Baylee woke in a sweat, in a panic mode that made her gulp for air. The dream was back. It had stayed away all during her pregnancy, and then afterward, she’d been too exhausted and sleep-deprived from new motherhood to do much sleeping or dreaming about anything other than her newborn.
It had to be at least two years since she’d dreamed about that night. She thought she’d put it behind her for good. But the visit with her father, the stress-filled time spent in the house today, Dylan’s insistence she talk about her mother, must have brought the nightmare back again.
Feeling uneasy, she crawled out of bed to check on Sarah. As she tip-toed down the hall, she couldn’t help but think even after all these years the imaginary mean people had certainly left their mark behind.
CHAPTER 8 Book 2
Just before noon the next day, Jake and Kit pulled into Dylan’s driveway and parked behind Quinn’s red Miata. As they unloaded the car with all the food Kit had brought, she turned to Jake. “When do you think the house will be ready to move into? I’m getting anxious.”
Even though Jake had been glued to her side, never letting her out of his sight for the past couple of days, Kit kind of liked it. Inseparable, she decided, sounded a good deal better and more romantic than babysitter. And that’s what he’d been doing since the kidnapping.
If it hadn’t been for a faceless man she wouldn’t know if she passed on the street, she might be dead now. And because of that, she had a renewed appreciation for life. In fact, there was no better attitude adjustment than staring death in the face, or in this case, a furious, crazy Collin Boyd, and getting a brand-new outlook on the future.
She didn’t intend to waste a precious second getting on with her life, which included moving into the Crandall House, the old relic Jake was revamping from the inside out.
“Getting excited about moving in?” The two extra crews Jake had added to the remodeling job had accelerated the progress considerably, but the work still had a ways to go. They had both chewed fingernails down to the quick watching the place come together enough to look like an actual home, instead of a rundown rattle trap built in 1888.
Looking over at Kit’s willowy body, her long silver hair pulled back in a ponytail, Jake still couldn’t believe his good fortune. He was so close to having what he wanted it scared him shitless. “You still want to have the Memorial Day cookout there even with all this going on?”
She’d thought of nothing else, except maybe Collin and her upcoming testimony at his hearing. Add in worrying about Baylee’s situation with Connor and little Sarah and some days it was all too much to deal with.
But the get-together might serve one purpose. It might get their minds off things even if it was only for a few hours. “You bet. And I think we should go ahead and move in,” she pointed out as she unloaded the first few trays of food from the back of the car.
He wanted to give her the world, but his practical sense kicked in as he picked up an additional tray of food. “Kit, we can’t move in if they’re still updating the wiring and the plumbing. I’m certain we won’t even have electricity for another week.”
As they made their way up to Dylan’s front door, she glossed over what she saw as a minor inconvenience. “Silly details. It’d be like camping out. Think about it. As long as the shower in the bathroom downstairs works, which it does, that’s all we’d need. Think how it will feel waking up in that round master bedroom.” Even loaded down with the food, she did a happy dance before wiggling her butt. “I promise I could make you forget all about wiring or plumbing. And we could make our own electricity.”
“You’re crazy, you know that?”
“That’s me. Crazy Kit. I thought we established that already.”
He sighed. “Actually the downstairs is further along than the upstairs is. I guess we could move in a bed, christen the master bedroom. You really want to go ahead and move in?”
In the light-hearted vein of a woman in love, she teased, “Jake Boston, do I hear a hint of hesitation? Are you trying to backtrack, get out of this whole thing already?”
He laughed. “Nope. I’m committed. Definitely committed.”
“You make it sound like a death sentence. If it doesn’t work out, we can always…”
“Uh-uh, no backing out for me. I was thinking more along the lines of—when do we set a date?”
“Oh Jake.” She almost lost her hold on the food containers.
At that moment, Baylee opened the front door with all the enthusiasm of a woman who had been waiting for male strippers to show up.
