door, she saw the other truck.

“Where’s the nanny?” he asked, shoving her inside the vehicle.

“I told her to drive to a police or fire station.”

If he approved of that, he didn’t say. Instead, he hotwired the truck, fast, the engine roaring to life, and he slammed on the accelerator. The back tires skidded on the wet, slippery ground, but Austin quickly gained control.

“I’ll need to drop you off somewhere.” He spared her a glance before those lawman’s eyes kept watch around them again. No doubt for anyone following them. “I have something I need to do.”

“Something involving this baby farm?”

He didn’t answer her right away. “Yeah.”

There was a lot of emotion in that one-word response. Rosalie didn’t know Austin that well, but she’d been engaged to an FBI agent. Was the sister of one. She knew the personal risks they were willing to take.

“Your cover’s been blown,” she reminded him.

Well, it had been if any of those guards had survived or if the people behind those cameras had been able to figure out what was going on. Heaven knew who was already on the way out to intercept them.

Austin just shook his head. “I have something important to do. Keep watch,” he added, his voice clipped now.

She did. Rosalie kept her gun ready, but that didn’t stop the feeling that Austin was withholding something she needed to know.

“There’s a safe house about ten miles from here,” he explained. “I’ll drop you off there and call someone to come and get you. Seth can put you in protective custody.”

Because she would now be a target. Rosalie didn’t welcome that, but she’d known it was a risk before she’d ever started this.

“Where are you going?” she pressed.

Austin mumbled something she didn’t catch. Cursed. Then, he shook his head. “There’s a second place. Not too far away. Once I have you safe, I can go there.”

It took a moment for that to sink in. “You mean another baby farm?”

“Yeah. It’s a lot bigger than this one. Maybe even the command center for the entire operation.”

Mercy. This was exactly what she’d been looking for. Despite the ordeal of the shooting and the breakneck speed that Austin was driving, Rosalie could feel a glimmer of hope.

“I haven’t been able to get onto the grounds of this second house to access the records,” he continued, “but I know there are babies being held for processing. If the guards heard about what just happened here, they’ll shut down that place and move the babies.”

Austin’s gaze slashed to hers for just a second. “My nephew could be there.”

“And my daughter. Or at least the records to show me where she was taken. I have—”

“I can’t take you with me. It’s too dangerous.”

Rosalie heard the words, and she knew they were true. But that didn’t matter. “I’m going with you. You can’t stop me.”

That brought on some more profanity. “It’s dangerous,” he repeated.

“Do you really think I care about that now or that I want you to care about it?” Despite the high speed, she scooted closer to him, so he could hopefully see the determination in her eyes. “Put yourself in my place.”

Her voice broke. And the blasted tears came. Tears that wouldn’t do Sadie any good, so Rosalie tried to choke them back.

“I have to find my daughter,” she managed to say. “And you’d just be wasting time taking me to the safe house. The guards could be moving the babies and records right now. If that happens, we might never find them.”

Again, no immediate answer. He just volleyed glances among the road, their surroundings and her, but Rosalie saw the exact moment that he realized she was right.

“You’ll stay in the truck,” he snapped. “And don’t make me regret this.”

Rosalie didn’t say anything. Didn’t want to utter a word that would make him change his mind. She only wanted to get to the house and see if her daughter was there.

Or any babies for that matter.

Yes, Sadie was her priority, but she couldn’t bear the thought of any child or parent going through this.

Austin took the next turn off the road. Then, another. Thankfully, he seemed to know exactly where he was going. That would save time, but would it get them there fast enough?

Rosalie remembered the communicator that one of the guards had been wearing when they’d stormed into the cottage and found Austin and her in bed. If the guard had been wearing that during the attack, then someone would have already been alerted to a problem. The people behind this would soon link that problem back to Austin and her.

And Janice.

Rosalie added a quick prayer that the nanny had already made it to safety with the babies. Too bad she didn’t have a way to contact Janice, but maybe they could do that soon.

“Thank you,” she whispered to Austin.

“Don’t,” he snapped like a warning. “Because I’m not doing either of us any favors here.” He paused and, even in the dim light from the dash, she saw his jaw muscles stir. “They’ve killed people, Rosalie. And they’ll kill again.”

