by Joanna Wayne
“I have no idea what R.J. is about or what affects him. But he came through for us when we needed his help. He opened his home and his pocketbook with no strings attached.”
“I think he’s trying hard to connect with you, Adam.”
“Maybe he should have practiced back when I was the age Lacy and Lila are now.”
“Everyone makes mistakes, Adam. Look at the years we lost together because of ours. What did Lane say?” she asked, changing the subject.
The scars in R.J. and Adam’s relationship would not fade overnight any more than the scars on Adam’s back would. But given a chance, they could at some time in the future.
“The detective admitted he owed you an apology,” Adam said. “He said he’ll deliver it in person when we get back to Dallas and promised that he’ll track down and arrest Quinton no matter how long it takes.”
Adam pulled into the almost empty airport parking lot. Traveling by private jet was far less complicated than taking a commercial airline.
Lila tugged on her arm. “Where my Amanda?”
The doll. They’d forgotten the doll. “Did you have her in the motel?”
“She’s in the covers.” Lila began to cry.
“We can’t leave Amanda in the covers,” Adam said. “We’ll go right back and get her.”
Lila quit crying. Adam turned the car around and exited the parking lot.
“When we get to the SunFun, I’ll run in and get the manager to let me back into the room to get it,” Hadley said. Hopefully the room hadn’t been cleaned and serviced yet. She wanted a chance to look around, though she had no idea what she was looking for other than the doll.
* * *
“ROOM 217 HASN’T been cleaned, but I’m afraid I can’t let you in there.”
“I only need to pick up my daughter’s doll. I can’t go back to Dallas without it. She’ll cry all the way and she won’t go to sleep tonight without it.”
“I sympathize, believe me, I do. But we have orders from the police to let no one into that room until they give us the all-clear. They didn’t say why.”
“Give me a minute.” Hadley made a quick call to Detective Lane. He owed her more than an apology. She was ready to collect on the debt.
Within five minutes, the local police called and gave the manager permission to let Hadley into the room with orders that she was only to get the doll and leave.
The manager took her to the room and unlocked the door. “You’re on your own. I normally follow police orders exactly, but I’m not getting in the middle of this. You do what you have to.”
“Thank you.”
Hadley quickly found the doll, hidden in the bed covers, just as Lila had said. She picked it up and hugged it to her chest as she scanned the rest of the room.
Two old-fashioned bonnets lay atop the room’s small desk. The motel notepad that rested beside them held a meticulously printed note.
I’m sorry for my part in the abduction. I took care of your girls as best I could. They are precious. Take care of them and give them lots of love. And make sure Quinton Larson never comes near them again. He is an evil man.
Ignoring the detective’s orders, she tore the note from the pad and stuck it into her pocket.
“Well, well, if it isn’t little Miss Goody Two-shoes. What luck to run into you here.”
She spun around just as Quinton Larson turned the safety latch on the door.
Chapter Sixteen
Hadley backed away from Quinton, trying to think beyond the sudden crippling fear. “If you come any closer, I’ll scream.”
He reached down and pulled a long, sharp knife from a scabbard hidden inside his right boot. “Go ahead. See how much scream you can get out before I slice your jugular.”
“What do you want from me?”
“The rest of the five million you owe me.”
“The ransom only stood if you produced the girls. You didn’t.”
“No, but now I have you. A new kidnapping. A new deal. Five million seems such a paltry sum for a full-grown woman.”
“You can’t get away with this, Quinton. The police are on their way here right now. They’ll break through that door and shoot you.”
He smirked and shook his head. “That’s not the way it works, Hadley. You should know that. Didn’t you learn anything from the professional negotiator you hired? The one in control sets the terms. Your boyfriend will meet them if he wants you back alive.”
And she wanted to be alive. Her life was starting anew. She had Adam and Lacy and Lila. She had everything she’d ever dreamed of. She couldn’t lose it to a monster.
“What is it you want, Quinton?”
He placed the blade of the knife along her cheek. “Get your boyfriend on the line. I’ll do the talking. While I do, why don’t you slip into something comfortable? We can start celebrating where we left off on your fourteenth birthday.”
Dread crawled over her flesh. She couldn’t bear to think of him touching her private places and defiling her in ways that would never leave her mind.
He trailed the tip of the knife along her skin until it reached a spot just below her earlobe. “Make the call or Adam Dalton will find you drowning in your own blood.”
He was going to kill her no matter what she did. He’d been waiting to get back at her for fifteen years. For him, this wasn’t only the money, it was payback time. And if Adam rushed to her rescue, he’d kill him as well.
Lila and Lacy wouldn’t have either parent to look after them. She loved them and Adam too much to let that happen.
She took the phone from her pocket and punched in the private number of Detective Shelton Lane.
* * *
ADAM EXPLODED BEFORE Lane had finished the first sentence.
“I’ll kill him.”
