Hayden nodded. Then he turned and rushed toward the stairs.
Jill gripped the gun and she stared into the darkness around the boat. Her heartbeat seemed to thunder in her ears. Her side burned, the blood soaking her shirt and making it cling to her skin. The moments ticked by. The boat bobbed, pulling against its anchor.
“She’s all right.” Hayden appeared, holding a girl tightly in his arms. “She’s okay, Jill. You got to her in time.”
He put Vanessa down on the deck, and he started yanking at the ropes that still bound her hands. Jill saw that a gag had been pulled away from the girl’s mouth.
Tears stung Jill’s eyes. Safe.
“I—I want to go home,” Vanessa rasped.
“You will,” Jill promised her. “We’re going to take you home. Everything is going to be okay.” She’s alive. We found her alive.
But the man who’d taken her... Jill’s gaze dipped to the waves...
Where are you, Theodore Anderson? Where did you go?
* * *
THE DOCK BLAZED with lights. Deputies, EMTs, hell, half of the town seemed to be there when they finally made it to shore.
Jill was immediately put on a stretcher. Hayden saw an EMT start to cut away the bloody shirt that clung to Jill’s side. He stepped forward—
“Stay with Vanessa!” Jill cried out, her frantic gaze locking with his. “Make sure she’s okay—her family—”
He had his arm around Vanessa’s shoulder. She was trembling against him. Shaking. He’d checked her out on the boat and she seemed unharmed, thank Christ.
Theodore Anderson. Theodore damn Anderson. The killer had been right there, all along.
Samantha Dark pushed through the crowd and rushed to Jill’s side. “What happened?”
A tall, dark-haired man was right behind her. His gaze swept the crowd, then locked on Hayden.
FBI. Hell, that truth pretty much rolled off that guy. Hayden pegged him with one glance.
“Come on, Vanessa,” Hayden said softly. “We’ll get you checked out.” He motioned toward another EMT and the fellow hurried toward them. He caught sight of Finn, and Hayden jerked his hand at the deputy. Finn shot through the assembled group. “Stay with her, got me? In the ambulance, every single minute.” Because he was afraid.
Hayden’s gaze cut to the water.
The waves were rougher, hitting the dock harder. The boats bobbed in the water.
When they’d gone over the side of the boat, Hayden had heard a distinct thunk. They’d been fighting as they fell, and Theodore’s head had hit the side of the boat. They’d gone into the water and the waves had ripped them apart.
Hayden had been frantic to get back on the boat, to get back to Jill.
He hadn’t searched for Theodore. And the man hadn’t come up.
Was he dead?
Or had the bastard gotten away?
“Vanessa!” The scream cut through the crowd. High, desperate. Afraid.
A mother’s scream.
Hayden motioned to the deputies, and they immediately cleared a path for Carol Wells so that she could get to her daughter. When Carol appeared, tears were streaming down her cheeks. Her face was stark white and the terror in her eyes made his chest ache.
“She’s okay,” he said quietly. His hand patted her shoulder and he pushed Carol toward Vanessa as she sat on the edge of a nearby gurney. “She’s safe.”
Carol stumbled toward her daughter. “I’m so sorry, Vanessa,” Carol sobbed. “I’m so sorry, I’m so sorry...”
“Mom.” Vanessa was crying, too. She lifted her arms. “Mom!”
They hugged tight. Hayden stared at them a moment. Their family wasn’t perfect. No family was. But Vanessa was safe. Alive. They could deal with the problems that came their way. They had a chance now.
A chance that Theodore wouldn’t take away from them.
He grabbed Finn’s arm. “You stay with them, every minute, got it?” Hayden ordered again, because fear gnawed at him. Theodore Anderson didn’t let his victims go easily.
“I won’t let you down,” Finn promised.
Hayden slipped away from him. Jill was being loaded into the back of an ambulance. She was fighting the EMT—why the hell was the woman doing that? “Jill!” He ran to her.
