The Montana Cahills

“I think they were murdered, but I can’t prove it without their bodies, and Jonas has refused to release them. Legally, there isn’t much I can do since my parents had signed over everything to him—even their daughter.”

Murder? He’d heard about the fifty-two-year-old charismatic leader of the cult living in the mountains outside of town, but he couldn’t imagine the things Lola was telling him. “He can’t expect you to marry him.”

“Jonas was convinced that I would fall for him if I spent enough time at the compound, so he kept me there. At first, he told me it would take time to have my parents’ remains exhumed and moved. Later I realized there was no way he was letting their remains go anywhere even if he could convince me to marry him, which was never going to happen.”

Maybe it was the late hour, but he was having trouble making sense of this. “So after you met me...”

“I was more determined to free both my parents and myself from Jonas forever. I wasn’t back at the compound long though, when I realized I was pregnant. Jonas realized it, too. I became a prisoner of SLS until the birth. Then Jonas had the baby taken away and had me locked up. I had to escape to get help for my daughter.”

“Your daughter?”

She met his gaze. “That’s why I’m here... She’s our daughter,” she said, her voice suddenly choked with tears. “Jonas took the baby girl that you and I made the first night we met.”

* * *

COLT STARED AT HER, too shocked to speak for a moment. What the hell? “Are you trying to tell me—”

“I had your child but I couldn’t contact you. Jonas kept me under guard, locked away. I had no way to get a message out. If any of the sisters tried to help me, they were severely punished.”

He couldn’t believe what he was hearing. “Wait. You had the baby at the compound?”

She nodded. “One of the members is a midwife. She delivered a healthy girl, but then Jonas had the child taken away almost at once. I got to hold her only for a few moments and only because Sister Amelia let me. She was harshly reprimanded for it. I got to look into her precious face. She has this adorable tiny heart-shaped birthmark on her left thigh and my blond hair. Just fuzz really.” Tears filled her eyes again.

Colt ran a hand over his face before he looked at her again. “I’m having a hard time believing any of this.”

“I know. If Jonas had let me leave with my daughter, I wouldn’t have ever troubled you with any of this,” she said.

“You would never have told me about the baby?” He hadn’t meant to make it sound like an accusation. He’d expected her to be offended.

Instead, when she spoke, he saw only sympathy in her gaze. “When I met you, you were on leave and going back the next day. You were talking about staying in the Army. Your fiancée had just broken up with you.”

“You don’t have to remind me.”

“What you and I shared that night...” She met his gaze. “I’ll never forget it, but I wasn’t fool enough to think that it might lead to anything. The only reason I’m here now is that I need help to get our daughter away from that...man.”

“Don’t I have a right to know if I have a child?”

“Of course. But I wouldn’t be asking anything of you—if Jonas hadn’t taken our daughter. I’m more than capable of taking care of her and myself.”

“What I don’t understand is why Jonas wants to keep a baby that isn’t his.”

She didn’t seem surprised by his skepticism, but when he looked into her eyes, he saw pain darken all that beautiful blue. “I can understand why you wouldn’t believe she’s yours.”

“I didn’t say that.”

“You didn’t have to.” She got to her feet, grabbing the table to steady herself. “I shouldn’t have come here, but I didn’t know where else to go.”

“Hold on,” he said, pushing back his chair and coming around the table to take her shoulders in his hands. She felt small, fragile, and yet he saw a strength in her that belied her slim frame. “You have to admit this is quite the story.”

“That’s why I didn’t tell you the night we met about the cult or the problems I was having getting my parents’ remains out. I still thought I could handle it myself. Also I doubt you would have believed it.” Her smile hurt him soul deep. “I wouldn’t have believed it and I’ve lived through all of this.”

He was doing his best to keep an open mind. He wasn’t a man who jumped to quick conclusions. He took his time to make decisions based on the knowledge he was able to acquire. It had kept him alive all these years as an Army helicopter pilot.

“So what you’re telling me is that the leader of SLS has taken your baby to force you to marry him? If he’s so dangerous, why wouldn’t he have just—”

“Forced me? He tried to...join with me, as he put it. He’s still limping from the attempt. And equally determined that I will come to him. Now that I’ve shamed him...he will never let me have my baby unless I completely surrender to him in front of the whole congregation.”

