Colton's Christmas Baby (15 page)

“Stay back.”

“What have you done with her?”

Darius laughed. The guttural, malevolent sound sent a chill up Damien's spine.

He took a step closer. “Darius, what have you done to Eve?”

“Don't worry, I didn't kill her. Yet. Though with the storm raging outside, she may freeze to death before I have to. Rest assured, I will take care of her. Just like I'm going to have to take care of you.”

Darius lifted the weapon, squinting at Damien as though he was about to fire.

“She's pregnant,” Damien blurted, thinking fast. Back in the old days, before he'd gone to prison, his father had really cared about family and the Colton dynasty. “Eve is pregnant. You can't kill a pregnant woman.”

This startled the older man. “Pregnant?”

“With my son,” Damien lied, wishing with all of his heart that it was so. “Your grandson. Eve is carrying the next Colton.”

For the first time a glimmer of humanity showed in Darius's flat, cold eyes. Slowly he lowered the gun.

Now! Damien moved, knocking the gun from his father's hands and slamming the older man into the floor.

“Where is she?”

Instead of answering, Darius struggled to free himself.

“Sharon, go call the police,” Damien ordered, tightening his grip.

Wide-eyed, the woman stood frozen, staring at her stepson who had her husband wrapped in a choke hold.

“You will not,” Darius rasped. “Sharon, get my gun and take this son of a bitch out.”

Slowly, as though his voice compelled her, Sharon Colton moved toward the weapon.

“Bring me the gun and go and call Wes.” Damien urged. “Do it now, Sharon, before anyone else gets hurt. We've got to try and find Eve. We've got to save her.”

Shaking her head as if coming out of a trance, Sharon nodded. Turning, she went for the revolver first, handing it to Damien, who accepted it with one hand before pushing up and off his father.

Sharon then moved toward the office. She reached for the phone and started dialing, keeping a wary eye on her husband, who remained on the floor. Her single act of rebellion appeared to knock the remaining wind from Darius's sails.

A moment later, she returned to the hall. “Wes is on his way. And Jake Pierson is with him.”

“Good.” Damien liked Jake, who had been one of the first FBI agents to arrive in town. Since then, he'd left the Bureau and now he had a private security business and worked with Wes in the Sheriff's Department, intently focused on solving the Mark Walsh murder. If anyone deserved to find answers, Jake did.

“Where're Maisie and Jeremy?”

“At church. She volunteered to head up the organization for the Christmas carol sing this year.”

“Good. I don't really want them to see this.”

Keeping the gun trained on Darius, Damien backed away. “We've got to find Eve,” he told his father's wife.

“If he left her somewhere outside, she won't last long in this weather.”

“She's probably already dead.” Darius sounded gleeful. “You may have won this round, but in the end, I've won the battle.”

“What battle, Darius?” Sharon rounded on her husband. “You've alienated and injured your entire family, all in the pursuit of your business. I've lied long enough for you. I
know where you keep the second set of books. Heck, I helped you set them up. I'm ashamed of that now. I'm going to turn in my CPA license, as soon as I turn those books over to the FBI.”

“You wouldn't dare,” Damien snarled. “Or I'll kill you, too.”

Shaking her head, Sharon ignored him. “I'll go see if I can rustle up a search party. Don't worry, Damien, we'll find your girl.”

With all his heart, Damien had to believe that. A moment later, Sharon returned.

“I got hold of Duke,” she announced. “He's gathered up the ranch hands who were still here and they've split up into search groups.”

“Good.” He felt a sliver of the tension ease. He wouldn't feel anywhere near normal again until he held Eve in his arms. “I'll join them as soon as reinforcements show up.”

In what seemed like an hour but was really only ten minutes, Wes and Jake arrived. Turning over the gun and Darius to his brother, Damien watched while Jake handcuffed the patriarch of the Colton Clan.

“How far the mighty have fallen,” Jake muttered. “I've contacted several of my old coworkers in the Bureau. Most of them have gone home for Christmas, but they'll be back on the twenty-sixth to wrap part of this investigation up. Sharon's willingness to share the books and testify will help tremendously.”

