Deceived (11 page)

He felt like a total asshole even asking that of her, the order he'd been given making him uneasy. The thought of deceiving her into getting close to him, knowing that as soon as this mission was over he'd never see her again, reminded him he was a lying piece of shit.

Sarah heaved a sigh. “I do trust you, Luke. I'm just scared.”

“Well,” he said, taking her hand in his and leading her from the basement, “if it makes you feel any better, I have perimeter sensors all around the property that alert me to vehicles approaching. There are also cameras recording twenty-four-seven, and all the windows are ballistic glass.”

“Wow. So,” she said, linking her fingers with his, “you weren't kidding about security. But couldn't someone on foot or horseback get by your sensors if they're just for vehicles? What if someone sneaks onto the property that way?”

He sent her a grin. “The only people getting close to you and Eli on this property will have to be invited in. And you're not going anywhere off this property without me, so any son of a bitch that wants to hurt you is going to have to come through me first.”

Her grip on his hand tightened, and her other hand came up to grasp his forearm as they made their way up the stairs to the second floor and down the hallway to his office. But when he started for the doorway, she stepped in front of him, putting a hand on his chest. “Luke . . . I . . .” She paused, dropping her gaze.

He waited, giving her the time she needed and frowning to keep from dwelling on the pressure of her hand against his chest and imagining what her soft palm would feel like against his bare skin.

Just when he felt like he was going to need to covertly shift things around a bit, she took a deep breath and continued, “I just want to say thank you again. I don't think I can say it enough. I honestly don't know what would've happened to Eli and me if you hadn't shown up when you did. I can't help picturing my friends....”

Unable to stand the way her voice hitched with unshed tears, he gently grasped her chin and lifted her face to his. Which was a mistake. Tears clung to her long dark lashes as she looked up at him, her eyes filled with sorrow. His thumb smoothed lightly across her skin. “I'm sorry I didn't get there in time to help them, Sarah.”

She blinked and a single tear slid down her cheek. “I know.”

He brushed away the tear with the back of his fingers and slid his hand around to the nape of her neck. His gaze dropped down to her lips, which parted ever so slightly, and she stepped into him, her hand drifting down to his waist.

He was going to kiss her. For real this time. And she wasn't going to stop him. He could feel it in the pressure of her fingertips at his waist, the way her breath quickened as his head dipped lower.

The sudden buzzing of his cell phone brought Luke's head up in an instant, and they started apart as he snatched the phone from his pocket. “Rogan.”

“It's Jack.”

Luke sent a glance Sarah's way, but she was avoiding his gaze, her cheeks flushed. “Impeccable timing as always, Grayson.”

Sarah's gaze snapped to him, her brows drawn together in a frown. “Grayson? Jack Grayson?”

Luke returned her frown. “Yeah.”

Sarah crossed her arms over her chest with a bitter laugh. “I want to talk to that son of a bitch. Right. Now.”

Luke's frown deepened.
Oh, I'm definitely gonna need to get the rest of
that
story
.... “Hey, Jack. I think you'd better get a teleconference going. Sarah has a few things she'd like to say.”

A few minutes later, they were back in Luke's office, Jack's face on Luke's laptop, his expression contrite.

“Where's my sister, you bastard?” Sarah hissed.

“She's here with me, Sarah,” Jack assured her. “I'm so sorry about your father. Had I any idea—”

“You know what?” Sarah interrupted. “On second thought, I
don't
want to talk to you. Put Maddie on.”

Jack sent a glance up at Luke where he stood behind Sarah, but then stepped out of view and Maddie Blake slid into the chair he'd vacated. “Hey, honey. How are you holding up?”

“Well, thanks to Luke, Eli and I are both alive,” she snapped, her gaze following Luke as he silently left the room. As soon as he was gone she turned her attention back to her sister and gave her a stern look. “But I think you'd better bring me up to speed.
Now
.”

* * *

Sarah raked her hands through her hair and sat back in Luke's chair, trying to process everything her sister had just shared. “You knew about the Alliance? About Dad's involvement?”

