way he was letting their remains go anywhere even if he could convince me to marry him, which was never going to happen.”
Maybe it was the late hour, but he was having trouble making sense of this. “So after you met me...”
“I was more determined to free both my parents and myself from Jonas forever. I wasn’t back at the compound long though, when I realized I was pregnant. Jonas realized it, too. I became a prisoner of SLS until the birth. Then Jonas had the baby taken away and had me locked up. I had to escape to get help for my daughter.”
“Your daughter?”
She met his gaze. “That’s why I’m here... She’s our daughter,” she said, her voice suddenly choked with tears. “Jonas took the baby girl that you and I made the first night we met.”
* * *
COLT STARED AT HER, too shocked to speak for a moment. What the hell? “Are you trying to tell me—”
“I had your child but I couldn’t contact you. Jonas kept me under guard, locked away. I had no way to get a message out. If any of the sisters tried to help me, they were severely punished.”
He couldn’t believe what he was hearing. “Wait. You had the baby at the compound?”
She nodded. “One of the members is a midwife. She delivered a healthy girl, but then Jonas had the child taken away almost at once. I got to hold her only for a few moments and only because Sister Amelia let me. She was harshly reprimanded for it. I got to look into her precious face. She has this adorable tiny heart-shaped birthmark on her left thigh and my blond hair. Just fuzz really.” Tears filled her eyes again.
Colt ran a hand over his face before he looked at her again. “I’m having a hard time believing any of this.”
“I know. If Jonas had let me leave with my daughter, I wouldn’t have ever troubled you with any of this,” she said.
“You would never have told me about the baby?” He hadn’t meant to make it sound like an accusation. He’d expected her to be offended.
Instead, when she spoke, he saw only sympathy in her gaze. “When I met you, you were on leave and going back the next day. You were talking about staying in the Army. Your fiancée had just broken up with you.”
“You don’t have to remind me.”
“What you and I shared that night...” She met his gaze. “I’ll never forget it, but I wasn’t fool enough to think that it might lead to anything. The only reason I’m here now is that I need help to get our daughter away from that...man.”
“Don’t I have a right to know if I have a child?”
“Of course. But I wouldn’t be asking anything of you—if Jonas hadn’t taken our daughter. I’m more than capable of taking care of her and myself.”
“What I don’t understand is why Jonas wants to keep a baby that isn’t his.”
She didn’t seem surprised by his skepticism, but when he looked into her eyes, he saw pain darken all that beautiful blue. “I can understand why you wouldn’t believe she’s yours.”
“I didn’t say that.”
“You didn’t have to.” She got to her feet, grabbing the table to steady herself. “I shouldn’t have come here, but I didn’t know where else to go.”
“Hold on,” he said, pushing back his chair and coming around the table to take her shoulders in his hands. She felt small, fragile, and yet he saw a strength in her that belied her slim frame. “You have to admit this is quite the story.”
“That’s why I didn’t tell you the night we met about the cult or the problems I was having getting my parents’ remains out. I still thought I could handle it myself. Also I doubt you would have believed it.” Her smile hurt him soul deep. “I wouldn’t have believed it and I’ve lived through all of this.”
He was doing his best to keep an open mind. He wasn’t a man who jumped to quick conclusions. He took his time to make decisions based on the knowledge he was able to acquire. It had kept him alive all these years as an Army helicopter pilot.
“So what you’re telling me is that the leader of SLS has taken your baby to force you to marry him? If he’s so dangerous, why wouldn’t he have just—”
“Forced me? He tried to...join with me, as he put it. He’s still limping from the attempt. And equally determined that I will come to him. Now that I’ve shamed him...he will never let me have my baby unless I completely surrender to him in front of the whole congregation.”
“Don’t you mean our baby?”
Lola gave him an impatient look. Tears filled her eyes as she swayed a little as if having trouble staying upright after everything she’d been through.
He felt a stab of guilt. He’d been putting her through an interrogation when clearly she was exhausted. It was bad enough that she was scraped, cut and bruised, but he could see that her real injuries were more than skin deep.
“You’re dead on your feet,” he said. “There isn’t anything we can do tonight. Get some rest. Tomorrow...”
A tear broke loose and cascaded down her cheek. He caught it with his thumb and gently wiped it away before she let him lead her to the guest bedroom where she’d showered earlier. His mind was racing. If any of this was true...
“Don’t worry. We’ll figure this out,” Colt said as he pulled back the covers. “Just get some sleep.” He knew he wouldn’t be able to sleep a wink.
Could he really have a daughter? A daughter now being held by a crackpot cult leader? A man who, according to Lola, was much more dangerous than anyone knew?
Lola climbed into the bed, still wearing his too-large sweats. He tucked her in, seeing that she could barely keep her eyes open.
“Dayton.” At his puzzled look, she added, “That’s my last name.” They’d shared only first names the night they met. But that night neither of them had been themselves. She’d been running scared, and he’d been wallowing in self-pity over losing the woman he’d thought he was going to marry and live with the rest of his life.
“Lola Dayton,” he repeated, and smiled down at her. “Pretty name.”
He moved to the door and switched off the light.
“I named our daughter Grace,” she said from out of the darkness. “Do you remember telling me that you always loved that name?”
He turned in the doorway to look back at her, too choked up to speak for a moment. “It was my grandmother’s name.”
* * *
LOLA THOUGHT SHE wouldn’t be able to sleep. Her body felt leaden as she’d sunk under the covers. She could still feel the rough skin of Colt’s thumb pad against her cheek and reached up to touch the spot. She hadn’t been wrong about him. Not that first night. Not tonight.
She closed her eyes and felt herself careening off that mountain, running
