“I don’t have much time,” she said before he could speak.

“That’s why I came to Silver Creek today. And that’s why I’ll need your answer right away. I know, this isn’t fair, but if you say no, I’ll have to try to find someone else … though I’m not sure I can.” She didn’t stop long enough to draw breath, and her words ran together. “Still, I’ll understand if you want to say no, but, Grayson, I’m praying you won’t—”

“What are you talking about?” he finally said, speaking right over her.

“Perhaps you should sit down for this.”

“I’d rather stand,” he let her know.

“No. Trust me on this. You need to be sitting.”

That took him several steps beyond just being curious, and Grayson sank into the chair across from her. Eve sat as well, facing him. Staring at him. And nibbling on her lip.

“I’m not sure how to say this,” she continued, “so I’m just going to put it out there.” She paused. “Grayson,” she finally said and looked him straight in the eyes. “I need you to get me pregnant. Today.”

About the Author

Imagine a family tree that includes Texas cowboys, Choctaw and Cherokee Indians, a Louisiana pirate and a Scottish rebel who battled side by side with William Wallace. With ancestors like that, it’s easy to understand why Texas author and former air force captain DELORES FOSSEN feels as if she were genetically predisposed to writing romances. Along the way to fulfilling her DNA destiny, Delores married an air force top gun who just happens to be of Viking descent. With all those romantic bases covered, she doesn’t have to look too far for inspiration.

Grayson
Delores Fossen

www.millsandboon.co.uk

MILLS & BOON

Before you start reading, why not sign up?

Thank you for downloading this Mills & Boon book. If you want to hear about exclusive discounts, special offers and competitions, sign up to our email newsletter today!

SIGN ME UP!

Or simply visit

signup.millsandboon.co.uk

Mills & Boon emails are completely free to receive and you can unsubscribe at any time via the link in any email we send you.

Chapter One

Silver Creek, Texas

Sheriff Grayson Ryland couldn’t shake the feeling that someone was watching him.

He slid his hand over the Smith & Wesson in his leather shoulder holster and stepped from his patrol truck. He lifted his head, listening, and glanced around the thick woods that were practically smothering the yellow cottage. The front door and curtains were closed.

No sign of the cottage’s owner, Eve Warren.

No sign of anyone for that matter, but just twenty minutes earlier Eve had called his office to report that she had seen someone suspicious in the area.

Grayson knew this part of the county like the back of his hand. Along with his brothers, he had fished in the creek at the bottom of the hill. He’d camped these woods. There were a lot of places to duck out of sight….

Plenty of memories, too.

That required a deep breath, and he cursed himself for having to take it.

The front door opened, and he spotted Eve. She was a five-foot-six-inch memory of a different kind. She’d obviously known he was there. Maybe that was the reason his brain was firing warnings on all cylinders.

“Grayson,” she said, her tongue flickering over her bottom lip. “You came.”

That nervous little tongue flicker and the too-hopeful look in her misty blue eyes riled him. “You called the sheriff’s office and asked for me,” he reminded her. “You said you thought you saw someone.”

“Of course.” She nodded, swallowed hard. “But I wasn’t sure you’d come.”

Neither was he, especially since he was neck-deep in a murder investigation, but when he’d gotten her message, he’d decided not to send a deputy, that he would be the one to personally respond.

Well, respond to the call anyway.

Not to the woman.

Not ever again.

It’d been over sixteen years since he’d last seen Eve. She’d been standing in a doorway then, too. Her blond hair had been well past her shoulders back in those days, but it was short now and fashionably rumpled. The last decade and a half had settled nicely on her curvy body.

Something he decided not to notice.

Since his eyes and body seemed to have a different idea about that not-noticing part, Grayson got down to business.

“You reported someone suspicious?” he prompted.

“I did.” She scrubbed her hands down the sides of her pearl-gray dress. The cold December wind caught the hem, making it flutter around the tops of her knees. “I was about to call you anyway … about something else … and then I saw him. A man. He was down by the creek.”

Grayson lifted his shoulder and wondered why the heck she’d intended to call him, but he didn’t ask. “Could have been a neighbor.” Even though there weren’t any close ones to the Warren cottage.

“I don’t think it was a neighbor,” Eve insisted. “I got a bad feeling when I spotted him.”

Yeah. Grayson knew all about bad feelings. The one he had about this situation was getting worse with each passing moment.

“I didn’t want to take any chances,” she continued. “What with the murder you had here a few days ago. How are you handling that, by the way?”

She probably hadn’t meant to irritate him with that question, but she did. Hell, no matter what she said, she would irritate him. But Grayson didn’t want anyone, including Eve, questioning his ability to handle a murder investigation, even if it was only the third one in his twelve years as sheriff of Silver Creek.

“I heard you haven’t identified the body, or the killer,” she added.

“Not yet.” And Grayson got back on target. “You have any idea who this person was you saw?”

Eve shook her head. “No. But for the past couple of days I’ve been getting hang-up calls at my condo in San Antonio. And there’s been a time or two when I thought someone was following me. Nothing specific. Just a feeling. It was one of the reasons I decided to come out to the cottage. So I could get away.”

Well, that explained that. Eve had inherited the cottage from her grandmother eighteen months ago, but to the best of Grayson’s knowledge, this was her first visit to the place. And she hadn’t just come to relax. She’d planned on calling him.

Why?

Again, he didn’t ask. He kept this conversation focused on the job he’d been called out to do.