That reminder caused her heartbeat to kick up a significant notch, and she thought there was even more that Austin had to say. But he didn’t say it.

He just kept driving.

The rain was coming down harder now, the wipers slashing at the fat drops, but it was still hard to see. It got even harder when Austin turned off his headlights and slowed down. Using just the parking lights to guide them, he turned onto another road, drove about a quarter of a mile and then brought the truck to a stop.

He cursed.

“What’s wrong?” she asked, but Rosalie was afraid to hear the answer.

“There should be vehicles.” Austin got his gun ready, opened the door a fraction and looked around them. He killed the parking lights. Inched closer.

Once her eyes adjusted to the darkness, she saw the silhouette of what appeared to be a large metal barn. Austin was right—no vehicles. No lights, either. The place looked deserted.

He reached over, his hand brushing her leg, and he grabbed a flashlight from the glove compartment. He flicked it on and turned it toward the ground.

That set off another round of profanity.

“There are plenty of tire tracks that have dug into the muddy road,” he relayed. “We must have just missed them.”

No! It felt as if someone had just clamped a fist around her heart, and Rosalie tried to choke back a sob.

“Maybe they left records.” She hoped so, anyway.

Austin inched the truck closer to the building while he kept the flashlight aimed at the ground. He turned it off only when they reached the front of the barn.

The double sliding metal doors were wide-open, and it was pitch-dark inside. If anyone was lurking in there ready to attack, Rosalie couldn’t see them.

“Get down,” Austin ordered.

She did. Rosalie got onto the floor as Austin drove right into the building.

“Empty,” he mumbled.

But then he hit the brakes.

Rosalie lifted her head to try to see what had captured his attention. It appeared to be a white piece of paper nailed to one of the walls.

Austin turned on the flashlight, pointed it toward the paper, and she saw the words scrawled there.

You’re a dead man, John Mercer.

“John Mercer,” Austin repeated. “That’s the name I’ve been using at the baby farm.”

That hardly had time to register in her head when she heard the slight hissing sound.

“Hold on!” Austin shouted. He threw the truck into reverse and slammed his foot on the accelerator.

Just as the wall of fire shot up in front of them.

Chapter Four

Austin held his breath and prayed that he’d get Rosalie away from the building in time.

The truck bolted through the doors, and the moment they were outside, Austin spun the steering wheel to get them on the road. He hit the gas again and got them moving.

Not a second too soon.

Behind them, the building burst into a fireball.

Obviously, someone had put a hefty amount of accelerant inside, and it’d worked. It wouldn’t take long for anything left inside to be destroyed.

Hell.

These goons were trying to cover their tracks, and in doing so they might have erased the very information that he needed to find his nephew.

“Call 911,” he told Rosalie, tossing her his phone. Austin kept watch around them to make sure they weren’t about to be ambushed. The narrow road was lined with trees on both sides, and that meant plenty of places for the shooters to hide. “Tell them we need the fire department and the locals out here. I want this entire area sealed off.”

Austin wasn’t sure how she managed it because her hands were shaking so hard, but Rosalie made the call. Maybe, just maybe, there might be something left to recover.

“I have to find out if Janice made it to someplace safe,” Rosalie said the moment she finished the 911 call. “Oh, God,” she added in a mumble. “What if the local county cops are in on this?”

“Don’t borrow trouble,” Austin reminded her.

He took his phone, scrolled through the numbers, located the number of his partner at the FBI, and gave the cell back to Rosalie. “Text him. Tell him to BOLO Janice Aiken and that she’s driving a black truck registered to my undercover alias, John Mercer.” Austin rattled off the license plate. “I want him to call me the minute he finds her.”

“BOLO,” she repeated while she wrote the text. “Be on the lookout.”

She’d obviously picked up some cop jargon from Eli or maybe her stepbrother Seth. Austin figured Seth wasn’t going to like Rosalie’s rogue investigation, and Rosalie wasn’t going to like it when Austin called her stepbrother so that Seth could force her to back off. Since she wouldn’t listen to him, he had no choice about doing that.

“These baby thieves know you’ve betrayed them,” Rosalie said after she finished the text.

Yeah, they did. The note proved that.