“Don’t you mean our baby?”

Lola gave him an impatient look. Tears filled her eyes as she swayed a little as if having trouble staying upright after everything she’d been through.

He felt a stab of guilt. He’d been putting her through an interrogation when clearly she was exhausted. It was bad enough that she was scraped, cut and bruised, but he could see that her real injuries were more than skin deep.

“You’re dead on your feet,” he said. “There isn’t anything we can do tonight. Get some rest. Tomorrow...”

A tear broke loose and cascaded down her cheek. He caught it with his thumb and gently wiped it away before she let him lead her to the guest bedroom where she’d showered earlier. His mind was racing. If any of this was true...

“Don’t worry. We’ll figure this out,” Colt said as he pulled back the covers. “Just get some sleep.” He knew he wouldn’t be able to sleep a wink.

Could he really have a daughter? A daughter now being held by a crackpot cult leader? A man who, according to Lola, was much more dangerous than anyone knew?

Lola climbed into the bed, still wearing his too-large sweats. He tucked her in, seeing that she could barely keep her eyes open.

“Dayton.” At his puzzled look, she added, “That’s my last name.” They’d shared only first names the night they met. But that night neither of them had been themselves. She’d been running scared, and he’d been wallowing in self-pity over losing the woman he’d thought he was going to marry and live with the rest of his life.

“Lola Dayton,” he repeated, and smiled down at her. “Pretty name.”

He moved to the door and switched off the light.

“I named our daughter Grace,” she said from out of the darkness. “Do you remember telling me that you always loved that name?”

He turned in the doorway to look back at her, too choked up to speak for a moment. “It was my grandmother’s name.”

* * *

LOLA THOUGHT SHE wouldn’t be able to sleep. Her body felt leaden as she’d sunk under the covers. She could still feel the rough skin of Colt’s thumb pad against her cheek and reached up to touch the spot. She hadn’t been wrong about him. Not that first night. Not tonight.

She closed her eyes and felt herself careening off that mountain, running for her life, running for Grace’s life. She was safe, she reminded herself. But Grace...

The sisters were taking good care of Grace, she told herself. Jonas wouldn’t let anything happen to the baby. At least she prayed that he wouldn’t hurt Grace to punish her even more.

The thought had her heart pounding until she realized the only power Jonas had over her was the baby. He wouldn’t hurt Grace. He needed that child if he ever hoped to get what he wanted. And what he wanted was Lola. She’d seen it in his eyes. A voracious need that he thought only she could fill.

If he ever got his hands on her again... Well, she knew there would be no saving herself from him.

* * *

COLT KICKED OFF his boots and lay down on the bed fully dressed. Sleep was out of the question. If half of what Lola had told him was true... Was it possible they’d made a baby that night? They hadn’t used protection. He hadn’t had anything. Nor had she. It wasn’t like him to take a chance like that.

But there was something so wholesome, so innocent, so guileless...

Rolling to his side, he closed his eyes. The memory was almost painful. The sweet scent of her body as she lay with her back to him naked on the bed. The warmth of his palm as he slowly ran it from her side down into the saddle of her slim waist to the rise of her hip and her perfectly rounded buttocks. The catch of her breath as he pulled her into him and cupped one full breast. The tender moan from her lips as he rolled her over to look into those violet eyes.

Groaning, Colt shifted to his back again to stare up at the dark ceiling. That night he’d lost himself in that delectable woman. He’d buried all feelings for his former fiancée into her. He’d found salvation in her body, in her arms, in her tentative touch, in her soft, sweet kisses.

He closed his eyes, again remembering the feel of her in his arms as they’d danced in his hotel room. The slow sway, their bodies joined, their movements more sensuous than even the act of love. He’d given her a little piece of his heart that night and had not even realized it.

Swinging his legs over the bed, he knew he’d never get any rest until he checked on her. Earlier, he’d gotten the feeling that she wanted to run—rather than tell him what had brought her to his door. She hadn’t wanted to involve him, wouldn’t have if Jonas didn’t have her baby.

