And maybe the timing exactly was.
After all, they had plenty they should be doing to get to the bottom of who was trying to kill them. But it was hard for Ashlyn to regret her finally making love to Eli. In fact, she doubted anything would make her regret that. Including a broken heart.
Eli wasn’t in love with her. Ashlyn was pretty sure if he had been that he would have said something about it by now, and it was probably bothering him that he didn’t feel the same way about her that she did him. That would cause him plenty of regrets, too, but she doubted he’d be able to deal with his feelings or anything else personal until the danger was over.
Remembering that danger, Ashlyn got up so she could get dressed and check on the baby. She hadn’t heard any sounds coming from across the hall, and if Cora had indeed woken up, Gloria would have certainly let her know. Still, she wanted to see her daughter, and maybe that would help settle the nerves that were starting to jangle inside her.
And speaking of jangled nerves, Ashlyn got more of them when Eli came out of the bathroom. He’d put on his jeans, but since he was shirtless, she got a nice view of his toned and perfect chest. Too bad she hadn’t taken the time to savor that, but then making love with him had seemed too urgent for foreplay.
He stopped in the doorway of the bathroom and combed his gaze over her. It wasn’t exactly regret that she saw on his face, but there was some concern.
“Please don’t tell me you’re sorry this happened,” Ashlyn told him before he could say anything.
His eyes stayed on her. “Well, I am sorry you’re dressed.” And he flashed her a smile that warmed her all over again. If a mere smile could do that, she figured another kiss would land them back in bed. However, there wasn’t time for that, because Eli’s phone buzzed.
“Kellan,” he relayed to her after he glanced at the screen. Eli put the call on speaker and laid his phone on the bed so he could get dressed.
“Everything okay there?” Kellan said the moment he was on the line.
“So far. Please tell me you’ve got good news.”
“Some. The CSIs found Waite’s prints in Hamby’s car. That’s enough for me to threaten him with accessory to attempted murder. His lawyer will come back in first thing in the morning so I’ll have a chat with Waite then.”
Good. And attempted murder just might be enough to get the man talking. If so, that could lead to Waite giving them the name of the person who’d hired him.
“I want to be there when you question Waite,” Eli insisted.
Kellan didn’t argue with that. “I’ll let you know where it’s all set up, but considering the other attacks, I think you should leave Ashlyn there. I can send out a pair of the reserve deputies to stay with her.”
Ashlyn didn’t like the idea of Eli going out there and opening himself up to another attack. Nor did she especially care for being with the reserve deputies. Still, she doubted Eli would agree to letting her go back to the sheriff’s office with him.
Eli had just finished putting on his shirt when his phone dinged with an incoming call. “Gotta go,” he told Kellan. “One of the hands is trying to ring in.”
Hearing that automatically kicked up Ashlyn’s pulse, but she reminded herself that this could be just an update since the hands were keeping watch of the grounds.
“Eli, this is Jeremy,” the hand said after Eli had answered.
Jeremy Cranston, one of the top hands. Ashlyn knew him, and the last time she’d seen him, he’d been in the front pasture.
“There’s a car that’s stopped just up from the ranch road,” Jeremy went on. “The headlights are on high so I can’t see through the glare to get a glimpse of who’s inside.”
“Can you read the license plate?” Eli asked.
“Sure.” And Jeremy rattled that off to Eli.
“Thanks,” Eli told him. “Hold on just a minute while I have dispatch run the plates—”
“The car’s moving,” Jeremy blurted out, his voice louder now and edged with even more alarm. “Fast...hell! Eli, the car just broke through the fence and is headed right for us.”
Chapter Fifteen
Eli knew in his gut that this wasn’t just some driver who’d gotten turned around. No. This was probably the start of another attack. A stupid one. Because in addition to Gunnar and him, all the hands were armed and ready for something like this.
“Make sure the baby is okay,” Eli told Ashlyn, though he knew that Cora was fine. Still, he wanted Ashlyn to stay put. Best to not have her anywhere near the front of the house until he made sure that she wasn’t in danger. “If you hear anything, go in the room with Cora and Gloria and make sure all of you stay down.”
