Harlequin Romantic Suspense March 2016 Box Set

by Carla Cassidy

  He turned away and Darcy’s heart sank. “I don’t see how that’s relevant,” he said stiffly.

  Tears sprang to her eyes and she blinked hard, determined not to cry in front of him. “It’s relevant to me,” she said, struggling to keep the quiver out of her voice. It was masochistic of her, but she needed to hear him say he didn’t care about her anymore. It was the only way she’d be able to move on.

  “Darcy—” he began, but was interrupted by a short knock at the door.

  They both turned in time to see Sam walk in. He glanced from Ridge to Darcy and lifted one brow. “Am I interrupting something?”

  “Yes,” Ridge said at the same time Darcy said “No.”

  “No,” Darcy repeated, mustering up a smile. “You’re not. Please, come in. I was just about to step out—I need to see if we’ve located an overnight room for the baby.”

  “You’re keeping her?” Ridge asked, a note of alarm in his voice.

  “I think it’s best she stay for a bit, just to make sure she’s really on the mend,” Darcy said. She smoothed her hair back with the palm of her hand and headed for the door. “I’ll check on that orthopedic consult for you, as well,” she said, then slipped out of the room before he could launch another volley of protests.

  Once she was safely on the other side of the door, Darcy let her shoulders sag. She leaned against the wall and closed her eyes, wanting nothing more than to retreat to the nearest supply closet and have a good cry in peace. But that wasn’t an option. She needed to get the baby sorted—once that was done, she could leave and put some distance between her and Ridge.

  His rejection stung. She’d considered the possibility that after ten years, whatever feelings he’d had for her would have faded, especially given the way things had ended between them. But she hadn’t expected the reality to hurt so badly. Not that she blamed him. She was asking him to take a giant leap of faith. Once upon a time they’d been close enough that he would have trusted her completely. But she’d betrayed that trust, and to make matters worse, they’d spent too much time apart. They might as well be strangers now.

  Soft footsteps sounded to her right, followed by a quiet cough. Darcy opened her eyes to find Trevor standing nearby with the baby, his mouth turned down sympathetically.

  “He’s always been stubborn, sometimes to the point of being a fool.” He turned and leaned against the wall next to her, mimicking her pose so they both stood facing the hall. She appreciated the gesture—she wasn’t up for eye contact with anyone right now.

  Darcy nodded. “I won’t argue with you on that.”

  “Did I see Sam walk in there?”

  “Yes,” she confirmed. “Do you want me to hold her so you can join them?”

  “No,” he said, surprising her. It must have shown on her face, for he grinned. “I love my brother, but right now he’s all twisted up over some local man who wrecked his knee. I’ve got bigger fish to fry.”

  “The Alphabet Killer?” Darcy guessed.

  Trevor nodded. “I was hoping you could help me.”

  “Me?” Darcy frowned. “I don’t see how.”

  “Ridge tells me you knew one of the victims. Francine Gibbons.”

  “Yes, I did. We were coordinating a charity luncheon together.”

  Trevor nodded, as if she’d just confirmed something he already knew. “Were you good friends with her?”

  Darcy shook her head. “No. And not to be rude, but I already told Sam and Annabel all I know about Francine. It’s not much,” she added, apologetically. “Like I told them, she and I did not have a lot in common and I didn’t spend a lot of time with her.”

  “I understand,” Trevor said easily. “Would you just humor me, though? I’d like to hear for myself what you have to say about her. Sam and Annabel are great cops, but I prefer to get my information from the source if I can.”

  Darcy raised a brow, but nodded. She’d been looking for some kind of distraction. She didn’t want to stay at the hospital and she definitely didn’t want to go home and face her parents again. Talking to Trevor would be a good way to pass the time.

  Even if he did share the same dark eyes as his brother.

  “Before we get started, I need to find out if they’ve come up with a room for the baby.” She held out her arms and he handed the infant over. “It’ll just take a few minutes. Do you mind waiting?”

