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“No. You don’t get it, do you? No one will know it was me. Your boyfriend will look like he was the one behind the cattle rustling and the murders.” He rounded the passenger side of the SUV. Mona moved to the driver’s side. The cabin was only ten feet away. If she could get inside, she could barricade the door and pray Reed got there soon. On the count of three. One…two…

Loose gravel shifted behind her. Mona flung herself toward the cabin, running as fast as her pregnant body could go. A gun exploded behind her, the bullet hitting the ground a yard to her right. She didn’t stop. When she reached the door, she twisted the handle and pushed. It didn’t budge. The ancient door had a brand-new lock on it and, presumably, Parker Lee was the owner of the key.

She spun to her left, looking for another avenue of escape, but before she could take another step, Parker Lee slammed into her, grasping her around the waist.

Not the baby. Don’t hurt the baby.Mona stopped fighting and went completely still. Praying he didn’t notice, but knowing he couldn’t help but guess.

“What the hell?” His arm jerked away from her belly, giving her just enough room to dodge around him.

He caught her by the hair and yanked her to a halt. “You’re not going anywhere.” His words were low and deadly.

Mona’s scalp burned. He yanked again, sending her flying backward against him.

Lee spun her around and ripped her shirt open, his face a mottled red. “You’re pregnant.”

Mona grabbed the ends of her shirt and closed it over her nakedness. “No kidding.”

“How far along?” he demanded.

“None of your business.”

He pointed the gun at her belly. “Answer!”

Too afraid his fingers would slip on the trigger, Mona blurted, “Six months.” The secret she’d tried so hard to keep was out. Her shoulders sagged. What did it matter? Parker Lee had no intention of letting her live. Not now. She knew too much. But she’d be damned if she went down without a fight. Graingers didn’t quit.

Her gaze panned the area around the cabin, looking for something, anything she could use as a weapon. Two yards from where she stood, a gray, weathered board lay on the ground, a rusty nail sticking up out of it. With Parker Lee standing in front of her, holding a gun to her baby, could Mona get to it and beat some sense back into the sheriff’s deranged skull?

* * *

REED’S FINGERdug into the armrest of the deputy’s cruiser. “Can you go a little faster?”

“Any faster and I’ll lose control.” Despite his denial, Deputy Phillips pressed his foot to the floor, the car leaping forward, eating the miles between them and who knew what.

Mona had to be alive. Reed would accept no other option. She had too much determination and love in her to die so young. And she’d make a damn good mother to her baby. The child deserved a life with Mona as his mother.

The cruiser topped the rise and before them stretched the Palo Duro Canyon. Following the winding dirt road, they plunged downward into the maze of bluffs until a cabin came into sight.

His heart leaped into his throat when Reed realized the two people standing in front of the cabin were Sheriff Parker Lee and Mona. And the sheriff had a gun trained on Mona.

The deputy slammed on his brakes and skidded to a sideways stop, dust clouding the air.

Before the vehicle came to a complete stop, Reed flung the door open and jumped out.

“Oh good, just in time for the finale.” Sheriff Lee grabbed Mona’s arm and jerked it up behind her, pressing the gun to her forehead. “The bastard child of my father comes full circle to watch his life fall apart, just like my mother’s.”

“What is it you want, Lee?”

His eyes narrowed like a cat ready to pounce. “To watch you suffer.”

How could Reed argue with that? The only way to end the suffering was to put a bullet in Sheriff Lee. But Lee had the upper hand. He had Mona.

“Drop your gun, Bryson.”

Her shirt hung open, exposing the bulge of her baby and her breasts encased in a pale pink bra. Unfazed by her nakedness, Mona looked over at Reed. “Shoot him, Reed. He’s going to kill you.”

“I can’t, baby.” His heart broke at the fear in her eyes. The fear for his life.

“He’s going to kill me anyway. Shoot him!” she shouted.