“Don’t go off half-cocked, Adam. I’ve talked to the local authorities. They’re sending officers to monitor the situation until a SWAT team arrives. Let them handle this. They’re skilled in dealing with dangerous situations.”
What the hell did the detective think the marines were? Boy Scouts?
Quinton was a madman. He couldn’t be trusted to let Hadley live until he could get to her, much less until a SWAT team would arrive from who knew where. Especially after she’d already double-crossed him with that call to the detective.
Adam grabbed both girls and raced toward the outdoor stairwell. He ducked into the room where the cleaning woman was emptying trash cans.
“I need your keys. And I need you to take the girls down to the office and stay with them until the cops arrive. They’re on their way.”
She started to protest, but must have decided he was too frantic to argue with. She pushed the keys into his hand.
“Go downstairs with this nice lady. Your mommy loves you and she’ll be right back,” he whispered when both girls began to whine.
He had a key. He had no weapon. He grabbed a steak knife from an empty room service plate. What he wouldn’t give for a government-issued AK-47 now.
Adam slid the key into the lock of 217 as the cleaning woman led the girls downstairs. He turned the key and burst into the room.
One look and he knew he hadn’t been fast enough.
Chapter Seventeen
Hadley was lying on the floor, faceup, terror imprinted in the lines of her face. Her blouse was ripped and she was naked from the waist down. Quinton was on top of her, his unzipped trousers hanging below his hips.
“Get out, Adam,” Hadley begged. “Please, just go away. Quinton has a knife and a gun.”
Adam saw the blade of the knife then. The handle was hidden in the loose folds of Hadley’s ripped blouse. The point of the blade was pressed again her jugular vein. One jab of the blade and she’d bleed to death in minutes.
“Close the door behind you, Adam. Sit down and watch. I’ll show you how a real man takes care of a woman.”
Adam fought to stay calm. Blunt force was no match for a knife at the throat. “A real man doesn’t
have to hold his woman at knifepoint. They flock to us.”
“Yeah. Adam Dalton. Big hero. What good are those medals now?”
“I thought this was all about money, Quinton. Do you want the rest of that five million or not?”
“Did you come to deliver it?”
“That’s what we’re here for. We got a text that said bring money, take home girls.”
Adam had his interest now, but the knife was still at Hadley’s throat. “Let Hadley walk. Hold me prisoner instead and I’ll have R.J. cart in the money.”
“You’ll have to do better than that, Adam. How about show me the money first.”
Fortunately, Adam had learned a thing or two from Fred Casey and he could see the greed burning in Quinton’s eyes.
“Doesn’t work that way,” Adam said. “The man with the gold makes the rules. Hadley walks or....”
“Or I slice her pretty little throat,” Quinton said.
“And then you go to jail a poor man. But you better decide which it’s to be quickly. If R.J. doesn’t hear from me in...” Adam checked his watch. “Not looking good. Three minutes before R.J. calls the cops.”
The knife slowly slid from Hadley’s throat. Quinton still held it and he was still in stabbing distance. But Quinton was off balance and struggling with his trousers now and Adam’s bluff wouldn’t hold forever.
Adam lunged at Quinton and took him down. They wrestled for the knife. And then a crashing blow sent shattered glass falling like rain.
Quinton’s eyes rolled back in his head and his body went limp.
“It’s the old slam him with the heavy glass trick,” Hadley said. “I didn’t see a vase but the lamp worked even better.”
“Remind me to never make you mad.”
But she was shaking as she yanked her blouse together as best as she could and then quickly redressed the rest of the way.
Adam pulled her into his arms. “Did he hurt you? Did he...”
“No, but he would have if you hadn’t come to the rescue.”
“You helped with that.”
“And that’s how it should be, Adam. We’re in this together. Couples have to share the bad with the good.”
“I love you, Hadley O’Sullivan. I love you with all my heart, but...”
She shushed him with a kiss that set his soul on fire. And for the first time since his injuries, he felt a sensual stirring below his belt.
That had to be a very good sign.
Quinton began to stir. A second later, a gaggle of cops rushed into the room, guns in hand.
“You’re Hadley O’Sullivan,” one of them said.
“I am. And the monster on the floor is Quinton Larson. He’s all yours.”
Adam slipped an arm around her waist and led her toward the door.
One of the cops blocked their path. “Where do you think you’re going?”
“To get my daughters,” they answered in unison.
That was also the way it was meant to be.
Epilogue
Three months later
R.J. stumbled backward as he lifted the toolbox to toss it into the back of Adam’s truck. Adam rushed over to steady him.
“You, okay?”
“Yeah. Doctor said to expect these dizzy spells to hit now and again.”
And they’d hit more often as the days went by. But R.J. was hanging in there. He was a tough old buzzard. Adam still couldn’t make himself call him dad, but they were making progress in their relationship and he figured that would come one day soon.
R.J. leaned against the back of the truck. “Any news on Quinton’s status?”
