Holden Read online

  Nicky didn’t know who looked more surprised by that—Grayson, Holden or her.

  “Where’s the baby now?” Holden demanded.

  “At one of Lee’s estates. I hired three bodyguards to stay with him so I could come here, but that’s why I’m so anxious to get back to him. I’m afraid someone will try to take him.”

  That could happen despite the fact the kidnappers had gotten a million and a half out of the deal. They could want more. In fact, that could have been their plan all along, to continue to get as much as possible from the birth parents.

  However, hearing all of this reminded Nicky of something she’d read when she had been researching the senator, and while Grayson probably wasn’t going to like the interruption, Nicky went to the interview room and tapped on the door.

  Holden was the one to open it, and yes, she’d been right about Grayson not liking this. He shot her a scowl, but maybe the scowl would ease up when he heard what she had to say.

  “Beatrice signed a prenup agreement,” Nicky whispered to Holden. But obviously she didn’t whisper it softly enough because Beatrice got to her feet again.

  “So?” Beatrice challenged.

  Nicky hadn’t intended on spelling this out herself, but now everyone had their eyes on her. “So, if your husband divorces you or even if he dies, you won’t get any of his money or properties.”

  Nicky had been guessing about the dying part, but judging from the way Beatrice’s chin came up, she’d been right about that.

  “What are you implying?” Beatrice snapped.

  Since Nicky had already opened this particular box, she emptied the rest of the contents. “That maybe you arranged for the surrogate to have the baby. Then you set up the kidnapping so that you could milk money from your husband’s accounts.”

  The flash of temper went through Beatrice’s eyes, and she moved as if to launch herself at Nicky. The lawyer intervened, stepping between them, but he had to take hold of Beatrice’s shoulders to stop her.

  “If you repeat that to anyone, I’ll sue you for everything you have,” Beatrice warned her.

  “Are you saying you didn’t arrange for your own son’s birth and then kidnapping?” Holden asked. Unlike Beatrice, his voice was calm. So was he, and that seemed to agitate Beatrice even more.

  “I’m not saying anything else to any of you.” Beatrice snatched up her purse. “This interview is over.”

  “Think again,” Grayson said. “You just admitted to a participation in a crime.”

  “A crime where I was the victim!” Beatrice fired back.

  “A crime where your son was the victim,” Holden amended. “You didn’t report that crime to the police, and by doing that you concealed critical information in a federal investigation.”

  Grayson nodded. “You’re not going anywhere until we get a full written statement about what happened,” he added. “Even then you might not be leaving anytime soon. The faster you cooperate, the faster you might get out of here. Might.”

  The lawyer didn’t argue with that, which meant he knew his client had just dug herself a massive legal hole. But it wouldn’t necessarily lead to Beatrice’s arrest because if the woman was telling the truth about all of this, she’d done what any normal person would have done to get her baby.

  “I’ll take her statement,” Grayson said to Holden. “Why don’t Nicky and you head on out?”

  “Remember what I said about suing you,” Beatrice snarled when Nicky and Holden turned to leave. “I will if you say a word about this to anyone.”

  It wasn’t even worth her breath for Nicky to respond. Nor did she have time. That’s because the moment they were in the hall, Holden’s phone buzzed, and she saw Gage’s name on the screen.

  “How’s Amanda?” Holden asked. He put the call on speaker, but he didn’t do that until after they were out of earshot of Beatrice.

  “I’m not sure. Amanda’s lawyer showed up, and he won’t let us talk to her. The doctor wanted to keep her overnight for observation, but after she found out a man had been murdered here earlier, she insisted on being transferred to a hospital in San Antonio.”

  Nicky couldn’t blame the woman for not wanting to stay there, but it could also be part of some ploy to make her look innocent. Because if Amanda was indeed the one behind this, then she would have been responsible for that murder.

  “I’ll go with her to make sure she doesn’t try to run or do something stupid,” Gage continued. “How’d it go with Beatrice?”

  “She claims that kidnappers had her son. A son born under the same circumstances as Carter.”

  “Claims?” Gage repeated, unable to hide the skepticism in his voice.

  “Yeah. Grayson’s with her now, and I’m hoping he can sort out the truth. Maybe you can do the same thing with Amanda when her lawyer lets you talk to her.”

  “Funny thing about that—the lawyer’s not going to let that happen. But Amanda did hint that she’d be willing to talk to Nicky and you. Any chance you two can get to the hospital before she’s moved?”

  Holden groaned, and Nicky knew that was the last place he wanted her. However, it was the one place where they might learn whatever role Amanda played in all of this.

  “We can go there now,” Nicky said.

  It took Holden a moment before he agreed. He ended the call, his attention immediately going to Kara, probably because his two cousins were on the phone.

  “I need backup while I go to the hospital with Nicky,” Holden told her.

  Kara nodded, called out to the others that she was leaving, but Holden had them wait inside until he went to the parking lot and drove a cruiser directly in front of the door. The moment they were in the cruiser, he didn’t waste any time driving away.

