Though Hendrick had fallen for Mariah the moment he first saw her, he wasn’t foolish enough to think that romantic attraction was enough. “It takes more than that for marriage.”
Mariah nibbled her lip. “Hendrick’s right. Lasting love is built on a stronger foundation. It takes time.”
Gillard kissed her hand. “Then we’ll give it time.”
Hendrick gagged. Mariah couldn’t seriously be listening to this.
Gillard had just said his wife and son died. If that was true, then Luke couldn’t be his son, and they had no reason to stay there any longer. If false, then he was lying and every bit as rotten as she’d thought he was. Either way, Gillard was not a man to get too close to.
Still, she sat and listened, not saying a word. Didn’t she remember that he’d beaten Luke? That Luke was terrified of him? Maybe that man had her turned so far around she couldn’t tell backward from forward. Well, he’d straighten her out pronto.
“Then you don’t have any children.”
Gillard stopped midspeech to stare at him. Mariah looked distraught, but she didn’t need to worry. He was just clearing the air.
“I’m saying that because you built an awful big house not knowing if you’d ever have another wife again.”
“I had hopes,” Gillard said calmly.
“And no other kids, just Luke?”
Mariah gasped and went ashen. She looked like she was about to faint.
What had he done? It took a second for Hendrick to realize how he’d slipped up. He shouldn’t have said Luke’s name. They weren’t supposed to know anything about the boy. They were supposed to be tourists, strangers. Now Gillard knew differently.
The man turned his steely glare on each of them in turn before settling on him. “Who are you, and how do you know about Luke?”
Mariah died a thousand deaths in one instant. Her plan plummeted to earth, shot down. What to say? How to recover her hope of saving Luke? Now Gillard knew she wasn’t an innocent stranger. Now he would tell her nothing useful.
She couldn’t even swallow. Terror held the clock motionless as Hendrick struggled to find an answer. Don’t give it away, she pleaded silently, but, of course, he couldn’t possibly understand. Only she could salvage this situation, if it could be salvaged. In times of distress, the Bible gave the clearest guidance, but she didn’t have time to consult her Bible. She had to remind herself of God’s grace and put herself in His hands. That meant telling the truth.
She took a deep breath. “My name is Mariah Meeks, and I am an agent for the Orphaned Children’s Society, the mission where you entrusted Luke.”
Gillard did not blink. Not one muscle ticked. At least he hadn’t reacted to her last name. Maybe he didn’t know that Luke was living with her brother.
“He is well, very well,” she added.
Slowly, like when the Victrola wound down, he spoke. Each word emphasized. Each word separate. “Then why isn’t he here with you?”
He was threatening her. Her. Yet he was the one who’d claimed that his son was dead. He’d denied Luke until Hendrick called him on it. He hadn’t answered any of her questions. Oh, no, he could not threaten her. She still had a perfectly reasonable explanation left, the one she’d told Gabe she would use.
She squared her shoulders and looked him straight in the eye. “Before placing any child, we must do a home visit. Since it’s been more than two years and Luke was considered abandoned, the visit is necessary.” At least it ought to be necessary. “I’m sorry for not telling you sooner, but it’s essential I get an accurate view of the home situation. Revealing my identity would have tainted the visit.”
Mr. Gillard carefully processed each word. After a painfully long pause, he said, “And do you approve of my home situation?”
She ignored the sarcasm. “Further investigation is required.”
“Because of the wine? It’s not only legal, it’s gone.”
She offered a smile. A little bootleg alcohol would not convince him to sign the papers. She needed more. “The wine is not an issue. I simply need to complete my evaluation. A little more time is all I require.”
“Then is it the clothing? My late wife’s.”
She didn’t believe that for a minute. “My condolences.”
“Oh, you’re upset because I said Luke had died. Let me remind you, Miss Meeks, that you were not playing fair with me, either. I thought you were a beautiful unmarried woman and that you might not want to take on the burden of raising a child. Obviously, I was wrong.”
Hendrick cleared his throat, clearly outraged by the man’s explanation, but she couldn’t let him influence her course of action. She needed to find something substantially wrong with Frank Gillard, and that meant getting back in his good graces.
“I understand,” she said. “Rest assured, thus far I’ve found your home situation more than adequate.”
The words did exactly what she’d hoped, easing Gillard’s wariness. As she continued to praise his fine china and crystal, he started to relax. When she expressed awe over his Indian art collection, he laughed.
“I’m glad you approve, Miss Meeks.” He rose and gave her a little bow. “Please forgive my behavior. You must believe that I’m anxious to bring my son home. I never meant you to think otherwise. I was simply dazzled by your beauty and excellent qualities. Will you forgive me?”
“Of course,” she murmured, though the words stuck in her throat.
“I am disappointed, though,” he said. “I would have enjoyed courting you.”
She forced a tight smile. Despite his charm and good looks, Frank Gillard simply did not attract her. Unlike Hendrick, who could send shivers down her spine with a single glance, Gillard left her cold and empty.
He stepped forward and took her hand, raising it to his lips for a brief kiss. “For you to truly understand where Luke will grow up, you need to see my property. Could you join me on horseback in the morning?”