  “Not at all. Why don’t you meet me in the hospital cafeteria? I’ll buy you a cup of coffee and we can have our chat.”

  “That sounds good.” And surprisingly, it did. Even though they were going to discuss a murder investigation, it would be nice to talk to someone without emotions getting in the way. After the argument with her parents and then the conversation with Ridge, she was feeling raw and exposed. Talking to Trevor would help her calm down again.

  And maybe, said a small voice inside her head, Trevor can shed some light on what Ridge has been up to the past ten years. As much as she wanted to run away and lick her wounds, she was going to have to talk to Ridge again.

  And the next time she did, she wanted to be emotionally prepared.

  * * *

  “Dennis Hubbard?” Sam’s features twisted in disbelief and he stared down at Ridge with doubt in his eyes.

  Ridge shifted on the bed with a grimace. “Yes. For the millionth time, it was Dennis Hubbard.” He didn’t bother to keep his annoyance out of his voice. The sooner Sam believed him, the sooner he could start looking for the man. Ridge wasn’t going to be able to rest easy until he knew Dennis was securely behind bars.

  Sam shook his head. “But he’s never been violent before.”

  Ridge lifted one brow. “Oh, really? Then why does he spend every other Friday night in a holding cell?”

  Sam dismissed the point with a wave of his hand. “You know what I mean. He gets into bar fights, but he doesn’t have a history of breaking and entering or attempted kidnapping.”

  “Maybe he’s just never been caught before,” Ridge said darkly.

  Sam was silent a moment as he considered the implications of that point. Then he shrugged. “Not likely. We haven’t had any unsolved burglaries lately.”

  “I don’t think he’s interested in stealing things,” Ridge said. He quickly filled his brother in on Trevor’s suspicion that Dennis was involved in human trafficking. Sam rocked back on his heels, clearly shocked.

  “I hope nothing like that is moving into Granite Gulch,” he said. “We’re already seeing gang and drug activity creep in from Dallas and Fort Worth. That’s bad enough.”

  “You’re telling me,” Ridge said grimly. “We haven’t had to step up the number of missing persons searches, but it’s possible the people getting caught up in this thing are on the fringes of society, anyway. Hard to know someone’s gone missing if there isn’t a report.”

  Sam conceded the point with a nod.

  “I just wish I knew why he’s so obsessed with this baby. How did he even come across her in the first place?”

  Sam’s brows drew together in a frown. “Doesn’t—” he began. Then he rocked back on his heels as if he’d been punched. “My God,” he whispered.

  “What?” Ridge pushed himself up on the bed, his heart pumping hard at his brother’s reaction. What did Sam know?

  “Dennis has a daughter.”

  Ridge could only stare at Sam as the implications of his words sank in. “A daughter?” he repeated. He cleared his throat, feeling the first tingles of adrenaline enter his system. “How old is she?”

  Sam shook his head. “I’m not exactly sure. Sixteen, maybe seventeen? Old enough to have a baby.”

  “Has anyone seen her lately?” Could she be Sara’s mother? But if so, where was she now? Had Dennis hurt his daughter when she’d refused to hand over her baby?

  “I
don’t know,” Sam replied. “Give me a minute.” He pulled out his phone and started to dial.

  Ridge watched his brother’s face as he placed his call, trying to gauge the information he was getting based on his expression. Someone had to know where the girl was, or if she’d recently been pregnant. He just hoped they weren’t too late...

  Sam shoved the phone back in his pocket with a muttered curse. “She’s not in school. Dennis pulled her out several months ago, said he was going to homeschool her.”

  “That’s allowed?”

  “In a word? Yes.” Sam paced a few steps in front of the bed. “She’s underage, he’s her parent. Legally, he can pretty much do whatever he wants.”

  Ridge’s stomach sank. “So no one has seen the girl in months. And if he yanked her out of school because she was pregnant, I doubt he took her to a doctor for prenatal care.”

  Sam huffed. “I think that’s a safe assumption. He’s not exactly father of the year material.”