“Any reason you know of why someone would follow you or make those hang-up calls?” he asked.

Another head shake. “I’ve been under a lot of stress lately,” she admitted. “The job. And some personal stuff. Until I saw the man, I kept telling myself that it was all in my head. But he was real, Grayson.”

He mentally groaned at the way she said his name. It was intimate, the way she used to murmur it after one of their scalding hot kissing sessions.

He glanced at the woods, then the creek. “I’ll have a look around,” Grayson let her know. “But if you’re worried, you probably shouldn’t be staying out here alone.”

He turned to have that look around.

“Wait,” Eve called out. “Don’t go. I wanted to ask about your family. How are your brothers?”

He had four living brothers. Four sets of news, updates and troubles. Since it would take the better part of an hour to catch her up on everything, Grayson settled for saying, “They’re all fine.”

Grayson turned again, but again Eve stopped him.

“Even Nate?” she questioned. “I heard his wife was killed a few months ago.”

Yeah. That was all part of the troubles. The worst of them. “Nate’s coping.” But Grayson knew that wasn’t true. If Nate didn’t have his baby daughter to care for, his brother wouldn’t make it out of bed each morning. Grayson was still trying to figure out how to take care of that.

“And the ranch?” Eve continued. “I read somewhere that the ranch won a big award for your quarter horses.”

Fed up with the small talk, Grayson decided to put an end to this. Chitchat was an insult at this stage of the game. However, when he looked back at her, he saw that she had her hands clenched around the door frame. Her knuckles were turning white.

Grayson cursed under his breath. “Okay. What’s wrong?” But he didn’t just ask. He went closer so he could see inside the cottage to make sure someone wasn’t standing behind her, holding her at gunpoint. Because Eve wasn’t the white-knuckle type. He had never known anything to scare her.

The place was small so he was able to take in most of it with one sweeping glance. There was no one in the living and eating area, and the loft/bedroom was empty, too.

Grayson looked her straight in the eyes. “Eve, are you all right?”

She hesitated and nibbled some more on her lip. “I really did see someone about a half hour ago, I swear, and he ran away when he spotted me.”

Since that sounded like the beginning of an explanation that might clarify the real reason for her call, Grayson just stood there and waited for the rest of it.

“Could you come in?” Eve finally said. “I need to talk to you.”

Oh, hell. This couldn’t be good. “Talk?” he challenged.

He was about to remind her that it was long over between them, that they had no past issues to discuss, but she kept motioning for him to come in.

“Eve,” he warned.

“Please.” Her voice was all breath and no sound.

Grayson cursed that please and the look in her eyes. He knew that look. He’d seen it when she was thirteen and had learned her mother was dying from bone cancer. He’d seen it again sixteen years ago when on her twenty-first birthday she’d stood in the doorway of the ranch and demanded a commitment from him or else.

Because he’d had no choice, Grayson had answered or else.

And Eve had walked out.

Now, Grayson walked in. She stepped back so he could enter the cottage, and she shut the door behind him. He didn’t take off his Stetson or his jacket because he hoped he wouldn’t be here that long.

It was warm inside, thanks to the electric heater she had going near the fireplace. No fire, though. And it would have been a perfect day for it since the outside temp was barely forty degrees.

With a closer look, Grayson could see the place was in perfect order. Definitely no signs of any kind of struggle or hostage situation. There was no suitcase that he could spot, but Eve’s purse was on the coffee table, and her camera and equipment bag were on the small kitchen counter. Several photographs were spread out around the bag. Since Eve was a newspaper photographer, that wasn’t out of the ordinary, either.

“The pictures,” she mumbled following his gaze. “I was trying to work while I waited for you.”

Trying. And likely failing from the way they were scattered around. “Are you in some kind of trouble?”

“Yes,” she readily admitted.

Surprised, and more worried than he wanted to be, he turned around to face her. “Trouble with the law?”

“I wish,” Eve mumbled. She groaned softly and threaded her fingers through both sides of her hair. That stretched her dress over her breasts and gave Grayson a reminder he didn’t want or need.

He’d been attracted to Eve for as long as he could remember. But he refused to let that attraction play into whatever the hell this was.

“Trouble at work?” he tried next.

She lifted her shoulder but answered, “No.”

He glanced at the photos on the table again.

“I took those at a charity fundraising rodeo in San Antonio,” she explained.

So, they were work, but judging from the casual way she’d mentioned them, they weren’t the source of the worry in her eyes. “Look, I could play twenty questions and ask about a stalker, an ex or whatever. But let’s save ourselves some time and you just tell me what you have to say.”

She nodded, paused, nodded again. “It’s personal. And it has to do with you. I need to ask you something.”

Grayson braced himself for some kind of rehashing of the past. After all, he was thirty-eight now, and Eve was thirty-seven. Hardly kids. And since neither of them had ever married, maybe this was her trip back down memory lane.

Well, he didn’t want to take this trip with her.

“I’ve been having some medical problems,” she continued. But then paused again.

That latest pause caused Grayson to come up with some pretty bad conclusions. Conclusions he didn’t want to say aloud, but his first thought was cancer or some other terminal disease. Hell.

Had Eve come home to die?

“What’s wrong?” he settled for repeating.

She shook her head, maybe after seeing the alarm in his eyes. “No. Not that kind of medical problem.”

Grayson silently released the breath he’d been holding.