“I, uh,” she stammered, both repulsed by the gesture and recognizing the opportunity it provided.
“Consider it part of the home evaluation.” His grin forgave her for not telling him she was an agent from the Orphaned Children’s Society. Or was he merely trying to win her over so he could get his son back?
“I, uh,” she said again, glancing at Hendrick and Anna.
Hendrick frowned. Anna looked excited.
“Horses?” the girl asked.
Gillard laughed. “Yes, we must take horses. Why don’t all of you stay the night? I have plenty of room and few visitors.”
Staying overnight would give Mariah a chance to explore those parts of the house Gillard hadn’t shown her, perhaps find the incriminating evidence she needed. And tomorrow, Anna and Hendrick could act as chaperones.
“Thank you,” she said. “We will.”
But Hendrick balked. “We’re staying in town.”
Mariah needed this opportunity desperately. It might be her only chance to save Luke. She would have welcomed Hendrick’s help, but if he were going to let jealousy taint his sense of reason, then she’d do it without him.
“You can return, if you wish.” She did not give him a chance to argue. “I’m staying. I need to finish the assessment.”
Hendrick’s gaze narrowed. “Then I’m staying, too.”
Chapter Eleven
What was Mariah thinking? She was walking straight into danger. Gillard looked more and more the predator after her secret came out. Here she was on his turf and at his mercy. Hendrick stared at the woman he thought he knew. Stay in Frank Gillard’s house alone? Tell him to leave? What had come over her? He wasn’t about to leave her.
“I’ll have my housekeeper make up two more rooms.” A smile snaked across Gillard’s lips. “Glad you saw reason, Mr. Simmons.”
On the surface it was a compliment, but beneath the words lurked a hint of superiority. Hendrick knew when he was being put down. He’d taken it from the wealthy Pearlman families all his life. Oh, they didn’t
come out and say he was beneath them, but he could tell they thought it by the way they talked to him and how they hesitated before shaking hands. Yes, Hendrick’s hands were callused, but it was from good, honest labor—something people like Gillard would never know.
Or Mariah. She smiled at the snake. “Thank you for your gracious hospitality.”
“My pleasure. Let’s retire to the living room.” Gillard wrapped her hand around his arm and led her out of the room. “I hope you find everything to your satisfaction.”
“More than satisfying,” she purred.
It was nauseating. Hendrick wanted to yank her away from Gillard’s clutches, even if he had to drag her, kicking and screaming, from the house, but, of course, he couldn’t do that. Instead, he had to watch this disgusting spectacle. She was making a fool of herself, which he intended to point out the moment they were free of the man.
That took far too long. Gillard first called in the housekeeper to order two more rooms readied. He then had coffee served in the living room. After another hour of tedious conversation in which Gillard extolled his accumulated wealth and expressed again his desire to re-create his family, they finally retired to bed.
After Anna settled into her bedroom, Hendrick could finally talk to Mariah. “What do you think you’re doing, staying here overnight?” He could barely spit out the words.
“Doing what I came here to do,” she said, hand on her bedroom door.
“Can’t you tell he’s playing up to you so you’ll give him Luke?”
She rolled her eyes. “Surely you realize I’m bright enough to see that.”
“I was beginning to wonder.” But her words did make him feel a bit better. “I don’t think he’ll tell you anything.”
“I know it’s unlikely, but I must try.” She glanced up and down the hall. “I wonder what’s behind these doors.”
“I don’t know. Bedrooms, I suppose.”
“And who might be in them?”
Had she gone mad? “You, me and Anna.”
“Exactly.” She lowered her voice to a whisper. “But is that all?”
He had to lean close to hear, and her scent flooded his senses, driving away anger and replacing it with painful desire. “What do you mean?”
“Come this way,” she whispered, her breath tickling his ear.
She could have told him to jump into an icy creek, and he would have obeyed.
“Mariah.” Instinctively, he reached for her hand, but when she stiffened, he let go. “Sorry.”
Why did she always make him apologize for doing what any real man would do? She played games with him, one minute leading him close and the next tossing him away. It was driving him crazy. He should have known better than to accompany her on this trip. He should have gone to Curtiss Aeroplane and started a new life far from her. Instead, he’d followed her, and she’d worked her way into his heart, just as before. He wanted to be closer, he wanted…
What did it matter? Once her mission was over, she’d leave him. Again.
“Let’s take a walk,” she whispered, brushing her fingers across his sleeve. Without waiting for an answer, she glided to the door that opened to the outside.
Like a fool, he followed.
Mariah led Hendrick out of the house and into the night. The feeble light from the house’s windows illuminated the patches of wiry grass that dotted the packed dirt yard in front of the house. The night sky spread over them, a half-moon providing enough light so they wouldn’t trip. On a less stressful evening, it would be lovely. Tonight, she trembled at what she was about to do.
“What do you think you’re doing?” Hendrick asked as soon as they were clear of the house. “Don’t you realize this doesn’t look good?”
Mariah kept walking. They weren’t far enough away yet. Servants or even Gillard might see them leave and follow. She had to be certain no one was listening before speaking freely.
