Wild Stallion (14 page)

“Thanks for the tip. I’ll get him in here today, right after I talk with Ryan Cassaine.”

“Ryan Cassaine?” Bailey and Jackson repeated at the same moment.

“Yeah. I just had him brought into headquarters for questioning,” the captain confirmed.

Jackson was having some doubts about the adoption attorney’s innocence, but it surprised him to hear that the SAPD captain was having doubts as well.

“Why did you bring in Ryan?” Jackson asked. “Is it because he cut some corners when he handled the adoption?”

“No, but I will ask him about that. Right now, I want to speak to him about his relationship with Shannon. I’ve just learned that they’re involved romantically.”

Jackson cursed. “Yeah. He brought her to the estate when she told that lie about being Caden’s birth mother.”

“Well, that doesn’t surprise me, but what I did find surprising was that, according to a couple of witnesses, the relationship isn’t a new one.”

“What do you mean?” Bailey asked.

“According to my detectives, Ryan and Shannon have been seeing each other for a while now—even before the hostage incident at the maternity hospital. Now, I need to find out just how deep the adoption attorney is into this.”

Chapter Fifteen

Bailey tried to pretend that everything was normal.

In some ways, it was easy to do. After all, she was spending time with her baby. She was literally holding Caden in her arms and reading to him. She’d dreamed about moments like this, and now she had them.

But for how long?

She tried to push aside that troubling question, and continued to read the Christmas book aloud. He was too young to understand the story itself, but he slapped at the colorful pages and babbled when he saw something that caught his attention.

From the other side of the nursery, Jackson smiled at the baby’s antics, but the smile was too brief, because he immediately jumped back into his phone call. Bailey had lost count of how many calls there had been, but Jackson had been working hard to get updates on the case. No easy feat, considering the investigation was now splintered between Sheriff Gentry’s office, SAPD and, apparently, another set of detectives who were trying to track down and protect the other hostage with the memory issues.

Jackson had been filling Bailey in as he ended each of the outgoing and incoming calls, but the bottom line was that no one had found Shannon or Robin, and both Evan and Ryan were still insisting they were innocent.

They were back to square one.

Except that she now had her son.

Despite the danger, it was hard to be pessimistic. Soon, her son would get to experience his very first Christmas, and even the investigation couldn’t put a damper on that.

However, she couldn’t say the same for Jackson.

Each call seemed to frustrate him even more than the last, and it couldn’t help when every time he glanced in her direction, he saw her with Caden. It had to be tearing him apart to know that he might lose the baby he loved. And there were no doubts in her mind that Jackson loved Caden with all his heart.

“Still no sign of Shannon or Robin,” Jackson relayed when he ended the call with Sheriff Gentry. “SAPD questioned Ryan and Evan, but they didn’t have any evidence to hold either of them.”

Yes, he was frustrated, and it was just as apparent in his tone as it was in his expression. Bailey decided to do something about it.

She put the book aside, stood, and with Caden in her arms, she went to Jackson. “Come on. Let’s go to the foyer and see the Christmas tree.”

He shrugged as if he might refuse, but then Caden reached out for him. Bailey let her son go into Jackson’s waiting arms.

“You’re right,” Jackson said, giving Caden a kiss on the cheek. “He should see the Christmas tree. And tonight, after he’s asleep, I can take his presents out of my office closet. There are about a dozen of them crammed in there.”

She was betting it was more than that. It was clear Jackson had been planning this holiday for a long time.

“After he’s in bed we can talk,” Jackson added, as they headed down the stairs.

Uh-oh.
Bailey knew what that talk was about—custody of Caden. Maybe they would even discuss the fact that they’d had sex—and what that meant.

If anything.

Bailey’s body was still humming from the experience, but she had to accept that once was all she might get with Jackson. When the investigation, the danger and the custody were all resolved, he would almost certainly remain in Caden’s life, but not necessarily hers.

And if so, that would break her heart.

“See the lights?” Jackson said to Caden.

“Ooo,” Caden babbled, pointing to the tree. There were indeed lights to see. Hundreds of them, and they glittered and twinkled from top to bottom, the sparkles dancing off the glass ornaments and tinsel. Someone had obviously finished the decorating and cleaned up the lights she’d broken.

It was perfect now.

Jackson and she had met by this tree, and that alone made it special, but the magical look in her son’s eyes made this a moment Bailey would never forget. One glance at Jackson, and she realized he felt the same. But with a twist. He was no doubt wondering if this would be the one and only Christmas he would have with Caden.

