Hero in the Nick of Time Read online

  “If we’re going to appear as if we’re a couple, we need to know more than just each other’s names.”

  Letter to Reader

  Title Page

  Books by Marie Ferrarella

  Dedication

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Epilogue

  Copyright

  “If we’re going to appear as if we’re a couple, we need to know more than just each other’s names.”

  “Why didn’t you come out and ask, if you wanted to know something about me?” McKayla asked.

  “All right. Why didn’t you ever get married?”

  “I don’t think the doctor’s going to ask that one, Cade. As far as he knows, I am married. To you. But for your information, there was never enough time to cultivate romance.”

  “Sometimes,” he said quietly, “it doesn’t have to be cultivated—sometimes it just happens.”

  Something in his tone rippled along McKayla’s skin, whispering its way into her pores. It unnerved her. But as he lowered his mouth to hers, she couldn’t quite move away. McKayla had always prided herself on her strength of character. But there was something incredibly enticing about being held this way, as if she were something fragile. As if she needed to be cared for.

  Dear Reader,

  Welcome to another month of fabulous reading from Silhouette Intimate Moments, the line that brings you excitement along with your romance every month. As I’m sure you’ve already noticed, the month begins with a return to CONARD COUNTY, in Involuntary Daddy, by bestselling author Rachel Lee. As always, her hero and heroine will live in your heart long after you’ve turned the last page, along with an irresistible baby boy nicknamed Peanut. You’ll wish you could take him home yourself.

  Award winner Marie Ferrarella completes her CHELDFINDERS, INC. trilogy with Hero in the Nick of Time, about a fake marriage that’s destined to become real, and not one, but two, safely recovered children. Marilyn Pappano offers the second installment of her HEARTBREAK CANYON miniseries, The Horseman’s Bride. This Oklahoma native certainly has a way with a Western man! After too long away, Doreen Owens Malek returns with our MEN IN BLUE title, An Officer and a Gentle Woman, about a cop falling in love with his prime suspect Kyhe Brant brings us the third of THE SULLIVAN BROTHERS in Falling Hard and Fast, a steamy read that will have your heart racing. Finally, welcome RaeAnne Thayne, whose debut book for the line, The Wrangler and the Runaway Mom, is also a WAY OUT WEST title. You’ll be happy to know that her second book is already scheduled.

  Enjoy them all—and then come back again next month, when once again Silhouette Intimate Moments brings you six of the best and most exciting romances around.

  Yours,

  Leslie J. Wainger

  Executive Senior Editor

  Please address questions and book requests to:

  Silhouette Reader Service

  U.S : 3010 Walden Ave., P.O. Box 1325, Buffalo, NY 14269

  Canadian: P.O. Box 609, Fort Erie, Ont L2A 5X3

  MARIE FERRARELLA

  HERO IN THE NICK OF TIME

  Books by Marie Ferrarella

  Silhouette Intimate Moments

  *Holding Out for a Hero #496

  *Heroes Great and Small #501

  *Christmas Every Day #538

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  *Caitlin’s Guardian Angel #661

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  Serena McKee’s Back in Town #808

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  Angus’s Lost Lady #853

  This Heart for Hire #919

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  ††A Forever Kind of Hero #943

  ††Hero in the Nick of Time #956

  Silhouette Romance

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  Heart to Heart #632

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  The Taming of the Teen #839

  Father Goose #869

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  In Her Own Backyard #947

  Her Man Friday #959

  Aunt Connie’s Wedding #984

  †Caution Baby Ahead #1007

  †Mother on the Wing #1026

  †Baby Times Two #1037

  Father in the Making #1078

  The Women in Joe Sullivan’s Life #1096

  ‡Do You Take This Child? #1145

  The Man Who Would Be Daddy #1175

  Your Baby or Mine? #1216

  **The Baby Came C O.D #1264

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  “The Night Santa Claus Returned”

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  The Cutlers of the Shady Lady Ranch

  ‡‡Like Mother, Like Daughter

  ††ChildFinders, Inc

  Books by Marie Ferrarella writing as Marie Nicole

  Silhouette Desire

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  Mine by Write #411

  Getting Physical #440

  To Charlie,

  Rocky’s hero.r />
  And mine.

  Chapter 1

  “Where are you?”