That much he believed. But why hadn’t she told him what she was running from the night they’d first met? Maybe he could have helped her.

He moved quietly down the hallway, half-afraid he would open the bedroom door only to find her gone and all of this like his dream about being back in Afghanistan.

After easing open the door, he waited for his eyes to adjust to the blackness in the room. Her blond hair lay like a fan across her pillow. Her peaceful face made her appear angelic. He found himself smiling as he stared down at the sleeping Lola. He couldn’t help wondering about their daughter. She would be three months old now. Did she resemble her mother? He hoped so.

The thought shook him because he realized how much he wanted to believe her. A daughter. He really could have a daughter? A baby with Lola? He shook his head. What were the chances that their union would bring a child into this world? And yet he and Lola had done more than make love that night. They’d connected in a way he and Julia never had.

The thought of Julia, though, made him recoil. Look how wrong he’d been about her. How wrong he’d been about his own mother. Could he trust his judgment when it came to women? Doubtful.

He stepped out of the room, closing the door softly behind him. Tomorrow, he told himself, he would know the truth. He’d get the sheriff to go with them up to the compound and settle this once and for all.

Colt walked out onto the porch to stare up at the starry sky. The air was crisp and cold, snow still capping the highest peaks around town. He knew this all could be true. Normally, he would never have had intercourse with a woman he didn’t know without protection. But that night, he and Lola hadn’t just had sex. They’d made love, two lost souls who’d given each other comfort in a world that had hurt them.

He’d been heartbroken over Julia and his friend Wyatt. Being in Lola’s arms had saved him. If their lovemaking had resulted in a baby...a little girl...

Yes, what was he going to do? Besides go up to that compound and get the baby for Lola? He tried to imagine himself as a father to an infant. What a joke. He couldn’t have been in a worse place in his life to take on a wife and a child.

He looked across the ranch. All his life he’d felt tied down to this land. That his father had tried to chain him to it still infuriated him—and at the same time made him feel guilty. His father had had such a connection to the land, one that Colt had never felt. He’d loved being a cowboy, but ranching was more about trying to make a living off the land. He’d watched his father struggle for years. Why would the old man think he would want this? Why hadn’t his father sold the place, done something fun with the money before he’d died?

Instead, he’d left it all to Colt—lock, stock and barrel, making the place feel like a noose around his neck.

“It’s yours,” the probate attorney had said. “Do whatever you want with the ranch.”

“You mean I can sell it?”

“After three months. That’s all your father stipulated. That you live on the ranch for three months full-time, and then if you still don’t want to ranch, you can liquidate all of your father’s holdings.”

Colt took a deep breath and let it out. “Sorry, Dad. If you think even three years on this land is going to change anything, you are dead wrong.” He’d put in his three months and more waiting for an offer on the place.

When his leave was up, he was heading back to the Army and his real job. At least that had been the plan before he’d found Lola standing on his doorstep. Now he didn’t know what to think. All he knew was that he had to fly. He didn’t want to ranch. Once the place sold, there would be nothing holding him here.

He thought about Lola asleep back in the house. If this baby was his, he’d take responsibility, but he couldn’t make any promises—not when he didn’t even know where he would be living when he came home on leave.

Up by the road, he could see the for-sale sign by the gate into the ranch. With luck, the ranch would sell soon. In the meantime, he had to get Lola’s baby back for her. His baby.

He pushed open the door and headed for his bedroom. Everything was going to work out. Once Lola understood what he needed to do, what he had to do...

He lay down on the bed fully clothed again and closed his eyes, knowing there was no chance of sleep. But hours later, he woke with a start, surprised to find sunlight streaming in through the window. As he rose, still dressed, he worried that he would find Lola gone, just as she had been that morning in Billings.

The thought had his heart pounding as he padded down to the guest room. The door was partially ajar. What if none of it had been true? What if she’d realized he would see through all of it and had taken off?

He pressed his fingertips against the warm wood and pushed gently until he could see into the dim light of the room. She lay wrapped in one of his mother’s quilts, her long blond hair splayed across the pillow. He eased the door closed, surprised how relieved he was. Maybe he wasn’t a good judge of character when it came in women—Julia a case in point—but he wanted to believe Lola was different. It surprised him how much he wanted to believe it.

