Drury Read online

  “No,” Caitlyn said, still shaking her head when Drury ended the call. “You shouldn’t have done that. You shouldn’t have told Grayson you were bringing someone in.”

  And she took off. Not toward the door but rather into the living room.

  “What the heck do you think you’re doing?” Drury asked.

  She didn’t answer that. Caitlyn hurried to the side of the sofa, and she grabbed something from the floor. Even though the room was dark, Drury had no trouble seeing the bundled-up coat.

  And the stun gun.

  Caitlyn picked up both, and with the coat clutched to her chest, she started running, headed to the back door this time.

  Drury stepped in front of her, blocking her path, but Caitlyn tried to dart around him. He didn’t want her to get a chance to use that stun gun on him, so he caught onto her arm and knocked the stun gun from her hand.

  “I have to go,” she insisted. “It’s not safe.”

  Maybe it wasn’t, but that didn’t mean Drury was just going to let her head out. He pulled her closer and had a better look at the coat.

  Damn.

  In the middle of that bundle, Drury saw something move.

  And that something was a baby.

  Chapter Two

  Caitlyn hadn’t expected Drury just to let her walk out of there, but she also hadn’t thought this insanity would go from bad to worse.

  This definitely qualified as worse.

  Now that he’d seen the baby, there was no way he’d willingly let her leave.

  “The baby’s yours?” he snapped.

  “Maybe.”

  She’d figured Drury wasn’t going to like that answer, and he didn’t. He groaned. Then cursed.

  “But I believe she’s mine,” Caitlyn went on. “And the man said she was. I figured I could have her tested later, but for now I have to go. That man who shot at you wants to kill me and take the baby.”

  “Yeah. I got that. According to Grayson, he had rope, tape, a ski mask and gloves in his SUV. All the makings of a felony or two.”

  Oh, God. Her stomach dropped. Even though Caitlyn had known the man didn’t have good intentions, it sickened her to hear it spelled out like that. It also confirmed what she’d felt in her heart.

  That he had no intention of giving her the baby.

  He’d had plans to kill her then and there. She doubted he had just stopped trying to do that, either.

  “The man will send someone else after me,” Caitlyn tried again. Tried also to move past Drury, but, like before, he stopped her.

  Mercy, she had to convince him to let her go. But how? Too bad her head was throbbing and she was dizzy because it made it hard to think.

  “Look, I know you don’t owe me any favors,” she said. “But let me leave.”

  An understatement about the favors.

  And the sound Drury made let her know that he didn’t owe her a thing. Not after she’d walked out on him four years ago. He’d been in love with her. Then. Definitely not now, though. There wasn’t a shred of love between them at this moment.

  However, Caitlyn could still feel the tug of attraction. The one she’d had for Drury the first time she’d laid eyes on him. That attraction was all one-sided now, on her part. Drury’s glare proved it.

  “Please just help me by letting me leave right now,” she begged.

  It seemed to take him a couple of seconds to get his jaw unclenched so he could speak, and he didn’t look at her when he did it. He volleyed his attention between the baby and the window. Drury was no doubt looking to see if the thug had indeed sent someone else to come after her.

  Good.

  Because Caitlyn was looking, too.

  “How’d you get the baby?” Drury asked.

  She huffed. There wasn’t time for all this talk, but it was obvious he wasn’t going to let her leave until he had some answers. Maybe not even then. That meant she had to get away at the first chance she got.

  “I took her from that man,” Caitlyn said, blinking back the tears that were burning her eyes. Her voice, like the rest of her, was trembling. “I really don’t know who he is, and I didn’t see his face. He was wearing a ski mask.”

  “Keep talking,” Drury insisted when she paused again.

  “I was meeting him to deliver another payment, but this time I brought a stun gun with me.”

  Mercy. It was hard to relive this. The memories were still so fresh and raw. The fear, too.

  “When I handed him the money,” she went on, “I reached for the baby. He smashed me on the head with his weapon, but I was able to hit him with the stun gun. He fell to the ground. I grabbed the baby and got away.”

  No groan this time. Drury cursed again instead. “You could have been killed.”

  “I could have lost her,” Caitlyn pointed out just as quickly. “Even if she’s not my daughter, she belongs to someone, and I had to get her away from that monster.”

  Drury didn’t seem swayed in the least by that. “You should have involved the cops.”

  “I couldn’t because the man said he’d know if I brought anyone with me.” In addition to the tears and trembling, Caitlyn had to fight the sudden tightness in her chest. “He said he would hurt the baby if I wasn’t alone. I couldn’t risk it.”

  She must have looked ready to fly into a million little pieces because Drury huffed. Then did something surprising. He touched her arm. It barely qualified as a pat, but she’d take it.

  Too bad he didn’t offer her a hug, or she would have taken that, too.

  The touch didn’t last long. Drury looked at her, his gaze lingering for a moment before it also slipped away.

  “During any of your conversations, did this clown say if he was working for someone or how he got the baby in the first place?” Drury asked.

