Deep Dark Mire (An FBI Romance Thriller ~ book four)

by Kelley, Morgan

  “Birth defects.”

  Elizabeth was puzzled. “Did she say why?”

  Doctor Lombardi shook his head. “I asked what specifically Cordelia was worried about and she wouldn’t say, other than it was a family issue.”

  Now Elizabeth was perplexed. “Thank you Doctor. I appreciate your help on this.” And she did. They now had another piece of the puzzle, but it was a vague one.

  “Anything I can do to help.” He went over to his binder and pulled out a card. “Here’s my office number, and,” he flipped the card over and pulled out a pen. “Here’s my cell. Call me if you need anything at all. I’m available to assist again.”

  Whitefox tensed. Over his dead body was that happening. He suddenly felt like kicking the man’s ass.

  Elizabeth took the card and smiled. She could see Whitefox’s face, and it was priceless. It was a very Ethan response, and it touched her heart. It was indeed like having two husbands.

  “I appreciate your offer of assistance Doctor. I’ll keep in mind.”

  The man grinned. “Have a good day, Director.” He helped her hop down off the table by offering her his hand.

  Elizabeth accepted and stepped down. She was amused by Callen’s look of surprise. Normally she’d be more abrasive, but honestly, the man didn’t cross a line. Everything he said could be construed as professional, and he was helpful. That didn’t always happen, so why be rude and risk the Karma?

  “Talk to you soon.” Doctor Lombardi watched her leave, and shook his head. Wow, that was a fine woman. Then he noticed the big guard dog staring him down, and he smiled. “You have a nice day too, Director.”

  Whitefox gave the man a look. Yeah, he was a guy and knew what the doctor was thinking, and it pissed him off. How the hell did his brother deal with the intense jealousy he felt from other men staring at Elizabeth?

  Longest day ever.

  Elizabeth waited while the receptionist offered to make copies of the file for her. Everyone was being extremely nice, and she didn’t know what to do with any of it. It was foreign. Thanking the woman and taking the copies, she headed out to their vehicle. She heard the telltale click and the doors opening, and she climbed into the passenger seat, still reading the copies. When the Escalade didn’t move, she glanced up and saw Whitefox staring at her.

  “What?” she asked, already knowing where it was heading.

  Callen was pissed and feeling out of control. He moved quickly, pulling her mouth to his and kissed her hard. He raided, stole, and pummeled her mouth in an effort to forget the way the man stared at her. He needed to forget how badly his body desired her at that moment. All he wanted was to taste her and remind himself that Elizabeth wouldn’t be stolen away from him.

  Insecurity hit and hit fast, and Callen was overwhelmed at the prospect that any other man could have what he had been given. Yeah, he shared her with his brother, but he didn’t plan on sharing her with anyone else.

  Elizabeth braced herself through the kiss, and knew it had to be more than just the doctor staring at her. This kiss was from some deep fear he had buried inside. It was ruthless and never had she felt anything like it from him before. All Elizabeth could do was ride it out, and let him feel that he was safe in her life. She slipped her hand around the back of his neck and slid her fingers into his ponytail, offering reassurance that everything was okay.

  Whitefox felt the familiar stroking, and he slowly relaxed, lightening up on the kiss. Slowly, he pulled away and gazed into her eyes. “I’m sorry.” The words were barely audible. “Forgive me.”

  Elizabeth felt the sadness. “Callen.” Words just didn’t seem to be enough. His heart was aching; it was clearly plastered across his face. Slowly she pulled him back down to her lips and kissed him gently, tenderly and soothed his soul. The kiss was full of love and sweetness.

  When Elizabeth broke away, Callen rested his forehead against hers. “How you just know, it overwhelms me. Thank you for understanding.”

  And she did understand. Her husband at one time had the same fears, and with time, they vanished and his would too. “You have nothing to worry about,” Elizabeth promised. “I wear your ring, Callen, my heart is completely full.”

  It was exactly the words he needed to hear. How she always just knew, Callen didn’t know, but she saw into the dark parts of his life and fixed them completely.