  The dark, shining eyes, so like his own, looked back at Cade Townsend. Breaking his heart.

  Like a blind man using the tips of his fingers to read the contours of the face of the child before him, Cade moved his fingertips along the face of his son.

  But instead of the soft, downy skin and small curves that should have met his touch when it came in contact with the three-year-old’s face, his fingers came in contact with a cold, hard surface. The glass in front of Darin’s framed four-by-five photograph.

  There was no laughter to fill the room, only laughter in his memory, date-stamped three years ago. Three years today.

  Today was Darin’s birthday.

  Today was the day he’d lost Darin.

  The memory that was never far away rushed forward, solidifying in vivid colors. He’d taken Darin to an amusement park to celebrate the occasion. The kind with rides and noise and music. Darin hadn’t known where to look first. Everything had fascinated him. Cade smiled fondly at the photograph. Mind like a sponge, absorbing everything. Retaining everything. Darin had been his special gift, especially after Elaine had died.

  The day, Cade had insisted, belonged to the two of them. He’d wanted to celebrate it with his son. Later in the day there’d be time for the party and gifts.

  Later never came.

  In the days and weeks following Darin’s disappearance from the park, his personal search had turned into a crusade. Cade’s writing career fell by the wayside. The bottle had called to him, offering temporary anesthesia and permanent oblivion down the line. But his father had gone that route, breaking his neck while in an alcohol-induced stupor and dying at the age of thirty-two. Cade wasn’t about to pass that sort of legacy on to Darin.

  Determined to glean some good out of the soul-torturing situation for Darin’s sake, Cade founded ChildFinders, Inc. The Southern California-based agency was dedicated to finding missing children, whether abductees or runaways, and reuniting them with their families.

  Unique in its purpose, the organization had a stunning track record. It was batting almost a thousand. Every missing child Cade and his two associates had been asked to search for had been recovered.

  Except for Darin.

  Darin, the reason he had begun the agency, the reason he drew breath every morning, was still among the missing.

  There were times that Cade felt as if he were tilting at windmills, with despair as his very real opponent. Those times, it was difficult not to believe that his son had vanished off the very face of the earth. Except he couldn’t allow himself to believe that. Not if he were to function, not if he were to be any good to anyone. The pain was like a steel bear trap closing around his heart, but little by little, he’d learned to deal with it. To ignore it for long lengths of time. Long enough to be of use to others.

  But on days like today, days that carried so much personal significance, when the memories came charging back, attacking him on all sides with a vengeance, it was particularly hard to stay ahead of the pain and not let it just engulf him.

  What good would that do? his mind posed.

  It wasn’t until she cleared her throat that Cade realized he wasn’t alone in this office room. There was a woman standing m his doorway. Statuesque, lean, with swirls of deep auburn hair framing her face and edgy agitation leaving its stamp on her. Her demeanor suggested she’d been standing there a minute, perhaps even more, observing him. Giving him his moment, but impatient about the grant.

  With the deadly calm that stemmed from his one-quarter Cherokee heritage, the calm he had learned to arm himself with, Cade replaced the framed photograph on his desk where it caught the afternoon light. Only when he was satisfied with its position did he raise his eyes to the dark-haired woman, giving her his attention.

  “May I help you?” He half rose in his seat as he asked.

  McKayla Dellaventura hadn’t wanted to interrupt, but at the same time, she’d wanted to grasp his arm and drag him out of the office, filling him in on the details of the search as they hurried to her car. The words too late ricocheted endlessly in her mind.

  She nodded toward the hallway. “Your secretary said it was all right to come in.”

  He raised his brow. “My secretary’s out sick.”

  She didn’t like being confused. It wasn’t her natural state. Being on top of everything was. That was why the situation she found herself in was doubly difficult for her. She glanced over her shoulder toward the outer office, which was empty now.

  “A blond woman...” She trailed off, thinking that should have rung a bell for him.

  Now Cade understood. “That would be Megan. My partner. One of my partners,” he amended. At times, it was hard keeping track of the fluctuating basic structure of the agency, it was growing so fast. They’d gone from one to two partners almost immediately.

