“All righty.” Zara tucked her arms beneath Noni’s arms and turned her around. “How about you don’t look at the surgery.” She clasped Noni’s cheeks. “Better?” she asked gently.
Noni snorted and leaned back against Denver’s knee, wanting to feel him close. She concentrated on Zara’s stunning blue eyes. “Actually, that is better.” So she didn’t handle blood all that well. Who did? Besides everyone else in the room. Although Heath was lost in the papers, and Anya was having a good time playing smoochie kisses with the baby.
Denver’s hand descended on Noni’s hair, and he ran his palm down it in a soft caress. “We’re almost finished,” he said in a low rumble.
She tilted her head back to give him access, and he continued as if soothing himself as well.
Finally, Ryker leaned away. “We’re all good. Stitched up and bandaged.” He stood gingerly to his feet, still keeping his left side protected. “Let’s find that bitch, go help in Montana, and then take a fuckin’ vacation.”
“Sounds good,” Anya said in a singsong voice to the baby.
Talia giggled and planted her hand on Anya’s nose.
“Let’s get this done. Madison needs to die,” Denver said.
“Copy that,” Ryker said grimly. “If we don’t kill her, she’ll never stop coming for us. It has to happen.”
“Well, now,” said a cultured voice by the kitchen. “That’s just not nice.”
Noni gasped and swiveled around to see Isobel Madison come in from the other room, a gun in her hand and pointed at her. A soldier moved in from the bedrooms, and another came from the dining area. She hovered near Talia, not sure which intruder to shield her from.
They were surrounded.
CHAPTER
38
Denver stood and counted the positions and the angles of shots in a nanosecond, going into battle mode without moving an inch. Jesus. Three guns were trained on them, but there were six of them. If he charged, his brothers would follow, and somebody would get hit for sure. Maybe one of the women or even Talia.
“Dr. Madison,” Ryker drawled, inching toward Zara. “What a surprise.”
Madison gestured with her silver gun. “Stop moving or I’ll shoot her in the head.”
Ryker stopped moving.
Tension billowed through the room like the prelude to a tornado.
Noni moved close to Talia and Anya, obviously ready to throw her body over the baby if anybody started shooting. She looked wildly around. “How long have you been here?”
“Long enough,” Madison said smoothly. “The storm has been quite handy.”
Anya still held the baby. “Did you knock the lights out earlier?”
Madison’s finely arched brows drew down. “Of course not. We’ve been here only an hour.”
Denver loosened his arms. If the shooting started, he could get across the room and cover Noni and Talia as well as Anya, but they might get hit. There had to be a way out. He cocked his head. “How are you here?” he asked her. “You didn’t follow us earlier. I know you didn’t.”
“No,” she said, smiling broadly. “You’re all too smart for that. But I don’t need to follow you, do I, Denver?” Her voice lowered to a purr at the last.
Heath moved an inch toward the soldier by the dining area.
Denver kept her attention. “Apparently not, considering you found us here and at the hotel on the border.” He narrowed his gaze. None of this made sense. He felt like puking. “How?”
Her cold blue eyes somehow sparkled. “I know you, my boy. Always have.” She swept her gun out toward Ryker and Heath. “I know all of you. Don’t you comprehend? You can’t make any move I won’t see coming.”
“Life isn’t a game of chess,” Ryker burst out.
Denver slid closer to Noni, his mind spinning.
