Chapter One
Someone was watching him. Deputy Cameron Doran was certain of it.
He slid his hand over the gun in his waist holster and hoped he was wrong about the bad feeling that was snaking down his spine. Hoped he was wrong about the being watched part, too.
But he knew he wasn’t.
He’d worn a badge for eleven years, and paying attention to that bad feeling had saved him a time or two.
With his gun ready to draw, Cameron glanced around his backyard. Such that it was. Since his house was on the backside of the sprawling Blue River Ranch, his yard was just a smear of grass with the thick woods only about fifteen feet away. There were plenty of trees and underbrush. The edge of the river, as well. However, there were also trails that someone could use to make their way to his house.
Someone like a killer.
You’ll all die soon.
That was what the latest threatening letter had said. The one that Cameron had gotten just two days ago. Not exactly words anyone wanted to read when they opened their mail, but he’d gotten so many now that they no longer held the emotional punch of the first one he’d gotten a couple of months ago. Still, he wasn’t about to dismiss it.
Cameron had another look around, trying to pick through the thick clusters of trees, but when he didn’t see anyone, he finished off his morning coffee and went inside. Normally, he would have made a beeline to the nursery so he could say goodbye to his nephew, Isaac, before heading off to work at the Blue River Sheriff’s Office, but this morning he went to the window over the sink and kept watch.
From the other side of the house, he could hear Isaac fussing, probably because the nanny, Merilee, was changing his diaper. Isaac was only a year old, but he got up raring to go. He objected to the couple of minutes delay that the diapering caused.
Just when Cameron was about to decide that the bad feeling had been wrong after all, he saw it. Someone moving around. Since those particular trees butted right up against an old ranch trail, the movement got his complete attention.
“Merilee,” he called out to the nanny. “Keep Isaac in the nursery a little while longer. And stay away from the windows.”
Cameron knew it would alarm the woman, but there was nothing he could do about that now. If this turned out to be a false alarm, then he could smooth things over with her. But for now, Isaac’s and her safety had to come first.
He drew his gun, and as soon as he opened the door a couple of inches, Cameron spotted more movement. And the person who was doing the moving.
A woman peered out from one of the trees, and even though she was still pretty far from him, he caught a good enough glimpse of her face.
Lauren Beckett.
She stepped out in full view of him so he got an even better look. Yeah, it was Lauren, all right. She still had the same brunette hair that she’d pulled back into a ponytail. The same willowy build. The last time he’d seen her she’d been a teenager, barely eighteen, but the years hadn’t changed her much.
If he’d ventured a guess of who might have been lurking around his place, he would have never figured it would be her. Especially since he’d built his house on Beckett land. Her family’s land. Of course, Lauren hadn’t considered her siblings actually family—or him a friend—in nearly a decade.
Cameron felt the punch of old emotions. Ones he didn’t want to feel. He and Lauren had parted ways long ago, and he hated that the tug in his body was still there for her.
He looked at her hands. At her wedding ring. She was still wearing it though he knew her husband had died from cancer a year and a half ago when Lauren had been pregnant. Of course, she might still be wearing the ring because she and her late husband had a child together. A son, if he remembered correctly.
Who was he kidding? He remembered, all right. Little details about Lauren just stuck in his head whether he wanted them there or not.
“What are you doing back there?” he asked.
He started to reholster his gun but then stopped when she fired glances all around her. Lauren had her teeth clamped over her bottom lip, and she motioned for him to come to her.
Hell.
He’d been right about that bad feeling. Something was wrong.
“What happened?” he demanded, but she just kept motioning.
Cursing under his breath, Cameron stepped out and locked the door behind him. Judging from Lauren’s nervous gestures, someone else could be out there, and he didn’t want that person getting into the house. Keeping watch around him, Cameron gripped his gun with two hands and started toward her.
More memories and emotions came. It’d been ten years since he had seen her. Since he’d kissed her. Ten years since their worlds had turned on a dime. Her mother and father had been murdered. Butchered, really, and even though their killer had been convicted and was behind bars, Lauren hadn’t thought justice had been fully served.
Because she also blamed Cameron for not doing enough to save her folks.
That was okay because Cameron blamed himself, too.
All of those thoughts vanished for a moment, though, when he made it to her and stopped about two feet away. Still close enough to catch her scent and see those intense blue eyes. She didn’t say anything. Lauren just stood there, staring at him, but he could tell from the tight muscles in her face that this wasn’t a social visit.
Not that he thought it would be.
No. Lauren had said her final goodbye to him a decade ago, so it must have taken something pretty bad to come to him this way. Unless...maybe she wasn’t here for him.
