Landon

Tessa had no idea. But this wasn’t looking good. If all of this had happened four days ago, then the mother should have come back by now. If she was able to come back, that is.

Landon cursed. “Is the mother dead or hurt?”

But before she could even attempt an answer, Dade was on the phone, and she heard him ask if there was any information on the baby’s mother that would match the sketchy details she’d just given them.

“Is it possible the woman who had this baby didn’t have anything to do with Emmett?” Landon pressed.

“I just don’t know.” She paused. “But maybe Emmett was helping me find some evidence against Joel?”

As expected, that didn’t go over well with Landon. He didn’t come out and say that she should have contacted him instead of Emmett, but she knew that was what he was thinking.

“But why would Emmett have been helping me?” Tessa asked.

Neither of the men jumped to answer that, maybe because they didn’t have a clue, but it was Landon who finally responded. “Emmett was a DEA agent in Grand Valley, and Joel had a business there.”

The memories were coming but too darn slow. She huffed and rubbed the back of her neck. Or rather she tried to do that but yanked back her hand when her fingers brushed over the sensitive skin there.

“Does it hurt?” Landon asked. He leaned closer, lifted her hair and looked for himself.

“Some.” Not nearly as much as her head, though. “Why? How bad does it look?”

“It looks like a wasp sting or something. But the doctor took an X-ray. If it’s something serious, he’ll let us know.”

Now that the drugs were partially wearing off, she tried to remember what’d happened to cause this particular injury. But nothing came. Everything was still so jumbled in her head, and that couldn’t last.

There were secrets in her memories, secrets that had caused someone to try to kill her, and until she unlocked those secrets, she wouldn’t be able to figure out who had sent that gunman after the baby and her.

And figure out who’d killed Emmett and why.

“Good news, maybe,” Dade said when he finished his call. “There have been no reports of a seriously injured or dead woman who gave birth in the past week, but Josh will keep calling around and see if something turns up.”

“Josh?” she asked, hoping it was someone she could trust. Of course, at the moment Tessa wasn’t sure she could trust anyone.

“Our cousin,” Landon explained. “He’s a deputy in Silver Creek.”

Like Landon. Tessa prayed this Josh was being mindful of those calls and that he didn’t give away any information that could put the baby’s mother in further danger. Of course, it was possible the woman was dead. Just because the cops hadn’t found a body didn’t mean there wasn’t one.

Oh, God.

Another wave of dizziness hit her, and Tessa had to lean her head against the seat. She closed her eyes, hoping it would stop. Hoping, too, that the car would soon stop, as well.

“Where are we going?” she asked. And better yet—how soon would they be there? But the moment she asked the question, Tessa got yet another bad feeling. That feeling only increased when neither Landon nor Dade jumped to answer.

“Where?” she repeated.

“Someplace you’re not going to like,” Landon grumbled.

Chapter Six (#ulink_c02aff8d-99d2-51ca-bd0e-13e78b7c5649)

Landon had told Tessa that he was taking her someplace she wouldn’t like. Well, it wasn’t a place where he especially wanted her to be, either, but his options were limited.

And that was why Tessa was now sleeping under his own roof.

Or at least, the roof of the guesthouse at the Silver Creek Ranch where Landon had made his temporary home. Until he could come up with other arrangements, it would be Tessa and the baby’s temporary home, too. With more than a half-dozen lawmen living on the grounds, it was safer than any other place Landon could think to take them.

Landon poured himself a fourth cup of coffee, figuring he’d need a fifth or sixth one to rid him of the headache he had from lack of sleep, and checked on the baby again. She was still sacked out in the bassinet his cousins had provided. Maybe Tessa was asleep, as well, because he didn’t hear her stirring in the bedroom.

Since Tessa had been the one to do the baby’s 2:00 a.m. feeding, Landon had brought the infant into the living-kitchen combo area with him so that Tessa could sleep in. Of course, he’d done that with the hopes that he might get in a catnap or two on the sofa—where he’d spent the night—but no such luck. His mind was spinning with all the details of the attack. With Tessa’s situation. With Emmett’s murder. And despite all that mind spinning, Landon still didn’t have the answers he wanted.

But maybe Tessa would.

By now, those drugs she’d been given should have worn off, and that meant maybe she would be able to tell him not only who was behind the attack at the hospital but also who’d murdered Emmett.

Landon had more coffee and checked outside. Something he’d done a lot during the night and yet another of the reasons he hadn’t gotten much sleep. No signs of gunmen. Thank God. But then, the ranch hands had been told not to let anyone other than family and ranch employees onto the grounds. Maybe that would be enough to stop another attack.

However, the only way to be certain of no future attacks was to catch the person responsible. Joel, maybe. He was the obvious person of interest here, but Landon wasn’t ruling out Quincy. Too bad neither Landon nor any of his lawman cousins had been able to find any evidence to make an arrest for either man.

Landon heard the two sounds at once. The baby whimpered, and Tessa moved around in the bedroom. He didn’t wait for Tessa to come out. Since it was time for the baby’s feeding, Landon went ahead and got the bottle from the fridge and warmed it up, just as the nanny had shown him when they’d arrived yesterday. Thankfully, there were three full-time nannies at the ranch now, so he hadn’t had to resort to looking up bottle-warming instructions on the internet.

He eased the baby from the bassinet, silently cursing that his hands suddenly felt way too big and clumsy. The baby didn’t seem to mind, though, and she latched on to the bottle the moment it touched her mouth.

Without the baby’s fussing, it was easier for Landon to hear something else. Tessa’s voice. She wasn’t talking loud enough for him to pick out the words, but it seemed as if she was having a conversation with someone on the phone. The guesthouse didn’t have a landline, but there was a cell phone on the nightstand for guests—something that apparently Tessa had decided to make use of. But before Landon could find out who she was calling, Tessa quit talking, and a moment later the bedroom door opened.

And there she was.

Landon hated that slam of attraction. Yeah, he felt it even now, and it was proof that attraction was more than just skin-deep. Because despite the bruises on her face, the fatigued eyes, and the baggy loaner jeans and shirt, she still managed to light fires inside him that he didn’t want lit.