RENEGADE GUARDIAN (18 page)

Keeping his gun ready, Slade lifted the seat and glanced down at the baby. He didn’t want to think about this possibly being his child. Didn’t want to think of anything but getting him to safety.

Slade hurried back to the fence and climbed over. Still using the trees as cover, he opened his mouth to call out to his brothers so they could move in to help.

But Slade heard a sound that he definitely didn’t want to hear. Not a gunshot this time. Something worse.

Maya’s scream tore through the silence.

Chapter Nineteen

Maya heard the movement behind her a split second too late. She whirled around, her gun ready, but something knocked it from her hand.

Not
something,
she amended.

Someone.

She couldn’t see who it was, but she definitely felt the blow to the back of her head. The pain exploded through her brain, and even though she tried to catch on to anything to break her fall, she didn’t manage it. She dropped straight to the ground.

The fall didn’t help. It knocked what little breath she had out of her, and before she could recover and try to figure out what was happening to her, someone latched on to her hair and dragged her back to her feet.

“Maya?” Slade yelled.

He’d no doubt heard her scream, and Maya tried to do it again so he’d know where she was, but she rethought that. Someone had fired those shots, and since Slade was alive, she didn’t want him walking into an ambush.

She tried to fight. Hard to do with no breath and the pain stabbing through her head.

Mercy, how badly was she hurt?

Had the person managed to give her a concussion? Or worse? Maya tried not to think of the “
worse”
part, and she started flailing her arms around, trying to make contact with anything that would get her attacker to release her.

She failed.

The grip on her hair got tighter, and Maya found herself being slammed against someone’s chest.

A man.

That barely had time to register when she felt something else add to the pain. Not a gun. But a knife.

Oh, God.

He had a knife.

A thousand flashbacks came. The worst of the worst. They tore through her right along with the pain from the blow to the back of the head. And she relived every slice from the blade that had nearly left her dead all those years ago.

“Maya!” Slade again.

She felt herself go limp, and all the fight left her. Maya couldn’t make herself move. Couldn’t breathe. Couldn’t scream.

Not even when she felt the tip of the knife flick against her throat.

She was going to die. Right here. Right now. He would finish what her ex had started. Maya drew in the last breath she figured she’d ever take.

And then she thought of Evan.

Slade, too.

They were both there, right along with the brutal images of the attack.

Everything inside her went still. An eerie calmness that seemed to reach right down into her soul. But in that calmness, she knew one thing. She had to fight to stay alive not just for herself but for Slade and her baby.

She forced herself to breathe. Relaxed her throat. And focused. Maya gathered every bit of her strength and rammed her elbow into her attacker’s stomach. It was risky. He could just cut her throat, but her will to live was the only weapon she had. He staggered back just a fraction, but before she could start running, he latched on to her again.

“Don’t make me kill you here,” he snarled.

Maya knew that voice, but before she could say his name, Slade came running into the small clearing where she was. He had a baby carrier in his left hand. His gun ready in his right. But obviously he wasn’t in a position to fight back, not with the baby in the middle of this.

“Let her go, Randall,” Slade ordered.

Even in the darkness, she could see the intense expression on his face. Could hear it in his voice. He would do anything humanly possible to save her, but it might not be enough.

With the knife still at her throat, Randall shook his head and mumbled something. At first Maya thought he was talking to her, but it took her a moment to realize he was speaking into a small communicator that he had in his ear.

“Move in closer,” Randall said to the person on the other end of that device. “Let me know when you’re in place, and we can get this show on the road—literally.”

He was talking to his henchman, no doubt. But what did he want with her? He’d certainly had a chance to kill her and he hadn’t taken it.

“My brothers are out there,” Slade warned him. “They won’t let you get away.
I
won’t let you get away,” he added through clenched teeth.

“Getting away isn’t what I have in mind.” Unlike Slade’s, Randall’s voice was actually calm. Too calm, maybe. “Now that you’ve killed Gambill and his friend, I have no choice but to use Maya.”

So Gambill had been the one behind the mask. That didn’t surprise her, but she was shocked to hear that he was dead. And his backup, too. Slade had almost certainly been the one to eliminate them, and despite that it meant two men had died, Maya had no sympathy for them.

Or for Randall.

They’d endangered the lives of those two babies they’d kidnapped, and Andrea was dead. For that matter, Chase and Nadine might be dead, as well.

“Did you kill the Colliers?” Maya asked.

