Secret Agent Boyfriend (4 page)

Chapter 4

L
andry felt the rigid boundaries of her self-control slipping as Derek’s arms wrapped tight around her. Long, luscious moments spun out, one more glorious than the next, as his mouth plundered hers, his hand drifting over her spine until it settled low on her back.

She leaned into the kiss—and the hard man who held her as though she was something precious—and let herself go in the moment.

The long months of fear and worry faded away in the press of a hard male body against hers. The featherlight aromas of citrus and alfalfa mixed with the more potent scents of sweat and leather, all imprinting themselves on her senses.

Life.

It was the one word that kept running through her mind as she leaned into Derek, as taken with the kiss as he was.

This was life.

Raw and needy. Necessary, even.

She vaguely registered Pete’s lead in her palm before using her other hand to settle low on Derek’s hip. Thick muscles bunched under her fingertips, proof the body she’d sensed lay under his clothes was as taut and well honed as it appeared.

A smile worked its way to her lips, vanishing the moment he reached out with his teeth, drawing the sensitive skin into his mouth. Hot need swirled through her, settling itself low in her stomach, tightening the muscles a few inches below.

The hand at his hips fisted in the material of his T-shirt, and she was about to drag a handful over his stomach to get to the warm skin beneath when his strong hand snapped to her shoulder.

His movements were firm—final—as the moment jolted to a harsh stop and the sensual exploration vanished as if it had never been.

Their connection lost, Landry could only stare up into the dark orbs of his eyes. She didn’t miss how his pupils had gone wide with need and arousal, despite the bright sun that shone down on them both.

“That was—” He broke off.

At the increasing evidence of his embarrassment, she took a step back, desperate to get away from the heat that branded her as it shimmered off his body. With long years of practice, she swirled the anger that rose up inside her like a protective shield, cloaking herself from hurt.

“What’s the matter, Ace? Cat got your tongue?”

His mouth snapped closed, whatever he was about to say vanishing at her careless tone.

She should have kept quiet. Landry knew she’d regret it later, even as the words spilled forth, but a sad recklessness gripped her with iron claws. With a soft pat on his shoulders, she shot him one of her trademark carefree smiles. “Don’t worry. It’s obvious we can put on a good show for anyone watching. Our fake relationship should be a breeze.”

Without waiting for a response, she tightened Pete’s lead in her hand and headed for the stables.

* * *

His first year in the Secret Service, Derek and his team had faced a bomb threat at a hotel while on protection detail. Despite working their way through a series of practiced maneuvers as they moved the vice president to safety, he’d never forgotten the sheer rush of adrenaline and the absolute lack of knowledge of what the next several minutes would bring.

Annihilation or safety.

The question had hovered through his mind as they escorted the VP down several long corridors toward her waiting car, a phalanx of men surrounding her in unified timing.

They’d had one goal, one mission.

And they’d executed that mission with flawless grace, their only concern the woman in their protection.

Images of that day still remained, emblazoned on his memories with detailed precision. He’d understood his job before then. He’d known what he’d signed up for and what it meant to lay down his life for another. But until that day, with Kate Adair wrapped in a tight cocoon of protection, he hadn’t understood what that vow truly meant.

While Derek knew a kiss in a meadow on a bright spring morning couldn’t—and shouldn’t—qualify as equally dangerous, he’d be damned if the same thought didn’t keep spinning through his mind as he crossed the sweeping property of Adair Acres.

Annihilation or safety.

Although the vice president was no longer his responsibility, her niece was, and Derek recognized the trust Kate had placed in him. Which meant he had no business dragging said responsibility in for a mind-blowing kiss in broad daylight, all while his body screamed with the unfulfilled need to do so much more.

He slipped in the back door of the house, Landry’s parting words echoing in his ears.

Our fake relationship should be a breeze.

Yeah. Right.

The sound of voices rose up from the direction of the dining room, Landry’s huskier tones mixed with the deeper baritone of her brother. Although Derek sensed the conversation was private from the muted undertones, he was in the middle of whatever was happening here, whether Landry liked it or not. With a resigned sigh, he headed for the entry to the long room, prepared to join in the melee.