  “I love you, Lyzee.”

  Elizabeth grinned. “I love you too, but be honest with me. It’s the clothes, isn't it?”

  Now Callen laughed and gave her the grin he knew she loved. “Hell yeah it is, but I miss the jeans too.”

  “Tomorrow they’ll be back. No worries, Cal.”

  He relaxed and sat back in the driver’s seat. “Yeah, I see that now.” She’d managed to reassure him in minutes. The intense jealousy was gone, and he was back in control.

  “At least today was somewhat productive. We can assume from the conversation with Doctor Lombardi, that this pregnancy wasn’t planned. Cordelia Adare must have had a slip up with birth control if she was this worried about birth defects.”

  Suddenly, his whole body tensed.

  Birth control.

  Immediately, Callen glanced over at her. “Lyzee, are you on birth control?” It never once occurred to him that he could get her pregnant. He’d been too lost in the connection and the intimacy that the idea of her protecting herself never came to mind. He’d just assumed when his brother didn’t, he was safe.

  Elizabeth heard the tone of his voice and looked over at him. “I’m not Callen. I wasn’t having random sex, so why would I be on birth control? Ethan and I leave babies up to fate.” She let it go at that, because honestly she hadn’t thought about it before just now. This was a whole new situation and honestly, it was new territory.

  Ethan was a control freak and Elizabeth assumed he’d already dwelt on it. After all, Doctor Magnus brought up children and two fathers earlier. Elizabeth knew her husband, and she was sure he already analyzed the issue to death. Since he didn’t discuss it with her privately, then he must be okay with it.

  “Okay.” He was divided. There was the idea that she could be having his child, and it warmed him incredibly. Thinking back to the moments he shared with her while she was pregnant with CJ, his heart thudded in his chest. Feeling the baby move, watching her get big and wobbly, and seeing her bring life into the world was amazing. But then there was his big hang up in life.

  Having an illegitimate child like himself, coming into the world and what that child would be forced to carry the rest of its life. That was his big fear in life. If she got pregnant, he couldn’t marry her and give Elizabeth his name. She was already married to his brother. They were Blackhawks and he…wasn’t.

  Shit.

  “You okay?” she asked softly, already knowing the answer to that question. Next to her husband, he was her best friend. There was no surprise that he looked off balance.

  “Yeah.” Callen dropped his sunglasses on his face and lied to her. After everything they’d gone through together, he was ashamed that this was his sticking point and caused an issue between them. He needed to talk to his brother before he touched her again, just in case he didn’t think about the ramifications either.

  Elizabeth was hurt at how easy he lied to her face. It was hard, but she forced herself to let it go. At some point they were going to have a conversation on relationship rules. Lying was a big NO for her, Ethan and now him. Relationships needed to be built on truth and trust or they’d crumble easily.

  “Let’s go get Ethan.”

  Elizabeth nodded and stared out the window, mulling over the situation. Yeah, there was an equal chance she’d get pregnant by either man. She wasn’t sure how they felt about that, but Elizabeth would love the child regardless.

  It would be her baby!

  It never occurred to her how complicated this could get, but it was too late. They were already involved as a couple, and now they had to deal with the consequences.

  W
ell she’d deal with the consequences, because it looked like Callen was planning on a hasty retreat.

  ~ Chapter Thirteen ~

  Wednesday Mid-M orning

  Ethan knew something was definitely off when he jumped into the back of the Escalade. His wife was reading some papers on her lap, and his brother was driving with a completely blank look on his face. If that was all that was happening in the vehicle, he might just blow it off as them being focused, but there was an underlying tension filling the car.

  He desperately wanted to ask, but neither of the people he loved seemed to want to have it dredged back up. So he opted for the very safe route. “The meeting went great! Thanks for asking,” he stated, to no one in general.

  Elizabeth looked back. “I’m sorry, Ethan. I should have asked you how it went. Are we in the black or red this month?”

  “Okay, what the hell is going on? You’re asking about the budget like you care and you never do, and Callen is staring out the window lost in thought. What happened?”

