Kace needed to put as much mass between the three of them and the object of Duke’s attention as possible. For all he knew Carr was out there, waiting to take a shot.

“Go back inside, lock the door and call Travis,” he said to Bree. “Tell him where we are and that Carr might have found us.”

Duke’s shackles raised as he maintained position. His low growl a constant rumble.

“I’m not leaving you out here alone,” she said.

“Don’t take this the wrong way because it’s not personal. You’ll be a liability to me because I’ll split my attention between watching over you and taking down the threat. I need to know you’re safely tucked inside and that help is on the way. Take Duke with you.” Kace set the suitcase against the wall. “If Carr’s out there I’ll find him and neutralize the threat.”

“I can call Travis from right here.” Her voice shook and her chin quivered even though she was trying to put up a brave front.

“Will you trust me? I’ve been in these situations before. I know exactly what to do.” Kace surveyed the area. He couldn’t see anyone in the tree line from his vantage point or the glint of metal. The person who had Duke’s attention was hiding to the east with the sunrise to his back.

There was a slight breeze. The air was crisp. Judging the distance Kace would have a difficult time getting off a good shot. The shotgun as his sole weapon wasn’t ideal. It was less accurate and would spray shrapnel in a wide area.

Duke’s growls intensified.

Bree quietly made the call to Travis. She touched Kace’s shoulder. “The closest person to us is at least half an hour away.”

Kace considered making a break for the truck. A couple of scenarios crossed his mind. It could be rigged with a bomb. The image of Zeke’s transport exploding raced through Kace’s mind. Tires could be slashed. The engine could have been tampered with. Duke hadn’t made any noise earlier. The truck was parked ten feet from the cabin. With the loss of hearing in one of his ears Carr could’ve slipped past the trained dog’s radar.

Could Carr have been that quiet? He was calculating. The fact that he hadn’t left any DNA behind on crime scenes said he was criminally smart.

Carr’s job in law enforcement gave him an insider’s view to all the tricks of the trade. The murders happened months apart, which said he most likely studied his victims and learned their routines. Found a blind spot and took advantage. Point being, the man was calculating.

Duke spun around to the west and stood at attention. Was Carr on the move?

The crack of a bullet split the air.

“Duke,” Bree shouted as Kace blanketed her with his heft.

“Come on, boy.” Kace commanded. He ushered Bree to the back door. He had no idea what commands Duke was used to or in what language. His hearing loss could mean that he didn’t have any idea he was being called. Kace made kissing noises to get the animal’s attention. He had to try something. “Let’s go, Duke.”

Surprisingly, thankfully, the animal darted back to them.

“Stay low and away from windows,” Kace said to Bree as they breeched the back door. She was already on all fours, crawling toward the center point of the house. “Keep going until you get to the bedroom closet.”

“Why would he come for us now? What would make him risk getting caught?” Bree asked quietly.

“He seemed like he was sizing me up the other day at the hospital after he told me to leave and I refused. I thought he’d put up more of a fight then. I was surprised when he didn’t. Now, I’m guessing he was cutting his losses. He had to realize it was only a matter of time before you’d wake and figure out it was him.”

The closet was located on an interior wall next to the bathroom. Duke would protect her and provide a distraction if Carr showed. Kace scanned the small room, looking for an edge he could get over the sheriff.

Kace bellycrawled around the side of the bed. If Carr came inside, he’d most likely look for them in the closet. Of course, he could rapid fire shots through the walls to see if he could get a hit. Spraying bullets would be one way to…

A scream sounded from the west. A female voice. A shock to Kace’s system when she shouted his name.

“I have your sister.” With those four words, Kace’s world came crashing down around him. He’d spent his entire life keeping his baby sister safe. And she was in the hands of a calculating killer. Anger was a rogue storm thrashing around inside Kace.

He moved to the closet.

“No matter what else happens, stay where you are,” Kace said to Bree. “I need to know where you are, and I need to know that you’ll be safe.”

Her front teeth scraped across her bottom lip, which meant she wasn’t on board. He crawled to her, lifted her chin and kissed her. “I love you, Bree. I think I always have. I need you to do something for me. I know I’m asking a lot. Will you wait for me here? I’ll come back for you.”

“Be safe, Kace. I want the man I love to be around when our baby is born.”

“That’s a promise.” He planned to make another one after he took down the sheriff…if she’d have him.

“I’ll kill her,” came booming from outside.