“I’m, uh, going through, well, menopause,” she volunteered.

Of all the things Grayson had expected her to say, that wasn’t one of them. “Aren’t you too young for that?”

“Yes. Premature menopause.” She swallowed hard again. “There’s no way to stop it.”

Well, it wasn’t a cancer death sentence like her mother’s, but Grayson could understand her concern. “So, is that why you’re here, to try to come to terms with it?”

He’d asked the question in earnest, but he checked his watch. Talking with him wouldn’t help Eve come to terms with anything, and he had work to do. That included a look around the place and then he had to convince her to head back to San Antonio. It was obvious she was too spooked and worried to be out in the woods all alone.

“I don’t have much time,” she said before he could speak. “That’s why I came to Silver Creek today. And that’s why I’ll need your answer right away. I know this isn’t fair, but if you say no, I’ll have to try to find someone else … though I’m not sure I can.” She didn’t stop long enough to draw breath, and her words bled together. “Still, I’ll understand if you want to say no, but Grayson, I’m praying you won’t—”

“What are you talking about?” he finally said, speaking right over her.

Now, Eve stopped and caught on to the back of the chair. “Perhaps you should sit down for this.”

The rushed frantic pace was gone, but her eyes told him this particular storm was far from being over.

“I’d rather stand,” he let her know.

“No. Trust me on this. You need to be sitting.”

That took him several steps beyond just being curious, and Grayson sank into the chair across from her. Eve sat as well, facing him. Staring at him. And nibbling on her lip.

“I’m not sure how to say this,” she continued, “so I’m just going to put it out there.”

But she still didn’t do that. Eve opened her mouth, closed it and stared at him.

“Grayson,” she finally said and looked him straight in the eyes. “I need you to get me pregnant. Today.”

Chapter Two

Eve had tried to brace herself for Grayson’s reaction.

She’d anticipated that he might just walk out. Or curse. Or even ask her if she’d lost her mind. He might still do those things, but at the moment he just sat there while his jaw practically hit his knees.

Other than his slack-jaw reaction, there was no sign of the storm that she must have stirred up inside him. Not that Eve had expected him to show any major signs of what he was feeling.

Grayson was Grayson.

Calm, reliable, levelheaded, responsible.

Hot.

In those well-worn Wranglers, black Stetson, black shirt and buckskin jacket, he looked like a model for some Western ad in a glossy magazine.

A comparison he would have hated if he had known what she was thinking.

Even though he had that scarred silver badge clipped to his rawhide rodeo belt, Grayson was first and foremost a cowboy and, along with his brothers, owner of one of the most successful ranches in central Texas. That success was due in large part to Grayson.

There was nothing glossy about him.

Eve forced herself away from that mental summary of Grayson’s attributes. His hot cowboy looks and ranching success weren’t relevant here. It had been the calm, reliable, levelheaded and responsible aspects of his personality that had caused her to want him to father her child.

Maybe it was her desperation, but Eve had hoped that Grayson would also be cooperative. That slack jaw gave her some doubts about that though.

“When I was at my doctor’s office this morning, I found out I’m ovulating,” she continued. That seemed way too personal to be sharing with anyone except maybe a spouse or best friend, but she didn’t have time for modesty here.

Time was literally ticking away.

“The fact that I’m ovulating is nothing short of a miracle,” she continued. “The doctor didn’t think it would happen, and it almost certainly won’t happen again.”

Grayson just kept staring.

She wished he would curse or yell, but no, not Grayson. Those silver-gray eyes drilled right into her, challenging her to give him an explanation that he could wrap his logical mind around.

There wouldn’t be anything logical about this. Well, not on his part anyway. To Eve, it was pure logic.

“I desperately want a child, and I’m begging you to help me,” she clarified in case the gist had gotten lost in all her babbling. “I don’t have time to find anyone else. I’ve got twenty-four hours, maybe less.”

Grayson dropped the stare, blew out a long breath and leaned back in the chair. He was probably glad that she had insisted on the being seated part.

He flexed his eyebrows. “How can you possibly ask me to do this?”

“You’re the first person I thought of,” she admitted.

Actually, he was the only person. Those Ryland genes were prime stuff, and all the Ryland males were able-bodied, smart as whips and drop-dead gorgeous with their midnight-black hair and crystal-gray eyes. Again, the looks were just icing.

Grayson wasn’t just her first choice for this. He was her only choice.

“Don’t say no,” Eve blurted out when she was certain Grayson was about to do exactly that.

Now, he cursed. This time it wasn’t under his breath. “No,” he stated simply, but it had not been simply said. There was a flash of emotion in all those swirls of gray in his eyes. “You already know I don’t want to be a father.”

It was an argument that Eve had anticipated, and she had a counterargument for it. “Yes, because you had to raise your younger brothers after your father walked out and your mother died.”

Now, she cursed. She should have rehearsed this. Bringing up Grayson’s reckless father was not the way to earn points here even though it’d happened over twenty years ago when Grayson was barely eighteen. A lifetime wouldn’t be long enough to forget or forgive that kind of hurt, and it had shaped Grayson to the very core of who he was now.

Yes, he’d been a father figure to his five younger siblings. Head of the ranch and the family. And he’d sacrificed so much for both that by the time Eve had been looking to settle down and have a family with him, Grayson no longer had anything to give anyone.

Including her.

Still, she wanted him for this massive favor.