You’re a dead man, John Mercer.

And while the idiots behind the baby farms probably didn’t know his real identity, it wouldn’t be long before they figured out he was FBI. After all, they had countless images of him from those surveillance cameras.

Of Rosalie, too.

“You shouldn’t have come here,” he insisted. Obviously, he was repeating himself, but Austin hoped she realized just how much danger she was in.

“You came,” she pointed out.

Austin tossed her a scowl. The only thing he knew about Rosalie was what Eli had told him. That she was the quiet, shy type who was downright squeamish about his job as a federal agent.

Well, she’d clearly changed a lot.

This was no quiet, shy woman next to him. Or maybe Rosalie had just managed to put her squeamishness aside so she could find her daughter. Still, that wouldn’t happen if she got herself killed.

“What do we do now?” she asked. “What if there’s no evidence to recover from that building or the baby farm?”

Austin slowed as he approached the junction that would take him back to a main road. “I continue the investigation, and you go home.”

She huffed and would have no doubt argued with him about that if the movement hadn’t grabbed their attention.

Austin was almost at a full stop at the intersection when someone darted out in front of the truck. He automatically pushed Rosalie down onto the seat, and in the same motion, he took aim at the man.

“Don’t shoot!” the man yelled. He had his hands in the air but almost immediately dropped one to his arm. Thanks to the headlights, Austin could see blood on the sleeve of his jacket. “They tried to kill me.”

Austin had a fast debate with himself. He could just drive off and call for someone to come and get the guy. After all, despite that injury, this man could be part of this baby farm operation.

And that’s why Austin lost that mental debate.

Because if he was indeed part of the operation, then that meant he had answers, and Austin wouldn’t get those answers if he allowed him to disappear. Or die.

“Stay down,” Austin warned Rosalie.

Did she listen?

No, of course not.

She lifted her head, and Austin nudged her right back down before he lowered his window.

“I need help,” the man insisted, walking toward the truck.

“Don’t come any closer,” Austin warned him, and he took aim at him. “Who are you?”

“Sonny Buckland. I’m a P.I. from Austin.”

“Send another text to Sawyer Ryland, my partner at the FBI,” Austin told Rosalie. “Have him run this guy’s name and ask him to hurry.” While she did that, Austin pinned his attention to the man. “Open the sides of your jacket so I can see if you’re armed.”

“I’m not,” he insisted, and he winced when he pulled back the side with the blood. “They took my gun when they found me snooping around the place.”

“They?”

“Three armed guards. Big guys. The only reason I managed to escape is because they got a call from someone who told them to get out fast. I ran. That’s when one of them shot me.”

That meshed with what Austin figured had happened. The person monitoring the cameras at the baby farm had likely made the call to let the guards at this place know there’d been a breach in security.

“How do you know I don’t work for those guards?” Austin came right out and asked.

“If you did, you would have already killed me.”

True. But that didn’t mean Austin would blindly trust this guy. The guards could have left him behind with orders to finish off anyone who got near the place.

Sonny clamped his hand over his injured arm and fired nervy glances all around them. “Stating the obvious here, but it’s not safe to hang around. We need to get out of here.”

Austin nodded. “You’re not going anywhere with us until you convince me you’re not working for the baby snatchers.”

“I’m not working for them!” Sonny practically yelled. Then, he groaned, a mixture of pain and frustration. “A client hired me to find his missing pregnant friend. I followed some leads that I got from a criminal informant, and it led me to this place.”

Rosalie made a soft sound of agreement, and even though Sonny’s story meshed with hers about getting the info from a CI, Austin shot them both scowls for inserting themselves into a dangerous investigation. Yeah, he’d done the same thing. And not with authorization, either. But he was a trained agent. Neither of them was.

Of course, Sonny could still be a threat.

“Did you learn who was behind this operation?” Rosalie asked the man. “Did you find any records or anything that could help us locate some missing babies?”

Sonny huffed and made more of those uneasy glances around. He looked on the verge of trying again to press Austin to get him out of there, but maybe he realized the fastest way for that to happen was to give them any info he had.

“I did learn something,” Sonny said. Then, paused. “I think a piece of scum named Trevor Yancy is responsible for at least some of the baby kidnappings.”

