Page 106 of Love Bomb

Her jaw clenched. Her muscles spasmed. Her eyeballs rolled back into her head. The folly disappeared as her body shook uncontrollably.

Her last thought as she fell to the ground was—wrong way round.

“Shut up!” someone screamed just as Bain made it to the folly door.

He burst through it to see Rona writhing on the ground, her limbs stiff as she jerked awkwardly. And standing over her, with a knife in her hand, was Sandra Clark.

“What the hell?” Bain roared.

Sandra swung toward him, knife held high. Her eyes went wide when she realized it was him, then tears began to fall.

“You’re not supposed to be here,” she said. “You can’t die.”

“None of us are dying, Sandra,” Bain bit out.

At lightning speed, he processed the scene in front of him. Rona was incapacitated somehow, but still alive. He let out a breath. Alive was good. Sandra, meanwhile, was clearly spiraling. He had to stay calm. He had to think fast. And he had to get all of them out of the folly in one piece.

He took another deep breath before speaking. “What happened to Rona?” He kept his voice as calm and even as he was able.

“I don’t know,” Sandra sounded confused. She gestured to the floor beside Rona. “She jabbed me with that and then she had a fit. Is she okay?”

Rona made whining sounds as she jerked on the floor. She may have been drooling. Something was seriously wrong.

“I’m going to check on her,” he told Sandra before slowly crouching beside Rona.

That’s when he saw the stun gun and almost cried with relief. He brushed the hair back from her face. “You’re a bloody idiot,” he told her softly.

She growled and he took that as agreement.

Relieved that Rona would be fine, once the effects of the voltage wore off, Bain stood to face Sandra. Her coat was far too thin for the weather, and her hair hadn’t been washed from the last time he’d seen her—and it had looked bad then.

“You shouldn’t be in here,” he said gently. “None of us should be. The place is rigged to blow.”

Sandra shook her head furiously. “No, I have it all figured out.” She gestured to Rona with the knife. “She has to stay, but you can go. If we’re both gone, you’ll be free to concentrate on our baby.”

A squeak of surprise sounded from Rona. It seemed she’d just caught up and figured out the identity of her abductor.

“I can’t let you kill yourself, Sandra,” Bain said. “Our son needs a mother.”

She looked so hopeful that his heart almost broke in two.

“Then you admit it then, that he’s yours.” She smiled in an over-the-top way that wasn’t quite normal. “I knew you’d come around once you got to know him. He has your eyes, doesn’t he?”

He inched toward her. “Aye, and he has your smile.” He held his hands out in front of him, in a gesture of appeasement. “I know you aren’t yourself right now because I’ve seen how well you’ve looked after our wee baby. I know that a mother who loves her child that much wouldn’t want to leave him alone. Even with his father.” Slowly, carefully, he closed the gap between them. “Let me get you some help, love. Then we can be a family together.”

Tears streamed down Sandra’s face. “Together?” she said, her voice cracking.

“Aye, together.” He was almost at her now. Just a wee bit closer.

Sandra’s eyes darted around, as though she was trying to follow her thoughts. Trying, desperately, to figure it all out.

“You said you didn’t want me,” she accused, suddenly focused on him again.

“I was being a stubborn arse,” Bain said. “It took spending time with our son to make me realize that there’s nothing more important than family.” He moved closer to her. Nearly there. “And that’s what we have, Sandra, a family. You can’t die here in the folly, or anywhere else. Our baby needs you.”

Sandra let out an agonizing sob, filled with so much pain it hurt to hear.

At his feet, Rona struggled into a sitting position. She was still shaking but she wasn’t writhing in pain. Her movements drew Sandra’s attention, and her expression turned suspicious.