“Hey, what took so long? Sarah’s been asleep for twenty minutes. And a hungry Quinn has been here for half an hour grumbling about no food. You know how she gets when she doesn’t eat.” But then Baylee noticed the bewildered expression on Kit’s face. “What’s wrong?” Baylee reached to take the food Kit was holding.
Kit shot a look at Baylee. “So what if the man of my dreams has lousy timing? He chooses now to bring up setting a date for the wedding.”
Baylee stared at her friend. “Ohmygod. Well, that’s better than evading the subject entirely, right?” Eyeing the terror-stricken look on Jake’s face, she chuckled. “Better come up with a date before he changes his mind.”
“Good thinking,” Kit decided, looking over at Jake.
Dylan joined Baylee at the door, and she automatically handed off the food to him and took several of the other containers from Jake. Baylee turned to Dylan. “Looks like we have a wedding to plan.”
“Okay. I’ll go dig out a bottle of champagne. We can celebrate over lunch. This smells great, by the way. What’s on the menu?”
As Dylan turned to go find the champagne, Jake dumped the rest of his food containers on Baylee, who rolled her eyes and said, “Looks like you two need some alone time. I’ll just go set some of this food in front of Quinn. Surely there’s something in here that will tide her over until we get to the main course.”
Jake followed Kit into the entryway, and immediately grabbed her arm, pulling her back from the rest. “I’d planned on putting the ring on your finger without an audience. Honest. It’s just that if we’re doing this now, here…” He pulled a small box out of his jeans pocket. “There’s no candlelight, but the sentiment is heartfelt. I had this delivered this morning.”
“Ohmygod.” Kit reached up to touch his cheek. “I’ve been waiting to say this for years; Kit Boston, Mrs. Jake Boston. Let’s get married, Jake.” She threw her arms around his neck. “I don’t much care when or where or how.”
He wrapped her up, touched his mouth to hers. “I love you, Kit.” He handed her the box. “I went with a traditional rock. But if you don’t like it, if you’d rather have something else, you can always…”
“I want this one.” Her vision blurred with tears. She sniffled and took the box, opening it in one motion. But nothing about the ring was traditional to her. Tucked inside was a white gold ring with an emerald setting surrounded by a cluster of diamonds.
“Jake, it’s beautiful.” She held it out to him and said, “Here, you slip it on my finger.” Kit snuffed back tears. Just then, a woman with long black hair and exotic looking almond-shaped eyes stepped into the hallway. When she saw Kit crying, the woman shot Jake an accusing look and asked, “What’s this? What did you do to her?”
Kit held out her hand. “Quinn, it’s official. We’re getting married.”
Quinn pulled her in for a hug. “Make it an outdoor wedding on the lawn at Crandall House. Fall would be perfect.”
About that time Reese Brennan walked up to the open doorway, joining the crowded foyer. He’d overheard just enough to add, “I call dibs on best man. I say Dylan gets to ride shotgun as the lowly groomsman.”
The groomsman in question appeared peeling the paper back from a bottle of champagne. “It’s time to get this party rocking. And we’ll see who gets to stand up as best man after we go one-on-one in a game of horse.”
“Like you could beat me,” Reese snorted, a
s he leaned in to Jake’s ear so only he could hear. “You sure about this?”
Jake’s grin was wide when he answered, “Never more sure of anything in my life.”
Kit beamed. “I like the idea of an outdoor wedding at Crandall House. What better way to christen the entire place than with our very own wedding?”
“Okay, now that we have the mushy stuff out of the way,” Quinn suggested, “let’s eat.”
Over steak fajitas outside on the deck, the six of them bounced around ideas for the wedding, discussed the renovations on the Crandall House, and came up with the idea of having a painting party there as soon as possible to make the move-in go a little faster.
After the meal, they all collectively cleared the table and dealt with leftovers. But when it came time to talk among themselves they did what men and women have been doing in social gatherings since junior high; they split up into gender. The women hovered in the kitchen to talk, leaving the guys to drift back outside on the deck using the excuse that they needed to clean up the grill.
As soon as they’d settled down in deck chairs, Reese turned to Dylan. “How’s it working out with Baylee and Sarah in the house? I can’t believe you offered her your place.”