“Your brothers probably haven’t left for work yet and are still home,” he told her. They didn’t live far, either. “Gabriel lives in his old place, and Jameson has a cabin about a half mile from here.”
She didn’t seem the least bit surprised about that, which meant maybe Lauren had kept up with her family, after all. Good. Because Cameron wasn’t the only one who thought of Lauren often. So did her brothers and her sister, Ivy.
“I can’t go to them.” Her voice was raw and strained.
“Because you broke off ties with them,” Cameron commented. “Don’t worry about that. You’re still their sister, and they’ll help you. They love you,” he added, hoping that would ease the tension he could practically feel radiating off her.
Lauren blinked, shook her head. “No. Because their houses are on the main road and someone might see me.” She turned, glancing around again, and that was when Cameron spotted the gun tucked in the back waist of her jeans.
He cursed again. “What’s wrong?”
A weary sigh left her mouth. The kind of reaction a person had when there was so much wrong that she didn’t know where to start. But Cameron figured he knew what this was about.
“We’ve all been getting threatening letters and emails,” he volunteered. “I’m guessing you got one, too?”
She nodded and dismissed it with a shake of her head. “You’re raising your sister’s child?”
Again, she’d managed to stun him. First with her arrival and now with the question. It didn’t seem the right thing to ask since this wasn’t a “catching up” kind of conversation.
“Gilly’s son, Isaac,” Cameron clarified. It had been a year since his kid sister’s death, and he still couldn’t say her name without it feeling as if someone had put a meaty fist around his heart. “What about him?”
Lauren didn’t jump to answer that. With her forehead bunched up, she glanced behind her again. “Is he...okay?”
Isaac was fine. Better than fine, actually. His nephew was healthy and happy. That wasn’t what he said to Lauren, though. “Why are you asking?”
“I need to see him. I need to see Gilly’s son.”
That definitely wasn’t an answer.
Cameron didn’t bother cursing again, but he did give her a flat look. “I’ll want to know a lot more about what’s going on. Start talking. Why are you here, and if you’re in some kind of trouble, why didn’t you call your brothers? Because I think you and I both know I’m the last person on earth you’d come to for help.”
She didn’t disagree with that, but another sound left her mouth. A hoarse sob. And that was when tears sprang to her eyes. “Please, let me see him.”
He wasn’t immune to those tears, and it gave him a tug of a different kind, one he didn’t want. “Tell me what’s going on,” Cameron repeated.
Lauren frantically shook her head. “There isn’t time.”
Cameron huffed in frustration. “Then make time. Is someone after you? And what does that have to do with Gilly’s son?”
She stared at him, her mouth trembling now, and those tears still watering her eyes. “Someone tried to kill me.”
That put him on full alert, and he automatically caught on to her arm and pulled her behind him. Cameron positioned himself in between her and the area where she kept glancing.
“Keep talking,” he insisted. He didn’t see anyone out there, but the woods were fairly thick here. “When and where did this happen?”
Again, no fast answer. Which it should have been. After all, a murder attempt should have been fresh enough in her mind that Lauren could have rattled off the details.
“Last night,” she finally said. “Two armed men broke into my house in Dallas and shot me.”
The profanity flew out of his mouth before Cameron could stop it, and he whirled around just as she pulled back the collar of her dark blue button-up shirt. There was a bandage there. A bandage covering what had to be a sensitive wound judging by the way Lauren winced when she moved her shoulder.
“I’m okay,” she added. “Well, physically anyway. The bullet only clipped me, and I was able to get away from them.”
Good. But that didn’t cause Cameron to feel any relief. “What about your son? Was he hurt?”
“No. There was a panic room in the house, and I had his nanny take him there right after the burglar alarm went off. I didn’t manage to get in there in time before they got to me.” She paused, choked back a sob. “I heard them say they had orders to kill me. And it wasn’t a case of mistaken identity or anything. They said my name.”
That did it. He took hold of her hand. “Come on. I’m taking you to Gabriel right now.”
But Lauren pulled away from him. “No. Not yet anyway. Not until I know it’s safe. I also heard the men say they were cops.”
Cameron stared at her. “Cops? Maybe. Criminals don’t always tell the truth, but even if they had, your brother’s not dirty.”
Even though she didn’t come out and say it, she’d once suspected Cameron of being just that—dirty. He hadn’t been, but Lauren had deemed him guilty by association. Because he’d been friends with the family of the man who’d murdered her parents. If that friendship hadn’t existed, then her mom and dad might still be alive.
Somehow, Cameron had never learned to live with that.
