Claiming His Secret Heir

by Joanne Rock

  They spoke to a detective together and then filled out more paperwork separately. The police assured him they would interrogate her father for providing false information about his contact with Caroline. Damon sincerely hoped that was a felony crime worthy of prison time, but didn’t mention as much to his wife. He needed to get a grip on his emotions and figure out his next move.

  First, he’d see his son. Bring everyone back to the Los Altos Hills house. Hire security. After that? He would take his family to New York and solicit aid from multibillionaire Malcolm McNeill before the Transparent board meeting. As for Caroline, he couldn’t afford to alienate her no matter how much her deception had cost him. More than ever, he needed to get her wedding ring back on her finger so they could raise their child together. If that meant using the attraction between them to his advantage, he would not hesitate. Lucas’s future was too important.

  He sat with her through her interview with two different officers, one from the Los Altos Hills Police Department and another from the Santa Clara County Sheriff’s Department. She kept her composure well, even when she described her kidnappers leaving her alone for weeks while she’d been ill and suffering from dehydration and morning sickness.

  The police said they would assign more drive-bys to keep an eye on the property, but Damon had his doubts about the sheriff’s department keeping his wife and child safe.

  Now, while they waited for an official copy of her statement before leaving the station, Damon reached for her hand and squeezed it. He refused to let her betrayal destroy their marriage.

  “I’m eager to meet Lucas after this,” Damon said quietly as a uniformed officer wheeled a bicycle past them, a skinny teen trailing behind and muttering curses. “I’ll do everything in my power to make sure you both feel safe with me.”

  The suburban police station had been quiet for most of the morning, but as it neared noon, activity picked up. A young couple came in hand-in-hand to report a stolen car. A confused older woman was released into the custody of a middle-aged man who offered his arm to her for support while they walked out to his car. As Damon watched the two of them leave together, one supporting the other, it occurred to him how at one point he’d found that kind of loving relationship. But it had been a lie.

  Unaware of his thoughts, Caroline leaned forward in the molded plastic chair beside him. “The house has better security now than it did a year ago, judging by that massive electronic gate out front, so I’m sure we’ll be safe with you. We can pick up Victoria and Lucas as soon as I turn this in.” She flipped over the manila folder she was holding. “I miss my baby so much, I don’t want to wait another minute.”

  “Our baby,” Damon corrected in a tight voice. “Of course you want to see him. And I want to meet him.” Just the thought of that moment hit him in the chest, making each breath hurt as though glass shards were being raked through his insides. “But since your father will look for you here first, I would like to move you and Lucas somewhere safer.” He stopped himself as the detective reappeared to take their paperwork. Damon rose to his feet, never relinquishing Caroline’s hand.

  He would at least play the role of loving husband. He needed her to acknowledge him as Lucas’s father and work with him to create a stable environment to raise their child.

  After receiving assurances that the department would do “everything possible” to find Caroline’s kidnappers, Damon drew her out of the police station and into the noonday sun. Her long shawl swirled around her knees, her high-heeled leather boots clacking on the asphalt as they walked toward the Land Rover.

  “Where did you have in mind?” she asked as he helped her into the SUV.

  “For starters, I’d like us to take a trip to New York City.” He had to restrain himself from buckling her in with his own two hands. What he’d really prefer was an armored car and a few Secret Service guards, but he settled for watching her fasten the seat belt before he closed the door.

  “My father knows I kept an apartment in Manhattan,” Caroline said as he joined her in the vehicle, where she already had the directions for the rental house she’d taken for her sister and their son pulled up on her phone. “Dad might look there after he strikes out at the house in Los Altos Hills.”

  “You wouldn’t be staying at your apartment.” Damon turned the key in the ignition and pulled out of the parking lot, more than ready to put the cops behind them for the day. “I have family there that I never knew about. Family that’s been reaching out to my brothers and me to join the fold. We could stay with them.”

