Chapter Thirteen

Duncan paced while he waited on hold with Slater. Paced and kept his eye on Joelle who was now seated at his kitchen table.

Since she'd been covered with their attacker's blood, he'd brought her here to his place instead of the sheriff's office so she could shower. That was after she'd had yet another exam to make sure both she and the baby were all right.

They were. By some miracle, they were.

So was he since he'd also needed to be checked to make sure the stun gun hadn't done any permanent damage. It hadn't.

Duncan figured he'd be saying a lot of thanks and prayers for that. After he'd put an end to the danger so Joelle could make it through a blasted day without someone trying to kidnap her again. Because that's what had happened. Another attempted kidnapping. If the masked thug had wanted her dead, he would have shot her the moment Duncan opened the door of that hospital room.

Even though she hadn't been shot or hurt beyond a few minor scrapes and bruises, it still twisted away at him that she'd come so close to being taken. He should have put more precautions in place to prevent that. And he would. He couldn't continue to put her in harm's way when so much was at stake.

That's why he'd brought Luca with him, and like before, the deputy was in Duncan's home office doing reports of this latest incident. Incident , he silently repeated, the anger rising in him again. A sterile word for something that damn sure hadn't been sterile. Joelle and he had been attacked, and Duncan had been forced to kill the SOB. He'd add more thanks and prayers for having regained enough feeling in his shooting hand to manage that. If not, Joelle would have had to do it, and Duncan didn't want her having to deal with that on top of everything else.

And everything else was huge.

She'd been attacked three times now, and while Molly thankfully hadn't been this time around, the dispatcher was shaken to the core. So much so that she'd asked Duncan to have not one but two reserve deputies stay with her. Duncan had complied, pulling the two off the search for Kate.

Kate was another investigative thorn in his side right now. There was no sign of her, and worse, she could have been the one who'd hired that thug to come after Joelle and him in the hospital. If Duncan hadn't allowed himself to get distracted by Brad and Hamlin's fight, then he might have seen the woman sneaking out.

Or being taken.

"Stop beating yourself up," Joelle muttered.

She was watching him and sipping some milk that Slater had had delivered, and she looked so small in the loaner clothes she'd gotten from the sheriff's office. Loose gray jogging pants and a black tee that was a couple sizes too big for her.

"I deserve to be beaten up," he was quick to remind her. "I should have brought you to the sheriff's office before I ever started searching for Kate."

Joelle lifted her shoulder, sighed and stood, going to the fridge to refill her glass of milk. That meant walking right by him, and she brushed her arm against his. Probably not by accident. He took out the probably when he looked at her.

"Stop beating yourself up," she repeated. "I'm a cop, and I could have made the decision to go to the sheriff's office when Luca was transporting Hamlin. If I'd done that, then who's to say this kidnapper wouldn't have come after me in the cruiser. Willie Jay did."

He had to fight back the horrific images of that attempt and this one. There had been enough bad for a lifetime, and it wasn't over. It wouldn't be over until he had the culprit behind bars.

She reached up and touched her fingers to his forehead. Duncan didn't exactly recoil, but the touch hurt a little. When he'd fallen after being stunned, his head had smacked on the floor, and the gash had needed a couple of stitches. He'd gotten those in the ER while the doctor had been examining Joelle and the baby.

There was finally a crackle of sound on the other end of the phone, and a moment later, Duncan heard Slater's voice. He went ahead and put the call on speaker since this was an update Joelle would want to hear.

"The dead guy is Arlo Dennison," Slater provided.

Hell. That circled right back to Kate since the man had been one of her employees. It was possible Arlo had still been an employee, just in a different capacity as a hired gun.

"Four dead men," Slater emphasized. "That could mean whoever hired them has run out of muscle."

Maybe. But Duncan knew it was just as likely that Kate, Brad or Hamlin had found yet someone else to do their dirty work.

