In Protective Custody

Her comment earned a confused scowl from Max. “You want to go home, right?”

The promise of home and freedom made her spirits jump for joy. But soon after, her sense of responsibility to the infant reared its head. Her stomach clenched.

Protect the baby.

A niggling sensation in her gut wouldn’t be quieted. She had to look out for the innocent baby she’d cradled in her arms. No one had given her the job. Only her conscience, her love for children. Along with the certainty that things with Max Caldwell weren’t what they seemed.

Protect the baby.

She’d worry about getting away from Max and sorting through the facts later. Right now, baby Elmer needed her. Spurred by her determination to assure the baby’s safety, she made her decision and wouldn’t look back.

“I’m not going home. I’m staying with you,” she said.

Dear Reader,

In Protective Custody is near and dear to my heart. Not only did it win the RWA Golden Heart Award for Romantic Suspense, but the story also features characters and settings that are special to me.

While Max and Laura quickly came alive for me, it was baby Elmer who stole my heart. Writing Elmer, I was transported back to the days when my own precious son was a newborn, including my frustration when he continually lost his pacifier. Thank goodness my son eventually learned his thumb worked just as well.

Max and Laura’s story begins in New Orleans, the crown jewel for the state I call home and the city where I was awarded my coveted Golden Heart. Later, Max and Laura take refuge in the Smoky Mountains of North Carolina, where my grandmother lived until I was out of college. After I married, I vacationed with my in-laws near Boone on several occasions. I modeled Parsons after a real family-owned general store I frequented on these trips.

In In Protectie Custody, two lost souls learn that home is more than a place and family is more about love than blood. Enjoy!

Best wishes,

Beth Cornelison

In Protective Custody

Beth Cornelison

MILLS & BOON

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BETH CORNELISON

started writing stories as a child when she penned a tale about the adventures of her cat, Ajax. A Georgia native, she received her bachelor’s degree in public relations from the University of Georgia. After working in public relations for a little more than a year, she moved with her husband to Louisiana, where she decided to pursue her love of writing fiction.

Since that first time, Beth has written many more stories of adventure and romantic suspense and has won numerous honors for her work, including the coveted Golden Heart Award in romantic suspense from Romance Writers of America. She is active on the board of directors for the North Louisiana Storytellers and Authors of Romance (NOLA STARS) and loves reading, traveling, Peanuts’ s Snoopy and spending downtime with her family.

She writes from her home in Louisiana, where she lives with her husband, one son and two cats who think they are people. Beth loves to hear from her readers. You can write to her at P.O. Box 52505, Shreveport, LA 71135-2505 or visit her Web site at www.bethcornelison.com.

Dedication

To my parents, who gave me roots and wings.

Acknowledgments

Thank you to Jill Floyd and Linda Rooks, my critique partners on this book. Special thanks to my editor, Allison Lyons, for her continued faith and hard work. And all my love to Paul and Jeffery.

Contents

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

Chapter 16

Chapter 17

Epilogue

Chapter 1

“Mr. Caldwell, your sister has been shot.”

Max Caldwell wiped sooty sweat from his face with the back of his hand and strained to hear the voice on the phone over the ruckus of the fire station. “Can you repeat that? What did Emily do?”

“She’s in critical condition from a gunshot wound to the chest.”

Max’s stomach pitched, and he slumped against the painted concrete wall. A gunshot wound?

“Dr. Hoffman needs your permission to perform an emergency C-section and deliver her baby right away.” The woman rattled off the name of the New Orleans hospital where Emily had been admitted.

Max plugged one ear with his finger to mute the shouts and laughter of the other firemen. Just back from saving an antebellum home from an electrical fire, his fellow firefighters were pumped with adrenaline. Their boisterous celebrating made it hard to hear, much less grasp the enormity of what the woman said.

“What about her husband, Joe Rialto? Shouldn’t he make that decision?”

“I’m afraid Mr. Rialto was pronounced dead on arrival.”

“Joe is…dead?” Max plowed his fingers through his sweat-dampened hair and swore under his breath. The sour taste of dread climbed his throat, and his limbs shook. “O-okay, do whatever you have to but…save my sister.”

