The Horseman's Son

by Delores Fossen

  “Yes,” she admitted. It wasn’t the first time she’d confessed her guilt.

  Collena reminded herself of it every minute of every day.

  She let Dylan fill in the blanks. Someone at Brighton had gotten suspicious of her. Maybe someone had recognized her as a cop. A former witness or a person involved in a previous case. Or maybe someone at the home or the center had even had her investigated because they believed she was a prime candidate to put her baby up for adoption. It wouldn’t have been that hard to find her real identity if someone was seriously looking. And Rodney Harmon had been the one to try to get her out of the picture. Unfortunately, in doing so, Collena had lost the most precious thing in the world.

  Her newborn son.

  She and Dylan sat there, staring at each other. She didn’t attempt to read his expression, because she knew what he was thinking.

  “You can’t possibly be any more disgusted with me than I am with myself,” she said. “I made a horrible mistake. And I paid for it. I’m still paying for it.”

  “And now you want me to pay for it, too?” he snapped.

  She didn’t have time to answer. Two sounds happened at once. There was a knock at the door, and the fax machine began to spit out a sheet of paper.

  The door opened, and Deputy Jonah Burke stepped in. He was sporting a scowl, and there were snowflakes on his Stetson and jacket.

  “It’s Thanksgiving,” the deputy greeted. “And it’s snowing like crazy out there. How many more times am I going to have to come out to the ranch today?”

  “As many times as it takes,” Dylan informed him. He stood and went to the fax machine. “Where’s the fire chief?”

  “Busy with the investigation. He’s shorthanded because of the holiday, so he sent me over here to let you know what’s going on.”

  “And what is going on?” Collena asked when Jonah didn’t continue. “What happened to my car?”

  Jonah lifted a shoulder and couldn’t have possibly looked more disinterested. “Somebody burned it.”

  Both Collena and Dylan shot him a flat look, but it was Dylan who responded. “Obviously. But since you’re a deputy sheriff and supposedly in charge of keeping the citizens of Greer safe, I thought you might have at least a professional obligation to investigate a crime.”

  His disinterest turned to another scowl. “If there’s something to investigate, I’ll do my job, but the fire department didn’t detect accelerant, and their initial impression is that it might have been an electrical problem.”

  “The car’s engine was turned off,” Collena informed him. “Hard to have an electrical fire without the engine running.”

  Part of her wanted to believe an electrical problem was the cause. But this didn’t feel like an accident. Her cop’s instincts were telling her this was a crime, and apparently Dylan felt the same.

  “So you say the engine was off, but you see, I’m suspect of anything you tell me because I already know you’re a trespasser.” Jonah turned that scowl on Dylan. “Of course, maybe she had a good reason to trespass.”

  “You got something to say to me?” Dylan challenged, as he gathered up the pages coming from the fax. He took his attention off Jonah and stared down at the papers.

  “I made a call when I left here,” Jonah explained. “I found out that Ms. Drake here is investigating illegal adoptions. Since you adopted Adam, it’s not much of a stretch to think she’s investigating you. What’d you do, Dylan? You cut some corners?”

  Collena got to her feet and faced the deputy. “Dylan did nothing wrong. If you check the facts, the real culprit is the clinic where Adam was born.”

  “I don’t need you to defend me,” Dylan told her.

  For some reason, his cold words sliced right through her. But why wouldn’t he say something like that? He despised her, especially after she’d just confessed all to him. She and Dylan weren’t comrades. Not even close. And he had every reason to try to remove her from the picture.

  Dylan went to his computer and typed something before he continued. Collena got just a glimpse of it. It was an e-mail requesting a background check on Curtis Reese. “Tell the fire chief that I want a report of his preliminary findings,” Dylan told Jonah. “And close the door on your way out.”

  Jonah looked ready to explode over what was obviously another order—a rude one, at that—but he didn’t. However, he did mumble something profane before he exited and slammed the door behind him.