“Only after joining the FBI,” Maddie told her. “I found out when Jack was sent to assist on one of my cases. He had to come clean on things and explain why . . . why things happened the way they did, why he had to leave so suddenly before, so that I could trust him.”

“And
do
you trust him?” Sarah pressed. “All the lies, all the deception, Maddie . . . Our entire lives! How can we trust
anything
we're told at this point?”

Maddie took a deep breath and let it out slowly. “Honey, you're going to have to try. I've told you everything I know. And I'm sure Luke can fill you in even more. There's more at risk here than you can possibly imagine.”

“I don't give a shit about whatever it is that someone's after,” Sarah snapped. “I just want to make sure my son is safe. If anything happens to him, I will never forgive Dad for what he's done. He had no right to put Eli at risk this way.”

“I'm sure he had his reasons, Sarah,” Maddie said.

Sarah clenched her fists. “Stop defending him! Damn it, Maddie—you've been making excuses for that man our entire lives.”

Maddie's face fell. “And you've never given him a chance. Ever since Mom left, you've been determined to cast Dad as the bad guy. Well, Mom wasn't a saint, Sarah. She knew about Dad, knew what he did and why. And she couldn't take it. She walked away and never looked back—not even to see her daughters.”

Sarah pressed her fingertips to her temples, feeling a raging headache coming on. “I'm not having this fight with you again, Maddie.”

“Fine,” Maddie replied. “But just try to understand, okay? That's all I'm asking.”

Sarah heaved a harsh sigh. “I'm not making any promises.”

There was a long pause before Maddie cleared her throat. “So, are you okay where you are? Is Luke treating you okay? He seems a little . . . abrupt.”

Sarah lifted her brows.
Luke? Abrupt?
Thoughts of how tender he'd been in the hallway, how gently he'd touched her, came rushing back to her. She felt the heat rising in her cheeks at the remembrance of that moment, wondering what might have happened had Jack not called when he did.

She cleared her throat and gave herself a mental shake, reminding herself that her sister was still waiting for a response. “He's great,” she said in a rush. “He's taking very good care of us.”

Maddie gave her a knowing look. “Be careful, Sarah. You're vulnerable right now.”

Sarah flinched. “What are you talking about?”

“I'm just saying I don't want you to do anything you'll regret.”

Sarah shook her head in disbelief. “Wow. Really? You're giving me a lecture now? I'm a grown woman, Maddie. And here's a news flash for you—I'm not the delicate flower you and Dad have always thought I was. If I want to go screw my brains out with some guy I've only known a couple days—who is
seriously
hot by the way and is actually the first man I've been even
remotely
attracted to since Greg's death—then that's
my
business.”

“Sarah, honey, that's not what I meant—”

“I'll talk to you soon, Maddie,” Sarah said, cutting her off. “Keep me posted on Dad.”

She disconnected the line and swiveled around, pushing out of the chair to bolt from the room but stopping short when she saw Luke leaning against the door frame, his arms crossed.

“You okay?” he asked, coming toward her.

She nodded, her face on fire with the heat of embarrassment. “Yeah,” she croaked. If he'd heard her tirade with her sister, he wasn't letting on. “Well, I will be anyway.”

Luke took hold of her shoulders. “Will you tell me if that changes?”

She drew in a deep breath and let it out slowly. “I'll try. But I'm not used to having anyone to talk to when I'm not okay.”

His expression darkened. “Me either.”

She impulsively stepped closer and wrapped her arms around his waist. “Maybe we can learn together.”

He straightened at the contact, and she was on the verge of backing off with an embarrassed apology when his strong arms came around her, pulling her in closer—loosely at first and then holding her tighter.

“Yeah,” he muttered. “Maybe.”

She wasn't sure how long they stood there, holding one another, but when he released her and took a step back, it seemed all too soon. But then his hand slid lightly down her arm until he reached her hand, which he held in his firm grasp to lead her from the office and back to her bedroom.