“I don’t owe you an explanation, Carson.” Her direct words spilled into the hallway. “I said I’d go along with it and I am.”

“By stomping around here like the spoiled princess of the manor?”

“Oh come now, big brother. I’m simply living up to expectations. You know that as well as I do.”

Derek let out a short, discreet cough to announce his presence, and both turned as he walked into the room. Carson and Landry stood close, their similarities as siblings more than evident in their fair coloring.

But it was the matched battle stances that truly marked them as siblings, warriors down to their core.

Whatever he might have been, Reginald Adair had a reputation for being ruthless in going after what he wanted. Stubborn to a fault, he didn’t take no for an answer, nor did he back down. It was a trait his children had apparently inherited in spades.

“Am I interrupting something?”

“Would it matter if I said yes?” The quick words snapped at him with the force of a striking cobra. Despite their earlier kiss and his subsequent fumbling, he couldn’t quite shake the smile at the fierce expression that only served to heighten the sensuality of those bee-stung lips.

Derek shrugged. “Probably not.”

Her bright blue eyes narrowed and Derek saw the light of battle as clearly as if she’d hollered “Charge!”

“Well, then. Since you’re not leaving, perhaps you can explain to my brother why you felt the need to introduce yourself to Noah this morning, despite our explicit agreement that we’d manage this little deception together.”

“I thought we already worked that out.”

“Do I look like we worked it out?”

You look like a woman who’s been loved.

The thought gripped him so tightly he was amazed the words didn’t actually leak from his lips. Color still rode high on Landry’s cheeks, and the faint mark of his morning stubble edged her gorgeous lips in stubborn lines of pink like a brand.

His
brand.

“Why don’t I get going and leave you two to figure this out?” Carson edged away from his sister, his gaze wary.

“Some ally you are. You’re a traitor to the cause.”

“Yep.” Carson smiled for the first time since Derek had entered the room, then added a wink for good measure. “See you later.”

Landry’s moue of disgust did nothing to hide the sultry sweep of her lips, and she turned on a very fine heel to refill her coffee mug.

“I didn’t talk to Noah on my own to go against your wishes. I thought I made that clear earlier.”

“You did.”

Something faint drifted across the gorgeous blue of her eyes. If he hadn’t been searching her face so hard, he’d likely have missed it. “You think I was wrong for taking the opportunity?”

“No.”

“Then why the attitude?”

Her gaze drifted around the opulent room before she settled her focus back on him. “Noah’s my cousin. My family. And he has no idea what we all suspect.”

Landry’s words stopped him and the momentary amusement he’d felt at her battle stance faded. He knew what it was to ruin someone’s life with the truth. Knew even better what it was to have that truth thrust upon you without warning.

Despite that knowledge—or perhaps in spite of it—he pressed his point. “Noah can’t know. Not yet.”

“Why not? If we ask him, he might be able to assuage our fears. Might be able to give us answers to our questions.”

Derek understood her deep desire to keep the truth at bay. Like a hovering specter that turned warm memories cold and settled fear deep in the bone, their suspicions would change the course of Noah Scott’s life if they were proven true.

“Or we’ll possibly create more questions. What if he tips his mother off before we have a chance to properly investigate and make our case?”

The mention of Noah’s mother, Emmaline, did the trick. Landry’s open, almost pleading gaze faded, replaced with stoic resolve. “You think she’s guilty?”

“I think we need to evaluate on our own before making suppositions or rushing to judgment.”

Her long, slender fingers fisted at her sides. “And you haven’t?”

“An investigation based on facts isn’t judgment. It’s what I do. What I know how to do. If you can’t accept that, then maybe my initial thought to work this alone was a better idea.”

“Threats, Derek?”

A retort rose up but he held it back, the urge to defend himself fading in memory of the clear hurt in her eyes when she leaped off her horse to confront him earlier.

She
had
been hurt. While he wouldn’t have done anything differently, even if given the chance, he wasn’t immune to the disappointment he’d seen in the set of her slim shoulders.