  “No. But I’m not sure he’s connected to anyone at Conceptions Clinic.” She hesitated about adding the next part. Not because it wasn’t true.

  It was.

  But it wasn’t going to shorten this conversation.

  “I think the man might be working for Helen Denson.”

  There, she’d said it aloud. Her worst fear. Or rather, one of them. She had plenty of others at the moment, but at the top of that list was that her dead husband’s rich, manipulative mother could be the one who’d orchestrated this nightmare.

  Caitlyn could almost see the wheels turning in Drury’s head, and he was likely trying to work out why she’d just accused her former mother-in-law of such a heinous crime.

  “Helen hates me,” Caitlyn explained. “And she was furious when she found out Grant left his entire estate to me. I think she would do anything, including something like this, to get back the money.”

  Of course, that could mean the baby wasn’t hers. After all, Helen could have used any baby to carry out a scheme like that.

  “Why would Helen be upset about you inheriting what belonged to your husband?” he asked.

  This was another long explanation, one she didn’t have time or energy to give him. Caitlyn went with the short version. “Grant and I were separated when he was killed in that car accident. I was already in the process of getting a divorce.”

  He pulled back his shoulders just slightly. Surprised by that. Later, if there was a later, she would tell him more. For now, though, she had to remind him of the urgency of her situation.

  “That man who had the baby wasn’t working alone,” she continued. “When I made the first payment, there were two of them, and I’m pretty sure they had a lookout or someone nearby because one of the men had a communicator in his ear, and he was talking to someone. I can’t stay here because they’ll come back.”

  “Come on,” Drury said. He still had a firm grip on her arm. “We’ll go to the sheriff’s off
ice and get this all straightened out.”

  “They’ll look for me there if they don’t attack us along the way first. The baby could be hurt. You, too.” She almost added that she couldn’t live with that, but it was an old wound best left untouched.

  “If you didn’t want me involved, then you shouldn’t have come here,” he grumbled.

  “I swear I didn’t know the man would follow me. I mean, he was out from the stun gun, and he didn’t have his partner with him this time. Didn’t have the communicator in his ear, either.” A heavy sigh left her mouth. “I guess he had a lookout after all.”

  Caitlyn figured Drury would ignore everything she’d just told him and demand once more that she leave with him.

  But he didn’t.

  His gaze volleyed from her to the baby. “Whose coat is that?” he asked.

  She had to shake her head. “It was right next to the baby on the seat of the kidnapper’s SUV, and I grabbed it to cover her from the rain.”

  “Put the baby on the sofa,” Drury instructed, and his tone and body language sent a chill straight through her. “It could have a tracking device—or something worse—in it.”

  Sweet heaven.

  Caitlyn hurried to the sofa, easing the baby onto it. The little girl was still sleeping, thank goodness.

  “I checked her after I brought her into your house,” she explained. “No cuts or bruises.” It sickened her, though, to think there could have been.

  Drury didn’t respond. He moved in front of the newborn, eased back the sides of the coat.

  The baby was wearing a pink drawstring gown with little ducks on it. There was even an elastic headband with a bow holding back her dark brown curls from her face, and she had a thin receiving blanket around her. She was clean. Her diaper appeared to have been changed recently, and since she wasn’t crying, that probably meant she’d been fed. Whoever had her had at least taken care of her.

  Probably so they could protect their investment.

  Something twisted inside Caitlyn at the thought.

  She almost hated to feel this kind of anger. This kind of love for that precious little girl. Because the baby might not even be hers.

  Caitlyn repeated that to herself.

  It didn’t seem to stop the flood of feelings that poured through her, and that love could mean she would be crushed if she had to hand over the baby to someone else.

  “Lift her up,” Drury said, still searching every inch of the coat. “Gently.”

  That gave her another jolt, and she prayed there wasn’t anything on or near the baby that could hurt her.

  Caitlyn eased the newborn into her arms. Of course, it wasn’t the first time she’d held her, but without the coat around her, she could feel just how tiny and fragile she was.

  Drury went through the coat pockets, coming up empty each time, and he turned his attention to the bow on the baby’s headband.

  “Hell,” he mumbled.

  Caitlyn watched as he gently slipped off the headband, and she saw it then.

  “It’s a tracking device,” he said. “That’s how the man was able to follow you.”

  Caitlyn shook her head. “I should have noticed it. Drury. I’m so sorry.”

  “Save it.” He tossed the headband onto the coffee table. “In case I missed something, don’t use the blanket to wrap her.” He pulled a throw off the back of the sofa and handed it to her. “Use this.”

  “Where are we going?” she asked, draping it over the baby.

  “Away from here. And fast.” He took out his phone and sent a text. Probably to Grayson. “I don’t want any other hired guns coming to the ranch. Every one of my cousins has wives and kids, and they’re all right here on the grounds.”

  That didn’t help steady her heartbeat.

  Drury led her to the back door, grabbing a remote control from the kitchen counter. He used it to open the detached garage, and he stepped out onto the porch to look around.