“Not yet. My assistant is holding them at gunpoint so they won’t be tempted to help you. I don’t want any interference, and I want to make this short and sweet.”

“What the hell does that mean?” Slade snapped.

The baby stirred in the carrier, but Slade only turned it so that the child wasn’t facing Randall. The carrier wouldn’t protect the child if shots were fired, so Maya prayed that his brothers would be there soon.

“Well, the plan was for you to be dead,” Randall said, his attention nailed to Slade, “and for Gambill to use the kid there to force Maya to have Evan’s DNA tested. Best-laid plans went south again just like at the barn. Gambill set off those damn rifles before I could tell Maya what I needed her to do. After Andrea was shot—an accident, I promise— I had to regroup.”

Maya hated to hear the details. Each one made the flashbacks worse. Of course, the knife at her throat didn’t help, either, but the worst was having Slade and the baby there in danger.

“Why do you want Evan’s DNA?” Slade asked.

“It’s obvious, isn’t it? If he’s my son, then I need to take him. Gina will listen to reason if I have the kid. Even though she gave him up for adoption, she won’t want me to raise him without her being around to, well, supervise.”

So this was a crazy form of blackmail to get Gina back. One that might work if Gina knew just how dangerous Randall truly was.

“What if she didn’t give him up?” Maya had to do or say whatever it took to give Slade’s brothers a chance to stop this. Besides, she might be able to talk Randall out of whatever he was planning. “What if she let you believe she gave him up and then disappeared with the child?”

“Then I’ll find her.” His voice was no longer calm, and it was laced with emotions she was all too familiar with. Obsession and violence.

A dangerous combination.

“You obviously don’t care a thing about your son,” Maya tossed at him. “Because if Evan’s your son, you could have hurt him when you had your hired gun ram the SUV into my car.”

“That wasn’t supposed to happen. It was supposed to be a quick smash-and-grab, but when I found out what the idiot had done, he paid for it.”

With his life. So Randall had killed him. That was one mystery solved, but Maya hadn’t needed to hear it to know he was capable of murder.

“You said this was my son,” Slade reminded him, but he also shifted his position and eased the carrier onto the ground. Maybe freeing up his hands for a fight that Maya was certain he wouldn’t want to have with the baby so close and the knife at her throat.

“He might be. He sure isn’t mine,” Randall insisted. “I just got back the DNA results.”

“So you lied.” Slade shifted again. Inching closer.

“It’s only a lie if it turns out to be one. In fact, I wouldn’t have even known you were in this DNA lottery if I hadn’t been checking for labs running DNA tests on the babies. After a few bribes, I learned the kids’ DNA was being compared to yours. Wasn’t hard to figure out that you were looking for your kid.”

Without warning, Randall jabbed the end of the knife against her neck, cutting into the skin. “Keep moving, Marshal, and the next cut will be a lot deeper.”

Slade stopped, and his gaze met hers. He didn’t say anything, not with his mouth anyway, but she could almost hear him say he was sorry. This wasn’t his fault. He was as much of a victim as the babies, the Rands, Andrea and she were. But he would put this on his shoulders and bear the weight of it.

“We need to end this now,” Randall insisted.

“Why the hurry?” Slade tossed back. “You had ample opportunity to kidnap Maya while we were at the safe house after you had someone plant the tracking device in the grocery sack. Yet you waited for hours.”

Randall cursed, and she felt the muscles tense in his hand. “I had to regroup then, too. The woman I hired to watch the kids ran out on me, and I had to find someone else.”

Maya cringed at the thought of those babies being at the mercy of this monster, but at least Caleb was safe now.

“Good,” Randall said into the communicator. He looked at Slade again. “My gunman has your brothers in his sight. Tell them to stay put. Do it now!” he yelled when Slade didn’t say anything.

“Randall says his gunman has you in his sight,” Slade finally shouted. What Declan and Wyatt would do with that info she didn’t know, but Maya prayed they could still help.

“And now we have to get moving,” Randall continued. “This is how it’ll work. My second assistant will collect the money bags. I need it to pay for this whole kidnapping operation, and then Maya and I will go back to the house. If she makes one wrong move, I’ll cut her. It might not kill her, but she’ll wish it had. And once we’re at the house, I’ll get the DNA sample from the kid.”

“Then what?” Maya was surprised Slade could speak with his jaw clenched that way.

“Maya and Evan will have to stay with me for a few days. Just until I have the DNA results. If Evan’s mine, then I take him. If he’s not, then I’ll give him back.”

