Target in Jeopardy

by Carla Cassidy

  The doctor checked several things and then frowned. “I think we have an issue.” She turned to the nurse in the room. “We need to go ahead and get her into the operating room for a C-section. Both the babies and Avery are in distress.”

  Before Dallas could wrap his mind around what was happening, Avery was gone and he was in the waiting room. An agonizing fear filled him. Both Avery and the babies were in distress? So much so that they’d wheeled her into an operating room?

  What was happening? Had he saved Avery from Chad only to lose her to childbirth? He didn’t want to lose his babies. He also didn’t want to lose Avery. Dr. Sanders had to save them all.

  He paced the waiting room and thought about everything that had happened from the moment he had seen Avery on the top of the courthouse steps. She had looked so beautiful, and instantly his heart had beat a little faster as he’d remembered the night they had spent together.

  His mind created a reel of moments they had spent together since the day she’d come into his life. They had shared so much laughter. There had been so many nights of contentment with her.

  Finally, he thought about what she had said to him right before the rock sailed through her window. She had told him she was in love with him and that she wanted to spend all her days and nights with him.

  With everything that had happened, he’d scarcely had time to take in what she’d told him. And now he could only pray that she would survive the birth so he could tell her what he wanted for the future.

  * * *

  Avery came to consciousness slowly. For several moments she was confused and disoriented. The first thing she noticed was the sun peeking up over the horizon at the nearby window. She frowned. Where had the night gone? She frowned again as she realized she was in a hospital bed and an IV was connected to her arm.

  She turned her head to see Dallas slumped down in a chair. He was sound asleep, with lines of exhaustion etched into his forehead.

  As the fog that had encased her brain slowly lifted, she remembered the night. Chad trying to kill her...the labor pains...her babies! Her hands flew to her relatively flat stomach. She didn’t remember giving birth. Why didn’t she remember? Oh God, what had happened to her babies?

  “Dallas,” she said, but her voice was a mere dry whisper. She cleared her throat and tried again, frantic to find out what had happened. “Dallas.”

  His eyes shot open and he jumped up out of his chair and rushed to her side. “Avery, honey...thank God you’re awake. Thank God you’re okay. How are you feeling?”

  “The babies...what happened to the babies?” she asked, panicked now that she was fully conscious and couldn’t remember what exactly had happened.

  “They’re fine.” Dallas’s wide smile shot a shudder of relief through her. “They’re beautiful, Avery. They’re a bit small, but they are both absolutely perfect. Our son arrived two minutes before his little sister.”

  “I need to see them. I need to hold them,” she said.

  “First, let me go get the doctor. I’ll let her know you’re awake,” he said. He reached the door and turned back to look at her. “Avery, you scared the hell out of me last night. I thought... I thought I was going to lose you...lose everything.” He then disappeared out the door.

  Avery released a tremulous sigh. He must have been worried about the babies. That’s what he meant when he’d said he’d been afraid he’d lose everything.

  Now that she was more fully awake, she had a bit of pain in her stomach. She realized she’d had a C-section. She looked out the window once again.

  Dawn light promised a new day...a wonderful day. She’d given birth to two perfect babies. Joy filled her, a tremendous joy she’d never felt before. She felt as if nobody had ever given birth before her, that she had created a miracle that the world had never seen before.

  Nothing that had happened before this moment mattered to her. She just wanted to hold her son and her daughter. She wanted to smell their newborn sweet innocence and revel in their very presence.

  Dallas came back into the room with Dr. Sanders. “How is our new mom?” Dr. Sanders asked.

  “I’m okay. My stomach hurts a bit, but all I want is my babies in my arms,” Avery replied.

  “Let me just get a peek at your staples and then we’ll bring them in.” Dr. Sanders checked her abdomen. “You’re looking good, Mama. You gave us all a little scare, but thankfully all is well that ends well.”

  “I just want my babies,” Avery replied. She winced as she changed position.

  “We’ll bring you the babies and I’ll have the nurse give you a little pain medicine,” Dr. Sanders said.

  At that moment a nurse walked in carrying a baby in each arm. Happy tears sprang to Avery’s eyes. She didn’t care about pain medicine; all she wanted was those babies in her arms. The nurse handed her first her son and then her daughter.

  They were both asleep, but she cuddled them close against her. They were not only perfect, they were absolutely beautiful. Little tufts of golden hair covered their heads and their little features were absolute perfection. Dallas stood next to her, his gaze focused on her and his children.

  “We’ll just leave you alone,” Dr. Sanders said, and motioned for the nurse to follow her out of the room.

  “I’ve never known this kind of love before,” Avery said softly as she gazed down at the newborns.

  “I know exactly what you mean,” Dallas said. “I told you they were perfect.”

  “They are so beautiful they almost take my breath away.”