  Megan Andreini, the special agent who had been attached to the FBI unit searching for his son, motivated by personal reasons, quit her job with the bureau and joined ChildFinders, Inc. A year into it, they had acquired Sam Walters, an ex-policeman, and just recently, Megan’s younger brother, Rusty, fresh out of college with dual degrees in criminology and law enforcement, had joined the agency. There was certainly enough work coming in. The trickle was now a very steady stream, threatening to become a flood. And each job represented a child who had disappeared.

  It made him ill to think about it.

  Blocking out the thought, Cade gestured toward the chair in front of his desk. “Won’t you have a seat?”

  The woman perched more than sat, the hum of nervous energy all but visibly vibrating around her. It was something he had come to expect from the people who entered his agency. He saw them at their worst, and their best. Shattered souls who were trying their hardest to keep up a brave front. Tortured men and women who broke down and sobbed in front of a stranger. Sobbed because their lives had been torn apart.

  The woman before him didn’t look like a crier, he thought. She looked as if she were ready to run headlong into whoever it was who had taken the child away from her and out of her life.

  He’d become a fairly good judge of character, sitting behind this desk. This woman looked every inch the fighter.

  “I don’t know where to begin.”

  That, too, he was accustomed to. “Any place you want,” he told her softly. “We’ll sort it out as you go along.” When she still looked undecided, he added, “Telling me your name might help.”

  Mac felt like an idiot. How could she forget to introduce herself? Because this situation is like nothing you’ve ever been in before, that’s why, she thought irritably.

  With a toss of her head, she said, “Oh, yes, of course. I’m McKayla Dellaventura. Dr. McKayla Dellaventura,” she amended, as if the title that had taken her so long to earn was merely an afterthought. “Dental, not medical.” she explained. She realized how disjointed she had to sound, like a videotape that fitfully stopped and started, only to stop again. “I’m sorry, everything is still so jumbled.”

  Cade knew the feeling was one that faded, but never truly left. It wouldn’t until the moment she was reunited with the missing child. But she didn’t need to be told that.

  “Take your time,” he advised.

  His voice, deep and rich, had a soothing effect. For just a moment, Mac allowed it to wash over her and take root. Ever since the accident, she felt as if she were running through an emotional minefield, never knowing where the next bomb was and when it might go off.

  She slid a little farther down the seat, almost off it entirely. “I’d like you to help me find my niece. She’s been kidnapped.”

  Cade took out a very worn leather-bound notebook from his shirt pocket, turning to a fresh page. He made a notation before looking up. He needed a wealth of details and began to help the woman along in providing them. “You have reason to believe she’s been kidnapped.”

  “Reason?”
Mac laughed shortly. “Oh, yes, we have ‘reason’ to believe she’s been kidnapped.” Her outrage at the situation got the better of her. What kind of a monster steals a child from the scene of an accident? “She’s an eighteen-month-old girl, not quite old enough to drive away on her own yet.”

  Mac caught herself and blew out a breath. Her brother Danny had always warned her that her mouth would get her in trouble. She flashed Cade an apologetic half smile.

  “I’m sorry, that was uncalled-for. I’ve been given the runaround a lot lately.” She dragged polish-free nails through a tangle of deep auburn hair. “My sister was in a car accident two days ago. When the paramedics arrived, one of them said he thought that because of my niece’s injuries, Heather might need more specialized care than the hospital in the immediate area could provide. He called a second ambulance to take her to Mission Memorial.” Her green eyes darkened. “The only problem was, the ambulance never arrived at the hospital with Heather.”

  She remembered the raw disbelief that had ricocheted through her when she’d gone down to Mission Memorial to inquire about Heather. Annoyance had turned into cold fear. She remembered, too, the call home to tell her parents that their only grandchild was missing. And she had been the one to tell her sister, Moira, not wanting to leave that to either of her parents. Remembered how helpless she’d felt, standing there, watching Moira as her body had convulsed with sobs.

  There was no way any of them were going to continue to endure this agony indefinitely. She was going to find Heather or die in the attempt.

  Forcing herself to rein in her own inner turmoil, Mac continued. “As far as everyone knows, the ambulance was stolen or hijacked.” She was leaning against the desk now, her eyes holding Cade’s. “The upshot is that my niece is out there somewhere, and I want her found as fast as is humanly possible.”

  There were still more questions than answers here, Cade thought. “Your sister—”