Enemy Infiltration

by Carol Ericson

  “Nice to meet you, sir.” Lana took his hand, his dry, papery skin hot against her palm. “And thank you for giving me the opportunity to work at the Double H. It’s an incredible place.”

  “Beats those so-called cattle ranches out in California, doesn’t it? You need to stick to growing lettuce out there and let us handle the beef.” He winked and squeezed her hand tighter. “And what’s with the sir and Mrs. Hess? Call me Junior. Everyone does, even my own children.”

  Logan turned to the rest of the people assembled and proceeded to introduce Lana to his brother Hugh’s wife, Angie, his other brother, Cody, and his wife, Melissa, his sister, Alexa, and his father’s valet, Carlton.

  Lana felt like a bug under a microscope. Everyone had polite words and broad smiles, but they all seemed to be holding their breaths, as if expecting her to do something outlandish. Everyone except Alexa.

  When she took Lana’s hand, her blue eyes sparkled and danced, her voice hanging on the edge of laughter.

  Lana could understand Logan’s uneasiness with his family. They were weird. And why were they all here to meet her? Surely, they could’ve mobbed Logan after her meeting with Junior.

  After the introductions, Logan asked his father, “Do you want this meeting with Lana? Explain her duties, the layout of the ranch?”

  “Of course. I still run the place, don’t I?” Junior’s eyes flashed as they darted to his oldest son, Hugh. “Carlton, follow us to the library.”

  Junior put his motorized wheelchair in gear and Carlton hovered beside him as he zoomed from the great room through a door leading to another room.

  Logan nodded to Lana to follow them. “I guess I’ll see the rest of you at lunch. You can grill me then.”

  Despite the tense atmosphere among Logan’s family, the interview with Junior went as expected. He asked her about her experience and training and warned her that the job might not be permanent if Charlotte decided to return.

  At the end of the meeting, Logan offered to walk her back to the house. “Or I can drive you back in one of the vehicles.”

  She turned to him on the porch. “If you don’t mind, I’d like to head back by myself. I want to unpack and get settled.”

  “I don’t blame you for wanting to be alone after that reception in there.”

  “It was... Your father’s nice. I like him.” Logan didn’t seem inclined to explain his family’s odd behavior, anyway. She patted her thighs. “What happened to put Junior in that chair?”

  “A horse.”

  “You’re kidding.” She clapped a hand over her mouth. “For someone like him, that must’ve been devastating.”

  “It wasn’t one of ours.” Logan squinted as he gazed out at the ranch. “A wild horse. The old fool tried to tame a wild stallion. Thinks he’s still out there.”

  “The horse?”

  “Crazy SOB.” Logan squeezed her arm. “Let me know if you need anything. I’ll be by later and we can get back to work on Gil’s journal.”

  “Of course.” She’d almost forgotten why she was here, had almost forgotten Gil for the first time since he died.

  “Are you sure you don’t want to take some food back with you? Angie got the house ready for you, but didn’t put up any groceries.”

  “I’m not hungry. I’ll do some grocery shopping later.”

  “See you later, then.” Logan turned and hesitated at the front door as if gearing up to enter the gladiator ring.

  Lana made it back to the house and put away her toiletries, leaving her suitcase unpacked in the living room for now. She didn’t have to bother cleaning the spotless rooms and wondered if she had Lupe to thank for that.

  She sat on the couch with her laptop on her knees and booted it up. As she started going through her emails, a knock on the door gave her a start. She blew out a breath.

  She’d left all that behind her. The Double H represented safety and security. Logan represented safety and security.

  Still she peeked through the peephole of the front door and wrinkled her nose at the sight of Logan’s sister, Alexa, on her front porch, a covered tray in her hands.

  Lana opened the door. “Hello.”

  “Hello.” Alexa didn’t wait for an invite. She squeezed past Lana into the house, holding the tray in front of her. “I thought you might like some lunch. Lupe’s a great cook.”