“I need to stay here!” Jill snapped to the EMT. “He’s still out there—I have to make sure they find him—I can’t go!”
“Hell, yes, you can,” Hayden growled.
Samantha and the dark-haired man with her were huddled near the back of the ambulance. At his words, they both looked his way.
So did Jill.
But when she stared at him, Hayden saw her gaze soften.
She still looks at me the same way. Only Jill had ever looked at him like that. With eyes wide with hope and...love. It was still there. He hadn’t destroyed it years ago, as he’d feared.
It was still there.
“You need to get to a hospital,” he said, and he climbed right into the back of the ambulance with her. “Baby, you need stitches and you lost a whole lot of blood. You have to let the EMTs and the docs take care of you.”
She grabbed his hand and held tight. “But Theodore’s still out there.”
“I’ll keep the search going.” He brought her hand to his lips. Kissed her. For an instant, his eyes closed and he remembered swimming desperately to that boat, grabbing the ladder, seeing her—and hearing the boom of the gun. “Thought I lost you.” The terror was still inside him, twisting at his gut, hollowing his insides. “You’ve got to stop doing this to me.”
His eyes opened.
Jill was staring at him the same way—
“God, I love you so much, Jill,” he told her.
Her lips parted.
“You’re giving me that chance we talked about,” he said quickly. “You’re going to get stitched up, you’re going to heal, and we’ll start fresh.”
But... Jill shook her head.
That twisting inside of him turned into ice-cold fear. “What?”
“Don’t need to start fresh...” She wet her lips. “Still...love you.”
He leaned over.
“Uh, excuse me, Sheriff,” the EMT began.
Hayden’s hands were careful as they brushed Jill’s hair away from her cheek. “I’ve loved you since I was fifteen years old. You’ve always been my world.” He needed her to understand this. “I will never stop loving you.” Just as he’d never stop fighting for her, for them.
He pressed a kiss to her lips. Gentle. Tender. “You saved her, Jill. You brought Vanessa home.”
Her lips curved into a faint smile.
“And you saved me.” She always had. “So do me a damn favor, okay?” Now his voice was rough. “Go to the hospital because I need you okay. You have to be okay.” She was everything to him. And just seeing her in pain ripped him apart.
Jill nodded.
His breath expelled in a rush.
“Finish the search,” Jill ordered quickly. “Stay here, Hayden. Make sure the crews look everywhere.”
“Yes, ma’am.” He squeezed her fingers once more, and then he slid from the back of the ambulance. His gaze jerked to Samantha. “Will you—”
She was already climbing into the vehicle. “Don’t worry. I’ll stay with her the whole time. I’ll make sure she’s a good patient and that she’s safe.”
Hell, yes.
That twisting inside eased as he backed away and the ambulance roared from the scene with a squeal of its sirens.
When she was clear, when Jill was gone, a long sigh eased from him.
“Must’ve been hard...”
Hayden glanced at the guy he’d pegged as an FBI agent.
The man pulled out his ID and flashe
d it at him. “Blake Gamble. I’m Samantha’s new partner. Came down to assist her and Jillian. Though it looks like I was late to most of the party.”
“Party’s not over,” Hayden denied grimly. “Theodore Anderson is still out there.” But he’d just caught sight of a familiar face in the crowd. A face that was staring at the scene in shocked horror.
Kurt Anderson’s face.
“I can’t imagine what it was like,” Blake murmured. “Swimming out there, knowing the woman you loved was in danger.”
Hayden pulled his gaze off Kurt. Hard didn’t even begin to describe what it had been like. Try freaking nightmare.
“Tell me how I can help,” Blake said. “What can I do?”
“Get on a boat.” Because search crews were mounting already. The Coast Guard was out, and Hayden was about to hit the water, too. “Let’s go find the bastard.” He wouldn’t be satisfied, not until they’d locked Theodore Anderson in jail.
Or they’d pulled his lifeless body from the water.