“I’m so sorry this is happening,” Bree said and there was so much warmth in her voice.

“I know. I have to go get Kendra. I’d hoped we could wait it out until Travis or one of the deputies arrived. Carr will kill my sister before he lets us go.”

“I know. Go get her and bring both of you back safely.”

“Take this.” He handed the shotgun to Bree. Her eyes widened.

“You need—”

“He’ll use the trees to block my shot. If he comes in here, you’ll be ready for him.” He showed her how to hold the weapon, careful not to accidently point it at him. He flashed a quick smile. “Look before you shoot in case it’s me.”

“I pray I don’t have to pull the trigger,” she said.

“Think of that little one of ours growing inside you. That’ll give you the courage when you need it.”

She glanced down at her belly and then nodded.

“I love you, Kace.”

“Hold that thought. Okay?” One more kiss and then Kace crawled out the window. Carr would be watching the doors, ready. Someone might die today. Kace made up his mind it would be Carr.

The last time his sister screamed and Carr spoke, the sounds had come from the west. Kace moved to the tree line facing east, the opposite direction. The house and truck should block him from view as he made his way into the greenery. He had no idea what kind of shot the sheriff was—he was most likely a decent one—and didn’t intend to find out in the form of a bullet in his back.

Keeping one eye on the house, he moved stealthily through the thicket, stepping lightly so that his boots didn’t get snagged on underbrush. He’d been to the cabin enough times to have memorized the land. That worked in his favor. He’d take all the advantages he could get in this situation.

It occurred to him that any hint law enforcement was about to descend on this place could set Carr off. He could take out his rage on Kendra before disappearing forever. Hell, for all Kace knew his sister had some kind of booby trap set on her. Moving her could set off a bomb.

Kace’s lungs clawed for air thinking anything could happen to Kendra. By sheer force of will, he redirected his thoughts to the sheriff. One thing was certain, Carr toyed with Kace’s emotions. The sheriff knew how tightknit the two were. He and Kendra had made no secret of being close. Secrets didn’t stay buried forever in a close-knit town like Blushing. Although it had taken fourteen years, Carr’s secret was out.

The man was leaving here in a coffin or handcuffs, Kace didn’t particularly care which one. He stopped cold near a clearing. All hopes that Carr had been bluffing exploded in Kace’s chest. Kendra was there. She was tied to a tree, a gag in her mouth.

The fact that she seemed calm—resigned?—shot fire balls through his chest. Hang on, Kendra.

In the past few days, Kace had learned just how much family meant to him. He was starting to realize why he’d had a restless feeling in his chest and what it meant. Between seeing how upset his sister was at the thought of him moving to Alaska and finding out he was about to be a father, Kace realized that Blushing was home.

Kace surveyed the area. He searched for any signs of a bomb on Kendra, didn’t see any obvious ones. Bombs could be small enough to go undetected by the naked eye or placed in a position to make it difficult for Kace to see until it was too late.

Damn, seeing Kendra there was a gut punch. Kace had to fight the urge to run to his sister and cut her away from the tree. That’s exactly what Carr wanted. He wanted Kace to react based on emotions. The bastard had put her out there as bait. Most people would take it. The U.S. government had trained Kace to be a better soldier than that.

Scanning the area one more time, he searched for his target. The notion that Kace had been lured out of the house was a brick on his chest. At this point, he couldn’t double-back. He’d kept an eye on the house as he moved through the thicket. He’d had to be careful, methodical.

Carr was here somewhere. Dammit. Where?

And then he saw the glint of metal from a jacket. A button maybe. Bingo. Carr was positioned behind a tree with the business end of a rifle aimed at Kendra’s head.

Kace’s shotgun wouldn’t have done him any good at this angle. Kendra was too close to Carr to risk a shot just as Kace had suspected would be the case.

Taking the sheriff by surprise was Kace’s best bet. Could Kace hook around with a wide enough berth to attack Carr from behind? There weren’t a lot of other options.

Carr split his attention between the cabin and Kendra. Slowly, methodically, Kace moved through the trees and underbrush. Ignoring every instinct he had to go straight to his sister, he was able to make good time.

He was close enough to see Carr’s finger hover over the trigger mechanism, close enough to know a shot at this range would be deadly for Kendra. Even if Kace managed to get close enough to Carr undetected—and that was a big if—his finger could twitch when Kace ambushed him. A small movement would be enough to fire a shot. Hell, his reflexes would do the work for him. Carr wouldn’t even have to consciously make the effort.

