Holden Page 18

  Holden hadn’t liked that, but at least she didn’t have any visible injuries. Unlike Kara and Amanda. They had both been taken by ambulance to the hospital and were in surgery.

  “It shouldn’t be long now before we can leave,” Holden said to Nicky.

  She looked at him and nodded, and while she wasn’t exactly jumping up and down, he figured she wanted to see the babies as much as he did. Especially now that it was safe to do that.

  Amanda’s thugs had been rounded up. At least the ones who were still alive. Grayson and the other deputies who’d responded to the scene had been forced to kill three men. Added to the one that Holden had shot in the barn, that left two, and last he’d heard, they were in holding cells awaiting interrogation.

  Something that Holden wouldn’t be doing.

  He wanted answers—too much—and with all the emotions bubbling up inside of him, he might beat them senseless if they didn’t tell him what he wanted to know. Besides, he didn’t want to leave Nicky.

  Holden went closer to the sofa, and Nicky scooted over so he could sit next to her. “If Amanda dies,” she said, “how will we find out if there are other babies?”

  He’d already thought about that a lot. “The files you took. Amanda said there was encrypted information in them.”

  “She could have been lying,” Nicky pointed out.

  He shook his head. “It was important for her to get those files.” Heck, she’d been willing to kill to get them. So there had to be something she wanted concealed in them. “The FBI’s going over them now, and they’ll find whatever it is.”

  He hoped.

  Nicky went back into silent mode for a moment, but then she reached out and touched the front of his shirt. “You should probably change that before we see the twins.”

  Holden glanced down and cursed when he saw the blood. It wasn’t his blood or even Nicky’s, thank God. It belonged to the thug he’d shot in the barn, but he definitely didn’t want to hold his niece and nephew while wearing a bloody shirt.

  There was a row of lockers on the wall, and Holden rummaged through them until he found one of Gage’s shirts. Since they were about the same size, Holden knew it would fit and he stripped off his dirty clothes.

  And Nicky gasped.

  She got off the sofa as if something had scalded her, and she hurried to him. “You’re hurt. You said you were all right.”

  By all right, he meant alive and not seriously injured. But yes, there were bruises, cuts and scrapes over most of his torso. His hands, too. It came with the territory of getting into a fistfight with a jerk who’d outsized him.

  “Minor stuff,” he assured her.

  But Nicky didn’t take his word for it. She ran her fingertips over one of the bruises. Which meant she ran those fingertips over his bare stomach. Holden would had to have been dead not to react to her touch. He reacted even more when she turned him around and explored the injuries to his back.

  “This feels a little like foreplay,” he joked.

  She stepped around to face him, but that certainly wasn’t a joking look in her eyes. It was tears. “You could have been killed,” she said on a rise of breath.

  Yeah, a couple of times over. It was the same for her, but Holden didn’t want to remind either of them of that. Instead, he pulled her into his arms, and even though this was a hug of comfort, it felt like foreplay, too, since he was shirtless.

  “It’ll all be okay,” he said, and he brushed a kiss on her forehead.

  Holden also tried not to put pressure on any of her injuries. In addition to the stitches on her arm, he could see some bruises on her now. That certainly didn’t help with all this extra energy inside him and was verification that he needed to stay far away from those captured gunmen. He wanted someone to pay for every injury on Nicky’s body.

  “Will it really be okay?” she asked, looking up at him.

  “Yes.” And Holden kissed her to prove it.

  Of course, the kiss didn’t prove anything except that he was attracted to her and that he cared for her, but maybe that would ease some of her worries. It didn’t, though. When she pulled back from the kiss, the worry was still there.

  So Holden kissed her again.

  This time he deepened it, and he lingered a bit, easing her closer and closer until her body was right against his. Finally, he got a different look from her. Not nearly as much worry, and there was some heat mixed with it. But it wasn’t nearly enough heat as far as Holden was concerned so he went back for a third kiss. He would have given a fourth, too, if he hadn’t heard the footsteps.

  “Interrupting anything?” Gage asked.

  His cousin was already in the doorway of the break room before Nicky and Holden moved away from each other. It was too late, though, because Gage had already seen them. And it was a reminder to Holden that his family should see Nicky and him like this. He slipped his arm back around her, only to get another reminder.

  That he was still shirtless.

  Gage smiled again. “Why don’t you go ahead and get dressed? It’s time for us to leave for the safe house.”

  “Grayson gave the okay for that?” Holden quickly put on the shirt, trying not to wince when the movement caused his banged-up body to ache.

  “He did. I can give you an update along the way.”

  Holden hoped those updates included lots and lots of good news because he wasn’t sure Nicky could handle anything else tonight. Heck, Holden didn’t want to handle any more bad news, either. He and Nicky had enough nightmares to last them a couple of lifetimes.

