Secret Agent Boyfriend (18 page)

“I’m glad you’re here.” Whit greeted Noah first, slapping the man on the back and gesturing him toward the coffeepot. “Carson, Landry and I have something we’d like to discuss with you.”

* * *

The pleasant civility ringing out in the Adair dining room had a tense air about it, and Derek kept his position by the French doors that led out to the patio, unwilling to intrude any more than he needed to.

He wasn’t a part of the family and they deserved the space to make the proper explanations to Noah. Hell, he was just the evidence man. The keeper of the facts and details that would blow up Noah Scott’s world.

Starting with the fact that he wasn’t actually Noah Scott.

“Oh?” Noah snagged a mug off the sideboard. “What’s going on?”

“We’ve come upon some information you need to know. About our father.”

“What?” Noah stepped away from the coffee immediately, his concern evident as he walked toward his family. “Did you find out something about his killer?”

“No.” Carson shook his head. “We found out something about you.”

Confusion stamped itself in Noah’s gaze—a vivid blue he shared with Landry, Carson and Whit. “Found out something? About me? Like what?”

Landry moved close to him, her hand on his shoulder. At the subtle nods of her brothers, she confirmed what they already knew. “You’re Jackson, Noah. You’re the one our father spent his life searching for.”

“I’m what?” Color drained from his face, leaving a ghostly visage in its wake. “That’s ridiculous.”

“I know it’s hard to believe—”

“You know?” His words were sharp, their bite swift and immediate. “You think you can drop a bomb like that on me and then tell me you
know
? Like you somehow understand?”

“I don’t claim to understand, no. But I can empathize that this is a shock to you.” She lifted her hand once more but dropped it, her fingers curling into a fist at her side. “A terrible shock.”

Noah shook his head, his gaze darting to each Adair in turn. “What could possibly make you think this? I’m your cousin. I’ve been coming here since I was a kid. There’s just no way.”

“It may be hard to swallow, but it’s true.” Landry gestured in Derek’s direction. “Derek has the details. The only thing left to do is a DNA test to prove it.”

“Details?” Noah’s gaze swung from puzzlement to accusation as it landed squarely on Derek. “You’ve got evidence or something? Is that why you’re really here?”

Unwilling to lie any longer, Derek nodded. “That’s why Kate sent me. My expertise is missing persons, and she wanted the Adair heir found. We can do the DNA test but you’re Jackson. I know it.”

Each word was like a gunshot, and Derek saw how the delivery took Noah apart, piece by piece.

“So it was a lie. The relationship with Landry. Your time down in the barn, buddying up. You were playing me?”

He’d prepared himself for the accusations—knew they’d be a part of Noah’s inevitable reaction—but even he hadn’t expected how much it would hurt to hear them from a man he’d come to like and respect.

Add on the reference to a fake relationship with Landry and Derek fought to keep his voice level and do the job he’d come to do. “No. It wasn’t like that.”

“Spare me.” Noah stilled before turning on his family. “And all of you. You’re in on this. You all knew before I walked in here. Have you been planning this? Plotting to screw up my life?”

Carson stepped forward. “Georgia pieced it together a few weeks ago. After she met you something bothered her. She felt like she knew you. It was only when she remembered a photo of Ruby’s father that she put the pieces together. The photo was an image of you.”

Landry reached out once more, her voice soothing. “We never meant—”

Noah flung his arm, dislodging the comfort of her touch. “If I meant anything at all to you you’d have told me. Instead, you went behind my back. For what reason? Some misguided sense of protection?”

“We couldn’t tell you.” Whit hesitated before pressing on. “We couldn’t risk your mother vanishing into the wind.”

“You think—” Noah broke off at that, landing heavily in one of the dining room chairs. “You think my mother’s responsible?”

Derek stepped forward, effectively taking the burden off Noah’s siblings to share the truth. He laid the proof of what they’d uncovered on the table, the flight plan information on top. “Your grandmother was behind it all. She managed the kidnapping and took you to Europe after stealing you from Reginald and Ruby’s house.”

Noah glanced at the papers before reaching forward to take the top sheet. His moves were ginger, as if he were dealing with a frightened horse, and Derek knew the analogy wasn’t that far off. Only now, Noah was the frightened one.

“My mother might not have known who I was. She might have thought I was just a baby that her mother arranged.”