A noise sounded from the direction of the house. It was the noise the truck alarm made when it was being disarmed and the doors unlocked. Kace’s chest squeezed as he realized Bree was drawing attention toward the cabin.

“Try it, bastard. You’ll never get away.” Carr’s voice had an almost hysterical quality to it. He looked down the scope of the rifle, which he’d repositioned toward the cabin.

While his attention shifted, Kace seized the window of opportunity he had to make his move. Swiftly, he started closing the gap between him and the sheriff.

A crash sounded back at the cabin. The thud was quickly followed by the shrill alarm on the truck.

Kace darted from around a tree, expecting to have a clear view of Carr. The sheriff had moved from his position. Kace panicked. Had he made the wrong call?

And then he caught a glimpse of Carr, stalking toward the cabin like a hunter locked onto an unsuspecting doe.

Kace closed in on the sheriff from behind. The truck alarm provided cover for the occasional twig snapping. Carr slowed his pace, no doubt searching for a target at the end of his scope.

The gravity of this mission slammed into Kace full force. Being out in the dessert, the possibility of personal harm held no weight for him. After all, it was only his life hanging in the balance. He was a betting man and always went with the odds—and odds heavily favored him in a fight. Even if he lost, he’d known the risks when he joined the military. They were calculated, considering he had what he considered the best training in the world. If he lost his own life, so be it. This was so far on the other side of different Kace couldn’t fathom it. Just the thought of anything happening to Kendra, Bree or the baby not to mention Duke could bring Kace to his knees, reduce him to a puddle.

He let those thoughts simmer inside him, causing a wave of anger so strong it brought everything into crystal clear focus.

Carr was in view. Kace inched closer, the hunter and the hunted.

Kace made his move, diving straight at the sheriff’s knees and tackling him from behind. A wild shot fired as Kace spun on top of Carr and wrestled for control of the rifle. Carr had a death grip on the weapon. Kace started peeling the man’s fingers from the grip.

“You’re going to die right here, right now or spend the rest of your life in jail,” Kace bit out.

“The hell I am.” The sheriff drew up his knee, and caught Kace where no man wanted to be hit.

Kace grunted through the pain as he strong-armed the sheriff, turning the butt of the rifle toward Carr’s face by sheer force of will. With another grunt and a pull on all the adrenaline coursing through Kace, he slammed the butt of the weapon into Carr’s forehead.

The two battled for control as the faint roar of sirens sounded in the distance. Kace dislodged the weapon from Carr’s grip. In the process, Kace lost control and it went tumbling a few feet away.

“They’re coming for you.” Kace tried to throw Carr off his game. A punch landed on Kace’s jaw, causing his head to snap back. Warm liquid filled his mouth. He spit blood.

Kace tightened his arms around Carr, effectively like a clamp tightening. The sheriff struggled, desperate to wriggle out of Kace’s grasp. But Kace wasn’t having any of it.

Using his considerable strength, he clamped his legs around Carr’s to render his lower body useless.

An elbow caught Kace in the ribs and it hurt like hell. The sheriff had serious arm strength. No doubt used to subdue his victims.

Kace thought about the thirteen women who lost their lives to this murderous criminal. To the families who lost a sister, a daughter, a friend.

It was time this scumbag knew he’d lost. Kace reared his head back and then head-butted the sheriff, knocking the man out cold.

A rustling sound drew closer and the next thing Kace knew Duke came charging toward him with Bree close behind, shotgun at the ready.

Much to his surprise, Kendra was there, too.

“I heard a shot.” Bree dropped down beside Kace, her gaze searching for signs of blood. “Are you okay?”

“Perfect. This asshole isn’t doing so hot. He’s going to wake up with one hell of a headache and locked away in a cell where he belongs.” Kace held tight to Carr, his arms a vise around the sheriff’s torso.

Sirens screeched louder, closer.

Kendra stood a safe distance away, tears streaming down her face. “Thank, God, you’re all right, Kace. I knew you’d come for me…and I thought when I heard the shot that…”

“I’m here. I’m good. No bullet holes. Just a busted lip,” he soothed. “And you’re going home to your husband and babies.”

“We’re all going home,” Kendra repeated as sobs racked her. She was shaken but strong. Bree stood up and then walked over to her, taking her in her arms.

“His rifle is right over there.” Kace angled his head a little to the south. “Keep an eye on it until the deputy can tag it as evidence.”

