The Horseman's Son (4 page)

What could he say to that? That she’d gone about it the wrong way? Well, they both knew there was no right way to do this. If she’d come to his door with this bombshell on any day, holiday or not, he wouldn’t have let her in.

He made the turn on the dirt and gravel road that snaked against the fenced portion of his property. The snow had already dusted the surface, making it hard for him to see where the road ended and deep ditches began.

Because the silence was thick and uncomfortable, Dylan decided to push her for more information. “Tell me about the father of your child,” he said.

Collena took black leather gloves from her pocket and put them back on. She also took a deep breath. “Sean Reese was a lawyer. We’d been engaged nearly a year when I got pregnant.”

A year. That wasn’t a casual relationship. “You planned a family?”

She shook her head. “No. I was on the pill, hadn’t missed taking any, so the pregnancy wasn’t planned. When I came home from work the day after I told him, he was gone. He’d moved out and left me a typed letter saying he didn’t want to be a father and that he was breaking up with me.” She paused. “That’s the kind of man he was.”

“And he’s really dead?” Dylan managed to ask through his suddenly tight jaw. Because he didn’t want a guy like that in Adam’s life.

“Yes. About six months after he moved out, one of his drug-dealing clients murdered him when he received a guilty verdict that obviously didn’t please him.”

Dylan hated to feel relieved, but he was. It was bad enough having one birth parent in the picture.
If
Collena was indeed a real birth parent. It was hard to doubt it though, especially when he looked at her mouth.

That was Adam’s mouth.

Heart shaped. And capable of expressing a huge range of emotions.

So, if Collena Drake was truly Adam’s birth mother, then the question was—what was he going to do about it?

He didn’t get a chance to come up with any possibilities because Collena spoke before he had time to think.

“There’s something else you should know about Sean Reese,” Collena said. Her voice was practically a whisper now, and she looked down at her gloved hands. “I hadn’t planned on telling you this soon, but you’ll probably find out when you press your P.I. for a deeper background check on me.”

Which he would do, especially after an opening like that. “There really is someone from Brighton after you?” he asked.

“No. Not Brighton. The problem is Sean’s father, Curtis Reese. He’s been looking for Adam, too.”

Well, that sounded ominous, and Dylan didn’t like where this conversation was going.

“Curtis Reese is very wealthy,” Collena continued. “And Sean was his only child. He loved him, and he was obsessive about it. Once he learned that I was pregnant with Sean’s child, he became consumed with his unborn grandchild, as well.”

Dylan quickly came to a conclusion, but he hoped he was wrong. “Are you saying that this Curtis Reese will try to get custody of Adam?”

“He’ll try,” Collena confirmed. “I know you don’t want to hear this, but since the adoption was illegal, you don’t stand much of a chance of keeping Adam.”

His jaw tightened even more. “That’s debatable.”

“It’s true. There are things in my past that Curtis Reese will try to use to challenge my own custody. Nothing criminal,” she quickly added.

Dylan would have questioned exactly what those things were if he hadn’t seen the smoke ahead. Collena obviously saw it, too; she pointed in that direction.

“That’s where I left my car,” she said.

With the snow and the wind, it wasn’t a day to burn brush. Besides, he’d given all the hands the day off. Dylan took the last turn, dreading what he would see.

There, off to the side of the narrow dirt road sat a dark blue compact car, engulfed in flames.

Collena saw the fire and smoke.

She felt the instant slam of adrenaline, and she reached for her gun, which wasn’t there. Because Dylan still had it in his pocket.

Dylan reacted, too. He caught on to her shoulder and shoved her down onto the leather seat. Hard. Then, he drew his own weapon, threw his truck into Reverse and sped backward to put some distance between them and her burning vehicle.

It was a good decision. With the flames already eating through the interior, the car could explode.

“Do you see anyone?” she asked, trying to get up. But he merely used his muscled body to keep her in place. Protecting her.

More than likely, it was an automatic response, something he would do for anyone who happened to be in danger. And there was no doubt in Collena’s mind that this was a dangerous situation.

Someone had set fire to her car.

And that someone could still be around to do even more damage to them.

“No, I don’t,” Dylan relayed to her. He pulled his phone and her gun from his pocket and handed both items to her. “Call nine-one-one and ask for the fire department.”

Surprised, she blinked. “Not the sheriff?”

“Dispatch would only send Jonah back out.”

Collena understood. The bitter and perhaps incompetent deputy obviously had some kind of personal grudge against Dylan. Besides, this was a fire, and the fire department would be able to tell whether it was from natural causes or arson.

She had a bad feeling it was the latter.

Collena made the call, and the emergency dispatcher told her that she would send a fire-response team right away.

And then she lay there on the seat, waiting for Dylan to make a decision about what to do. Unfortunately, he was practically lying on top of her. For reasons Collena didn’t want to explore, she didn’t want to be this close to Dylan. She could feel parts of his body that she shouldn’t be feeling.