  Caroline remained silent for a long moment. Damon turned onto a road that led them toward the bay.

  “We can stay somewhere else, of course.” Damon tried to gauge her expression, realizing she might have lost her ability to trust him to the same debilitating degree that he had lost all trust in her.

  They needed to find a way to move past that. Fast.

  “My father knows about your connection to the New York McNeills. He showed me an article about your half brother proposing to a ballet dancer he’d never met before, and the public speculation that Malcolm McNeill’s will requires his heirs to be married in order to inherit.” Caroline folded and refolded her copy of the police statement in fidgety hands.

  Her fidgety bare hands.

  He needed to put that wedding ring back on her finger where it belonged.

  “Does that bother you?” He wasn’t sure what to make of her nervousness. “Are you familiar with that family?”

  Last year, Damon’s father, Liam McNeill, had revealed the existence of his secret sons to his legal heirs and to his father, the wealthy patriarch of the McNeill family and founder of McNeill Resorts, a global hotel chain.

  Now, Malcolm had made it his mission in life to bring Damon, Jager and Gabe into the family and make them full heirs. Damon hadn’t wanted any part of the reunion until today, when he discovered Stephan Degraff had tried to cheat him out of his son. He was open to leveraging the McNeill muscle for the sake of revenge.

  “I’ve never met any of the McNeills, but my father suggested that Malcolm’s will was the only reason you married me, since there are strong tabloid rumors suggesting that he’s demanded his heirs be married before inheriting. My father believes you married me to claim your inheritance.”

  Anger simmered that Stephan Degraff would stoop to that level to undermine their marriage, but by now, it certainly wasn’t a surprise. Damon needed the police to dispense justice to his bastard of a father-in-law, sooner rather than later.

  “That’s not true. I didn’t even know I was related to Malcolm when we wed.” His grip tightened on the steering wheel. How many more times would he have to have his word verified by the police? “My half brother flew out to Los Altos Hills to introduce himself while I was searching for you in Europe. I didn’t learn about the family connection until a private investigator hired by my grandfather located me and convinced me to return to the States a month ago.”

  On the other side of the Land Rover cab, Caroline gave a small sigh. Of relief or disbelief? He couldn’t read her as easily as he once could. She put up major boundaries now.

  “Damon, I’m truly sorry. I know this is hard for you. Please remember I have holes in my memory that made it so much easier for my father to persuade me. It’s still difficult to sift through my life and trust my gut.” She put the police report aside and double-checked the GPS on her phone before settling the device in front of the map screen built into the dashboard so he could see where they were going. “But I promise you, I am trying to make sense of what happened. Maybe it wouldn’t be a bad idea to go to New York. A change of scenery might be good for both of us.”

  The audio on the GPS alerted him his final turn was ahead.

  Time to meet his son.

  And as much as he couldn’t wait to hold his child in his arms, Damon couldn’t help but wish that the circumstances wer
e very, very different.

  * * *

  Anxious to see her baby again, Caroline texted Victoria as they pulled up to the carriage house she’d rented for her sister and son. Before she could open the door of the Land Rover and race inside to hold Lucas again, Damon placed a hand on her knee.

  It was a touch designed purely to slow her down. She could tell by his body language that he had withdrawn from her. Ever since she’d told him about the baby, Damon had been cooler toward her. Yes, he’d accompanied her to the police station and said all the right things about protecting her and Lucas. But she could feel his retreat as surely as a cold front coming off the Pacific.

  “Let’s take a look at the cars parked nearby first,” he suggested, adjusting the rearview mirror for a better view of the street. “Make sure we don’t see one of your father’s vehicles, or anyone who looks like they’re sitting idle and keeping an eye on the place.”

  Her stomach cramped; it worried her that she hadn’t thought to do so on her own. What if her memory loss was affecting her judgement more than she realized? The possibility made her think she might need to rely on Damon more, for Lucas’s safety. “Good idea.”

