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her way out of plenty of bad situations, but fighting wasn’t much of an option now because it’d put the baby at risk.
    “No one will protect you like I will,” Josh added, and he jammed his thumb against his chest.
    The moment seemed to freeze, and she thought he was about to move toward her. To pull her into his arms. Jaycee wasn’t stupid and knew it wouldn’t be for a steamy kiss that her body seemed to want.
    Bad.
    But Josh looked to be on the verge of giving her something else she needed. A good old-fashioned hug.
    It didn’t happen, though, because his phone rang again, and the moment was gone. He drew in a hard breath and stabbed the button to put the call on speaker.
    “Josh,” she heard Grayson say. “I think Jaycee and you should get down here to the sheriff’s office right away. Our suspect, Bryson Hillard, just walked in. He’s got a lawyer with him, and he says he’ll talk if he can speak to one of the former hostages.”
    In other words, her.
    Jaycee pulled her breath. Waited.
    It didn’t take long for Grayson to continue. “Bryson says he knows who’s running the baby farms.”

Chapter Seven
    “You recognize either of them?” Grayson asked Josh and Jaycee.
    Josh looked through the one-way mirror and into the interview room of the Silver Creek sheriff’s office where Bryson Hillard and his attorney, Valerie DeSilva, were seated. Both appeared to be in their mid-forties. Both wore nondescript business clothes. Bryson had salt-and-pepper hair, conservative but expensively cut. Nothing much conservative about Valerie’s hair. It was flame red, short and choppy—the style of a much younger woman.
    “Never seen them before,” Josh answered.
    Jaycee shook her head and echoed the same, her attention returning to the background report on the two that Grayson had given them when they’d first arrived at the sheriff’s office. They were all anxious to hear whatever information Bryson had, but Josh knew that Grayson needed to be armed with info so he could convince the man to talk without Jaycee’s help.
    Just in case this was some kind of ruse to get to her.
    Josh certainly couldn’t rule it out, especially since the guards knew who she was and also knew that she was in protective custody in Silver Creek. They’d left that threatening note, and if they’d been that brassy, Josh figured they wouldn’t hesitate to send someone right into the sheriff’s office so they could launch another kidnapping attempt.
    There was just one problem with that theory.
    Neither Bryson nor Valerie looked capable of kidnapping unless they had help, and lots of it. Of course, those three missing guards would be plenty of help, and if he was looking at the faces of the people in charge of the baby farms, Bryson and Valerie could have those guards waiting nearby.
    Josh was in such deep thought and way too much on edge that he nearly reached for his gun when he spotted the movement out of the corner of his eye. But it wasn’t a threat. It was one of the other deputies. She had a cup of coffee in one hand and was balancing a large box of doughnuts in the other.
    “I’m Bree,” she said to Jaycee, and she slid the doughnut box on the table. “Married to Grayson’s youngest brother, Kade.”
    Jaycee nodded. “I know the name. He’s an FBI agent.”
    Josh couldn’t help but notice that while Jaycee sounded polite, she was eyeing that box.
    “Want some?” Bree asked, obviously noticing, too. “Josh sent me a text asking me to pick up a dozen.”
    “Thanks, both of you.” And the moment Bree stepped away, Jaycee grabbed one of the doughnuts and took a huge bite. “Mercy,” she mumbled. “That’s really good.”
    And she made a sound of pleasure that had both Grayson and Josh looking at her.
    “I’ll eat something healthier later,” she added.
    That wasn’t his concern. It was the dab of sugar at the corner of her mouth. Without thinking, Josh reached out, wiped it away and then licked the sugar off