Kronos hammer, p.18
No Turning Back, page 18
Cash inhaled, then pulled her into a hug. Because he had a little girl, and he was a good dad, and he knew how to comfort better than any of them. “We will be, Anna. No matter what.” He pulled back, fixed her with a stare that made her wonder if her parents would just despair of her if they were still around. “But he has to know. You’ve got to give him a chance to be all right, too.”
“I know. I do. I just...” Well, bottom line was she just didn’t want to. She had always handled guys easily. She had four older brothers, plenty of family trauma. Guys had never scared her, never gotten the upper hand on her. She enjoyed the ones she wanted, then discarded. And had lived that way quite happily and carefully...
Until she’d met Hawk Steele’s dark blue gaze across the room at a bar. She’d been handling a private investigation case, away from Sunrise and away from her family, and he had...
She’d never felt that way. And as tough girl as she liked to pretend, she’d never had a one-night stand before. They hadn’t even exchanged last names at the time. There’d just been something elemental. Necessary.
And she’d been foolish enough to forget all her rules. To forget everything. Until she’d woken up in his bed, wrapped up in him, knowing she had to get the hell out before...something.
She hadn’t been surprised when he’d shown up in her life a little while later. Because of course she’d looked him up after that night. It wasn’t hard to track down a guy named Hawk in Bent County, Wyoming. Especially when, it turned out, he worked for Bent County as a fire investigator.
So when her friend Louisa’s family home burned down before Christmas, Anna had figured she’d end up running into Hawk Steele. She’d practiced her casual, flirty smile. Her unwavering I don’t care about you bravado. And it had worked. When they’d run into each other, she’d been calm and cool.
He had been shocked. For a second. But a second of shock on Hawk Steele was something.
“I can come with you,” Cash offered, bringing her back to the present.
It was a sweet offer. She wouldn’t take it, but for the time being, she’d let him believe she might. “Thanks. I’ll... He kind of travels around, so I’ll see if I can pin him down for a meeting.” She pulled back from Cash’s hug, flashed him a smile. “Promise.”
“Look, if you need me to, I can cover your chores. Izzy can help out a little more with the dogs. Then I can—”
“No. I’m good.”
“You don’t want to overdo it.”
“I know. I listen to all my doctor’s many instructions.” She looked up at the gray winter sky. The Hudson Ranch had been in their family for generations. Though all of them worked on their pet project—Hudson Sibling Solutions, solving cold cases for people like them who didn’t have answers—the ranch was their foundation. The six of them worked together to keep it going.
Because her parents had. And her grandparents. And so on.
“Mom handled all this stuff when she was pregnant with me, right?” Anna said, waving her hand around the stables and the cows and the mountains that made up her life, her roots. “That’s the memory. Supermom doing ranch work and taking care of all of us and... I bet she never...” Anna couldn’t finish the sentence. She rarely thought of her mother, only remembered odd flashes of a strong, warm woman who’d always made her feel safe.
Until she and Dad had just been...gone one day.
“She was supermom,” Cash agreed. “But, first of all, we were kids and she was an adult, so we don’t really know what she had going on or didn’t. Second, and take it from someone who spent a lot of years trying to be Dad, you don’t have to be the parents ours were. You just have to be the one that’s best for your kid.”
Kid. She still really didn’t quite think of whatever was growing inside her as a kid. Or herself as a parent. Maybe that was just another thing she was putting off.
“I’ve got chores to do. Then I’m heading out of town for a few days,” Anna said firmly. Because she’d already decided that, and she wasn’t changing any plans just because Cash had found her out. “And before you lecture me, it’s just research. Nothing dangerous.”
Cash’s frown was epic, but she was used to big-brother admonitions over her side job.
“I don’t think you should keep doing your private investigation work.”
“And I don’t recall asking your opinion. I told my boss I’m taking a break from the bounties and stuff like that for a while, and that I didn’t want to travel as much. This is a simple gathering of some adultery evidence over in Wilde. Take some pictures. Hand them over to the PI office. The end.”