  “I’m going to hire full-time security for you and Lucas as soon as we get home, but until I’ve got a team in place, we need to be careful.”

  “Right.” She nodded, a fierce wave of protectiveness surging at the thought of someone trying to take Lucas away. “Thank you for thinking of that.”

  “If I had any idea you might be at risk, I would have done it a year ago.” He let himself out of the SUV and came around to open her door.

  She took the hand he held out to her and met his gaze as he helped her down to the sidewalk. A pleasurable frisson danced over her skin from the contact. Because he’d offered to protect her? Or maybe because for the first time since she’d returned to Los Altos Hills, she wasn’t keeping secrets from him?

  Whatever it was, the sensation reminded her of a time before their relationship had become a casualty of her kidnapping. But telling Damon the truth about how she was hiding his son from him had driven a wedge between them, thwarting any attempt to salvage their marriage.

  When Damon let go of her hand, he placed a palm on her back, guiding her up the stone path to the two-story brick carriage house. His touch was impersonal, perfunctory. It was the same courtesy he’d extend to anyone in a weakened condition. So she needed to stop feeling pleasure at the contact, and at the way his leg sometimes brushed hers.

  Ahead of them, the blinds were all drawn on the oversize lower windows, as Caroline had requested. But her sister must have had a way to see outside because the heavy wooden front door swung wide open before they even had a chance to knock.

  “Caroline!” Victoria wore black-and-pink plaid pajama pants and a gray Stanford tee, her dark brown hair in a ponytail drooping sideways, the tail tickling along Lucas’s forehead while the baby slept in her arms. “Thank God you’re here. I saw someone’s shadow near the kitchen window about an hour ago and I panicked, thinking Dad found us.”

  Victoria gave her sister a one-armed hug, skillfully keeping her precious cargo safe on the opposite side of her body while she squeezed Caroline tight. Damon’s gaze went to the baby, but he didn’t reach for Lucas yet.

  “I’ll go look around back. You should go inside and lock the door behind you.” Damon shifted away, taking another wary glance around the quiet yard. There were no houses close by, just the huge, three-story stone home that went with the carriage house. The property bordered a park with a playground on one side where a couple of young mothers pushed preschool-aged children on the swings.

  “Oh, wow.” Victoria edged out of the doorway a bit to watch Damon as he strode away. “He’s even hotter in person.”

  Too bad Caroline’s very hot husband had retreated from her in every way possible.

  “Agreed,” she said, gently lifting her son from Victoria’s arms, savoring the warm weight of his tiny body wrapped in a blanket covered with elephants. “We can ogle him from a window though, once we’re inside.”

  For a moment, Lucas’s face scrunched like he was about to cry, but then he settled in against Caroline’s chest, his tiny hand stretching and flexing before relaxing against his face. She kissed his temple, rubbing her cheek along the silky down of dark hair that covered his head. He smelled like baby shampoo.

  While she cuddled him, Victoria watched Damon from one window and then another, discreetly peering through the blinds. The house had been beautifully restored, with the original pine floors buffed to glowing. A wrought iron chandelier hung from the exposed joist ceiling in the living room, where a fire burned in the stone hearth. Blue baby blankets and equipment were strewn around, making the place looked lived-in, but not messy. Then again, maybe seeing all of her child’s things simply made her happy, so she welcomed the sight of baby chaos.

  When Damon came back around to the front entrance, Victoria was waiting to open the door again for him. Caroline watched him as he stepped inside and drew the bolt behind him.

  “I’m Victoria, by the way.” Her sister stuck out a hand to introduce herself, planting herself in front of Damon. “Caroline’s sister. And I’m going to start packing so you can meet the kiddo.”

  “Nice to meet you.” He gave a clipped, polite nod, even though his eyes were completely locked on Lucas. Damon could be charming when he chose to be, but he’d always been reserved around women, as if his smart brain was too busy thinking about his next revolutionary tech idea instead of flirting.

