by Barb Han
“I tried to talk to you before you left, but you said you didn’t want to look back.”
If only he’d known. “Being stubborn isn’t my best trait.”
Will chuckled and it broke the tension. “You think?”
“I’m sorry for the pain I caused, man. I missed our friendship. It’s one of the main reasons I decided to straighten up my act.”
“That means a lot to hear.” Will offered a handshake. “How about we pick up where we left off, but from the good times?”
“Now that’s a deal.” Rylan took the hand being offered. “For the record, I had no idea I was getting your sister into a mess when I called her the other day for help.” Those words couldn’t be truer.
Will didn’t respond right away. He seemed to take a minute to think. “I realize you would never put my sister in harm’s way.”
“She means a lot to me, Will.”
“I saw that the other day. That’s why I walked outside to clear my head. I’d imagined a different scenario happening if you and me were ever in the same room again.” Will’s face brightened. “It involved fists.”
“Yeah, I deserve it after the way I messed things up in our friendship,” Rylan said.
“Well, I thought you’d be throwing the first punch,” Will admitted.
“I guess I had a lot of pent-up aggression in high school.” Rylan took a sip of coffee. “The only punch I want to throw now is at the person who’s trying to take my daughter away.”
He updated Will on the situation with Alicia and the Robinsons.
“Zach promised to call when he got further into the investigation.” Rylan set his mug down. He looked up at Will. “Your sister’s in the other room if you want to talk to her.”
“I don’t have anything to say, except take it easy on her. She went through a lot and, strong as she is, none of us want to see her hurting like that again. It nearly cracked us in half when we saw her after she lost the baby. Her son-of-a-bitch ex took off, not that she ever cared about him the way she does about you.” Will lasered a look at Rylan. “You do realize my sister has feelings for you, right?”
“I hope so.” Rylan sure as hell had feelings for her. What that meant in the long run, he had no idea. Right now, all he could think about was putting Mr. Robinson behind bars and making sure that both Amber and Brooklyn were safe. For his daughter’s sake, he needed to find her mother.
“Good. Because even when she was married I never saw her look at him like she does you.” Those words broke through the walls he’d carefully constructed.
“The truth is, Will, I’m not nearly good enough for your sister.” He kept his tone church-quiet because he knew she’d argue if she heard.
“You know what, buddy? There was a time when I would’ve blindly agreed with that statement. Not anymore. For what it’s worth, I think you’re exactly who she needs.” Will set his mug down and stood up. He turned toward the cracked bedroom door. “Did you hear that, Amber?”
“I sure did,” she said with all that stubbornness and ire he loved about her.
Will left and Amber walked into the room.
“We need to talk,” she said. “Later.”
Rylan wasn’t sure he liked the uncertainty in her tone. Was she shutting down on him? Was this—whatever this meant—moving too fast? He felt caught up in a rogue wave. For now, he was riding on top but how long before it sucked him under and tossed him out to sea?
AMBER HELD BROOKLYN to her chest. She couldn’t allow this angel to cloud her judgment and yet how could she not? Holding this baby felt so right. Being with Rylan felt so right. But what didn’t feel so right was the fact that Amber wasn’t Brooklyn’s mother.
Boots shuffled up the stairs and Amber’s gaze went to the table, searching for whatever it was that Will forgot. She made a move toward the door, but it swung open and Mr. Robinson stood at the entrance.
Amber stared at the barrel of a gun.
“Hold on there, buddy,” Rylan said. His cell buzzed on the table.
“Come over here,” Mr. Robinson ordered. His eyes wild and angry, he looked like a hungry predator closing in on prey.
Amber was paralyzed with fear. All she could do was hold the baby tighter to her chest. If danger involved only her, she wouldn’t hesitate to fight back or try to duck for cover. But holding the baby ensured Amber would move slower. A half-second hesitation could give Mr. Robinson the upper hand. Damned if he didn’t already have it, and that just burned Amber up inside. She’d never played the victim role and had no plans to start now. She would, however, do whatever was necessary in order to ensure Brooklyn’s safety.
