Secret Surrogate. Delores Fossen

to deliver her safe and sound to the boss. So they can talk.” His gaze slashed to hers. His frosty gray eyes were the only part of him she could see because he was dressed from head to toe in black, including a ski mask. His partner wore a similar outfit. “Well, unless she gives us no choice about that safe and sound part. I’m sure the boss will understand if she doesn’t cooperate.”

      Terror and a sickening dread quickly replaced the surge of adrenaline. Oh, God.

      They might hurt her baby.

      She stopped struggling. But they didn’t stop. Kylie caught just a glimpse of the white cloth before one of the men shoved it against her face.

      Chloroform, maybe.

      They were obviously trying to knock her out. But at what cost?

      She shoved the cloth away. “You said you wouldn’t hurt my baby,” she managed to say.

      The man put the cloth right back in place, over her nose. “This stuff won’t hurt you or the kid,” he grumbled. But it wasn’t much reassurance coming from a would-be kidnapper.

      If that’s what he was.

      Was this a kidnapping? If so, why did they want her?

      Kylie didn’t like the first thought that came to mind. Mercy. Was this related to that article she’d written about illegal surrogacy? But it didn’t matter if it were about that. If she didn’t do something, these men would likely succeed in taking her.

      Forcing her breathing to stay shallow so the drug wouldn’t incapacitate her, Kylie tried to stay calm. She reminded herself that she had to stay alive and alert for the sake of the baby. It worked. Well, a little. She steadied herself enough so she could glance around the kitchen and laundry room for anything that she could use to escape.

      But the men didn’t give her a chance to escape. They got her moving outside into the freezing cold night. Away from her weapon. Away from the phone that she’d hoped to use to call Lucas. They hauled her through the garage and out the side door.

      Kylie struggled against the drug-laced cloth and managed to bat it away again. But it was already too late. Everything was becoming hazy, slightly out of focus. It probably wouldn’t be long before she completely lost consciousness.

      She closed her eyes and decided to play along with that scenario. It was a long shot, but if her kidnappers thought she’d passed out, maybe they’d let down their guard long enough for her to escape.

      Continuing the act, she let her legs and body go limp and would have fallen if her captor hadn’t caught her. As if she weighed nothing, he scooped her up in his arms and kept on walking through the dense woods.

      Seconds crawled by.

      Each one pounded in cadence with the syrupy pulse drumming in her ears. Kylie fixed the image in her head of Lucas holding his baby, and she used that as motivation to stay awake. She had to stay awake, to survive.

      And she would.

      For Lucas. For his baby. For the life that he deserved to have and for the life that she’d promised Marissa that she would give him.

      She silently cursed the stupid things she’d said to Lucas so that he’d leave. I’m a big girl. Trust me, I can take care of myself.

      But she obviously couldn’t.

      Not only had she allowed two kidnappers to break into her home, she hadn’t even been armed at the time. Instead, she’d been fighting back tears over Lucas’s visit. Crying instead of grabbing her gun. And that was despite every primitive alarm going off in her head that something wasn’t right. So much for listening to her gut. She’d be lucky to get the baby and herself out of this alive.

      She lifted her left eyelid a fraction and saw where they were taking her. In the direction of the lake. Probably to the road that circled it so they could escape. Or else they planned to drown her. But Kylie pushed that frightening thought aside. If they’d wanted her dead, they probably already would have killed her. And they certainly wouldn’t have come prepared to chloroform her.

      Of course, she couldn’t rule out that they were taking her to a secondary crime scene, a place where they could finish her off and dispose of her body without leaving any forensic evidence behind.

      She added some mental groans to her mental profanity. She couldn’t give in to these what-ifs and worst-case scenarios. If she did, she’d likely die.

      Instead, she focused on the lake, on what she knew about it. After all, it was as familiar to her as her own home. It was where she took daily walks and did most of her writing. She figured that the men had parked off the road. If she got a break, one little distraction, she could dive into the water, and, uh…

      Probably drown.

      Yes. Drown.

      Another mental groan. She was already so dizzy that she couldn’t stay focused. Heaven only knew what would happen to her in the water.

      Okay. Plan A was discarded. She moved on to Plan B. Too bad she couldn’t think of one. Sweet heaven, her head was spinning and she felt on the verge of throwing up. Still, she fought through that haze and forced herself to think. She had to come up with something.

      The thudding noise and the howl of pain jarred open her eyes. Not that she could see much. But she was able to determine that the other man was no longer in front of them. He was on the ground, writhing and groaning.

      “What the hell?” the one holding her growled, a split second before he let go of her.

      Kylie managed to protect her stomach and break the fall with her hands. She immediately got to her knees so that she could get away and scurried behind a tree. It wasn’t easy but, dragging her way through the underbrush and soggy dead leaves, she somehow got there. It took her a few seconds to realize that her captor wasn’t coming after her.

      It took a few more to realize why.

      One of the men was still on the ground. And he was the one who was moaning and holding on to his leg. However, the other guy aimed his gun at a shadowy figure that appeared between two trees.

      Lucas.

      He’d come back.

      “Lucas!” she called out to warn him. It wasn’t her best effort. More breath than voice. She sounded drunk and, worse, felt that way, too.

      Still, he reacted. Lucas darted to her side just as the guy fired at him. The shot blasted through the woods, clipping a tree and spraying splinters and bark. The sound was deafening and shook her to the core. Not just because it drilled home the danger for herself and the baby, but because Lucas was now in danger, as well.

      Oh, God.

      And she was responsible for him being here.

      If he were hurt, or worse, it would be her fault. Kylie wasn’t sure she could live with that. She’d already caused enough devastation in his life.

      Frantically, she searched the ground, looking for anything she could use to defend them. The dizziness and nausea didn’t help. Still, she kept searching, raking aside the leaves, and finally came up with a thick, long tree limb. It wouldn’t be much protection against a semiautomatic, but if she got close enough, she could do some damage.

      Well, maybe.

      With her focus fading in and out, she probably wouldn’t be much of a threat even if she’d had a loaded gun.

      She peeked out from behind the tree. Neither of the kidnappers was anywhere in sight. Great. Just great. They could come at her and Lucas from any direction and, considering that she could only move slowly, she’d be a sitting duck.

      “Shhh.” The sound was barely audible, but it was the only warning she got before Kylie felt a rough hand clamp over her mouth.

      She automatically struggled, trying to defend herself with the tree branch, but the man—and it was definitely a man—pulled her to him. Right against his solid, rock-hard