"Still no sign of Kate," Slater went on. "The Texas Rangers you requested arrived, and they're coordinating the search."

Good. Duncan figured if the woman could be found, the Rangers were his best shot at making that happen. Especially since Kate could be anywhere right now. She hadn't taken her phone with her, but she could have arranged for someone to meet her in the parking lot and take her to heavens knew where.

"Luca just filed yours and Joelle's statements on the attack at the hospital," Slater added a moment later.

No surprise there. Luca had been the one to take those statements shortly after they'd come to his place. Both Joelle's and Duncan's primary weapons and clothes had also been taken into evidence. All standard procedure. So was counseling, but that was going to have to wait.

"Any updates on Brad and Hamlin?" Duncan said to Slater.

Duncan already knew both men had made bail and the interviews had been rescheduled for late afternoon. Not with Joelle and him doing them, either. Going with standard procedure again, neither of them would be doing interviews and such until there'd been a review of how they'd handled Arlo's attack.

"Nothing new," Slater said. "Well, nothing other than both men's lawyers are clamoring about their clients being innocent and harassed by the cops. Same ol', same ol'," he muttered. Then, paused. "How's Joelle? And, yes, I'm asking you, Duncan, because my sister might not tell me the truth."

"I'm okay," she insisted. "Okay-ish," Joelle amended when Slater huffed and Duncan gave her a flat stare. "You should be asking about Duncan. He's the one beating himself up over what happened. I'm not. We did what we had to do to stay alive and keep our baby safe."

Duncan continued to study her, to see if she'd said that to ease her brother's mind. And his. But Joelle seemed to have processed this and just might actually be okay-ish.

"I'll keep an eye on Joelle," Duncan told Slater, not only because it was true but because he also wanted to relieve Slater's worries. It would relieve Duncan's worries about her, too.

He ended the call, and when he went to put his phone away, he saw the blood smears on the back of his hand. His own blood from the cut on his head. It was a reminder that unlike Joelle, he hadn't showered.

"Shower," he muttered when he saw that her attention, too, had landed on the blood, and Duncan decided it was time to remedy that.

Time to remedy something else, too.

Duncan pulled Joelle to him and kissed her. Really kissed her. Yeah, it was a stupid thing to do, but it was necessary. He needed to have her close, this close, if only for a moment or two.

He didn't deepen the kiss. Didn't move them body to body, even though a certain part of him immediately started urging him to do just that. Duncan just kept the kiss gentle and hopefully comforting. Because he was damn sure they both needed that right now.

When he finally eased back, he stared down into her eyes and braced himself for her to warn him they were playing with fire. Which they were. But she simply smiled.

"Shower," she muttered. "Then, we can...talk."

That idiot part of him got all excited that sex might happen. It didn't matter that it would be a bad idea.

At least, it probably would be.

Joelle likely wasn't thinking straight and didn't need to land in bed with him. But her mention of talk had nixed the bed thing, and unlike sex, that was probably a good thing. She no doubt had things she needed to say about the attack. Maybe things about all this kissing they'd been doing.

Duncan headed to his bedroom for that shower, but he stopped by the office to check on Luca. He was still typing up reports. "Statements from the people interviewed at the hospital," Luca muttered without taking his attention off the screen.

A necessary pain in the butt. And something might be in those statements they could use. It was a serious long shot, though.

Duncan was thankful that Joelle followed him to his bedroom. Not because of the possibility of that sex happening, but because he didn't want her too far away from him. The security system was on, and two of Slater's ranch hands were outside in a truck, watching the place—something they'd been doing since he and Joelle had arrived from the hospital. A lot of avenues had been covered, but Duncan still wanted Joelle close so he'd be able to get to her fast if there was another attack.

Joelle sat on the foot of his bed while he headed to the shower. He didn't close the bathroom door between them. Another precaution, in case she called out to him for help. He hoped like hell there wouldn't be any such need for that.