  “Thank you. How thoughtful, but I told Logan I wasn’t hungry.”

  Alexa marched forward, her blond ponytail swinging behind her. She placed the tray on the kitchen table and whipped off the cover. “Chicken enchiladas, rice, salad and a couple of sodas.”

  Lana sniffed the air. “It does smell good.”

  “Dig in.” Alexa pushed the tray toward her and looked around the room. “I haven’t been in this house for a while. It’s cute.”

  “It’s very nice.”

  Alexa plopped down in a chair and cupped her face with her hand as she planted her elbow on the table. “Are you really a horse trainer, here to work on the ranch?”

  Lana sat across from Alexa and popped the tab on one of the sodas. “Do you want one?”

  Alexa answered by grabbing the other soda. “Well?”

  “Why else would I be here?” Did Alexa suspect something about her brother and what he was investigating? Logan had made it clear he didn’t want his family in on his business—and Lana could see why.

  Alexa didn’t look like she could keep a secret if her life—or anyone else’s—depended on it. And Lana’s life depended on secrets right now.

  “Is that why your whole family was eyeing me like some alien from another planet? I know it’s not because I’m Latina because, well...you’re in Texas.”

  “Oh, it’s not that. Cody’s wife is half Mexican.” Alexa waved her fingers with their sparkly blue nails in the air. “We just thought you might be here under false pretenses.”

  “Why would I be? Why would Logan bring someone to the ranch under false pretenses?”

  “Like if you were his girlfriend.”

  Lana’s toes tingled at the thought, and she jabbed her fork into an enchilada. “No, but why would that be a big deal? I—I’m sure Logan has had girlfriends before and even brought them home—hasn’t he?”

  “Oh, yeah.” Alexa took a gulp of soda from her can. “The last time Logan brought a girlfriend home, she turned out to be a gold digger.”

  Warmth washed over Lana’s cheeks. “How did you know that?”

  “She may have liked Logan, because who wouldn’t? But she liked the family money more, and she tried to trap Logan into marriage.”

  “H-how did she do that?” Lana put down her fork and curled her fingers around her soda can.

  “The oldest trick in the book, Lana. She got pregnant.”

  Chapter Eleven

  Logan knocked on the door of the guesthouse, clenching his jaw. His little sister needed to mind her own business. She didn’t run over here to bring Lana lunch out of the goodness of her own heart. Alexa didn’t have much good in that organ pumping in her chest.

  Lana opened the door, her cheeks flying red flags, her lips forming an O. “Logan.”

  He charged into the house, raking his hand through his hair and stopping in front of Alexa, who had half risen from her chair. “You need to zip your lip and worry about your own life, not mine.”

  “I was just getting to the good part.” Alexa’s lower lip protruded as she fell back into the chair.

  “Out.” Logan pointed his finger at the front door still standing open, Lana still hanging on to the door handle.

  Alexa grabbed her can of soda. “Okay, but you’re gonna thank me. Lana seems really nice and she’s pretty hot. You have to learn to open up.”

  “And you need to learn to shut your trap. Out.”

  His sister jumped to her feet. “Oh, all right. I got
to the part where Violet told you she was pregnant. I didn’t even get to the theft or the lies.”

  “Sorry to deprive you of all the juicy parts.” He jerked his thumb toward the door.

  When Alexa reached the door, she patted Lana on the arm. “You can thank me later.”

  Lana shut the door and then turned and leaned against it. “What is going on? Do you have a child?”

  “No.” He tapped on the kitchen table. “Come back and finish your lunch. At least Alexa had one good idea rattling in that empty head of hers.”

  Lana walked to the table and sat down, but she left the fork where she’d rested it against the side of the plate. “Are you going to tell me the rest of the story? And why did Alexa think she had to run over here and give me the lowdown?”

