“We’ll get her back,” Whit said. “But we have to have a plan.”
Carson calmed down. His brother was right. He had to think. “I need a minute.”
He went upstairs and headed for his room. He’d change into dark clothes and get himself good and armed. He agreed with Whit, but this was something he had to do alone. He was trained for this type of situation. No one else down in that living room was. And he’d be damned if he’d put any of his family in danger. The cops could follow him, but he had to be the first to arrive at the address Drake had left. He knew his kind. He’d lure him there and then try to kill them both. The psychotic, jaded ex-lover.
Passing Georgia’s room, he stopped short when he saw all the items neatly placed on the foot of the bed. She’d left behind many of the things he’d bought her. That just made him mad all over again. Didn’t she know by now that he loved her?
Loved her...?
Yes. He loved her. She completed him.
Hurrying to his room, he closed and locked the door. On his way to his walk-in closet, he saw the book on his bed. Going there, he picked it up. It was a copy of The Tale of Peter Rabbit. A folded piece of paper was sticking out from inside the cover:
I know what you’re thinking. That I’m wrong about you and your family, that I would fit in. You may see it that way but I don’t. I can’t be with someone who doesn’t trust me or my word. I never said Noah was Jackson. How can I know that for certain? All I know is what I saw—a striking resemblance to Ruby’s father, and to her. It’s too much a resemblance to ignore. That’s all I meant. But you’ll ignore it to spare your family further scandal. I understand that.
I’ve left the things I won’t be taking back with me to Florida. I couldn’t resist a few of the other items, however. You had me figured out about that, Carson. I do love fashion. Please consider this book my token of appreciation for giving them to me, and for all the wonderful times I had with you. You’re a special man who I will never forget. I wish you the best in your search for Jackson and also in your search for Reginald’s killer. I do think the two are related.
In other words, she thought Emmaline might be responsible for his father’s murder. His grip tightened on the page, but he kept reading.
If I discover anything definitive, I’ll let you know. Unless you’d rather I didn’t. Send me a text to let me know, but please don’t try to contact me otherwise. It’s best if we part ways now, and amicably if possible.
Yours in memory,
Georgia
He dropped the note onto the bed. Well, she sure sounded definite. She would also investigate Noah, which meant she had planned to stay in San Diego. Until Drake had intercepted her. And Carson hadn’t been with her. He should have been with her. Moreover, he shouldn’t have let her observation get to him the way he had. She’d shocked him, that’s all. She’d shocked everyone.
Going to his closet, he changed into black jeans and a long-sleeved black shirt. He put on his black gun holster and combat boots, then went to his gun safe. He took out two automatic pistols and filled a duffel bag with ammunition and a few backup weapons.
Then he went to the window in his room, removing the screen and slipping through and into the night.
* * *
Drake leaned back on a recliner, laughing at a stupid sitcom playing on an old television. He’d brought her to a house he must have broken into. They were in the living room and he’d faced one of the wooden kitchen chairs toward him and made her sit there. She’d been working to loosen the rope.
“Whose house is this?” she asked.
His smile faded as he turned to her. “They’re having a siesta.”
What did that mean? Had he killed them?
“People who know them are going to start to miss them and come looking.”
“Not tonight they won’t. Shut up.” His gaze went down her body and back up again. He’d looked at her like that several times since bringing her here and it terrified her. But she could not let him know how frightened she was.
“Do you remember that time in college when we studied for an English test together and left the library when it closed?” It was one of their best times together.
At first his expression didn’t change. But then a small smile lifted one side of his mouth. “I remember a lot about us back then.”
She feigned a laugh while she tried to loosen the knot in the rope tying her hands. “Your car wouldn’t start so I rode you home on my bike.” She felt a screw sticking out from the side of the chair and used that to saw the rope.
He chuckled. “I did that on purpose.”
She stopped smiling. “You did?”
“Yeah. I wanted to be with you all night. That’s the night you told me to go home because I had a girlfriend and you didn’t want to make her jealous.”
“You told me she was already jealous.” The screw wasn’t working.
He nodded. “And you said you couldn’t be with me like that as long as I was with someone else.”
She’d forgotten what she’d told him that night.
“I thought about breaking up with my girlfriend to be with you.”
It had taken him a few months, but that’s what he’d done. But by then Georgia had been dating someone else and then she graduated and they’d drifted apart until a few years later.
“Seems like the timing has never been right for us.”
“No. So why not let me go, Drake? We can still be friends.”
He grunted. “Why do people who are about to die always say things like that? As if I’m going to believe you.”
“Killing me isn’t going to solve anything.”
“Killing both of you will.”
“How?”
“It will give me great satisfaction knowing no one will have you and the one you did love is gone with you.”
“I don’t love him. I told you I’m leaving. Go check the taxi if you don’t believe me. Ask the driver.” She strained her wrists against the rope, frantic to be free of it.
“You love him. I saw you together many times. In North Carolina. Here. He dotes on you.” He growled the last few words.
Georgia suppressed a gasp. He’d followed her to North Carolina. He was crazy. Clinically. “Why do you hate me so much?”
“I didn’t used to hate you. You used to be all mine.”
