that would stop the panic he saw rising in her eyes. It was also something that needed to be done. Because if those two armed thugs were on their tail, then they had to get inside—fast—but they also needed to make sure they weren’t about to be gunned down. If necessary, they would have to take cover before they even reached the house.
The little boy wasn’t out and out crying, but he was whimpering. Probably because he’d picked up on their fear and because the running was jostling him. Cameron tried to ignore the sounds he was making, and he got them on the porch. He had to fumble in his pocket to get his keys to unlock the door, but the moment he did that, he pushed them inside.
“Get on the floor,” he ordered.
Cameron relocked the door, set the security alarm and went to the window to keep watch. He also fired off a text to Gabriel, asking him to come over. Lauren’s brother didn’t live far and could be there in minutes if he hadn’t already left for work. If so, then Gabriel would have to drive back.
A lot could happen in those extra minutes it would take Gabriel to do that.
Cameron still had a much too clear image of the bandage on Lauren’s shoulder where she’d been shot. Those goons could be returning now to finish her off.
Lauren scrambled to the nanny, taking Patrick into her arms and pulling him close. There were tears in her eyes again, and she was trembling. The nanny wasn’t faring much better. Hell, neither was he. Cameron wasn’t trembling the way they were, but he was worried because they had two babies in the house, and he might not be able to protect them if those gunmen started shooting.
“I saw an SUV coming up the trail,” the nanny said. Her breath was gusting so hard that it was difficult to understand her. “I couldn’t drive off since there were trees blocking the way so I got out and started running with Patrick.”
Yeah, there were downed trees back there. Probably shrubs, too, since it wasn’t a trail that was often used.
“It could turn out to be nothing,” the nanny added in a hoarse whisper. “They might not be the men who were after us.”
Judging from her tone, she didn’t think that was true. Neither did Cameron. It was too much of a coincidence for someone to show up on that trail so soon after Lauren had been shot.
“Did you get a glimpse of anyone in the SUV?” he asked the woman.
“Barely. I could just make out the outline of the driver behind the tinted glass. I think there was another man in the passenger seat.”
Maybe the same two who had attacked Lauren in Dallas. If so, they’d come a long way. And they had probably had some inside help since Lauren had been right about the trail. Not many people outside the area knew it existed. Of course, a police officer might know because they could have tapped into the area maps that were in the database at San Antonio PD.
Hell, he hoped they weren’t dealing with dirty cops.
“Is everything okay?” someone called out from the other side of the house. Merilee.
That tightened the knot in his stomach. He could tell Merilee was terrified, as well. She’d been Isaac’s nanny right from the start, and since there’d already been two attacks on the ranch, she knew something was wrong.
“Just stay put in the nursery,” Cameron settled for saying. He didn’t want to unnecessarily alarm the woman even though she was probably well past the alarm stage already.
Cameron also had a second reason for keeping Merilee and Isaac where they were. This way, Lauren wouldn’t see Isaac. Of course, she would see him soon enough, but right now he needed her to focus. If Lauren saw him and truly believed he was her son, then she might fall apart.
“Hand Patrick to Dara,” Cameron told Lauren. “I need you to keep watch at the window on the side of the house.”
He hated to ask her to do that, but right now she was their best bet. Besides, he knew Lauren could shoot since he’d been the one to teach her.
She gave a shaky nod, passed the baby back to the nanny and with a tight grip on her gun, she went to the window near the breakfast table. He didn’t have to remind her to stay back. She did. Lauren positioned herself against the side of the glass so she could still peer out.
“Nothing,” she relayed to him.
It was the same from his view. That didn’t mean the men weren’t out there, though. Lauren had been out there for a while before he’d spotted her. Plus, it was possible the men were regrouping, maybe calling for their own backup so they could storm the place and take the baby.
But why?
That was something he intended to find out once they were out of any immediate danger.
Behind him, Patrick started fussing, and he made the mistake of glancing back at the boy. Cameron hadn’t been able to see his face earlier when the nanny was running toward them. He saw it now, though.
Oh, man.
It felt like someone had knocked the breath right out of him. The kid had blond hair, and those were definitely the Doran gray eyes. In fact, the resemblance was close enough that Patrick could have been mistaken for Cameron’s own son. He wasn’t.
But the boy was his nephew.
Cameron silently cursed. This was not what he wanted in his head right now, but it was a fight to keep the thoughts at bay. What the hell was he going to do?
He forced his attention back to the window just as the sound shot through the room. Clearly, everyone was on edge because both Lauren and the nanny gasped. But it wasn’t a shot being fired. It was just his phone ringing, and Cameron saw Gabriel’s name on the screen. Good. Maybe that meant the sheriff was there.
Cameron put the call on speaker, laying his phone on the counter so his hands would be free in case there was an attack.
“What the hell is going on?” Gabriel demanded the moment he came onto the line.
Since he wasn’t going to have time to get into everything, Cameron went with the short version. “Lauren’s here, and some men are after her. They tried to kill her.”
Gabriel cursed, but he quickly reined it in, no doubt because he realized his kid sister was listening. “Any reason she came to you and not me?”
Gabriel didn’t rein in his emotions on that question. Cameron heard the anger come through loud and clear. The emotion was in Lauren’s expression, too. Her forehead was bunched up, and she had her still-trembling bottom lip clamped between her teeth. With everything else she was facing, she probably didn’t want a showdown with her brother, as well, but it was going to be on the agenda whether she wanted it or not.
“I’ll explain it all later,” Cameron told him, but he had to raise his voice to speak over Patrick. The baby was fussing even louder now. “The men who are after Lauren will be in an SUV,” he added to Gabriel. “It’s possible they’re on the trail behind my house.”
“They’re not. I just spotted a black SUV coming up from the back of my folks’ old place.”
Cameron bit back a groan. The trails coiled all around the ranch, and the men had obviously found a way out of the woods. That meant they could be trying to escape so they could regroup and come at Lauren again. As much as Cameron hated the notion of that, at least it would give him a chance to get the babies, nannies and her to a safe place.
“The SUV isn’t moving,” Gabriel went on, “and I can’t tell if anyone is still inside it. They could have already gotten out and slipped onto the ranch grounds.”
Not exactly a comforting thought, but Gabriel was right. Cameron didn’t know how long it’d taken the nanny to get to Lauren and him, but the thugs could have driven off the moment she started running. If so, that would have given them plenty of time to get to the old Beckett house, and then the chance to escape.
Or sneak up on Cameron’s