  The nurse came back in with a syringe in her hand. “This will help take the edge off your pain,” she said as she administered the drug into the IV.

  “The best pain med is holding these babies,” Avery replied.

  “They are sweethearts.” The woman smiled as she left the room.

  At that moment Danny appeared in the doorway. He held a vase full of flowers and he appeared positively tortured. “I... Could I come in for just a minute? I’ll understand if you don’t want to see or talk to me.” He appeared to be on the verge of tears.

  Avery looked at Dallas and then back at him. “Come in, Danny.”

  He took two steps into the room. Dallas took the flowers from him and carried them to a nearby table. “First of all, congratulations.” Danny’s voice trembled with emotion. “I’m so glad you’re all okay.”

  “Thank you. We’re very happy,” Dallas replied.

  “I didn’t know.” The words seemed to be ripped from the back of Danny’s throat. “I swear I didn’t know about Chad trying to hurt you.” Tears sprang to Danny’s eyes. “If I had known I would have stopped him.”

  He looked at Avery and then at Dallas. “I couldn’t believe it when I heard what had happened, what he did, and that he told you he was doing it for me. I can’t even wrap my head around how sick he is.”

  Tears fell down his cheeks and again he looked like a man undergoing torture. “I just want you to be happy, Avery.” He looked at Dallas. “And I know you make her happy. I just needed you both to know that I had nothing to do with the madness that happened last night.”

  “I know that, Danny.” Avery smiled at him. She didn’t blame him for Chad’s actions. Danny had been as much an innocent victim as she had been.

  “I’m so sorry. I’m so damned sorry,” Danny choked out.

  Dallas walked over to him and held out his hand for a shake. “We’re good, man.”

  Danny hesitated and then grabbed Dallas’s hand. The two men shook and then Danny took a step backward. “I’ll just get out of here now and leave you alone.”

  “Thanks for the flowers,” Avery said.

  “It was the very least I could do,” he replied, and then he turned and left the room.

  “I think Chad’s actions are going to haunt Danny for a long time to come,” Avery said.

&
nbsp; “I think you’re right. Hopefully, he doesn’t beat himself up for too long,” Dallas replied, and then moved closer to the side of the bed. “And now I think we have some unfinished business between us.”

  “Unfinished business?” She looked at him in bewilderment.

  “Before that rock sailed through your window and things got crazy, you told me something.”

  She suddenly remembered her confession of love. It seemed like a lifetime ago that she’d told him how much she loved him and wanted him in her life, not just as a coparent, but as a forever kind of man.

  Now she was embarrassed by her outburst, and she certainly didn’t want this first moment with her babies to be tainted by him telling her he didn’t love her that way.

  “It’s okay, Dallas. Let’s just celebrate our twins. Have you gotten to hold them yet?”

  “I have. They are little miracles. But they do need names.”

  She relaxed. “Yes, it’s time to get serious about their names.” She leaned down and first kissed her son’s forehead and then her daughter’s. Her heart once again swelled with immense joy. “Actually, I’d like to call our son Ezekiel Dallas Colton, if you’d be okay with that.” She looked at Dallas cautiously.

  He smiled. “I think that’s a fine name for our son. What about our little girl?”

  “If you want to name her Ivy, I wouldn’t have a problem with that,” she replied.

  Dallas took a step closer. “Avery, while I appreciate that, Ivy is a part of my past. Actually, what do you think about Ariana Josephine?”

  “That’s beautiful,” Avery replied. “Ezekiel and Ariana. I think we have winners.”

  “And now we need to talk about us. Is it really true, what you told me last night before everything went crazy?” His gaze bored into hers. “Did you mean it when you said you love me and you want to spend all your days and nights with me?”

  She was afraid to tell him again what was in her heart. She was terrified he would reject her and then things would get awkward. The babies were here now and the last thing she wanted was any tension or awkwardness between her and Dallas.

  “I meant every word I said, but we can forget all that now and just enjoy our lives as coparents to these sweet babies.”

  “I don’t want to forget it,” he replied. “After you told me how you felt about me, I didn’t get an opportunity to tell you how I felt...how I feel about you.”

  Avery’s heart trembled with anxiety as she stared at the man she loved. At the moment his features were unreadable. She couldn’t begin to guess what he was about to say.

  He leaned toward her, so close she could smell the familiar scent of him, a scent that had come to represent love and safety to her.

  “When I lost Ivy, I swore I would never love another woman. I’d had my shot at loving and fate had cruelly snatched that away. But then that same fate brought me you, and with the promise of the twins I realized I could be happy again.”

  “I’m glad, Dallas. I want you to be happy,” she replied.

  “But just being happy as a single father isn’t enough for me, Avery. I want it all. I want you and the twins in my life all day and all night for the rest of my life.” His blue eyes suddenly shone with a light that washed a wave of welcomed heat through her.

