“Carson.” Whit approached with Elizabeth. Elizabeth looked radiant in a long black evening gown with her blond hair up in an artful bun. Her pregnancy was beginning to show now.
“Hello, Georgia,” Elizabeth said.
“Hello.” She smiled. “You look beautiful.”
“Aw, thanks. I feel fat.” She put her hands over her belly and made a face.
Georgia laughed but stopped short when she heard Carson say he’d spoken with Kate O’Hara about Reginald’s murder and the dead ends they kept butting up against.
“Did she have any ideas?” Whit asked.
“She’s going to send someone to help us.”
“Really? Did she say who?”
“Not yet, but she’s got connections we need right now. Police are going nowhere with the case and so are we.”
“Good thinking on getting her involved.”
Spotting Landry, Georgia watched her greet a few men and then head over to their circle.
“Carson tells me he had to go get you from a bar last night,” Whit said.
Landry rolled her eyes. “I’m not drinking tonight.” She looked at Carson. “I wish you’d stop worrying about me.”
“I will when you start acting yourself again.”
“I second that,” Whit said. “All we have is each other now.”
No more Mom and Dad.
Landry averted her face, sorrow drawing all traces of cheerfulness away. She so wanted her parents to not be what they were, victim of murder and possible suspect of it. But Georgia sensed a shift in her, that perhaps she was beginning to come around.
Spotting a woman she didn’t recognize, Georgia was drawn to the man beside her. The woman leaned over to say something to him. Something about him kept her staring. On the tall side but not quite as tall as Carson, he had lots of dark blond hair styled to look unruly. He was fit like Carson, too. What was it about him that struck her?
“That’s Emmaline Scott and her son, Noah,” Carson said. “Emmaline is Reginald’s older sister. She’s been in Europe until about a year ago.”
“He looks familiar,” she said.
Carson turned a sharp look to her. “You know them?”
“Not her. Him.” As she studied Noah, she realized what it was. “He has a cleft in his chin. Blue eyes. And his face...” Where had she seen it before?
She inhaled a startled breath when it dawned on her. “He looks just like Ruby’s father.”
After a beat of two, Carson said, “What?”
“Who?” Landry asked.
“Noah Scott?” Whit chimed in, exchanging a look with his wife.
Georgia had them all spinning with possibilities. Her own head was spinning. Noah Scott was the spitting image of Ruby’s father. They had to be related. As she looked more, she could see a resemblance to Ruby herself. Could it be...
Georgia grasped Carson’s forearm. “Is that Jackson?”
“What? Impossible.”
“Just because he looks like your stepmother’s father doesn’t mean he’s her son.”
“Emmaline is Reginald’s sister, so of course there’d be some resemblance to the family,” Whit said.
“Ruby’s father isn’t related to the Adairs.” Georgia turned to Carson. “He’s Ruby’s son.” She felt it to her core.
Carson’s brow slowly lowered, a brewing storm. “Listen to what you’re implying, Georgia.”
She wasn’t implying. Noah Scott could very well be Jackson Adair.
“You said she’s been in Europe until last year. How often have you seen Noah?”
“She’s my aunt.”
An aunt who may have kidnapped Jackson. He hadn’t seen much of Noah. None of them had. “It’s worth checking out, isn’t it?”
“No.” Carson was aghast at what she had instigated. “It’s ludicrous.”
Ludicrous? His tone and choice of word revealed a new side to him. Was this when she’d reach a point where the enchantment ended and the true Carson Adair emerged?
She met his furious eyes. “You’d shun me and not at least check?”
What about Ruby? Would he not stop and think what this could mean for her? She could at last have closure. If Noah was, indeed, Jackson, she’d be reunited with her long-lost son. She could live the rest of her days in peace, finally knowing what had happed to her baby boy.
“I wouldn’t say shun,” Whit said, “but what you’re suggesting is too much. It’s enough that we have to deal with our parents.”
