Page 52 of Bridles and Bribery

“Maybe they won’t have to end.” She darted a nervous look over her shoulder. “In light of full disclosure, Edward proposed about an hour ago, and I said yes.”

Gil threw back his head and gave a cowboy whoop of delight. “I’m not sure whether to congratulate you or pray for you, Edward,” he called across the room. “I’ll probably do both, just to be on the safe side.”

“Get out!” Pretending to be offended, Eloise made a grand show of locking the door behind him. It felt insanely wonderful to be loved and cherished like this. To have good people in her life who cared enough about her to worry about her safety. She was, hands down, the most fortunate woman on the planet.

“Jillian had her first contraction.”Josh Hawling folded his arms, leaning back against the wall and looking every inch the bull rider he’d once been. His jaw was set in grim lines beneath the brim of the Stetson he’d pulled low. “We’re still waiting to hear if it’s a false alarm or if she’s in labor.”

“Where is she?” Dave shot to his feet. He’d been expecting to receive this message soon. Just not this soon. Jillian was still three weeks from her delivery date. He already had his go bag packed.

They were inside the subterranean lounge below Lonestar Security’s headquarters building. It was located in downtown Heart Lake, close enough to the lake itself to have a waterfront view on one side. He’d essentially been hiding in plain sight, coming and going from his bunker room as needed while disguised as one of the many security guards on staff there.

“She’s at home.” Josh didn’t make any move to follow him to the door. “She’s with your mother and Edward Wagner, whom I understand is about to become your next stepfather.”

Though that was news to Dave, he had little interest in discussing his mother’s exhaustively long and complex dating life. He’d deal with that later. “I’m assuming they’re taking her to the medical center?” Because of Jillian’s age, there were much higher risks involved in her upcoming delivery.

“Gil didn’t say.” Josh’s tanned features were set in hard lines. “He’s on his way here with a bouquet of flowers that got delivered to your home today.”

Dave’s eyebrows came together. “Who are they from?”

“That’s what we’re trying to figure out.” Josh shook his head. “Whoever sent them didn’t attach a message.”

Dave ran a hand over the scruff on his jaw. He’d spentso much time sheltering in place lately that he no longer shaved every day. What was the point? “Any news yet about those hang-up calls she’s been receiving?” With Jillian’s permission, they’d been tapping her phone. It was the only reason they knew about the person or persons who’d been calling her every day for the past week. They’d been calling at different times from different numbers. Unlike the random cold calls most people received from solicitors, these callers weren’t staying on the line long enough to roll to voicemail.

“As a matter of fact…” Josh straightened, pushing away from the wall and stepping further into the light. “Our team was finally able to trace one of the calls. It came yesterday afternoon from a surrogacy clinic in Dallas. The same one your wife did business with.” His expression didn’t register any surprise or curiosity. He already knew Jillian’s story, and he wasn’t passing judgment on it.

Since Josh looked like he had something else to say, Dave waited impatiently.

“Because of your value as a federal witness, we passed the information on to the Feds, hoping they would use their resources to follow up on it, which they did.”

“And?” Dave prodded.

“They convinced the clinic to give up the name of her donor.”

“You mean?—?”

“The biological father of her child, yes. A man by the name of Donovan Marks. The call came from the clinic’s legal counsel. He was attempting to contact her about a breach of contract.”

“A what?” Dave snarled. How dare they make such a claim! They were already skirting the outer edges of whatwas legally permissible in their handling of Jillian’s pregnancy.

“Hold your horses, partner.” Josh held up his hands. “The breach is on Mr. Marks’ part, not hers. Apparently, he’s changed his mind about wanting to keep the child. When they refused to reach out to her, he hired a lawyer to hound them about it. In the process, someone let slip that Mr. Marks is currently en route to Heart Lake.”

“He found her,” Dave declared in a dull voice. Did it mean his enemies had gotten to Donovan Marks as a way of tracking down Jillian’s location? Dave had been so careful to keep his and Jillian’s names off the utility bills and what not. He’d cloaked the ownership of their home in the same layers of legal documents, trusts, and anonymity.

“Feds are crawling the lake as we speak, probably tripping over the guys we’ve had on patrol since the day all of this began.” Josh was referring, of course, to Dave’s involvement with the Jacobsons. “It’s only a precaution. We have no reason yet to believe your wife’s donor has any connection to the case.”

Yet.So much rested on that three-letter word. In the meantime, Dave’s enemies were pulling their net ever tighter around Heart Lake. The last thing he and Jillian needed to add to the mix was a custody suit! Dave wished like crazy that he was back in his office building on the third floor, putting his years of experience to work on Jillian’s defense. Since that wasn’t an option, he’d just have to find another way to help her. One thing was for sure; he wasn’t going to sit on his hands and do nothing while the creep that had abandoned his responsibilities toward her tried to worm his way back into her life.

She’s mine now. My family.The child she was about to deliver was also his. Donovan Marks was going to need avery good lawyer before this was over, because Dave planned to throw the book at him.

Josh’s work phone buzzed with an incoming call. He lifted it to his ear. “Josh speaking.” He grimaced. “We’re on our way.” He pocketed his phone. “Jillian’s water broke. They’re scrambling a few ambulances to get her safely to the medical center. They’ll be taking three separate routes.”

Dave knew what that meant — two distractions and only one ambulance carrying the love of his life and their unborn child. He wordlessly strode to his room off from the lounge and grabbed his go bag.

Since it was quicker than taking the elevator, he and Josh jogged up the two flights of stairs leading to the gated parking garage. They nodded at the guy manning the guard shack and hopped inside one of Lonestar Security’s collection of armored vehicles. They’d been rotating through the lineup, taking a different set of wheels each time Dave ventured out of hiding. This time, they were in a black Lexus sedan.

“I appreciate everything you’re doing for me and my family, man.” Dave was amazed that Josh and his partner, Decker, had been willing to go to so much trouble on their behalf. Sure, he got the fact that they were in the middle of bringing Gil on as a third partner, but still.

“About that,” Josh drawled as they exited the parking garage. He turned left across a tiny break in the traffic, squealing the tires of the car in his haste to be on their way.

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