Daddy Bombshell

by Lisa Childs

  He nodded. “Both.”

  “But you’re a Kendall,” she said, remembering the security guard’s awe at the realization. “And that puts anyone close to you in danger.”

  He tensed. “How’s that?”

  “Your family has a lot of money,” Caroline said, as if he needed the reminder. Maybe he did. He had been gone a long time, maybe long enough to forget that the Kendalls were St. Louis royalty. “Someone could think that kidnapping your son for ransom is a way to get some of that money.”

  He chuckled. “My family has a lot of money. I don’t.” Then his brow furrowed. “I have stock, though. And with what Uncle Craig and Devin have done with the company over the years…”

  “You’re worth a lot of money,” she said. That had never mattered to him, though, and it had certainly never mattered to her. Their relationship might have stood a better chance at surviving had he had no money.

  “But no one even knows I have a son,” he said.

  Caroline sucked in a breath at the pain that jabbed her over his offhand admission. He had told no one about Mark? Was he ashamed of his son or of his son’s mother?

  “There’s just so much going on right now,” he said. “There’s something else I have to tell my sister.” He uttered a ragged sigh. “And it’s such a media circus around the estate. I don’t want to bring you and Mark into that craziness.”

  She nodded as if she understood. But she really had no idea what he was going through. She had no clue what it was like to be one of the infamous Kendalls who had grown up under the shadow of such tragedy.

  “It doesn’t matter that you haven’t told anybody,” she said, even though it did matter. To her. “All anyone would have to do is see the two of you together to know that Mark is your son.”

  He pushed his hand through his hair almost as if he was grabbing at the strands. “That’s why the mall was such a bad idea for so many reasons.”

  “You don’t want anyone knowing you have a son,” she realized. It wasn’t just for all the reasons he’d mentioned, either. There were reasons he hadn’t mentioned, secrets he was keeping.

  “Caroline—”

  “Who are you?” she asked. “Really?”

  He threw her words back at her. “You’re the one who said my being a Kendall puts him at risk.”

  “But that’s not why you’ve put him at risk,” she said. “It’s because of whatever you really are.” She’d always sensed there was so much more to Thad Kendall, that there was a darkness and ruthlessness that came from more than reporting stories.

  “You keep saying that…and it makes no sense.” He shrugged as if brushing off her concerns. “You know who I am.”

  She shook her head. “No. Even when we were together, I knew you were holding back from me, that there was more to you than anyone else knew.”

  “I never held back with you,” he said, his voice low and husky. He moved close behind her so that his chest pressed tight against her back.

  Her skin tingled as his breath teased her neck before his lips touched it. “I wouldn’t be holding back now if you weren’t making me.”

  “Nobody stops Thad Kendall from doing what he wants,” she remarked bitterly, reminding herself that he’d had no problem leaving her last time.

  But he must have taken her words as a challenge or an invitation because he turned her toward him and closed his arms around her. Now they were pressed chest to breasts. His chest was hard and muscular, and her breasts were full and sensitive and rising and falling with her now labored breathing.

  He groaned, and his eyes dilated, the pupils swallowing the sapphire-blue. The attraction between them was even stronger than it had been four years ago.

  Passion zipped through her veins, but she couldn’t give in to it. She couldn’t give in to him. “Thad…”

  He took her open lips as an invitation, too, settling his mouth firmly onto hers. His lips moved over hers, and then his tongue slid between, tangling with hers, teasing her.

  A moan tore from her throat as need coursed through her. She had never desired any man the way she wanted Thad. But wanting Thad was pointless when she would never be able to keep him. She wriggled free of his arms.

  “I don’t want you,” she said.

  “Do you really want me to prove you’re lying again?” he challenged as he made a move to pull her back into his arms.

  She stumbled back, out of his reach. “I don’t want you unless I can have all of you,” she said. “Unless you’ll tell me the secrets that I know you’re keeping from me and probably from everyone else who cares about you.”

