But the man hadn’t given up. He’d kept shooting and—
“You should never have touched Ava!” The other words had been a rasp, but those were a scream. “She was mine. She was waiting for me! And you ruined everything!” A high, sharp scream.
Mark ducked behind a tree. He swiped his hand over his eyes to get rid of the blood that slid down from his forehead. He had his makeshift weapon. Now he just needed to find the right moment to attack.
Then he heard the growl of an engine. One that wasn’t coming from his ranch but instead seemed to be coming from the main road—the road from the McGuire ranch.
Ava’s coming. She thinks she’s coming to find you...
His phone had been missing from the SUV. The driver’s side door had been open... That guy must have used it to contact Ava! He’d lured her in with Mark as the bait.
Now he was waiting out there, armed with a gun, and Ava would have no clue what kind of hell she was walking into tonight.
I can’t let him hurt her!
He heard the thud of footsteps. His attacker was moving, probably rushing to better ground so that he could attack Ava when she approached. He’d fired at Mark’s vehicle, sending him crashing. The guy was planning the same kind of attack on Ava.
No! Mark left his cover and ran after the attacker. Mark could see his shadowy form moving fast. The guy was rushing toward the road and the approaching vehicle.
“She isn’t yours!” Mark yelled out.
The other man froze. Then he started to swing around to face Mark.
Mark tackled him. They hit the ground, and the attacker’s gun flew from his fingers. Mark brought his weapon up and put it against the man’s neck. He definitely had on a ski mask, one that completely shielded his face, but his neck was open, and the glass pressed to his skin. “Make another move,” Mark snarled at him, “and you’re a dead man.”
The growl of the engine was coming closer and closer.
But the guy just laughed. “Left...a little surprise for sweet Ava.” His voice was a rasp. “Won’t ever see it coming.”
Mark’s head whipped up. It was so dark. He could only see the flash of Ava’s headlights as she drove—too fast—toward his ranch. “What did you do?”
And then he saw the headlights swirl. They spun around as the car seemed to lose control.
“I left some spikes in the road for Ava.”
He heard a crash, and terror clawed inside Mark’s chest.
“I didn’t want her getting to you too fast,” that rasping voice told him.
Mark slammed the guy’s head into the ground, and the masked man’s body seemed to go limp. Mark jumped to his feet and roared, “Ava!” as he started running toward the crash. Pain and fear twisted through him. He had to get to her, to find her. He pushed himself to run faster. Pushed so he could get to Ava. She’d been coming to help him, and if she was hurt, he didn’t know what in the hell he would do.
His feet thudded over the earth. His breath heaved out. Ava. He had to reach Ava.
“Freeze!”
And suddenly a bright light was shining on him.
“Mark?” That was Ava’s voice, coming from behind the light. “He’s bleeding!”
Yeah, he was probably bleeding from about a dozen different spots. So what? Ava was there—she was alive. She was also running to him. He could see her clearly now. She threw herself against him and embraced him. “I was so worried,” she whispered.
The bright light was still on him, and Mark squinted, trying to see past it, even as he held Ava as tightly as he could.
“What is happening?” a sharp voice demanded—Davis’s voice. He was the one with the light, and as he approached, Mark realized Davis was also holding a gun.
Brodie was at his twin’s side. “Someone put spikes in the road,” Brodie muttered.
“He’s back there,” Mark said, pointing behind him. “I left him on the ground.” Each word seemed to take way too much effort, and the blood was dripping in his eyes again.
But Ava is safe. She’s in my arms. I won’t let anything happen to her.
“He...shot at me when I drove through the gate. Crashed, and he was waiting...”
“Where is he?” Davis demanded.
“About fifteen feet in front...of the line of trees...west side...”
Davis took off running with his gun drawn. Brodie was a step behind him.
Mark didn’t join the hunt. He wasn’t about to leave Ava. His hand curled around her chin. “I heard the crash,” he whispered. “Baby, are you okay?”
“I’m not the one bleeding all over the place,” she said. “We have to get you to a hospital.”
Yeah, he could probably use some stitches—or maybe a few dozen. But... “I was scared,” he told her, the words little more than a growl. “Knew he was...going after you. Can’t let him...can’t let him hurt you.”
“And I didn’t want him hurting you!” Her voice was sharp. She pulled out her phone and called 9-1-1. As she talked, Ava kept one hand on him, almost as if she was afraid of letting him go.
He knew he couldn’t let her go. Ava mattered too much.
* * *
DAVIS’S LIGHT SWEPT over the battered remains of Mark’s SUV. The windshield was gone, and bullet holes littered the vehicle.
Behind him, Brodie gave a low whistle. “Someone was playing hard.”
“He wasn’t playing.” His backed away from the vehicle. It was so dark out there, and the light he was shining made him a target. He’d searched where Mark indicated, but there had been so sign of the man who’d tried to kill Mark. He and Brodie had branched out and scanned the area, but the guy had seemingly vanished.
“He didn’t realize just how hard Mark would be to take down.” Davis killed his light. He wanted to get back to Ava and Mark just in case the man they were searching for had decided to circle around for another attack. “His mistake.”