  Dylan walked closer, until he stood right behind her. What he didn’t do was speak. When the silence became uncomfortable, Collena whirled around to face him. Best to go ahead and get this latest argument out of the way.

  But she didn’t see an argument in his eyes.

  She was too close to him.

  Something passed between them. A shiver of energy. Something warm.

  No, it was hot.

  Much to her disgust, Dylan could make her feel things she shouldn’t feel, and he could accomplish that by merely being close to her.

  Collena shook her head to clear it. She refused to let her thoughts and feelings go in this direction. Dylan was merely her son’s adopted father. That was it. There could never be anything between them.

  Well, nothing except that stir of heat that wouldn’t go away.

  “The P.I. already sent me a preliminary report on you,” Dylan said.

  That drew her back to her senses.

  Dylan showed her the top sheet of the papers he’d taken from the fax machine. It was indeed a report that included the basics: her name, address, age, height and weight. All bits of info taken from her driver’s license, no doubt.

  The next page was a copy of a newspaper article where she’d gotten an award for outstanding service for uncovering the criminal activity at the Brighton Birthing Center. There was no picture because Collena hadn’t attended the ceremony. Nor had she picked up the award. She’d ripped it to bits after her lieutenant had delivered it to her apartment.

  “That award should have been for my stupidity,” Collena mumbled.

  Dylan didn’t respond to that. He simply flipped over to the next page.

  There was a picture this time.

  It’d been taken as part of the police report after she’d clawed her way out of those woods near Brighton and made it to the local sheriff’s office. The photo showed the torn, dirty hospital gown that was practically hanging off her body. Her battered face. Her hair matted with her own blood. A busted bottom lip. And the bruises and scrapes on her hands and knees. She looked a half-step away from death, which wasn’t too far from the truth.

  She’d come too close to dying in the woods.

  The police report indicated how close to death she’d been. It also indicated that she’d recently given birth, and that would hopefully convince Dylan that she wasn’t lying about being Adam’s mother.

  Dylan stared at her. “I don’t want to feel sorry for you.”

  That improved her posture. Collena snapped her shoulders back. “Good. Because I don’t want you to feel sorry for me, either. I was a cop. I knew the risk before I ever stepped foot in Brighton.”

  “You couldn’t have anticipated that kind of risk. And you didn’t deserve that.” He shook his head, and his nostrils flared. “What did Rodney Harmon use to put those bruises on you?”

  It took her a moment to answer. No more stiff shoulders. She automatically slumped. “His fists and the gun he took from me when I went into labor. I was trying to fight him off because the doctor had just left the room with Adam.”

  His jaw muscles moved. “So, Adam wasn’t there when you were getting the hell beat out of you?”

  “No. Thank God. And the fight didn’t last that long. Harmon gave me some kind of heavy narcotic, and after I escaped, I don’t remember anything until I woke up in the woods.” She paused a moment to gather her composure. “My advice? Shred that picture. Forget that you ever saw it. I don’t want it to play a part in your decision as to what we’re going to do about Adam.
”

  “My decision,” he said. He tossed the papers onto his desk and groaned. “You come here to my home and deliver a bombshell, along with a would-be killer on your trail. And as an added bonus, I’ve had to deal with Adam’s biological grandfather, a man who can challenge us both for custody.”

  “I’m sorry—”

  “Don’t,” he warned. He stepped farther away from her. “I want to hate you. But I can’t. Because I can see the pain in that picture. Hell, I can see the pain in your eyes right now.”

  “That pain’s in your eyes, too.”

  Dylan immediately looked away. “I won’t feel sorry for you and I won’t be attracted to you.”

  Collena blinked, certain she’d misunderstood him. Mercy, had he noticed the way she’d looked at him earlier? With lust in her eyes?

  Oh, this was not good.

  She actually welcomed the knock on the door. They obviously needed some kind of interruption, because there was nothing that either of them should say about his attraction remark.

  “It’s me,” a woman said from the other side of the door. Collena recognized the voice. It was Ruth Sayers, the nanny.