  “Alexa obviously doesn’t believe you’re here as a horse trainer, but I’d rather have her think we have something between us than know the truth.” He pulled out the chair across from Lana’s, turned it around and straddled it. “Believing you and I have some kind of relationship, Alexa thinks it’s her duty to fill you in on all the details of my life and to explain the family dynamics.”

  “Because she doesn’t think you’d open up on your own?”

  “That’s part of it.” He shrugged. “She’s barely twenty-two. What can I say? I’m sorry if she embarrassed you.”

  “She didn’t embarrass me, but I’m afraid she may have embarrassed you. I know I wouldn’t like someone else to be running around gabbing about my life.”

  “I’m used to it. That’s why I knew as soon as Lupe told me Alexa had taken a tray of food to you, she had an ulterior motive.” He scooted her plate in front of her. “Finish your lunch, and I’ll tell you the whole crazy story.”

  As Lana dug her fork into the rice, he took a deep breath. He could do this. It had to have been a lot harder for Lana to reveal the truth about Carla, and his sister was right. He’d never get close to someone if he refused to share himself... And he wanted to get close to Lana.

  “I was young and stupid.”

  “Weren’t we all?”

  A smile tugged at his lips and he gave in to it. “I met Violet in town—the small town a few miles from here. We passed it on the way. Her aunt lived there and Violet’s parents had sent her out here to stay with her aunt.”

  Lana held up her fork. “Which should’ve been your first clue all was not well with Violet.”

  “Probably.” Logan reached forward and dabbed at a string of cheese on Lana’s chin. “We started dating, and long story short, it turned out she was more interested in the Double H than the LH—me.”

  “Like Alexa told me, Violet was probably interested in both—because who wouldn’t like you?”

  He cocked his head. “My little sister said that about me?”

  “Scout’s honor.” Lana held up two fingers.

  “How about that.” He scratched the stubble on his jaw.

  “How did you, and everyone else, figure out what Violet was really after?”

  “She tried to force a marriage by claiming she was pregnant with my baby.”

  “I take it she wasn’t, since you said you don’t have any children—unless...” Lana pressed a hand to her heart.

  “There was no baby, and then when it looked like her entire scheme was going to fall apart, she stole from my family.”

  “Violet turned out to be quite a piece of work. What did she take?”

  “Knickknacks, expensive knickknacks, some of my mother’s jewelry.”

  “Did you get everything back?”

  “We got nothing back. She left our home and took off, probably returned to New York, before we realized anything was gone. Her aunt was mortified. I was mortified.”

  “Because you didn’t see it?”

  “Maybe I didn’t want to see it. Violet was damaged. She needed rescuing. My family has never let me live it down. That’s why I don’t bring any women around. That’s why they were sizing you up.”

  “Wanted to make sure I didn’t steal the silver?” Lana’s eyebrows shot up as she took a sip from her can.

  “Something like that.” He crossed his arms on the back of the chair and wedged his chin on top of them. “I honestly think they believe I can’t be trusted to choose my own wife or girlfriend, even.”

  “Ignore them.” She shoved her plate toward him. “Do you want the rest?”

  “No, thanks.” He pushed off the chair and picked up the plate, still half full of food, and carried it into the kitchen. “I do ignore them. That’s why I avoid coming home when I’m on leave. This time I had an excuse.”

  “I didn’t mean avoid them completely. You can still come home but ignore their jabs.”

  Tilting his head back, he studied the ceiling. How much more should he reveal to Lana? Opening up to her might bring them closer together, but it also might make her dismiss him from her life forever.

  He grabbed a roll of aluminum foil from a drawer and ripped off a piece. “It’s not just the stuff that happened with Violet, it’s the whole clan. My family members can’t agree on anything. They’re always arguing, complaining, putting each other down. It’s exhausting to be around. You saw them on their best behavior.”

  “I’m used to tumultuous family situations. My dad’s drinking caused a lot of chaos in our household with the older siblings taking off as soon as they could. I understand why you wouldn’t want to be around that.” She crushed her can with one hand. “Your family just has more expensive packaging than mine.”