Damien nodded, barely hearing the other man. He ran for his parka, cramming his hat onto his head and shoving his fingers into gloves. “I'll be out searching. If you can get together more men to help search, I'd be grateful.”

“They're already on their way.” Wes clapped his brother on the shoulder. “Jake can keep an eye on Darius. Let's go.”

“Wait,” Darius cried as they turned to go. “I'll tell you where she is in exchange for my freedom.”

“No.” The two brothers spoke in unison. “No deals.”

“Wes, Damien, you're my sons,” Darius pleaded. “Let me go. I promise I'll disappear quietly. I'll sign over all this to you and you'll never hear from me again.”

“Tempting as the offer is, we'll pass.” Damien spoke through clenched teeth, knowing without asking that Wes felt the same way. Darius had bullied the family long enough.

Together, he and Wes headed out. At the doorway, Wes stopped.

“Are you sure you want to add murder to your list of crimes?” Wes asked quietly, turning to look at his father. “You have a choice here. You can tell us where Eve is and save her life, or you can let us search. If she dies, I'll make sure you're brought up on murder charges, do you understand?”

Instead of answering, Darius turned his face away.

“Come on, man.” Damien took off, no longer caring if Wes was behind him. He barreled outside, into the midst of a blizzard.

“Damn.” Wes came up beside him. “This got worse fast. On the way here, we had some visibility. Now it's whiteout conditions.”

“I don't care.” Damien started blindly in the direction of the cattle pens. “We've got to find Eve.”

“I'll take the cattle pens,” Wes told him. “You go check the machinery barn and the hay sheds.”

Without another word, Damien turned and went the other way.

The angels of Christmas Eve must have been with him that night. Barely five minutes into his search, he pushed open the door of the hay barn and found Eve,
trussed up and freezing, but alive and drifting in and out of consciousness.

Gathering her close, he freed her arms and legs, massaging them to bring circulation back, hoping she wouldn't have frostbite. She cried out in pain as feeling returned, violently shivering.

“Damien,” she croaked, nearly unintelligible because of the shudders racking her body. “Darius killed Mark Walsh and the first guy, a homeless man that everyone thought was Mark Walsh. He let you go to prison knowing you were innocent. And now he was going to have you killed, I heard him.”

“Shhh.” Hushing her by placing one gloved finger against her mouth, he tried to determine the extent of her injuries. “We'll deal with that later, once we get you inside.”

Then, lifting her, he carried her out into the snowstorm. When they reached the house, he carried her into the den, where he gently lowered her to the rug in front of the roaring fire.

Seeing her, Sharon wept with relief, heading into the kitchen and putting on a pot of hot water for tea. When she returned, Damien put her in charge of calling in all the searchers and letting them know Eve was safe.

With the Christmas tree shining brightly in the background, Damien crouched by the fire, helping Eve sip her tea and rubbing her legs, feet and hands, watching as her color slowly returned and her trembling subsided.

“You're safe now, sweetheart,” he whispered, kissing her cheek. “I'll tell Wes what you heard.”

Her beautiful blue gaze searched his face. “Are you all right? It must be a shock, knowing your own father wanted to kill you?”

“No worse than knowing he let me go to prison for a
crime he committed. But you're safe and that's all that matters.”

Drowsily, she snuggled against him. Contentment filled his heart. He felt complete and at peace for the first time since he'd stood in that courtroom, fifteen years ago, and watched a prison sentence being handed down, sending him away for a crime he hadn't committed.

“I told them you were pregnant,” he whispered into her hair.

“That's okay.” Smiling, she kissed him. “It's about time I stopped worrying about tarnishing the family name.”

“I, er, told them the baby was mine.”

She froze, then turned in his arms to gaze up at him. “Why'd you go and do something like that?” she whispered softly. “It'll only make it worse when they find out the truth.”

“Maybe they don't have to find out the truth.” He kissed her lightly on the lips, then the nose, then the curve of her neck.

“What are you saying?”

Tightening his arms around her, he closed his eyes, inhaled her scent and took the leap. “Because I'd like that baby to be mine. He can be the first of our children, Eve. That is, if you'd like more.”

“Damien?”

To his dismay her gorgeous eyes filled with tears, spilling over and trailing silver down her cheeks. Despair filled him as he realized he'd made her cry, which could mean only one thing.