“But she was still complicit. Whether she knew beforehand or after, she kept you. There was no way she didn’t know who you were.”

“But she was pregnant. I’ve seen photos. Even in the photos from my father’s funeral, she was visibly pregnant.”

Landry tried once more to touch him and laid her hand on Noah’s shoulder. “That baby didn’t live.”

“This isn’t possible. Nothing about this is possible.”

“I know this is a lot to digest.” Derek took the lead once more, the overt shock and upset in the room in dark contrast to the sun streaming through the windows. “I’d suggest taking a DNA test first. That will give you actual proof and then we can work on next steps from there.”

“Next steps?” Noah leaped up at Derek’s words, ignoring the papers on the table. “I’m not a project, Derek. Or an FBI file.”

“Noah—” Carson reached out but Noah shut him off.

“None of you understands this. You can’t possibly begin to understand and I could see past that. If this is true, it’s not your fault that you uncovered it. But what I can’t see past is that you didn’t tell me what you suspected. That you left me in the dark while you played Sherlock Holmes with my life.”

Every word hung over the room, noxious clouds of black, before Noah slammed out the door.

They all remained still for a moment, absorbing the reality of what had just happened, when Landry stood up. “Let me go. I’m sure he’s at the stables, and we have a special bond over the horses.”

“You don’t have to go alone,” Whit said, already moving to follow her toward the door.

“No, really. Let me try.” She glanced in Derek’s direction once more before she turned toward the door, the dazed look in her eyes cutting him off at the knees.

He’d known her life hadn’t been easy these past months. The death of her father and all that had ensued since had taken its pound of flesh. But what killed him was the sheer absence of hope in her gaze, replaced now with a resigned sense of duty.

The woman he’d come to know was warm, vibrant and full of life.

And the woman who slipped from the dining room looked as if the weight of the world had settled on her shoulders, never to lift again.

* * *

The cool morning air whipped around her shoulders as she headed for the stables. Landry’s thoughts were a jumble between Noah and Derek, swinging back and forth, one to the other. Her brother needed her, more than ever, and she’d do her best to help him through this trying time.

But she needed Derek. And as each moment passed he seemed to be slipping further and further away.

Or maybe you pushed him away.

The thought she’d tried so hard to ignore wrapped around her with the breeze, whispering in her ear and forcing her to consider her role in what was between them.

She loved him.

After a lifetime desperate for the emotion, it was amazing to see how easily it had planted roots and now lived inside her. And with that love she’d learned something even more significant about herself. Derek’s wants were as important to her as her own. Maybe even more so. She wanted what was best for him and believed in supporting him.

So what are you afraid of, Adair?

Grass crunched underfoot as she continued her walk, replaying the morning in her mind. Today was about Noah yet she’d attempted to rush into a conversation with Derek about their future.

Why? To sabotage what was between them?

Or to protect herself from the risk that he might walk away first?

She’d spent so long blaming much of her life on her mother it was startling to acknowledge her own role in what had happened with Derek earlier.
She
had pushed him away. Their focus should have been the meeting with Noah yet she had pushed her fears smack in the middle of their discussion. And when he had been caught off guard, she’d used the moment to pick a fight.

The stables came into view, the tall structure reassuring. No matter how bleak her life had ever seemed, the stable held the key to restoring her equilibrium. She could only hope it did the same for Noah. Or did she need to call him Jackson now? Would he even want that?

Landry sighed and let the thought fade. They’d figure all that out in time. What Noah needed now was their understanding and support.

Then she’d go see Derek and start over. The morning hadn’t gone as she planned, but they would get through it. And this time she wasn’t hiding behind juvenile emotions that had no place in their relationship.

A wispy cloud floated past her peripheral vision and Landry gave herself a moment to stop and look at it. So simple, a quiet moment enjoying nature.

There was beauty to be found if you looked for it. She could see that now. Even after all she and her family had been through these past months, she could—and should—take a moment to appreciate what she had.

In time, Noah would find the same.

Images of him through the years floated through her mind, as wispy as the clouds. He’d always been as much a brother to her as Whit and Carson. As youngest, she was both family pest and doted-upon sister. She’d been teased to within an inch of her ponytail and championed for whatever she wanted to do.

Yet no matter the circumstance, Noah along with Whit and Carson had always shown a fierce devotion, their concern for her well-being at the heart of their actions.