Chapter Sixteen
Two weeks later...
The waves pounded against the beach. The sky was dark, clouds covering the stars, so Jill couldn’t see the whitecaps as they hit the shore. She stood on the deck of her cabin, her heart beating slowly, her gaze on the darkness.
Theodore Anderson hadn’t been found. He hadn’t come home. His body hadn’t washed ashore.
Had he died out there? And his body had been pulled out to sea?
Or had he slipped away? Was he already planning another attack? Another abduction?
Warm hands slid down her arms, and she felt Hayden’s strong body press to her back. “I still have patrols searching the town.”
She knew he did. But the media circus that had hit the area when news broke about Theodore Anderson—that madness had died away. Thankfully. Life was starting to get back to normal for everyone in Hope.
Well...for most people.
Normal would be a long time coming for Vanessa. Her brother had returned to town, and Jill knew that Porter was staying close to his sister. Protecting her.
And as for Kurt...he’d already put his house up for sale. When she’d talked to him after getting out of the hospital, he’d seemed to be a broken shell of himself.
“Do you think he’s dead?” Jill asked. She turned in Hayden’s arms, putting her back against the wooden balcony railing.
His gaze lifted and focused over her shoulder, on the darkness that was behind her. “I won’t believe he’s dead, not until I see a body. Until then, he’s a threat. One that I won’t ever forget.”
That was how she felt, too. Like she just couldn’t let go. “I looked over my shoulder for half of my life, always thinking the monster from the dark was out there.” And he had been. “Now the monster has a face.”
“He won’t take you again.” Fierce determination thickened his voice.
“No.” She was certain of this, too. Because she wasn’t a victim, not anymore. “He won’t.” Theodore Anderson was prey. Hunted by local authorities, by the FBI. His face had been on every newscast in the country. He was a wanted man.
He would be found.
“Jill, I have something to ask you.” Hayden backed away from her. Exhaled slowly. He seemed...nervous. Odd, for Hayden. “I know that your job base is in Atlanta. Your team wants you back up there.”
Yes, they did. But she’d been given extra leave in spite of...well, everything.
“Atlanta, Hope, wherever you want to be... I’d like to be with you.” He bent down before her.
OhmyGod... He was on one knee. Hayden pulled a small, black box from his pocket. He opened it, and the ring sparkled in the dark. “I’ve loved you since I met you. Time just made that feeling even stronger. I want to spend my life with you. I want you, Jill. Always, you.” And, once more, he gave a quick, nervous exhale. “Will you marry me?”
She stared at the ring, and then she looked at what really mattered... Hayden. Hayden’s eyes. Her Hayden. And she smiled at him. “Yes.”
He surged up to his feet. He put the ring on her finger and then he was kissing her. Wildly. Hotly. Happily.
There was so much emotion in his touch. So much joy. Jill felt that same joy. She wasn’t going to let fear hold her back any longer. Yes, there were bad things in this world. So many bad things...
But there were good things, too. Kisses, smiles, love...hope.
Girls who were reunited with their families. People who fought to protect victims. People who cared.
The good beat the bad.
It won.
She curled her arms around Hayden’s neck. He picked her up and carried her inside, stopping just long enough to lock the sliding glass door. Then he was walking through the cabin and taking her to the bedroom. He put her on the bed, his touch so very careful.
She smiled at him. “I’m not going to break.”
“I know, baby. You proved that long ago.” He tossed his shirt into the corner. Kicked off his shoes and socks and slid onto the edge of the bed. “But you’re still healing and—”
She curled her fingers around his shoulder. “I’m all healed, Hayden. And I want you.” Every bit of him. She kissed him, then bit his lower lip, a sexy tease that she knew he loved.
She toed out of her shoes and sent them flying. Then Hayden’s hand was at the zipper of her jeans. The faint hiss seemed loud in the quiet room. He pushed down the jeans, shoved down her underwear, but when his fingers slid between her legs...he was so gentle.