* * *

LOLA WOKE TO the smell of frying bacon. Her stomach growled. She sat up with a start, momentarily confused as to where she was. Not on the hard cot at the compound. Not locked in the claustrophobia-inducing tiny cabin with little heat. And certainly not waking to the wonderful scent of frying bacon at that awful prison.

Her memory of the events came back to her in a rush. What surprised her the most was that she’d slept. It had been so long that she hadn’t been allowed to sleep through the night without being awakened as part of the brainwashing treatment. Or when the sisters had come to take her breast milk for the baby. She knew the only reason, other than exhaustion, she’d slept last night was knowing that she was safe. If Colt hadn’t been there, though...

She refused to think about that as she got up. Her escape had cost her. She hurt all over. The scratches on her face and the sore muscles were painful. But far worse was the ache in her heart. She’d had to leave Grace behind.

Still dressed in the sweatshirt and sweatpants and barefoot, she followed the smell of frying bacon to the kitchen. Colt had music playing and was singing softly to a country music song. She had to smile, remembering how much he’d liked to dance.

That memory brought a rush of heat to her cheeks. She’d told herself that she hadn’t been in her right mind that night, but seeing Colt again, she knew that was a lie. He’d liberated that woman from the darkness she’d been living in. He’d brought out a part of her she hadn’t known existed.

He seemed to sense her in the doorway and turned, instantly smiling. “I hope you don’t mind pancakes again. There was batter left over. I haven’t been to the store. But I did find some bacon in the freezer.”

“It’s making my stomach growl. Is there anything I can do to help?”

“Nope, just bring your appetite.” He motioned for her to take a seat. “I made a lot. I don’t know about you, but I’m hungry.”

She sat down at the table and watched him expertly flip pancakes and load up a plate with bacon.

As he set everything on the table and took a chair, he met her gaze. “How are you feeling?”

“Better. I slept well.” For that he couldn’t imagine how thankful she was. “On the compound, they would wake me every few hours to chant over me.”

“Sounds like brainwashing,” Colt said, his jaw tightening.

“Jonas calls it rehabilitation.”

He pushed the bacon and pancakes toward her. “Eat while it’s hot. We’ll deal with everything else once we’ve eaten.”

She looked into his handsome face, remembered being in his arms and felt a flood of guilt. If there was any other way of saving Grace, she wouldn’t have involved him in this. But he had been involved since that night in Billings when she’d asked for his help and he hadn’t hesitated. He just hadn’t known then that what he was getting involved in was more than dangerous.

Once Jonas knew that Colt was the father of her baby... She shuddered at the thought of what she was about to do to this wonderful man.

Chapter Four

Colt picked at his food. He’d lied about being hungry. Just the smell of it turned his stomach. But he watched Lola wolf down hers as if she hadn’t eaten in months. He suspected she hadn’t eaten much. She was definitely thinner than she’d been that night in Billings a year ago.

But if anything, she was even more striking, with her pale skin and those incredible eyes. He was glad to see her hair down. It fell in a waterfall of gold down her back. He was reminded again how she’d looked the first time he’d seen her—and when he’d opened the door last night.

“I’ve been thinking about what we should do first,” Colt said as he moved his food around the plate. “We need to start by getting you some clothing that fits,” he said as if all they had to worry about was a shopping trip. “Then I think we should go by the sheriff’s office.”

“There is somewhere we have to go first,” she said, looking up from cutting off a bite of pancake dripping with the red syrup. “I know you don’t trust me. It’s all right. I wouldn’t trust me, either. But don’t worry, you will.” She smiled. She had a slight gap between her two front teeth that made her smile adorable. That and the innocence in her lightly freckled face had sucked him in from the first.

He’d been vulnerable that night. He’d been a broken man and Lola had been more than a temptation. The fact that she’d sworn he was saving her that night hadn’t hurt, either.

He thought about the way she’d looked last night when he’d found her on his doorstep. She still had a scratch across one cheek and a cut under her right eye. It made her look like a tomboy.