Rylan was near the table on the opposite side of the sofa. His cell was buzzing madly on the table. Even a skilled soldier like him couldn’t make that leap before Mr. Robinson got off a shot.
“You don’t want her,” Rylan interrupted. “I’m the one you want.”
Mr. Robinson’s hand trembled, and she could almost visibly see his blood pressure rise. “I’ll decide who’s going with me.”
“Where’s the baby’s mother?” Rylan asked.
“She’s not coming back.” Robinson’s face twisted when he said the words. “I killed her with my own hands. Stupid bitch couldn’t follow simple directions. All she had to do was have the baby and hand her over. I would’ve preferred a son. Women are so weak. But my wife wanted her anyway.”
Amber glanced at Rylan, half expecting him to make a move but knowing he couldn’t. Her heart ached for how calloused this man sounded about taking Brooklyn’s mother’s life. No matter how bad of a mother Alicia might’ve been or undeserving of this angel, the woman didn’t deserve to have her life cut short.
Amber was close to the door. The gun was pointed at her.
There was no way she’d allow this man to shoot the baby. Amber turned to block Brooklyn and give Mr. Robinson a clear shot at her instead.
“It’s okay, Rylan,” Amber said in as calm a voice as she could muster. If anyone made a wrong move, Mr. Robinson could get spooked and pull the trigger.
“No one told you to speak,” Mr. Robinson seethed.
Didn’t those words grate on Amber. This man needed to wake up. It wasn’t 1950 anymore. Women could vote. They could run ranches and have a variety of careers. And, at least in her case, could shoot a gun. So, he’d better watch his mouth.
“If anything happens to me, you won’t get what you came for.” Amber motioned toward the baby. “I go down and I take her with me. You lose. You’ll be arrested. My cousin, Zach McWilliams, won’t sleep or stop until he hunts you down. So, it seems we’re in a bit of a stalemate.”
“Her cousin might go after you legally, but I’ll go after your family. Your wife. Your mother. Any living relative you hold dear. And then I’ll come after you. You’ll know it’s coming. It’s going to happen but you won’t know when and you sure as hell won’t be able to stop me.” Rylan’s voice was a study in calm composure.
“You’ll come with me and bring the baby with you.” Mr. Robinson practically spat the words. His voice was filled with the tension of a man on the edge.
And then he shifted the barrel of the gun toward Rylan and fired.
Chapter Eighteen
Rylan was hit. He made a show of flying backward and landing hard against the back wall. He dropped onto the dining table and then rolled off of it. The bastard had to pay. No matter what Alicia had done, she didn’t deserve to lose her life. He, of all people, knew what it was like to make mistakes. There should be second chances and not the finality of death.
Amber gasped. The horrific look on her face slammed guilt into him. Yes, he’d taken a bullet, but he’d been in worse tactical situations. A good soldier could detach emotionally and stay logical. So, he’d gone back to his training the minute he realized Robinson was going to walk out the door with Amber and Brooklyn.
Robinson pushed Amber out the door, and the look of horror on her face would keep Rylan awake at night if his plan failed. It would be the last time he saw her if he didn’t play his cards right.
The minute Robinson got Amber into the stairwell, Rylan jumped into action. He moved stealth-like toward the window behind the kitchen sink. He opened it, climbed on top of the counter and slipped out.
Hanging on to the outside of the window, he was able to cut some of the distance to the ground. He’d landed behind the offices. Damn, the sun was coming up, and that meant Lonnie and the ranch hands would be out on the property.
Where was Will?
Fire shot through him at the possibility that anything had happened to his friend. No, that wasn’t possible. Rylan and Amber would’ve heard something. Robinson must’ve hid in the shadows and waited.
Blood dripped from his left wrist where the bullet had grazed him. Even one-handed he could take down Robinson.