Rosalie sucked in her breath, and her hand went to her mouth. Austin tried to rein in any response, but just like that, his thoughts jerked him back to a bad place, a bad time.

Eli’s murder.

Rosalie was no doubt doing the same thing. Because the man Eli and he had been investigating for gunrunning and a whole host of crimes was none other than Trevor Yancy.

“You know Yancy,” Sonny said. Not a question, either.

Obviously Austin hadn’t done a good job of hiding his reaction. No surprise there. Austin was responsible for the way that investigation had turned out, and it had turned out in the worst possible way.

With Eli shot dead by an unknown assailant.

And Yancy a free man.

If Yancy was indeed involved with the baby farms, then the question was why? Was it just another illegal venture on his part, or was there something even more sinister going on here? Something to do with Rosalie and him?

“What makes you think Yancy’s connected to this?” Austin demanded.

Sonny shook his head. “I’ll tell you once we’re out of here. These men will kill us all if they come back.”

Austin couldn’t dispute that, and despite his need for the truth, he could no longer keep Rosalie at the center of this possible danger. He was already responsible for Eli’s death. Best not to add hers to the nightmares that he stood no chance of ever forgetting.

With a firm grip on his gun, Austin opened his truck door, but before he could get out, Rosalie caught his arm. “You’re not going out there.”

For a split second Austin was taken aback by her concern. Her touch, too. But just as quickly as she’d touched him, she pulled away her hand. He realized then that her concern wasn’t aimed at him but rather their situation. If he got shot, her chances of getting out of there and finding her daughter would decrease big-time.

“I’m only going to frisk him,” Austin told her.

He stepped from the truck and did just that. Sonny cooperated, lifting his hands away from his body and wincing in the process.

“No gun, like I said,” Sonny explained. “But I’ve lost some blood.”

Yes, he had, and that meant Austin’s first stop had to be a hospital, and the nearest one was back in the ranching town of Silver Creek. He could leave Rosalie there, as well, since he knew the sheriff and deputies. He doubted Rosalie would like that, but Austin didn’t intend to give her a choice.

“You can ride in the back of the truck.” Austin motioned for Sonny to hop in, and the man did. It was freezing cold and wouldn’t be a pleasant ride, especially considering his injury, but Austin couldn’t risk allowing him in the cab of the truck with Rosalie and him.

“Keep an eye on him,” Austin said to her when he got back in.

He checked the road to make sure no one was out there waiting for them, and when Austin didn’t see anyone, he got them out of there fast.

“Trevor Yancy,” Rosalie mumbled. She turned in the seat so she could nail her attention to Sonny. “Has his name come up in your investigation of the baby farms?”

“No.” Austin didn’t have to think about that, either. A lot of names had popped up. Potential suspects and kidnap victims. But if he’d seen anything about Yancy related to this, he would have definitely remembered.

“Is it possible...?” Rosalie’s breath hitched, and even though they weren’t touching, Austin could practically feel her muscles tensing. “Would Yancy have kidnapped my daughter and your nephew because Eli and you had been investigating him?”

Anything was possible when it came to a snake like Yancy.

Anything.

And since that wasn’t likely to make Rosalie’s breath stop hitching, Austin didn’t spell it out for her. Still, this could be the lead that Austin had been searching for. He reached for his phone to have someone bring in Yancy for questioning, but it dinged before he could do that.

“It’s a text from FBI Agent Ryland,” Rosalie relayed. She still had hold of his phone and stared down at the screen. “He said there’s a Sonny Buckland who’s a P.I., and he’s attached a photo of him.” She held it out for Austin to glance at.

The photo was definitely of the same man who was now riding in the bed of the truck. At least Sonny hadn’t lied about his identity, but that didn’t mean Austin was anywhere close to trusting him.

“Sonny has no criminal record,” Rosalie continued to read. She paused though and cleared her throat. “And your partner wants to know what the heck is going on, except he used a lot more profanity than I just did. He also wants you to call him now.”

She showed him that part of the text, too, though Austin didn’t have to see it to know that Sawyer had likely figured out that Austin wasn’t on vacation as he’d claimed. Nope. He was on an unauthorized undercover investigation that had just gone to hell in a handbasket.