She didn't want him.

“I'm sorry, I—” he began stiffly. “I didn't mean—”

“Don't you dare apologize, cowboy.” Putting her arms around him, she kissed him full on the mouth. “That's the nicest thing anyone has ever said to me. But I need to know,
are you suggesting we live together, or are you wanting to make an honest woman out of me?”

Hope slammed into him, hard, nearly making him gasp.

“You mean you'd marry me?”

Cocking her head, she gave a soft chuckle. “If you ask me right, I just might.”

Slowly, he grinned. “How do you think your sister would feel about a double wedding? Her and Duke and me and you.”

Eve's answering smile warmed his heart. “I guess we'll just have to ask her, now won't we?”

V
alentine's Day dawned clear and cold, without a single cloud to mar the bright blue perfection of the sky.

The entire town of Honey Creek gathered at the town square, cameras in hand, ready to record the historical day.

Coltons and Kelleys, wed in a double ceremony. A joyous occasion which they hoped would go a long way toward erasing the shadow that had hung over their town for so long.

Though clearly ill, Darius Colton had gone to jail and was awaiting trial for the murder of Mark Walsh, as well as for the murder of the unknown drifter fifteen years ago. The twists and turns of this soap opera-like story had finally drawn the attention of the popular television show,
Dr. Sophie,
and they'd actually sent a camera crew to do an exposé on the scandal, much to Maisie Colton's delight. She'd even managed a cameo appearance. “The Scandal
at Honey Creek,” as their episode had been named, would air in the spring.

Eve Kelley's pregnancy had been announced, and though she'd refused to let Damien take responsibility for the baby, he made it clear to her that he'd be raising the child as his own.

Susan and Duke were jubilant when Damien and Eve had decided to marry, and this joint wedding would be the culmination of months of planning on Susan's part, one wedding easily stretched to become two, though she'd had to change the date slightly.

Sharon Colton remained at the ranch, finally emerging from her shell now that she was no longer under Darius's grip. She'd started a support group for battered women and traveled often to Bozeman, where she'd headquartered her office.

Church bells chimed the hour and a hush fell over the crowd. Finally, the sound of hooves on pavement filled the air. Two white, horse-drawn carriages turned the corner, decorated with white and peach roses, clattering down Main Street. The two brides, Susan and Eve, both decked out in ornate white gowns, rode in the first. The grooms, Duke and Damien, wearing matching gray tuxedos, followed in the other. They would arrive at the church, where the rest of the family and wedding party waited, seconds apart, and the ceremony would commence.

Because both Susan and Eve had wanted small weddings, the ceremony itself was by invitation only and had been limited to family and close friends. Later, everyone in town was welcome to attend the huge reception at the Colton ranch. The Rollaboys had been booked to play, Kelley's Cookhouse would be catering the reception, and the open bar provided by the Coltons ensured the celebrations would last long into the night.

Inside the church, two nervous brides prepared to walk up the aisle at the same time, sharing their father's arms. They knew two loving cowboys waited for them, both wearing identical looks of love on their handsome faces.

And Duke and Susan Colton, Damien and Eve Colton, were pronounced husband and wife. Both couples kissed sweetly.

When the ceremony was over, everyone lined the streets to watch them go past before racing to follow them. For the first time in recent history, the ranch house would be opened to the public, and the two newlywed couples would receive guests for two hours, before joining the party.

Despite the double wedding, the two couples were taking separate honeymoons. Duke and Susan were traveling to Jamaica and Damien and Eve had chosen Ixtapa, Mexico.

And when they returned, Damien would be moving to Eve's house. He'd agreed to continue to work on the ranch, side by side with the rest of his family.

He planned to persuade Eve to let him adopt her unborn child, giving him or her the Colton name. Once she'd agreed, which he had no doubt she would, he looked forward to good-naturedly needling all his brothers that he would have the first Colton baby. He had no doubt one of his brothers and their new bride wouldn't be far behind.

All in all, Damien planned to live a life full of happiness and love with his beautiful wife, Eve, and their baby. A normal life in the Big Sky Country, exactly as he wanted. Happily ever after. Of course.