She stopped in the middle of the hall. She couldn’t panic. Panicking would tip Dwight off. She needed to stay calm. Lexi went to the office and pulled up the radio. If Aidan was out on the range, he should have his radio with him. Lexi tried to turn the radio on, but got nothing. She checked the cord to make sure it was plugged in, but all she came up with was a ragged end.

Someone had cut the cord to the radio. Someone didn’t want the cowboys on the range to be able to get in contact with the house.

Lexi’s hands shook. Ben and Chase were on their way, but it was twenty minutes from town. She couldn’t wait.

Think. Think. Think.

Aidan’s dad kept a multitude of guns in the house. She remembered that from her previous visits. It had been years, but she seriously doubted Aidan had gotten rid of all of them. Lexi remembered that there was a gun cabinet in the closet. She opened the closet in the office, and sure enough, the gun cabinet was still there.

And locked.

Damn it. There was a little place for a key. The desk. She rushed to the desk and prayed the key was there. She opened the desk drawer and found something much better than a key. Sitting right there on top of some papers was a revolver. She was going to have such a long discussion with Aidan about gun safety right after she saved his ass from the man trying to kill him. Lexi picked up the revolver. Damn, it was a heavy son of a bitch. She found a fast load cartridge. Six bullets. Hopefully she wouldn’t need them at all, but she wasn’t going to go after PFC Dwight Creely with a crop, and that was the only other “weapon” she had seen in that closet.

Lexi silently thanked her stepfathers. Jack and Sam had taught her how to use a pistol and a rifle. They had taken both Lexi and her mom to a shooting range. Her stepfathers’ belief was that if she and her mom were going to be around guns, they should damn sure know how to use them. Lexi popped the cartridge into place and clicked the safety off. The phone was sitting right there. She picked it up and dialed her mother’s cell, praying she made a connection. Her mom and stepdads were twenty minutes away, too, but she was calling in the cavalry.

“Hey, baby, how are you doing this morning?” Her mom sounded cheery and awake.

Lexi didn’t have time for chitchat. “I need you to send Jack and Sam out to the ranch. Do not come yourself. Matter of life and death—maybe mine, definitely Aidan’s. Love you. Bye.”

Lexi hung up the phone. It immediately rang again, but Lexi let it. She knew her mother. Jack and Sam would be on their way. Whatever happened, at least Lexi knew someone she trusted was coming for her.

Lexi clutched the gun at her side, holding the barrel down and away. She started back toward the bedroom. She didn’t even have on shoes. She would get dressed and then go after them. It would be okay. So far Dwight hadn’t done anything blatant and open. She could see now that he’d tried to blame someone else for his crimes. He would lie in wait. She had time. She would find Lucas and Aidan in a ridiculously compromising position, and they would wonder why she was running around with a gun. By that time, Ben and Chase would be here, and Jack and Sam would be hard on their heels.

Then why had Dwight cut the radio cord?

There was no rational reason to do that unless he was moving. If he sent the ranch hands out of range of cell phones, they would have no way to call for help.

Prickles of trepidation raced along her skin. She rushed into the kitchen. She would get dressed and find them and pray it wasn’t too late.

She was rushing through the kitchen when she stopped. She felt her hands begin to shake as she realized what she could see through the small kitchen window. It was a tiny little window over the sink, draped with faded yellow curtains. It framed the scene in a sort of weird normality. Dwight stood in front of the barn door. His back was to the window. He stood there casually, a rifle at his side. Why was he watching the barn? Was he waiting for Aidan to come out of the barn? Would he shoot Aidan?

Smoke. The faintest hint of smoke drifted from the barn.

Rolling nausea swept through her system as she realized what was happening. Aidan was trapped in the barn, and it was on fire. Terror threatened to swamp her. She didn’t know if he was dead already. He could be dead, and she’d been lying in bed. And where was Lucas? Lucas had gone looking for Aidan. Had he found Dwight?

Lexi clamped her free hand over her mouth to stop the scream that threatened to escape. They couldn’t be dead. They just couldn’t. Her mind wouldn’t wrap around the idea. They were alive, and they were in that barn. They were waiting for her.

They were her men, and by god, no son of a bitch was taking them from her.

Lexi forced herself to walk to the front door. Dwight would see her if she charged out the back. She had no doubt he was better with a rifle than she was with a handgun. After all, he had a lot of practice killing people. She hadn’t even gotten into a fistfight before.