They were her first loves. She’d spent the past few months determined to help Whit and Carson find their way. Now she’d help Noah do the same. And as she navigated the waters with Derek—no matter the outcome—she knew the Adair men would support her in return.

The welcome scents of the barn greeted her as she stepped through the heavy door. “Noah!”

She strode down the long path toward the back office, so full of her own thoughts it took several moments to register the anxiety in the horses. Landry stopped, the restless underpinning growing evident just as she heard a loud whinny from Pete’s stall.

And felt the distinct kick of adrenaline and fear as Mark Goodnight stepped out of Noah’s office.

Chapter 18

D
erek refilled his coffee mug, the meaningless action something to pass the time. He’d already drunk enough caffeine to be jittery and on edge, and certainly didn’t need any more.

He knew he should be focused on Noah but all he could think about were his clumsy moments with Landry that morning in her room. He wanted to make it up to her—
would
make it up to her—as soon as they got Noah past the upheaval of learning his real identity. He’d already put a buddy at the Bureau on notice for a DNA test and the need for expedited results.

All they needed was Noah’s go-ahead.

And then he could focus on the woman he loved. If he’d had any question at all about his future, the past few hours had erased any doubts. He loved Landry Adair and wanted to spend his life with her.

“Did he agree to take the DNA test?” Georgia’s voice interrupted his thoughts, the question giving him a chance to focus on the real reason he was here.

She’d joined Carson shortly after Noah, followed by Landry, had left the room and her husband had filled her in on the details.

Carson shook his head. “He didn’t agree to much of anything. And he’s worried about Emmaline. You can see it beneath the anger.”

“What should we expect there, Derek?” Whit asked. “As you said before, she’s complicit in this.”

Derek took a seat, happy to have something to focus on. This he knew. Missing persons and kidnapping was his profession and he’d spent nearly his entire adult life understanding the ins and outs of the law.

He also understood the damage individuals could inflict on each other and wanted to prepare them. The shock of the news likely wouldn’t assuage Noah’s innate need to defend his mother, regardless of the evidence against her.

“We first have to prove she knew. We’ve all leaped to the conclusion she had knowledge Noah was really Jackson, but it’s possible Eleanor could have kept that from her.”

“And if she didn’t?” Carson’s question went straight to the heart of the problem.

“Then Noah hasn’t only lost the life he believed he had, but he’s lost his mother, too.”

At Derek’s words, Georgia covered Carson’s hand with her own. “I know Ruby’s suffered. The pain of losing her son has never faded, even after all these years. And because of that, I struggle to give any sort of excuse to Emmaline. But what sort of madness must that be, to live a sort of half life as a parent? To forever look over your shoulder and know that your child came with a price?”

“What price?” Whit stirred his coffee. “If what we believe is correct, Grandmother stole Jackson from son to daughter. No one was paid.”

“It’s not the money. She’s paid with her soul.”

Georgia’s words echoed through the room with a grim finality and Derek knew she spoke the truth. No matter how desperately Emmaline wanted to be a mother, the choices made decades ago had to have taken a toll. “Landry mentioned she’d come here, to the ranch, every summer with Noah. But that somehow she’d fade into the background, as if she didn’t wish to be scrutinized too hard.”

Carson nodded. “Now that you put it that way, I know what Landry means. Emmaline was here, but she wasn’t. She just sort of hovered on the fringes.”

“Remember the summer she had that fight with Dad?” Whit said.

“What fight?”

“What happened?”

Derek and Carson both leaned forward on that tidbit, their questions overlapping.

“I don’t know all the specifics, but it had something to do with AdAir Corp and Aunt Kate’s run for VP.” Whit rubbed at his chin. “I’m pretty sure that was it. She was upset with how public a figure Dad was with the company. Always throwing lavish parties and doing his level best to get as much PR—even if it was personally related—as he could.”

“She didn’t like the spotlight on the family, then?” Derek considered Landry’s memories along with Whit’s, adding another mental tally in the “Emmaline knew” column.

“No. And she hated the spotlight that hit the family once Kate made the presidential ticket and ultimately became VP,” Whit said.

“Mom has never liked her,” Carson added. “And while that’s not saying much, it’s the reasons why she didn’t like her that have always stuck with me.”