  Elizabeth didn’t know what happened. They were fine and then all of the sudden he freaked out. “Cal, you want to take this one?”

  “I don’t want to talk about it, okay?” he said, tersely.

  Ethan flinched at the tone in his voice towards his wife. If it were any other man, he’d beat the hell out of him. Yet, this wasn’t just any man. It was his brother.

  “Callen wishes to not discuss it. So, I think we should drop it.” Elizabeth tucked the papers away and then turned to face her husband. “Want me to tell you what we found out?” she asked.

  “Sure.”

  Elizabeth replayed the entire interview, breaking it down for her husband. What they learned and what they suspected.

  “So she was concerned about birth defects?”

  “Apparently, she was. I sent Doctor Leonard a text to find out if there were traces of drugs in her body. He can do that hair test and take it back more than six months. Maybe she was drinking and doing drugs and was worried.”

  “Maybe.”

  “You know how mothers can over worry while they’re pregnant,” added his wife.

  Now he was looking at his brother. Whatever had him stirred up had something to do with children. When they started talking about the pregnancy, his wife’s eyes flickered over to his brother. “That’s a possibility.”

  “Now seriously, how was the meeting?” she asked.

  He laughed. “Well, we’ll all get a paycheck another few weeks, but apparently our lab ordered some fancy equipment and took us way over budget. Other than that three hundred thousand debacle, we’re good.”

  Elizabeth looked over her sunglasses. “They ordered a three hundred thousand dollar toy?”

  Blackhawk laughed. “Not quite. I like to keep the budget about two hundred thousand under, just in case.”

  “They ordered a machine costing half a million dollars?” Now she was appalled.

  “Yep, give or take a couple of hundred grand.”

  “Holy shit I’m going to kick someone’s ass!” she stated, and then turned around in her seat. “How did they manage to pull that off? Shouldn’t we have to sign off on a purchase that big, being we’re responsible for the money?”

  “Oh, well I asked that question too, but apparently our head lab tech and head ME can order whatever they need by just faxing the form to the main office. No one questioned it, since we’re generally spot on budget. Quantico assumed we had the funds and processed without checking.”

  “Well that rule is going to change! I’m going to kick someone’s ass back to FBI West.”

  “I figured.”

  “Who did it?”

  Now he smiled. “Christina.”

  Elizabeth turned around. “Oh, I bet you think I’m going to enjoy this don’t you?”

  Blackhawk winked. “Yes I do, and I can’t wait to watch you go all ‘Director’ on her, especially dressed like this today.”

  It was time to ruin his day. “That’s where you’re very wrong. She’s your tech supreme, you handle it, and I better see some carnage and not just some little lecture either.”

  “Seriously? You like to handle the yelling. I look forward to it.” He hated being the bad guy, the techs were already wary of him.

  “It must be my new appearance, who knew? The receptionist was cordial, the doctor helpful, and I’m taking a pass at abusing Christina.”

  Whitefox laughed at that. “Ethan, the doctor was ready to jump her right there on the exam table. He wanted to be extra helpful to Elizabeth and her legs.”

  “What?” he replied incredulously.

  “Really Cal? You just tossed me under the Ethan bus?” she started laughing. Whatever was bothering him had apparently passed.

  “I did, because when he was flirting you didn’t kick his ass. Had you been more angry at his blatant innuendos maybe we wouldn’t be having this conversation.”

  “Let’s go back there. I’ll kick his ass,” demanded Blackhawk.

  Elizabeth laughed. “I sent a text to Doctor Adare, and she’s aware we’ll be arriving. How about we stop focusing on the men that are flirting with me? Generally you’re both very guilty of that offense too. He was just more overt.”

  “I think we’ve been insulted, Callen.”

  “That little snotty statement just makes me want to work harder to show Doctor Lombardi how it’s done.”

  She punched him in the leg. “I owe you one too, Ethan. You’re just lucky I can’t reach you without hurting myself.”

