Serena was doing her best not to allow her nerves to get the better of her. There was a great deal riding on this. She wasn’t worried about getting hurt, she was afraid that Mark would get away again.
She ran her tongue along her very dry lips. “And where will you be again?”
“Out of sight,” he told her. “My team and I will be watching you. The second that guy turns up and grabs the money, it’ll be all over for him.” Carson squeezed her hand. “Trust me.”
“I do,” she told him. And she did. With her life and her daughter’s.
Just to reassure her, Carson added, “I won’t let him hurt you.”
She could see the concern in his eyes. He was worried that she was worried. It touched her heart. “I know that.”
Even so, Serena was still nervous as she drove from the ranch.
* * *
Serena parked away from the bank. She wanted to be able to walk slowly back to her car once she had made her withdrawal from the bank. She reasoned that the longer the walk, the more opportunity Mark would have to steal the backpack from her. What she didn’t want was to be close enough to her car to have Mark push his way into it, stealing both the backpack and her.
The thought galvanized her and made her more determined than ever that the only place Mark was going after today was prison.
* * *
“This is rather a large amount of money you’re withdrawing, Ms. Colton. Is everything all right?” Edward Abernathy, the bank manager asked.
When she’d initially handed the teller the withdrawal slip, taking the sizable amount from her savings account, the teller had mumbled something about needing to get approval for such a large sum and then went to get the bank manager.
The portly man had greeted her with a profusion of banal small talk ranging from the weather to the state of her family’s health. Then he looked at the withdrawal slip as if he hadn’t already seen it when the teller had brought it to him.
The bank manager eyed her now, waiting for her answer to his question.
“Everything’s fine, Mr. Abernathy,” Serena told him with a broad, easy smile. “It’s just that I’m dealing with a seller who insists on being paid in cash. I think he’s paranoid about having checks bounce on him. It’s happened before,” she added for good measure.
“That must be some horse you’re acquiring,” Abernathy marveled. After a beat, he signed his approval for the transaction.
“Oh, it is,” Serena assured the man, wishing he would hurry up. It was a quarter to three and she felt that she was cutting it very close. “It’s a beautiful palomino. I have to act quickly. There are two other buyers who are interested in the stallion.”
“I quite understand,” Abernathy said sympathetically. “I’ll be back in a moment. Wait right here, please,” he told her just before he went into the vault.
He returned a few minutes later.
“Well, there you go,” Abernathy said, counting out a number of banded stacks of hundred-dollar bills before tucking all of them neatly into a sack for her. “I see you brought your daughter in with you. Never too young to start them on a sound financial footing. We could open an account for your little darling today if you’re interested,” the bank manager told her.
“Some other time, Mr. Abernathy,” Serena said, then reminded him, “I have that appointment with the seller to keep.”
“Of course, of course,” the manager answered, watching her tuck the sack into her backpack. He angled his head, as if trying to get a look beneath the screen cover draped across the front of the stroller. “That certainly is one well-behaved baby you have there. I don’t believe I heard a single peep out of her this whole time.”
“She’s a heavy sleeper,” Serena replied.
Abernathy chuckled. “Both of mine were screamers. Or so my wife said. I had to work of course, so I missed all that.”
“You were lucky,” Serena told him, knowing the man was expecting some sort of a comment.
Turning away from the bank manager, she quickly began to make her way to the bank’s double doors, anxious to leave the bank before Abernathy could ask any more questions or, worse, ask if he could sneak in one peek at her “baby.”
Serena could feel her heart hammering hard as she approached the exit doors.
The bank guard moved toward them at the same time, then obligingly held one of the doors open for her. He tipped the brim of his cap. “Nice seeing you again, Ms. Colton.”
“You, too, Eli,” she murmured, forcing a smile to her lips.
She had less than five minutes to make it to the rendezvous point.
Focused on getting back to her car in order to make it to the restaurant in time, Serena didn’t see him until it was too late. One second, she was walking quickly, pushing the stroller in front of her; the next, she felt a jolt coming from the left and going through her whole body.
It sent her flying to the ground.
Mark had darted out of the alley next to the bank and lunged at her, catching her completely off balance.
Rather than grab the backpack, he grabbed the whole stroller and made a mad dash for the parking lot that was across the street. Obviously intent on upping his game, he was running to his truck with both the money and what he presumed was the baby. The latter was to be his collateral, assuring him of a safe escape.
But he never reached the truck. Instead, he howled in pain as Justice came out of nowhere and caught his arm, dragging him down to the ground.
The second the canine caught him, Mark let go of the stroller. It hurtled toward the street and would have been smashed by an oncoming truck if Finn hadn’t managed to grab it just before it went careening off curb.
Several of the K-9 team closed ranks around Mark, although the latter wasn’t really necessary. The moment Mark had lunged out of the alley and grabbed the stroller, Carson had transformed from an elderly man dozing on a bench to a K-9 detective and sprinted over toward the blackmailer. Justice had brought the man down, but Carson had been less than half a second behind the German shepherd.