  “You think Beatrice was telling the truth about anything?” Holden asked her.

  “Yes, about the affair. About taking the money from her husband’s account, too. But remember, there was nothing in the files about a surrogate being successfully implanted with the Minton’s baby.” Nicky paused. “That doesn’t mean it didn’t happen, though.”

  “And it doesn’t mean that Beatrice wasn’t the one behind it,” Holden added. “This way, she could get the money, an heir to the Minton fortune, and she wouldn’t have to ruin her figure to do it.”

  Yes, Beatrice seemed vain enough for that to have been a consideration.

  “We need to find out what happened to her husband,” Nicky said, thinking out loud. Of course, plenty of people had been searching for the senator for over two weeks now, and there was still no sign of him.

  Maybe for a reason.

  “You believe that Beatrice could have murdered him?” Nicky asked.

  “I do.” Since Holden didn’t hesitate, it meant his mind was already going in that direction. “Beatrice could have killed him because of the affairs, but then hidden his body until she had the money she could get from his estate.”

  True, but Nicky had to shake her head. “With a Minton heir, she’d get the entire estate anyway.”

  “Yeah, but it would likely have conditions attached. Minton probably has a will where he named a trustee to control any heir’s accounts. That could mean Beatrice wouldn’t have been able to touch the money for herself.”

  Nicky had to agree with that, and it meant they had some more digging to do. This was where she could help since she’d already established contact with a lot of the senator’s family and friends. If there was dirt to dish on Beatrice, one of them might do it.

  Holden pulled into the parking lot, slowly, and looked around. “I’ll pull up to the door again,” he instructed. “You two get out and stay in the waiting room while I park.”

  He turned in the lane to do just that when Nicky felt the jolt. It was as if someone had shot out one of the tires, but she certainly ha
dn’t heard a gunshot. But it didn’t take long, only a couple of seconds, before she heard something.

  A blast.

  And it ripped through the cruiser.

  * * *

  HOLDEN HADN’T SEEN what had caused the blast, but he’d certainly heard it.

  It was deafening. He felt it, too, because the blast lifted the front end of the cruiser off the ground and then slammed it back down again.

  Nicky, Kara and Holden were all wearing their seat belts, thank God, but that didn’t stop them from being slung around like rag dolls.

  Holden’s shoulder slammed into the steering wheel, and the pain stabbed through him. So hard that he thought he saw stars. But he fought through that and checked on Nicky and Kara in the backseat. Both women looked dazed, but they didn’t seem to have any injuries.

  But that might not last.

  Holden got a glimpse of something he darn sure didn’t want to see. It was one of those ski-mask-wearing thugs like the one who had attacked them the day before. The guy was armed, and he was crouched down behind a car. He didn’t stay crouched for long, however. He started running toward the cruiser.

  “On your left,” Holden warned Kara.

  The deputy was moving slowly, but she’d already drawn her gun. She pivoted in that direction now, and Holden was about to do the same when something else caught his eye. Something that sent his heart into overdrive.

  A second gunman.

  This one was coming at them from the other side.

  “Stay down,” Holden warned Nicky, but that was only a temporary measure.

  Holden hit the locks on the doors just as the first shot blasted into the window next to Kara. The glass was bullet-resistant, but that didn’t mean bullets wouldn’t eventually get through. And the gunman was trying to make that happen sooner rather than later. He started firing nonstop at the window.

  And he wasn’t doing that alone.

  The other guy started shooting at Holden’s window.

  Holden tried to get the cruiser moving, but the explosion had disabled the engine in addition to putting a big crater in the concrete in front of them. He threw the cruiser into Reverse and tried again.

  Nothing.

  “I’m calling for backup,” Kara said, taking out her phone.

  Good. But even though the sheriff’s office was just up the street, Grayson might not be able to get there fast enough.

  “Gage is inside the hospital,” Holden reminded Kara, and the deputy immediately called him.

  “He’s on the way out,” Kara said a moment later, though it was hard to hear what she was saying. Both gunmen were continuing to rip apart the glass in the windows.

  “If they get through, you stop the one on your side,” Holden told the deputy. “Don’t let him get to Nicky.”

  Because he would kill her.

  This wasn’t a kidnapping attempt. These men wanted her dead. Or at least their boss did, and he or she had paid them to commit murder.

  “I need a gun,” Nicky insisted.

  Holden got her one out of the glove compartment, though he hated the idea of her having to shoot to protect herself. He and Kara were in law enforcement so it was different for them. This was their job. But as a reporter, Nicky hadn’t signed on for a gunfight in the middle of a parking lot.

  In the distance Holden heard sirens. A welcome sound, but he saw something else that would help, too.

  Gage.

  His cousin was skulking around some cars, coming toward them. Holden only hoped the gunmen didn’t see him first because unlike the thugs, Gage wasn’t wearing body armor.

  Holden had to do something to make sure Gage didn’t get shot while trying to help them. He lowered his window, just enough to stick out the barrel of his gun, and he took aim at the gunman. Well, he took aim as best he could considering he had no room to maneuver. He also had to be careful. He couldn’t just fire off a random shot because it might hit an innocent bystander. He waited until he had the best shot he thought he might get.