“I’m a cop,” she reminded him. “Let me up so I can see if I can spot any evidence.”

He did, reluctantly. “Stay low,” he warned. “If someone’s out there, he could be armed.”

That didn’t do much to steady her breathing or heart rate.

While Dylan kept his gun aimed and ready, Collena did a visual search of the immediate area. There were trees, most of them bare from the winter, but there was also a thick clump of massive live oaks, complete with thick branches and green leaves. They completely obscured the view of the ranch. It was the main reason she’d chosen the spot, so that her car wouldn’t be seen when she parked it.

Those trees could now be hiding an arsonist.

But who would do something like this?

One answer immediately came to mind. Curtis Reese, Sean’s father. Collena hadn’t told him that she’d found Adam, but with Curtis’s resources, he could have learned that information. Maybe this was his way of warning her not to try to keep Adam from him.

But that’s exactly what she was going to do.

“See anything?” Dylan asked.

“It’s what I don’t see that bothers me. There are no other tire tracks that lead directly to my vehicle.”

“Yeah, I noticed that.”

She turned her head, and their gazes met. There was plenty of concern in the depths of his green eyes. “The snow might have covered the tracks,” she said.

His attention drifted toward those live oaks. “Or someone could have taken this path. Or that one,” he said, shifting his focus to the other side of the road where the bare trees were.

He was right, of course. There was another dirt road less than a quarter of a mile away, and it paralleled this one. Someone could have parked there and walked over. Too bad the snow would almost certainly wipe out any tracks there.

“We need to get out of here,” Dylan announced.

Collena glanced at her car and saw why. The flames were even higher now. If the gas tank blew, they were a safe enough distance away, but that didn’t mean they wouldn’t get pelted with debris.

Dylan began to drive in reverse down the road. He took it slowly to avoid slipping into the ditch. If an arsonist was truly still around, Collena didn’t want them to be in the woods on foot.

“Both my sister, Abigail, and fiancée, Julie, died in car accidents where fires were involved,” he mumbled.

“You think this is related to their murders?” she asked.

A muscle flickered in his jaw. “No one was ever arrested. In fact, the police ruled them accidents. But in both cases, the cars caught fire and that caused the accidents and their deaths. Neither was able to get out alive.”

“But why would whoever killed them want to set fire to my car?”

Collena was certain he would dismiss any connection. Just as he’d dismissed the danger earlier.

However, he didn’t dismiss it now.

“Most of the women I’ve been personally involved with have encountered some kind of violence.”

“Excuse me?” And Collena held her breath.

“You heard me,” he snapped. His posture and tone became defensive. “That’s why I’ve sworn off having a relationship, and it’s the reason I adopted a son and not a daughter.”

She shook her head. “But Adam—”

“There hasn’t been an incident since I adopted him.”

Collena pointed to the fire. “What about my car? You don’t think that’s an incident?”

“That might not be related to the other fires.” And he didn’t add anything else, as if waiting for her to confirm or deny it.

Sweet heaven, she couldn’t.

Dylan finally made it to the end of the dirt path and turned onto the main road that would take them back to the ranch.

“Now you understand why I can’t consider your marriage proposal,” he continued. “Though my past is only one of many objections I have.”

Collena understood. In fact, his past terrified her. But not as much as the alternative of losing Adam. “We might both lose custody if we don’t work together.”

“Working together,” he repeated. “I’ll give you that. But marriage is out.”

Not being married to Dylan would put a serious wrinkle in her plans. Besides, this fire might not have anything to do with his past or with Sean’s father. “Maybe this was some kind of prank. Kids are out of school for Thanksgiving. Maybe someone was bored and decided to light a match.”

Dylan didn’t answer right away. “Maybe.”

Collena released the breath she’d been holding and hoped they weren’t deluding themselves.

Individually, they both had some old baggage, but she hoped that it wouldn’t surface. Above all, she had to do whatever was necessary to keep Adam safe. And if that meant taking her son and fleeing, she would.

But she also knew an action like that would heavily impact her little boy. After all, she’d be taking her child from the only parent Adam had ever known.

That was the very thing Collena was trying to avoid.

While they sat in silence, Dylan drove through the gates to the ranch. There was still no sight or sound of the fire truck. Of course, it was winter, and the weather wasn’t cooperating. Her car was gone, as was everything inside it—including the copies of the documents to prove she was Adam’s mother. The only thing left for the fire department to do was tell them how the fire had started.

And then the sheriff could maybe determine who had started it.

Dylan had been with her the entire time, so she knew he wasn’t the culprit. Besides, this wasn’t his approach to things. He wouldn’t have set fire to a car to destroy documents or to intimidate her.

He was a face-to-face kind of man.

“I have a visitor,” Dylan commented.

Collena picked through the other vehicles that were near the house and spotted a black luxury car parked in the circular driveway in front. She didn’t recognize the car, but she had no trouble recognizing the tall dark-haired man who was pounding on Dylan’s front door.