  “I love you, Avery. I love you with all my heart and soul.”

  She wanted to believe him. She wanted to believe him so badly, but she was afraid. “Dallas, please don’t love me because of the twins,” she said in a soft whisper.

  “Avery, don’t short-change yourself. There’s nothing I want more in my life than a fierce woman who puts away bad guys, loves her children and loves me to distraction.”

  “Oh, Dallas, I am that woman, and I want to be that woman forever.” Tears misted her vision.

  “Then promise that you’ll marry me. As soon as you get out of the hospital, as soon as we can make it happen, promise you’ll marry me and make me the happiest man on earth,” he said.

  His love for her was unmistakable. It shone from his eyes and trembled in his deep voice. She laughed, the noise making both babies frown and then begin to cry.

  “Yes,” she said joyously, over the sound of their twins’ lusty voices. “Yes, Dallas, I’ll marry you.”

  He leaned down and captured her lips with his, and in the kiss she tasted love and commitment. She tasted a future filled with love and laughter and chaos. Oh yes, there would be chaos with the twins. But she knew they’d meet each challenge that came their way together, with united hearts and a love that would last them a lifetime.

  * * *

  Don’t miss the exciting conclusion of

  Colton 911 with the next story:

  Colton 911: Deadly Texas Reunion

  by Beth Cornelison,

  available next month from

  Harlequin Romantic Suspense.

  Keep reading for an excerpt from Colton 911: Deadly Texas Reunion by Beth Cornelison.

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  Colton 911: Deadly Texas Reunion

  by Beth Cornelison

  Prologue

  FBI Chicago Field Office

  FBI Special Agent Nolan Colton hated suits almost as much as he hated today’s unexpected summons to his boss’s office. As he waited to be called back, he tugged at the collar of his dress shirt and readjusted the tie that threatened to strangle him. His knee bounced while he waited. Patience had never been his forte. What the hell could have happened to warrant this urgent confab with the special agent in charge? Nothing good. Nolan reached in his coat pocket for an antacid and chewed it. His gut had been torn up with dread all night. His boss’s tone of voice when he’d called last night instructing Nolan to report to this meeting had been grave and terse.

  When the SAC’s administrative assistant finally called him to the inner office, he took a deep breath, tugged his shirtsleeves to straighten them and strode into his boss’s domain with his head high and his back ramrod straight.

  The first thing Nolan noticed when he entered Special Agent in Charge Dean Humboldt’s office was they weren’t alone. Deputy Assistant Director Jim Greenley sat in one of the chairs opposite Humboldt, and a man Nolan didn’t know but who seemed vaguely familiar occupied the seat to the left of Humboldt’s desk. The second thing Nolan noticed was he wasn’t invited to take a seat.

  He assumed a rigid stance, feet slightly apart, shoulders back, hands clasped behind him. “Good morning, sirs.”

  “Special Agent Colton,” the deputy assistant director
said by way of greeting, adding a quick dip of his chin.

  The SAC’s administrative assistant left, closing the door behind her, and Nolan felt a brief moment of claustrophobia. His tie seemed to tighten like a noose.

  “Thank you for coming this morning, Special Agent Colton,” Humboldt said.

  “I didn’t get the impression when you called me last night that I had a choice.”

  Humboldt cleared his throat. “No. A rather serious matter has been brought to my attention, and we need to address it.”

  “I’ve never known the Bureau to handle anything that wasn’t serious.” He twitched a grin, but his attempt at humor fell flat. Humboldt scowled, and Greenley exchanged a look with the third man, who had yet to be introduced. “Sorry. What matter is that, sir?”

  Humboldt opened a manila file folder on his desk and slid a large black-and-white photograph across the desk. “This.”

  Nolan stepped forward to look at the picture, and what he saw there shot adrenaline to his marrow. A photo of himself. In an erotic and compromising position with a fellow special agent.

  Well, hell. He’d thought the ill-advised, one-time tryst with his partner had been discreet, something he could bury. They’d been alone in her hotel room. So where had the picture come from? The obvious answer rattled him. Angered him.

  “Um...” Nolan blinked. “Where did you get this?”

  “We’re asking the questions today, Special Agent Colton,” Greenley said.

  “You recognize the woman in the photo, Special Agent?”

  He jerked a nod. “Special Agent Charlotte O’Toole. We worked a case together last year in Portland.” He drew a slow breath, deciding honesty was his best policy. “Obviously, things got out of control one night. It was a mistake, but it was just a one-time thing.”

  Humboldt divided a glance between the other two men. Greenley arched one graying eyebrow.

  When Humboldt slid another picture toward him with much the same content, Nolan gritted his back teeth.