  “I can’t wait. You can hurt me later if you want,” he quipped, lecherously. “I don’t mind if a beautiful woman teaches me a lesson. I’m a very slow learner, be aware.”

  “Oh, me too. I’ve been a very bad agent.” He grinned and winked at her. “I need to be retrained and often. Three four times a day at least, Warden.” It was his new fantasy.

  He took another shot to his leg. “Ouch!”

  “You can give him his half of that later,” she stated, punching him again. Now she was laughing at them both. A man thinks about sex every seven minutes, and they’d been in the car eight minutes and she knew the looks. “Stop thinking about it, we’re here.”

  “I’m trying, but I have it stuck in my head. I just have to let the fantasy play out. When the sexy music stops, I’ll stop,” laughed Whitefox, and he got a fist bump from his brother.

  Elizabeth sighed. “Let’s go do our job or our boss won’t let us play together ever again.”

  Both men followed her to the door of Morgana Adare’s home. They both flanked a side of Elizabeth’s body protectively. Not that they were worried about anyone hurting her, but just because she was their woman. Was it caveman like? Hell yeah it was, but then again they didn’t see anything wrong with that. No one ever accused the Blackhawk boys of being civilized, why start now.

  When the door opened, it was Desdemona. “Come in.” She stepped back, inviting the agents into her grandmother’s home. “We’re in the living room.”

  Elizabeth nodded. “Thank you for getting everyone together in one place.”

  Desdemona introduced her guests. “This is Holly and Ivy Delray. They were my sister’s friends in school. Again, you already know Jonathan; he was also my sister’s friend.”

  “Who are we missing?” asked Elizabeth.

  “Vinny’s at work today. He runs the homeless shelter down at the church,” answered Jonathan Delray, as he glared at Elizabeth Blackhawk. “My brother was a little busy for this today, as were the rest of us.”

  Elizabeth didn’t flinch. She was accustomed to people being hard assed in interview. She preferred it. Pissed meant they were close to the edge and people on the edge fell over if you pushed hard enough.

  “If you wouldn’t mind coming with me,” stated Whitefox. “I need to ask you some questions in private.”

  Desdemona was surprised. Elizabeth was letting someone else run part of the show. Oh wait, why be surprised? She was sleeping with Callen. Why not let him be one o
f the main players? The comments were kept to herself, as was the dirty look she’d love to give the woman.

  The loathing surfaced. She just wanted to get this over with, and then get away from them all.

  Leading the man out to the grass, Callen stood facing him in the sun. Whitefox was glad he had this interview, because he didn’t want this man anywhere near Elizabeth. The dislike was evident, as was Jonathan’s trigger temper. Having it go off anywhere near his woman, wasn’t going to be happening.

  “We need to get this done and fast. I’m on duty at eleven and I actually have work to do.” Jonathan Delray stated, alluding that the FBI was useless. His sisters told him about how this man was once engaged to Desdemona, and now he was shacked up with his brother’s wife. He didn’t get how men could share one woman. It just screamed perverse and wrong on so many levels, despite how hot the woman.

  “Then, let’s answer the questions, and you’re free to go.”

  The man stood there with his arms crossed, looking up at the Native man. “I’m ready.”

  “Were you involved in a relationship with Cordelia Adare?”

  His face remained completely neutral. “We were friends and had been for years.”

  Whitefox didn’t buy it for a second. He knew men and beautiful women meant one thing; sex. “So you’re stating for the official record, one law official to another, that you in no way were having sex with the woman at the time of her disappearance.”

  He shrugged. “Cordelia and I were friendly.”

  Whitefox noticed that didn’t answer the question. The man was trying to clear himself in the future by a technicality. This wasn’t his first day on the job.

  “Let’s try this a little differently. Maybe I’m not asking you the question the correct way. I need a yes or no answer. Not you evading with vague answers.”

  “I’m not evading.”

  Whitefox stepped closer. “Then once again, Jonathan, were you having a sexual relationship with Cordelia Adare. Yes or No.” He saw the pause and eye flicker down and to the left. Here came the lie, and he was ready for it.