There was a killer on the loose.
And a cold-case killer who might try to make a return visit.
This obviously wouldn’t be a dream-come-true wedding. But he had to stay focused on Adam. The wedding would help him keep custody.
He hoped.
There was a tap at the door, and Dylan figured that the justice of peace had arrived. So, it was time. Which was good because his doubts were growing by leaps and bounds. It was best to get this over before he did something stupid such as change his mind.
“Come in,” he offered.
The door opened, and Millie stepped inside. “I want to talk to you.”
Oh, man. He didn’t like the sound of that, and he didn’t have to guess what she wanted to discuss. “Is the J.P. here yet?” Because if so, their conversation would have to wait.
“No. He’s just called. He’s running a little late.” Millie shut the door behind her and leaned against it as if blocking his path. “Dylan, are you sure about going through with this wedding?”
He buttoned his jacket so no one would be able to see his gun. “I want to keep custody of Adam.”
“There has to be another way.”
Since her comment had a hint of desperation to it, Dylan couldn’t help but think back to the conversation he’d had with Collena that morning. Was Millie obsessed with him in some way? He’d known Millie all her life, since they were practically the same age. He was thirty-two—Millie, thirty-one. They’d been raised together, more like brother and sister than the nanny’s daughter and the ranch owner’s son. He studied her eyes, her expression, even her body language, but the only thing he saw was an old friend concerned about his well-being.
Of course, people wore masks.
“You don’t know Collena,” Millie continued. “You could wait and see what Curtis Reese is going to do. Who knows, he might change his mind and withdraw his petition for custody.”
“You know something I don’t?” Dylan asked.
“No. But people do that. They change. They do what’s right. He might decide that Adam is better off with you.”
“I’m not going to hold my breath waiting for that,” Dylan mumbled. He went to the closet and rifled through one of the dresser drawers until he found something he rarely wore—his cuff links. It took him a few moments to get them into place.
When he turned around, Millie was right in front of him. Mere inches away.
Staring at him.
“Please,” she said, trying to blink back tears. She wasn’t successful. “Don’t do this.”
Dylan got a really bad feeling about her reaction. He stepped out of the closet. “What’s this all about?”
“I’m scared,” she whispered. Her bottom lip began to tremble. “What if this time the killer goes after you? What if it’s your car that catches on fire? What if you’re the next one who dies?”
As chilling as that was, Dylan actually relaxed a bit at the realization that it could happen. Because he’d much rather a killer come after him than Collena or Adam. Besides, he welcomed such a confrontation. He’d wanted to confront this SOB for years.
There was another knock at the door, followed by Hank’s somber voice. “The justice of the peace is here,” he announced. “Everybody’s gathering in the family room, just like you wanted.”
That was Dylan’s cue to get moving. First though, he used his thumb to wipe the tears off Millie’s cheek. “Everything will be okay,” he promised.
And he would do everything humanly possible to make sure he kept that promise.
With Millie by his side, Dylan went into the corridor where Hank was waiting. Hank shot him a questioning glance, and even though the man didn’t voice his objection to these nuptials, the argument was there in the depths of his aged eyes.
Dylan ignored it but encountered more questioning stares as soon as he stepped into the family room and saw Ruth. The nanny was standing just inside the arched double doorway. She cast her daughter a glance, and Millie shook her head, apparently letting her mother know that she had not succeeded in talking him out of this.
With Hank, Millie, Ruth and even the sour-looking justice of the peace, the energy in the family room was tense.
Until he spotted Collena.
Holding Adam in her arms, she stood by the floor-to-ceiling white limestone fireplace, a mesquite fire flickering in the hearth. Collena wore a straight-cut pale green dress that landed just above her knees. Adam wore a dark blue one-piece corduroy suit.
Unlike the others, Adam wasn’t somber. He was playing a modified peekaboo game with Collena. Collena was reciprocating with the game, but Dylan figured her efforts were an attempt to cover her nerves.
Then, she turned and looked at him.
Dylan hadn’t anticipated the reaction he would have when he saw her face. She wasn’t so pale this afternoon. There was a peachy tone to her skin, and that color was deepened on her mouth.
For just a moment, he forgot the marriage was a pretense.
For just a moment, he forgot how to breathe.
Man, Collena was beautiful. Definitely not the fragile pale waif that had fainted outside the stables. This was a woman with warmth, substance, and his gut reaction was intensified by the fact that she held his son so lovingly in her arms.
He went to her, and Collena leaned in to whisper in his ear. “You look ready for the firing squad,” she joked.
Dylan appreciated her attempt to keep things light, but the whisper and even the joke felt too intimate. A glance around the room told him that the others had interpreted it as intimate, as well.
That couldn’t happen.
He wasn’t ready to concede that Hank, Millie or Ruth was a cold-blooded killer, but all three could gossip. If word got out that he was indeed attracted to his soon-to-be wife, then the killer might be tempted to come out of hiding. And go after not him but Collena. It was best to keep his lust hidden away, and that hiding started right here, right now. Then he could make sure the word got out that this was a marriage of convenience, just in case the killer thought this was real.