Bailey wanted to start the discussion regarding custody. Maybe they should just have it here and now, but then Caden babbled more of those precious sounds and waggled his fingers at the tree. Jackson took him closer for a better look.

Jackson’s phone rang—again. The irritation flashed through his eyes, but because he had no choice, he handed Caden back to Bailey, took out the phone, glanced at the screen and then answered it.

“The police are looking for you, Shannon,” he greeted the caller.

Shannon? So she’d turned up after all, just in time to spoil this moment with Caden and his first Christmas tree.

“You should go to SAPD,” Jackson added. “They want to talk to you.” He clicked the speakerphone button and held out the cell so that Bailey would be able to hear.

“I know, and when I was on the way to the police station, someone tried to run me off the road. I swear, someone’s trying to kill me.”

“Trust me, you’re not the only one,” Jackson mumbled in frustration. Unfortunately, Bailey felt the same. She wasn’t just frustrated. She was weary from the attacks and the danger. She only wanted a little bit of normalcy.

“I want to come to the estate so we can talk,” Shannon insisted.

Bailey shook her head, praying that Jackson would refuse, but it was obvious he didn’t intend to grant Shannon’s request. “We can talk now, on the phone,” Jackson let the woman know, “but I’m not letting you come here. Not a chance.”

Good. Bailey didn’t want any of their suspects near the estate.

“I’m sorry I lied about your son being mine,” Shannon continued, her voice weepy. “I was desperate, you see. I owe a lot of people money.”

“So you conspired with Ryan to extort that money from me?” Jackson asked point-blank.

“No. Ryan had no part in this, I swear.”

“And coming from you, that means a lot,” Jackson said sarcastically. “Ryan is your lover, so I figure he’ll do anything you ask.”

“You’re wrong. He’s an honest man. The only mistake he made was getting involved with me.”

Shannon sounded as if she was telling the truth, but the woman had told so many lies that Bailey wasn’t about to believe her now.

“You’re not denying that Ryan’s your lover?” Jackson asked, pressing her.

“No, but I doubt he’d want me to confess that to anyone, especially you. He’s trying to distance himself from me. And he should. I’m bad news. I can’t seem to keep myself away from the wrong people.”

Bailey couldn’t agree more. The woman was indeed bad news. But had she really orchestrated a baby snatching and an illegal adoption?

“Talk to me about your involvement with the hostage gunman, Danny Monroe,” Jackson continued.

Bailey thought she heard Shannon gasp. “Who told you I was involved with him?”

“Robin,” he readily admitted.

Bailey wished she could see Shannon’s face, because the woman’s silence was causing Bailey to be even more suspicious of her.

“Robin,” Shannon snarled. “You know why she’s doing this, right?” But she didn’t wait for an answer. “She wants to make me look guilty.”

“Did you have an affair with Danny Monroe?” Jackson demanded.

“No. It was Robin who was having the affair. Not me.”

Bailey huffed. She wanted to lock Robin and Shannon in a room and make them argue it out until they finally told the truth.

“Robin had the affair?” Jackson repeated. He was obviously skeptical.

“Yes. But I know you don’t believe it. That’s okay. Just stop Robin. When she’s stopped, her lies will stop, too.” And with that, Shannon hung up.

“I need to give Shannon’s number to the SAPD,” Jackson said immediately. He scrolled through his list of recent calls. There were so many of them. And he located Captain Shaw Tolbert. He pressed redial.

“Mr. Malone.” The captain answered on the first ring.

“Shannon Wright just phoned me, and here’s where you can reach her.” Jackson read off the numbers. “She also admitted to having an affair with Ryan Cassaine.”

“Thanks—I’ll get someone right on that.” He paused. “I’m glad you called. I needed to speak to you anyway. There’s been a development in the case.”

Bailey slowly drew in a breath and tried not to jump to any bad conclusions. Unfortunately, the captain’s tone made that impossible. He didn’t sound as if he had good news to relay.

“Remember I told you we were trying to use the security cameras up the street from your office to determine who had left that threatening letter?”

“Yeah, I remember,” Jackson said cautiously. “Did you find anything?”

“We got some images. The tech enhanced them and cleaned them up, and a few minutes ago, he managed to ID the person responsible.” The captain paused again. “It was one of our suspects, Robin Russo.”