Because Davis knew just how Mark had spent his years away from Austin. He’d kept secrets for Mark over the years, just as Mark had kept quiet about Davis’s past. There were some things that shouldn’t be shared.
The world already had enough nightmares.
He and Brodie hurried back to Ava. There were too many trees around them. Too many places to vanish. He hadn’t heard the sound of a car, so the guy they were hunting must still be on foot.
If he was lying in wait out here, then he must know the area. To vanish so quickly in the dark, he has to be familiar with this land.
There were some old trails leading away from Mark’s ranch. The guy could’ve escaped on one of those and had a ride waiting in the distance.
Or the man could still be out there, hiding and waiting for a chance to take another shot at his prey.
You won’t get a shot at my sister. No one messed with his family. No one.
When he got back to Mark and Ava, he wasn’t surprised to see that Mark had moved them closer to Brodie’s smashed car. They’d hit the side of a tree after going over those spikes, but the body of the vehicle was still rock solid. Mark and Ava had taken shelter back there.
“I called the ranch,” Mark muttered to him. “Help’s on the way. Until the cops get here, my men can hold that jerk who—”
“We didn’t see him.” But they had found a gun the guy had left behind. He’d tucked it into his waistband so he could give it to the cops.
“He’s still out there?” Mark demanded, and Davis saw Mark instantly pull Ava closer to him.
He’d known how Mark felt about Ava. When the guy looked at her, his eyes always got that too-intense expression in them. But Mark had been keeping his hands off Ava for years. He’d stayed away.
Looks like he’s not holding back any longer.
Instead, he was holding her tight.
>
Davis knew that any man who tried to take Ava from Mark Montgomery would have a fight on his hands.
“I’m not like Gregory.” No, Mark wasn’t, but he was still one very dangerous man. How would Ava respond when she learned about Mark’s past?
He heard the approach of vehicles then—several, by the sound of things. The cars weren’t coming from the main road. Instead, they were coming from the Montgomery ranch. Had to be Mark’s staff, rushing to help. Good. He could use them. They could fan out and search the area. Because if that guy was still close—and he has to be—then they still had a chance of stopping him.
The vehicles braked. Car doors slammed. The men hurried forward.
“Mark, buddy, are you okay?” Davis recognized the voice of Ty Watts, Mark’s foreman and friend.
“He’s not okay,” Ava said, her voice shaking. “He’s bleeding too much, and the ambulance needs to hurry.”
Davis tensed. He hadn’t examined Mark’s wounds because the guy had looked strong when he ran toward them. But Mark was an ex-soldier. If he was at death’s door, he’d still probably race straight ahead, showing no weakness.
“We need your men to search,” Davis said, his words sharp. “We have a man out there, possibly armed.” He didn’t know how many guns the guy might have brought to the ambush. “He was here a few minutes ago, and we have to find him.”
Before he decided to attack again.
Brodie led the men on the search.
Davis slapped his hand on Mark’s shoulder. “How bad?” he asked softly.
“I’ve had much worse.”
Davis noticed that Mark’s hand was still wrapped around Ava’s as if he couldn’t bear to let her go.
“We’ll get him,” Davis assured him before he started to turn away.
But Mark’s words stopped him.
“I should have killed him,” Mark muttered, “when I had the chance.”
“No!” came Ava’s instant denial. “Mark, you’re not a killer. That’s not who you—”
Mark’s laughter was bitter as he finally eased his hold on Ava. “Oh, baby, there is so much you don’t know about me.”
“Mark?” Now her voice was hesitant.
“Next time,” Mark promised, the words heavy with lethal certainty, “he won’t walk away. He’s not going to have you, no matter what that sick freak thinks.”
Davis tensed.
“He said you’re his, Ava.” Mark seemed to be gritting out the words. “He thinks he’s going to have you.”
An obsession. One that had sure escalated tonight.
“I don’t—” Ava began.
“He told me...that he had plans for you. That he’d had plans since...” Mark’s voice roughened, and he stopped.
Mark was holding back. They couldn’t afford that.
“What did the guy say?” Davis prompted Mark.
Mark’s hand lifted as if he’d touch Ava again, but then his hand fell back to his side and his fingers clenched into a fist. “I’m sorry, Ava.”
This wasn’t good.
“Mark?” Fear threaded through his name as Ava reached out—and she didn’t hesitate. She touched Mark. She curled her fingers around his hand and held tight.
“He said...” In the distance, Davis could finally hear the faint sound of an ambulance approaching. “He said he’d had plans for you...ever since you were sixteen...”
* * *
MARK MONTGOMERY WASN’T DEAD.
He was still very much alive and the man was currently with Ava. With my Ava!
And Ava...she’d been bad. He’d told her to come to him. She should have come alone, but instead, she’d brought her brothers with her. Those two McGuire men had leapt out of the vehicle with their guns in their hands. They’d been searching so desperately near the crash scene. They’d almost—almost!—seen him. They’d found one of his guns. Luckily he’d been wearing gloves so there wouldn’t be any fingerprints on the weapon. They shouldn’t be able to trace it back to him, but...