She gave a shaky nod and didn’t question him as to what he meant about hearing “anything.” Ashlyn knew they’d all be listening for the sound of gunshots.
Because he thought they could both use it, Eli brushed a quick kiss on Ashlyn’s mouth and headed for the front door. “Wake up,” he told Gunnar as he hurried past him.
The deputy did, and he automatically drew his gun. “What’s wrong?”
Eli looked out the small window on the side of the door, and he cursed. There was indeed a car coming across the pasture. A dark sedan. It tore through the section of wood fence and came right toward the house.
“Want me to try to shoot the driver?” Gunnar asked.
Eli considered it. Heck, he wanted to do it himself. But he didn’t know what they were up against.
“Hold off just a second,” Eli told him, and he took aim. Gunnar did the same at the other side window.
The car jolted to a stop about ten yards from the house, but Eli didn’t have any better luck than Jeremy had at seeing inside the vehicle. The high beams were cutting through the darkness, though, and it meant if someone got out, Eli and Gunnar would have no trouble spotting them. However, someone could possibly sneak out of the trunk, so Eli took out his phone to warn Jeremy about that, but before he could do that his phone buzzed again with a call.
Remy.
Eli wanted to let it go to voice mail because he didn’t want the distraction of another round of conversation with the man. But something in his gut told him to answer. The moment he did and put the call on speaker, he heard Remy’s frantic voice pour through the room.
“Don’t shoot me,” Remy said. “I have a hostage.”
Eli hadn’t thought his muscles could go any tighter, but he’d been wrong. “What hostage?” Eli demanded.
There were some muffled sounds. Maybe a struggle going on. “I’ll kill you if you move again,” Remy growled, and Eli was pretty sure the man wasn’t talking to him.
“Who’s your hostage?” Eli ordered Remy, and he tried not to think the worst. That maybe Remy had taken one of the hands or an innocent bystander.
“I’ve got Dominick,” Remy spat out. “And if he keeps trying to get his hands untied or kick me again, he’ll die.”
“Dominick?” Eli heard Ashlyn repeat. He glanced over his shoulder to make sure she had stayed put. She had. Ashlyn was in the hall just outside the door where Cora was sleeping. She looked shaky but confused, too. Eli was on the same page with her. What the hell was going on here?
“Why do you have Dominick?” Eli pressed, and that was just the first of many questions he had for Remy.
Eli turned his attention back to Remy’s vehicle. Or rather to the vehicle that had crashed through the fence. The odds were that Remy was indeed inside. Maybe Dominick, too. But Eli also knew this could be a trap and that Remy’s call could be just a distraction.
There could be gunmen inside that car, and they could be waiting to come out shooting. The fact that they’d gotten this close to the house riled Eli all the way to his bones. This wasn’t like the other attack on the road. It was worse. Because this time Cora could be caught in the crosshairs of a killer.
; “Text Jeremy and tell him to keep an eye on the trunk,” Eli mouthed to Gunnar, and the deputy immediately took out his phone to do that. “And then let Kellan know what happened.”
“You’re gonna listen to me,” Remy carried on, “or Dominick will die. So help me, I’ll put a bullet in him.”
Remy certainly sounded desperate enough to do something that stupid, but it still didn’t make sense to Eli. “I’m listening,” Eli assured him. “Now, tell me what you want and why you have Dominick.”
“I don’t want Marta’s body moved,” Remy insisted. “I don’t want anyone touching her.”
Eli listened for any hint that the demand didn’t ring true, but it did. Well, it did if Remy had gone off the deep end. Since the man had been acting more erratic than usual, that was possible.
“You need to stop this idiot!” Dominick shouted, and the sound of his voice didn’t just come over the phone line. Eli heard it from within the car. Of course, it could be some kind of recording, something meant to be a decoy or distraction, but Eli was starting to believe this was what it appeared to be. Remy losing all control and taking a hostage.