Rylan moved along the shrubbery line at a healthy clip until he saw movement. Robinson had Amber’s elbow in his grip. Seeing that shot more fire through Rylan.
He dropped and crouched low so he’d stay below Robinson’s line of sight through the brush. He caught his first break when he saw that Robinson was walking Amber toward Rylan’s position. The man was a hothead and not a career criminal. All Rylan had to do was exercise patience and wait for the man to slip up.
With a useless left hand, Rylan would have to rely on his right. It wasn’t his dominant hand anyway, but one hand down wasn’t ideal in any fight. He didn’t doubt his skills. Emotions had gotten the best of him in the apartment. How could they not? It was Amber and his child, a child he didn’t know about last week and now couldn’t imagine living without. The little bean had wiggled her way into his heart.
Steady, Rylan controlled his burst of adrenaline. Part of it came from the pain in his left wrist and the other part was due to the circumstance unfolding. He couldn’t allow himself to consider any other outcome than a successful mission. And yet his heart was engaged. It was too late for going all-logic and no-emotion. Which was funny because Rylan had never been one to get caught up in emotion.
Guess he was a changed man now that he could see a future. And his future involved Amber and the baby in her arms, if Amber would have him.
He’d work double time to make up for the loss of Alicia in Brooklyn’s life.
Robinson drew near and Rylan caught his second break. The man’s nerves were getting to him. It was possible he’d never shot anyone before. Although, he’d admitted to killing Alicia. Was that big talk for a small man?
Rylan had no doubt that Alicia was gone, but one of Robinson’s henchmen might’ve done it. Most people who’d actually taken another life found no need to brag about it.
As the increasingly nervous man looked from side to side, he let the gun barrel point away from Amber.
In a split second, Rylan leaped out of the brush and tackled Robinson before the man’s brain could send a message to his finger to pull the trigger.
Rylan disarmed Robinson with ease, knocking the gun loose and causing it to tumble a few feet away onto the grass. It fired and he heard Amber scream.
“Take Brooklyn away from here,” Rylan said to Amber. He wanted both of them as far away as possible.
Engaging in death rolls to disorient Robinson, Rylan stopped when he was on top of the older man and squeezed his arms to his sides with the force of his thighs. He might’ve been one wrist down, but his legs were far more powerful.
Robinson tried to buck, but Rylan just smiled down at the man.
Amber was already shouting for help.
“You’re going to spend the rest of your pitiful life behind bars. You’re going to make new friends with that winning personality of yours. And if one of your henchmen so much as drives through this county, he won’t drive back out alive. Are we clear?” Rylan reared a fist back and punched the jerk who’d killed the mother of Rylan’s child and had almost killed the love of his life.
When he looked up at Amber, he saw her handing over the baby to her cousin Amy. And then he saw a red dot flowering on Amber’s shirt. What? When?
The next few moments moved as though in slow motion. A security team descended on the scene in less than a minute. Isaac pressed his knee into Robinson’s back as he zip-cuffed him.
Rylan flew to Amber the second Robinson had been secured.
Nothing in Rylan’s life made sense without Amber. He dropped to her side on the green turf.
“Don’t you leave me,” he said to her. “I love you, Amber. I need you.” Rogue tears broke free and fell from his eyes. “Please, stay with me.”
Her eyes fluttered and a ghost of a smile crossed her purple lips. She was losing a lot of blood. He pulled up her T-shirt and saw a bullet wound the size of his fist where the bullet exited. Rylan wasn’t a religious man, but he cupped her face in his hands and said a protection prayer that he’d learned as a kid.
He vaguely heard crying in the background along with shouting.
“Come on, Amber.”
When she didn’t respond, he took off his own shirt, balled it up using his good hand and gently pressed it into her wound to try to stem the bleeding.
“I need an ambulance,” he shouted as the shirt was almost immediately soaked.