  “Caroline, you don’t know what you’re talking—”

  “I know that you’re not just a photojournalist,” she said, trusting her instincts. As a single mother, she had learned to trust them. Tonight they’d failed her because she never should have taken that call. “And I just hope like hell that whatever you really are hasn’t put our son in danger.”

  ED TOUCHED THE COPY he had bought of the boy’s picture with Santa. It sat on the passenger’s seat beside him. He had his answer now…about what mattered most to Thad Kendall. After days of following the guy, which hadn’t been easy since Kendall was an expert defensive driver, he’d figured out what no one else had about the infamous photojournalist.

  The nomadic bachelor had a family. But he wouldn’t have them for much longer.

  His hand shaking, Ed touched the boy’s face. “I almost had you tonight.”

  First he had distracted the woman with the call. Because she was one of those teachers who always wanted to be available to her students and their parents, it had been easy enough to get her cell number off the website of the elementary school where she taught and to which Ed had followed her one morning. It had even been easy to grab the boy’s hand and lead him away from the line.

  But when the kid had pulled free, Ed hadn’t pursued him. There had been too many people around, which at first he’d thought would work in his favor so no one would notice him. But there had also been security guards around, and Kendall had had the foresight to order the exits locked down.

  Ed wouldn’t have escaped with the boy. So he had let him go.

  Then he had watched them all play happy family with Santa. Now, after personally witnessing how much the kid meant to Kendall, Ed was more determined than ever.

  Lights of a passing car shone through his windshield, so he hunched down in his seat. He wasn’t parked where Kendall could see him, but this was the kind of neighborhood where strange cars were noticed and reported.

  He couldn’t be discovered yet. All these years had passed, and everyone who’d mattered to Ed had passed. But it wouldn’t be over until everyone who mattered to Thad Kendall was gone, too.

  He reached across the leather console and skimmed his finger over the boy’s picture. “Next time you won’t get away.”

  Chapter Six

  Thad hadn’t slept at all the night before and not just because he’d spent the night sitting in his car keeping watch over Caroline’s house but because her words had haunted him.

  “And I just hope like hell that whatever you really are hasn’t put our son in danger.”

  He needed to know if she was right to be concerned. He glanced around the St. Louis Police Department’s interrogation room, hoping the cement block walls and thick mirror made this a secure place for the call he’d had to place.

  “Are you sure my cover hasn’t been blown?” he asked his boss.

  “There’s been no chatter about it,” Anya said. “But they could have a code word for you, something we haven’t cracked yet.”

  “Crack it!” he snapped, his nerves frayed from lack of sleep and the horror of those long moments his son had been missing.

  “It’s not that easy, and you know it,” she replied with strained patience.

  “Yeah, I know…?.”

  “Has something happened?” she asked. “Has there been an attempt on your life?”

  “No.”
But if Mark had been abducted, there would have been. If the fear of losing the boy hadn’t killed Thad, Caroline would have managed the deed with her bare hands. And he wouldn’t have blamed her.

  “But you have cause for concern?” she asked, ever the professional. The woman never lost her cool.

  Usually, neither did Thad. “I have concern.”

  “I know why you went home,” she reminded him. “Your parents’ murderer is still out there. Is that the reason for your concern?”

  “It’s the reason I needed out of my last assignment,” he said. “But if my leaving got Michaels killed…”

  “You couldn’t have saved him.”

  “We’ll never know for sure,” he stubbornly maintained just as he had when she’d tried to absolve him of his guilt during their last conversation.

  “I’ll let you know when we break the code,” she said, and then clicked off.

  Thad sighed as he pocketed his phone.

  “What will you never know for sure?” Ash asked from the open door to the interrogation room.

  Lack of sleep must have dulled his reflexes, because he hadn’t even heard the door open. He shrugged but answered honestly, “Work stuff.”

  “Isn’t knowing for sure part of your job?” Ash asked. “All that digging until you get to the truth? You’re kind of famous for it.”