  Caroline wondered if any woman had turned his head in the past months that he’d thought she’d left him. The idea sparked a jealous heat that she didn’t want to acknowledge right now. Not when she needed to introduce him to his son.

  Listening to her sister’s footsteps as she retreated up the stairs, Caroline brought Lucas over to meet his father.

  “Damon, this is Lucas.” She turned her body so that her back was to her husband, giving him the best view of their sleeping child from over her shoulder.

  She could feel Damon go very still behind her. Peering around to look up at him, she spotted the awe in his expression. The wonder. The feeling resonated with her. Weeks after giving birth to Lucas she still experienced that same sense of amazement every time she looked at their baby.

  “He’s perfect.” Damon brushed a hand over Lucas’s downy head. “Thank you for bringing him to me. For taking a chance on trusting me again.” He made no mention of trusting her in return. “I will keep you both safe.”

  “I know you will.” She just wished she felt more sure of his reasons for marrying her. He had said he didn’t even know about his grandfather, let alone the dictate that the McNeill heirs marry to inherit, when he’d proposed to her. But after all that had happened in the last months, she would need to work to recover her faith in their bond. “Do you remember why I named him Lucas?”

  Damon traced the sleeping infant’s features, running his thumb along one barely-there eyebrow, his fingers along one baby-fat cheek. “We came up with names the day we decided to throw away your birth control pills, right after the wedding.”

  “I know we were just sort of goofing around that night, but—” With the baby cradled against her, her shrug was awkward. “It was the only thing I had to go on for choosing a name.”

  “I wasn’t joking that night.” He slid around to face her, putting his arm around her shoulder to draw her closer. “Chloe for a girl. Lucas for a boy.”

  “Good. It was hard naming him on my own, when I was still so unsure of so much.” She felt some tension slip out of her shoulders that she hadn’t realized she’d been feeling.

  “I would never question a decision you made for our child when you were ill, alone and had no support.” He cupped her face in his hand, his tone grave, his gaze cool and remote despite the supportive words. “I’m damned sorry I wasn’t ther
e for you. For both of you.”

  She nodded stiffly, not wanting tears to spoil a moment that should be happy.

  “Thank you.” She attempted a smile to lighten the mood, but couldn’t quite manage it. Instead, she lifted Lucas higher and edged her arms closer to Damon. “Would you like to hold him while I help Victoria pack up his things?”

  “Yes.” He reached for the baby, sliding one arm under Lucas while using the other to carefully cradle him. “It’s past time I got to know our son.”

  Caroline lingered, unable to tear her eyes away from the sight of their baby finally nestled in his father’s arms. Heart in her throat, she could hardly speak. She bit her lip hard to collect herself.

  “You look like a natural.” She tucked the blanket around Lucas’s toes, her knuckles grazing Damon’s bicep.

  “Gabe had a son last spring, while you were...away.” Damon’s jaw tensed. “His girlfriend gave him full custody before breaking things off a few months afterward. I got to hold Jason a few times.” Turning his attention back to Lucas, Damon pushed the blanket away from the baby’s face. “The boys have a strong resemblance.”

  “All the McNeill males do.” She had seen the photos of his half brothers Quinn, Ian and Cameron in the article her father had shown her. Their blue eyes, dark hair, and tall, athletic builds were strikingly similar to Jager, Damon and Gabe’s.

  “Lucas won’t lack for cousins. Cameron just adopted his wife’s daughter, Isla.” He glanced back up at Caroline. “You’ll meet them when we go to New York.”

  “How soon?” She was nervous about her father finding them. To work off some of the anxiety, she started picking up the baby items strewn around the living area. A soft rattle with a puppy face. An empty bottle. “And do you think it’s safe for Victoria to return to school?”

  “We can leave for New York as soon as you’re ready. I’ll hire security for Victoria for the next six weeks to make sure she’s safe. I can have someone in place to accompany her by late this afternoon if she wants to drive back tomorrow.”