“I have to go get on a call with headquarters,” he murmured, his gaze searching hers. “You should probably grab some sleep.”

She nodded. “Probably.”

The tension in the air between them grew until Sarah could hardly breathe. Then he cradled her face in his hands. His head dipped lower, slowly closing the distance between them....

He dropped a kiss on her forehead, the tender pressure of his lips upon her skin making all the nerves in her body come alive, and she shuddered, unable to repress it.

“Good night, Sarah,” he whispered against her skin. Then he pressed his forehead to hers for an all too brief moment before abruptly releasing her and striding down the hall, his boots heavy on the hardwood floors in his haste to put distance between them.

Her breath left her on a gasp, and she grasped the doorjamb to keep her knees from giving out on her. “Good night, Luke.”

Luke dragged his sorry, tired ass out of bed and glared at his alarm clock, daring the bastard to go off again. He'd been getting up every morning at four-thirty for almost twenty years. And there were days that he'd had even less sleep than he'd had last night. But adding in the temptation of the sexy-as-hell woman lying in the bedroom next to his had not only kept him lying awake most of the night, tossing and turning, but had also tortured him in his dreams. So not only was he sleep-deprived, he was also fucking exhausted and had a serious case of blue balls.

He scrubbed a hand down his face, over the stubble on his jaw, as he began his morning routine. His shower hadn't helped clear the fog away at all. In fact, he'd been so distracted, he didn't even notice until he was already pulling on his gray T-shirt that he hadn't bothered shaving. Whatever. Like his horses were going to give a shit.

He grabbed a black button-down and the beat-up pair of boots that were still sitting at the bottom of the closet where he'd left them the last time he'd been home, then sent a glance out the window. A light but steady snow was falling. Not enough to accumulate yet, but enough to be a pain in the ass. He snatched his cattleman hat from the top shelf and his Carhartt, his work gloves still shoved into the pockets.

When he slipped out into the hallway, he sent a glance toward Sarah's closed door. He took a step in that direction but brought himself up short. What the hell was he thinking? Clearly, he wasn't. Or maybe he was just thinking with his dick—which even now was coming to attention as he imagined Sarah on the other side of the door.

He was going to have to get a handle on this shit or sleep deprivation would be the least of his problems. And it looked like he was going to be tortured for more than just a few days. The conversation he'd had with the team last night had put a damper on any plans to return Sarah and her son to their normal lives.

The Alliance was scrambling all its resources to shift around assets and bury them again. And Finn's tech team was working around the clock to lock down the network and switch over to the backup network while they worked to determine what data had been compromised. The big question that remained, of course, was who the hell was behind the breach.

Luke had shared what the asshole at the festival had said about the One True Master. Everyone on the teleconference had seemed puzzled and confused by the reference. Except their commander. Luke hadn't missed how Will's jaw had tightened. He wasn't about to call him on it in front of the others. But he sure as hell was going to demand to know what the fuck was going on when he and Will had their next debrief.

Luke was so up in his own head that he didn't notice the footfalls behind him until he was at the bottom of the stairs. Frowning, he turned to see Eli tromping down the stairs, already dressed and bundled up for the cold in the new coat and boots they'd bought on the drive there.

“What are you doing awake already?” Luke grumbled, sounding surly, even for him.

Eli flashed him a wide grin. “Melanie told me that you have to get up early to take care of the horses. So I set the alarm on the phone Finn gave me.”

Luke's brows lifted. “Yeah? Well, I guess since you're already awake, I might as well take you up on your offer to help.”

Eli jogged alongside Luke as they made their way to the barn, having to take several steps for each of Luke's long strides.

“So how did you learn about horses?” Eli asked. “Was it from your mom? Melanie said she was a horse trainer.”

Luke peered down at the boy beside him. “You always talk this much in the morning?”

Eli smiled up at him. “Yeah. Mostly. Mom says I've always been a morning person. Even when I was a baby.”