“I’ll call him as soon as I’ve dropped off both Sonny and you,” Austin said more to himself. Rosalie obviously heard it, though.

“I want to go with you to question Yancy or anyone else connected to this,” she insisted.

“Yeah, I bet you do, but it’s not going to happen. No way will I put you in danger like that.”

“I’m already in danger!” she practically shouted, but the fit of temper disappeared as quickly as it’d come. “I need to find my daughter. Eli’s daughter,” she added, probably because she figured it would touch every raw nerve in his body and soften him up.

He couldn’t let it work on him.

His phone vibrated, indicating he had an incoming call, and he saw Sawyer’s name on the screen. His partner had obviously meant that part about Austin calling him back now.

Bracing himself for questions he wasn’t ready to answer, Austin took his phone, issued another “Keep watch” to Rosalie and answered the call. He didn’t put it on speaker, and that was probably the reason Rosalie scooted across the seat—so she could hear.

“Well?” Sawyer said the moment Austin answered.

“I was looking for my missing nephew,” Austin settled for saying.

“Yes, and our boss already figured that out. He’s not happy, Austin, and he wants you back from your vacation.”

“I’ll be back soon.” He hoped. “For now, I just need your help. I’m en route to the Silver Creek hospital to drop off an injured P.I. who’s either a witness or a person of interest in some assorted felonies. I’ll be there in about five minutes. Can you make some calls and arrange for him to be guarded?”

Sawyer didn’t answer for several snail-crawling moments. “Sure.”

“I also need you to have someone secure two crime scenes on the farm road that runs directly east of the town of Silver Creek,” Austin added. “Both were baby farms and are owned by a dummy corporation, Real Estate Investments. There’s not much left of them, and there are possible explosives planted around the grounds.”

“I’ll get someone out there right away,” Sawyer assured him. Another pause. “You had a BOLO on a woman driving a black truck registered to your alias?”

“Yeah—”

“A deputy here in Silver Creek just phoned it in. They found her.” Sawyer paused again. “It’s not good news, Austin. The woman’s dead.”

Chapter Five

Rosalie’s heart went to her knees. She couldn’t stop the brutal thoughts and images from going through her head. Images of Janice’s frantic escape from the baby farm and the ordeal that had led up to it.

At the time Rosalie had believed that escape was the woman’s best chance of surviving.

Obviously, she’d been wrong.

“Oh, God.” Rosalie grabbed the phone from Austin and put it on speaker. “What about the babies? Janice had two newborns with her.”

“Who is this?” Agent Ryland snapped.

Austin mumbled some profanity and made the final turn toward the hospital. “She’s Rosalie McKinnon.”

Agent Ryland repeated her name. “She was engaged to Eli.” Even though Rosalie didn’t know Agent Ryland, the man obviously knew her since it wasn’t a question.

“And she’s also Seth Calder’s stepsister,” Austin added. “I ran into her while I was undercover.” He glanced at her, as if he might add more, but then shook his head. “Now, what about the babies?”

“Both are fine. According to the deputy, Janice drove to the sheriff’s office, but she was already injured when she got there. She’d been shot.”

Rosalie’s heart just kept dropping. She was beyond thankful that the babies were okay, but it was terrifying to think of Janice being pursued by these monsters while she was trying to get the newborns to safety.

“The babies are being taken to the hospital,” Agent Ryland continued. “Just as a precaution. There’s not a scratch on them. And, of course, child protective services will be brought in. Will the woman’s killer try to come after the babies?” he came right out and asked.

Rosalie already knew the answer and dreaded hearing it.

“Possibly,” Austin said without hesitation.

“I’ll get right on it,” Ryland answered, also without hesitation, and he ended the call.

“This is all my fault,” she whispered.

Austin made a yeah, right sound. “The fault lies with the person who set up the baby farm.”

True, but if she hadn’t put Janice in a position where she had to escape, the woman might be alive. “If I’d stayed with her and the babies, this might not have happened.”

“Yes, it would have, and you’d be dead, too. Those guards wouldn’t have wanted any witnesses to get away.”

And since both Austin and she were just that—witnesses—then, yes, the men would have tried to shoot her, too. But at least if she’d been there, she might have been able to stop it and Janice might be alive.

