boy didn’t match any of the mothers, so they repeated the test. Those results came back yesterday. The first test wasn’t wrong. The child didn’t match any of the mothers. And now, one mother and one baby are missing.”
Was the sheriff talking about Gabrielle? And was a baby snatcher peering out at him from the tack blankets?
“Is this woman involved with the gunmen and the hostage situation?” Houston asked. “SAPD doesn’t think so.”
“I see,” Houston mumbled. So, she might not have taken part in the hostage situation, but she wasn’t completely innocent, either. “She took a kid who wasn’t hers.” There weren’t enough gentlemanly bones in his body to stop him from turning Gabrielle in to the sheriff. He couldn’t let her get away with kidnapping.
Houston looked at her, to let her know that, but she was frantically shaking her head.
“Well, the baby wasn’t hers, not biologically, anyway,” the sheriff explained, before Houston could speak. “But she did give birth to it.”
Houston snapped his attention back to the sheriff. “Excuse me?”
“There was surveillance video of her going into the delivery room. And the baby’s ID bracelet matched the one on the woman’s wrist. The only reason the cops did a DNA test was that they wanted to be a hundred percent sure that the right mothers got the right babies. They hadn’t expected anything like this to turn up.”
Another glance at Gabrielle. She was no longer shaking her head. She was looking at him with the saddest doe eyes he’d ever seen.
That wouldn’t work, either.
“This woman was a surrogate of some kind?” Houston asked, figuring he’d finally worked it out. Gabrielle had been a surrogate and had changed her mind about giving up the baby. However, that didn’t explain why the cops and sheriff would think this had anything to do with him.
The sheriff nodded. “Her name is Gabrielle Markham, an attorney I think you had some dealings with.”
“I know her,” Houston admitted. “Did she break the law when she ran with the baby? ”
“Maybe. The police are still investigating it, but she might have become a surrogate through illegal means. And she might have done that so she could have some leverage over you. If all that’s true, then, yeah, it would be obstruction of justice to take the child.”
Gabrielle made a soft gasp, and even though it was soft, Houston thought it might be laced with outrage.
The sheriff glanced past Houston and looked around the stables. He even took a step forward, probably intending to go inside and have a closer look around to see what had made that sound. Soon, Houston would let him do just that. But he wanted to hear the rest of this little story first.
“How could Ms. Markham hope to gain any leverage over me with an illegal surrogacy?” Houston asked.
Sheriff Whitley met him eye-to-eye. “Mr. Sadler … Houston, this is going to be tough news for you to hear. I figured I should warn you about that upfront.”
A lot of bad things went through Houston’s mind, but he managed a nod. Oh, this wouldn’t be good. In all his thirty-six years, the sheriff had finally called him by his first name, and his tone was that of pure sympathy.
The sheriff eased off his hat. “About five years ago, your late wife, Lizzy, and you used the Cryogen Clinic, in San Antonio, to harvest Lizzy’s eggs so you’d have embryos for in vitro fertilization.”
Houston held up his hand to stop the sheriff. “We did, but we never used the embryos. Well, not successfully anyway.” They’d made a half dozen attempts, but in vitro had never worked for them.
Houston squeezed his hands into fists for several seconds, so he could hold on to his composure. Even now, more than three years later, it was hell talking about this.
“Your wife died of breast cancer,” the sheriff finished for him.
“Yeah.” And Houston left it at that. “So, what do our embryos have to do with Ms. Markham?”
The sheriff shook his head, mumbled something under his breath. “At this point, the police don’t know if Ms. Markham stole the embryo or not. But you can understand why they want to take her into custody. And they darn sure want to learn what she’s been up to, and where she’s taken the baby.”
The sheriff paused again. “Has she been in contact with you about any kind of payment?”
Houston tried to shrug, but he was getting a very bad feeling about this. “Why would she?”
“Maybe she wants to use the child to get you to cough up money? ”
That bad feeling got significantly worse. Each word hit Houston like a fist. “Back up. Are you saying what I think you’re saying?”
The sheriff took his time, and his forehead bunched up before he nodded. “I’m saying the baby boy that Gabrielle Markham gave birth to six weeks ago is your son.”
Chapter Two
Gabrielle’s instincts were to run, to get out of there as fast as she could. It’d been a terrible mistake, coming to Houston Sadler’s ranch. Now, it might cost her the very thing she was trying desperately to hang on to, her baby, Lucas.
She looked at the back of the stables for a way out. There was a set of double doors, both closed, and Gabrielle only hoped they weren’t locked—and that the big horse that Houston had ridden would get out of her way. While she was hoping, she added that neither the sheriff nor Houston would spot her while she escaped.
Gabrielle made her way behind the shelves and was about to climb over a stall when she heard the sound. It was a loud groan, so loud and so filled with emotion that it caused her to turn around. Houston had made that sound, and even though his back was to her, he had his head tilted toward the sky as if seeking divine help.
She understood his reaction.
Lately, Gabrielle had been doing her own share of praying.
“You’re sure about this baby being mine?” Houston asked the sheriff.
“I’m sure. What SAPD hasn’t figured out yet is how Ms. Markham got the embryo in the first place. Your wife hadn’t left a signed agreement that it could be donated, so there’s no legal way Ms. Markham could have used it. That’s why SAPD is so concerned. They don’t know what she intends to do with the baby.”
That stopped Gabrielle in her tracks, and the anger slammed through her again. How dare they accuse her of doing anything wrong. She was the victim here, and Houston Sadler was the person who’d probably put this sick plan together.
At least she’d thought that when she sneaked onto the ranch and into the stables to wait for him.
When she’d come up with the idea to get Houston to confess to his dirty deeds, she’d been thankful that he was a man of routine. Just about everyone in Willow Ridge knew that Houston took his favorite horse out for a ride after lunch, so she’d delivered some flowers to the house and then made her way to the