Luke nodded. “Thought so.” He pulled his gloves out of his pockets, his fingers already starting to feel the sting of the cold morning. “Yeah, it was my mom who taught me about horses. She had a way with them—could work with even the most difficult ones. I think it was her voice. She had a way of talking to people and animals both that made them feel like they were the most beautiful thing alive, like they mattered—even when everyone else said they didn't.”

Eli nodded. “My mom does that. One time Jordan Jakes told me I was a loser because I don't have a dad. And he said I was a nerd because I read all the time, but that I only get good grades because I can't play sports since I don't have a dad to show me how. But that was stupid—my mom could teach me. I just don't like sports. And Mom told me there's nothing wrong with being smart.” He sent a sly smile Luke's way. “She said someday I'll be Jordan's boss and then he'll wish he had studied more.”

“She's probably right,” Luke told him, a grin tugging at his lips. But he sobered again when he added, “Hey, I'm sorry about your dad. From what I've heard about him, he sounds like a good guy. And you're not a loser because he died. You know that, right?”

Eli shrugged. “Yeah. Mom said my dad loved me more than anything. And that some kids don't ever get that—not even for a little while.”

Luke scoffed. “No shit. I can relate to that.”

“Did your dad die, too?” Eli asked as they reached the barn.

“No,” Luke told him. “He just wasn't around much. And when he was around, he was an asshole and we couldn't wait for him to leave again.”

“That sucks.”

“So, have you ever been around horses?” Luke said, changing the subject.

Eli shook his head. “No. Just at the fair and stuff.”

“Well, between Mel and me, we'll teach you everything there is to know,” Luke promised.

Eli's grin returned. “Sweet! But . . . do we have to get up this early every morning?”

Luke smothered a grin. “You can sleep in a little longer. How about you set your alarm for seven o'clock instead? That way, you'll get enough sleep but will still have plenty of time to help Mel and me out in the barn. Deal?”

Eli was beaming. “Deal. But don't you need to sleep too?”

“I'm a grown-up, so I don't need to get as much sleep as you do. And, besides, now it's habit. I got up this early even before I worked for my current employer. One of the requirements we have as part of our morning routine is to ‘tend to our horses.' It's a holdover from the old Templar days. For me, it's a very literal requirement when I'm home. But, most of the time, it's making sure all my weapons and tech are in working order so that I'm ready to go at any moment.” He sent Eli a guarded look. “You know anything about the Dark Alliance or the Templars, Eli?”

With Eli knowing information from Hal Blake and being named his successor, the boy would never have an Alliance-free life again. He was too much of a liability. Not that Eli or his mom needed to deal with that right now, but they were going to have to face the reality of the situation. And if he was going to help Eli through this, the boy needed to have at least some understanding of the legacy that had put him in danger.

Eli nodded as he hefted a bucket of feed. “Some. I read about the Templars in school. I like history—it's my favorite subject. And I heard you and Mom talking in the car. I wasn't sleeping as much as you thought I was. It's kinda crazy. I didn't realize I was even important.”

Luke chuckled again and ruffled the kid's hair. “You're very important, buddy. Don't ever let anyone tell you otherwise. But I meant, did your grandfather ever tell you anything about what he shared with you, what kind of information he'd passed along and why?”

Eli shook his head, huffing and puffing with the weight of the bucket as he carried it to the stalls, but Luke had to give the kid credit—he wasn't about to ask for help. “Never met my grandfather. Mom told me he's a senator.”

“He's never come to see you?” Luke pressed. “Not at school or somewhere and asked you not to tell your mom?”

Eli shook his head and plunked down the bucket. “Nope. Now what?”

Luke went about the process of feeding the half-dozen horses in his stables, explaining everything to Eli as he went, teaching him to give them just the right amount of food, the best mixture of grains to use. The kid was a quick study and hung on Luke's every word, listening intently to his instruction.

And when Luke handed him a set of brushes to help him groom the horses, Eli was a natural. He cooed and whispered to the horses, using a gentle hand as he dragged the brush over their glossy coats.

“You're pretty good at that,” Luke told him, bringing to Eli's face a broad smile that lit his eyes. The kid had Sarah's smile.

