Shield My Heart (Heaven Hill Book 9)
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Shield My Heart
Heaven Hill Series #9
Laramie Briscoe
Copyright © 2016 Laramie Briscoe
Kindle Edition
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, transmitted downloaded, distributed, stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, without express permission of the author, except by a reviewer who may quote brief passages for review purposes.
This book is a work of fiction and any resemblance to any person, living or dead, or any events or occurrences, is purely coincidental. The characters and story lines are created from the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any trademarks, service marks, product names, or named features are assumed to be the property of their respective owners, and are used only for reference. There is no implied endorsement if any of these terms are used. Except for review purposes, the reproduction of this book in whole or part, electronically or mechanically, constitutes a copyright violation.
Edited by: Lindsay Gray Hopper
Cover Art by: Kari Ayasha, Cover to Cover Designs
Proofread by: Dawn Bourgeois
Beta Read by: Keyla Handley & Danielle Wentworth
Formatting: Paul Salvette, BB eBooks
Also by Laramie Briscoe
The Heaven Hill Series
Meant To Be
Out of Darkness
Losing Control
Worth The Battle
Dirty Little Secret
Second Chance Love
Rough Patch
Beginning of Forever
Home Free
Back to The Beginning
Shield My Heart
The Rockin’ Country Series
Only The Beginning
One Day at A Time
The Price of Love
Full Circle
Hard To Love
The Red Bird Trail Trilogy
Flagger
Collision
In Tune
Stand Alone
Sketch
Sass
Coming Soon
A Heaven Hill Christmas (November 2016)
Moonshine Taskforce Series (2017)
If you want to keep up with new releases join my newsletter here!
http://eepurl.com/Fi4N9
Dedication
This is the last book of the ‘original series’ for Heaven Hill and I have to say, I’m really emotional about it. When I started writing the series, I was at the lowest part of my life, just hoping that maybe this would turn it around. I had a dream that I wanted to make come true, and in my head if I could finish “Meant To Be” maybe it would happen.
And wow, did it ever!
My life changed in so many ways thanks to one little book and the huge amount of people that came into my life because of it. For those of you that started with “Meant To Be” and now you’re here. Thank you from the bottom of my heart. I couldn’t have done any of this without the readers who’ve loved Liam, Tyler, and the rest of the guys so much. I hope I’ve brought it back around from Liam and Denise full circle to Mandy and Dalton. From one single mom, to the daughter who’s prepared to be a single mom. I hope I did it justice!
Allison: You’ve listened to me from the beginning and you’ve always held my hand (figuratively and literally sometimes) when life has been too much. I don’t think any two people have cried more than us in Barnes & Noble, but what amazing ideas and books we got out of those sessions!
Kari: You’ve become SUCH a great friend to me. I never imagined when I sent an email about someone making a cover that you would become such an important person in my life. Thank you so much for always being you and making me laugh. I treasure our conversations!
Dee: I love our daily conversations and you’ve done amazing things for my writing career whether you know it or not. I appreciate all the things you do for me, and thank you for keeping me company at all the signings over the past year. Whether you know it or not, you’ve made me a much more outgoing person.
Dawn: I am so thankful to have met you, and to have been able to hang out with you on a couple of occasions. One day I’m going to take you up on that trip to NOLA!
Slick: Thank you for giving me the courage to do this. You may not know, but the advice you gave me has stayed with me from the moment you read my book. I wasn’t sure whether I would really go through with it, until you read it and told me you liked it. You’ve been a great supporter and I’m thankful for it.
April: I’ll never forget me sitting in Panera with a notebook telling you this is what I really, really wanted to do, and you looked at me with a giggle and a smile on your face and said go for it. With you as my friend, I don’t think I can ever really look back on things I say I’m going to do. You totally keep me honest.
Shellie: Thank you for the long walks in the beginning and being the first person, besides Allison, in my real life to read this. Your words back then have carried me through a lot of hard times when I felt like I wanted to give up
Danielle: Thank you for coming into my life and helping shape the type of writer I am now. Your bluntness, your excitement, and your ideas have done more for me than anyone else. You’re my toughest sell on anything I write, but I know you’re honest, and I appreciate the hell out of that!
Family and Friends: You all have given up countless hours. Some of you have come with me to signings and have seen the craziness that this life brings with it, and you love it just as much as I do. Thank you for always being understanding when I can’t go to dinner because the characters are talking!
Readers: Without you…..I wouldn’t be here. This is for you and I thank you so much for following along with the Heaven Hill Crew. While this is the last book in the original series, there will be the Christmas Box Set, and a spin off series for the kids. But know y’all made THIS SERIES so damn special!