Austin drove into the hospital parking lot and came to a stop directly in front of the E.R. doors. Sonny climbed out, not easily, and while still clutching his injured arm, he headed inside.

“Stay close to me,” Austin warned her, and as he’d done while they were on the road, he kept watch around them.

The rain had stopped, but the wind took a swipe at her. She was already shivering from the spent adrenaline, and the bitter cold only made it worse.

The moment the E.R. staff saw Sonny, they rushed forward and whisked him away to one of the examination rooms. A security guard wearing a uniform trailed along behind them.

Rosalie looked around, hoping to see the babies and whoever was guarding them, but the E.R. was empty except for a woman sitting at the intake desk.

“I’ll need to get some information from you about the patient,” the woman said.

But Austin waved her off. “Nothing much we can tell you. We just gave him a ride here.”

That wasn’t the whole truth, of course, but Austin probably didn’t want to get into any details of the investigation with someone who wasn’t law enforcement.

“I’ll check on the babies,” Austin said when Rosalie continued to look around.

He took out his phone, stepped to the far side of the room, but before he could make a call his phone rang. He groaned and showed her the name on the screen.

Seth.

Now it was Rosalie’s turn to groan. Agent Ryland had likely called Seth.

“Let me talk to my sister,” Seth ordered. Even without the call being on speaker, she had no trouble hearing him.

“I’m fine,” Rosalie jumped to say to her brother when Austin handed her the phone.

“You’re not fine if you were in the middle of an undercover investigation. Have you lost your mind?”

Probably. Hard to have a sound mind with her baby kidnapped. “I don’t expect you to understand why I did what I did.”

“Oh, I understand it all right. I want to find my niece as much as you do, but I don’t want my sister dead in the process. Put Austin back on the phone,” he ordered, sounding very much like the hardheaded brother that he was.

“How the hell did she manage to get inside an undercover operation, and exactly how close did she come to dying?” Again her brother’s voice was so loud that Rosalie didn’t need the speaker function to hear him.

Austin’s gaze met hers, and she silently pleaded with him not to tell the truth. It was best if she broke the details to Seth after he calmed down. Whenever the heck that might be.

“Rosalie’s okay. She was just in the wrong place at the wrong time,” Austin said, but he shot her a glare. No doubt because he wasn’t happy about the lie or her involvement in any of this.

“From what I’m hearing, you were both at the wrong place. You do know your boss is ticked off about this?”

“Yeah, I heard,” Austin mumbled. “Can’t be helped.”

“We got a lead on the missing babies,” Rosalie volunteered since she doubted Austin wanted to continue to listen to this scolding any more than she did.

She moved closer to the phone, and in doing so, her cheek brushed against Austin’s. The slight contact stunned her, as if it’d been more than just an accidental touch, and she eased away from him.

Austin’s gaze stayed on her, and he cleared his throat. Obviously, he wasn’t any more comfortable touching her than she was touching him.

Except it hadn’t been just discomfort on her part.

Rosalie felt that trickle of heat. The kind of man-to-woman heat that she couldn’t possibly feel when it came to Austin, so she quickly shoved it aside and hoped it didn’t come back.

“Trevor Yancy’s name came up in connection with the baby farms,” Austin told Seth.

“Hell,” Seth mumbled.

And that was Rosalie’s reaction, too.

Well, it was after she managed to force that trickle to take a hike. It was easier to do now that Yancy was in the forefront of her thoughts.

Yancy and his hired gun could be the people responsible for the attack that had left Eli dead, and she wanted the man to have no further connection to her and her family. However, Yancy might have the ultimate connection if he’d been the one to kidnap Sadie.

“I’ll deal with Yancy,” Austin continued. “And I’ll drive Rosalie home as soon as someone arrives to take over for me here at the hospital.”

“Don’t take her home yet.” Seth cursed, groaned, cursed again. “I’m tied up with a case here in El Paso, so I’m asking you to do me a favor. Protect her. Make sure these goons don’t come after her. And, Rosalie, don’t you dare say you can take care of yourself.”

