And he went with her.
It was the only place he wanted to go.
Chapter Seventeen
“We may have discovered a cure for the common cold,” Lucas commented between gulps of breath.
Kylie did some breath-gulping of her own. “Well, it was a cure for something, that’s for sure.” Kylie didn’t mind that her lungs still felt starved for air. She didn’t mind the giddy feeling, because every part of her hummed with contentment and pleasure.
“Regrets?” he asked.
“No way. You?”
In those few seconds that it took him to answer, Kylie felt as if she were waiting for the most important answer she’d ever hear. “My only regret is that I didn’t add more foreplay.” He slid his hand between their bodies and stroked her belly.
The relief made her smile. “There was nothing wrong with your foreplay. Or the sex.” She kissed him, long and hard. “Or you.”
Well, nothing wrong except she was falling in love with him. There was no denying it. She was falling, and there was nothing she could do to stop it.
Should she tell him?
It was a risk either way. If she got up, stayed silent and let him think that this was just sex, she might not have another opportunity to tell him that, for her, they’d made love. And it’d changed everything.
The way she felt about him.
The way she felt about herself.
Yes, indeed. It had been a magic cure, and for the first time in three years she felt whole and healed.
And confused.
Because while making love with Lucas had been one of the most wonderful experiences of her life, she was already wondering where this would lead. And she had to admit to herself that it probably wouldn’t lead where her heart was trying to take her.
Maybe this was it. All that would happen between them. A one-night stand, of sorts. Maybe in the morning, he’d realize what a mistake it had been and would tell her that he needed to back off. That old proverbial I need space. It wouldn’t be a lie, either, since this would no doubt take him to a new level of guilt.
Lucas’s cell phone rang. Both groaned when they had to break the intimate contact and pull away from each other. While Lucas located his phone in his jacket pocket, she located her pants, top and underwear. Best not to sit around naked in case one of the deputies or the guard was approaching the house.
“Sheriff Creed,” she heard Lucas say to the caller. With the phone sandwiched between his shoulder and ear, he fixed his jeans and grabbed his shirt. “Finn, is that you?”
That got her attention. Not in a good way, either. And it frustrated her that it did. A call from Finn shouldn’t have caused her adrenaline to kick in.
With her attention now glued to Lucas, Kylie stepped into her pants and pulled them on. She quickly did the same with her bra and top.
“The connection’s bad,” Lucas continued. “I didn’t hear what you said.” A pause. Then a few seconds later, he added. “And?”
Judging from his suddenly ramrod-straight posture and his tight jaw, whatever Finn was saying had captured Lucas’s attention, as well.
“Okay. Of course, I’ll tell her,” Lucas said, and he pushed the End Call button. “Finn got back your test results from the blood he drew the night of the kidnapping attempt.”
She certainly hadn’t forgotten about that, or the drug that the kidnappers had used to try to sedate her. But with everything else going on, she’d put it in the back of her mind. It quickly moved to the forefront.
Kylie protectively slid her hand over her stomach. And waited.
“According to Finn, everything looks fine. The drug was chloroform, but it was in such small amounts that it won’t harm the baby.”
She released the breath that she didn’t even know she’d been holding. It should have been wonderful news. A reason for celebration. But since the info had come Finn, it automatically came under suspicion.
“You think he’d lie about something like that?” Kylie asked.
Lucas shook his head, then shrugged. “I want the tests repeated as soon as we can safely get to your doctor in San Antonio.”
Heaven knew when that might be.
However, Lucas was right. Despite all the danger, the baby was their number one priority, and somehow they’d have to find a way to redo that test.
Because Lucas looked weary and frustrated, Kylie went to him and took his hand. She placed it on her stomach and adjusted it so that his palm was just over the little bumps and kicks that the baby was making.
“He or she is healthy,” Kylie promised, though both knew it was a promise she had no control over. “By Father’s Day, you’ll be holding your child in your arms, and everything that’s happening now will be just unpleasant memories.”
He stared at her a moment as if considering that. “You’ll be leaving when the baby’s born.”
It wasn’t a question. More like a confirmation. It seemed as if he were waiting for her to deny it. But she couldn’t. Even after making love to him only minutes earlier, she didn’t have a clue if they had a future. He certainly hadn’t asked her to be in his future.
Or the baby’s.
Kylie opened her mouth—to say what exactly, she didn’t know. Lucas opened his mouth, as well. Closed it. She closed hers too. And they stood there staring at each other. Apparently waiting for the other to make the first move.
The noise interrupted them both.
There was loud crash. Not exactly a foreign sound, either. It was glass shattering followed by something metallic landing on the floor. The sound had come from the kitchen.
God, was someone breaking into the house? And if so, where the devil were the deputies and the guard? No one should have gotten close enough to break in.
She grabbed her gun and turned to rush toward that noise, but Lucas caught her arm to stop her. He snatched up his own shoulder holster and weapon and practically pushed her back onto the sofa.
“Stay down,” he warned.
Kylie did. Only because she didn’t want to break his suddenly intense concentration. But she strapped on her shoulder holster, as he did, and drew her weapon so she’d be ready to react.