With love,
Laramie
Table of Contents
Title Page
Copyright Page
Also by Laramie Briscoe
Dedication
About the Book
Prologue
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven
Chapter Twelve
Chapter Thirteen
Chapter Fourteen
Chapter Fifteen
Chapter Sixteen
Chapter Seventeen
Chapter Eighteen
Chapter Nineteen
Chapter Twenty
Chapter Twenty-One
Chapter Twenty-Two
Chapter Twenty-Three
Chapter Twenty-Four
Chapter Twenty-Five
Chapter Twenty-Six
Chapter Twenty-Seven
Chapter Twenty-Eight
Chapter Twenty-Nine
Chapter Thirty
Chapter Thirty-One
Chapter Thirty-Two
Chapter Thirty-Three
Chapter Thirty-Four
Chapter Thirty-Five
Chapter Thirty-Six
Chapter Thirty-Seven
Chapter Thirty-Eight
Chapter Thirty-Nine
Epilogue
Sneak Peek of Heaven Hill Christmas
Excerpt from Renegade
Connect with Laramie
The Heaven Hill Series
Shield My Heart
Daughter
Sister
Mother to be
The Heaven Hill MC has always been a safe place for Mandy Walker. Since being adopted by the President, she and her twin brother have been able to count on them for anything. The ragtag group of men and the women who love them became the family the twins never had.
Having grown up under their protection, she’s finding it hard not to run to them with the problems she has now. One reckless night with her love of more than ten years resulted in one positive pregnancy test.
The problem?
Mandy is faced with a dilemma she never thought she’d fall victim to; being a single mother, just like her mom was until Liam Walker came into their lives.
Best Friend
Member of the Heaven Hill MC
Terrified of not breaking the cycle of his childhood
Dalton Barnett knew the moment he kissed Mandy’s lips as a teenager that she was the only one for him. Taking her for granted has been easy because she’s always been there. She’s the only person who’s ever given love to him unconditionally.
When a calculated attack devastates Heaven Hill, Dalton, Mandy, and their unborn child are at the epicenter. Dalton must make decisions to keep his small family safe. Before anything worse can happen, he knows he must shield their hearts.
‡
Prologue
Mandy Walker held her breath as tightly as she held the cell phone in her hand. Hours ago she’d texted her boyfriend, Dalton, telling him she’d just found out she was pregnant with their child—four weeks along to be exact. What she had assumed was a lingering case of the stomach flu would instead result in a living, breathing human in thirty-six weeks if the doctor was to be believed. And today, Mandy believed it. She’d been sick since she lifted her head off her pillow that morning. With clarity, she remembered how her mom had been when pregnant with Tatum and offered up a small prayer that she wouldn’t be as sick as that for the whole pregnancy. There had been a few ER visits and plenty days where Denise couldn’t function except to be sick and then go back to sleep.
In her other hand, she held the prescription the doctor had given her to ward off some of the nausea. She was going to take it when she got home, and the warning on it said she might get sleepy. Sleep would be welcome at this point. Trying to reach Dalton one more time, she texted again.
Dalton, I know you aren’t happy about this. I know you never wanted to be a dad, but can we at least talk about it? Regardless of how you feel, I can’t help but be happy. I love you, and I know you love me too. Please, just talk to me. We’ll work this out.
The answer she waited for? It never came.
*
On the other side of Bowling Green, Dalton Barnett was having a tough time of his own. He’d stopped in at Wet Wanda’s, a strip club the Heaven Hill MC had interest in, to get some paperwork he needed from his brother, Deacon. He’d finally gotten the guts to make an appointment at the bank to see if he could get approved for a loan for the other half of the land he and Deacon had lived on as teenagers. He could build a house there, and he hoped like hell Mandy would agree to live there with him. They had been distant for months—by his doing—because she’d wiggled under the armor he’d placed over himself. He wasn’t fit to be with her, and he’d known it the first time he’d seen her in middle school. The thought had scared him so much he’d begun pulling away while trying to push her away at the same time. Recently though, he’d realized how empty his life was without her.
Growing up, he and Deacon didn’t have a home until Child Protective Services had placed them with their Uncle Samuel. He’d not had much more than they did—he had a small plot of land right across the Barren County border next to the lake and a trailer that even back then had needed a ton of work—but it had been his. The property directly beside it had come up for sale in the past few weeks, and Dalton had been saving money as long as he could remember for just such an opportunity. It was time to put down roots, time to make a life for himself just as the other members of Heaven Hill had. If he was ever going to ask Mandy to wear his patch and maybe someday his ring, now was the time. He had to put words into actions, especially with how he’d been acting. An apology wasn’t enough, because he knew without a doubt he’d hurt her. Now he needed to make it up to her. It was surprising in itself that his throat didn’t close; his heart didn’t palpitate at the prospect like he thought it would. He felt….settled?
But as soon as he’d gotten to Wet Wanda’s, his plans had changed. Waiting for Deacon, he’d made a trip to the bathroom, and there, he’d accidentally overheard news not meant for his ears. As he was about to leave, voices in the back hallway caught his attention.