  The rain was still coming down hard, but the porch was covered so the baby was staying dry. However, she was starting to squirm, maybe because Caitlyn’s dress was damp and it was cool against her. She needed dry clothes. Baby supplies.

  And a safe place to take her.

  But where?

  The sheriff’s office certainly didn’t seem like an ideal location since the man’s partners could go looking for her there.

  “Wait here in the doorway, and I’ll pull the car up to the steps,” Drury said. He’d already started to walk away but then stopped and turned back around to face her. “So help me, you’d better not try to run.”

  Since she was indeed thinking just that, Caitlyn wondered if he’d read her mind. Or maybe he could just see the desperation on her face.

  Because she didn’t know what else to do, Caitlyn did wait. And she prayed. She trusted Drury, but her trust wouldn’t do a darn thing to protect him or the baby.

  He hurried to the garage, and it took only a few seconds before she heard the engine turn on. Only a few seconds more before he pulled the car to the steps with the passenger’s side facing her.

  The moment Drury threw open the door and frantically motioned for her to get in, she knew something was wrong.

  “Someone’s coming,” Drury said.

  Caitlyn saw the headlights then. There was a car on the road. And it was speeding right toward them.

  Chapter Three

  Drury cursed himself for not getting Caitlyn away from the house any sooner. But he’d delayed because he hadn’t been sure what was going on.

  Still wasn’t sure.

  But he couldn’t wait around and find out if whoever was in that car had friendly intentions. Judging from the tracking device he’d found, his guess was no. No friendly intentions here. That vehicle was likely carrying more shooters who’d come after Caitlyn and the baby. And being inside the house wouldn’t necessarily help them if these morons opened fire.

  Caitlyn ran down the porch steps, and Drury reached across the seat to pull her inside. The moment she was in, he gunned the engine to get them the heck out of there.

  “You’re not going to drive toward that car, are you?” she asked. The fear was right back in her voice. Not that it’d completely gone away, but there was a triple dose of it now.

  It was raining, they didn’t have a car seat and bullets might start flying at any second.

  “We’re not going toward the car,” he assured her, and he bolted out of the side of his yard and headed not for the highway, but toward the main house.

  It was a risk, but there were no completely safe options here.

  Drury tossed her his phone. “Text Grayson and tell him what’s going on. And climb in the back with the baby. Get all the way down on the seat and stay there.”

  She gave a shaky nod, and with the baby cradled in her arms, Caitlyn scrambled into the back. Drury heard her typing the text, but he kept his attention on the other car. Even though he hadn’t turned on his headlights, the driver of the vehicle must have seen him because he came after them.

  Hell.

  He had hoped the guy would just back off when he saw where Drury was headed. No such luck.

  Drury drove toward the main house, but he certainly had no intentions of stopping. There was a security gate just ahead, and like everybody else on the ranch, he had the remote to open and close it. He started pushing the remote button the moment it came into view, and the metal gates dragged open.

  It seemed to take an eternity.

  And that car behind him just kept getting closer and closer.

  “He’s got a gun,” Caitlyn said, and that’s when Drury realized she’d lifted her head and was looking out the back window.

  “Get back down,” he warned her.

  Yeah, the guy had a gun al
l right. Drury had no trouble spotting it because the passenger lowered his window and stuck out his hand, trying to take aim.

  The moment the gates were open, Drury gunned the engine and flew through them, hitting the remote to close them.

  It worked.

  The gates closed before the shooter could get through. The driver hit his brakes, slamming into the gate, but the gates held.

  Thank God.

  Drury kept going, and he sped past the houses that dotted the ranch. He didn’t dare stop because the gunman might have a long-range rifle in the car, and Drury didn’t want to give the guy any reason to keep firing.

  “Grayson says his brothers and the ranch hands have been alerted,” Caitlyn relayed after getting a response to the text she’d sent.

  Good. Though he doubted that gunman would get out of the car and go in pursuit on foot, it was better to be safe than sorry.

  Especially since Drury was already sorry enough for this fiasco.

  He stayed on the road that coiled around the pastures, and once he was past the exterior security lights, it was too dark for him to see. Drury had no choice but to turn on his headlights.

  “Where are we going?” she asked.

  Some place she wouldn’t like. “The sheriff’s office. And before you remind me that these goons can follow us there, they can follow us anywhere. At least if we’re at the sheriff’s office, the deputies and I can protect you, and it’ll get these idiots away from my family.

  “Don’t say you’re sorry,” he added, his voice a little harsher than he’d intended.

  Drury had caught a glimpse of her face in the mirror and could tell from the tears that she was about to apologize again. Well, it wouldn’t help. Nothing would right now except getting her and that baby to safety.

  His phone rang, the sound cutting through the other sounds of his heartbeat drumming in his ears and the wipers slashing at the rain.

  “It’s Grayson,” Caitlyn said. She passed him the phone, but since Drury still had hold of his gun, he pushed the speaker button and dropped the phone on the seat next to him.