  Dylan reached behind him and turned Collena’s photograph facedown. “Come in, Ruth.”

  The woman opened the door, but she wasn’t alone. Her daughter, Millie, was with her, and the pair stood in the doorway.

  Collena got a better look at Millie then. She was a younger version of her mom, with fiery red hair and piercing gray eyes. However, Millie had a calmness and serenity about her that Ruth lacked.

  “The fire chief said I’m to tell you that he’d be in touch with you,” Ruth told Dylan. “Jonah’s still here though.” She pointed her finger at Collena. “Is he planning to arrest that woman for trespassing?”

  Dylan pulled in a weary breath. “This is Collena Drake, and there’s a very good possibility that she’s Adam’s biological mother.”

  Ruth frantically shook her head, but her daughter, Millie, had a different reaction. She merely stared at Collena. Examining her.

  “Does she have any proof of what she’s saying?” Ruth snapped.

  “Some,” Dylan confirmed. “It’ll take a couple of days to get the DNA results back. Or I might be able to get the results sooner if I can get the tests from the lab where she had Adam’s stem cells tested.”

  “Adam has her mouth,” Millie whispered, nudging her mother with her elbow.

  Collena was so relieved she couldn’t speak. Another person was confirming that there was a resemblance between her son and her.

  “Her eyes, too,” Dylan added.

  Just that bit of information nearly brought on the tears, but Collena blinked them back. However, it didn’t stop her longing to see her child. She’d gotten only the briefest glimpse before the doctor at Brighton had whisked Adam away.

  Ruth shook her head. “I don’t see any resemblance. Lots of babies have blond hair and brown eyes.”

  “Someone used the intercom earlier to listen in on the conversation I was having with Collena,” she heard Dylan say. He obviously wasn’t planning to address Ruth’s comments. “Any idea who would do that?”

  So much had happened with the fire and Curtis’s visit that Collena had practically forgotten about that. But was it even important?

  “Are you accusing me of eavesdropping?” Ruth asked. And she looked as if he’d slapped her.

  “I’m merely asking a question.” Dylan’s tone certainly wasn’t accusatory, but he did sound adamant about getting to the bottom of the situation.

  Unfortunately, the eavesdropping was nothing compared to other things that could be brewing. And Collena thought she knew who was behind them.

  Rodney Harmon.

  He was the most likely candidate for setting her car on fire. She couldn’t imagine Curtis traipsing around the woods in his pricey suit. Nor could she see either Millie or Ruth doing the same.

  Eavesdropping, yes. Arson, no.

  But now the question was—how had Rodney found her so quickly? She’d been in Greer for the past eighteen hours, and that would have put her already there in town right about the time that Rodney was escaping.

  “I don’t know who listened in on the intercom,” Ruth finally answered. “Ina, maybe. She probably turned it on when she told you about the intruder and then forgot to turn it off.”

  It seemed reasonable to Collena, but there was something in Dylan’s scrutinizing stare that made her wonder if it sounded reasonable to him.

  “I’ve got things to do,” Ruth declared. “If you want to accuse me of anything else, you’ll find me in the nursery.”

  Dylan didn’t make any attempt to apologize or follow the woman. Probably because he heard the same sound she did. There were thudding footsteps making their way down the hall, and for a moment, she braced herself for yet another confrontation with Curtis. Or worse. She prayed that Rodney Harmon hadn’t wormed his way into the house.

  But it wasn’t either of them.

  It was Deputy Jonah Burke.

  “Well, thanks to you, I’m stuck here at the ranch for Thanksgiving,” Jonah complained, aiming that complaint at Dylan. “The fire chief just called. The road between town and here is now officially closed.”

  “Closed?” Collena repeated, groaning. Well, that was just wonderful.

  She had no car and no way to leave. This day just kept adding more and more obstacles. She wanted Dylan to get that DNA test to the lab, and that wasn’t going to happen with the roads closed.