She knew it wouldn’t be that easy. No. Randall would have to kill her because she was a witness. Slade, too. And that also meant he’d likely given his henchmen orders to kill Slade’s brothers and the Colliers.

Maya was afraid to move, but she was more terrified of losing Slade and her son. She wasn’t sure what she should do until she heard the scream bubble up in her throat. Her yell blasted through the night.

Randall cursed and moved. No doubt to jab the knife into her, but Maya twisted around, trying to break free.

From the corner of her eye, she saw the movement. A whirl of motion. Slade came right at them, and he shoved her aside as if she weighed nothing. Maya landed on the ground, and Slade rammed right into Randall.

The men went flying.

Oh, God. The knife.

The moonlight hit the blade just right, and she saw Randall swing it at Slade. He was trying to kill him.

Maya didn’t have a gun. Randall had knocked hers somewhere on the ground, and it might do more harm than good if she jumped into the middle of the fight.

It was a horrible thing to watch. The life-and-death battle going on right in front of her. She felt around on the ground, feeling for anything she could use, and she found some rocks. It wasn’t much, but when Randall rolled on top of Slade, Maya threw the rocks, pelting him in the back.

Randall cursed. It was vicious. As was the look on his face when he whirled around, ready to launch himself at her.

But Slade didn’t let that happen.

He grabbed Randall by the back of the neck, turned and body-slammed him face first into the ground. Even though it must have broken a bone or two, Randall came up fighting. Like a crazed killer.

Slade punched him with his left fist, and Randall’s head flopped back. He tried to get up again, but this time Slade put his gun right in the center of Randall’s forehead.

“Move,
please,
” Slade growled. “Because I’m looking for an excuse to send you straight to hell.”

Randall stopped fighting.

But Maya held her breath. Waiting. Praying this was over. However, she wasn’t sure it truly was until she heard the footsteps. She raced to the baby, using her body to shield him just in case this was Randall’s henchman.

But it was Declan and Wyatt.

Declan hurried to Slade and hauled Randall to his feet. He took some plastic cuffs from his pocket and restrained the man.

“Are you okay?” Slade asked her, his words rushing out with his breath. “Did he hurt you?”

Maya put her fingers over the trickle of blood running down her neck. It hurt, but she doubted it was serious. Still, Slade cursed and then cursed Randall. Since she was afraid Slade would beat the man to death, she pulled him away.

“I’m fine.” That was a lie. Her nerves were a wreck, and she didn’t think she’d stop shaking anytime soon.

“Is he okay?” Wyatt asked, looking over her at the baby.

Maya had to see for herself. She didn’t know how the baby managed it, but he was still sound asleep. The relief flooded through her.

Well, some relief.

Maya scooped up the carrier and hurried to Slade. Even though they had an audience, she rushed toward him. However, before she could put her arm around him, Slade’s attention went to Wyatt.

“How many of Randall’s men did you find?” he asked Wyatt.

“Just one. He was holding the Colliers at gunpoint.”

Randall laughed, and the sound nearly froze her blood.

Slade cursed and pulled out his phone. “Cutter,” he said the second his ranch hand answered. “There’s another gunman out there, and he’s probably heading to the ranch. Stop him before he can take Evan.”

Chapter Twenty

Slade couldn’t move fast enough, but thankfully
everyone was cooperating.

Maya grabbed the baby and the carrier, and they hurried back to
the horses. They had to get back to the ranch because he couldn’t risk someone
kidnapping Evan.

From the corner of his eye he saw Nadine and Chase. They were
arguing, and Chase drew back his hand and slapped her hard. Under normal
circumstances, Slade would have intervened, but this was far from normal.

“Arrest them both first chance you get,” Slade said to Wyatt
and Declan, who were leading Randall back in the direction of the ranch. They
couldn’t risk putting him on horseback in case he did something to make the
horse throw them and escaped. So it wouldn’t be a fast journey.

“Call Dallas,” Slade said, handing Maya his phone. There wasn’t
much room in the saddle with both of them and the baby, but she managed to take
hold, and she found Dallas’s number in his contacts.

“Randall could have a gunman coming to the house,” she
relayed.

And Slade held his breath, praying the gunman wasn’t already
there.

“It’s under control,” Slade heard Dallas say. Maya had put the
call on speaker. “We’ve got the gunman, and the house is secure. The ranch hands
are out now looking for anyone else that Randall might have managed to get on
the grounds, but there haven’t been any other security sensors triggered.”