“Calvert said we need to go find Samuel tonight, before Heaven Hill hides him. You know as soon as he tells his nephew about the money he owes, Heaven Hill will take care of it,” one of the guys said. “He’s sick of Samuel owing him money anyway; it’s a never-ending cycle. We need to teach him a lesson.”
Dalton froze. Calvert was a mean son of a bitch. Word had it last year he’d driven an unconscious man off the Louisville Road Bridge for a five-thousand-dollar debt. He was known to take things to the extreme. If you owed him a dollar, you owed him too much. To some people, he was nothing more than a local bookie who dealt in both high dollar and menial gambling. People who owed smaller amounts were known to be used as examples of what he would do if you owed him more. Word had it around town he did this all in the name of gaining some respect.
Dalton knew his uncle wasn’t begging Calvert for money so he could borrow twenty large for the horses at Keeneland. More like a hundred and twenty large to bet at a high stakes poker game or to see if UK could make it to the Final Four again.
Samuel had dealt with that addiction years ago, or so Dalton thought. But it looked like the compulsion had come back full-force, even with him and his brother trying to make sure it hadn’t. Focusing his attention back on the conversation, he tried not to let his anger get the best of him.
“When was his payment due?”
Dalton couldn’t tell which one spoke, but he listened closely.
“Last week. If we can’t find him, we go after the nephews. We can’t get to the nephews, then you know who’s next.” Standard operating procedure for the people who worked under the Calvert name. They were special assholes. Ones that truly liked to inflict pain, ones that got off on people’s fear.
A chuckle erupted from the other one. “We hurt whoever’s closest.”
Dalton’s cell phone picked that moment to come alive. Two texts from Mandy lit up his screen, and all of a sudden a fear he’d never known rose up in his stomach. She would be the number one target if these guys didn’t get what they wanted. They’d find a way to hurt him through her because Samuel wouldn’t be around. There was no one else in the world he cared about more than her, and if something happened to her, it would destroy him.
With such clarity, he wanted to kick himself in the nuts. He’d pulled away from her the last six months, trying to get a handle on his own feelings, not sure he was emotionally equipped to deal with where it was going because he had such few good memories of his own parents and their relationship. Yeah, he’d seen the couples at the clubhouse and he was smart, but he was a stubborn learner. It looked like that was about to bite him in the ass.
He waited for them to leave, grabbed Deacon, and explained their situation. As he called the bank to let them know he wouldn’t be there, he tried to think of any place his uncle might be. They had to find him before Calvert did.
He tried to remember the last time they spoke. Two, maybe three days ago? Four at the most? If Samuel had already gone underground and was trying to fix this himself, they were all in danger.
Which meant no matter how much Dalton wanted to answer the text from Mandy, no matter how excited he actually was about the prospect of holding her to him for life, he wouldn’t do it. He couldn’t put her in the crosshairs of that scope. He wouldn’t, because if he owed her anyt
hing for being unsure of his feelings for her—it was his protection.
Because Calvert could, and would, decimate the Heaven Hill MC with the number people he had behind him. And Dalton would be damned if he brought that kind of attack to their front door.
‡
Chapter One
Amanda Walker, known to everyone as Mandy, closed her eyes tightly and let the tears fall from beneath her lashes. Last ones, she promised herself as she stiffened her chin and pulled her bottom lip in between her teeth. Crying never solved anything. It was a lesson she’d learned as a kid, and it had carried through life. Her mom, Denise, hardly let her or her twin brother, Drew, see her cry, and she made a vow as she cradled her stomach that this baby would not be a witness to it regularly either. Her mom had been a single mother up until the point she’d met the man who had adopted the twins, and he now preferred to be called Dad instead of Liam. Mandy knew she could do this. She had to do it. Period. Point blank.
It was a blow—Dalton not returning the text breaking the news he was going to be a father. A big blow. One she hadn’t expected, even though things between them had been strained for the past few months. Never had she imagined he’d let that tidbit of information go by without a word, but he had. It had taken him days to answer her back, and when he had, it had been with the words “we were always so careful.” She’d wanted to text back “except that one time we weren’t, asshole.” But she hadn’t. Instead she’d tucked her phone in her back pocket and went on about her day. It was a day she’d never forget; she spent it washing her car and running errands. Doing anything she could so as not to be home alone and inside her head.
She couldn’t put her finger on it, couldn’t figure out what had changed. She and Dalton had never been the epitome of what most would call a “grand love”. They kept the PDA to themselves and preferred not to be too in-your-face when they were together. That wasn’t to say they didn’t have an active love life and they didn’t express feelings. They did, but they were private about it. The privacy made it more erotic, the fact their love was theirs and theirs alone. No one knew what he said to her behind closed doors, how he acted, and the things he did to her. Mandy loved that, loved that she was the only person to know that side of Dalton. Abruptly, almost like a switch had been flipped, things had changed.