“Let’s get this done,” Dylan said to Martin Caldwell, the J.P. The short, round-bellied man gave his thick bifocals an adjustment and opened a leather folder that contained the license and other paperwork.
The J.P. glanced at both of them from over the top of his glasses. “Do you, Dylan Greer, and you, Collena Drake, assent to a mutual agreement to take each other as marital spouses?”
There it was. Dry as dust. Practically sterile. Just what Dylan had requested.
“I do,” Dylan quickly answered.
Collena followed suit. “I do.”
Adam tried to repeat the two words, his attempt causing them to smile. Again, it felt intimate.
“Will you exchange rings?” the J.P. asked.
“No,” he and Collena said in unison. No ring. No symbol that this was a real marriage.
The J.P. glanced around the room. “Are there any objections to this union?”
With the most intense glare he could manage, Dylan dared them to object. All three stayed quiet.
“Then, I, Martin Caldwell, justice of the peace in the state of Texas, act in my official capacity in pronouncing you to be husband and wife.” He looked at Dylan. “If you’re going to kiss her, now’s the time to do it.”
“No kiss,” Dylan mumbled. Though it suddenly seemed like something he wanted to do. He pushed that desire aside.
Ruth started crying. Millie stared at them as if they’d done the most horrific thing she’d ever witnessed. Hank just stared at the window.
Dylan glanced at Collena to see how she was holding up. She, too, looked a little shell-shocked, but he couldn’t soothe her, not even in a friendly sort of way. He didn’t want his feelings misinterpreted.
“Jonah’s back,” Hank announced. He left the window and headed for the front door to let the deputy in.
Collena groaned softly.
Dylan shared her sentiment. He thanked the j
ustice of the peace, handed him some cash, and then he and Collena signed the marriage license.
With each stroke of the pen, Dylan couldn’t help but wonder if he’d sealed their fate.
The J.P. headed out just as Jonah entered the family room.
“This better be important,” Dylan commented.
Jonah didn’t even acknowledge that he’d just walked in on a wedding ceremony. Or maybe, with the mood in the room, he simply wasn’t aware of it. “Don’t look at me like that,” Jonah snarled. “You think I enjoy coming back out here? I don’t. This is business.”
Dylan was afraid of that, and he knew that if the business required a personal trip to the ranch, it couldn’t be good news.
“First of all, Curtis Reese is staying at the hotel in town. Y’all already know that. But what you don’t know is that he filed a harassment complaint against the two of you because someone left a threatening message on the phone in his room.”
“You mean, a message like the one left on the two guest-room phones?” Collena asked.
“Identical,” Jonah confirmed. “Obviously, someone had too much time on their hands.”
Dylan hoped that was all there was to it. A prank. But he didn’t believe that.
Dylan’s breath streamed out in frustration. “You drove out here to tell us this?”
“No. I drove out here because our fax machine’s on the fritz, and the sheriff said that Collena needs to take a look at these two pictures right away.”
Collena took the first photo that Jonah handed her, and both she and Dylan studied the grainy shot. Even with the lack of clarity, Dylan had no trouble seeing the tall, dark-haired man in the center of the photo.
“The camera in the ATM of the bank in town snapped the pictures,” Jonah explained. “The bank manager saw ’em this morning and got suspicious since he’d never seen the man before. So, how about it, Collena, do you recognize him?”
She nodded. Then nodded again. The motion was choppy, as was her breath. “That’s Rodney Harmon.”
Dylan cursed. That meant the escaped felon was close. Too close. And they didn’t need this complication on top of everything else.
“You’re sure that’s Harmon?” Jonah asked Collena.
“Positive.”
Jonah looked past her and fixed his attention on Dylan. “Harmon was obviously in town just a few hours ago. I’m betting he’s still there.”
That meant they had a killer bearing down on them. “You said there were two pictures?”
“Yeah.” Jonah didn’t add anything for several seconds. Then he took the second photo from beneath his arm and gave it to Collena.
It was another picture of Rodney Harmon, but this one was clearer because he was closer to the ATM camera. In fact, the man was staring directly into the camera as if he had known this recorded image would make its way to Collena.
And it had.
In his hands, Rodney Harmon was holding up a hand-scrawled cardboard sign that was as clear as the sneer on the man’s face. The words on the sign hit Dylan like a fist.
“Collena, are you ready to die?”
Chapter Nine
Years earlier, before her idea of romance had turned sour, Collena had often dreamed of her wedding night. What she hadn’t included in that dream was a loveless marriage and a monster out to kill her.
Added to that, both the groom and she were armed with semiautomatics and would be indefinitely, until the danger had passed.
However, there were some pluses to this particular wedding night. Well, one anyway. She and Dylan were going to spend the night in the nursery alongside Adam. With Rodney Harmon’s latest death threat and with the uncertain motives of those in Dylan’s household, it seemed the reasonable and cautious thing to do.
Unfortunately, when they had come up with the sleeping arrangement, Collena had failed to grasp the full impact of staying in the same room with Dylan. Alone, with a sleeping toddler.