  He held up the plate he’d covered with foil. “I’m putting this in the fridge for you. You can have it for lunch tomorrow.”

  “Or dinner, unless someone can give me a lift into town to buy some groceries.”

  “I’ll take you in for both—I’ll buy you dinner and then take you to the grocery store.”

  “That would be great. In the meantime, should we get going on the journal again?”

  “Absolutely.” He walked past her, went back into the living room and picked up the folder he’d dropped on the table by the front door. “Printouts from my phone. That’s why I came by—and to stop Alexa from airing my dirty laundry.”

  “Eh, that laundry was only slightly soiled. I’m actually kind of impressed by you.” She tilted her head and her dark ponytail swung over her shoulder.

  “Impressed because I’m a gullible idiot?” He smacked the folder against his knee.

  “Because you have a good heart and a trusting nature. So many guys in your position don’t. Always thinking the worst of everyone.”

  “I did have a trusting nature. That boy is long gone. Maybe that’s why I haven’t had a serious relationship in a while—at least that’s what my nosy little sister thinks.” Closing his eyes, he hid his warm face with the folder. “And here I am, rambling along like an idiot.”

  Lana grinned. “Women only pretend to like the strong, silent type. We’ll take the strong, but give us a man who can open up a little.”

  “A little.” He crossed the room and tossed the folder on the table. “This has the photos I took of the pages in Gil’s books—except that fifth one I didn’t get to. I also have a notebook in there, so you can start re-creating your work.”

  “Can you help me?” She pulled out a chair and balanced one knee on the seat. “I was really just writing down the notes. I hadn’t started connecting any dates or times or remembrances to the events. It helps to have them separate from the pages of the book and lined up one after the other.”

  “It’s a good thing you only got that far. The thieves didn’t get their hands on much that’s useful.” He took the seat next to the chair she’d pulled out. “I can help with that. Let’s get started.”

  For the next few hours, he and Lana used the photographed pages from the books and copied Gil’s notes onto pieces of paper for each book.

/>   He didn’t care what his family thought he was doing down here with the new trainer.

  If they thought, like Alexa apparently did, that he and Lana had some kind of relationship going on, he could do a lot worse. Any man would be lucky to have a woman like Lana by his side. Did she share his enthusiasm for their... Friendship?

  The electricity crackled between them. Neither of them could deny that, but she’d been skittish back in Greenvale. Since he’d put that down to her reluctance to showing interest in a man in front of the people who’d judge her for her past mistakes, he wondered if she’d be more receptive to his advances here.

  He scratched out something he’d just written twice and shook his head. They were on the verge of discovering the secrets of that embassy outpost and maybe the purpose of Major Denver’s visit there, and he was plotting his seduction of Lana.

  Trailing her fingers over his forearm, she asked, “Are you getting a cramp in your hand?”

  “No, I’m good. Let’s finish up.”

  She rewarded him with a smile that made his belly flip-flop.

  He began writing again, with a little more energy. Decoding and seduction? One side of his mouth twitched into a smile.

  He always had been a master at multitasking.

  * * *

  LANA DROPPED HER pen and flexed her fingers. “That’s it. I’m done.”

  “And I’m almost there.” Logan flipped over one of his pages and continued scribbling. “Next step for you is to fill in the columns to the right of the events with dates, times or any other number combinations you can think of. Numbers are usually at the heart of any code.”

  “Not now.” She rolled her stiff shoulders. “My brain is fried after the flight, meeting your family, writing all these notes...my little heart-to-heart with Alexa.”

  “Don’t remind me.” His lips twisted. “Didn’t I promise you dinner out and a grocery trip?”

  “You sure did.” She plucked her shirt away from her chest. “But I’m going to need a shower and a change of clothes.”

  “Nothing fancy. You saw the town when we drove through it, or maybe you blinked and missed it.”