“I don’t like it.”
“Didn’t ask you to.”
Cash blew out a breath. “Fine, but for the love of God, tell Jack about this before you go. I do not want to be the secret keeper.”
“But you’re so good at it!”
He groaned as she walked away, laughing. Because... Well, Hawk was a multilevel problem, sure, but Cash was right. She’d be okay. She always was.
* * *
ANNA DIDN’T LIKE to admit that pregnancy had an effect on her body. But after a day of driving around trying to catch some salesman cozying up with his pretty lawyer, and coming up empty, Anna was exhausted. And since Wilde was too small to have even a nearby B and B, she’d had to drive over to Fairmont to find a place to stay.
Since she was going under the radar, she stayed at a run-down little motel a few miles outside of Fairmont. Not her first choice, but it was one night and she could sleep one night anywhere, especially as exhausted as she was.
She thought dimly about calling up Hawk. She didn’t have his cell or personal number, but she had his work number. After watching him handle Louisa’s fire case, she knew he was enough of a workaholic to probably answer even after hours.
But she was too tired. Maybe she’d wake up early and call him.
She crawled into the dingy bed, not even bothering to shower. She’d handle it all in the morning. She was always a good sleeper, so it was no shock when she fell into an almost immediate sleep.
She woke up to a coughing fit. When she blinked her eyes open, they started to sting. It was dark, but something was wrong. Her throat burned. It was too warm. And...it smelled like fire.
She leaped out of the bed in the same motion she swept the phone on the nightstand into her hand. She didn’t know where the fire was coming from, but there was one. She ran for the door, grabbed the handle and pushed, thinking it would give, because of course it would. But it didn’t, so she just rammed right into it. She twisted the dead bolt, then tried again, but nothing happened. The door was stuck.
The knob wasn’t hot, though, so the fire was coming from...somewhere inside. Smoke was filling the room, so she crouched, trying to find some better air to breathe.
She didn’t panic. Couldn’t. She dialed 911 on her phone while still turning the lock and knob. There was no window in this room. There was one in the bathroom, but she was afraid that was the source of the smoke.
Someone picked up, but before she could even get out a word, something hit her head. Hard. So hard she only had a moment to try to brace her fall before the world went dark.
When she woke up, she was in a hospital bed.
She blinked at all the blinding white. Everything was fuzzy. Groggy. Had the fire been a dream? Was this a dream?
She didn’t know how long she existed in this odd in-between state before it felt like she was really with it. Before she understood and started to remember.
Panic slammed into her. The fire. Her baby. She put her hands on her stomach, but she didn’t know if it was any different. She didn’t know...
She looked wildly around the room, expecting to see the familiar face of one of her siblings or at least a doctor.
Instead, standing at the foot of her bed was the one person she didn’t want to see.
Copyright © 2024 by Nicole Helm
Love Harlequin romance?
DISCOVER.
Be the first to find out about promotions, news and exclusive content!
Facebook.com/HarlequinBooks
Twitter.com/HarlequinBooks
Instagram.com/HarlequinBooks
Pinterest.com/HarlequinBooks
ReaderService.com
EXPLORE.
Sign up for the Harlequin e-newsletter and download a free book from any series at
TryHarlequin.com
CONNECT.
Join our Harlequin community to share your thoughts and connect with other romance readers!
Facebook.com/groups/HarlequinConnection
ISBN-13: 9780369744203
No Turning Back
Copyright © 2024 by Nauman Living Trust
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents are either the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, businesses, companies, events or locales is entirely coincidental.
For questions and comments about the quality of this book, please contact us at CustomerService@Harlequin.com.
TM and ® are trademarks of Harlequin Enterprises ULC.
Harlequin Enterprises ULC
22 Adelaide St. West, 41st Floor
Toronto, Ontario M5H 4E3, Canada
www.Harlequin.com
Lindsay McKenna, No Turning Back
