Page 55 of Wyoming Cowboy Undercover

“Oh, God.” Marshall’s bowl fell from his hands, clattering to the floor. He jumped to his feet. “She’s having an allergic reaction.”

With her hands clutching her throat, Mercy staggered backward.

“No, no, no. She’s having an anaphylactic reaction.” Marshall ran to her.

Rocco lurched to his feet in terrified shock.

Frozen, he could hardly believe what was happening, Mercy struggling for air, her body succumbing to the allergen in a deadly spiral of symptoms. His heart lodged in his throat, his hands growing clammy, his muscles tightening with fear. For her. He had to do something to help her.

“She’s only allergic to peanuts,” Marshall said, “but I don’t allow them on the compound. I don’t understand.” His gaze flew to the bowl of chili and then to Alex.

The young man sat silent and still, staring at Mercy.

“What did you do!” Marshall howled.

Mercy gasped for breath, her wheezes shortening. Her face started to swell. She swayed and collapsed, but Rocco lunged, catching her.

Horror punched through him like a hot blade in his gut.

Marshall dropped to his knees, taking her from him into his lap. Rocco held her hand. Her slender fingers tightened around him.

“Calm down, sweetheart,” Marshall said. “Don’t panic. Try to breathe.”

“Where’s her EpiPen? Does she carry one?” Rocco asked.

“It’s in her room. At the top of the stairs. Third room on the right. She keeps it in the top drawer of her dresser.”

Rocco leaped up. He raced down the hall. Flew up the stairs. Stormed into her bedroom. He yanked open the drawer and rifled through her underwear. Tossing the cotton items to the floor, he searched for the yellow and black injector. He emptied the drawer.

But it wasn’t there.

In less than a minute, he scoured through the other drawers, turning her room upside down. Still, no EpiPen.

A hard knot of dread congealed in the pit of his stomach. He bolted back down the stairs and tore into the office. Marshall had Mercy cradled in his lap.

“It’s not there,” Rocco said, his heart hammering painfully at his rib cage. “I couldn’t find it.”

Her father’s eyes flared wide with alarm. On his knees, he whirled toward Alex. “Where is it? What did you do with it?”

Tears leaked from the corners of Mercy’s eyes. Her lips were starting to turn blue.

It was happening so very, very fast. Right in front of his eyes the woman he loved was dying.

Rocco charged over to Alex and snatched him up from the chair by his shirt. “Tell me what you did with it.”

Alex’s gaze stayed laser-focused on Mercy.

“Are you insane?” Marshall screamed. “She’s going to be your wife.”

“No, she isn’t.” Alex shook his head slowly, his eyes glazed, like he was in a trance. “She’s going to sleep with him and never come back.”

How could Alex be so low, so malicious? Only a small, weak man would do such a thing.

“She’s already slept with him, you idiot.” Marshall rocked back and forth with his daughter in his arms. “And she came back anyway. What does it matter if she has one or two nights with this nonbeliever, but spends the rest of her life with you. I told you to have faith, you fool!”

“If she dies, you die. Painfully. Slowly,” Rocco swore, ready to follow through, but the threat didn’t faze Alex. Fury and fear hit Rocco so intensely that for a second everything blurred. “Where is the damn Epi?”

“She will return from the mountains,” Marshall said, clinging to Mercy. “I’ve foreseen it. But you must let her live.” He tipped his head back and muttered something that sounded like a prayer. “There are more EpiPens in the basement. Rocco, they’re in the bunker.”

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