  “Jonah, I’ll make up the upstairs guest room for you,” Millie volunteered. She stopped though and looked at Dylan. “What about Ms. Drake? Should I get a guest room ready for her, too?”

  The impact hit Collena full force. Yes, the road closure would hinder the DNA test and getting replacement copies of her documents, but if Dylan actually let her stay, then she would be under the same roof as Adam.

  She might get to see her son.

  But she rethought that when she and Dylan turned toward each other at the same moment. That wasn’t exactly a welcoming or inviting look he was giving her.

  “She’ll stay,” Dylan said as if he were speaking profanity. He turned to Millie. “Have Hank check the security system. I want all perimeter and internal alarms set to the highest levels. Lock all the doors and windows. Make sure no one gets in without my permission.”

  Millie’s eyes widened, and she nodded. “Dylan, are you expecting trouble?”

  “Trouble’s already here,” he mumbled. “There’s a fugitive on the loose,” he added in a louder voice, apparently for Millie’s ears. “He’s dangerous, and I don’t want him anywhere near the house.”

  “What about Adam?” Millie stared at Collena when she asked that question. “What should we do with him to make sure he’s…safe?”

  Safe, and away from Collena.

  “Keep Adam in the nursery until you hear from me,” Dylan ordered.

  Another nod and Millie walked away, apparently ready to do her duty by making sure Collena didn’t see her little boy.

  Dylan would have walked away, as well, if Collena hadn’t grabbed his arm. “Adam has my eyes. My mouth. My hair. He’s my son, and I want to see him.”

  She could see the debate start. It seemed to make its way through every muscle in his body.

  Dylan glanced back at the photo of her that he’d turned facedown on his desk. He was likely feeling sorry for her again. Part of Collena despised that—she hated pity—but another part of her was willing to do anything to see her child.

  That included begging.

  Still, she wasn’t certain that even begging would be enough to convince Dylan.

  They stood there. Long, long moments. While his mental debate continued. Collena had her own. To speak or not to speak. And she decided there was nothing she could say that would help her cause.

  He groaned softly. “Come with me,” he finally said. “And don’t make me regret this.”

  Collena was too afraid to ho
pe that he was leading her in the direction of the nursery.

  Chapter Six

  Dylan knew this could be a huge mistake.

  After the incident with the car fire and Collena’s suggestion of marriage, he wanted nothing more than to distance himself from the woman who could take Adam away from him. But he also knew that distancing himself wouldn’t make this situation go away.

  One way or another, he had to convince Collena that he should be the one to raise Adam. He couldn’t do that if they were at each other’s throats. And as for marriage for the sake of them sharing custody? Well, that was an absolute last resort, but he wasn’t ruling it out just yet.

  Dylan led Collena through the maze of corridors in the sprawling house. Nearly ten thousand square feet was more than enough room to bring up an active child. He’d had fatherhood in mind when he made renovations several years earlier.

  He stopped for a moment outside the nursery door and looked back at Collena. She was nibbling on her bottom lip and showed more nerves than she had when facing down the car fire and Curtis Reese.

  “I’m scared,” she admitted.

  “Me, too,” Dylan acknowledged.

  Her mouth quivered as if threatening a smile. Dylan figured it’d been a long time since she’d made that particular facial expression. But the smile didn’t materialize. Instead, she squared her shoulders and took a deep breath.

  Dylan did the same, and he opened the nursery door.

  The room was empty.

  Because of the leftover adrenaline, he felt another jolt of concern, but then reminded himself that it wasn’t unusual for Ruth and Adam to be away from the nursery. Just because they weren’t there in the room didn’t mean that someone like Curtis Reese had kidnapped his son. He stepped into the room and pressed the button to turn on the house intercom.

  “Ruth?” Dylan called out.

  It only took a few seconds for the nanny to answer. “Adam and I are in the playroom.”

  “This way,” Dylan instructed Collena, leading her back through the corridors. He hated that edgy feel of the adrenaline and hated even more that it was now associated with his son’s safety. Since he’d had five years with no incidents, he had thought they were safe.