“I’m not asking you to be a father.” Eve tried and failed to keep the emotion out of her argument, but her voice broke. “I only need you to get me pregnant, Grayson. Nothing else. In fact, I would insist on nothing else.”

She hated to put him into a corner as she’d done all those years ago. That had been a massive mistake. But she did need an immediate answer.

Grayson shook his head again and eased to the edge of the chair so they were closer. And eye to eye.

“I can’t.” He held up his hand when she started to interrupt him. “I know the difference between fathering a child and being a father. I can’t say yes to either.”

Oh, mercy. He wasn’t even giving it any thought or consideration. He had doled out an automatic refusal. Eve had thought she had prepared herself for this, but she obviously hadn’t. That sent her desperation to a whole new level. Everything inside her started to race and spin as if she were on the verge of a panic attack.

She immediately tried to come up with other ways she could persuade him. First and foremost, she could try to use their past. Their connection. They’d been close once. Once, they’d been in love.

Well, she had been in love with him anyway.

Grayson never quite let himself take that leap of the heart, and he’d certainly never said the words.

She had hoped the close-to-love feelings that he had once had for her would be a trump card she could use here to convince him. Heck, she wasn’t too proud to beg.

But she shook her head.

Begging might work. Might. However, this was Grayson, and because in the past she had loved him, Eve owed him more than that. She reined in her feelings and tried to say something that made sense. Something that would make him see that she wasn’t crazy, just desperate.

“I’m sorry,” she somehow managed to say. Her breath suddenly felt too thick to push out of her lungs, and she understood that whole cliché about having a heavy heart. Hers weighed a ton right now. “When the doctor told me I was ovulating and that I probably had a day or two at most, I thought of you. I jumped right in my car and drove straight to Silver Creek.”

“I’m flattered. I think.” The corner of his mouth lifted a fraction.

Ah, there it was. The biggest weapon in the Grayson Ryland arsenal. That half smile. Even now, after his refusal, it made her feel all warm and golden inside.

Since he’d attempted some levity, Eve did, too, but she doubted the smile made it to her eyes. God, this hurt. She wanted this baby more than her own life, and it was slipping away as the seconds ticked off.

“You can find someone else?” Grayson asked.

“I hope.” But that was being overly optimistic. She’d lost a lot of time by driving out to Silver Creek, but then she’d had no choice. She very well couldn’t have explained this with a phone call. Plus, she had prayed that she would be able to convince him once they were face-to-face.

She’d obviously been wrong.

Eve felt the raw blush on her cheeks and got to her feet. “I need to hurry back into San Antonio.”

Grayson stood, as well. “Maybe you can use a sperm bank or fertility clinic?”

“No.” She tried to blink back the tears, but failed at that, too. “Not enough time. The doctor said it takes days, even weeks to go through the screening and get an appointment. Plus, many of the clinics are closed because Christmas is only three days away.”

He acknowledged that with a shrug. “A friend then?”

The drive had given her time to consider that, as well. It was sad but true that she was seriously lacking male companionship. Heck, she hadn’t had a real date in nearly a year, and her last boyfriend was married now. As for male friends and coworkers, none had fit the bill as well as Grayson Ryland.

She shook her head and hurried to the kitchen where she crammed the photos back into her bag. The pictures were yet another kettle of fish, but they would have to wait. Eve wasn’t ready to give up her baby mission just yet, even if she’d failed with Grayson.

She put on her red wool coat and hoisted both her purse and equipment bag onto her shoulder. Moving as fast as she could, she shut off the heater, unplugged it and turned back around to face Grayson. Even after his refusal, she couldn’t help feeling that jolt of attraction when she looked at him.

Drop-dead gorgeous was right.

And for several brief moments Eve considered tossing the little bit of pride she had left. She could just throw herself at him and try to seduce him.

But she rethought that.

Grayson would resist. He had already shown her that he had a mountain of willpower and discipline to go along with those looks.

“What will you do?” he asked.

Because she felt the tears start to burn in her eyes, Eve dodged his gaze and grabbed her keys. “Maybe I can hire a friend of a friend.”

She could make some calls the second she was back in her car, but she had no idea where to start.

“Hire someone?” Grayson questioned. He stepped outside the cottage with her.

Eve nodded. She closed and locked the door before she headed for her car. It wasn’t below freezing, but the icy wind sliced right through her.

“You’d hire someone?” Grayson repeated when she didn’t answer. He caught on to her arm and whirled her around to face him. “Eve, listen to yourself. Yes, I know you’re desperate, and this baby must be important to you or you wouldn’t have come here, but you can’t just hire someone to sleep with you.”

“To provide semen so I can be inseminated,” she corrected, maneuvering herself out of his grip. She couldn’t look at him and didn’t want him to look at her. Eve hurried across the yard. “I have no intentions of sleeping with anyone to get pregnant. I was serious about not having a biological father in the picture. I’ll make some calls, find a donor, pay him for his sperm, and, if necessary, I’ll do the insemination at home.”

Grayson made a sound of relief, or something. Probably because he’d thought she was indeed crazy enough to jump into bed with the first guy she ran across on the drive home. Eve’s biological clock was screaming for her to do that, but she wanted a healthy baby and body.

“I want to raise a baby on my own,” she continued. “And if I find someone, he’ll have to agree to giving up his paternal rights.”

