Air gushed from his lungs.

Carefully, he opened her coat and found blood staining her sweater along her collarbone. He heard a crunch of snow behind him and stiffened, ready to go on the attack—only to see Evan eyeing him warily.

Jacob forced his face to smooth. “It’s all right. I’m a friend of your mom’s, and I’m going to take good care of her.”

“Mommy? Mommy, wake up.” Evan’s voice shook.

No time to check the damage, he scooped her in his arms. “Your mommy’s going to be fine, kiddo. Come on with me and we’ll take her to the doctor.”

Evan stared up at him with watery eyes. “What about my daddy?” His chin quivered. “He shot my mommy.”

Jacob had tried his best to shield the boy. No child should have to see that. “Your father is resting inside.” Of course the kid had no reason to trust him, a stranger. Jacob searched for the right words. “Remember how your mom wanted you to go with me? You need to do this for her.”

He would carry them both if he had to, but he hoped it wouldn’t come to that.

Evan’s face cleared and he nodded, casting a frightened glance back at the camper. “Okay. It’s Mommy’s turn to have me for a while.”

“Good job, kiddo.” Jacob grabbed the keys from Lambert’s truck, just in case, and charged back into the woods with Dee cradled to his chest. He could get her to a hospital faster than any ambulance would find them out here.

He’d heard about domestic violence cases going wrong, but never had he expected to be in the middle of such a horror. His boots pounded through the snow, his pace slowed because of the child huffing alongside him. Dee’s child. He would keep Evan safe for her.

And Emily. God, he couldn’t wrap his brain around the notion that Chase had been so unbalanced, following Dee around, making threats. This could have been his sister and her child out here.

Hell, it could be his sister now.

Jacob neared the truck just as the police pulled up along with a Land Rover he recognized as belonging to Spike. Help had arrived. The police would take care of Lambert, and Jacob would make damn sure to tip off Spike about Chase so Emily and Madison would have protection ASAP.

Thank God with a blaring siren, one of the cops could get Dee to the hospital faster and he intended to be by her side the whole ride there, never letting her or her son out of his sight.

As he held her unconscious body in his arms, he just prayed it would be soon enough.

Dee grappled through layers of consciousness. No cottony amnesia fog for her. This felt more like digging through dirt to reach the surface of the life she desperately wanted to reclaim.

Could anyone sleep this deeply and ever awaken? How much easier it would be to stop struggling through the fog and—ouch. The pain socked her out of left field.

Only she couldn’t stay asleep to hide from the ache. Her mind wrapped around her reasons for living, compelling reasons.

Jacob and Evan.

She battled, and pushed and fought her way back until a pinpoint of light beckoned. Prying her eyes open, she winced at the brightness and squeezed her lids shut again. Slowly, she eased them open, letting her pupils adjust to the rays streaming in through her half-open blinds.

Where was she? Panic slashed at her as she groped for answers. The antiseptic scent filled her nose. She looked around at what appeared to be a hospital room, searching for something, anything familiar.

Her gaze rested on a chair tucked in the corner of the room. A large hulk of a man sat cradling a small, sleeping boy in his arms.

Dee’s world came sharply into focus. She remembered everything. Blane hadn’t won. She recognized Jacob and Evan, two precious faces she would never forget.

Blane’s attack, his threats, all came jumbled back with nauseating force. Dee studied every inch of Jacob, and he seemed unharmed. A sigh shuddered through her.

Jacob’s eyes were closed. His head was tipped back against the reclining chair. Evan slept curled in his lap, chocolate ice cream staining the sides of her son’s mouth. Jacob had obviously discovered the way to Evan’s heart quickly.

Just as he’d done with hers.

She absorbed the image of them both and let the love fill her. Her still-slumberous mind wandered dreamy paths and she envisioned them as a family. The two looked nothing alike, Jacob so dark and angular, Evan so fair with a rounded face. Chances were Evan would never be as tall as Jacob.

No one would ever mistake Evan for Jacob’s biological son. But with Jacob’s influence, Evan would resemble Jacob in all the ways that counted.

She’d found so much beneath that brooding exterior. He’d shown her honor, constancy and a fierce protective love she hoped to claim.

Jacob shuffled, woke and stared back at her for seconds that seemed to stretch into forever before he spoke. “You okay?”

She nodded.

“I’ll call the nurse.”

“No, please. Give me a moment before the hospital frenzy takes over.” Evan stirred, and she lowered her voice. She wasn’t ready to share Jacob and Evan with the world, not yet. “What happened?”

He stood slowly, his big hands carrying her son with gentle strength. “You were shot in the shoulder, but the bullet passed through without hitting anything vital.”

She’d meant what happened with Blane, to Jacob to make him look so haggard, but now she realized those shadows under his eyes were for her.

“I’m okay,” she reassured even though she actually felt more than a little weak and breathless. But alive. They were all alive. So she asked again, “What happened?”

“Blane is in custody.”

She searched his eyes for details of how that must have happened, what had occurred after the shooting, and saw only a fierce protectiveness in Jacob’s expression. She knew. He’d been there for her, for her son and for their future because here he stood vital and alive.