  And Holden fired.

  His shot hit the guy in the chest. Of course, the Kevlar was protecting him from a kill shot, but he staggered back and stopped firing.

  Holden knew it wouldn’t last, knew he only had a couple of seconds at most before the gunman regained his balance. Holden adjusted his aim. Fired again.

  This time Holden didn’t shoot him in the chest. But rather in the head.

  The guy went down like a rock.

  Holden pivoted to try to do the same to the second man, but Gage was already in position. The thug probably didn’t even see Gage since his focus was on his shots, which were eating their way through the window. And he succeeded.

  The bullet came crashing through the cruiser.

  Holden yelled for Nicky and Kara to get down. They did, but he couldn’t tell if either were hit. That’s because the shooter left cover to come in for the kill.

  Big mistake.

  Gage left cover, too.

  The thug saw him at the last moment, and he pivoted in that direction. But Gage got off the shot he needed. No shot to the chest. This one went into the guy’s head, and like his comrade, he fell to the ground.

  Holden felt a split second of relief. But it didn’t last. That’s because he looked in the backseat to check on Kara and Nicky.

  And that’s when he saw the blood.

  Chapter Ten

  “It’s just a cut,” Nicky said.

  She wasn’t sure how many more times she’d have to remind Holden of that before it sank in. Or got that troubled expression off his face. He had the look of a man who’d just made a huge mistake.

  And he might indeed see it that way.

  Nicky saw it differently. They were all alive, and the only injury had happened when the gunman’s bullet had sliced across Nicky’s arm. It’d stung like fire then. Still did. However, she didn’t want Holden to see any signs of her pain because he was already beating himself up enough about this.

  “All done,” the nurse told them when she finished the stitches and placed a bandage over it. “The doctor’s writing a script for some pain meds—”

  “No need,” Nicky interrupted. She didn’t want them—not just for Holden’s sake, but also because she didn’t want a fuzzy mind. There were too many things about this investigation they still had to work out.

  The nurse glanced between Holden and her as if waiting for Nicky to change her mind about those meds. “Okay, then I’ll get your paperwork so you can leave.”

  “Could you make it fast?” Nicky asked. “I have some things I want to check on.”

  The nurse shrugged, mumbled that she would see what she could do and walked out, leaving Holden and her alone in the treatment room. Nicky immediately got up and would have started out, too, but Holden stepped in front of her.

  “You were just shot,” he snarled.

  “No, I was just grazed. I’m fine, and I want to talk to Amanda before she leaves.”

  Holden didn’t budge. He just stared at her. Then, he reached out, put his fingertips on the bandage and used his thumb to measure the distance between the graze and her heart.

  “Three inches,” he said, “and that bullet could have killed you.”

  “Yes, but it didn’t.”

  He looked down at the space and must have realized that his thumb was not only over her heart, but was also on her breast. She expected him to jerk back his hand, and he did move it, but Holden did it slowly. In the same motion, he lowered his head.

  And he kissed her.

  Nicky wasn’t sure who was more surprised by the kiss, but the sound she made got trapped between their mouths. This wasn’t some little peck of comfort, either. Holden kissed the right way, and he eased his arm around her, inching her closer to him
.

  He was careful with her arm. Careful with her. Treating her as if she was fragile glass that might shatter in his hands. She wasn’t sure how he could manage to deepen the kiss with such a soft touch, but he did it. When he finally pulled away from her, Nicky wasn’t just breathless. She was plenty aroused.

  Hardly the right time for it since they were in the ER.

  “I’m sorry about you getting shot,” Holden said. “I’m not sorry about the kiss, though.”

  Yes, he was, because he groaned right after the words had left his mouth.

  “It’s okay,” Nicky assured him. “It doesn’t have to mean anything.”

  That was a lie. It did mean something, and it broke down barriers that she needed in place to protect her heart. Obviously, all the danger had made her a little crazy because she was already thinking about what it would be like to land in bed with Holden again.

  Oh, yes, she was definitely a little crazy.

  And maybe it’d done the same thing to Holden.

  As if to prove that it didn’t have to mean anything—or to disprove it—he pulled her back to him. In the same motion, his mouth came to hers for another kiss. This meant something all right. It was deeper than the other one, and there wasn’t a hint of sympathy in it.

  It was pure heat.

  It didn’t stay just a kiss, either. Holden pulled her closer and closer to him until they were body-to-body. Pressed together in all the right places. Or rather the wrong places, since it fired up that heat even more.

  Being in his arms brought back all the old memories. Of the time when they’d been lovers. Hard to forget something that amazing, but they were clearly making new memories, too. Ones that Holden might not want to be making with her.

  That didn’t stop him, though.

  He staggered back, taking her with him, and he landed against the wall. She landed against him. Her breasts against his chest. Against his hand, too. That’s because Holden slipped his hand between them and cupped her breast while he took those clever kisses to her neck.