Lucas inched toward the sound, using the furniture and the wall as cover. Kylie watched as he peered around the edge of the arched entryway that led into the kitchen.
He cursed.
Then he put his hand to his mouth and coughed.
She started to ask what was wrong, but the question wasn’t necessary. Kylie saw the wispy smoke and caught the scent of something pungent that immediately caused her to cough.
“It’s tear gas!” Lucas shouted.
His cough-punctuated shout was muted somewhat by yet more breaking glass. Also in the kitchen. The sound was followed by another metal object landing on the clay-tiled floor. Probably another canister of tear gas because the yellow smoke seemed to double in volume.
And intensity.
Sweet heaven. The kidnappers had obviously returned, and they were trying to flush them out of the house.
She clamped her hand over her mouth, but that didn’t stop the fumes from making their way into her eyes, nose and throat. Mercy, she couldn’t breathe. Could barely see. And her lungs burned.
Somehow Lucas made it to her, though he was coughing, as well. He grabbed her arm and got them moving down the hall, away from the fumes. But the fumes seemed to be right on their heels, swallowing them up. Her first instinct was to head outside, to the fresh air, but that’s was exactly what the kidnappers wanted them to do. Once outside, Lucas and she would likely be ambushed. Of course, staying inside didn’t appeal too much, either.
She needed air, and she needed it now.
Lucas shoved open the door to the nursery, and they hurried inside. Kylie gulped in a much needed breath and detected only a trace of the tear gas in the room. But it wouldn’t be long before it seeped into every part of the house. Worse, there was another shattering of glass.
Another canister
landed inside.
She hadn’t needed that third canister to know they were in trouble, but it seemed to be the punctuation mark that sent her heart pounding.
The pounding only got worse when she detected another scent.
Smoke.
Real smoke.
Not from a tear gas canister, either.
Lucas whipped around to face her, and in the same motion, he lifted his head and sniffed. “Hell,” he grumbled. “The house is on fire. Let’s move.”
At first, Kylie thought that Lucas might have planned for them to escape through the window, but he elbowed the door closed, locking them in. Then he grabbed the crib box and shoved it against the bottom of the door to create a barricade from the smoke and tear gas. A temporary barricade, because fire could easily eat through that.
Lucas reached for the pull cord that drew down the wooden attic flap. He unfolded the stairs and stepped on the first rung.
“Stay right behind me,” Lucas insisted. “I need to make sure it’s safe up here.”
She glanced over her shoulders and saw that tear gas had started to ooze in around the doorframe.
Lucas paused at the top step, looked around and then motioned for her to join him. Kylie didn’t waste any time because each passing second brought in more of the fumes and smoke. She’d dealt with tear gas during her training at the police academy, but she had no idea if this would harm the baby. And here she’d just received assurance from Finn that all was well as to the effects of the chloroform. That should have been reason for celebration. Or at least relief. Instead, she’d bypassed the relief stage and had been launched into a terrifying ordeal that she might not survive.
Kylie tried not to let the fear take hold of her. She didn’t want to die. Not here. Not like this with her unborn child still inside her. But the adrenaline was screaming for her to run. To do something—anything—to escape. It was a powerful, overwhelming sensation.
Fight or flight.
Even if either option could get her killed.
“We’re going to get out of this,” she heard Lucas say. Maybe he’d sensed her thoughts. Or maybe she looked terrified. The humming was a dead giveaway, too. Kylie didn’t care what’d prompted his response. She held on to it like a lifeline and followed Lucas into the attic.
The floorboards creaked beneath them as they meandered their way through the cluttered space. Cardboard boxes and trunks were crammed against the walls, but there was ample space for them to walk toward the attic vent at the far end.
Kylie forced herself to concentrate on her breathing. It wouldn’t be a good time to hyperventilate. Besides, things were already in motion. If the kidnappers were out there waiting for them, there would be a shootout. She didn’t want to speculate about who would win.
They had to win.
Their baby’s life was at stake.
Lucas reached the far end of the attic first. There wasn’t a window there, but a large porthole of sorts with vented slats. He yanked out those slats, leaving them a venue to fire at attackers or, if that failed, a means of escape.
Well, maybe.
Kylie peered out into the moonlit yard. She didn’t see any gunmen or kidnappers. Nor any sign of the deputies or guard. There were just ghostly wisps of smoke and a whole lot of open space between them and the pasture. Still, if they could get out of the house and to the pasture, then they could use the surrounding woods as cover.
Lucas continued to watch the yard. And cursed. Which probably meant he didn’t see their attackers, either. “I need to climb out on the roof.”
Kylie shook her head, but the nonverbal disapproval was useless. Because she knew Lucas was going to go out there anyway.
He had to.
There was no other choice.
The house was on fire; if they stayed put, they’d be burned alive. And they couldn’t just go barreling out into the yard, either or they’d be gunned down.
Lucas grabbed a portable steel chain escape ladder that was attached to the wall and unrolled it. He shoved it onto the roof and brushed a kiss on her cheek. “Stay put until I give the okay.”