More details from the showdown spilled through her mind, of how Blane hadn’t been the one stalking her. “What about Emily?” She struggled to sit up, her heart pounding. “Please say they have taken Chase back in for questioning.”

Jacob nodded reassuringly. “It’s okay. Take it easy. I was able to tip off Spike when he showed up a few minutes after you were shot. He took care of sending police over to Grace’s right away. Chase is at the station now. Emily and Madison are fine. A little shaken up, but okay.”

She sagged back on her pillow, relieved, somewhat drained, but mostly happy. It felt good to smile. To hope. She reached out her hand, twisting it free of the tangle of the IV to touch Jacob’s arm. He held her sleeping son against his chest, Evan’s arms draped over the broad shoulders as he tucked his face into Jacob’s neck.

A sight she could enjoy forever. She skimmed from Jacob to her son and traced each tiny feature she’d feared never seeing again. The feel of baby-soft skin soothed her ragged nerves and a few of her fears. It would be a while yet before she could let him out of her sight.

Apparently Jacob had known that. Children in hospital rooms were usually a taboo. He must have executed some major arm-twisting for her to see Evan when she woke. “Thank you for having him here for me.”

“No sweat.”

“Yeah, right.”

He shrugged.

A tap sounded on the door. Apparently their time alone would be cut short after all.

Emily peered around the door. “Dee? God, I can’t believe…Wow, you’re already awake.” The teenager rushed to her side. “You’re really awake. The nurse said…”

Jacob circled around to stand by his sister, more of that protectiveness radiating from him. “I haven’t pressed the call button yet.”

Emily flipped her ponytail over her shoulder, shifting from foot to foot. “I won’t stay long. Grace has Madison and she’s really kind of a handful today, so I need to get back to her. I just had to see you.” Her gaze slid up to her brother. “And you, too.”

A corner of his mouth tipped. “You’re speaking to me now, are you?”

She clutched the bedrail in a white-knuckled grip. “The police are talking to Chase again. He showed up at Grace’s house and the cops were only a minute behind him.” Guilt, frustration—pain—all mingled in her blue eyes the same color as Jacob’s. “I heard him admit to stalking you, Dee.”

Jacob secured Evan against his shoulder, his eyebrows pinching in sympathy. “I’m sorry this had to happen.”

“Me, too.” Emily picked at Dee’s hospital blanket. “It’s tough, isn’t it? Loving somebody only to find out he isn’t who you thought he was.”

Dee covered the girl’s hand with her own. “Yes, sweetie, it is.”

Emily allowed the comfort long enough for a nurse’s cart to rattle past before a half smile reached her lips if not her eyes just yet. “Your kid’s really cute.”

“So’s yours.” Dee ached from more than the gunshot wound as she thought of that little baby without a reliable father.

Emily’s smile faltered. “This mother thing is tough to do alone.”

Dee nodded and waited for Jacob to speak up, willed him to step in and be the kind of brother, support, family Emily needed. He needed them, too, even if he didn’t realize it yet.

She stared between the two stubborn siblings….

Jacob cleared his throat, his stance still assertive, pushy even, but his eyes gentle. “I can get a transfer to Tacoma, but it wouldn’t come through until the summer. You know the courts aren’t going to let you live alone, but I want you to have choices. I can pay Grace to stay with you until I move here, or you can come with me to Charleston. I have friends there who would help out while I’m TDY.”

Dee wanted to be a part of the picture, but knew it was too soon to have those sorts of expectations from a man she’d known all of a couple of weeks.

A man she’d already grown to love more than she’d realized was possible. But a love formed with wide-open eyes and a wiser heart this go-round.

Emily braced her shoulders, her chin high, and for the first time, Dee could see the family resemblance in these two strong-willed siblings.

The teen tossed her head, her ponytail swishing with its red stripe of defiance glinting. “There’s nothing for me around here anymore. If you really don’t mind having us, Madison and I will go with you.”

“Good. Good.” Jacob secured Evan with one arm and reached to pull Emily to him with the other.

Dee heard a couple of whispered words go back and forth that sounded a lot like “love you, kiddo” and “love you, too” before Emily pulled back with overly bright eyes to match her grin.

“I’ll leave you two—or three—alone.” Emily smoothed a hand over Evan’s head before backing away. “Definitely a cute kid.”

The door swished closed behind her.

Dee pressed a kiss to her hand then her fingers to Evan’s forehead. She wanted to hold him. If only she weren’t so unsteady. She needed to gather him up and rock him as she’d done so many times before.

Thanks to Jacob, she would have that chance. “You could set him on the recliner and let him sleep while we talk. I need to hear more about what happened, starting with Chase.”

Jacob lowered Evan back to the recliner, then returned to Dee’s bedside.

She pushed herself up to her elbows and raised the bed. Jacob stuffed his hands in his jean pockets, looking so tall and strong. If only he would reach down and take her hand.

“Spike and the cops showed up right after the shooting. As I said, I tipped off Spike about Chase as we were loading you into the police cruiser to come to the hospital. Lambert is in custody. With kidnapping and assault charges pending—not to mention investigating the murder of the man in the river—Lambert won’t be out anytime soon. They’ll have plenty of time to make a solid case about his role in defrauding the airplane manufacturers.”