didn’t care a rat’s you-know-what about Kayla, but he would do everything within his power to protect an innocent child.
Even her child.
“The deputy’s trying to scare you,” Kenneth interjected.
“Yeah, I am,” Dade readily admitted. He looked at her again to make sure she got what he was saying. “And if you have any sense whatsoever, you’ll be scared because you can’t believe Brennan is going to let you get anywhere near that witness stand tomorrow morning.”
Her bottom lip trembled a little, but she kept her chin up and her expression resolute.
“Your baby’s safety is one of the main reasons for the protective custody,” Dade informed her. “I have to take your son and you to a safe house. Sheriff’s orders.”
She started the head shaking again. “I’ve already had someone upgrade the security system, and I can hire more bodyguards.” Kayla looked at him. “I wouldn’t have come back here to Silver Creek if I hadn’t thought I could keep my son safe.”
Dade made sure they had eye contact again. “You thought wrong.”
She glanced out the sidelight window. “I don’t believe that. Charles wouldn’t do anything that would risk hurting Robbie.”
“That’s a chance you’re willing to take?”
She didn’t answer that. “Besides, I don’t trust you any more than I trust Charles.”
Dade couldn’t blame her. The Rylands hadn’t exactly been friendly since Ellie’s murder. Things would stay that way, too, but it wouldn’t stop Dade from doing his job.
Kayla stepped closer to him. So close that he caught her scent. Not perfume but baby powder.
“I’ll call my attorney,” she said with her voice lowered. “But I’m certain you can’t force protective custody on me.”
She was right. Well, unless he thought she was going to run. But because she’d arrived voluntarily, he didn’t exactly have reason to believe she would leave.
“Think about your son’s safety,” Dade reminded her.
“I am.” And she turned and opened the door. “I can keep him safe without so-called help from the Rylands.”
Fine. Dade had warned his brother and the D.A. that this wouldn’t be an easy notion to sell, and both had told Dade that somehow he had to convince Kayla otherwise. Well, he’d failed, but he darn sure wasn’t going to lose any sleep over it.
Dade was barely an inch out the door when Kayla slammed it so hard that he felt the gust of air wash over him. It mixed with the blast of chilly February wind that came right at him. He waited a second until he heard her engage the lock. He waited an extra second to see if she would change her mind, but when she didn’t reopen the door, Dade cursed and headed off the porch and toward his truck.
Hell.
He really didn’t want to go back to the sheriff’s office and tell his brother, Grayson, that he’d failed. Not that Grayson was likely keeping count or anything, but Dade figured he already had too many failures on his records. Far more than the other deputies in Silver Creek. Still, he couldn’t force a hardheaded woman to listen to reason.
Dade opened the door to his truck, moved to get inside and then stopped. He lifted his head, listened and looked around.
The area surrounding the circular drive and front of the estate was well lit so he had a good view of pretty much everything within thirty yards in any direction. But it wasn’t the lit areas that troubled him. It was the thick clusters of trees and shrubs on the east and west sides of the estate.
He waited, trying to tamp down the bad feeling he had about all of this. But the bad feeling stayed right with him, settling hard and cold in his stomach.
Dade cursed, shoved his truck keys in his pocket and headed back for the estate. He didn’t relish going a second round with the curvy Kayla, but he would for the sake of her son. Dade turned. Made it just one step.
And that’s when the shot rang out.
Chapter Two
Kayla was halfway up the stairs, but the sound stopped her cold.
A sharp, piercing blast.
The sound tore through the house. And her.
She froze for just a second, but Kenneth certainly didn’t. He drew his gun.
“Get down!” Kenneth shouted. “Someone just fired a shot.”
Kayla’s heart started to pound, and her breath began to race. She had no intentions of getting down. She had to get to her baby. She had to protect Robbie.
There was another shot, followed by someone banging on the front door.
“Let me in!” that someone shouted. It was Deputy Dade Ryland. He was cursing, and while he bashed his fist against the door, he continued to yell for them to let him inside before he got killed.
Her first thought was that Dade was responsible for the shots, but that didn’t make sense. He’d come here to warn her of danger, and if he’d wanted to shoot at them, then he could have done it in the foyer at point-blank range. Still, that didn’t mean she trusted the deputy.
“You need to get down,” Kenneth warned her again, and he headed to the door to disengage the security system and let in the deputy.
Dade didn’t wait for the door to be fully open. The moment Kenneth cracked it, he dived through nearly knocking down her bodyguard in the process. The deputy had his gun drawn and ready, and he reached over to slap off the lights. In the same motion, he kicked the door shut.
“Lock it and reset the security system,” Dade ordered Kenneth. He took out his phone from his jeans pocket and called for backup.
Even though he’d turned off the lights in the foyer, Kayla had no trouble seeing Dade because the lamp in the adjacent living room was blazing. Dade’s eyes were blazing, too, and he turned that hot glare on her.
“I heard your bodyguard tell you to get down. What part of that didn’t you understand?” Dade barked.
“I have to get to my son,” she barked right back, and Kayla continued up the stairs. Or rather that’s what she tried to do, but the third shot wasn’t just a loud blast. It ripped through the window in the living room, spewing glass everywhere. And worse, the bullet tore into the stair railing just a few yards below her.
She froze. Oh, mercy. Someone wasn’t just shooting. The person was actually trying to kill her.
“Now will you get down?” Dade demanded.
Without warning, Dade aimed his gun into the living room and fired, the blast echoing through the foyer. He shot out the lamp, plunging them into darkness. It took a moment for her eyes to adjust.
Even over the blast still roaring in her ears, Kayla heard a sound that robbed
