sisters were taking good care of Grace, she told herself. Jonas wouldn’t let anything happen to the baby. At least she prayed that he wouldn’t hurt Grace to punish her even more.
The thought had her heart pounding until she realized the only power Jonas had over her was the baby. He wouldn’t hurt Grace. He needed that child if he ever hoped to get what he wanted. And what he wanted was Lola. She’d seen it in his eyes. A voracious need that he thought only she could fill.
If he ever got his hands on her again... Well, she knew there would be no saving herself from him.
* * *
COLT KICKED OFF his boots and lay down on the bed fully dressed. Sleep was out of the question. If half of what Lola had told him was true... Was it possible they’d made a baby that night? They hadn’t used protection. He hadn’t had anything. Nor had she. It wasn’t like him to take a chance like that.
But there was something so wholesome, so innocent, so guileless...
Rolling to his side, he closed his eyes. The memory was almost painful. The sweet scent of her body as she lay with her back to him naked on the bed. The warmth of his palm as he slowly ran it from her side down into the saddle of her slim waist to the rise of her hip and her perfectly rounded buttocks. The catch of her breath as he pulled her into him and cupped one full breast. The tender moan from her lips as he rolled her over to look into those violet eyes.
Groaning, Colt shifted to his back again to stare up at the dark ceiling. That night he’d lost himself in that delectable woman. He’d buried all feelings for his former fiancée into her. He’d found salvation in her body, in her arms, in her tentative touch, in her soft, sweet kisses.
He closed his eyes, again remembering the feel of her in his arms as they’d danced in his hotel room. The slow sway, their bodies joined, their movements more sensuous than even the act of love. He’d given her a little piece of his heart that night and had not even realized it.
Swinging his legs over the bed, he knew he’d never get any rest until he checked on her. Earlier, he’d gotten the feeling that she wanted to run—rather than tell him what had brought her to his door. She hadn’t wanted to involve him, wouldn’t have if Jonas didn’t have her baby.
That much he believed. But why hadn’t she told him what she was running from the night they’d first met? Maybe he could have helped her.
He moved quietly down the hallway, half-afraid he would open the bedroom door only to find her gone and all of this like his dream about being back in Afghanistan.
After easing open the door, he waited for his eyes to adjust to the blackness in the room. Her blond hair lay like a fan across her pillow. Her peaceful face made her appear angelic. He found himself smiling as he stared down at the sleeping Lola. He couldn’t help wondering about their daughter. She would be three months old now. Did she resemble her mother? He hoped so.
The thought shook him because he realized how much he wanted to believe her. A daughter. He really could have a daughter? A baby with Lola? He shook his head. What were the chances that their union would bring a child into this world? And yet he and Lola had done more than make love that night. They’d connected in a way he and Julia never had.
The thought of Julia, though, made him recoil. Look how wrong he’d been about her. How wrong he’d been about his own mother. Could he trust his judgment when it came to women? Doubtful.
He stepped out of the room, closing the door softly behind him. Tomorrow, he told himself, he would know the truth. He’d get the sheriff to go with them up to the compound and settle this once and for all.
Colt walked out onto the porch to stare up at the starry sky. The air was crisp and cold, snow still capping the highest peaks around town. He knew this all could be true. Normally, he would never have had intercourse with a woman he didn’t know without protection. But that night, he and Lola hadn’t just had sex. They’d made love, two lost souls who’d given each other comfort in a world that had hurt them.
He’d been heartbroken over Julia and his friend Wyatt. Being in Lola’s arms had saved him. If their lovemaking had resulted in a baby...a little girl...
Yes, what was he going to do? Besides go up to that compound and get the baby for Lola? He tried to imagine himself as a father to an infant. What a joke. He couldn’t have been in a worse place in his life to take on a wife and a child.
He looked across the ranch. All his life he’d felt tied down to this land. That his father had tried to chain him to it still infuriated him—and at the same time made him feel guilty. His father had had such a connection to the land, one that Colt had never felt. He’d loved being a cowboy, but ranching was more about trying to make a living off the land. He’d watched his father struggle for years. Why would the old man think he would want this? Why hadn’t his father sold the place, done something fun with the money before he’d died?
Instead, he’d left it all to Colt—lock, stock and barrel, making the place feel like a noose around his neck.
“It’s yours,” the probate attorney had said. “Do whatever you want with the ranch.”
“You mean I can sell it?”
“After three months. That’s all your father stipulated. That you live on the ranch for three months full-time, and then if you still don’t want to ranch, you can liquidate all of your father’s holdings.”
Colt took a deep breath and let it out. “Sorry, Dad. If you think even three years on this land is going to change anything, you are dead wrong.” He’d put in his three months and more waiting for an offer on the place.
When his leave was up, he was heading back to the Army and his real job. At least that had been the plan before he’d found Lola standing on his doorstep. Now he didn’t know what to think. All he knew was that he had to fly. He didn’t want to ranch. Once the place sold, there would be nothing holding him here.
He thought about Lola asleep back in the house. If this baby was his, he’d take responsibility, but he couldn’t make any promises—not when he didn’t even know where he would be living when he came home on leave.
Up by the road, he could see the for-sale sign by the gate into the ranch. With luck, the ranch would sell soon. In the meantime, he had to get Lola’s baby back for her. His baby.
He pushed open the door and headed for his bedroom. Everything was going to work out. Once Lola understood what he needed to do, what he had to do...
He lay down on the bed fully clothed again and closed his eyes, knowing there was no chance of sleep. But hours later, he woke with a start, surprised to find sunlight streaming in through the window. As he rose, still dressed, he worried that he would find Lola gone, just as she had been that morning in Billings.
The thought had his heart pounding as he padded down to the guest room. The door was partially ajar. What if none of it had been true? What if she’d realized he would see through all of it and had taken off?
He pressed his fingertips against the warm wood and pushed gently until he could see into the dim light of the room. She lay wrapped in one of his mother’s quilts, her long blond hair splayed across the pillow. He eased the door closed, surprised how relieved he was. Maybe he wasn’t a good judge of character when it came in women—Julia a case in point—but he wanted to believe Lola was different. It surprised him how much he wanted to believe