“What doesn’t look good?” she said coyly in case anyone did hear them. “Taking a walk with you?”
“You know what I mean. Staying here. Letting that man talk you into things you shouldn’t do.”
She smiled at his display of bravado and ruffled feathers. Hendrick’s guard went up around Gillard. If she’d had any doubt he still felt something for her, she didn’t anymore. Though it couldn’t lead anywhere, his affection did make her feel cherished. She’d always had that from her parents, but never from a man. Oh, there’d been a male friend here and there through the years, but never anything serious. She’d made sure of that. It wasn’t fair to lead a man to think he had hope of a future with her. That’s why she’d told Hendrick they could never be more than friends, even though she wished they could.
“Where are you going?” he asked after they’d walked beyond the house’s faint glow.
“I think we’ll see the stars better if we go a little bit farther.”
It was getting difficult to see the ground, so she instinctively reached for his arm. He flinched, and she pulled back.
“Sorry,” he whispered, wrapping her hand around his arm and leading her into the black night.
She walked by his side, but not close enough to look like lovers, should anyone in the house be watching.
“Remember that night in South Dakota when you showed me the constellations?” she said evenly.
“Cygnus.” His voice cracked just a little, and he placed his other hand on hers in confirmation of the moment they’d shared.
“And the Pleiades. What’s the one that looks like a W?” She halted. They’d walked beyond earshot.
“Cassiopeia the Queen.” His voice lowered and roughened. His hand was warm on hers, but he demanded nothing. Unlike that night in South Dakota, he waited.
Such self-control. She’d never given him credit for that. He cared for her, loved her even, but he held back, waiting for her to come to him. Tears rose to her eyes, and she had to blink them back. He deserved a whole woman, a good woman, one who would give him children and raise them and never do what she was about to do.
Wind swept through the shin-high grasses, whooshing and rushing like waves on the ocean. The sun had long since set, but a faint rim of fading gray outlined the mountains to the west. Before long, even that light would vanish, signaling that her work must begin. Until then she could indulge in the moment.
“I want to see those mountains,” she whispered, leaning against him. She closed her eyes and breathed in his masculine scent, pretending for one moment that a life together was possible.
His lean yet muscular shoulder trembled ever so slightly. Fear or desire? She longed to know.
“I would take you there,” he whispered hoarsely. “You don’t need him.”
He meant Gillard, who could never compare. If only Hendrick knew how attractive he was. That stray lock. The broad shoulders. His easy gait. Frank Gillard could never top him. Hendrick had character, yet in this moment, it wasn’t character that captured her senses. His arms could lift heavy automobile engines or women stumbling on the lakeshore. He’d carried her as if she weighed nothing, and she would remember the feel of his arms the rest of her life.
“I don’t like Frank Gillard,” she said, still gazing at the stars and leaning against his shoulder.
He shifted slightly but didn’t draw away. “You could have fooled me.”
“Hopefully, I fooled him. It’s an act, Hendrick. I know he’s putting on a show to try to win me over. Well, I’m doing the same so he doesn’t suspect what I’m doing.”
“Working against him to keep Luke away?”
“I need to either find proof he’s not Luke’s father or get proof he’s doing something illegal.”
“Like bootleg wine?”
She sighed. “One bottle isn’t enough. He had a plausible explanation for everything I found. The wine. The rooms.”
“What rooms?”
“Why would a single man need so many bedrooms, not to mention so much staff?”
Hendrick reached an arm around
her and held her close. “He wants to impress people?”
“Way out here, so far from everywhere?” She settled into the hollow of his shoulder. “He’s earned too much money too quickly.” She explained the lingerie she’d found in her bedroom. “What if he’s running a bordello?”
She could feel his shock in the tightening of his muscles. “Then I’m not letting you stay here.”
“Hush, hush. I don’t believe there are any women here now, and the clothing might indeed belong to his late wife or to a lady friend who stays over from time to time. That’s the problem. I don’t know. That’s why I needed to stay tonight, so I could look through the rest of the house.”
He spun her around. “You’re planning to search the place? Do you know how dangerous that is?”
She held tight. “Of course. But I don’t want either you or Anna involved.”
He kept shaking his head. “I’m not letting you do this alone. What if he finds you rifling through his stuff? He’ll think you’re a thief. He’s the kind of man who shoots first and asks questions later. You are not searching this house.”
She pried his hands off her shoulders. “Yes, I am. I’m a grown woman, and this is my decision.”
“I should lock you in your room.”
“I’d just climb out the window.”
“Then I’ll have to stand guard, won’t I?”
She loved that he was incensed, that he would protect her no matter the cost, but it wasn’t helping her in this instance. She had only tonight. “This is urgent, Hendrick. I can only keep up pretenses for so long before he figures out what’s really going on. There are too many questions surrounding Frank Gillard. I can’t place Luke in his hands until I know the answers to those questions.”
“Then talk to him. Don’t snoop.”
Mariah tugged at a lock of hair. “Not five minutes ago you said that talking to him was useless. You’re right. He’s not going to tell me anything useful now that he knows who I am. In the morning he’ll probably place a long-distance call to New York to verify that I was indeed sent here to do a home visit.”
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