He eased deeper into the shadows. Men were searching all around the area. But there were so many dark spots hidden beneath the trees. He’d prepared well for this night. He’d learned the area far better than anyone else. He knew how to disappear.
And I know how to bide my time.
Because he would have to wait for Mark to lower his guard once more. Then he’d attack. Mark Montgomery wasn’t going to get away from him.
As he watched, Ava reached out. Her fingers curled around Mark’s as if...as if she just had to touch him.
No, Ava, he’s not for you!
Ava had to understand. She would never be with Mark. Mark was a dead man walking. The guy just didn’t know it yet.
But you will, Mark.
Mark had never belonged there. He and that sick bastard Gregory Montgomery had no right to that land. They weren’t worthy.
He’d taken everything away from Gregory. At the end, the old fool had begged. He’d promised the world to him.
But it hadn’t mattered. He’d killed Gregory, and no one had even known. Gregory hadn’t been his first kill and wouldn’t be his last. Any people who got in his way—they would all be eliminated.
I will take what I want.
And the thing he wanted most...was Ava. Sweet, beautiful Ava. He’d already done so much for her. Did she even realize it? Did she even know?
I killed for you, Ava. And I’ll do it again and again.
* * *
THE EMTS WERE dragging Mark into the back of an ambulance. He was trying to stay, despite the fact that he was bleeding all over the place.
“Ava!” Mark tried to push toward her.
“Go with him,” Davis told her as he gave her shoulder a quick squeeze. “I’ll keep searching here.”
She moved forward, her body feeling numb. Mark’s words kept replaying in her head. He said he’d had plans for you...ever since you were sixteen...
Nausea was rolling inside her as she climbed into the back of that ambulance. Mark finally settled down then, and he let the EMTs start checking out his body.
There was so much blood on him. Dripping from a gash on his forehead, coming from scrapes and cuts on his arm—
“Looks like a bullet grazed you here,” one of the EMTs murmured as he studied Mark’s right shoulder.
“I just need a few stitches,” Mark told him. “I’ll be fine. Check Ava—her car crashed, too! You need to make sure she’s okay.”
“I’m fine,” Ava said. “And it wasn’t my car—it was Brodie’s.” She was fine, physically. But her mind was a wreck right then. This man after her—if he’d been making plans since she was sixteen, had he been one of the men who killed her parents? Had they truly died because of her?
Her fingers were shaking. She looked out the back of the ambulance and saw Davis staring at her. His expression was hard, angry. Did he blame her, too?
Davis slammed those back doors shut. The ambulance’s siren screamed as the vehicle lurched forward.
“Sir, how many fingers am I holding up?” Ava heard the EMT ask Mark.
“Two, and get ’em out of my way.” His response was a snarl. “Ava? Ava, you’re trembling!”
And she was. She’d slid back into a corner of the ambulance, hoping to make room for the EMTs to work, but heavy tremors were running through her body. “He tried to kill you,” she whispered.
One of the EMTs turned toward her. “Ma’am? Ma’am, where do you hurt?”
In her heart...
“He was attacking you because of me.” She knew it.
Mark gave her a grim smile. “Baby, I’m a hard man to kill.”
That didn’t make her feel any better. In fact, his low words, spoken in a hard voice that she’d never heard from
him before, just made her feel even worse. Because she realized right then—I don’t know Mark nearly as well as I thought.
His blue eyes had turned cold and icy, and for a moment, she almost felt as if she were staring into the gaze of a stranger.
Chapter Six
They hadn’t found the man who’d attacked him. Mark had talked to the cops. He’d repeated his story at least four times to them.
But he hadn’t seen the man’s face. He hadn’t recognized that low, rasping voice. He knew the guy had been close to his own height and that he had been well muscled. He suspected the man was familiar with the area because he had known just where to wait for his ambush—and he’d been able to disappear so quickly. But other than that, he hadn’t been able to give the cops much information at all.
He’s a psycho and he’d obsessed with Ava. Those had been Mark’s words to the cops. Ava had stood there, far too pale and far too tense, during the interview with the police. He said I wouldn’t have her. That she was his.
Ava had actually flinched when he said those words.
She’d spoken very little. And when they’d left the hospital, she’d seemed to withdraw completely from him. Now he was in the vehicle with her and Davis, heading back to his ranch, and he was—what? Just supposed to leave Ava?
There were at least a few more hours before dawn. With that maniac still on the loose out there, he didn’t want to let Ava out of his sight.
She was in the front seat with Davis. She hadn’t looked back at Mark, not even once. What is happening?
He leaned forward. “Don’t bother going to my ranch tonight. I already talked to Ty. He’ll have extra security out there.”
Now Ava did slant him a quick glance. Finally.
“Take me to Ava’s place,” he said flatly. And Davis had better not even try arguing with him. After everything that had happened, he wouldn’t be separated from her.
“You think you’re spending the night with my sister?” Davis asked him. Apparently, he was going to try arguing.
“I think I’m going to be your sister’s guard until dawn.” Because Ava would be scared and because—fine, he was the one who was scared. Scared that the man out there might attack Ava again when Mark wasn’t close. What would he do then?