“I knew it would be different having a woman in the house, but it’s a whole other planet with a baby. Sarah woke up this morning at four o’clock. Four o’clock. She’s often awake in the middle of the night. The key is to sleep when she sleeps. Sarah’s a good baby, though, even the way she cries is kinda cute.”
Jake exchanged a disbelieving look with Reese that said, “I’ll bet that wears off in a couple of days.” But he dropped the idea to needle Dylan about it when Reese wanted to know, “Do you think this little get-together was such a good idea? What if we were followed?”
Reese gave a nod in the direction of the strip of beach behind Dylan’s house. “What if the bastards are out there lurking, watching, waiting to make their next move?” He knew it sounded paranoid, but after the last few weeks, he was beginning to think all three of the Boyd sons might have a screw loose.
“Then they’ll know we’re right here and not going anywhere,” Jake uttered convincingly. He took a swig of his beer. “Kit wants to act like business as usual, go on like nothing’s happened, thinks I can’t be with her every single minute of every day. But there is no more business as usual. That just isn’t going to happen until this thing is settled.”
“Yeah, same here. Baylee’s jumpy. She reacts to every little thing, every little sound.” And now that Dylan knew why, it explained her demeanor. “It’s sad to watch.” Then to Reese, he asked, “Did you take care of that restraining order?”
“Sure, Baylee officially has a protective order against one Connor Morgan Boyd, for all the good it did Kit with Collin.”
Jake pointed out, “That’s why it can’t be business as usual.”
“Connor isn’t getting near Baylee while I’m around.”
Jake sent a sad look toward Dylan. “Yeah? That’s what I said about Collin and look how that turned out.” It still irked him that he’d been stupid enough to walk into the house blind like that.
“You can’t let your guard down for a minute, Dylan, not for a second. That’s what I did. Kit could have been…” His voice trailed off as he stared off in the direction of the water. The memory of waking up and finding her gone would stay with him for some time. He needed to be the one that kept her safe, not some stranger, or rather some faceless killer. “I called Holloway this morning. The ballistics confirmed his suspicion. Collin wasn’t shot by Auslo or Taft, that’s for sure. According to Holloway, he had to coerce a very uncooperative doctor into talking. The doc who treated Collin dug out a large caliber slug from his chest that matched the ones from Auslo and Taft.”
Dylan nodded. “That means the same man who saved Kit’s life, the one who showed up and played hero, shot all three of them. Wow, that’s like gunslinger city in the twenty-first century. The man has to be a pro―with something to prove. And since he left one of those toy cowboys in Kit’s hand, it links him to not only Alana’s murder but the others as well.”
“Exactly. That means Kit’s savior hero is also a ruthless killer with a grudge, a man who is responsible, by my count, for six murders. And if he’d been a better shot, if he hadn’t missed his mark, Collin would have made it seven. Not exactly the hero type ready for a medal ceremony.” He paused before adding, “But I owe him for saving Kit’s life.”
Reese couldn’t believe this latest bizarre turn. “Depends on who’s pinning the medal, don’t you think? Who is this guy?”
“No idea. But I think he has some connection to the Parkers. What connection I don’t know exactly. The scary thing is he had his chance to hurt Kit but didn’t take it. With her connection to Alana he could have easily taken his grudge to the Second Generation thing. I’m thinking he didn’t for some reason.” At least he hoped that was true. “He had the perfect opportunity that night. Instead, he charges in and saves the day, saves Kit.”
Jake was both eternally grateful for that and irritated as hell that it hadn’t been him doing the saving. Ego, he supposed, was a fragile thing. But as he watched the waves, he knew he was indebted to a man he wouldn’t know if he passed him on the street. “I just hope he knows who the good guys are in all of this.”
Reese looked like he had something on his mind. “Collin’s violating the restraining order pales in comparison to the kidnapping charge. His pre-trial hearing’s set for July. Jacob Gatz got it moved up on the docket. Kit already knows her testimony and yours could put Collin away for a long time. This isn’t over, guys. Not by a long shot. And then there’s Connor to consider. Why doesn’t the man just leave Baylee alone? You’d think he would want nothing more to do with her after what he did. He’s gotten away with it, why doesn’t he just move on?”
