Page 1 of The Prey (The Hillers of Barratt County #6)

Hudson Hanan stood in someone else’s hallway, listening to the sounds of a woman soothing a child back to sleep, and ached hard. Not from the broken arm that had been set the night before, but for what his almost five-year-old son was missing.

A mother. Ryan never really had had one.

Only one woman had ever rocked his son like this, until tonight. Hudson’s twenty-four-year-old sister. But it wasn’t fair that Hudson asked Hala to mother Ryan when the little man needed it.

Hala had her own place now, her own life, her own future. While she gladly helped him out whenever he asked her to, he was always careful not to bog her down with his details. She had her own life to live. He was going to see that happened.

But now…he was almost convinced that a demon woman held his son.

The most obstinate, hard-headed, stubborn, contrary, utterly difficult woman on the planet.

So convinced she was right all the time and that compassion would solve all the world’s ills—in spite of the darkness they saw on the job each day.

She now sat in the living room—rocking his son and singing Ryan a lullaby in a surprisingly angelic voice that caused Hudson’s gut to tighten.

It floored him. For one thing, he’d been staying with her family for two days now—and she’d almost avoided him the entire time. Only at mealtimes had he even seen her.

He hadn’t minded. The last thing he’d felt up to was an argument with her, while staying with her family, at her home.

That would have been awkward and rude, after all.

He hadn’t known she was living there again when he’d accepted her brother Gene’s invitation to stay for a week or so.

If he had known—hell, no. He’d have avoided the Hiller ranch like the plague.

Gene was one of his closest friends, and Hudson greatly appreciated the rest of the Hiller family and what they had done for him and Hala through the years. Giavonna Hiller was the only thorn in his side where the Hillers were concerned at all.

He crept slowly down the stupidly long hallway, past the other suites belonging to the Hiller siblings.

There were eight in this generation. And the house reflected the wealth their father and grandfather had built decades before.

Of course each Hiller would have a suite.

And there were at least four guest rooms. Gene Hiller’s little boy had his own suite, as well. It was just a given.

He wasn’t used to this kind of wealth. He had a nice home in town that he had built five years ago.

His house was close to five thousand square feet.

It was one of the nicer ones in the Value school district.

He’d built it with the future in mind, with plenty of room if he wanted a private practice with a few offices over the garage someday.

Or…if he found a woman and married again, had a few more kids along the way.

Not a strong possibility, but…maybe. He definitely wasn’t averse to that idea at all.

He remembered what being a part of a larger family was like, and he missed it.

He just had Ryan, his sister Hala and his cousin Micah now.

This place was five or six times the size of his home.

He wasn’t the kind of man for this place.

He’d known that since he was a teenager, running around with Gene and Guthrie Hiller years ago.

He hadn’t been there often; he’d just not felt comfortable.

He’d remembered wealth, kind parents, and more kids than he wanted to think about.

The younger three had been all girls and quite a bit younger than Hudson. He hadn’t paid them much attention at all. Except the youngest, Greer. She was still his sister’s best friend. But with fourteen years between him and his sister, he hadn’t known the Hiller girls very well at all.

Until Giavonna had walked into his office one day three years ago, telling him she was the newest attorney.

He hadn’t had a day of peace at work since.

Giavonna Hiller and peace did not go together at all.

Now, it was clear in the dim light just who held his son in her arms. Giavonna. This was the oldest Hiller daughter. The bane of Hudson’s existence completely.

Then he was in the kitchen, looking toward the enormous living room. The living room had a sunken floor. Large sectional couches were on two sides, forming a semicircle, but there were comfortable chairs throughout. Just waiting for someone to sit in them.

Giavonna sat in one near the window, his son cuddled on her lap with his favorite blanket and stuffed Billy Silly Scraggle-Popp doll clutched tight in one arm. As she rocked.

He had been in the first guest room off the hallway. Even though the walls were thick, he had heard his son’s voice.

But this, he had never expected to see this …

Giavonna Hiller—in the low light from a table lamp. A different Giavonna Hiller than Hudson ever could have imagined. Looking human. Her hair was down, long and lightly waved and dark brown. His son’s little fingers were tangled in it. Hudson hadn’t realized her hair was that long.

She wore silk pajamas. Those pajamas were thin, delicate, and feminine. One tiny sleeve hung off one shoulder. A beautiful shoulder that looked pale and almost like cream in the low light.

Holy hell.

Realization struck him hard . That demon beast who tormented him five days a week was…a woman.

An attractive one. A very attractive one. He definitely hadn’t realized that before.

She just rocked, and sang, until Ryan fell asleep right there in her arms. Her hand cupped his son’s head so gently. He watched her brush a kiss on Ryan’s forehead.

She looked so…human. Not like a demon at all.

Well. He’d always thought Giavonna was the spawn of Satan. Every weekday rather reinforced that idea. He’d probably told her that a dozen times this year alone, too.

He had known theoretically that she was a somewhat physically attractive woman…

he thought…behind the nondescript business suits she wore five days a week.

He had known her for two decades or so, after all.

Her hair was always ruthlessly scraped back into a tight bun, and she wore plain jewelry at the most.

She was rather robotic, he’d thought in one of his unkinder moments. A machine spouting case law and obscure facts right at him—usually to counter everything he’d said. To challenge him every time.

The way she argued—it was guaranteed to get right under his skin.

But he was stuck with her. There were four attorneys in the county attorney’s office.

She was the one with the next amount of seniority right under him.

He’d started off in private practice and made a damned good amount of money, but working for the county attorney’s office was where his heart lay.

It was a hard job and the turnover rate was high.

Except for her .

Sometimes he’d thought she stuck with him just to give him hell.

She’d be better off going into private practice with her brother George.

With just George and Giavonna practicing in the county seat of Value, she could make a nice living, if she wanted.

She didn’t need to be there tormenting Hudson every day.

Barratt County paid well—they were funded by property taxes paid for by the billionaires who lived in the top corner of the county, after all—but the money for assistant prosecutors wasn’t that great.

Not that she needed it—she was a Hiller, and that meant affluence in this area.

Giavonna would never want for anything; she probably didn’t need to work at all.

The woman rocking his son now was nothing at all like the woman he worked with every day. She stood and adjusted his son competently in her arms, even with the heavy cast on Ryan’s leg.

Hudson met her at the end of the hall. “I thought I heard him out here.”

“He had a nightmare. About the crash,” she said, in a hushed, guarded tone. She wasn’t too happy with him in her home—he hadn’t missed that at all. “I was up…working…on some things.”

“What cases were you working on at midnight?”

“They are personal projects, Hanan. I thought he was Calvin at first. And I thought you were probably still out from the pain pills.” Ryan slept on her shoulder, drooling down the pink silk covering her.

Giavonna, in pink silk? He never would have believed it if he hadn’t seen it for himself.

She held Hudson’s son almost like a barrier between them.

“I’ll just put him in his bed. There are drinks in the fridge, help yourself. ”

Hudson didn’t know what made him do it, but he blocked her path. The scent of warm woman and roses surrounded him. Her lotion—he’d noticed that many times before. She kept a small bottle of it on her desk at the office. “I can take him.”

“Not one-handed. At least you shouldn’t. Don’t worry, this demon isn’t out to steal anyone’s soul tonight.” She skirted around him quickly and headed down the hall. Hudson followed. “I’ll put him back in bed and leave you to…whatever you are doing in my home right now.”

Yes, hard to miss how she felt about having him there.

She carried his son in her arms as if Ryan had been there a thousand times.

This Giavonna wasn’t one he thought he had seen before.