  Thad narrowed his eyes in suspicion. “You’re complimenting me?” Like their father, it wasn’t something his older brothers had ever really done. They’d been more likely to beat the crap out of him and each other.

  They had only ever been careful with Natalie because she’d always seemed so fragile. As adults, and after what she’d been through, they all knew better now. She wasn’t easily broken. But still Thad stalled over telling her the truth of her paternity, wanting to protect her as he and his brothers always had.

  Ash shrugged his massive shoulders. “Just stating a fact. You’re good at getting to the truth.”

  Not so much at telling it, though. “It’s my job.”

  “I’m glad you’re back,” Ash admitted. “We’ve all been working on this, but we need fresh eyes. We need your eyes.” He glanced at the boxes of tapes Thad had set on the table next to the bracket where a suspect’s handcuffs were clipped. “What’s all this? Did you find another lead?”

  “I don’t know,” he admitted. He would hate to think that last night had anything to do with his parents’ murders. Or worse, with his dual career, as Caroline had accused. “But I need to have someone look at a few hours of this security footage. We need to find out who might have grabbed a three-year-old kid last night at the mall.”

  “There was no report of a kidnapping!” Ash exclaimed with all the horror of a man about to become a father himself. Then he nodded in sudden realization. “But I did hear about some kind of security issue at the mall. The exit doors were momentarily locked down, so no one could leave until the situation had been resolved.”

  “The kid got away from whoever grabbed him. He’s not hurt.” He hadn’t even been all that shaken up until he’d noticed how scared his mother and father had been. Mark was one tough little guy. He was definitely a Kendall. Pride warmed Thad’s heart along with the love that swelled it whenever he thought of his son.

  “What happened?” Ash asked. “And how the hell do you know about it? I didn’t think you were working for your network here. I thought you were just going to focus on family right now.”

  For once.

  Ash didn’t say it, but Thad heard the unsaid accusation that clearly glittered with a brief flash of resentment in his green eyes. Ash had left home for a while, for the service, but he’d come right back to St. Louis after his term was up. He hadn’t kept going back overseas like Thad.

  “I was focusing on family,” Thad insisted.

  “At the mall?” Ash scoffed. “You hate the mall. I saw your face when Gray was kidding about Christmas shopping a few days ago. You’ve never gotten over your aversion to Christmas. So what the hell were you doing at the mall this time of year?”

  Thad drew in a deep breath and then admitted, “Going with my son to see Santa.”

  “Son?” Ash’s voice rose with shock. “You have a son?”

  He nodded. “His name is Mark. He’s three years old.”

  “And you’re just telling me about him now?” Hurt dimmed the anger in Ash’s eyes. “Does anyone else know you have a son?”

  “Until a few days ago, I didn’t know myself,” he said.

  “But he’s three years old…?.” Ash nodded as if he’d done some math in his head. “And you’ve been gone longer than that. Are you sure he’s yours?”

  Thad hadn’t asked to use the interrogation room just to make his call in privacy. He clicked the remote and turned on the TV in the corner. The security footage in the DVD was paused on his son’s face. “You tell me what you think.”

  “Damn.” Ash grinned. “He’s you all over again. Cute little shit.”

  “Smart, too,” Thad said.

  Ash whistled. “Wow. You’re already talking like a proud papa. Who’s the mama? I don’t even remember you dating anyone when you were home last. But you weren’t around much. You were working on some special assignment at the local station.”

  “Her name is Caroline Emerson,” he said. “She’s an elementary school teacher.”

  Ash laughed. “Okay. I get why you didn’t mention her.”

  “Why?” he asked. Caroline might have thought him a snob for not introducing her, but his own brother should know him better.

  “Aunt Angela would’ve been planning your wedding if she’d met her.”

  His brother did know him better, and they both knew their aunt too well. “Yeah, she would have been ordering flowers and booking St. Luke’s.”