Dylan shook his head. “That’s what I can’t figure. Jake and I saw the guy’s eyes. I think he’s unhinged. But it’s like the rapist is infatuated with his victim. If it isn’t that, I’m not sure what his angle is. All I know is he can’t find out about Sarah. Did you have time to take care of that other matter?”
“That’s something else I wanted to talk to you about in person, face-to-face. Are you sure you want to go through with this, Dylan? Once I amend the birth certificate naming you as the father, you are committed financially, buddy, for now and all eternity. That’s a big step up from offering the two of them a place to stay.”
This was news to Jake. He turned to stare long and hard at Dylan, knowing he was a nice guy, but even nice guys had their limits. “I’m with Reese on this, why would you want to do that? You’re stepping into the middle of what could be the custody battle from hell if Connor ever finds out she’s his daughter.”
Rare irritation showed on Dylan’s face. “You’re kidding me, right? Weren’t we just talking about how deranged this guy is? Are you saying that you want that baby to split time with him where he gets her on weekends? In terms of custody, isn’t that the norm? Try to picture that guy picking her up on a Friday night and willingly returning her every Sunday afternoon back to Baylee like the nice reasonable sort he is. Does that sound like we’re talking about the same guy who raped Baylee? You guys talk a good game, but I’m not letting that man win here, not when it comes to Baylee, or that baby.”
Jake slapped Dylan on the back. “You’re right. I wasn’t thinking. Reese, can you do it?”
“Yeah. I’ve already set the wheels in motion, sent someone to Denver this morning before the weekend. As Dylan’s attorney, I just wanted to make sure he knew what he was getting into.”
“Thanks, but I’ve thought this through. It’s the only way I know to keep Boyd at bay if he gets wind of Sarah and starts nosing around birth certificates.”
“Then congratulations, daddy. You’re the proud father of a blonde, blue-eyed baby girl that looks amazingly just like you. How you managed that without all the perks is classic Dylan Burke.”
&
nbsp; They toasted the occasion by knocking their beer bottles together and then draining the last drops. Dylan looked out over the water, grew serious though. “This isn’t the way I planned to become a father.”
Reese slapped him on the back. “No perks yet, huh?”
“I’m working on it.”
“Well then, that’s different. It’s just a matter of time before the woman succumbs to that infamous Burke charm and drops down at your feet like every other female does within ten feet.”
“Yeah well, she’s a little different there.”
Reese grinned, enjoying himself. “Yeah, I noticed. I like her. She’s been through a helluva ordeal.” He left it unsaid that the same statement could be applied to Quinn, who was turning out to be an intriguing challenge. Or Kit for that matter. They were almost like three identical peas in a pod.
“Just because we’ve figured out the birth certificate angle doesn’t mean this is over. Connor Boyd might be a raving lunatic but he’s a damn cunning lawyer. If he finds out about Sarah, the recently amended birth certificate won’t fool him for long. The man isn’t stupid,” Reese stated.
“I know that. But next time it won’t be so easy. I don’t intend to let my guard down.”
“None of us will,” Jake agreed.
While the guys plotted on their own, Quinn and Kit cornered Baylee in the kitchen wanting to know every detail about her living arrangement with Dylan.
“Is he as nice as he seems?” Quinn wanted to know. “I’ll bet he has women coming out of the woodwork. I bet he doesn’t even surf; it’s probably an act just to hang out at the beach and add to his score card.”
Kit shook her head. “No. I saw the surfing photos in his office. The guy’s been all over the world, surfed the best beaches.”
Determined to keep Baylee from walking into quicksand where Dylan was concerned, Quinn stubbornly added, “Let’s face it, surfing allows him to have his pick of women lazing at the beach, sample all the pink taco he can get without buying the meal.”
Evil Secrets Trilogy Boxed Set Page 48