A disturbing silence followed. His chest tightened.

“Hello? Did you hear me?”

“Yes, sir. I… We will naturally do everything we can for her, but…the odds are not in favor of your sister surviving, Mr. Caldwell. It’s the baby we’re trying to save now.”

“Damn it!” Max yelled into the phone, an uncharacteristic wave of panic raising his voice. “She’s all I have! Don’t let her die!”

The fire station fell silent, and he glanced up to find all eyes staring at him. He turned his back to the other men and gripped the phone like a lifeline to his sister. The lingering scent of smoke and the stink of sweat and Ben-Gay suffocated him. He needed air. Couldn’t breathe.

“We’ll do our best, of course.”

His fire station was at least twenty minutes from the hospital, and he’d have to fight the New Orleans rush-hour traffic. Max squeezed his eyes closed and silently begged God not to take his sister. Then drawing a deep breath, he murmured, “Save the baby. I’m on my way.”

“Joe?” Emily gazed at Max with unfocused eyes. Her voice sounded thready and hoarse.

Max’s heart thundered like a rookie’s on his first four-alarm call as he leaned forward and gently squeezed her hand. She’d been unresponsive for two days, so even weak, her voice was music to his ears. The doctors had warned him Emily might never regain consciousness.

“No, Em. It’s me. Max.”

“Where’s…Joe?”

“Shh. Don’t talk. Save your strength.” He fumbled to mash the call button to alert the nurses’ station that his sister had awakened.

“What happened?” Emily whispered.

Max grinned slightly, not really surprised that his younger sister ignored his directions. In twenty-one years, she’d never done what he told her. The spoiled brat.

“Don’t try to talk. You’ve lost a lot of blood, and you need to save your strength.”

He stroked her fingers with his thumb, and a lump swelled in his throat. God in heaven, how did he tell his sister she was a widow? A single mother? They’d lost so much in their lives already. Both of their parents. Max’s unborn child, then his marriage. Now Joe.

Focus on the positive. Emily’s baby was doing well.

A nurse in purple scrubs poked her head into the room. “Yes?”

“She’s awake.”

“Wonderful.” The nurse hustled toward the bed and checked the machines hooked to Emily. She took Emily’s blood pressure then smiled at Max. “Her vitals have improved. I’ll get the doctor.”

He nodded in response then turned back to Emily when the nurse exited.

“Hey, congratulations. You’re a mama. The doctors delivered your son by C-section a couple of nights ago, and he’s doing great. Six pounds, five ounces of future starting quarterback. I’m saving a spot for him on my Pee Wee team.” He hoped the cheer in his voice didn’t sound as fake to her as it did to him.

Emily’s eyes warmed, and a faint smile touched her lips. “He’s…okay?”

Her whisper was barely audible now. He could tell even the few words she’d spoken had taxed her limited strength.

“He’s perfect. And he needs his mama to rest now. He needs you to get well.” Max brushed a wisp of hair, as black as his own, from his sister’s forehead then gave her cheek a kiss. “And so do I.”

She closed her eyes, probably succumbing to fatigue rather than in acquiescence, since Emily lived to defy him.

Her marriage to a man she barely knew and her immediate pregnancy at the tender age of twenty-one typified her willfulness. God, please let her live to defy me again.

The door opened, and Emily’s in-laws stepped into the room.

“There’s our girl,” Joe’s father said with a politician’s smile.

Mrs. Rialto, whose puffy red eyes and splotchy face bore evidence of her grief over her son’s death, cast a watery-eyed glance to Emily.

A nurse in scrubs caught Anthony Rialto’s arm. “Excuse me, sir. You’ll have to wait outside. Only one visitor at a time.”

Joe’s father scoffed and, giving the nurse a superior grin, lifted the woman’s hand from his suit sleeve. “Nonsense. We’re family. We only want a minute with her.” His expression grew more ingratiating, though still edged with impatience. “Surely you can bend the rules this once.”

Max felt Emily’s grip on his fingers tighten slightly. He glanced at her, but Emily’s attention was focused on the Rialtos.