Slade didn’t know whose sound of relief was louder, his or
Maya’s. She dropped her head on the back of his shoulder and mumbled a prayer of
thanks. Slade added one of his own.

But they weren’t out of the woods yet.

Now that he could slow down, he looked back at her and tried to
see how bad her injury was. In the moonlight the streak of blood looked black,
but he knew what it was. And it made him want to kill Randall. The acid churned
in his stomach at the thought of that bastard putting his hands on Maya.

“Maya needs to go to the hospital,” Slade told Dallas.
“Randall...cut her.” He nearly choked on the words. “And we should have the baby
checked out, too.

“Dr. Landry’s still here. I didn’t want her outside the house
with the gunmen at large.”

Good. The sooner Maya and the baby were attended to, the
better. Slade ended the call and rode toward the ranch.

“The baby is Will Collier,” Maya said, easing off his cap so
she could look at his hair.

So that meant both missing babies were accounted for. That
alone was a miracle. Usually these kinds of cases didn’t have happy endings, and
here they’d gotten two of them.

And maybe a third.

Because either this baby or Evan could be his son.

Slade took his phone from Maya and called Dallas back. “Randall
said he did DNA tests on the babies. Can you track them down and compare the DNA
to mine?”

Dallas didn’t hesitate. “I’ll get right on it.”

The ride seemed to take an eternity, but Slade finally saw the
lights of the back porch. Even though the threat was over, he couldn’t wait to
get inside. The moment he reined in, he helped Maya out of the saddle, took the
carrier and rushed her into the kitchen.

His attention went right to her neck.

He didn’t curse, because there was a roomful of people in the
den just off the kitchen. His brothers, sister-in-law, Caitlyn, Stella, who was
holding a sleeping Evan, Dr. Landry and the Rands, who were thanking everyone
and preparing to leave. They looked eager to get the heck out of there, and
Slade didn’t blame them. Their lives had been a living hell for the past two
days, and they probably wanted to get back to something normal.

Both Dallas and Harlan were on their phones, huddled in the
corners of the room. Slade knew that Dallas was working on the DNA tests, and
Harlan was no doubt doing mop-up on the dead gunmen and the investigation.

“Evan.” Maya made a beeline for him and pulled him into her
arms.

“Before he started making some calls, Dallas said you had an
injury.” Dr. Landry went closer to Maya and started the examination.

“Is she okay?” Slade asked the doc.

“I’m fine,” Maya repeated. “But make sure the baby’s all
right.”

Dr. Landry nodded and glanced at the baby. Slade glanced at
him, too, and the baby’s eyes were wide open now. He was looking around the room
as if trying to figure out what the heck was going on.

“He looks pretty healthy to me,” the doctor concluded, and she
took some supplies from her bag. “Let me just get this wound cleaned first.
Don’t think stitches are necessary, but I don’t want it getting infected.” She
dabbed away the blood, smeared on some cream she took from her bag and put a
bandage over it.

“The baby’s yours?” Wyatt asked, looking in the carrier seat at
Will.

“Maybe.” Slade glanced at Maya. “What if he is?”

The moment the doctor was finished with the bandage, Maya
brushed a kiss on Slade’s cheek. “Then I’m sure you’ll have no trouble stopping
the Colliers’ adoption and taking custody of him.”

Yes on both counts. The Colliers didn’t deserve to have a
baby.

“How’s Lenora doing?” Maya asked, but she had her attention on
Will as the doctor took the baby from the carrier and sat on the sofa to examine
him.

“It shouldn’t be much longer,” Stella answered. “Clayton said
he’d call as soon as the baby came.” She strolled closer, watching Will.

So did the others.

Especially Slade.

He kept volleying his attention from Maya to Evan to Will.

“Got good news,” Harlan said when he finished a phone call. “We
found Gina, Randall’s ex. She’s been in hiding because she was scared of
him.”

Not a surprise. “So is Will her baby?” Slade asked.

Harlan shook his head. “Gina didn’t give up her child. She
faked the adoption to throw Randall off her trail. I’m guessing she had no idea
what kind of hell it’d create.”

Hell
was a good word for it. But
there was a flip side to all of this. If it hadn’t been for the hell, he
wouldn’t have met Maya. Maybe not Evan, either. And even though he didn’t want
to go back through that, he would go through worse if it meant keeping Maya.

Slade froze.

Mentally repeated that.

And suddenly everything became crystal clear. He knew exactly
what he had to do.