“Despicable,” Landry said.
They were in denial. They’d already received more bad news in the family than they could take. But Georgia refused to let this go. If that was Jackson, she’d push the issue. “Kidnapping an infant is despicable,” Georgia retorted. They were all ganging up on her. She saw how Elizabeth just stood there looking at her. Was she silently judging?
Not even at Kate’s party did she feel as much of an outcast as she did right now. All three of them looked at her as though she’d been found guilty of something unspeakable.
She looked at Carson, removing her hand from his arm and stepping back. “You’ll just dismiss what I’ve noticed?”
“Yes.” He scoffed. “Don’t you think one of us would have noticed our own aunt kidnapped her brother’s son?”
“Emmaline has been in Europe until last year, but she gave birth to Noah there,” Whit said.
“It would be hard to kidnap someone if you’re overseas when the crime happened,” Landry said.
Georgia looked from one to the other and lastly at Carson. He was disgusted with her. She looked at the rest of the crowd, at all the people dressed in expensive clothes, at the food that may as well be in a palace, and then down at herself, dressed just like them.
When her eyes lifted, she saw Carson’s anger was dissipating as he read her thoughts.
“I don’t belong here.” She pivoted and walked fast toward the exit. Thank goodness her stepmother wasn’t here yet. She wouldn’t tell her about Noah. Not yet. Not until she did her own investigation. She didn’t need Carson to do that.
“Maybe it is worth checking out,” she heard Elizabeth say.
“Georgia!”
Oh, damn, Carson was coming after her.
She started running. Outside, she flagged a taxi. She didn’t know where she was going. Anywhere but here. Back to the ranch to get her things, then the first flight home. No, she had to track down Emmaline and see if she had indeed been in Europe at the time of Jackson’s kidnapping. Maybe Noah wasn’t Jackson, but it warranted at least checking. Carson was more concerned with the embarrassment to his family.
“Georgia.” Carson took her hand and spun her to face him.
She heard the taxi pull up. Yanking her hand free, she opened the car door.
“This has nothing to do with you belonging or not belonging,” Carson said.
She got into the cab and told the driver the address to the ranch. But as she tried to close the door, she found that Carson wouldn’t let her.
“Come back inside.”
“No. We’re finished, Carson. Whatever this was. It’s over!” She pulled the door.
He didn’t budge, his face hard with consternation. He was still upset over her speculation but didn’t want her thinking she didn’t fit in. How could he not think that? If ever there was a more blatant sign, this was it.
She couldn’t rock the boat. She had to live by the Adair rules. Well, no, thanks.
“Let go of the door, Carson.”
“Will you be there when I get home?” he asked.
“No.”
“Where will you be?” He looked at the hotel entrance. “I have to go back in there. I can’t leave like this.”
“Of course you can’t. They’re your family.”
“What do you mean by that?”
“Let go of the door.”
“Georgia...”
She just looked at him, full of resolve. He saw it and stepped away, releasing the door so she could clo
se it. When she did, it felt as if she’d just shut the door on her chance at happiness.
* * *
At the ranch, she folded all the clothes Carson had bought her but kept some of the accessories and shoes, especially the Judith Leiber purse. That she’d cherish always. In payment, though, she left him the Beatrix Potter book, along with a note tucked inside. The book was worth about what the things she was taking with her were worth, so it was an even trade. She could not leave here feeling as though she’d been a charity case to him. This wasn’t about protecting Ruby, or any bias she’d developed from learning how abominably Ruby had been treated by the Adairs. This was about standing up for herself.
Touching the old book one more time, she put it on Carson’s bed and left, rolling her suitcase behind her. She’d told the staff to leave her alone and had asked for the taxi to wait for her. She’d call Ruby in the morning.
Outside, the driver helped her with her bag and drove down the lane toward the road. At the end, a car was parked, blocking the way. The driver stopped and Georgia saw a man standing outside the car. He had a gun. And it was Drake.