“I was never yours. And you won’t get away with this, not any of this!” The rope loosened and she slipped her wrist free. She felt scrapes and moisture that must be blood but she didn’t care. She had to get away from Drake. But not yet. She’d wait. With all of his attention on her she didn’t have a prayer. And his attention was focused on her, angry attention. She shouldn’t have told him he was never his. Drake looked at her for a long time.
She wouldn’t have the luxury of waiting for him to sleep or be distracted with the television.
Georgia gauged the distance to the stairs. So close.
He didn’t miss her doing so, his mouth quirking in a slanted frown.
“Try it,” he said.
The cold emptiness she felt and saw emanating from him kept her hands hidden behind her back. She said nothing.
“Go on.” He stood up. “Try it!” he shouted, swiping his arm toward the door.
He didn’t know her hands were free. Should she? Was now the time? What if he remained alert until Carson arrived? That made her mind up for her.
Jumping to her feet, she ran for the door. She made it halfway up the stairs before she felt him grab for her ankles. Rolling onto her backside, she kicked him in the face.
He yelped and fell backward but caught himself with the railing. Georgia scrambled the rest of the way upstairs. She ran through the kitchen and into a den area. There was nowhere to go but down a hall. At the end, she turned in to the master bedroom and stopped short. A middle-aged couple lay shot on their bed, blood soaking the sheets and blankets. The woman lay on her side and the man with his leg hanging over the bed, the covers off him. Geo
rgia put her hand to her mouth and gagged in horror.
When she pivoted, Drake stood in the doorway, a gun hanging at his side.
Georgia backed away, looking for anything to use as a weapon. She picked up a lamp from a dresser and threw it at Drake. He batted that away, but as he did so she ran past him. He almost got ahold of her arm, but she slipped free and ran down the hall, through the den and the kitchen, toppling chairs over to hinder his progress.
She heard him curse as she made it to the living room, and then he tackled her. She landed hard on her stomach, her wrists stinging with sharp pain on impact.
Staying calm, she remembered what she’d learned in self-defense class.
Drake hauled her up with his arm around her neck. She’d have stomped on his ankles if it weren’t for the gun to her head.
He would take her back downstairs and tie her up again, this time more securely. She wouldn’t escape again. And when Carson arrived, he’d kill them both.
* * *
Through the back patio door, Carson saw Georgia nearly reach the front door. While Drake brought her down to the floor and began to force her to her feet, he threw a patio chair through the glass door.
As Drake turned toward the noise of shattering glass, Georgia stomped multiple times on his ankles, hard enough to make Drake wince and stagger. He clocked her with his elbow, sending her sprawling to the floor.
Carson fired his pistol, taking out Drake’s shoulder. He dropped his gun and fell to the floor. But he pulled out a knife, and as Georgia sat up in a daze, he went behind her and put it to her throat, ignoring his shoulder wound.
Moving toward Drake, seeing his crazed eyes, Carson debated whether or not to put a bullet in his head. He could do it easily. He could have done it already.
“Don’t make me kill you,” he said.
“Drop the gun or she dies.”
Carson moved so that he had a good angle and fired again, this time taking out Drake’s elbow. Now he yelled in pain, dropping the knife as he fell to the floor. He still had one good arm and, unbelievably, tried to go for the knife.
Georgia swiped it away from his reaching grasp and scrambled a safe distance away.
Going to her, Carson knelt and touched her face where Drake had struck her. She’d have a fat bruised lip for a while.
“Are you okay?” he asked.
“I think so.”
Carson helped Georgia to her feet. She was still a little unsteady from being hit. She leaned against him and looked at Drake.
He sat on the floor, holding his bleeding arm and staring at them with defeated menace. Had he even known Carson was ex–Special Forces? Carson was guessing not. He’d only seen through a jealous haze. No man was allowed to have Georgia, and if he couldn’t have her no one could. A smarter man would have done more research.
As Carson met Drake’s eyes, Drake’s rage began to boil over, and he attempted to move.
Carson aimed his pistol, his other arm around Georgia. “I wouldn’t if I were you. The next bullet will be in your head.”
“Drake,” Georgia said. “Don’t. It’s over. It’s all over.”
Looking from her to the barrel of Carson’s gun, he returned his gaze to Georgia.
Pounding on the door preceded a loud “San Diego police!” And then the door was broken down and a swarm of officers entered.
Carson put his gun away and he and Georgia stepped back to allow police room to arrest Drake. Paramedics tended to his wounds and he was taken away on a stretcher. He’d be treated and taken to jail as soon as he was healed enough.
Another team went to work on the scene where the couple had been murdered. Drake wouldn’t see the outside of a cell for the rest of his life.
Whit entered the house with a look of great relief when he saw Carson and Georgia.
“Sneaking out of the house?” Whit said to Carson. Georgia looked up from where she sat as a paramedic inspected her mouth.
Carson grinned. “Just like when we were kids.”
“Not funny.” He pointed his finger at his face. And then he phoned Landry to let her know Carson and Georgia were okay.
Now all he had to do was convince Georgia to come back to the ranch with him. Or maybe he’d come up with another surprise for her. But first he had a phone call to make.
