Another shot.
Mason shouted something that was drowned out by the thunder, and suddenly there was movement. Footsteps. Some kind of scuffle. A sea of people—FBI agents and the ranch hands. All of them converged on Adam and took him to the ground.
“Darcy?” Nate yelled.
He had to make sure she was safe. He had to see for himself. If Adam had managed to shoot her… But he couldn’t go there. Couldn’t even think it. Because he was responsible for this.
No.
It was more than that.
Nate couldn’t lose her. It was as simple as that. He couldn’t lose her because he loved her.
He would have laughed if it hadn’t been for the god-awful pain searing his left shoulder. It was a really bad time to realize just how he felt about Darcy.
“Nate?” he heard someone say.
He lifted his head and amid that swarm of people, he saw her. Darcy. She had mud on her face and clothes, and he couldn’t tell if she’d been shot. But she was moving.
Or rather, running.
She hurried to him and pulled him into her arms. He saw the blood then and had a moment of rage where he wanted to tear Adam limb from limb.
But then he noticed that the blood was his.
Thank God. Darcy was all right.
“You’re hurt,” she said, her voice shaking almost violently.
Yeah, he was, but that didn’t matter now. “Are you okay?”
“No.” She made a sobbing sound, and her tears slid through the mud on her cheeks. “I’m not okay because you’ve been shot.”
Oh. That. The relief didn’t help with his pain, but it helped with everything else.
Darcy was okay.
Adam hadn’t managed to shoot her, after all.
“Can you stand?” she asked. “I don’t want to wait for an ambulance. I’ll drive you to the hospital.”
Nate hated the worry in her eyes. Hated those tears. But he couldn’t refuse her offer. Even he wasn’t too stubborn to refuse a trip to the hospital—though he did want to first make sure that Adam had been neutralized. Nate glanced around, but he couldn’t tell. Because he couldn’t actually see the man who’d just tried to kill him.
However, he did see Mason.
His brother broke from the group and made a beeline for him. “Hurt much?” Mason asked. But he didn’t wait for an answer. With Darcy on one side of him and Mason on the other, they got Nate to his feet and headed toward his SUV.
“What about Adam?” Nate wanted to know.
“Kade is on him.” Mason glanced back at the huddle of activity. “Literally. He’s not going anywhere except to jail.”
Good. One less thing to worry about right now. Later, he would deal with his hatred for this SOB who’d nearly cost Nate everything.
Darcy pressed her hand to his shoulder, right where it was burning like fire, but he guessed she was doing that to stop the blood flow and not to make him wince in pain.
“Are you okay?” Darcy whispered as they hauled Nate onto the backseat of the SUV. Darcy followed right in beside him and crouched on the floor. Mason peeled out of the driveway, the tires of the SUV kicking up gravel and rain.
“I’m okay,” Nate tried.
“Are you really?” she questioned.
Since she sounded very close to losing it, Nate decided to give her some reassurance. He slid his hand around the back of her neck, pulled her to him and kissed her. He wasn’t surprised when it gave him some reassurance, too.
“Can’t be hurt that bad if you can do that to her,” Mason growled.
“I’m not hurt that bad,” Nate verified. And he was almost certain that was true. It was hard to tell through the blistering pain.
“You were shot,” Darcy pointed out. The frantic tone was back in her voice. “Adam could have killed you.”
“He could have killed you, too,” Nate reminded her.
But it was a reminder that cut him right across the heart. He would see Adam in his nightmares. Darcy would, too. And Nate would never forgive Adam for that and for placing Noah and Kimmie in grave danger.
“Adam got some blood on his hands tonight,” Mason said, his attention glued to the wet road. The wipers slashed across the windshield. “I’m the one who found Dent just a few seconds before he died from a gunshot wound to the chest. He told me Adam had called him to come to the ranch and said that he had proof it was Edwin who’d killed Sandra.”
Dent had been stupid to fall for that, but then Adam had probably convinced him that he’d be safe at the ranch with a cop, an FBI agent and a deputy sheriff.