Georgia opened the back door.
“Stay inside, miss,” the driver said.
She stood from the taxi. “Drake?”
He strode toward her, aiming the gun. “Come with me, Georgia.”
“What are you doing?”
“You should have listened to me.” He grabbed her arm. “Get in the car or I’ll kill this man.” He pointed his gun at the driver, who, clearly panicked, began speaking fast and incoherently.
“Okay, okay,” she said. “Don’t kill him. I’ll go with you.” She’d known Drake for so long, and yet she hadn’t known him at all. She felt brave enough to go with him, but this crazy side of him was unpredictable. She could be walking toward her own death. But she couldn’t allow him to kill an innocent man.
Drake produced a piece of paper from his jean pocket and handed it to the taxi driver. “Give this to Carson Adair.”
The driver took it with shaking fingers.
Then Drake grabbed Georgia by the arm and walked her to the car. The engine was still running.
Forcing her into the backseat, he picked up a rope from the floor.
“Drake, you don’t have to do this.”
“Shut up.”
He roughly tied her wrists behind her. She didn’t struggle, fearing if she did that he’d kill the taxi driver, or her. She’d try reasoning with him first.
Getting into the driver’s seat, he drove away from the ranch. Georgia twisted behind her and saw the driver on his phone, calling for help.
Facing forward, as much as she could with her hands tied behind her, she met Drake’s eyes in the rearview mirror. He looked at the road.
“You were all I ever wanted, Georgia.”
She kept quiet.
He scoffed. “I was crazy for not realizing I could have had you ever since we were in college.”
“The same thing would have happened,” she said. “I would have broken up with you.”
“Then there’s no other way. It ends tonight, for both of us.”
That sent chills riding down her spine and arms. She thought back to the shooting the day she and Ruby went to AdAir Corp to settle the inheritance dispute. And again after she and Carson had dinner. The car bomb. Stephen had an alibi for at least one of those instances.
“It was you, wasn’t it?” she said, bringing his eyes back to the mirror. “You shot at Carson. Twice.” He’d tried to kill him. And then he’d put a bomb in their car. Was he trying to kill them both at that point?
Stephen claimed to have only shot at Carson after they left Leif’s house. That had to be true. Drake was insane. He’d progressively gone more insane the longer she’d known him. He’d done a fine acting job up until they’d had sex. Then he could no longer hide the darkness in him.
“You lied to me,” Drake said.
“About what?”
“You said you would never marry a rich man.”
How wrong she’d been about that. “Not all rich men are bad, Drake. I’ve learned that. I was narrow-minded for thinking that of all rich men.”
“You fell for him.”
“No. I’m going back to Florida as soon as Ruby’s son is found.” She didn’t dare tell him what she’d discovered tonight. The less he knew, the better.
“You fell for him!” he shouted.
Georgia couldn’t suppress her flinch, cringing against the seat at the sheer volume of his voice.
His eyes were dark and evil in the mirror.
“I didn’t. My suitcase is in the taxi. I was leaving when you blocked the driveway.”
His eyes shifted from the mirror to the road.
Maybe she could play on that with him. Get him to think she wasn’t in love with Carson.
In love with him?
She stayed focused. Her life depended on how she handled Drake. Carson’s, too, since she was pretty sure the paper he’d handed the taxi driver was instructions on where to find her. He’d lure Carson to wherever he was taking her and then kill them both.
* * *
Carson was still at the party an hour after Georgia left. Whit and Landry were as upset as he was over the idea of Jackson being stolen by one of the family. They’d suffered enough as it was because of Patsy. How much more drama could they take? Landry, especially. He saw how the suggestion had her staring off in depressed thought.
He’d watched Emmaline. He’d studied Noah. Emmaline seemed normal. She smiled and chatted with everyone and now she was close to him and Whit and Landry.
“I can’t take this,” Landry said. “I’m going back to the ranch.”