  “Sounds like she should have been,” Ash pointed out. “So you didn’t know she was pregnant when you left?”

  “She didn’t even know yet,” he said. Had Caroline known, she would have told him. He believed that she would have tried to contact him, too, had she not feared his family would think her a gold digger. She should have tried to get word to him after their son had been born, but he couldn’t blame her if she’d wanted to protect the little boy from the fishbowl life of a Kendall.

  “Would it have made a difference?” Ash wondered, staring at the boy on the TV. “Would you have stayed home?”

  Remembering the importance of the mission he’d left to carry out, he shook his head. But he would have returned as soon as he’d been able to make sure both Caroline and Mark were okay.

  “What about now?” his older brother asked. “Will you leave now?”

  Subject to an intensity that had him squirming and unable to lie, Thad suddenly had insight into how Detective Kendall conducted an interrogation. “Once our parents’ killer is caught I will go back to my job.”

  “Why does your job have to be over there?” Ash wondered. “Why can’t it be here?”

  “Local news has no interest for me,” he said. Because it had nothing to do with his real job.

  “What about your son and his mother? What’s your interest in them?” The detective continued his interrogation.

  “Right now I just want to make sure they’re safe,” Thad said, getting irritated with his brother and probably with his own inability to answer Ash’s questions.

  “So protectiveness only?” Ash persisted.

  “Stop interrogating me,” Thad snapped. “I need to know if someone tried to grab my son. And if so, I need your help to protect him and his mother!”

  Ash squeezed his shoulder with reassurance. “He’s my nephew. I’ll help you look out for him. He’s a Kendall.”

  Actually, he wasn’t. Caroline had given the boy her last name. But Thad wanted Emerson changed to Kendall, as soon as he knew for certain that he wasn’t putting them in danger.

  CAROLINE’S HAND SHOOK as she held the telephone. It was the cordless house phone. Thad had taken her cell the night before, so tha
t his detective brother could try to track down the person who had called her while she and Mark had been at the mall.

  “Thank you for taking Mark tonight,” she told Tammy. “I was freaking him out with being so nervous and overprotective.” She hadn’t dared to leave the house despite Saturday being their usual errand day. She hadn’t gone anywhere, and she hadn’t even let Mark play in the yard. “Is he okay?”

  “Yes,” her best friend assured her, “he and Steven Jr. and Steven Sr. are playing video games and having a great time.”

  Steven Jr. was three years older than Mark, and until her son had met his own father, he’d idolized the older boy and his dad. Now he had his own daddy. And he had asked about him the moment he’d awakened.

  “Of course, you’re probably freaking out even more that you’re not here to watch over him yourself,” Tammy commiserated. “You must have been so scared last night.”

  “Yes.” But not just last night; she couldn’t shake off her fear. “I just wish I knew if he’s really safe, though.” She hadn’t been able to sleep last night; she’d sat beside his bed, watching over him.

  “We’re staying home with the burglar alarm on. Steve and I won’t let anything happen to him,” Tammy assured her.

  “I know.” Caroline expelled a shuddery breath of relief. “I trust you.” More than she trusted her own ability to keep him safe given how she had nearly lost him the night before.

  “What about Thad?” Tammy asked. “Do you trust him?”

  “Not as far as I can throw him.” She couldn’t trust him when she was convinced that he wasn’t being honest with her.

  “But he stepped up last night,” her romantic friend reminded her. “He was there for you.”

  And he was here now, pulling his car into her driveway.

  “Tammy, there’s no chance of anything more between me and Thad,” she cautioned her friend and her own foolish heart, which sped up its beat as soon as he stepped from his car.

  All long legs and lean hips in slim-fitting jeans, he was so damn sexy. The wind played with his dark hair, tousling it and sprinkling it with snowflakes. He lifted a gloveless hand, as Mark had noticed, and pushed his hair back from his forehead. Then moments later he was ringing her doorbell; it echoed throughout the living room.