No need to rehash the emotional baggage that had brought her to that conclusion. Besides, Grayson knew about her absentee father and the abusive stepfather that she’d had as a kid. He didn’t know about the three failed relationships she’d had since leaving Silver Creek, and that included one episode of her being an honest-to-goodness runaway bride.

It was just as well he didn’t know that.

Best not to spell it out that she considered Grayson and only Grayson for a life partner. He was literally the only man she trusted, even if he had crushed her heart all those years ago. And now he’d managed to do it again.

Frustrated with herself and her situation, Eve threw open the back door of her car so she could dump her bag and equipment onto the seat. She hesitated for just a moment because she knew Grayson was right behind her. If she turned around, she’d have to face him once more.

“I’m sorry I bothered you,” Eve mumbled.

She turned and, still dodging his gaze, she tried to sidestep around Grayson.

He sidestepped, too, and blocked her path. She hadn’t thought it possible, but he looked more uncomfortable than she felt.

“I can call the Silver Creek Hospital,” Grayson suggested. “Doc Hancock might be able to pull some strings and speed up things with a sperm bank. Or I could talk to my brothers. They might know—”

“Don’t involve your brothers,” Eve interrupted.

Anything but that. Just talking about this would be hard enough for Grayson, especially telling them that he had turned her down. Eve didn’t want to be the subject of conversation at the Ryland dinner table.

“Best not to involve anyone from Silver Creek,” she added. “I’ll go to a hospital in San Antonio and, well, beg.” And she would. This pregnancy was going to happen, even if she didn’t have a clue how she would manage it.

She stepped around him and hurried to the driver’s side of the car. Since she wasn’t looking at Grayson, that was probably the reason she saw the movement.

In the cluster of trees about fifty yards from her car.

“What?” Grayson asked when she froze.

Eve looked around the trees, trying to figure out what had caught her attention.

There.

She saw the man.

Dressed in a dark shirt and pants, he had a black baseball cap sitting low on his head so that it obstructed his face. He quickly ducked out of sight, but from just that quick glimpse, Eve recognized him.

“That’s the same man I saw earlier, by the creek,” she told Grayson.

Grayson drew his gun from the shoulder holster beneath his jacket. The metal whispered against the leather, and he moved in front of her. “Any idea who he is?”

“No.” But she knew that he was hiding, and that couldn’t be good.

Did this have anything to do with the hang-up calls she’d been getting? Or could it be her imagination working overtime? Everything suddenly seemed to be going against her.

“I’m Sheriff Grayson Ryland,” Grayson called out. “Identify yourself.”

Eve stood there and held her breath, waiting. But the man said nothing.

“You think it’s a local kid playing a prank?” she whispered, praying that was all there was to this.

Grayson fastened his attention to those trees. “No. A local kid would have answered me.”

True. Grayson commanded, and got, respect in Silver Creek. And that caused her heart to pound against her chest. After all, there was a killer on the loose. Eve almost hoped this was connected to the hang-up calls. Better that than having a killer just yards away.

Grayson lifted his gun, and he took aim. “Well?” he prompted, his voice loud enough that the person hiding wouldn’t have any trouble hearing him. “Come out so I can see who you are.”

Still nothing.

“Get in your car,” Grayson instructed from over his shoulder. “I’ll get a closer look.”

Eve wanted to latch onto him, to stop him from walking toward those trees, but this was his job. Plus, Grayson wouldn’t stop. Not for her. Not for anyone.

“Just be careful,” she whispered, her voice cracking a little. Eve eased open her car door and ducked down to get inside.

The sound stopped her.

It was a loud blast, and it shook the ground beneath them. Her stomach went to her knees, and her breath stalled in her throat. For a split second she thought someone had shot at them.

But this was much louder than a gunshot.

“Get down!” Grayson shouted.

He didn’t give her a chance to do that on her own. He hooked his arm around her waist and pulled her behind her car door and to the ground.

Eve glanced behind her, at the cottage, and she saw what had caused that nightmarish sound.

An explosion.

Her grandmother’s cottage was on fire.

Chapter Three

What the hell was going on?

That was Grayson’s first thought, quickly followed by the realization that if Eve and he had stayed inside the house just a few more minutes, they would have both been blown to bits.

Behind them, the cottage had orangey flames shooting from it, and there was debris plunging to the ground. Maybe a propane tank had exploded or something, but Grayson wasn’t sure it was an accident.

After all, there was a guy hiding in the trees.

Grayson figured it was too much to hope that the two things weren’t related.

Had this person somehow rigged the explosion? If so, that meant the man would have had to have gotten close enough to the cottage to tamper with the tank that was just outside the kitchen window, but Grayson hadn’t heard him. Of course, he’d been so involved with Eve’s baby bombshell that he might not have noticed a tornado bearing down on them. He would berate himself for that later.

Now, he had to do something to protect Eve.

Grayson took cover in front of her and behind the car door, and he re-aimed his gun in the direction of the person he’d seen just moments before the explosion.

“Get out here!” he shouted to the person.

After hearing no response to his last demand, Grayson didn’t expect the guy to comply this time. And he didn’t.

No answer.

No sign of him.

Grayson kept watch behind them to make sure no one was coming at them from that direction. Other than the falling debris, the fire and black smoke smearing against the sky, there was nothing.

Except Eve, of course.

Her eyes were wide with fear, and he could feel her breath whipping against his back and neck. “We could have died,” she mumbled.

Yeah. They’d been damn lucky. A few minutes wasn’t much of a window between life and death, and her storming out had literally saved them.

