Page 19 of Targeted in Silver Creek

Hanna kept her attention nailed to her mother. “Did you tell me you’d make trouble for Jesse if I didn’t end my relationship with him?”

What the hell? Jesse definitely hadn’t been expecting her to say that. He’d thought Hanna would tell her mother a G-rated version of him in the kitchen the morning after they’d had sex.

Isabel shifted her position and looked away from her daughter. “You remember that?”

“No, I guessed,” Hanna admitted. “I figured, with all the other things you’d said about Jesse and his family, that you’d tried to pressure me into not having a relationship with him.”

Jesse stared down at Isabel. “What kind of trouble did you plan on causing?” he snapped.

Isabel dodged his gaze as well. “I know people. People like state senator Edgar Lawson.”

Since the senator was also the father of one of Silver Creek’s deputies, Ava Lawson, Jesse knew the man, too. And didn’t think much of him. Many in law enforcement didn’t, even though the senator had recently been cleared of having a part in an elaborate money-laundering scheme.

“What exactly did you think the senator would do?” Jesse pressed.

Isabel shrugged again. “Your family runs that huge ranch, and I thought all it would take was a word from Edgar and you wouldn’t have buyers lined up for your livestock.”

Fat chance of that since the ranch supplied to plenty of people who wouldn’t give a rat what the senator thought. Still, it pissed him off that Isabel had threatened his family in any way.

But it had worked.

Well, maybe. Hanna wasn’t a pushover, but she might have backed off from him if she’d thought her mother could truly do him or his family some harm.

That could be wishful thinking on his part though.

Jesse would have liked for it to have been something like that, but the truth was that Hanna had been resistant to having a real relationship with him before she’d lost her memory. He’d always thought that might be connected to her broken engagement to Darrin Madison, the son of one of Isabel’s close friends, but that might not have played into it either. The bottom line was that Hanna hadn’t loved him and hadn’t wanted the marriage he’d offered for the sake of their baby.

Isabel groaned, causing Jesse’s attention to snap back to her. He was both shocked and confused when he saw the tears in her eyes. “I asked Marlene to help. Hanna had already stopped seeing you, but I was worried she might change her mind and go back to you. I couldn’t live with that, not after the way your family tried to ruin my life.”

Jesse had to do a mental double take, and he cut through the bulk of the woman’s confession to home in on one important point. “Marlene? Bull’s sister?”

The woman nodded. “We travel in some of the same social circles, and we’ve been friendly for years. The last time I saw her, I mentioned that I wasn’t happy about my daughter being involved with a Ryland. She must have seen how upset I was, and she said that maybe there was something she could do to help.”

Everything inside Jesse went still. “When did this happen? When did Marlene tell you she could help?”

Isabel made a hoarse sob. “The day before Hanna was shot. Oh, God.” She pressed her fingers to her mouth. “Do you think Marlene is the one who persuaded her brother into going to the ranch to confront you? Am I responsible for nearly getting Hanna and Evan killed?”

Chapter Six

Hanna set Evan’s bottle aside and eased across the room to put him in his crib for his morning nap. Even though it was obvious he was already asleep and would likely stay that way for an hour or more, she stood there watching him. Just seeing her baby had a way of steadying her.

And scaring her, too.

Her precious little boy was in danger because of Jesse and her. Because someone might want to silence them, and she might have her mother to blame for the start of that.

Shortly after Isabel had dropped her bombshell that she might have spurred the shooting, Dr. Warner had convinced her that it was time to leave. Isabel had, crying her way out the door, and Hanna hadn’t been able to force herself to offer any consolation. If Isabel had indeed had a part in what had happened, Hanna wasn’t sure she could ever forgive her.

Hanna darn sure didn’t expect Jesse or his family to forgive her either. Isabel had crossed one very big line, and it didn’t matter that the woman hadn’t known what the consequences would be. The bottom line was she’d put Evan and her at risk. Her actions could have cost Jesse and her their son.

Hanna went back into the kitchen where she found Jesse exactly where she’d left him a half hour earlier, before she’d gone to the nursery to feed Evan and put him down for his nap. He was sitting at the kitchen counter, working on his laptop while he drank yet another cup of coffee.

“My mother already left,” Jesse let her know. “One of the ranch hands came and picked her up.”

That was good. While she truly appreciated Melissa’s help with Evan while Jesse and she had been dealing with Shaw and then Isabel, Hanna had needed some quiet time with her son. Of course, Jesse was here, too, in the middle of that quietness, but it felt different with him.

Was different, she silently amended.

For the first time since the shooting, it seemed as if Jesse and she were on the same side. Then again, maybe that “same side” had been there before she’d lost her memory. That was the problem with this messy situation. What she didn’t know, or remember, could be just as dangerous as her getting back her entire memory.

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