“What are those?” Derek pressed Carson, sensing there was yet another level of detail. For all they’d never known about Noah’s parentage, it was growing more and more evident there had been signs that all wasn’t right, either.

“Mom always felt she was a woman who let the world act upon her instead of making her own choices. Said she had a birdlike countenance that came off weak and needy and way too fragile.”

Derek knew circumstantial evidence was just that—more anecdotal than hard fact—but he’d always believed in trusting his gut. By all appearances, the Adairs had borne a traitor in their midst and it was up to all of them to now tread lightly enough to get Emmaline to confess.

“You’re all still here?” Noah came back into the room, color high on his cheeks.

“Where’s Landry?” Derek was on his feet first, immediate alarm ringing through his system in harsh, clanging waves.

Confusion stamped itself in Noah’s blue eyes, still hazy and dull with the news of the morning. “I don’t know. I never saw her.”

“She came to find you in the stables.”

“I didn’t go to the barn. I wanted to walk through the orange groves for a while and calm my thoughts. I was afraid of spooking the horses with my bad mood.”

The alarm bells that hadn’t quieted on Noah’s arrival ratcheted up to a five-alarm blaze. “You never went to the stable at all?”

“No.”

“So where’s Landry?”

* * *

Landry fought hazy memories and the harsh wash of light as she opened her eyes. Pain screamed through her skull and she stilled, focused on breathing through the pain and the sudden panic that gripped her chest.

Where was she?

The air had a dank, heavy smell, like a wet basement or a cave at sea level. She kept her eyelids at half mast and stared at the brownish, water-stained ceiling. Her mind whirled as she tried to piece together where she was.

The anxiety of the morning filled her mind in a wash of memories. The discussion with Derek about their future. She and her brothers’ announcement to Noah that he was their long-lost sibling. And the walk to the stables...

Thoughts of her family faded as the reality of what had lain in wait came crashing back.

Mark.

Derek’s partner and fellow agent at the FBI was dirty. He’d waited for her to arrive, then taken her—

A sob filled the air and Landry bolted upright at the evidence she wasn’t alone. Pain ricocheted through her skull and she held still, eyes closed, willing the agony to subside to a dull roar now that she was upright.

With delicate movements, she blinked open her eyes and stared into a dark brown gaze devoid of hope. “Who are you?”

The child’s whisper was raw, as if she hadn’t spoken in days, and whatever pain had accompanied Landry upon waking faded against the insistent hum of realization.

“You’re Rena.”

“How do you know that?”

Fear lit up the dark brown depths of the girl’s eyes and Landry tried to quickly reassure her. “I know the man who’s been looking for you. He’s from the FBI and he wants to bring you home.”

“No one’s looking for me.” The rasp was still there, but her voice now held wisps of bravado. “And the FBI’s the reason I’m here.”

She knew Mark was responsible, but she hated to think how he’d destroyed any image this child held of law enforcement. So many were working so hard to get her back. Not just Derek, but his entire team wanted to see this child rescued.

“No, sweetie, they’re not. They’re the ones trying to find you and bring you home.”

The heavy metal door to their room swung open and Mark stood in the entryway. Rena pointed toward Derek’s partner. “Then why have they been holding me?”

Her pulse spiked once more as adrenaline rushed her system and Landry fought to remain calm. She’d get nowhere if she didn’t keep her wits about her, especially since he had the upper hand. Because based on what she knew of the case, Mark had had plenty of time to prepare for whatever it was he had planned.

Derek’s partner strolled into the room, the trim cut of his suit at odds with the menace that rolled off him like heat lightning. “Glad to see you woke up. You’re surprisingly heavy for a woman with such a hot body.”

Landry ignored the insult—only made worse by the leer that traveled over her breasts—and forced a calm bravado she didn’t feel into her tone. “What have you done?”

“Isn’t it obvious?”

“No, it’s not. You’re a federal agent. Why are you holding this child?”

“She’s a means to an end.” Mark walked up and stood over her, that leer morphing into something far more menacing. Madness.

Sheer, utter madness.

“Just like you, Landry Adair.”

* * *

Derek and Landry’s brothers had already raced through the stables as soon as they’d ascertained Noah had never seen her after rushing from the house. Their hurried walk-through past the agitated horses hadn’t produced much and he was now back in the estate’s security room assessing what he could on the cameras.