Duncan turned on the shower, and stripped while he waiting for the water to reach the right temperature. The moment it was warm enough, he stepped in so he could do this fast and minimize the time Joelle was out of his sight. He had barely gotten started on it, though, when the shower door opened, and Joelle was standing there.

Joelle, who slid her gaze down the entire length of his body.

Duncan's gaze did some sliding as well. Looking at every inch of her. Man, she was beautiful. Always had been. But the baby bump actually added to that beauty.

He went hard as stone.

"I haven't been with anyone else but you since, well, in a very long time," she said.

It took him a moment to realize why she'd volunteered that. Then, he spotted the condom that she had likely taken from the drawer of his nightstand. It was a reminder they'd used one five months ago, and she'd still gotten pregnant.

"I haven't been with anyone else, either, in a long time," he told her and could have added that she was the only woman he wanted.

"So, not necessary," she muttered, tossing the condom onto the vanity.

Without taking her attention off him, she pulled off the loose clothes, tossing them on the floor next to his.

"I'll be careful," she said when he glanced down at the wet tiled floor. "Maybe you can hold on tight to me to make sure we don't slip."

And she stepped inside under the spray of warm water. In the same motion, she looped her arm around his neck and pulled him to her.

She kissed him.

Hard, hungry and long. This was no kiss of comfort, and yet it accomplished just that. Comfort. Then, a whole mountain of heat. She kissed and kissed until the nightmarish images just slid away.

"The bathroom door is locked," she muttered. "Our phones are right on the vanity where we'll be able to hear them. And we aren't going to think about this," she tacked onto that.

Good. Because Duncan didn't want to think. He just wanted Joelle, and he wanted her now. Apparently, she was on the same page because she added some clever touching to the deep kiss. She slid her hand between their naked bodies. Down his chest. To his stomach. Then, over his erection.

If Duncan had actually wanted to do any thinking, that would have put an end to it. The only thing on his mind right now was taking Joelle.

Joelle got that taking started by hooking her arms around his neck and pulling herself up. He gladly helped with that by putting his arm underneath her bottom and lifting her until they were facing each other.

The kiss continued, raging on, cranking up the heat even more. But that heat was a drop in the bucket compared to Joelle's wet breasts sliding against his chest and with their centers pressed right against each other.

Duncan had to fight the urge just to push into her, to give both their bodies what they were demanding. But he purposely slowed so he could savor this. He eased back on the urgency of the kiss, and he kept his touch light as he cupped her breasts and flicked his thumb over her nipple.

She gave an aroused moan, and her head lolled to the side, exposing her throat. Duncan took advantage of that and slid both his mouth and tongue down her neck. Pleasuring her. Pleasuring himself.

The angle was all wrong for him to kiss her breasts so he levered her up even more, using the shower wall to stop them from falling. Once he had her high enough, he took one of her nipples into his mouth.

This time her moan was a whole lot louder, and the kiss kicked up the urgency again. She worked her way back down, aligning their centers again, notching up Duncan's own urgency when she slid herself against him.

No way could he hold off after that so he anchored her again by holding her bottom while he pushed into her. He got an instant slam of sensations. Pleasure. So much pleasure. But more. This was right. This was exactly what he'd been waiting for these past five months. Hell, longer. Since he'd wanted Joelle for as long as he could remember.

It was a balancing act to stay on his feet, but Duncan adjusted his position, and he started the slow deep strokes inside her. All thoughts of, well, pretty much everything vanished. Everything except this. The right here, right now. Everything except Joelle.

The need clawed its way through him, driving him to move faster. Pushing him to give Joelle both the pleasure and the release from this intense heat. It happened, and it didn't take long. Not with their bodies starved for each other. Duncan only needed a few of those strokes when he felt her muscles clamp around him. When he felt the climax ripple through her.

"Duncan," she muttered, dropping her head onto his shoulder.

And that was all he needed to push him right over the edge. Duncan held Joelle close and found his own release.