“You have to admit, the story you told me last night was a little hard to believe.”

“I know. That’s why you have to let me prove it to you.”

He eyed her suspiciously. “And how do you plan to do that?”

“Do you know a doctor in town who can examine me?”

His pulse jumped. “I thought you said—”

“Not for that. Or for my mental proficiency.” Her gaze locked with his. “I need you to know that I had a baby three months ago. A doctor should be able to tell.” He started to argue, but she stopped him. “This is where we need to start before we go to the sheriff.”

He wanted to argue that this wasn’t necessary, but they both knew it was. If a doctor said she’d never given birth and none of this was real, then it would be over. No harm done. Except the idea of him and Lola having a baby together would always linger, he realized.

“I used to go to a family doctor here in town. If he’s still practicing...”

* * *

DR. HUBERT GRAY was a large man with a drooping gray mustache and matching bushy eyebrows over piercing blue eyes.

Colt explained what they wanted.

Dr. Gray narrowed his gaze for a moment, taking them both in. “Well, then, why don’t you step into the examination room with my nurse, Sara. She’ll get you ready while I visit with Colt here.”

The moment Lola and Sara left the room, the doctor leaned back in his office chair. “Let me get this straight. You aren’t even sure there is a child?”

“Lola says there is. Unfortunately, the baby isn’t here.”

The doctor nodded. “You realize this won’t prove that the child is yours—just that she has given birth before.”

Colt nodded. “I know this is unusual.”

“Nothing surprises me. By the way, I was sorry to hear about your father. Damn cancer. Only thing that could stop him from ranching.”

“Yes, he loved it.”

“Tell me about flying helicopters. You know I have my pilot’s license, but I’ve never flown a chopper.”

Colt told him what he loved about it. “There is nothing like being able to hover in the air, being able to put it down in places—” he shook his head “—that seem impossible.”

“I can tell that you love what you do, but did I hear you’re ranching again?”

“Temporarily.”

A buzz sounded and Dr. Gray rose. “This shouldn’t take long. Sit tight.”

True to his word, the doctor returned minutes later. Colt looked up expectantly. “Well?” he asked as Dr. Gray took his seat again behind his desk. Colt realized that his emotions were all over the place. He didn’t know what he was hoping to hear.

Did he really want to believe that Lola had given birth to their child to have it stolen by some crazy cult leader? Wouldn’t it be better if Lola had lied for whatever reason after becoming obsessed with him following their one-night stand?

“You wanted to know if she has recently given birth?” the doctor asked.

“Has she?” He held his breath, telling himself even if she had, it didn’t mean that any of the rest of it was true.

“Since she gave me permission to provide you with this information, I’d say she gave birth in the past three months.”

Just as she’d said. He glanced at the floor, not sure if he was relieved or not. He felt like a heel for having even a glimmer of doubt. But Lola was right. He’d had to know before he went any further with this. It wasn’t like he really knew this woman. He’d simply shared one night of intimacy all those months ago.

There was a tap at the door. The nurse stuck her head in to say that the doctor had another patient waiting. Behind the nurse, he saw Lola in the hallway. She looked as if she’d been crying. He quickly rose. “Thank you, Doc,” he said over his shoulder as he hurried to Lola, taking both of her hands in his. “I’m sorry. I’m so sorry. You didn’t have to do this.”

Her smile was sad but sweet as she shook her head. “I just got upset because Dr. Gray is so kind. I wish he’d delivered Grace instead of...” She shook her head. “Not that any of that matters now.”

“It’s time we went to the sheriff,” he said as he led her out of the building. She seemed to hesitate, though, as they reached his pickup. “What?”

“Just that the sheriff isn’t going to be able to do anything—and that’s if he believes you.”

“He’ll believe me. I know him,” he said as he opened the pickup door for her. “I went to school with his sister Lillie and her twin brother, Darby. Darby’s a good friend. Both Lillie and Darby are new parents. As for the sheriff—Flint Cahill is as down-to-earth as anyone I know and I’m sure he’s familiar with The Society of Lasting Serenity. Sheriff Cahill is also the only way we can get on church property—and off—without any trouble.”