“I’ll go with you.” Rachel Blackstone had come to the party. Her wavy light brown hair was left down, falling to about her shoulders. Her green eyes reassured him that she’d take care of Landry.
“Thanks, Rachel,” Carson said.
“Good night, Carson.” Landry stepped forward to kiss his cheek. She hadn’t drunk anything tonight, only water. Carson was proud of her.
“I’ll see you tomorrow,” he said.
She said goodbye to Whit. Elizabeth had wandered off to talk to Kate and Patrick O’Hara, who’d flown in for the festivities.
“Carson and Whit?”
Carson turned with Whit to see Emmaline standing there.
“My, have you two grown. I saw Landry. She’s leaving early.”
“Emmaline. How have you been?” Whit asked.
“I should be asking you that. I can’t believe it about Reginald.”
Had she killed her brother when he’d discovered she was the one who’d kidnapped Jackson? Carson banished the terrible thought as soon as it struck him. Damn Georgia. Why did she have to be so adamant about something so unlikely?
“How’s your hip?” Whit asked. “We heard you broke it.”
“It aches but I can get around. You can’t complain at my age.”
She was around sixty-six with graying brown hair that she kept in a sleek bun.
“Could have been worse,” she said. “I could have been in my seventies.”
Noah appeared next to his mother. “Hey.” He held out his hand for Carson to shake. After he did, he shook Whit’s hand.
“You’ve been busy farming on the ranch,” Carson said, trying not to stare at the cleft on his chin. He’d worked with him a little but saw less of him now that he was spending more time at AdAir Corp.
“Yeah, I like the hard work. The fresh air. Out in the open.”
“It does grow on you,” Whit said.
“I miss traveling, but I’m glad to have work,” Noah said.
He’d traveled to many countries, having grown up in Europe. He had a lot of stories to tell. He’d lived a good life. It was impossible for Carson to believe he could be his secret half brother.
Not liking the way he kept searching for signs that he might be Jackson, Carson excused himself and said his goodbyes. He felt his phone vibrat
e and took it out as he left the hotel. It was the ranch number.
“Carson?” It was Landry. “You better come home. Georgia’s been kidnapped.”
Chapter 15
Carson raced into the ranch house to find Landry sitting with Rachel in the living room with a swarm of police officers. One of them was talking to the taxi driver.
Landry got up and rushed to him. “Carson.”
He put his arms around her as she embraced him. “What happened?”
She told him what the driver had told police.
“Where’s the note?” he asked.
An officer came over to him and showed him the note that had been placed into a plastic bag. There was an address and one message: Come alone or your girlfriend is dead.
“The taxi driver said Georgia called him Drake,” the officer said.
Rage filled him as he looked at the officer. Then he started for the door. He didn’t need cops. He only needed his bare hands. He was going to kill Drake.
Whit’s palm on his chest stopped him. “Easy there, brother.”
“Get out of my way.”
“This isn’t Myanmar.”
Carson stared hard at him, fighting for rationality. Georgia in this kind of trouble brought him to his knees. He had to save her. She could not end up like Leif.
A police officer approached them. “I just received a call from the Hartman Hotel. Drake Foerster rented a room there.”
“Get a crime scene team there,” the other officer said.
“Already there. The lead investigator said there’s evidence of bomb-making material there.”
Carson flashed a look at Whit. Georgia’s ex-boyfriend was responsible for the car bomb and the shootings. It had nothing to do with Reginald’s murder. It had nothing to do with Stephen Chow and his botched mission, either. Carson had merely awakened Stephen to the fact that the data was missing. He’d added it up and went to search Leif’s house. Only he hadn’t known where to look and Leif’s wife hadn’t helped him.
“And some women’s underwear. Did Georgia mension she was missing any?”
“No.” But she may not have thought anything of it. Drake must have broken into his ranch. That filled him with rage. And disgust. The man was sicker than he’d imagined!
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