“The judge denied bail so it looks as if he’ll be in jail until the trial.”
“Even that’s too good for him,” R.J. said. “What about the rest of Matilda’s family?”
“Sam’s out on bail, but I suspect he’ll do some jail time, as he should. According to Janice O’Sullivan, Matilda and her daughter are getting some counseling that Janice both encouraged and insisted on paying for.”
“Good for Janice.”
“Yep. She can be forgiving when she wants to. Hadley says Matilda and her daughter are working hard on going on with their lives as best they can. Matilda’s upset about her son, as any mother would be, but he’s cooperating with the prosecutor now, so he may get some leniency.”
“And how is Janice?”
“Doing great. Still not thrilled about having me back in the family, but the oncologist feels confident that the cancer was completely removed.”
“What about Mary Nell? She saved my granddaughters’ lives. I’d hate to see her spend time in prison.”
“Lane says she’s likely to get off with an extended parole. She not only saved their lives, she made what could have been a horrible ordeal for them into a positive experience. They still ask about her.”
“I’m thinking I’ll offer her a college scholarship, I mean, if that’s all right with you and Hadley. Apparently she was a good student, and she needs to get of that house with her mother and stepfather.”
“That’s fine with me,” Adam said, “and I’m sure it will be great with Hadley. And speaking of Hadley, I’d best get back to work on the house. Do you want to drive out to the site with me?”
“Not this time. But, Adam, in case I haven’t said this before. I’m damn pleased you, Hadley and my granddaughters are moving onto the ranch.”
“So am I, R.J. So am I.”
* * *
“OKAY, COWBOY. I know R.J. put you in charge of making improvements to the ranch, but the house is my department.”
“You drive a hard bargain, Mrs. Dalton.”
“And I carry a big vase, Mr. Dalton.”
“So what changes do you want in the plans now?”
“More bedrooms.”
“More than five?”
“We already have two children. I’d like to have at least three more. And we need guest rooms.”
“Can we put the one for your mother under a separate roof?”
“Absolutely not. She’s coming around. She hasn’t reminded me how you broke my heart in at least....”
“Two days,” Adam said, finishing her sentence. “But I’m just teasing. I kind of like the way she reminds me of how lucky I am to have you.”
“We are lucky, Adam. We have our precious daughters. So as to my list of things that make my world perfect. You look dynamite in jeans and boots. And we are building a house on this beautiful ranch. What more could we want?”
“Nothing, Hadley. Absolutely nothing—except for a couple of sons.”
He pulled her into his arms and into the thrill of his kiss. She would never grow tired of kissing Adam.
He nibbled an earlobe. “You know, since the girls are napping, we could go inside and work on those sons right now.”
One more thing to be thankful for—not that she wouldn’t have loved him in any condition.
But Adam Dalton was all man.
* * * * *
Keep reading for an excerpt of Ultimate Cowboy by Rita Herron!
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Chapter One
“This special news report just in—an amber alert has been issued for six-year-old Hank Forte. Hank was last seen at the county fair in Amarillo.”
Brody Bloodworth
’s heart clenched as a photo of the boy appeared on screen. The little boy had blond hair, was wearing a black T-shirt, jeans and cowboy boots. He could be one of the kids on the BBL, the Bucking Bronc Lodge he had started for needy children.
But he reminded him more of his own little brother, Will, and launched him back seven years ago to the day Will had gone missing.
Not from a county fair but from the rodeo where he was supposed to be watching him.
Self-loathing and guilt suffused him, once again robbing his lungs of air. He understood what the family of that little boy was going through now. The panic. The fear.
The guilt.
If only they’d kept a better eye on him. If only they hadn’t turned their head for a minute.
What was happening to him? Had he just wandered off? Would they find him hiding out or playing somewhere at the fair? Maybe he had fallen asleep in a stall housing one of the animals...
Or had someone taken him? Maybe a desperate woman who’d lost a child and was out of her mind? A child predator who’d do God knows what?
A killer?
The reporter turned the microphone to Hank’s parents, a couple who were huddled together, teary-eyed and frightened. A second later, they began to plead for their son’s return, and the mother broke down into sobs.
Brody hit the remote, silencing the heart-wrenching scene, but it played over and over in his head. But it wasn’t the Forte family’s cries he heard; it was his own family’s.
His father who’d blamed him from the get-go.
Because it was his fault.
He glanced through the window at the sprawling acres and acres of land he’d bought, to the horse stables and pens and the boys that he’d taken in. All kids who had troubles, boys who needed homes and love and guidance.
But no matter how much he did for them, it wouldn’t make up for losing his little brother.
The clock in the hall struck 6:00 p.m., and he stood, pulled on his duster jacket and headed outside. One of his best men, Mason Blackpaw, and his fiancée, Cara Winchester, were getting married on the ranch in a few minutes. He’d promised he’d be there, and he was happy for his friend, but weddings always made him uncomfortable.