  “Do you think he kept her locked in the house until she gave birth?” He could picture it all too easily—a young woman, pregnant, alone and afraid, locked in her room while Dennis raged at her from the other side of the door.

  “Probably.” A muscle in Sam’s jaw tensed. “I’ll call it in and have some officers stop by his house. They’ll be able to determine if he’s been keeping anyone locked up. If she gave birth in the home, there should be evidence of that, too.”

  Ridge shuddered at the thought of the girl laboring with only Dennis for help. Poor thing. “Maybe we’ll get lucky and she’ll still be there.” It was a long shot, but where else could she go?

  “Don’t get your hopes up,” Sam cautioned.

  “I know. In the meantime, we should get started on the search for Dennis.”

  “We?” Sam raised a brow and nodded meaningfully at Ridge’s knee. “I don’t think there’s going to be a ‘we’ on this search.”

  “I’m fine.”

  “Don’t be an idiot,” Sam said.

  Ridge felt his face heat. “That’s the second time today someone has implied I’m stupid. I’m getting a little tired of it.”

  “Then quit acting like it,” Sam said, his exasperation clear. “What were you thinking, trying to take this guy on alone? Do you have any idea how badly things could have turned out? You’re lucky a busted knee is your only souvenir.”

  “You guys were busy. I figured I could handle it.”

  Sam shook his head. “If this is you handling it, I don’t want to see the alternative.”

  “I want to do my job.”

  “So do I.” Sam crossed his arms over his chest. “Let me break it down for you. If you go off half-cocked and join the search for Dennis Hubbard, you’re a liability. That means instead of focusing all our efforts and attention on finding him, we have to babysit you, as well. You’ll slow us down. Is that what you want?”

  Ridge hated to admit it, but Sam was right. Much as he wanted to pretend otherwise, his knee was on fire and it was only getting worse. Still, he had to do something. “I can’t just sit here. I need to help out in some way.” He thought of the letters to his father, but dismissed the idea. The aftermath of his earlier adrenaline rush had left him too keyed up to sit patiently and read through all the crazy. That was a task better suited for when he was more relaxed and less likely to miss any subtle clues that might be found.

  Sam nodded slowly and scratched the side of his jaw. “As it turns out, I do have a job for you.”

  “I’m all ears.”

  “I want you to stay here.” He lifted a hand to stave off Ridge’s objection. “Let me finish. I want you to stay here and keep tabs on the baby. We don’t know where Dennis is now, and if there are other players involved in his scheme then the baby is still a target. We’re stretched pretty thin between the Alphabet Killer investigation and now this, so you’d be doing me a favor by standing guard yourself. Keeps me from having to lose a man.”

  Ridge nodded, knowing he didn’t really have another choice. He’d rather be out there on the trail, but until his knee healed he would have to get used to staying on the bench.

  “Good. I’ll check in with Darcy on my way out. Maybe she can get you a bed in the room with the baby—that way you can keep your leg up.”

  “Too bad I left my stash of bonbons at home,” Ridge said darkly.

  “That is a pity,” Sam replied, ignoring the sarcasm. “Maybe you could get Darcy to peel you some grapes instead. Although given the temperature of the room when I walked in, I don’t think she’d take kindly to that request.”

  Darcy’s scowl flashed in his mind and he squirmed involuntarily. “Probably not.”

  “I couldn’t help but notice you two were pretty cozy-looking the other morning. What changed?”

  Ridge considered staying quiet, but it would be nice to get his brother’s take on things. Darcy’s apology had stunned him, and he still wasn’t sure what to make of her suggestion they try again. He sighed, then broke it down for Sam.

  To his credit, Sam didn’t interrupt. He remained quiet while Ridge told him the whole sad story, starting with the way Darcy had dumped him ten years ago and ending with her earlier apology.

  “Wow.” Sam ran a hand through his hair. “I got the impression things had ended badly between you two, but you never wanted to talk about it.”

  “Can you blame me?”

  “No. What are you going to do now?”

  Ridge shrugged. “I told her no. What else could I say?”

