She closed her eyes and shook her head. Her head wasn’t the only thing shaking, though. She started to shiver, the cold and maybe the fear finally getting to her. “But I’m in trouble. God, Lucas, I’m in so much trouble.”
He was about to curse at her for stating the obvious, but something else went through her eyes.
Fear.
“It won’t take long for word to get out that I’m awake,” Hailey said, speaking barely louder than a whisper. “And he’ll find out.”
“He?” Lucas snapped.
Hailey’s voice cracked. “There’s a killer after me.”
Hailey closed her eyes a moment, hoping it would help with the dizziness.
It didn’t.
It was hard to think with her head spinning, the bone-deep exhaustion and the muscle spasms that kept rippling through her body.
Hard to think, too, with Lucas glaring at her as if she were the enemy. Of course, in his eyes, that’s exactly what she was.
He obviously didn’t believe her. Didn’t trust her, either, but somehow Hailey had to make him understand. First, though, he had to take care of what was most important—the baby.
“Are you sure Camden is safe?” she asked.
That caused a new slash of anger to go through his eyes. Probably because he believed she was dodging the news she’d just dropped on him.
There’s a killer after me.
“He’s safe,” Lucas finally said, but he spoke through clenched teeth. “Now, tell me why you need to make sure of that. Does it have something to do with the so-called killer?” He didn’t give her a chance to say a word, though. “Or are you trying to lie your way out of why you ran from me three months ago?”
“It’s not a lie.” She wished it was. “But I didn’t tell the truth about some other things.”
That tightened the muscles in his jaw even more. “Start from the beginning, and so help me, there’d better not be any lies this time.”
Hailey nodded but glanced around them. Since it was Tuesday and a school night, Silver Creek wasn’t exactly teeming with activity, but she did spot someone jogging in the park. She kept her attention on him until he disappeared around the curve of the tree-lined trail. Maybe it was nothing. Maybe the guy was just that—a jogger—but he could have been someone after her.
“We need to find a better place to talk,” Hailey told him.
Lucas gave her a flat look. Cursed. “I’m not taking you to the Silver Creek Ranch.”
That was no doubt where the baby was.
Camden.
Hailey mentally repeated that, something she’d been doing since Lucas had first mentioned her precious son’s name. Learning something—anything—about her baby caused her heart to ache. It felt as if someone was squeezing it hard.
Mercy, she’d lost so much already. Three months. And there was a lot more she could lose. Thank God the baby was okay, but it was up to her to make sure he stayed that way.
“I can’t see Camden,” Hailey answered. Saying it aloud added an even deeper pain. “Not until I’m sure it’s safe.”
“You won’t see him at all,” Lucas snapped. He spewed out more of that profanity. “You don’t have a right to see him.”
No, in his eyes, she didn’t. But if and when this was over, she would see her son. Even if she had to push her way through an army of Ryland lawmen. No one would keep him from her.
Since it was obvious Lucas wasn’t going to budge, Hailey tried to figure out the fastest way to convince him that it wasn’t safe for her to be out in the open like this.
That meant starting from the beginning.
“I’m not who you think I am,” she said.
A burst of air left his mouth, but it wasn’t a laugh. “Obviously. You slept with me and then sneaked out, leaving me a note saying you couldn’t see me again.”
Hailey didn’t need a reminder of that. She could have recited the note word for word.
Lucas, I’m sorry, but this was a mistake. I can’t get involved with you.
“That was the truth,” she continued. “I shouldn’t have let things get so...intimate between us.”
“But you did, and you got pregnant.”
Yes, she had. Since they’d used a condom, the pregnancy definitely hadn’t been something Hailey had been expecting. But that hadn’t stopped her from wanting the child right from the start.
“Mistakes aside,” Lucas continued, “you had no right to run away from me while you were carrying my baby.” He cursed again. “If you hadn’t had that car accident, I might have never found you. Of course, that was probably the plan, wasn’t it? To run away so that I’d never be able to see my child?”
Hailey didn’t even have to think about that answer. “No. That wasn’t the plan.”
He didn’t believe her, but it was the truth.
“I was trying to stay alive, trying to keep the baby from being hurt,” Hailey explained.
He tapped his badge. “I’m a Texas Ranger.” That was probably his way of saying that if something was wrong, she should have gone straight to him.
But Lucas had been in danger, too.
Something he didn’t know.
Yet.
Figuring she would need it, Hailey took another deep breath. “Two years ago, I was employed as a computer systems analyst in Phoenix for a man named Preston DeSalvo. I found out he was working with someone in the FBI. A dirty agent. And they were selling confiscated weapons. I went to the cops, DeSalvo was eventually arrested, and after I testified against him, I was placed in witness protection and given a new identity. The marshals relocated me here to Silver Creek.”
She paused, giving him a few moments to let all of that sink in, but Lucas didn’t take the time. He whipped out his phone again, and before she could stop him, she saw him press the contact for one of his cousins.
Sheriff Grayson Ryland.
“Don’t tell him I’m with you,” Hailey insisted. “The sheriff’s office could be bugged.”
She saw the debate Lucas was having with himself, but he didn’t stop the call. He did put it on speaker, though, and it didn’t take long before Grayson answered.
“I