Because she looked to be on the verge of panicking, Grayson wanted to reassure her that all would be fine, but he had no idea if that was true. The one thing he did know was that it wasn’t a good idea for them to be in the open like this. There could be a secondary explosion, and he needed to get Eve someplace safe so he could try to figure out what had just happened.

He glanced at his truck, but it was a good thirty feet away. Too far. He didn’t want Eve to be out in the open that long. There wasn’t just the worry of a second explosion but of their tree-hiding friend and what he might try to do.

“Get inside your car,” he told Eve, “and slide into the passenger’s seat so I can drive.”

“Oh, God,” he heard her say.

And Grayson silently repeated it. He didn’t know just how bad this situation could get, and he didn’t want to find out with Eve in tow.

“Put the keys in the ignition,” Grayson added when he felt her scramble to get into the car. “And stay down. Get on the floor.”

No Oh, God this time, but he heard her breath shiver as it rushed past her lips. He wasn’t exactly an old pro at facing potentially lethal situations, but he had the training and some experience during his time as sheriff. This had to be a first for Eve.

Not too many people had ever come this close to dying.

Grayson glanced behind him to make sure she had followed his orders. She had. Eve had squeezed herself in between the passenger’s seat and the dashboard. It was safer than sitting upright, but Grayson knew a car wouldn’t be much protection if anything was about to happen. A secondary explosion could send fiery debris slamming right into them.

He tried to keep watch all around them while he eased into the driver’s seat and adjusted it so he’d fit. He needed to put some distance between the cottage, woods and them, and then he would call for assistance. Someone could take Eve to the sheriff’s office, and Grayson could figure out why all of this didn’t feel like an accident.

While keeping a firm grip on his gun, he shut the car door and started the engine. He took out his phone and handed it to Eve. “Call the fire department.”

She did but without taking her stunned gaze off the flames that were eating their way through what was left of the cottage. It had to break her heart to see the damage, and later the full loss would hit her.

As if she hadn’t had enough to deal with for one day.

Even now, with the chaos of the moment, he still had her request going through his head.

I need you to get me pregnant.

He’d made it clear that wasn’t going to happen, so the situation was over for him. But not for Eve. He had seen that determination in her eyes, and one way or another, she was going to get this dream baby. Hell, this near-death experience might even make her more determined.

“Hang on,” Grayson warned her as he drove away—fast. He didn’t exactly gun the engine, but he didn’t dawdle, either.

The narrow road was dirt, gravel and mud since it had rained hard just that morning. With the sinkholes poxing the surface, it was impossible to have a smooth ride. But a smooth ride was an insignificant concern. Right now, he just wanted Eve out of there so he could deal with this situation on his own terms.

In other words, alone.

“The gas was turned off,” Eve murmured. “It’s been turned off for months. So, what caused the explosion?”

“Maybe a leak in the gas line.” And if so, that would be easy to prove.

“Call the first number on my contact list,” Grayson instructed. It was for the emergency dispatcher in the sheriff’s building. “I want at least one deputy out here with the fire department. Have them meet me at the end of the road.”

Once help arrived, he could hand off Eve to whichever deputy responded, and Grayson could escort the fire department and others to the scene. He didn’t want anyone walking into a potential ambush.

Eve made the call, and he heard her relay his instructions to the emergency dispatcher. Just ahead, Grayson spotted the first curve of the snaky road. He touched the brakes.

And nothing happened.

Nothing!

The car continued to barrel toward the curve. So, Grayson cursed and tried again, but this time he added a lot more pressure.

Still nothing.

Hell.

“What’s wrong?” Eve asked.

Grayson dropped his gun onto the console between them so he could use both hands to steer. “I think someone cut the brake line.”

Eve put her hand against her chest. “W-hat?”

She sounded terrified and probably was, but Grayson couldn’t take the time to reassure her that he was going to try to get them out of this without them being hurt. The curve was just seconds away, and the road surface was as slick as spit. But his biggest concern was the trees. The road was lined with them, and if he crashed into one of them, Eve and he could both be killed on impact.

“Get in the seat and put on your seat belt,” he told her, fastening his attention on the curve.

She scrambled to do just that, but he figured there wasn’t enough time. To buy them a little more of that precious time, Grayson lifted the emergency brake lever, even though it wouldn’t help much. The emergency brake would only work on the rear brake, and it wouldn’t slow them down enough. Still, he had to try anything to reduce the speed.

“Hold on,” he warned her.

Eve was still fumbling with the seat belt when the car went into the curve. Grayson had no choice but to try to keep the vehicle on the road since the trees were just yards away.

The right tires caught the gravel-filled shoulder, kicking up rocks against the metal undercarriage. The sound was nearly deafening, and it blended with his own heartbeat, which was pounding in his ears.

Eve’s car went into a slide, the back end fishtailing. Grayson steered into the slide. Or rather that’s what he tried to do, but he soon learned he had zero control. He saw the trees getting closer and closer, and there wasn’t a damn thing he could do about it.

For just a split second, he made eye contact with Eve. Her gaze was frozen on him while her hands worked frantically to fasten the seat belt. Her eyes said it all.

She thought they were going to die, and she was silently saying goodbye.

Grayson didn’t say goodbye back because he had no intention of dying today.

He heard the click of her seat belt, finally. And Grayson jerked the steering wheel to the left. The car careened in that direction, but not before the back end smashed into a live oak tree. The jolt rattled the entire vehicle and tossed them around like rag dolls.