He didn’t wait for her to agree. Lucas used one of the nearby boxes for leverage so he could hoist himself through the porthole. He landed on his belly and immediately repositioned his gun so he’d be ready to fire.
Kylie didn’t take her attention off him, but she was aware that smoke was beginning to fill the attic. She didn’t think it was her imagination that it was getting hotter, too. She could hear the flames devouring the house.
So that she’d be able to breathe, she moved closer to the porthole. Closer to the fresh air. And she aimed her own weapon so that she could back up Lucas.
“Nothing,” Lucas said. “Where the hell are the men who are supposed to be protecting us?”
Kylie hadn’t wanted to speculate, but she did anyway. And it wasn’t good, either. She didn’t know the guard or the deputies, but she doubted if all three were incompetent enough to miss tear gas canisters being noisily shot into the house. That meant the three men were likely incapacitated.
Or worse.
She heard the roar and hiss behind her, and she risked a backward glance. There were no longer just wisps of smoke, but a column of the black stuff rising through the attic opening. It was also coming in through the floorboards. The fire was moving fast and was no doubt already beneath them.
“Lucas?” she whispered.
He looked back at her, and even in the moonlight, Kylie saw his eyes widen.
“Get out of there now,” he insisted.
She didn’t need a second invitation. The smoke was already so thick that it was cutting her breath in two. Lucas held out his hand to help her, but she waved him off. “You keep watch. I can do this.”
Kylie stepped onto the box and crawled through the porthole and onto the roof. She scrambled to position herself, not right next to Lucas, but in the opposite direction. At least this way, with two of them to return fire, they wouldn’t be blindsided.
For what it was worth.
And it was worth only a few minutes at most because Kylie knew they couldn’t stay on the roof.
She peered down at the front of the house and saw the orange-red flames lashing through what had once been the windows.
“How bad?” Lucas asked.
“Bad.”
Lucas didn’t waste any time. He used his foot to lower the chain ladder to the side of the house. The ladder clanged against the exterior. Probably alerting anyone and everyone. Not that they hadn’t been alerted already. If the kidnappers had set the fire either intentionally or unintentionally with the gas canisters, they were no doubt watching and waiting for Lucas and her to attempt an escape. Hopefully, though, they wouldn’t be looking in the direction of the roof.
“We go down together,” Lucas instructed, “with me standing behind you so you won’t be directly in the line of fire.”
Despite her heartbeat pounding in her ears and the smoke clogging her lungs, she saw the flaws in that plan. Serious flaws. “Not a good idea. You’d have to hook your arms through the chain just to keep from falling. You’d have no way to defend yourself.”
“But you and the baby would be protected.”
Okay, there was another lump in her throat. More than a lump. It sent her heart soaring to know that he’d give up his life for the baby. But Kylie couldn’t let Lucas’s offer to protect her at all costs factor into this.
“If they start shooting, we both need to be able to return fire. Lucas, it’s our only chance of all of us making it out of here alive, and you know it.”
Kylie could see the debate going on in his eyes, but she knew that debate couldn’t last long. Beneath them, the flames were roaring, churning out yet more suffocating smoke, flames and searing heat. It wouldn’t be long before the entire house collapsed.
“Let’s go,” Lucas finally said. And he climbed onto the ladder. So that he was facing out. He hooked his left arm around the linked chains, so he could
keep his balance, but his shooting hand was free.
Kylie followed him. Not slowly either. They moved quickly, both trying to keep a vigilant eye on their surroundings. Hard to do, though, when she couldn’t see. The smoke was already too thick to get a good look at the yard or much of anything else.
With each step, Kylie wondered if it’d be her last, and she prayed. Mercy, did she ever pray.
Lucas stepped onto the ground and didn’t waste a second. He took hold of her arm and got them moving. Fast. Not toward the pasture and the woods, though. With a firm grip on her wrist, he barreled out from the meager cover of the house and started toward the barn. It wasn’t hard to find. There was a dim light on inside, and the milky yellow illumination cut through the blanket of smoke and the darkness.
They had gone only a few steps before a bullet whistled past their heads.
Chapter Eighteen
Lucas hooked his arm around Kylie’s waist and shoved her to the ground.
And it wasn’t a second too soon.
Another bullet smashed into the side of the house, in the exact spot where Kylie had just been standing. He didn’t want to think of how close she’d come to being killed.
Putting himself between her and the line of fire, he dragged them to a row of shrubs and raised flower beds. It wasn’t much protection against bullets, but it was better than standing out in the open.
Lucas did a quick check to make sure Kylie was all right. Her breathing was rough and fast, and there was a smear of dirt on her right cheek, but other than that, she appeared to be okay.
For now.
He knew that could change in the blink of an eye.
Lucas looked out through the shrubs and checked the grounds. Specifically, the area from where those shots had originated. And, thanks to the light from the fire, he quickly spotted the shadows behind a corral fence that was adjacent to the barn.
There were two men armed with rifles with scopes mounted on them.
And the figures weren’t stationary, either. The men moved slowly, barely an inch with each step while shielding themselves behind the wooden fence. With each step, they got closer, and Lucas’s heart pounded faster and harder, until he thought it might come out of his chest.
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