“What about Ramirez’s partner?” Nate asked. “Someone needs to make sure he doesn’t try to help Adam.”
“He can’t help anybody,” Mason assured him. “Right before Adam grabbed Darcy, Kade found Ramirez’s partner—dead.”
Adam, no doubt. With Ramirez and Sandra Dent, that meant Adam had killed at least three, maybe four people. A lot of murder and mayhem all for the sake of money. But the high body count along with the kidnapping charges meant there was no way Adam could escape the death penalty.
“How much longer before we get to the hospital?” Darcy asked.
“Not long,” Mason assured her. “One of the ranch hands is calling ahead so the E.R. will be expecting us.”
She kept her hand pressed over his wound and kept mumbling something. A prayer, he realized.
“The pain’s not that bad,” he lied.
But more of her tears came, anyway, and they were followed by a heart-wrenching sob. “I should have held on to Adam’s arm. I should have kicked him harder.” Darcy shook her head. “I should have done something to stop him from firing that gun.”
“Hey, don’t do this.” Nate touched her chin and lifted it. “I’m the one who planned for us to be bait.”
“The plan worked,” Darcy reminded him, though she had to draw in a deep breath before saying it. “What didn’t work was that I allowed Adam to take me at gunpoint. That’s when things went wrong.”
He could have told her that things went wrong when Adam killed his mother, but Nate didn’t think Darcy would hear the logic. No, she was hurting and worried, and he was the cause of that.
Nate hoped he could also be the cure.
He pulled her back to him for another kiss. And another. And he kept it up until oxygen became a big concern for both of them. But he figured he might need her a little breathless for what he was about to say.
“I don’t want to lose you,” he let her know.
She shook her head, smeared the tears from her cheeks. “Adam isn’t a threat anymore. Nor Ramirez. We’ll be safe.”
Yeah. But that wasn’t where Nate was going with this. “I don’t want to lose you,” he repeated.
Darcy blinked. Shook her head again.
“Part of me will always love Ellie,” he explained. “But I can’t live in the past, and she was my past….”
“We’re here,” Mason announced, and he braked to a screeching halt directly in front of the E.R. door.
Nate choked back the pain that was blurring his vision and gathered his breath. He wanted to finish this now.
“Darcy, will you marry me?”
She opened her mouth, but nothing came out. Nothing. And then the moment was gone.
Everything started to move way too fast. Two medics threw open the SUV’s door and hauled him onto a gurney. Nate got one last glimpse of Darcy’s startled, bleached face before the medics whisked him away.
DARCY WAS AFRAID if she sat down, she’d collapse. So, she kept pacing and waiting. Something she’d been doing for nearly an hour. It felt more like an eternity.
“SAPD is booking Adam right now,” Mason relayed to her from the chair in the corner of the waiting room. He had his feet stretched out in front of him as if he were lounging, and he’d been on and off the phone—mainly on—since they’d arrived at the E.R.
Mason certainly didn’t seem crazy scared, like she did. But then, neither did Dade
, who had his shoulder propped against the wall. He, too, was on the phone, with his fiancée, and from the sound of it, both Kayla and Grayson’s wife, Eve, were on their way to the hospital to see Nate. Kade was the only Ryland who showed signs of stress. He was seated, elbows on knees, his face buried in his hands.
“What about Marlene and Edwin?” Darcy asked. Because it occurred to her if Adam had killed Dent, his mother and Ramirez, he might have killed others.
“They’re safe and sound,” Mason answered. “Neither appears to have had anything to do with this. According to Mel, Edwin’s pretty torn up.”
Of course. His son would be facing the death penalty.
“Adam was chatty when he arrived at the sheriff’s office,” Mason went on. “He admitted to trying to make his father look guilty. He wanted the blame placed on anyone but him. Edwin might not be so torn up when he learns that sonny boy was willing to let him take the fall for murder.” Mason’s phone buzzed again.