Rylan couldn’t be sure how long it took for the EMTs to arrive on the scene. Time slowed to a standstill as Amber lay on the grass. She had a pulse, but her breathing was shallow.
And his heart nearly stopped beating in his chest.
The EMTs went to work immediately, giving Amber oxygen. They put pressure on the wound and stabilized her enough for her to be transported to County General, which was a twenty-minute drive.
On the way, Will instructed Rylan to pull a shirt out of the gym bag in the back seat. Rylan did as instructed. Pulling it over his head with one hand was tricky, but he managed.
The ambulance driver made it in half that time as Rylan followed. Will had practically dragged him to his vehicle. And then he’d chased that ambulance all the way to the hospital.
Will offered reassurances along the way, but the words were as hollow as the space in Rylan’s chest. He pulled into the ambulance bay at the ER. “Go. I’ll park and be right up.”
“Thank you.” Rylan tore out of the passenger seat and was next to the EMT as he brought Amber’s gurney out the back of the ambulance.
Lights blared, twisting together as Rylan followed Amber inside. A team waited for her, and he figured that wasn’t a good sign under the circumstances.
“Sir, are you hurt?” The intake nurse seemed to notice the blood all over his arm and wrist. Some belonged to Amber and some was his own. The nurse’s gaze landed on his wrist as he favored it. No amount of pain could distract him from why he was really there.
“I’m fine. This isn’t my blood.”
The nurse cocked a concerned eyebrow.
“I’m Ophelia and I’d like to take a look at that wrist if you’ll allow it,” the nurse said.
“The only person who needs treatment is behind those doors. When can I get an update about her condition?” he asked. He was locked on to a target and nothing else mattered.
Will burst through the ER doors. “I’m with him.”
“Any chance you can convince him to accept treatment on his wrist?” Ophelia asked.
“Not until he hears a positive report on my sister, Amber Kent,” Will told her.
The last name seemed to register because Ophelia’s eyes lit up. “Your family has been so generous to this hospital. Please, follow me.”
For once in Rylan’s life, he was grateful the Kents had money. He’d sign over his own life savings if it meant getting information about Amber’s
condition.
“She’s brave, Rylan,” Will said as Ophelia led them into a private lounge. There were leather chairs instead of hard wooden ones. There was a nice coffee bar off to one side and a fridge with a glass door next to it. Every popular soda was in there along with all the sparkling waters a person could drink.
“Help yourself to a drink or a snack,” Ophelia said. “I’ll check with the nurse on duty and see if I can get an update for you gentlemen.”
Every half hour from that point on, a nurse showed up in the waiting room to talk to Will and Rylan. After two visits, the room was filled with Kents and their spouses. Rylan learned that Brooklyn was safe on the ranch with Joyce, who couldn’t stop doting on the little girl. Brooklyn seemed happy as a lark in Joyce’s care. She’d been there from day one for Mitch’s twins and the other babies as the Kent brood grew.
Zach was the only family member missing, and he was busy arresting Mrs. Robinson for being an accomplice in Alicia’s death, a death Zach had confirmed by the coroner’s office. He phoned with an update that Alicia’s laptop browser had searches for date-rape-type drugs like ketamine. She’d also done research on fentanyl.
Knowing that Rylan had maintained his sobriety felt hollow without Amber to talk to. He missed the sound of her voice, the feel of her skin. He missed her quick wit and even faster smile.
The light that had always been Amber might’ve dimmed, but in the past twenty-four hours he’d seen it return full force.
After Amber’s loved ones waited an agonizing twenty-four hours and she had had three blood transfusions, a nurse walked into the waiting room. Chatter stopped and the room fell silent.
“She’s in recovery and she’s asking for Rylan Anderson and her brother Will,” the nurse announced.
The pair had been hovering over the coffee machine, waiting for news. Rylan had allowed his wrist to be tended to an hour ago once he’d learned that Amber was out of surgery to remove bullet fragments from her hip.
Rylan took the lead and Will followed the nurse down the hall.