Lawman's Perfect Surrender (25 page)

His brow lowered in consternation. “I want to give this a try. Us. The baby…being a family.”

Her heart pinged with bursting joy and apprehension. And then the echo of something he’d said pushed into her conscience.

“Wait a minute. Did I hear you say you’ve fallen in love with me?”

He grinned. “Don’t look so shocked.”

She breathed a laugh. “It’s just… Earlier you…”

“Earlier I should have known what you were up to at the grocery store. I didn’t want to accept it. I do now, Gemma. I want to be a father. A husband. More than anything, I want to have a family again.”

“Ford…” She refrained from jumping against him. Was she being too impulsive in believing him? He had a lot to overcome. Like her.

Or did they?

“I know it’s soon. We just met. But you’re pregnant, so if you’re willing…” he hedged.

Willing to do what? It could only be one thing. He was going to ask her to marry him. Too soon. But too right to say no. He was nothing like Jed. There was no comparison.

Meeting Ford had healed her. And meeting her had healed him enough to conquer his fear.

“Will you marry me?” he finally asked.

With a huge smile, she threw her arms around his neck. He lifted her against him, grunting with pain but holding her to him.

She covered his face with kisses. “Ford. Oh, Ford.” Never had she been more sure about anything.

“Is that a yes?”

“Yes!” She kept kissing him.

He chuckled, low and deep. “Anna will be thrilled. We have a lot of news she’s been waiting a long time to hear.”

Gemma burst with excitement. “I can’t wait to get to know her. Take me to see her like she asked.” When his work was finished. It was finished now.

“Let’s go home and call her.”

“We can convert the guest room into an office. You can use it to start your business.”

“It’ll be nice to get out of that apartment.”

Her home was now their home. Cold Plains wasn’t a fairy tale for her anymore, but she’d have her own with Ford. Their house. Their family. Kissing him once more, she paid no attention to the car that had pulled to a stop along the curb.

“I’m going to love redecorating.” She kissed him some more. She’d also love to donate a good chunk of Jed’s money to charities for abused women.

“I’m going to love you.”

She laughed lightly and kept kissing him as a car door shut and footsteps drew closer. A man clearing his throat broke them apart. He was tall and well-built like Ford, with medium blond hair and brown eyes.

“I thought I’d find you here,” he said to Ford.

“Hawk Bledsoe.” Ford told Gemma. “The agent I told you about.”

“Gemma Johnson.” She stuck out her hand. “Thank you for helping Ford.”

He took her hand. “He didn’t need much.”

Ford glanced back at the police station and then surveyed the parking lot as though looked for something amiss. “What are you doing here?”

“Rafe called me a few minutes ago. He asked me to tell you his son’s just been kidnapped.”

Kidnapped? She’d heard the boy had been missing before. How had he turned up missing again?

“He didn’t call it in,” Hawk continued. “Bo might interfere. As you can imagine, he’s out of his mind with worry.”

“I’ll see what I can do.”

And Gemma knew he would.

Hawk gave a nod. “I assume you’ve heard about Lacy Matthews by now?”

Lacy? What had happened to Lacy? Apprehension rose in Gemma. She moved closer to Ford and put her hands on his back and chest. Was Lacy all right?

Ford put his arm around her. “Yes. I planned to check into that, too.”

Hawk noticed how close they stood while she looked at Ford in question. He knew?

“I was on my way to meet Hawk when Bo started following me. I stopped at Cold Plains Coffee,” he explained. “Alan was there, looking for Lacy. She’s been missing for two days.”

Gemma inhaled along with the chill that news triggered. This town had a bad case of missing persons. Would it ever end?

“We’ve started a search with local police,” Hawk said.

“What could have happened to her? Has someone taken her and the girls?” Why would anyone do that?

“Either that or she ran,” Ford said.

From Samuel. Could it be? Had Lacy turned against Samuel and his cult? Was she no longer under his influence? That made the most sense to Gemma. But had Lacy fled, or were she and her girls the newest Cold Plains murder victims?

A shiver racked her.

Ford rubbed her arm to comfort her.

“Do you have any leads?” she asked Hawk. “Did anyone see her two days ago?”

“A pair of red shoes was found in the woods not far from here. We’ve confirmed they belong to one of Lacy’s twins, but I’m afraid that’s all we’ve got right now.”

“I remember her showing them to me.” She’d been so excited to bring them home to her girls. She tipped her head up to see Ford. “Who would hurt two three-year-old girls?”

“Maybe they ran away, Gemma. Others have.”

She rested her head on the pad of his chest, wishing she knew he was right. He rubbed her arm some more, defusing her tension.

Once again, Hawk took note of the intimate contact. “One of the officers helping with the search told me you quit your job today. I think he was glad to hear it.”

Ford wasn’t the only officer on the force who suspected Bo was corrupt.

“He’s starting a P.I. business.” Gemma gazed up at Ford with a smile that Hawk noticed.

“Looks like that’s not all he’s started.”

Gemma laughed. “You have no idea.” She was pregnant and they were getting married.

“Congratulations.” He turned to Ford. “I’ll let you two recover from all you’ve been through. Let’s stay in touch.”

“Thanks. I’m nowhere near finished with Grayson.”

Gemma waved her farewell after Ford shook Hawk’s hand. The agent walked away.

“Let’s go home,” Ford said.

Nothing sounded sweeter. Never once had she anticipated escaping a violent ex-husband only to fall into the arms of a cop who far exceeded all she’d ever dreamed of finding in a man. All the disasters of Cold Plains dropped away with the prospect of a new future with Ford. She was going to cherish her life with him every day. And she’d do everything she could to outlive him, protect their child from harm and see that he never knew loss again.

* * * * *

ISBN: 9781459226289

Copyright © 2012 by Harlequin Books S.A.

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