With everyone’s attention still on Will and his examination,
Slade slipped his arm around Maya’s waist. “I want you to marry me.” He shook
his head, mumbled some profanity. That sounded like an order. “Will you marry
me?”

Maya blinked. Twice. “Uh, shouldn’t you wait until you know if
Evan is your son?”

“No. Because it doesn’t matter if he is or not.” Heck, that
didn’t sound right, either. “I mean, he already feels like my son, so it won’t
matter if we have the same DNA. He’s my son, and I want you to be my wife. Marry
me,” he repeated.

She stared at him. Licked her lips. Then pushed her hair from
her face. “I’ll only marry you for love.”

Oh. That. Well, heck. He was really putting the cart before the
horse. “Easy fix. I love you.”

Of course, that didn’t mean she felt the same, and Slade held
his breath, waiting, hoping and praying that he’d hear the answer he wanted.

Her smile said it all.

And the way she slid her hand around the back of his neck and
pulled him closer for a kiss. “I love you, too,” she said against his mouth.

Instant relief. Instant heat, too, and Slade deepened the kiss
until he remembered where they were. And who was watching. His brothers. His
sister-in-law, Harlan’s fiancée, the doctor and Stella. All seemed amused.

Even Will was watching them.

The baby was still on the doctor’s lap, but he looked up at
them. His expression was so intense that it made Slade smile. He picked him up
and brushed a kiss on his cheek. Slade was about to press Maya for an answer,
but both the doctor’s and Stella’s phones buzzed.

Slade held his breath, praying this wasn’t another dose of bad
news, but then he saw both the doctor and Stella smiling.

“Lenora just delivered a baby boy,” Stella announced. “Jacob
Kirby Caldwell. From the sound of it, he’s got a good pair of lungs on him.”

“Seven pounds, six ounces,” the doctor supplied. “Just got a
text from one of the nurses. Both the mom and baby are doing great.”

That created a flurry of excitement. His brother had a son. The
next generation for Kirby’s boys.

Except it wasn’t the first, Slade realized, because his son was
already six weeks old.

“I’m leaving now,” the doctor said. “And I expect an invitation
to the wedding. If there is one.” She looked at Joelle. “And maybe you’ll have a
girl. To balance out all this testosterone.”

“I’ll see what I can do,” Joelle said, smiling.

The doctor headed out, and only then did Slade remember that
Maya hadn’t answered his proposal. She’d said the “I love you” part. He had,
too, but he needed the yes.

“Don’t say no,” Slade insisted.

The corner of Maya’s mouth lifted. “Wouldn’t dream of it.
You’re everything I’ve always wanted, Slade Becker.”

Declan groaned. “Not another wedding.” But he winked at
her.

The others came forward, each hugging Maya and congratulating
him. Though it was clear they were all happy for him, no one looked ready to
linger. Probably because they figured Maya and he might like a moment alone.

And Slade did.

But he knew the moment would have to wait when Dallas finished
his call. Judging from his expression, he had news, but Slade couldn’t tell if
it was good or bad.

“Evan’s not your biological son,” Dallas started. “His birth
mother is the person on his adoption records, and she voluntarily gave him up.
Nothing fishy about the adoption.”

“And what about Will?” Slade hadn’t intended to hold his
breath, but that’s exactly what happened.

Dallas nodded. “He’s yours.”

The emotions slammed through him. The shock. The sheer
happiness. Everything. Until Slade remembered they were dealing with Randall.
“Could Randall have faked the tests?”

“He didn’t. The results match the ones that Declan ran for both
babies. Will is your son.”

Another slam, but the strongest one of all was the love. It
filled every inch of him, and Slade knew it was a love he didn’t want to let go
of.

Dallas left with the others, and later Slade would thank them
for that.

Because he couldn’t hold back any longer, Slade kissed Maya. It
wasn’t easy to do since they were both holding babies.

Their sons.

“You okay with this?” Slade asked.

She smiled, and he could taste that smile in their next kiss.
“Better than okay. I get a smokin’-hot husband and two sons. I’m the luckiest
person on earth.”

No. Slade had that honor. He had Evan, Will and Maya. For the
first time in his life, he had something he’d never really had.

A family of his own.

* * * * *

USA TODAY bestselling author
Delores
Fossen’s miniseries
THE MARSHALS OF
MAVERICK COUNTY
continues next month
with
JUSTICE IS COMING.
Look for it wherever
Harlequin
Intrigue books are sold!

Keep reading for an excerpt from WOULD-BE
CHRISTMAS WEDDING by Debra Webb.