Grabbing Mark by the back of his collar, he shoved him in Finn’s direction. “Here’s the guy who wanted to steal your niece. I’ll be in to do the paperwork as soon as I make sure that your sister is all right and bring her home,” Carson told the chief.
“You’re making a mistake,” Mark cried, appealing to Finn. “The stroller was about to go into the street and I was just trying to catch it before the baby had a terrible accident.”
Carson snorted. “You’re the one making the mistake if you think any of us are actually buying that lame story,” he told the blackmailer.
The next moment, he turned away, not giving the brazen blackmailer another thought. Right now, all his thoughts were centered on Serena. He swiftly checked her out, his eyes sweeping over every inch of her. She’d got back up to her feet, but Carson wanted to see for himself that she was unharmed.
“Are you all right?” he asked her anxiously.
She didn’t bother answering that. Instead, she had an important question of her own. “Is Mark going to be going to jail?”
“Yes. For a long, long time if your brother and I have anything to say about it,” Carson answered.
“Then I’m fine,” she said, answering his question as she breathed a huge sigh of relief. Turning toward Carson, she looked up at him and very plaintively asked, “Can I please go get my daughter now?”
He grinned. “I’ll take you there myself,” Carson said.
She remembered what he’d just told her brother. “But what about the paperwork you said you were going to write up?”
“It’s not going anywhere,” he assured Serena. He glanced over toward the blackmailer. One of the officers was pushing the man’s head down and getting him into the back of a squad car. “And neither is Mark.” Giving her his full attention, Carson aske
d, “You ready for that reunion now?” he wanted to know.
“Oh, so ready.”
He grinned, expecting nothing less. “Then let’s go see that little girl of yours.” Carson let out a piercing whistle. “Justice, come!”
The German shepherd was instantly at his side, ready to follow him wherever he went.
* * *
As it turned out, Lora wasn’t sequestered all that far away.
Will Taggert, the detective—and father of three—who Finn had entrusted with the baby’s safety, had taken her as well as the Colton housekeeper to stay at his family’s small ranch.
The second they walked into the room where she and the baby were staying, Alma made no secret of the fact that she was overjoyed to see Serena and Carson.
“Did you catch that hateful scoundrel?” the housekeeper asked, excitement and hope clearly written all over her face.
Carson smiled at the woman and nodded his head. “We did. He won’t be threatening anyone anymore,” he told Alma.
“Oh, thank you!” Alma cried.
Carson murmured something in response, however his attention was focused on Serena. When they had entered the bedroom where Alma and Lora were staying, Serena had instantly rushed over to the cradle and scooped her daughter up in her arms.
“Oh, I have missed you,” she told her daughter, pressing the baby against her breast. Serena took in a deep breath. “You smell so good,” she said with enthusiasm.
“You’re lucky you didn’t get here ten minutes earlier, Miss,” Alma said with a laugh. “You might not have said that then.”
Serena raised her eyes to look at the housekeeper. “Oh, yes I would have. I missed everything about Lora, even changing her diapers.” Turning toward Carson, she said, “I don’t know how to thank you.”
He smiled in response. He had a few ideas on that subject, but nothing he could say right now, not in front of the housekeeper or in front of Taggert, who had just walked into the room. So instead, he said, “Just all part of the job. Right, Justice?” he asked, looking down at the German shepherd.
As if knowing that he was being asked a question, the canine barked in response.
Carson looked over at the housekeeper. “How long will it take you get pack up and get ready to leave?” he asked.
“Is five minutes too long?” she asked.
Carson laughed. “You can have half an hour if you’d like.”
“No, Miss Lora and I are all ready,” Alma assured him. “No offense,” she said to Taggert, “But I never bothered unpacking when we got here.”
“None taken,” Taggert assured the woman with a laugh.
“Well, if you’re all ready,” Carson began.
“Then let’s go home,” Serena said, concluding his sentence.
Carson grinned as he took the suitcase that Alma had produced out of the closet from the woman. His heart swelled as he joined Serena and her daughter.
“Let’s go home,” he echoed.
EPILOGUE
Order, to some extent, had been restored.
Serena’s daughter as well as the family housekeeper were back at the Double C, as they should be. The rest of Serena’s family—her parents and younger sister, Valeria—would be coming back in the morning, Finn had told his sister. Returning on such short notice was “inconvenient” for the older Coltons according to Joanelle. Carson imagined that packing up alone, even though someone else would undoubtedly be given that task, would take some time.
Carson had to admit that he wasn’t exactly overly thrilled anticipating Judson and Joanelle’s return to the ranch. They had both made no secret of the fact that they looked down on him, as well as down at his family, but in the grand scheme of things, he viewed that as just a minor problem.