  Sam’s gaze sharpened. “Do you still care about her?”

  His heart screamed yes but he settled for a nod. “But what does that matter?”

  The corner of Sam’s mouth tilted up. “If you ask me, that’s the only thing that matters.”

  “She’s moving to New York. Did you miss that part?”

  “No, I heard all of it. But it seems to me if you both still care for each other, you’ll find a way to make it work.”

  “I don’t see how,” Ridge grumbled.

  “Get creative,” Sam suggested. “It’s worth it.”

  “When did you turn into such a romantic?”

  Sam’s expression softened, and Ridge knew he was thinking of Zoe. “I’ve learned some things over the past couple of months. Sounds like you could stand to learn them, too.”

  It was the truth, and Ridge felt an inner pang of jealousy. He didn’t begrudge Sam his happiness with Zoe—if anyone deserved love, it was his brother. But Ridge wanted to experience that for himself. He’d been lonely for so long. What would it be like to have a woman who loved him despite his flaws? He wasn’t an easy man to get to know—he recognized that about himself. But he still held out hope he would someday find a woman who would make him feel whole.

  Once upon a time he’d thought Darcy was that woman. Maybe she still was.

  “You deserve to be happy again,” Sam said. “But you have to take a chance to find that happiness.”

  And that was the problem, wasn’t it? His fears were getting in the way. What if he and Darcy did try to reconnect and then a few months down the line she decided she didn’t want him after all? Could he really withstand her rejection again, knowing this time it would be so much worse? Ten years ago they’d still been kids. Sure, they had loved each other, but it had been the passionate, all-consuming kind of love that burned hot and bright and flared out just as easily as it had sparked to life. They were older now, more mature. If they came together again, it would be as adults who wanted to build a life together. Darcy was asking him to give her his heart and soul, and he just wasn’t sure he could afford to take that risk.

  But if he refused, was he destined to spend his life alone?

  “I’m heading out now,” Sam announced, interrupting his musings. “Let me know if anything happens h
ere.”

  “Same to you,” Ridge said. “Keep me posted, please.”

  The door closed with a soft click, leaving Ridge alone again with his thoughts. He had to decide what to do about Darcy. The idea of being with her again was powerfully appealing, but she was moving to New York soon and his life was in Granite Gulch.

  He tried to imagine living in the big city, but he just couldn’t picture it. And what about Penny? He glanced down and gave her a scratch behind the ear. She would hate living in a concrete jungle. She was used to the freedom of the woods, and it would be cruel to take her away from that. Moving away would also mean separating from his siblings, a thought that sent a chill through him. They’d been isolated from each other for so long already—could he really walk away from them now that they had started to rebuild their family?

  I could ask her to stay here. It was a wild thought, and for a second he indulged in the fantasy. He’d come home from work to find her in the cabin, warm and pink from the fire. Their kids would play with Penny, looking like miniature versions of Darcy. They’d go hiking on the weekend and he’d teach the kids how to fish and how to track. His chest warmed as he pictured it. It would be so perfect.

  But he knew right away it wouldn’t work. The dream faded away, leaving him cold inside. Darcy wasn’t meant to stay locked up in Granite Gulch. She was a bright star, and she deserved a chance to shine. Even though it would kill him to watch her walk away, it was for the best. If by some miracle he did convince her to stay, she’d grow to resent him for it later. Better to have her leave now than to see the love slowly fade from her eyes as she came to realize she’d made a mistake.

  In the end, his choice was clear. Much as he wanted to be with Darcy, he couldn’t uproot his life and sacrifice his family and his dog for a relationship that might not work out. His heart tightened as disappointment flowed over him, but he pushed it aside. He had made his choice, and he would have to live with it.

  Alone.

  CHAPTER 13

  “I don’t like leaving her alone.”

  Darcy held back a sigh, knowing Ridge was just being overly cautious. He’d been on edge about the baby’s safety since confronting Dennis earlier today, and she really couldn’t blame him. It was unsettling to know he was still out there.