Close quarters probably weren’t a bright idea with the attraction brewing between them. Still, there weren’t many options, and keeping Adam safe was their top priority.
“I had this moved from one of the guest rooms,” Dylan whispered as he motioned toward the double bed with the wrought iron headboard. “Let’s hope it’s comfortable.”
Collena eyed the bed and the stack of bedding they’d taken from the linen closet. Then, she eyed Dylan in his hot jeans and a chest-hugging black tee. Nope. Neither the bed, nor her husband would make this situation comfortable.
“I doubt I’ll get much sleep anyway.” Collena kept her voice as soft as possible so she wouldn’t wake Adam. Her little boy had had a long day and needed his rest.
“Try,” Dylan insisted. “Neither of us will be much good to Adam if we’re dead tired.”
She nodded because he was right. That didn’t mean, however, that sleep was going to happen.
Especially if they were in the same bed.
Since they hadn’t specifically discussed the sleeping arrangements, Collena stood there and waited to see what Dylan planned to do. From across the mattress, her eyes met his. Even in the dimly lit room, she could see what he was thinking.
There was heat stirring in those eyes. Thankfully, there was also concern. Maybe the concern would win out.
“I can sleep on the floor,” he suggested.
“Or we can put pillows between us.”
Silence followed, a long, uncomfortable silence where they just stared at each other. “Pillows,” he finally agreed after glancing at the floor.
Collena picked up the sheet, unfolded it, and they began to make the bed. “The security company delivered extra motion-activated monitors this afternoon like the one over there,” he explained, hitching his thumb at the thin monitor mounted on the wall near Adam’s changing table. “They’ll pick up movement outside the house. I figured it’d help if everyone in the house was keeping an eye on the grounds.”
Yes, it would help. Unless someone in the house was the one to watch for. “And you said something about having someone monitor the security system?”
“I hired a pair of P.I.s who’ll be on monitor duty and act as backup if we need it. They’re working out of my office for now, but tomorrow, they’ll move into the other guest room just in case this situation lasts for a while.”
In other words if Rodney Harmon stormed onto the ranch with guns blazing, there’d be at least four of them to stop him. She hoped that was enough, because Collena was a hundred-percent certain that Harmon would try to come after her.
It was only a matter of time.
Unless the cops could catch him first.
Collena gave Adam a soft kiss on the cheek and walked back to the bed. Dylan did the same. Neither of them took off their shoes, and both were fully clothed.
They just stood there side by side and stared down at the bed.
“This is ridiculous,” Collena whispered. “We’re adults. We can sleep in the same bed. This is all for Adam.”
That was the nudge that Dylan needed, because he climbed into bed. Collena got in, as well. And once again, the silence returned.
“My lawyer is still doing a thorough background check on you,” Dylan whispered. “He wants to know if there’s anything in your past that Curtis Reese will be able to use against us during the custody fight.”
“I’ve already told you the things he can and will use. My upbringing, my mother’s profession and the undercover assignment that resulted in Adam being stolen.”
“What about lovers other than your fiancé? Curtis Reese will use whatever he can,” Dylan added when she didn’t immediately answer.
It took her several moments to answer. “Other than Sean Reese, I was involved with only one other man. That was…let’s see, when I was twenty.”
“That’s it?” he asked.
“That’s it.”
He shook his head and gave a lopsided smile of irony. “We’re some pair, aren’t we? I gave up on love when it became deadly. You a
pparently gave up on it before you even got started.”
Collena mumbled an agreement and wished that she didn’t feel anything down deep within her. Because it only made her feel closer to Dylan. Despite their starkly different pasts, they had a lot in common.
Including this troubling attraction.
She wondered if she should address it or, better yet, try to dismiss it. If they talked about it, it might make things worse.
She looked at him again. He hadn’t covered up so she still had an incredible view of him. Her eyes went in the wrong direction, traveling the entire length of his body. She even paused in the zipper region, the last place she should be looking. And when she forced her gaze to stop traveling and looked up at Dylan again, she realized he was watching her gawk at him.
Collena waited for embarrassment to flush her cheeks, but it didn’t come. She wanted it to come. Because if not, she would look brazen.
She certainly felt brazen.
Worse, Dylan looked it, too. That wasn’t a back-off vibe passing between them.
“To hell with this,” Dylan grumbled a split second before he slid his hand around the back of her neck and dragged her to him.
It happened so fast that his mouth was on her before Collena realized what was happening. Even then, she had a stupid reaction. Instead of planting her hands on his chest and pushing him away, she heard herself moan a hungry sound of pleasure, and she slung her arms around his neck.
Oh, mercy. He looked good, but he tasted even better. And it’d been a long, long time since she’d kissed a man who knew exactly what he was doing.
The kiss quickly turned hotter. Of course, it’d started out so hot that she was amazed it could get better. Still, she didn’t stop it. She deepened it, letting their tongues mate, letting him nip her bottom lip with his teeth.
There was a sharp rap at the door. That was the only warning they got before it opened. They untangled themselves from each other, but not before their visitors saw what was going on. It was Ruth, and Hank was directly behind her.
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