“Sir, the rules—” the nurse said.

“Only a minute,” Anthony interrupted. He winked at the nurse and placed a hand at his wife’s back to escort her farther into the room.

The nurse sighed her exasperation but stepped out of the room without pressing the issue.

Emily’s eyes widened as her in-laws approached, and what little color she had in her cheeks paled. Her reaction puzzled Max, put him on alert. Though wary, Max rose to greet the couple, extending a hand to Anthony.

“Well, well, Emily. So glad you’re feeling better. We have business to discuss.” Ignoring Max’s offered handshake, Joe’s father swept past Max with the air of a man used to having his way. The wealthy New Orleans business tycoon exuded power and an iron will.

Max was unmoved by the man’s credentials in the business world. He’d protect his sister’s interests at any cost.

As her father-in-law approached the bedside, Emily shrank into the mattress.

“B-business?” Emily’s wary eyes cut to Max in a silent plea for help.

“Not now.” Max grabbed the older man’s shoulder, and his grip bit into the expensive silk suit Anthony wore.

The man sent him a dark glower and shook off Max’s hand. “Now! The baby could be released as early as tomorrow night, after Joe’s funeral. Besides, we can’t wait around and risk her dying without signing.”

Max bit out an earthy obscenity. Of all the heartless…

“Signing?” Emily squeaked. The monitor registering her heartbeat beeped faster.

Max’s chest clenched. She’d just regained consciousness, and her condition was still too unstable for them to upset her this way. “This can wait. Emily has to rest.”

“Lydia.” Anthony snapped his fingers. “Give me the papers.”

Joe’s mother sidled past Max with an apologetic grimace and a swirl of exotic perfume as she dug some folded sheets from her purse.

Anthony snatched them from her. “Custody papers for our grandson. If you die, he belongs with us. We’ve lost Joe, but we won’t lose Joe’s son.”

Emily gasped. “Joe’s d-dead?”

The man’s thoughtlessness roiled like lava in Max’s gut, and he squeezed his hands into fists.

“Didn’t your brother tell you?” Lydia asked.

His sister’s eyes found his and filled with tears. The proof of her grief kicked him in the chest, stealing his breath.

The erratic display on the cardiac monitor verified how news of her husband’s death affected Emily. Max didn’t need a doctor to tell him this stress would set her recovery back.

Rage for the Rialtos’ insensitivity exploded inside him like a backdraft. “Get out and take your damn custody papers with you! She won’t be signing anything. Do you hear me?”

“But my grandson—” Lydia sniffed.

“Excuse me, folks.” Emily’s doctor stepped into the room, a frown creasing his brow. “Mrs. Rialto is very weak and needs rest. If I have to, I’ll call security and ban all visitors from her room.” The doctor directed a hard look on Mr. Rialto. “No exceptions. Do I make myself clear?”

Anthony stepped away, glaring a menacing challenge to Max. “Don’t think this is over, Caldwell. Whether or not she signs, we will have that baby. Make no mistake.”

Grabbing his wife’s arm, Anthony stormed from the room, but the chill of his parting threat hung in the air.

Max saw Emily shiver, and apprehension shimmied through him, as well. From the first time he’d met the senior Rialtos at Emily’s wedding, something about the shipping mogul and his kowtowing wife had rubbed Max the wrong way. Something beyond their ostentatious wealth and the man’s condescending attitude. Anthony’s disregard for Emily’s well-being cemented Max’s disdain for his sister’s father-in-law.

Cutting a quick glance to the doctor, who wore a mask of concern as he felt for Emily’s pulse, Max decided he should give the doctor room to work. Pressing a kiss to Emily’s cheek, he excused himself to the corridor.

In the hall, a homicide detective wearing a wrinkled suit and a grim expression sat in a folding chair, waiting for the chance to question Emily about the shooting.

Max’s lungs felt leaden. Rubbing eyes as scratchy as his two-day beard, he struggled for a breath. What in God’s name had Emily gotten herself into this time?

Ignoring the suspicious look from the cop, Max headed to the cafeteria for coffee. He needed time to collect himself before seeing Emily again and another hit of caffeine to get him through the afternoon.