“Thanks,” Eli said. “I like doing this.”

“I always did, too,” Luke confided. “Therapeutic, I guess.”

Eli groaned. “I wish I could've done this instead of going to all the stupid therapy sessions with Dr. Locke.”

Luke straightened. “You had to go to therapy? For what?”

Eli heaved a sigh. “It was after my dad died. Mom thought I needed to talk to somebody. Then I had to start going again a few months ago because I started getting into fights at school.”

“With little dicks like Jordan Jakes?” When Eli laughed, Luke added, “Sorry. I'm not used to having kids around. I probably should've said ‘jerks' instead of ‘dicks.'”

Eli giggled again. “No, he was a dick. It's cool.”

Luke found himself grinning. He liked this kid.

“But yeah,” Eli said. “I was getting bullied. Mom handled it at school—”

“—but she was worried that it was going to make me start feeling bad about my dad again or some crap like that.”

Luke chuckled. “I take it you disagree.”

Eli shrugged. “Mostly I was just tired after the sessions. But I guess they helped some.” He sighed, then lifted his gaze to Luke. “I just . . . I don't remember much about my dad anymore, Mr. Rogan.”

Luke crossed his arms over his chest and pegged Eli with a pointed look. “It's Luke.”

“Yeah, I know. But Mom gets all freaked out if I call grown-ups by their first names,” he said, rolling his eyes. “I think it's a teacher thing.”

“Odds are it's a
respect
thing,” Luke corrected. “But since you're a guest at my house, I give you permission to call me Luke. How 'bout that?”

Eli beamed. “Cool. Thanks, Luke.” The boy cringed comically and glanced around with a feigned fearful glance as if expecting his mother to pop out of the next stall and put the smack-down on him for bad manners.

When Luke chuckled at his joke, Eli's grin widened, but then he heaved a sigh and seemed to mentally push away the happiness he was feeling at that moment.

Luke frowned at him. “You okay, buddy?”

Eli nodded. “It's just . . . I really like it here.”

Luke's brows lifted. “And that's a bad thing?”

Eli shrugged with one shoulder, returning his attention to grooming Luke's favorite mare, Molly. “Mom said we're only going to be here for a few days and that I shouldn't get too comfortable.”

Luke could totally relate. He couldn't even remember how many places he and his mother had lived in during his childhood, moving from job to job. He'd learned damned quick not to get attached to anyone or anything.

Except Luke had a feeling he was breaking his own rules. Because something about the way the kid's shoulders sagged made Luke's chest go tight. “When I was about your age, we moved around so much I learned that I had to be happy wherever I was and not worry about when that happiness might end.”

Eli stopped brushing midstroke and kept his eyes on the mare's coat as he said, “Like what happened at the fair. We were having so much fun at the haunted house. And now Hunter's mom and dad are dead, aren't they?”

Luke nodded. “Yeah.”

Eli took a deep, shaky breath and let it out slowly. Then he made a quick swipe at his eyes with the sleeve of his coat before turning his gaze on Luke. “I'm not sure Hunter will be happy again.”

“It'll take a while,” Luke agreed, patting Eli on the shoulder. “But eventually he'll be okay.”

Eli's chin began to tremble. “How long does it take? Before someone's okay?”

Luke shook his head. “I don't know, kid. I guess everybody's gotta figure it out for himself.”

Eli gave him a terse nod and pressed his lips together in a determined line, then returned to grooming Molly's coat. Luke studied him for a long moment. The kid was stronger than he probably realized. And smart. And really kinda funny. Hal Blake was an asshole for putting him in danger.

“Will you show me some of the stuff you did when you fought that guy at the festival?” Eli said, breaking into Luke's musings almost as if he'd been listening in.

“Sure,” Luke said with a shrug. “But first tell me why you want to know how to take somebody down.”

Eli lifted his gaze. “Because I need to be able to protect my mom. I'm not letting
her
get killed.”

Fiery rage and icy fear warred for dominance within Luke at the thought of anything happening to Sarah. “We'll start today.”