Landry Adair was used to being let down. He wasn’t sure how he knew that with such bone-deep certainty, but he did. And he’d be damned if he wanted to be yet another person who did the same.

“I don’t make threats. And I’m not apologizing again. But now that I’ve met Noah on my own terms, I have no interest in continuing to work this on my own.”

“Oh.” The admission was enough to knock the wind from her arguments, and Landry shot him a stoic gaze over her shoulder before picking up a delicate pot of creamer on the sideboard. The dollop she dropped in her cup barely colored the black coffee, and an image of a woman in fierce control of herself struck him with swift fists.

No muffin the day before over breakfast. A spot of cream that was so small as to be invisible. And a fierce battle of wills over her family that she was obviously desperate to win.

Perhaps he’d misjudged the woman who appeared to have everything.

From his vantage point, he was beginning to wonder if she had nothing.

* * *

Landry dropped her purse in the backseat of her SUV before she reached for the driver’s door. Derek had kept a low profile through the rest of the morning, simply asking her to be ready to take off at lunchtime.

She’d wanted to ask where they were going, but sheer stubborn pride had kept her mouth closed. As a result, she had no idea if the light sweater set and cream-colored slacks were appropriate for their outing or not.

Especially when Derek Winchester sauntered out of the house in another one of his T-shirts—black this time—and low-slung jeans. That same heavy throb from their morning in the alfalfa pasture gripped her stomach and she fought it back, slipping her dark sunglasses quickly over her eyes.

She wouldn’t let him see the irrepressible response of her body, which no doubt filled her gaze with ripe appreciation.

And she’d be damned if she worried she was overdressed for whatever outing the infuriating man had planned that he couldn’t bother to share with her.

Partners.

The word stuck bitterly in her throat as she climbed into the car.

They were no more partners than her parents had been. Those two loveless souls who’d drifted over Adair Acres, perfectly content to lead vastly separate lives. Reginald and Patsy had known how to turn on the charm and lay it on thick when the social situation warranted it, but the rest of the time they seemed equally happy to ignore each other.

Functional. Cold. And devoid of any sense of passion or need or that bone-deep craving that bonded lovers together.

Was she destined for the same?

Images of her morning kiss with Derek flooded her mind’s eye, the thought so vivid she could once again taste him on her tongue. Masculine, with a hint of something smoky like whiskey, tinged with dark coffee overtones. She fought the shiver that gripped her and tightened her hands on the wheel.

Derek climbed into the passenger seat and closed the door, oblivious to her discomfort.
Damn man.

The walls of the spacious SUV grew tight as his scent surrounded her once more. She’d accepted the feeling of confinement the day before because her sports car was so small, hence the decision to take her boat of an SUV for today’s little errand.

So how did he manage to eat up all the space anyway?

Ignoring the zing that lit up her nerve endings, she turned toward him and kept her gaze somewhere around his ear. “Where to?”

“Los Angeles. To my office.”

“We’re going to the FBI?”

“I want to look into a few things, and it gets us out of the house for a while.” He kept his gaze steady on hers and she fought the urge to look away, reminding herself he couldn’t see through the dark black lenses of her sunglasses.

“Can’t you access your files remotely?”

“I can do it faster and quicker at headquarters. Besides—” He broke off and she caught the sense of something lying just beneath his words.

“Besides what?”

“I want to check in, that’s all. I’ve been out of pocket for a few days and it makes me itchy.”

Landry hit the button for the ignition, the high-end model she drove already registering the key in her purse, and shifted into reverse. Despite herself, she was intrigued. By their outing and by whatever else he wanted to accomplish in LA. “What are you looking for?”

“Birth records, for starters. I want to know when and where Noah was born.”

The reminder that their hunt centered on digging into Noah’s background took some of the wind out of her sails, and Landry couldn’t help but eye the large gate that swung closed behind her car after she pulled out of Adair Acres. Two large
A
s sat at the top of the fence, their swirling script as familiar a sight to her as her own signature.