“Oh, God,” Collena mumbled.

“You know him?” Dylan asked, firing an accusatory glance at her.

She nodded. “Yes. That’s Curtis Reese, Adam’s biological grandfather. He’s probably here to try to take him.”

W
ELL, THIS WAS SHAPING UP
to be the day from hell.

Dylan braked to a halt directly in front of the house and barreled out of his truck. He was not going to let Curtis Reese anywhere near Adam.

“I’m sorry,” he heard Collena say. “I didn’t know he’d follow me.”

Dylan didn’t take the time to respond to that. Besides, what could he say? He certainly wasn’t going to give her a pass.

Yesterday, his life was as close to perfect as it could get, and now mere hours later, things were tumbling down around him.

In the distance Dylan heard the fire sirens, but he focused his attention on the man trying to beat down his front door. Dylan kept his gun gripped in his hand, and he started up the porch steps.

His visitor whirled around with his tight fist still high in the air. Dylan didn’t raise his gun. He didn’t issue any threats. He just stared at the man, daring him to use that fist in any way.

Curtis Reese stared back at him.

When Collena had first told him that this was Adam’s biological grandfather, Dylan had expected someone who looked like a grandparent. Curtis Reese didn’t. Dylan figured he had to be at least in his early fifties, but he looked much younger. There wasn’t a strand of gray in his dark brown hair. The man was at least six-four, and he had a muscular build that his Italian cashmere suit didn’t hide. And Curtis Reese had a formidable expression on his wrinkle-free face.

“I’m here to see my grandson,” Curtis announced.

“Then you’ve wasted your time,” Dylan shot back.

Curtis looked past him, and his equally formidable granite-gray eyes landed on Collena. “Did you think you could hide my own flesh and blood from me?”

“For a while.” Collena took the steps slowly, and Dylan hoped she wasn’t having another dizzy spell. “It’s Thanksgiving, Curtis. Go home and give me a chance to work things out with Mr. Greer.”

“What you really want is time to figure out how to steal him from me.”

Collena shook her head and slipped her gun into her coat pocket. “I don’t have to steal him. You have no right to Adam.”

“And this conversation is over,” Dylan intervened.

Curtis’s gaze snapped back to Dylan. “It’s not over. I know what Collena’s trying to do. She’ll try to make a pact with you to stop me from getting custody. Well, you should know that Collena Drake isn’t fit to be a mother. Her own mother was a drug addict and prostitute—did she tell you that?”

Dylan shrugged. “It didn’t come up in conversation. Now, are you leaving voluntarily, or do I need to
help
you to your car?”

“I’m not going until I make you understand what an unsuitable mother she is. It’s her fault that she was at Brighton, and it’s her fault that Adam was stolen. She took a deep-cover assignment while she was pregnant. Something bad could have happened there. And it did. She endangered herself and therefore her baby. I think I can convince a judge that what she did can be construed as child endangerment.”

Dylan tried not to react to that, mainly because coming from Curtis, it could be a lie. But then he glanced at Collena. He didn’t think it was his imagination that she was even paler now than when he’d first seen her. Later, after Curtis was off the grounds, they would obviously have to discuss this latest allegation.

“Adam’s in danger,” Curtis said, his voice strained with emotion. “And it’s all Collena’s fault.” He volleyed glances between them. “Did you know that Rodney Harmon escaped from jail last night?”

Collena actually dropped back a step, and Dylan caught her arm so that she wouldn’t fall on the slippery porch. He’d never heard the name Rodney Harmon, but he figured soon he’d know why the man had caused Collena to have that kind of reaction.

“Harmon will come after you again,” Curtis warned Collena. “And if you’re near Adam, he’ll come after him, too. You shouldn’t be within a hundred miles of that baby.”

Collena glanced at Dylan and stepped out of his grip. “Rodney Harmon is the man I helped arrest and put into prison. He was one of the security guards at Brighton. And among other things, he was responsible for…stopping me from going after the doctor who stole Adam.”

He didn’t have to guess how the guy had stopped her. Dylan had a strange gut reaction to that realization. He wanted to pound the guy to dust because he’d attacked a vulnerable woman who’d just given birth. And why? All so someone could steal her infant son and sell him.

But Dylan had lived the flip side of Rodney Harmon’s diabolical plan. He’d adopted the baby that Rodney had helped steal. Dylan couldn’t regret that. Ever. But he could regret the pain Collena had gone through.

But maybe that could be overshadowed by Curtis’s other allegation. That Collena was responsible for what had happened.

Had Collena assisted Rodney in some way?

Since there was obviously a lot of new issues to discuss, Dylan chose the one that could cause the most serious and immediate problems. “Why would this Harmon guy come after you?” Dylan asked Collena. “Weren’t there dozens of cops who helped put him away? Why single you out?”