When he returned to her room several minutes later, Emily was unresponsive again. Damn the Rialtos for upsetting her like that! Max gritted his teeth and fought for his composure. He had to stay in control for Emily’s sake.

Even the suggestion that he could lose his baby sister, whom he’d helped raise, knotted his chest and haunted him with sickening dread. She was his only surviving family. He’d do anything, anything to better her chances of recovery. For now that meant serving as watchdog, keeping the wolves who would discourage and upset her away.

He bowed his head and clutched her hand. Please, God, don’t take my sister. I’ll do anything….

“You want me to what?” Max stared at Emily in disbelief, and a prickle crawled up his spine. She couldn’t be serious, could she?

“Take m’baby… Hide ’im.” Emily’s slurred speech indicated how much talking wore her out. She’d wakened again the next morning after a long, worrisome night. For her health’s sake, Max had tried to avoid discussing her in-laws, but Emily would not be swayed. Her pale face and haggard expression showed the degree of her distress.

“Look, nothing’s going to happen to your baby,” Max crooned, hoping to placate her. After witnessing the ill effects of stress and worry on her condition the day before, he knew he had to calm her somehow. Her weak system couldn’t handle the strain.

“I know losing Joe has upset you, but…now is not the time to talk about this. You have to save your energy and get stronger—”

“Max—”

“—so you can take care of your son. Now quiet down and—”

“Lis’n!” Emily winced in pain, and even more color drained from her face.

When she grew eerily quiet, Max’s heartbeat stilled. “Emily?” He patted her hand. “Emily!”

The lids of her soulful brown eyes fluttered open. “Rialtos…dangerous.”

Max frowned. “Dangerous?”

An ominous tension made the air thick. Emily’s face reflected the strain, and her eyes grew dark.

“I…didn’t know,” Emily whispered. The sadness in her eyes pleaded for her brother’s forgiveness and understanding.

A vise-like tightness squeezed his chest. He knew she wouldn’t rest until she’d had her say. Arguing would only waste her breath and his, so he sat in the chair beside her bed and squeezed her hand.

Emily whispered something he couldn’t understand. Max leaned closer. “Say it again.”

“Drugs.”

Drugs? A chill burrowed into Max’s bones.

“Joe was involved with drugs? You mean he used them?”

“No.”

“Then you’re saying he sold drugs or smuggled them or—”

She closed her eyes and dropped her chin slightly. Yes.

Max sighed. “Em, why didn’t you leave Joe when you found out about this?”

Emily raised a misty gaze then looked away.

Because she was pregnant with Joe’s child.

“Em, what—” He snapped his mouth closed and swallowed his questions, his rebuke. Now was not the time to get into whatever poor choices Joe had made. Emily needed to stay calm and concentrate on healing.

“All of…them,” Emily whispered. “Dang’rous.”

“Not now, Em. We’ll talk about this later, once you’re better.”

Whatever she thought her in-laws were involved in could wait. Hadn’t he already bitten his tongue regarding the Rialtos for more than a year? While Max had instinctively distrusted Joe from the start, Emily had been blinded by love.

Emily drew an unsteady breath and frowned. “Joe…murder’d.”

This much he already knew. The police had filled Max in on witness accounts of how an armed man had barged into the restaurant where Emily and Joe had been dining and shot her husband in cold blood.

Max choked back the bile that rose in his throat, imagining his sister’s fear and pain the night Joe’s killer had opened fire on them. The horror. The violence.

“I know, Em. The police are working a few leads to try to find the man—”

“Joe…murder’d.”

Acid burned his gut. Was she saying she knew who killed Joe? That his murder was somehow linked to his family and drugs?

Max mentally reviewed what he knew of Joe and his father. Their shipping business was small but enormously lucrative. And could easily have been infiltrated by drug smugglers.

Or did Joe’s murder mean the Rialtos’ involvement was consensual?

That possibility kicked Max’s pulse up a notch, stirred a cold frisson of suspicion in his bones. Either way, living on the fringes of such a volatile business was no life for Emily. Or her son.