  They made their way to the squad room, and Holden saw something that caused him to stop moving. Minton, and he was holding his son. Holden recognized the look on the senator’s face. Love. Minton was already smitten with the newborn.

  “Minton wanted his son here while he was giving his statement,” Gage explained.

  At the sound of his name, Minton turned and looked at Nicky and Holden. “Thank you,” he said. “For everything.”

  Holden had been concerned as to the fate of the Minton baby, but he wasn’t as concerned now. It was obvious the kid was in loving hands.

  “What about Beatrice?” Nicky asked.

  Minton’s mouth tightened. “She’s at the county jail where I hope she’ll stay.”

  “She will,” Gage assured him, and he turned to Holden and Nicky to finish his explanation. “The kidnapper Beatrice hired is testifying against her in exchange for a lesser sentence. Beatrice is being charged with kidnapping, forced imprisonment and some other charges.”

  “But Beatrice didn’t have anything to do with the Genesis Project?” Holden added.

  “No. There’s no evidence she did anyway. That was all Amanda’s doing.”

  Too bad. Because if Beatrice had been a co-conspirator, then she could have been offered her own deal if she helped them find out if there were any other babies.

  Holden wished the senator good luck, and he and Nicky were about to leave when someone stepped out from one of the interview rooms.

  Oscar.

  Nicky groaned, which expressed Holden’s sentiment. “I don’t have time for another round of your threats,” Nicky snapped. “You’re not taking custody of Annie and Emmett’s babies.”

  The muscles stirred in Oscar’s jaw. “No. I’m not.”

  Nicky’s shoulders came back. “Is this some kind of trick?”

  “No. The sheriff is charging me with obstruction of justice for not reporting that I was with the kidnappers when they got the ransom from Beatrice. I don’t think a judge will grant me custody after that. Do you?”

  Holden hoped not.

  Oscar didn’t seem as bitter about that as Holden thought he would be. He looked defeated. “I’d like the see the babies,” Oscar added.

  Nicky glanced
at Holden to see what his take was on this, but Holden didn’t have one at the moment. “You’re their grandfather,” Holden finally said. “My advice is when you start acting like one—a good, decent one—then you’ll get to see them.”

  Oscar didn’t argue with that. He simply turned and went back into the interview room. Soon, Holden and Nicky would need to sit down with him and work out some ground rules for any future contact with the twins. For now, though, Holden just wanted to get out of there.

  Nicky clearly felt the same, so they followed Gage to a cruiser. Even though they were certain they’d rounded up all of Amanda’s thugs, they still hurried.

  It might take a while before either one of them could step outside and not relive the memories of the attacks.

  Holden got into the backseat with Nicky, and Gage took the wheel. It shouldn’t take long for them to get to the safe house. Which was good. It was already late, and he didn’t want to be in crash-and-burn mode when they got there. Not just because of the babies, either. Because he wanted to talk some things over with Nicky.

  The problem was—Holden didn’t know which things.

  “First the good news,” Gage said once he’d pulled away from the station. “Kara’s going to be fine. The doc got her all stitched up, and she’s already asking when she can come back to work.”

  That was a relief. The only reason Kara had been in that barn was because she’d been trying to help Nicky and him, and it would have been a hard blow if she’d lost her life because of it.

  Still, as good as the news was, Holden couldn’t celebrate because he figured if there was good news, then Gage was about to deliver some bad.

  And he did.

  “Amanda died in surgery,” Gage said.

  That felt like a punch right in the gut. Not only because Amanda couldn’t tell them about those files, but also because Holden had been the one to kill her. Of course, she hadn’t given him any choice but to shoot her. Still, it ate away at him to think he’d taken a life.

  “Did Amanda happen to say anything before she died?” Nicky asked.

  “No. She never regained consciousness after she was shot.”

  It wasn’t much consolation, but Amanda probably wouldn’t have said anything even if she had been awake. Not without a sweet plea deal on the table, and since she’d had a man murdered, that wouldn’t have happened.

  “So, what about you two?” Gage asked. “And yeah, I’m talking about that kissing you were doing in the break room.”

  “What about it?” Holden countered, mainly because he didn’t know how to answer Gage’s question.

  What about Nicky and him?

  And Holden looked at Nicky to see if she had the answer.

  She didn’t, not a verbal one anyway, but all in all it was a darn good way to respond. She kissed him. It wasn’t one of those scorchers they’d shared in the break room, but it went a long way to soothing some of that acid inside him. In fact, it made him smile.

  It was short-lived though because Holden’s phone buzzed, and he saw Grayson’s name on the screen. Holden put it on speaker so that Nicky and Gage could hear, but he hoped it wasn’t another round of bad news.