Careful.
I told him I wouldn’t break.
He stroked her, arousing her desire to a fever pitch, making her hips jerk against him. She still had on her shirt and her tight nipples thrust forward. “Hayden!”
His hand slid away from her. He jerked off her shirt, his touch a bit rougher now, but he didn’t so much as brush her healing wound. The bullet wound that would always remind her of Theodore.
Hayden unhooked her bra. He put his mouth on her breast and she choked out his name as heated sensation poured through her. She loved Hayden’s touch. Loved his mouth. Loved the way he made her feel.
But she hated it when the man made her wait.
Jill’s fingers slid between their bodies. She found his heavy length—thick, hot, fully aroused. She pumped him, enjoying the feel of him in her hands. Then she pushed the head of his arousal between her legs. She needed this moment. She needed him. “Hayden.” His name was a demand.
He kissed her neck, right over her pulse, in that spot that drove her crazy.
Then he thrust into her. For an instant, she could have sworn that time froze. Everything was perfect for her—love, need, desire...
Hayden.
Then he withdrew, only to drive deep into her once more. The bed squeaked beneath him. Her legs wrapped around his hips. Deeper, harder, he pistoned his hips against her. And Jill couldn’t hold back her release. Her nails sank into his back and she called out his name as the pleasure broke over her.
Hayden was with her. He sank into her core once more, and then he stiffened. He whispered her name as he came, a long shudder driving over him, and he held her tight. So tight.
As if he’d never let go. That was good, so good, because Jill never intended to let him go, either.
In the aftermath, Hayden pulled her close. Their fingers twined together. The diamond ring shined in the night.
And Jill closed her eyes.
* * *
IT WAS THE squeak that woke her later. The squeak that came from the sliding glass door that led out to her balcony. Her eyes flew open and she sucked in a quick breath.
“It’s okay,” Hayden whispered. His fingers squeezed hers.
But...it wasn’t okay. Someone was breaking into her cabin.
“We were w
aiting for this,” Hayden said. His hand slipped from hers. He opened the nightstand drawer and took out two guns.
Because, yes, they had known that if Theodore Anderson lived, he might try to attack again. That was the reason Jill had stayed in the same cabin on the beach. Why she’d been sure to go out on the deck every evening.
Bait.
She hadn’t wanted Theodore to go after Vanessa. I wanted him to come after me.
She slid on a T-shirt and her shorts as Hayden jerked on his jeans. Then, armed, they both moved soundlessly toward her bedroom door.
She heard the groan from the outer room. Their intruder was near the TV. Hadn’t he learned from last time? No, obviously not, he was making all of the same mistakes.
But I’m not.
She released a slow breath, and then Jill nodded toward Hayden. Ready. She mouthed the word at him.
He yanked open the door.
“Freeze!” Jill yelled.
Hayden hit the light. Illumination flooded onto Theodore Anderson as he stood in the middle of her den. Heavy stubble covered his jaw and in his hand, he held a long, glinting knife.
A knife wouldn’t do much good against two guns. “You’re under arrest,” Jill said.
He screamed at her and he lifted his hand and charged right toward her. In that split second, she understood that he’d rather die than go to jail. For a man like him, prison would be a living hell. The girls he’d killed...his own daughter...
The other inmates would make him pay, every single day—and night.
Theodore Anderson wanted to die. He wanted to be taken out.
But on that boat, he’d boasted about other victims. Victims that the authorities hadn’t identified. Those families deserved closure.
“Stop!” Jill yelled. She fired, just as Hayden fired.
Her bullet hit Theodore in the leg. Hayden’s bullet slammed into the guy’s shoulder. Theodore fell to the floor, injured, but not dead. It won’t be that easy for you.
“No!” The anguished bellow had Jill’s head jerking up and swinging to the left—toward her open screen door. Kurt Anderson stood there, his eyes wild, glittering. “You have to kill him! You have to kill him!”