Except there was a problem with that.
“How the hell did you manage to take Dominick?” Eli asked Remy. “Better yet, why did you take him?”
“I needed leverage,” Remy answered almost immediately. “I knew you’d listen to me if I had a hostage, so when I saw Dominick coming out of the sheriff’s office, I followed him.”
“The idiot used a stun gun on me,” Dominick snarled. The man’s anger certainly seemed genuine. “He tied my hands when he got me in the car and then drove around crying,” Dominick added with some disgust.
“I can’t lose Marta,” Remy snarled back, but then it sounded as if a hoarse sob tore from his mouth. “I lost her once, and that can’t happen again.”
Eli doubted the best response to that would be to remind Remy that Marta was already dead. Obviously, the man was well past the point of reasoning.
“Whose car do you have?” Eli pressed. “Because the one in the yard isn’t yours.” And he needed to make sure it wasn’t some kind of decoy.
“It belongs to a friend. I had him come and get me after I ran from the barn.”
“Is that friend in the car with you now?” Eli added.
“No, it’s just Dominick and me. Now, here’s what you’re going to do,” Remy went on without waiting for Eli to respond. “You’re gonna call Marta’s dad and get it in writing that he won’t try to move her. I’ve been trying to reason with him, but he blocked my calls.”
Eli didn’t blame Gus for doing that. After all, Remy had stolen Gus’s daughter’s body.
“When you get Gus on the line, I want to talk to him,” Remy went on. “I want to hear him say that he agrees to it, that he’ll let her stay near me. Then he can put it in writing. I want that done right now.”
As demands went, it wasn’t an especially hard one. Or rather it wouldn’t be if he could get in touch with Gus right away. Still, even if Remy got that guarantee, he had a hostage. And he’d committed a serious crime. Eli was going to have to defuse the situation and arrest the man.
“Okay,” Eli said. “We’ll try to call Gus right now.” Since Eli didn’t want to take his focus off the car, he motioned for Gunnar to do that.
Even though Eli’s pulse was drumming in his ears, he could still hear the ringing sound when Gunnar tried the call. Eli dragged in his breath, waiting, but Gus didn’t answer.
Hell.
This just got a whole lot harder.
“Gus didn’t pick up,” Eli relayed to Remy, “but I know he’ll agree to this. He wouldn’t want to see a man hurt.”
“It has to be in writing!” Remy yelled. “That’s the only way I let Dominick go. Try to call Gus again, and keep calling until you speak to him.”
Eli nodded for Gunnar to keep trying. The deputy would, but while they waited, Eli was going to have to do something to defuse this. Thankfully, he had some backup. In the distance he could see a vehicle approaching on the ranch road. Kellan. At least he hoped it was. But if not, maybe this vehicle wouldn’t break through the fence, too.
“You don’t need Dominick as a hostage,” Eli told Remy. “You’ve got a gun, and I can’t risk you firing shots this close to the house. That’s enough to keep you safe so you can let Dominick go.”
“He’s staying put,” Remy snapped. “I don’t trust you.”
The feeling was mutual. Of course, Eli wasn’t certain he could trust Dominick, either, but that was something he’d have to work out later.
Gunnar tried Gus’s number again, and Eli finally released the breath he’d been holding when he heard the man answer.
“Tell him what’s going on,” Eli instructed Gunnar, and he turned back to Remy to let him know they’d reached Marta’s father.
Before Eli could do that, though, he heard something he definitely didn’t want to hear.
A gunshot.
* * *
ASHLYN HAD NO trouble realizing someone had just fired a gun, and it sent a jolt of fear and terror through her. After the attacks, she’d become too familiar with that horrible sound. And she knew what it meant.
They were in danger again.
Turning to go to Cora, she was about to shout for Eli to get down. He was right at the little window by the door, and a bullet could easily go through the glass and kill him. But Eli mumbled something to Gunnar, something she didn’t catch, and the deputy turned and ran toward her. Gunnar shoved his phone into his jeans pocket, took her by the arm and moved her into the open doorway of the bedroom that Eli had been using.