The morning’s footage clearly showed her walking into the barn and then nothing.

“You find anything?”

“No. Damn it!” He dragged a hand over the back of his neck, frustrated at the evidence that the video feeds had been tampered with once more.

Carson took the seat next to Derek and ran the surveillance footage, his fingers surprisingly nimble and well versed on the keyboard.

“And my contacts at the Bureau haven’t gotten any more details on the tampering last week, either. It’s like the footage simply evaporated. They’ve tried tracing it and nothing’s worked. All they get are some bouncing shadows that suggest there was footage but it’s been thoroughly erased.”

“I thought you couldn’t do that anymore. Not with digital technology the way it is.” Carson tapped a few more keys.

“I thought so, too. And when I say the Bureau team is the best, I mean it. They can do amazing things with the smallest amount of footage. Heck, I saw them recreate an incident off a slivered image from a building’s surveillance thirty yards across the street from another building.”

“You send them the new stuff from this morning?”

“Yes.”

“If they can work with cameras at a distance, what about our neighbor in the sky?”

Derek had his eyes on the screen, willing something to show up when Carson’s comment registered. “What neighbor? You’ve got all the acreage for nearly half a mile.”

“I know, but we’ve also got a cell tower in our backyard. It’s a bit of an eyesore but my father was never one to turn down money. And it ensures we always get outstanding reception here. He camouflaged it in the trees just past the stables.”

“Give me a minute.”

Derek made quick work of the information and had his Bureau contact on the line in moments. “Can you get at it, Brad?”

The hard grunt and quick tap of a keyboard was all the confirmation Derek received and he knew it was more than enough. In moments, Brad was giving instructions on how to pull up the feed on the house computers.

Derek put him on speaker, then leaned toward the screen, orienting himself to the angle of the cameras. “There, Brad. What’s the time stamp on Landry’s arrival?”

When Brad gave him the same time as the house computers, Derek pressed him on. “Good. We’re in sync. Go ahead and back it up. Someone got in there and we need to find out who.”

Footage whizzed past, nothing visible but the stable dwelling growing increasingly dark as the time moved earlier and earlier in the morning. As the screen grew darker, Derek worried they’d miss something when an image caught all of them at the same time.

“There,” Carson said.

“There it is.” Brad’s voice smacked of triumph through the speaker. In moments, the man had the image manipulated, using the lights surrounding the barn to maximum advantage. He zoomed in on the individual hovering around the doorway, his gasp evident when a face became visible through his work on the resolution. “I don’t believe it.”

“I do.”

Derek’s acknowledgement was grim and devoid of any emotion. Landry had been right all along.

Mark Goodnight was dirty.

* * *

Derek worked through the specifics with Leo and Brad as they developed a sting operation. Mark still needed to show up for work, but they couldn’t be sure he hadn’t created some sort of remote detonation on wherever he was keeping Landry. Brad was given authorization to dig into Mark’s files and phone records, but so far he’d found nothing on Bureau assets that was useful.

Although he wanted to leave immediately, the chances were high that Mark was holding Landry in LA. He owed it to Landry’s family to fill them in before he left. He kept the updates short, walking them through what he knew of his partner.

Whit spoke first. “And you’ve never had any signs?”

“None. I’ve worked with the guy for years.” Derek hesitated before the well of grief and regret that threatened to swamp him spilled over. “How couldn’t I have known something?”

Elizabeth had been quiet in the telling, her hand on Whit’s shoulder, but she moved next to him, her voice warm and soothing. “People know how to hide their true selves and their true feelings. You can’t beat yourself up over that.”

Derek knew Elizabeth and Whit had cared for each other for a long time, neither admitting to their attraction, but somehow he couldn’t see this as the same thing. Their love for each other was something that made each of them better when they’d finally admitted the truth. Mark’s deception, on the other hand, was like a cancer, eating away at the core of the Bureau. Hell, at the core of his life.

How much had the man known that he’d never shared? And how much of the recent cases they’d worked had Mark messed with out of sheer spite or ill will? There was no time to go through it now but once this was over—once he had Landry back—he’d find out.

Because he would get her back.

Failure was simply not an option.

* * *

Landry had spent the better part of the day calculating what time it was based on the movement of the sun through the windows. Rena had slept off and on and in the child’s quiet moments Landry had observed her.