Besides, he still had tonight with Serena and tonight, if all went according to his plan, was all he needed.
* * *
“You’re thinking about your brother, aren’t you?” Serena asked, putting her own interpretation to the pensive expression on Carson’s face.
It was evening and they were back in her suite at the ranch. For now, Lora was dozing in the other room in her crib.
“No, actually I’m thinking about finding his killer,” Carson said. Now that the threat to Serena was over, finding Bo’s killer had become his main focus again. “And finding Demi Colton.”
She immediately focused on his phrasing. “So now those are finally two separate concerns—aren’t they?” she asked hopefully.
Carson smiled. The woman’s loyalty was incredible. “If you’re asking me if I still think that Demi killed my brother, no, I don’t. We’re following up on other leads and looking at other suspects.” He tucked his arm around her as they lay on her bed. “But that doesn’t change the fact that Demi is still out there somewhere, missing—and pregnant with my brother’s baby. I need to find her,” he said seriously, “and bring her in—for her own safety.”
Sitting up, Serena shifted so she could look down at him. “Really?” she asked.
“Really,” he replied with sincerity. “She shouldn’t be alone at a time like this.”
Would wonders never cease? “Who are you and what have you done with Carson Gage?” she asked playfully.
“I’m right here,” he answered, slowly running his hand along the swell of her curves and relishing every sensation that contact created within him. “You’re responsible for this, you know, for changing me and making me see things I’d never noticed before.”
He watched the warm smile blossom in her eyes before spreading to her lips. That, too, gave him an immense amount of pleasure.
“Then I guess I did a good thing,” Serena said.
He laughed, toying with the ends of her hair. “That all depends on whether or not you like the new me.”
Crossing her arms on his chest, she leaned her chin against them as she gazed into his eyes. “Oh, I like him. I like the ‘new you’ a great deal,” Serena told him and she pressed a kiss to his lips to show Carson just how much.
“Good, because that makes this a lot easier.”
And just like that, Serena could feel herself starting to grow uneasy. Things had been going too well. They’d caught Mark and she’d been reunited with her daughter. That meant that she was due for something to go wrong.
Trying not to sound as nervous as she felt, Serena asked, “Makes what a lot easier?”
Carson took a deep breath. He’d never found himself lacking courage before, but this was an area he’d never ventured into until now. The whole idea of marriage and family was all new to him and there was a part of him that worried it might all be one-sided.
He backtracked. “On second thought, maybe it doesn’t.”
“Doesn’t what?” Serena wanted to know. “What are you talking about—or not talking about?”
Because he was accustomed to always having an escape route for himself, he edged his way into what he was about to say slowly.
“I know that your parents don’t much care for anyone who’s part of the Gage family—”
“I am not my parents’ daughter,” she was quick to assure him. “And I don’t think the way they do. Now, will you please tell me what you’re trying to say before my daughter wakes up and I have to tend to her—instead of you?” she urged.
As if on cue, Lora began to cry.
“Too late.” Serena sighed. She tossed off the covers and began to get out of bed. “I’d better go get her.”
Carson caught her by the wrist, holding Serena in place.
“She only gets louder,” she told Carson.
He wasn’t thinking about the baby right now. “Will you marry me?”
The four words stopped her cold. Did she just imagine that? “What did you say?”
This wasn’t the way he wanted to propose. “I didn’t want to blurt it out
that way, but I was afraid I’d lose my nerve if you—”
She shook her head. She didn’t want an explanation. She wanted the words. “Again, please,” she requested.
“You want me to ask you again?” he asked, not quite sure this was what she was telling him.
Serena bobbed her head emphatically up and down. “Yes, please.”
“I know that your parents don’t much care for—”
“Not that part,” she told him. “The good part.”
And then he knew what she was asking him to say. “Will you marry me?”
“Yes!” she cried, throwing her arms around his neck. Then, in case there was any lingering doubt, she repeated, “Yes!” And then her eyes suddenly widened. “Listen.”
She’d lost him again. He cocked his head, doing as she’d asked. “What am I listening for?”
Her grin all but split her face. “Lora stopped crying. You really do have a magic touch,” she told him with unabashed approval.
“Then let me give you a real demonstration of that,” he said, bringing his mouth down to hers.
“Yes, please,” she said one more time before she lost herself in the wondrous world that only Carson could create for her.
For them.
* * *
Operation Midnight
Justine Davis
Justine Davis lives on Puget Sound in Washington State, watching big ships and the occasional submarine go by and sharing the neighborhood with assorted wildlife, including a pair of bald eagles, deer, a bear or two, and a tailless raccoon. In the few hours when she’s not planning, plotting or writing her next book, her favorite things are photography, knitting her way through a huge yarn stash and driving her restored 1967 Corvette roadster—top down, of course.
Connect with Justine on her website, justinedavis.com, at Twitter.com/justine_d_davis or on Facebook at Facebook.com/justinedaredavis.
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