“Go into the bathroom,” Gunnar told her.
She frantically shook her head. “I need to make sure Cora’s okay,” Ashlyn insisted, fighting to get out of his grip.
“I’ll do that. You go into the bathroom.”
Ashlyn didn’t do as he’d ordered. She stood there, watching, and she had to fight against all her maternal instincts to go with the deputy. She was the one who should be checking on her child. She should be there to protect Cora if she needed it. However, Ashlyn could see into the room when Gunnar eased open the door. Gloria was already out of bed, and she had a sleeping Cora clutched to her.
“Go in there,” Gunnar instructed, tipping his head to the attached bath. “Lock the door behind you. Then, get in the tub with her and stay down until I tell you it’s okay to come out.”
It was a small claw-foot tub, only large enough for one person, but Ashlyn thought it was deep enough that it would protect Cora and Gloria if someone fired another bullet.
She prayed it was enough.
Gloria hurried into the bathroom and disappeared out of sight. Ashlyn’s fear spiked even higher, and the jolt of adrenaline she got made it nearly impossible to stay put. She wanted to take her baby and run to safety, but she had to remind herself that right now staying put could be the right thing to do.
Ashlyn glanced back at the bathroom that Eli had used earlier. It was just as small as the other one, and instead of a tub, it had a shower. She hadn’t gone inside it, but she was certain it wouldn’t have the space for Gloria, Cora and her.
“Remy?” Eli shouted, and she realized he was talking into his phone. “Are you there?” If Remy answered, she couldn’t hear what the man said.
“What’s happening?” Ashlyn asked Gunnar when he came back to her. “Did Remy fire that shot?”
“We’re not sure yet. It looks as if Remy’s taken Dominick hostage, and it sounded as if some kind of struggle was going on in the car.”
Oh, mercy. Dominick a hostage? One that Remy had brought here to the ranch. That was more than enough for her to process, but Ashlyn hadn’t missed Gunnar’s “looks as if Remy’s taken Dominick hostage.”
“You think Remy could be lying?” she asked.
Gun
nar lifted his shoulder. “Remy’s definitely not thinking straight, and he said he wants to use Dominick to get Gus to agree not to move Marta.” Gunnar didn’t look at her though when he spoke. He kept his attention nailed to Eli.
So if Remy had told them the truth, this was about Marta and maybe didn’t have anything to do with the other attacks. That didn’t mean, though, that one of them couldn’t be hurt.
“I need a gun,” Ashlyn told him. “Just in case Remy or someone else gets inside the house.” Because she had a really bad feeling about this.
She could see the debate going on in Gunnar’s eyes over her request, but he finally reached down, took out a small weapon from his boot holster, and he handed it to her.
“Giving you this doesn’t mean I want you out in the open. If you don’t stay down, you’ll have to answer to Eli. So will I,” he added under his ragged breath.
Ashlyn knew that was true, but if they did have to answer to Eli, that would mean this had all been a false alarm. That the only danger was to Dominick and not any of them.
When Ashlyn started across the hall toward Gloria and Cora, he stopped her again. “Eli wants you to hunker down in the shower,” Gunnar reminded her.
“And I need to prevent anyone from getting to Cora,” she snapped.
Ashlyn made sure her tone and expression let him know that she wasn’t going to budge on this. She moved into the doorway of Cora’s and Gloria’s room. That way, she could easily hear them in the bathroom, and she could keep an eye on the window opposite the bed.
Eli had told her that all the doors and windows were wired into the security system, but she wanted to be there if someone tried to break in. If that did indeed happen, Ashlyn consoled herself with the reminder that Gloria had locked the bathroom. That meant an intruder would not only have to get past her but also break down the door.
Gunnar huffed, cursed and then glanced back at Eli, who was still by the front door. Eli hadn’t moved, and there hadn’t been any other shots, but he was clearly still standing guard.
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