Darcy continued to pace until she heard Mason mention Grayson’s name, and that stopped her. She certainly hadn’t forgotten about the children, but with Nate’s injury, she’d put him at the top of her worry list.
Until now.
She hoped Grayson wasn’t phoning because there was a problem. She moved closer to him so she could try to hear, but the call ended quickly.
“Grayson and the kids are on their way here,” Mason relayed. “Everybody’s okay.”
The blood rushed to her head. A mix of relief and happiness overcame her when she realized she would soon get to see Noah and Kimmie. But Darcy knew there wouldn’t be total relief until she saw Nate. Until she talked to him.
Until she asked him about that question.
Heaven knows how long that would be. Besides, he might not even know what he’d said. Nate had been in so much pain, and mixed with the blood loss and the shock, he might have been talking out of his head.
Everything suddenly felt still and silent. None of the Rylands were on their phones. Like her, they were fully in the wait mode. Except for Mason. He was studying her with those intense, steely eyes.
“Well?” he asked.
Darcy froze. Because even though that one word hardly qualified as a question, she was positive what Mason meant. After all, Mason had been in that SUV, and he’d almost certainly heard Nate’s question.
Kade lifted his head. Looked at Mason. Then at her. “Well what?”
Oh, no. She hadn’t wanted to do this tonight and especially not before she’d had a chance to speak with Nate.
But apparently Mason did. “Right before the medics took him into the E.R., Nate asked Darcy to marry him.”
The room was suddenly so quiet that Darcy could hear her own heartbeat. It was racing.
All three Rylands stared at her. And stared. But it was Dade who walked toward her. He stopped just a few inches away, and she braced herself for a good tongue-lashing about how she’d played on Nate’s vulnerability.
“What was your answer?” Dade asked.
She managed to shrug, somehow, though her muscles seemed frozen in place. “There wasn’t time for an answer.”
Dade waited, still staring, and it became clear that he expected her to reveal what that answer would be.
“I want to tell Nate first,” she explained. And she braced herself for Dade to demand to know.
But he reached out, put his arm around her and eased her to him. He brushed a kiss on her forehead. “I hope you’ll say yes.”
Darcy couldn’t have been any more stunned. “You do?”
The corner of his mouth lifted, probably because all that shock had made it into her voice. “You’re good for Nate.”
Kade stood, crammed his hands in his pockets and walked closer, as well. “You are good for him,” he verified. “It’s nice to see Nate happy for a change.”
Again, she got another dose of being stunned. “I’m in love with him,” she blurted out. Oh, mercy. She hadn’t expected to say that. Not to them, anyway.
“Does he know that?” Dade asked.
Darcy shook her head, causing Kade and Dade to grumble under their breaths. “You need to tell him,” Dade insisted.
She would. Once she could speak. And once she got past the whole “maybe Nate was talking out of his head” thing. Maybe he wouldn’t remember proposing to her.
“I hope like the devil that you two get married the same time as Kayla and Dade,” Mason mumbled. “No way do I want to wear a monkey suit twice.”
Kade huffed. “Ignore Mr. Congeniality over there. You name the date for him to be in a monkey suit, and he’ll be in one. There are four of us and one of him.”
Mason matched that huff. “Yeah, and it’ll take all four of you weenies to try.” He sounded serious enough, but Darcy suspected he was joking.
She was about to ask for clarification, but the door behind them swung open.
And there was Nate.
His shirt was open, exposing the bandage on his shoulder, and his left arm was in a pristine-white sling. He looked exhausted. And really confused when his gaze landed on all of them.
Darcy hurried to him, slipped her arms around his waist and tried to give him a gentle hug. “You’re okay?” she asked. And she cursed the tears that came automatically.
“I am,” Nate verified. “The bullet went straight through. No real damage. The doctor says I’ll be fine in about a week or so.”
Now, here was the flood of relief that she’d waited for. Nate was all right.
He brushed a kiss on her cheek and ducked down to make eye contact. “Is something, uh, wrong?”
“No,” Darcy jumped to answer. Unfortunately, Dade and Kade jumped to answer with their own noes.