Since that’s exactly what she’d been about to say, Rosalie just stayed quiet and aimed her own glare at the phone. She loved Seth, and he’d been more of a real brother to her than her own three blood-kin ones had been, but she couldn’t stop looking for her precious baby.

No amount of warnings from anyone, including Seth or Austin, would stop her.

“Sawyer said these goons killed a woman,” Seth went on, talking to Austin now. “And if so, they could come after Rosalie.”

That made her feel a little light-headed. She’d considered that, of course, but what she hadn’t realized was that if Austin took her to her family’s ranch, that she could put all of them in danger, too. Her pregnant sister, Rayanne, was there. Her father, as well, along with her oldest brother’s wife and toddler son. She didn’t want them caught up in the middle of this dangerous situation.

“I’ll get Rosalie to a safe house,” Austin assured him, and before either one could give her a say in the matter, they ended the call.

She had to make Austin understand that she wasn’t going into hiding. “I don’t want to go to a safe house. I want to find Sadie.”

But she was talking to the air because Austin’s attention was no longer on her. It was on the lanky dark-haired man who came through the E.R. doors. Rosalie immediately spotted the silver badge clipped to his belt and figured he was carrying a weapon beneath his buckskin coat.

“Agent Duran?” he said, heading their way. “I’m Deputy Gage Ryland. I’m here to guard the man you brought in.”

“Ryland,” Austin repeated. “You’re Sawyer’s cousin?”

The deputy nodded, the corner of his mouth lifting a little. “Around here, just about every Ryland has got a badge.” The half smile quickly faded. “Tell me about this guy I’ll be guarding.”

Austin showed the deputy the photo that Sawyer had sent him on his phone. “His name is Sonny Buckland, a P.I. I found him near a baby farm that I’m investigating.”

His mouth tightened. “You think he killed the woman with the babies?”

“No.” But then Austin huffed and shrugged. “He was with us when that particular shooting happened, but I can’t rule out that he’s not part of it in some way. In fact, he could have been the one to give the order to have her shot.”

The deputy nodded. “Then, I won’t let him out of my sight. We need to catch the SOB who put a bullet in the woman and endangered those babies.”

Rosalie couldn’t agree more. “How are the babies? Where are they?”

He tipped his head toward a hall off the E.R. “We brought them in through a side entrance. Two other deputies are with them and will escort them to Child Protective Services when the social workers arrive.”

That made her breathe a little easier, but her heart was still slamming against her chest.

“My brother’s the sheriff,” Deputy Ryland continued, “and he’s on his way to what’s left of the baby farm sites. We’ll have a CSI team out there, and the FBI’s been called in.”

With all that, they might find something.

Correction: they had to find something.

“What exactly happened to Janice? How did she die?” she asked. Part of Rosalie didn’t want to know the details, especially since she felt responsible, but the other part of her had to know.

“She was shot,” the deputy explained. “It appears the bullet went in through the back window of the truck she was driving, and it struck her in the side of the neck. It’s a miracle she managed to get away from her attacker. A miracle, too, that the babies weren’t hurt.”

Just hearing that spelled out caused her knees to buckle, and if Austin hadn’t caught her, Rosalie was afraid she would have fallen. It wasn’t just these babies who caused her reaction. Though they were the immediate concern. But if the monster behind this had put these two babies at such horrible risk, then her daughter was in the same danger.

Mercy, it hurt too much to think about that. And she’d tried to keep the bad thought aside. Impossible to do that now that she’d dealt with those guards face-to-face. Rosalie knew what they were capable of and how far they’d go to keep their operation under wraps.

Deputy Ryland must have noticed the alarm on her face and probably in every inch of her body because he grumbled something about checking on Sonny, and he stepped away, no doubt so Austin could tend to her.

“Come on,” Austin said, taking her by the arm. “I’ll get you to that safe house.”

Rosalie wanted to stay put, to learn as much as she could from whatever else Sonny might tell them. However, even she couldn’t deny that she was shaken to the core and needed a few hours to regroup.

After that, she’d have to get away from Austin.

Protect her, Seth had told him, and it didn’t matter about the bad blood between Austin and her. She figured Austin had no plans to let her out of his sight.

Well, temporarily, anyway.

He’d likely put her in some other agent’s protective custody so that he could get on with finding his nephew and putting an end to the baby farms. He’d want to exclude her while doing that.