Thank God they were wearing their seat belts.

He also thanked God that he was able to hang on to the steering wheel. They’d dodged a head-on collision, and the impact with the tree had slowed them down some, but they literally weren’t out of the woods yet.

The car went into a skid in the opposite direction.

More trees.

Grayson didn’t even bother to curse. He just focused all his energy on trying to control an out-of-control car.

And it was a battle he was losing.

There was a trio of hackberry trees directly in front of them. If he managed to miss one, he would no doubt just plow into the others, or one of their low-hanging limbs.

He fought with the wheel, trying to make it turn away, but they were in another skid, the mud and rocks helping to propel them in a direction he didn’t want to go.

“There’s the man we saw earlier,” Eve said, her voice filled with fear.

She pointed to Grayson’s right, but he didn’t look in that direction. Not because he doubted her. No. The hiding man probably was there, but Grayson had to give it one last-ditch effort to get the car into the best position for what would almost certainly be a collision.

“Cover your face,” Grayson managed to warn her. Because the limbs would probably break the glass.

His life didn’t exactly flash before his eyes, but Grayson did think of his family. His brothers. His little niece, Kimmie.

And Eve.

She was there, right smack-dab in the middle of all of his memories.

He watched the front end of the car slide toward the middle tree, but at the last second, the vehicle shifted. No longer head-on. But the driver’s side—his side—careened right into the hackberry.

Grayson felt the air bags slam into his face and side. The double impact combined with the collision rammed him into Eve and her air bag. There were the sounds of broken glass and the metal crunching against the tree trunk. The radiator spewed steam.

“We’re alive,” he heard Eve say.

Grayson did a quick assessment. Yeah, they were alive all right, and the car was wrapped around the hackberry.

“Are you hurt?” he asked Eve, trying to assess if he had any injuries of his own. His shoulder hurt like hell, but he was hoping it was just from the air-bag punch and that it hadn’t been dislocated. He would need that shoulder to try to get them out of this crumpled heap of a car.

When Eve didn’t answer, Grayson’s stomach knotted, and he whipped his head in her direction. Her hands were on the air bag that she was trying to bat down, but her attention was fixed on the side window.

Grayson soon saw why.

The man, the one who’d hidden in the trees, was running straight toward them.

Chapter Four

The man was armed, a pistol in his right hand.

Eve heard Grayson yell for her to get down, but she didn’t have time to react. Grayson pushed her down, her face and body colliding with the partially inflated air bag.

“My gun,” he snarled.

Grayson cursed and punched at the air bags. He was obviously trying to find his weapon. When Eve had last seen it, Grayson had put it on the console, but the crash had probably sent it flying.

Oh, mercy.

That meant they were sitting ducks, unarmed, with a gunman bearing down on them. She couldn’t get out of the car, not with the man so close and on her side of the vehicle. They couldn’t get out on the driver’s side because it was literally crunched around a tree. Thank God for the air bags, or Grayson would have been seriously injured or killed.

Eve glanced up at the approaching man. The person who was likely responsible for the explosion that had destroyed her grandmother’s cottage. The fear raced through her.

Still, she felt anger, too.

This idiot had endangered them and was continuing to do so. She wouldn’t just stand by and let him shoot Grayson and her. Neither would Grayson.

They both grappled around the interior of her car, and Eve remembered her own gun in the glove compartment. It took some doing to get the air bag out of the way, but she finally managed it. She threw open the glove box door, latched onto the gun and handed it to Grayson.

He immediately took aim.

The man must have seen him do that because he ducked behind a tree. She wasn’t sure if that was a good or bad thing. If the man had stayed out in the open, Grayson would have had a clean shot. This way, they were still trapped.

“One of the deputies will be here soon,” Grayson reminded her.

Probably one of his brothers. Both Dade and Mason were Silver Creek deputy sheriffs, and since Grayson had requested backup, they would no doubt get there as soon as humanly possible.

But that might not be soon enough.

Using his left hand Grayson continued to bat away the air bag, but he kept his attention pinned to the tree where the man had ducked out of sight. Eve kept watch as well, but there were other trees near that one, and it wouldn’t take much for the man to move behind one of those closer trees and sneak right up on them.

“Who is he?” Eve meant to ask herself that question, but she said it aloud.

“I don’t know,” Grayson answered. “But he could be the killer we’re after.”

Yes. Eve was aware that there was an unidentified killer on the loose.

Thanks to the newspaper coverage, she was also aware that just a few days ago a young woman’s body had been found in the creek. The woman had been fully clothed, no signs of sexual assault, but her fingerprints and face had been obliterated. That’s the term the press had used, obliterated, and Eve had assumed the killer had done that to prevent her from being identified.

It had worked.

So, why would this killer come after Grayson and her now?

Until the body was identified, and that might never happen, it wasn’t likely that Grayson would be able to come up with a list of suspects.

But Eve had a sickening thought.

Perhaps the man had killed the woman in or near the cottage. Maybe he was destroying any potential physical evidence that would link him to the crime. And here she’d walked in with so much on her mind that she hadn’t even considered a trip home could be dangerous. This in spite of her knowing about the murder that possibly happened just a stone’s throw away from the cottage.

That oversight could be deadly.

She choked back a sob. Only minutes earlier her main worry had been getting pregnant, but for that to happen Grayson and she had to survive this. If something went wrong and he got hurt, it would be her fault because he wouldn’t have been out here in these woods if she hadn’t called him.