J
ACKSON CHECKED HIS MESSAGES
again to see if he had an update about Robin and her whereabouts. He didn’t. And that made his temper boil to the point of exploding.

Robin better have a damn good excuse for leaving that letter, but what excuse could there be?
None.

Unless this was some kind of sick game. Pretend she was the one in trouble. Lie like crazy. And then leave him threatening letters. Hell, he could probably add baby-snatching to her list of wrongdoing.

No matter which way he looked at it, Robin Russo couldn’t be trusted and could be dangerous.

And that’s the reason Jackson had his laptop on the table next to him. He was using a split screen so he could easily check all the security cameras. Steven and his men were doing the same, and all of them had set their monitors to show any detection of motion. Any movement outside should register and alert them all.

Hopefully, their vigilance and the new security measures would pay off.

The grounds were lit up with both the Christmas decorations and the security lights. There was a light, misty rain falling, and it made the lights glitter even more. Everything looked festive. But the heavy illumination was also another precaution. Even if someone managed to get past the motion detectors, it wouldn’t be long before someone saw them.

Jackson put away his phone and glanced first at Caden, who was sleeping in his crib, then at Bailey. She was sleeping, too.
Finally.
She was curled up on the comfy sofa in the nursery, but the blanket Jackson had draped over her earlier was now halfway to the floor, proving that her sleep was restless at best.

Neither Jackson nor she had wanted to leave Caden, so they’d agreed to stay put, with Jackson in a recliner next to the crib, and Bailey on the sofa a few feet away.

Jackson thought about joining her there. It would be a tight fit, just the right amount of space for cuddling. His body was begging for that, but it was also begging for more. If he got onto that sofa with Bailey, it wouldn’t be just for cuddling.

They’d have sex.

No. They’d make love,
he mentally corrected himself.

And even though he was aroused by just looking at her, Jackson understood the difference. Being with Bailey couldn’t be casual. It couldn’t be temporary. So it was best to sort out his feelings before…before anything else happened between them.

He checked the time. It was just past midnight, and that meant it was finally Christmas. This wasn’t exactly the way he’d envisioned his first Christmas with his son, but at least Caden was here with him. Considering everything that’d happened, that was a holiday gift he was extremely grateful to have.

Jackson got up and gave Bailey’s blanket an adjustment. He kept his movements light, hoping she would stay asleep, but she stirred anyway.

Her eyelids fluttered open and she looked at him. Not a startled where-am-I? look. She smiled as if his face was exactly what she’d wanted to see.

Man, that didn’t help his begging body.

Nor did it help when she reached out and slid her hand around the back of his neck. Bailey pulled him to her for a kiss.

“Hmmm,” she mumbled against his mouth. “Merry Christmas.”

Everything about that moment, that kiss and her words, seemed so right. She was welcoming him home, right into her arms. And even though Jackson knew they should talk first and kiss later, that’s not what happened.

He pulled her closer and returned the kiss, as if Bailey was his for the taking.

“Caden’s asleep?” she asked, glancing over his shoulder.

Jackson nodded. Caden was asleep and would almost certainly stay that way through the entire night. That cleared a path to sex with Bailey that didn’t need any more clearing.

“We’ll talk later,” she murmured.

Had she read his mind? Maybe she had just sensed his hesitation. But that suggestion of “we’ll talk later” zapped what little hesitation he had left.

Jackson hooked his arm around her and pulled her to him. If he was going to make a mistake by being intimate with her, then he sure as hell intended to make it a mistake worth remembering.

He angled her back farther. And farther. Until she pulled him down onto the sofa and onto her. Jackson was getting ready to take this to the next level and indulge in some foreplay.

But his phone vibrated.

Jackson silently cursed. He had turned off the ringer so the sound wouldn’t wake Caden, but the buzzing was still audible.

They froze, both of them obviously trying to pull themselves from the hazy passion, but Jackson didn’t delay. The buzzing sound was also a reminder that all calls could be critical.

Especially this one.

“Steven,” he whispered, answering the cell. Jackson got up from the sofa and went to the other side of the room.

Bailey got up as well, and with her face showing her concern, she followed him.

“Check screen six,” Steven instructed.

That sent Jackson racing back across the room to the table that held his laptop. His attention went right to screen six, just as Steven had directed.

This was the back section of the property, where there was a pond and shrubs covered in Christmas lights. Jackson moved closer to the screen, trying to pick through the landscape and decorations.