But that wasn’t going to happen.

“How far is this safe house?” she asked.

“Not far. But we’ll have to drive around first to make sure we aren’t being followed. And it’s not a place we want to use for long. It’s best if I make arrangements for another place outside the county.”

That would put her even farther away from the baby farm. From Janice’s killers, too. But it wasn’t a trade-off Rosalie wanted since she needed to find answers about Sadie, and sadly, those killers might have those answers. Once they were at this interim safe house, she would somehow have to convince Austin to stay in the area.

That wouldn’t be an easy task.

Austin paused when they reached the E.R. doors and looked out. There were no other vehicles near his truck, just the same ones that had been in the parking lot when they’d arrived. Still, he hurried, and the moment he had her inside, he drove away.

“You okay?” he asked.

“No.” Rosalie didn’t even try to lie, especially since she was still shaking.

He made a soft sound of agreement. “I’m sorry. I know the shooting must bring back memories of Eli.”

“Everything brings back those memories,” she mumbled.

“Yes.” And that’s all he said for several moments. “I know saying I’m sorry won’t help, but I am sorry.”

Rosalie heard the words. Every one of them. But she couldn’t respond. She’d been raised to be polite. To not do anything intentionally to hurt a person’s feelings, but there was no way she could let him off the hook.

Eli was dead.

And Austin was partly to blame.

There were probably a lot of details of the investigation she didn’t know, but Seth had given her the big picture. Austin and Eli had been undercover investigating an illegal weapons ring, and when a hired gun of the operation had tried to flee, Austin had gone after him.

And in doing so, Austin had essentially blown their covers.

As a result, Eli had been gunned down a few seconds later by a second hired thug, who then disappeared along with his partner whom Eli had been chasing. All of this had happened just weeks before Eli and she had planned to walk down the aisle. Rosalie hadn’t even had a chance to tell Eli that he was going to be a father since she’d learned the news herself only that morning.

As horrible as all those memories were, they gave her something to focus on. Something other than Janice’s murder and the danger to all those babies.

Probably because she was still shivering, Austin cranked up the heat and took the road out of town. He didn’t go far, less than a mile, before he turned around and went in the opposite direction.

“See anything?” he asked.

Rosalie was about to say no, but she caught something out of the corner of her eye. A vehicle was parked on a side road. No headlights, and it didn’t pull out and follow them. However, because of the events of the night, it put her on edge.

“Yeah, I saw it,” Austin said, following her gaze to the side mirror. “It could be a spotter, to try to figure out which direction we’re going.”

And that meant it could be someone connected to the baby farms. “Too bad we just can’t stop and question the person inside.”

“Not with you in the truck.” Austin continued to glance at the vehicle while he turned back toward town. “I’ll try another road.”

The words had hardly left his mouth when the vehicle pulled out onto the road, following them.

“Get down in the seat,” Austin warned her.

Rosalie slid down, but she stayed high enough so she could watch from the side mirror.

Austin handed her his phone. “Call Sawyer. Tell him there’s been a change of plans, that I’m taking you to the Silver Creek sheriff’s office instead so they can guard you there.”

She hated being pawned off, but her mere presence was stopping Austin from going after the person in the vehicle. Rosalie hoped once he dropped her off that Austin would go in pursuit with plenty of backup.

Before she could press Sawyer’s number, the phone rang, and she saw a familiar name on the screen.

Deputy Gage Ryland.

Mercy. She prayed something hadn’t happened to the babies. Rosalie pushed the answer button so hard that she nearly broke the phone, and she put the call on speaker.

“Are the babies okay?” she jumped to ask.

“Fine,” Deputy Ryland answered. “That’s not why I’m calling. Is Agent Duran there?”

“I’m here, but I’ve got someone tailing me. I’m heading to the sheriff’s office now.”

“Make a detour to the hospital, and I’ll have someone take care of the tail.”

Austin and she exchanged an uneasy glance. There’d been nothing urgent in the deputy’s voice when she’d met him at the hospital, but there was definitely some urgency now.

“I’m with the injured P.I. you brought in,” Gage continued, “and I think you should get back down to the hospital fast. We’ve got a big problem.”

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