“Gabriel and Jameson aren’t behind this,” she said. “Whatever this is,” Lauren added in a mumble. “But if those men were really cops and they know all about me, then they must figure I’d go to my lawmen brothers.” Another pause, and she dodged his gaze. “This is the last place they’d expect me to come.”
True. It wasn’t exactly a secret about Lauren’s hatred for him. But that wasn’t hatred he was seeing in her eyes now. It was fear. Cameron was certain he was feeling some of that, as well. Fear for her. But there were still some very weird things going on.
“Where’s your son now?” he asked.
That was concern number one. Once Lauren and the child were safe, then he could work out the rest with her. The rest would include bringing in her brothers on this. No way would Gabriel and Jameson want to be left out when someone was gunning for their kid sister, and it didn’t matter if they were estranged from Lauren.
She fluttered her fingers in the direction of the trail. “He’s in the car with the nanny. That’s why I can’t stay. I have to get back to him.”
Yeah, she did, and Cameron would go with her. “Take me to him, and I can bring all three of you inside while we work this out.”
She did more of that frantic head-shaking. “Not yet. Not until I know. Not until I’m sure I can trust you.”
Cameron pulled back his shoulders. Trust had indeed been an issue between them in the past. Her trust for him anyway. But from what he could see in the depths of her eyes, this went beyond their past.
“If you didn’t trust me, why come here?” he snapped. And he hated how much it stung that this bad blood was still between them.
“I didn’t have a choice.” Her voice cracked. “I need to see Isaac.”
There it was again—something else she’d said that didn’t make sense. Or maybe it did. Cameron hadn’t been with Gilly when she’d died from a blood clot less than twenty-four hours after giving birth. He’d still been on the road trying to get to her in Dallas. Lauren had been there, though. Maybe had even spoken to her since Lauren and his sister had remained friends. Not only that, they’d lived in the same city.
“Did Gilly tell you something before she died?” It was the same tone he used to interrogate a suspect. Not an especially friendly one, but he wanted answers, and Lauren was going to give them to him now.
Lauren’s mouth opened a little to let him know the question had surprised her. Well, welcome to the club. He’d been surprised by a lot of what Lauren had said.
“No,” she answered after several long moments. “This isn’t about Gilly. This is about her son. Does he look like her or like his father?”
Now it was Cameron’s turn to take a moment before he responded. “I never met his father, Trace Waters. Never wanted to meet him.”
She made a sound of agreement, which meant Lauren knew that Trace had been abusive. Something that Gilly hadn’t told Cameron until it was too late for him to go to Dallas and beat the living daylights out of the moron for laying a hand on his kid sister. By the time Cameron had heard, Trace had disappeared. Then, several weeks after Gilly had died, someone else had taken it beyond the beating stage and had killed Trace in a drug deal gone wrong.
“Trace’s mother, Evelyn, came to the ranch once,” Cameron explained. “She pulled a gun on me and demanded her son’s baby.” He felt his mouth tighten. “I don’t like it when people pull guns on me so I had her arrested. The moment she made bail I slapped her with a restraining order.”
“And that worked? Evelyn stayed away?”
He shook his head. “She tried to get on the grounds a couple of times, but the hands spotted her and stopped her. After the third time, she ended up in jail, where she’s spent the last four months.”
Cameron hoped the woman would do something behind bars that would keep her there. He wasn’t concerned about losing custody to her. Gilly had made it clear to the hospital staff that she’d wanted Cameron to raise her son. But he didn’t want Evelyn to be a free woman so she could try something else stupid.
“Does Isaac look like Gilly?” Lauren pressed. “Or anyone else in your family?”
Cameron nearly said no, but Lauren wasn’t getting answers until he had some from her. “Let’s get your baby and the nanny into the house, and we can talk.”
“He doesn’t look like Gilly,” she said like gospel. “Or Trace.”
Cameron lifted his shoulder. “Lots of kids don’t look like their parents. Plus, he’s a baby. Only thirteen months old.” He huffed, scrubbing his hand over his forehead. “Look, I don’t know where this is going, but I can have Gabriel come out—”
Only because he wasn’t expecting it, Cameron didn’t see Lauren pull that gun from the back of her jeans.
And she pointed it at him.
His heart slammed against his ribs. Damn. He should have been able to stop this before it’d even started, but Cameron fought the instinct to lunge at her and snatch that gun from her hand. He sure as hell wasn’t pleased about this, though.
“What do you think you’re doing?” he demanded once he got his teeth unclenched.
“I’m saving my son.” Lauren used the barrel of the weapon to motion toward the house. “And you’ll take me to him. I want to see Isaac now.”