“I’ll get you out of here,” she heard Grayson say.

It sounded like a promise. But Eve knew backup was still a few minutes away. A lot could happen in those few short minutes.

Because she had her attention pinned to that tree, she saw the man lean out. Or rather she saw his gun.

“Get down!” she warned Grayson.

Just as the shot slammed through the window directly above Eve’s head. The sound was deafening, and the bullet tore through the safety glass.

Grayson moved forward, his body and forearm pushing her deeper onto the floor so that she could no longer see what was going on.

And Grayson fired.

Eve automatically put her hands over her ears, but the blast was so loud that it seemed to shake the entire car. What was left of the safety glass in the window came tumbling down on top of her.

Grayson elbowed the chunk of glass aside and fired another shot. All Eve could do was pray, and her prayers were quickly answered. Even with the roaring in her ears from the shots, she heard a welcome sound.

A siren.

Maybe the fire department. Maybe a deputy. She didn’t care which. She just wanted Grayson to have backup. Her gun was fully loaded, but Eve didn’t have any other ammunition with her, and she didn’t want to risk a gun battle with the man who had a better position behind the tree.

“The SOB’s getting away,” Grayson growled.

Eve hadn’t thought this situation could get more frightening, but that did it. If he managed to escape, he might try to come after her again.

She didn’t need this, and neither did Grayson.

Grayson obviously agreed because he climbed over her and caught on to the door handle. He turned it, but it didn’t budge. Eve didn’t relish the idea of Grayson running after a possible killer, but the alternative was worse. Besides, the gunman had quit shooting.

For now, anyway.

Eve rammed her weight against the door to help Grayson open it. It took several hard pushes, but with their combined effort the door finally flew open.

“Be careful,” she warned him.

“You, too,” Grayson warned back. “Stay put and try to find my gun. I figure he’s trying to get as far away from that siren as he can, but if this guy is stupid and doubles back, shoot him.”

That didn’t help with her ragged nerves, but as Grayson sprang from the car, Eve made a frantic search for the gun. She also kept watch, blindly running her hands over the floor and seats.

The sirens got closer, and she saw the flashes of blue lights at the end of the road. Backup was just seconds away, but Grayson was already running past the tree that the gunman had hidden behind.

Her fingers brushed over the cold gunmetal, finally, and Eve snatched up Grayson’s Smith & Wesson. Her hands were shaking like crazy, but she positioned the gun so it would be easier for her to take aim. But she was hoping that might not be necessary.

A Silver Creek cruiser came to a screeching stop next to her wrecked car, and she recognized the man who jumped out. It was Dade, Grayson’s brother. Like Grayson, he wore jeans and a badge clipped to his belt, and he had his gun ready. He was lankier than Grayson, but Eve didn’t doubt Dade’s capabilities. From everything she’d heard, he was a good lawman.

“Eve?” he asked. Dade was clearly surprised to see her in Silver Creek. Then his gaze flashed to the cottage. Or rather what remained of it. It was still on fire, but there wasn’t much left to burn.

Soon, very soon, it would be just a pile of ashes.

“Someone blew up the cottage. And then he fired a shot at us,” she explained. “He might be the killer you’re looking for.” Mercy, her voice was shaking as badly as her hands, and she tried to rein in her fear so she could point toward the tree. “Grayson went after him.”

Concern flashed through Dade’s eyes, and he snapped his attention in the direction where she’d pointed. “Stay here,” Dade said, repeating Grayson’s earlier order. “The fire crew is right behind me. And keep that gun ready, just in case.”

She watched him run toward the spot where she’d last seen Grayson, and Eve added another prayer for Dade’s safety, too. Like all the Rylands, she’d known Dade her entire life, and even though he was only two years younger than she was, she had always thought of him as her kid brother. That probably had something to do with all the meals she’d helped cook for Dade and the others after their mother committed suicide.

“The dark ages,” she mumbled.

That’s how she’d always thought of that time twenty years ago when Grayson and his brothers had basically become orphans. During the years that followed, Eve had gotten close with all of Grayson’s brothers, closer than she had been with her own family.

She blinked back the tears. And here she’d endangered yet another family member. Heck, Mason was probably on the way, too. Before the hour was up, she might have put all three of them at risk.

Eve heard a second set of sirens and knew that the fire department was close by. She stayed in the car, as both Grayson and Dade had warned her to do, but she moved to the edge of the seat, closer to the open door, so she could try to pick through the woods and see Grayson. She still had sight of Dade, but Grayson was nowhere to be seen.

She glanced behind her at the fire engine as it made the final turn from the farm road onto the gravel drive that led to the cottage. The driver turned off the sirens, and everything suddenly went silent.

Eve could hear the wind assaulting the trees. She could hear her own heartbeat in her ears.

She also heard Dade shout, “Get down!”

And the sound of a gun going off ripped through the silence.

Конец ознакомительного фрагмента.

Текст предоставлен ООО «ЛитРес».

Прочитайте эту книгу целиком, купив полную легальную версию на ЛитРес.

Безопасно оплатить книгу можно банковской картой Visa, MasterCard, Maestro, со счета мобильного телефона, с платежного терминала, в салоне МТС или Связной, через PayPal, WebMoney, Яндекс.Деньги, QIWI Кошелек, бонусными картами или другим удобным Вам способом.