She had to do this.

Lexi had never in her life felt so alone or small as she did as she crept out the front door and around the small ranch house. Her heart pounded in her chest. She wasn’t brave. She sure as hell wasn’t fearless. She was afraid of everything, but she couldn’t afford that now. She was way more afraid of losing Lucas and Aidan than she was of getting herself killed.

Lexi got to the edge of the house. Now she could smell the smoke. How long had they been trapped in there? She was sure Lucas was in there, too. Otherwise, he would be fighting like hell. Lucas was a fighter. Aidan had already proven how hard he could fight.

It was her turn.

Tears blurred the world around her as she held the gun up in a two-handed stance. Immediately her arms ached from the weight, but she wasn’t about to fail now. As quietly as she could, she walked out into the open. Dwight still had his back to her.

“Are you going to move out of my way, or are you going to force me to shoot you?” Lexi asked the question in a clear, calm voice.

She saw Dwight’s back stiffen and his hand tighten around the rifle. He turned very slowly, one hand up. “You don’t want to shoot me, girl. I can’t do what you ask.”

Wrong answer. Lexi pulled the trigger.

The gun exploded, sending jolts of shock up her arm. The kickback set her on her ass and, once more, she wished she’d put on underwear. Her lack of proper panties didn’t stop her from jumping up. Dwight was on the ground. Lexi approached quickly, gun at the ready. His body twitched in the dirt. She kicked the rifle away. Blood streamed from the wound in his chest. A thin line seeped from his mouth. He was obviously in pain, and he wasn’t dead yet.

And Lexi didn’t have time for him. She shot him again, right in the chest. Again the recoil hurt, but she was ready this time. She stayed on her feet and immediately turned to the barn.

“Aidan!” She screamed his name, praying he called back.

She could feel the heat pouring from the barn. She pulled at the barn door, but something held it closed. A lock. It was a combination lock. She had no idea what number Aidan would use.

Lexi stepped back and aimed for the lock. After this was done, if she never saw another gun again, it would be too soon. She spread her legs wide to handle the kickback better and fired. The lock exploded. Lexi set the gun down and pulled open the barn door.

Heat blasted from the open doors. The sides and the back of the barn were fully ablaze. Smoke was everywhere.

“What the fuck?”

Lexi turned and saw Bo staring down at Dwight’s body. Ike sat beside him, his chest heaving as though the dog had been running.

“Help me!” Lexi yelled at him before she ran into the barn. She could barely see through the smoke. It billowed out of the open doors. She could make out the rack. Someone was on the slab. Aidan.

Lexi raced across the floor. Her eyes were adjusting and the smoke was clearing now that it had a place to go. Aidan was tied down. His wrists were bloody from where he’d tried to pull himself free. There was a rag in his mouth. Lexi pulled it out. God, she couldn’t breathe. Aidan was so still.

Please. Please. Please. Let him be alive.

“I have Lucas,” Bo yelled.

Lexi looked over, and Bo was pulling Lucas across the floor. He wasn’t conscious. She couldn’t tell if he was dead. His head rolled back as Bo dragged him by the shoulders. “Get him out of here!”

“I’ll be right back,” Bo yelled.

Lexi could feel Ike beside her. He whined up at her as though begging her to free his master.

Aidan coughed. It was the most beautiful sound she’d ever heard. “Lexi?”

Lexi started working the ropes that bound Aidan. “I’m here. We have to get out.”

He shook his head. “No, angel. You have to run. Get Lucas out if you can, but Dwight’s going to kill us all. You have to run.”

She tugged and managed to pull his right hand free.

Bo was suddenly back in the barn. He pulled a knife out of his boot and started sawing through the ropes on Aidan’s right foot. “Dwight won’t be killing anyone, brother. Your girl took him out. Remind me not to piss her off. And your damn dog must have known something was up. He barked right outside my window until I got my ass up.”

Lexi crawled onto the table to get to Aidan’s left hand. Her lungs were burning. A piece of the roof fell beside her. They didn’t have much time.

“Damn, girl. That is very distracting.” Bo cut through both ropes in the time it took her to work through the first of hers. He avoided another board that fell. He was perfectly calm, given the situation. He took that wicked knife and slashed through the rest of his brother’s ropes. “I’m trying to rescue my brother. You don’t need to be flashing your cootchie. It’s awfully pretty, though.”