Free RENEGADE GUARDIAN by Delores Fossen

wasn’t the kidnapper, it was entirely possible he was working for the very person who’d tried to take Evan. “Please tell me they managed to hang on to Andrea.”
    “They did, and my brother Dallas is personally transporting her to the Maverick Springs marshals’ office. I’ll question her again tomorrow. Along with Nadine and Chase Collier.” His gaze met hers. “That means you’ll need to stay at the safe house with one of my brothers.”
    There was a lot he left unsaid in that last part. Slade seemed to be waiting for her to object. And maybe she would.
    Slade was keeping something from her, and she wanted to know what. But first things first. Since he’d been on the phone during their entire hour-long drive, she hadn’t had a chance to ask some much-needed questions.
    “What about the meeting at the abandoned gas station?” she asked. “Did anyone show?”
    “No one. That could mean the guy had us under surveillance and wanted to see what we’d do.”
    She waited but he didn’t add anything. “There seems to be an or at the end of that.”
    Slade lifted his shoulder. “He could just be crazy. Or maybe he wants to torment us as much as he can.”
    Maya had to groan. Neither of those were ors she wanted to consider. “How safe is this safe house where you’re taking us?”
    “As safe as my brother could make it.”
    For him, that probably meant it was safe, but again, she would decide once they were there. “How much longer before we get there, because I’ll have to feed and change Evan soon?” Besides, it was getting dark, and she didn’t want to be on the roads if she couldn’t see if someone was following them.
    Slade checked his GPS. “We’re only about two miles away.”
    Good. But there was a downside to that—it wasn’t nearly enough time to press him on the part of the conversation that she’d overheard with his brother Harlan.
    “My brother learned more about the Colliers,” Slade continued before she could say anything. “First of all, the ransom demand didn’t pan out. They claim the kidnapper told them that he’d be calling them back, and it hasn’t happened.”
    Maybe the kidnapper would call, though. And soon. “Did your brother learn anything else about the Colliers?”
    “Some. Nothing good, though. According to an acquaintance, their marriage has been rocky for a while, and it was Chase who pressed for the adoption because he thought it would make things better.”
    She thought about that, shook her head. “How could any agency let them adopt under those circumstances?”
    “It was a private adoption, and a lot of money changed hands. This acquaintance also said that Nadine wasn’t happy about any aspect of the adoption, that she didn’t want to be a parent and resented Chase for dumping the baby on her.”
    Maya actually shivered and silently cursed the fact that money had put that innocent baby in what seemed to be a toxic home. When the children were found—and she had to hold out hope that they would be—maybe someone would rescind the petition for adoption.
    Slade took a turn off the rural road, and she spotted the one-story house just ahead. Other than a barn, there was nothing nearby, and the pastures stretched out on both sides.
    “The town is a good ten miles away,” Slade explained, “and the locals believe the owner is a city businessman who lends the place out to clients.”
    That would provide good cover as to why people would be coming and going, but it looked like an ordinary Craftsman-style house, not a fortress.
    Slade didn’t stop in front of the house. He drove to the back, parked directly next to the porch and began to unhook the car seat at the same time Maya reached for it. Their hands touched.
    Gazes met, too.
    She hated the warmth that pooled in her body. Obviously, her past hadn’t taught her anything, and she pulled back her hand so she could touch one of the scars on her stomach. Her clothes concealed them, but she could always