  “Did Gage tell you that Amanda died?” Grayson asked the moment Holden answered.

  “Yeah. And that Kara was okay.”

  “She is. Something else is okay, too. One of Amanda’s gunmen is cooperating. He’s going to give the FBI info about the encryption.”

  “Thank God,” Nicky said, her voice barely a whisper, and she repeated it several times.

  “Are there other babies?” Holden asked.

  “He says yes. There’s one more. Not Emmett and Annie’s baby, though,” Grayson quickly added. “A surrogate is carrying a baby who belongs to a wealthy lawyer and his wife. The FBI will contact both the couple and the surrogate.”

  Good. It wasn’t the ideal way for a couple to find out they were about to be parents, but since they’d gone to Conceptions Clinic that meant they’d been serious about having a child. And now they would get one. Holden made a mental note to check on them when things settled down a bit.

  Whenever that would be.

  “I’ll keep you posted if we learn anything else from the files,” Grayson went on. “But the gunman is convinced that’s the last baby out there.”

  Four babies in total. And Amanda had two million of the four she’d planned to get. Heck, this could have just been phase one of her operation, too. All she had to do was find other embryos of wealthy parents and do the same thing to them that she’d done to the Mintons, the other couple and the Rylands.

  “Where will you be taking the twins when you leave the safe house?” Grayson asked.

  Good question, and Holden had to think about it for a couple of seconds. “For now, we’ll go to my place near Silver Creek Ranch.” His house wasn’t on the main part of the ranch but rather on the land adjacent. He looked at Nicky to see if she was okay with that.

  She nodded. “I wasn’t exactly looking forward to going back to my house since the last time I was there, we were attacked.”

  Yeah, Holden remembered, and he was glad she’d agreed to go to the ranch. Except she hadn’t, not really. That nod could have simply been to give her approval for the twins to go there.

  “I’ll call you if there are any updates,” Grayson added, and he ended the call.

  Holden put away his phone, but he wasn’t finished with this conversation. “You’re going to Silver Creek Ranch with me,” Holden told Nicky.

  Then he frowned.

  That came out like an order, and judging from Nicky’s expression she didn’t approve of that any more than he did.

  Gage chuckled. “Uh, you do know how to talk to a woman, don’t you, cuz?”

  Holden frowned even more, and he shut the Plexiglas slider between the seats, but it was hard to be angry with Gage since he was right. Apparently, Holden had lost the ability to speak to a woman.

  Well, the only woman that mattered right now anyway.

  “Kissing usually works,” Nicky said, and the corner of her mouth came up a little.

  She was right. So that’s what Holden did. He kissed her again. It not only soothed his nerves, but it also reminded him of why this was easy. Easy because he knew now what he needed to say to her.

  “I want you to come to my house,” he amended. “Maybe not tonight because it’s late, but first thing in the morning.”

  Nicky nodded.

  It was the exact response Holden wanted so he kissed her again. The taste of her slid right through him, another reminder that he wanted a whole lot more from her. And not just kisses and sex, either. Now if he could only get the right words to come out of his mouth.

  “I’ll say it if you will,” Nicky whispered.

  Holden looked at her, to make sure they were on the same page. They were, but he kissed her to confirm it.

  “I love you,” Nicky said at the exact moment, Holden said, “I love you.”

  Yep, same page all right.

  “Took you long enough to figure it out,” Gage joked. Then he laughed.

  Holden tuned him out because he wasn’t done yet. Might never be done when it came to Nicky.

  “I want it all,” Holden said to her. “Raising the twins—together. Marriage. I’ll even build a white picket fence. Just think about it and give me your answer.”

  Holden was willing to wait. However long it took, but Nicky didn’t have to think on it for long. “Yes, to raising the twins together. Yes, to the marriage. The fence is optional.”

  Smiling, she caught onto the front of Holden’s shirt and pulled him to her, and Nicky kissed him.

  * * * * *

  Look for USA TODAY bestselling author

  Delores Fossen’s next book in

  THE LAW
MEN OF SILVER

  CREEK RANCH miniseries, DRURY,

  when it goes on sale next month.

  You’ll find it wherever

  Harlequin Intrigue books are sold!

  USA TODAY bestselling author Debra Webb

  begins a new thriller series with MIRA Books.

  Here is an excerpt from NO DARKER PLACE,

  a SHADES OF DEATH novel.

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  No Darker Place

  by Debra Webb

  Detective Bobbie Gentry wiped the sweat from her brow with the back of her hand. Despite the early hour she was melting right here on the sidewalk like a forgotten ice-cream cone. The weather forecast called for a high of 101 today—the same kind of record-breaking temps the capital city had been experiencing for fifteen grueling days in a row.