Mason just made a snorting sound. “I told them about your marriage proposal. And Darcy told us that she’s in love with you.” He looked at Nate. “Yeah, we were surprised, too. We didn’t consider you, well, all that lovable.”
That brought on some snickers from Kade and Dade, but Nate just kept looking at her. “Did you tell them the answer to my proposal?”
Suddenly all eyes were on her again. “No. I said I needed to talk to you first.”
Nate’s face dropped, and around her she heard the murmurings of the Ryland brothers as they started to leave, giving them some time alone to absorb what she was about to say. Of course, judging from the sudden mood in the room, they thought she was about to say no.
So, Darcy tried one of Nate’s ploys.
She kissed him. She didn’t keep it exactly gentle, either. It was best if he knew just how deep, and how hot, her feelings were for him. She didn’t break the mouth-to-mouth contact until Mason cleared his throat, a reminder that Nate and she weren’t alone, after all.
Darcy eased back and looked Nate in the eyes. “I’m in love with you.”
Nate smiled that little smile that made her want to kiss him again. And haul him off to bed.
But bed could wait.
“Yes,” she added. “I want to marry you.”
Nate’s smile suddenly wasn’t so little. “Good. Because I’m in love with you, and I definitely want to marry you.” He hooked his uninjured arm around her and hauled her closer to him for a perfect kiss.
One that caused Dade and Kade to whoop.
Nate and she broke away laughing. And then kissed again.
Darcy hadn’t thought this moment could get any better, but then she heard the familiar voices. Grayson was making his way toward them, and he was carrying both babies. Amazingly, both were wide-awake and were squirming to get down. Grayson eased them both onto the floor, and the two toddled into the waiting area.
“Here,” Kade said, peeling off his jacket and slipping it on Darcy.
That’s when Darcy realized she had blood on her top. Nate’s blood. And she didn’t want the children to see that. “Thank you,” she whispered to Kade.
“Anything for my new sister-in-law.” He brushed a kiss on her cheek and moved away so she could kneel down and give
both babies a big hug.
Kimmie started babbling as though trying to tell Darcy all about their adventure at the safe house, and Darcy scooped up both of them so that Nate wouldn’t have to bend down for all-around kisses.
“Boo-boo,” Noah announced when he spotted the bandage on Nate’s shoulder, and when he kissed it, Kimmie repeated the syllables and kissed it, as well.
“Your mom and I are getting married,” Nate told Noah. “How do you feel about that?”
Noah looked pensive for a moment, then grinned and babbled some happy sounds.
Her son was obviously okay with this. “And what do you think?” Darcy asked Kimmie.
Kimmie looked at her uncle Mason. “Your call, curly locks,” he told her.
Even though there was no way Kimmie knew what that meant, she giggled and clapped her hands.
Darcy had never thought she could feel this much happiness, but then she saw Grayson, the only person in the room who hadn’t given some kind of thumbs-up. She wouldn’t take back her yes. She loved Nate too much to walk away because his brother disapproved, but she wanted it just the same.
“I’m in love with Nate,” Darcy told Grayson, just in case he’d missed that part.
Grayson nodded. “Then I guess that leaves me with just one thing to say.” He leaned in and brushed a kiss on her cheek. “Welcome to the family.”
A breath of relief swooshed out of her, causing Kimmie to laugh and try to make the same sound. Darcy looked at Nate and saw the love he had for all of them.
Nate kissed her despite the fact he had to maneuver through both kids to do that. “Ready to go home?” he whispered against her mouth.
Darcy didn’t even have to consider this answer. “Yes.”
And with Nate’s arm around her, they took their first step toward their new life together.
* * * * *
ISBN: 9781459219663
Copyright © 2012 by Delores Fossen
All rights reserved. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the non-exclusive, non-transferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on-screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, down-loaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of publisher, Harlequin Enterprises Limited, 225 Duncan Mill Road, Don Mills, Ontario, Canada M3B 3K9.
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