The sounds of the cavalry came in the form of tires on the gravel drive. Kace had no intention of letting Carr out of his grip until a deputy could take the man into custody.

“Stay with Kace. I’ll flag them.” Kendra was already running toward law enforcement, waving her hands and trying to shout over the truck alarm and sirens.

A few minutes later, she brought Travis back with her. Travis moved beside Kace immediately, pulling out cuffs.

“I thought you said half an hour,” Kace teased, trying to shake off the stress and ease the tension of the situation. “That had to be an hour.”

“I’m here now. And this sonofabitch is going to jail.” Travis put a knee into Carr’s back as he jerked the former sheriff’s hands behind his back before he zip-cuffed them. The man was still unconscious.

Kendra hugged her brother. She was trembling. “He came out of nowhere. I was getting inside my car one minute. The next I blacked out. When I woke I was in the trunk of his vehicle.”

Murderous thoughts ran through Kace’s mind, thinking about what his sister had just gone through. It had briefly crossed his mind to snap the man’s neck when the two were wrestling on the ground moments ago. Kace had stopped himself. He wanted Carr to rot in jail, justice served. Dying would give him the easy way out. At this age, he had a good thirty to forty years to spend behind bars.

“You’re safe now,” Kace soothed.

Travis stood over Carr’s slouched body. “I sent a deputy to his aunt’s house. She started talking almost immediately. Said she’d been afraid for her own life for years. Carr was the son of her sister, a blond. The mother had done some pretty awful things to him during his childhood. One of the men she’d brought home was a tattoo artist. He ‘marked’ Carr on the ankle, claiming him. Carr was a mess when his aunt took him in as a seventeen-year-old when his mother overdosed. Said she sent him to shrinks to help him get his head on straight. He was smart enough to convince the doctors everything was okay. She thought he was turning his life around, so she backed him for the sheriff’s job that he convinced her he wanted years later. Life seemed good for a while. She always thought it was odd that he only ever tried to date blond ladies. He was rejected a lot and must’ve tied that rejection to his mother in his twisted mind. The first victim went missing on his mother’s birthday.”

“There’s never an excuse for abusing a child and I know firsthand how much that abuse can impact a person,” Kace said. “It sounds like he had every opportunity to turn his life around and didn’t take it. His mind was sound enough to manipulate others, to stalk and kill innocent people. He’ll get what he deserves.”

“Where he’s going, he’ll need all the skills he can get to keep himself alive,” Travis said as another deputy arrived. Travis looked at Kace and Bree. “Stop by my office later to give a statement.”

“Count on it,” Kace said.

“I’ll go with you now,” Kendra said.

Travis nodded. He gave Deputy Hartford a rundown before hoisting Carr up by his ankles. With Hartford’s help, Travis managed to haul the former sheriff away.

The woods, the cabin would be marked off with crime scene tape in a matter of an hour. Evidence would be gathered. A case would be made. And the former sheriff would rot in prison.

“Can we go home now?” Bree asked as she locked gazes with Kace. There was an underlying question in those words.

“Are you asking what I think you are?” Adrenaline was the only thing keeping Kace from a splitting headache.

“Yes. Move in with me. I want to start our life together.” She touched her stomach. “We have a few months to get settled before this one arrives.”

“I can do better than that.” With effort, he bent down on one knee. “I have loved you for a long time, Bree Burke. My life, my heart is empty without you. I was lost before. Thought moving far away could somehow make me not feel so alone anymore. Hell, I’d never felt truly alone until after that weekend we shared. It changed me. You changed me. I’ve known you for the better part of my life. You’re all I ever need. If you’ll have me, I’m asking you to marry me.”

“Yes, Kace. I’ll marry you. I love you with all my heart.” She wrapped her arms around his neck as he stood.

He kissed her, sweet and tender.

When he finally pulled back, he said, “Let’s go home.”

“I’d like that very much.”

Bree put his arm around her shoulder and his knee almost gave when he took a step.

“You’re hurt.”

“Not anymore.” Kace squeezed her closer before dipping his head to feather a kiss on her lips. “Nothing can hurt me now that I finally found my way to you.”

Three. The number of days it had taken Kace to finally acknowledge what he’d known down deep for months. He was head over heels in love with Bree Burke.

Two. The number of people it would take to make a marriage work. He could hardly wait to walk down the aisle with the love of his life.

One. The number of pregnancies it took for Kace to become the man he’d always been capable of being—a family man.