* * *
Whit and Carson were still talking when Landry entered Reginald’s old home office. Carson had just gotten off the phone with Aunt Kate for the second time. He’d spoken to her yesterday after dropping Georgia off at her hotel, where she’d insisted on going. Carson didn’t have time to argue with her. He’d deal with her soon, though, and before she got on a plane.
“Was that Aunt Kate?” Landry asked, walking over to a bowl of jelly beans on the desk and taking a handful.
“Yes.” Carson leaned against the desk next to where Landry stood, both of them at a slight angle to include Whit, who sat on the chair behind the desk.
“Did she find someone to help us find Jackson?”
“Yes.” Carson glanced at Whit, who gave him a nod of encouragement. Carson looked at Landry again. “She’s sending Derek Winchester. He’s an FBI agent who specializes in missing persons cases.”
“Okay. Good.” She passed glances to both men. “Isn’t it?”
“Yes.” Carson cleared his throat. “But we need your help, Landry.”
“Me?” She popped some of the candy into her mouth.
“We need you to pose as his live-in girlfriend,” Carson said.
Landry stopped chewing her candy to stare at him. “What?”
“Emmaline comes to the ranch on occasion,” Whit said. “Just as she did for the reunion. We’d like to be ready for her next visit, one that perhaps we can coax her into making in the near future.”
“That’s right,” Carson said. “She won’t catch on to our suspicion while Derek carries out an investigation.”
“But...I thought you dismissed the possibility that Noah could be Jackson.”
“We have to be sure,” Carson said.
Landry thought a moment and then nodded. “I think so, too. But to pose as a stranger’s girlfriend?”
“He’s an FBI agent. He’ll be a perfect gentleman. You won’t be expected to do anything you’re not comfortable doing.”
“Except be a convincing girlfriend?” Landry breathed a derisive laugh. “Right.”
“Will you do it?” Carson asked.
She saw how serious he was and softened. “Of course. I want to find our half brother as much as you both do.”
Carson was happy to see her gaining strength after struggling to accept what their mother had done and may have done.
“Great. I’ll let Kate know.” Carson started toward the door. “I’ll see you two tomorrow. Whit, I won’t be in the office until the day after tomorrow, maybe longer.”
“Where are you going?” he asked.
“He’s going to go get his woman,” Landry said, eating more chocolate with a sly gleam to her eyes.
Yes, that’s exactly what he was going to do. If he could convince Georgia. With Ruby’s help, he had confidence he’d succeed.
Chapter 16
Georgia ached all over and her face was sore. Two days had passed since Drake was arrested. By the time they’d finished with the police, morning had come. It was late afternoon before she’d checked in to this hotel. Then she’d slept for fourteen hours. Carson had called her once, just before she’d fallen asleep, asking her not to leave California. Not yet, he’d said. Why not yet?
Her mother called and said she was down in the lobby, so Georgia had to let her into her room. She was sure she’d get more persuasion not to leave, but she’d made up her mind. She opened the hotel door to let her in.
“Tell me you’re not really going back to Florida,” Ruby said as she entered.
“I’m going back to Florida. We both don’t need to be here.” This was her first step toward putting herself first. Jackson was Ruby’s son. She should b
e the one to stay until he was either found or the Adairs gave up searching. Ruby didn’t need her to hold her hand anymore.
“Georgia,” Ruby protested.
Ignoring her, Georgia resumed putting toiletries back into her suitcase.
“When do you fly back?”
“This afternoon.” She’d go to the airport and wait for her flight.
“So you’ve made flight reservations.”
“Yes. Just this morning.”
Ruby came over to her and laid her hand on her arm, stopping her from putting her nightgown into the luggage. “Cancel them, Georgia. Come and stay with me at my new apartment.”
“You have an apartment now?”
“Yes, Georgia. I feel like I belong here.”
“Because of Hayden?”
“No. Hayden is a nice man and I enjoy his company, but I want to take things slow with him.”
Georgia met her earnest look and had to harden herself from doing whatever Ruby requested. It was good she’d cooled it off with the rancher. It showed strength, and proved to Georgia once and for all that her mother wasn’t after money in a man. Not that she needed it with the inheritance she’d received.
“You don’t need me here anymore, Mom. You’ll be very happy here. I can come out and visit you and you can come to Florida to see me.”
Ruby shook her head. “Yes, I’ll be fine. You don’t have to take care of me. But stay. Just for a little while longer.”
Long enough to allow Carson to seduce her into staying permanently?
A place in her heart swelled at the prospect.
“Don’t you want to help Carson find Jackson?” Ruby asked. “Not for me, of course, but you’ve been helping him. Are you really going to drop that and go home?”
She was reaching now, but Georgia did want to look into Noah and see if she could prove he was Jackson. She wouldn’t tell Ruby that, though. Although she would not be as protective as she had been before, there was a line to be drawn. She didn’t want to hurt her stepmother, and hurt she’d be if Noah turned out not to be Jackson.
Georgia closed her suitcase. She was ready to go. Standing before her stepmother, she waited for her to relent and allow her to leave.
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