“Pr’tect…baby from…Rialtos.” Emily’s pleas echoed his own thoughts, and a foreboding chill washed through him.

“Maybe you could get a restraining order to—”

Emily shook her head, her eyes reflecting the same skepticism that twisted in him. After witnessing Anthony Rialto in action, Max knew she was right. A court order wouldn’t stop the Rialtos from taking what they wanted.

He tried to reason out a better option, but Emily nixed every idea, offering cold truths she’d learned about her father-in-law. When he suggested involving the police, she claimed Anthony Rialto had dirty cops on his payroll.

Gasping her beliefs one key word at a time, she argued breathlessly that if the Rialtos got the baby when he was released from the hospital, they’d take him out of the country and fight her custody rights. Her impassioned pleas for her child, even as she fought for her own life, wrenched Max’s emotions in knots.

“You’re only…one I…trust. Don’t…let baby…outta…your sight.” She was truly winded now, struggling for air, and Max place his free hand over her lips.

“Easy. Hush now.” He clenched his teeth and sighed. “I won’t go to the police, and I won’t let Joe’s family get near your son. I promise.”

Her grip loosened, and relief softened the tension in her face. “You’ll…take…m’baby? Hide?”

Her breathlessness plucked at his heart as much as her determination. The pleading in her eyes tore him apart. The fear and resignation in her voice tormented him.

What else could he do? The Rialtos didn’t negotiate. They had the money, the lawyers, the power and influence to get their way, right or wrong.

“But what about you, Em? I can’t leave you like this. And I can’t care for a baby and be here for you at the same time.”

Tears welled in her eyes, and Max knew he’d lost. He was a sucker for a woman’s tears. Especially Emily’s.

“I don’t know anything about babies,” he mumbled, dragging a hand over his stubbled chin.

“You’ll…learn. All new…fathers do.”

“But I’m not his father.”

“If…I die—”

Ice sluiced through his veins. “Don’t talk that way! You can’t die. You have a baby to raise.”

“Raise him…for me.”

A cold ball of fear lodged in his throat. He’d tried the family-man thing once.

And failed. Miserably.

He was all wrong for the job of raising a child.

Another tear escaped his sister’s eyelashes. Hell!

“How am I supposed to get the baby out of the hospital without Joe’s family knowing? They’ve hovered around the nursery like a pack of wolves since he was born.”

That news seemed to suck the spirit from Emily. The hope in her eyes dimmed, and pain sliced Max’s chest. If she gave up hope and quit fighting for her life…

He had to do something. But what she asked of him was daunting. A baby! Memories of his failed marriage rose to haunt him. Emily’s need battled the demons of his past.

Finally, Emily’s desperate, tormented expression swayed him. He leaned close and whispered fiercely in her ear. “Emily, listen to me. For once in your life, do what I’m telling you. I’ll make a deal with you, okay?”

She met his gaze, hope lighting her eyes.

“I’ll find a way to get your son out of here, to hide him from Joe’s family and keep him safe for you, if…” He wagged a finger in her face to punctuate his point. Already the hurdles of getting the baby past the Rialtos loomed in his mind. “Swear to me, promise me now, you will fight. You cannot give up hope. You have to get well, so that you can take care of your baby yourself. Like I tell my Pee Wee football kids—no quitters on my team. Understand?”

A flicker of warmth lit her eyes, and Max knew he’d made the only choice he could. If his promise would give Emily the hope she needed to survive, he’d promise her the moon and figure out how to get it. Despite his track record.

Maybe helping Emily would redeem him in some small way for his failures in the past. He refused to let her down.

“I’ll keep your son safe for you.”

The next afternoon, Max backed out of his sister’s hospital room and closed the door. Tucked to his chest, he carried the duffel bag he’d used to bring her clean pajamas and a pillow from home. The police detective, having gotten a few minutes alone with Emily earlier in the day, had finally left the hospital. Only one hurdle remained.

Max cast a wry grin to the beefy-armed thug standing guard at her door. “She’s nursing the baby and doesn’t want her big brother watching,” he lied.