Secret Agent Boyfriend

by Addison Fox

  “I was both of those things, but I got my degree at a rural college in Maryland. Equestrian lessons were electives, and I decided to take a class.”

  “What was her name?”

  The question was out before she could stop it. When she was rewarded with an easy grin that suffused his face in carefree lines, Landry was glad she’d asked the question.

  “The girl I liked or the horse?”

  “Both.”

  His dark eyes grew reflective, and she saw the years fade away. “Emma was the girl. Harlow was the horse. Both were beauties.”

  “Harlow?”

  “The owner had a thing for old movies. He named all his mares after Hollywood stars. Which, I might add—” his gaze darkened as he glanced at Pete “—is a far more elegant name than Pete.”

  Landry leaned forward and pressed her lips to the top of Pete’s head. “Don’t tease my baby.”

  “Why Pete?”

  “Why not?”

  “Because he was sired through a Triple Crown winner’s lineage.”

  “All the more reason he should have a normal name.”

  “Nope. Not buying it.”

  Although she wouldn’t exactly call Derek Winchester an open book, there was an honesty about him she found refreshing. Unlike the society crowd she’d run with her whole life, there was something simple in his direct approach to life.

  Add on the fact that he didn’t pull any punches—if he had a question, he asked, and if he had an opinion, he stated it—and Landry found herself growing more and more comfortable in his presence.

  It was an odd sensation—both the lack of artifice and the fact that she was enjoying it. And it was more than a little unnerving to know she couldn’t quite get her footing with him.

  What was even more unnerving was realizing that perhaps she didn’t want to.

  “I never cared about his lineage.”

  “Didn’t you pick him out?”

  “In a way. When I showed an interest in riding, my father encouraged it. It was the one thing we could do together, and I loved every minute of it. Being with him, in his orbit, with his full attention focused on me.”

  “So what changed?”

  “When I began to get good at it, my mother stepped in. She felt that riding was an acceptable activity for a young girl of wealthy means and proudly preened to all her friends and acquaintances about my advancing skill. She also felt it would help me keep my weight in check. She pressured my father to get me a spectacular horse.”

  “So they gave you Pete?”

  “My mother went on about it for weeks. How I’d get a fancy horse and show up every family in the county. The more she talked about it, the more I wasn’t interested.”

  “Yet you went along with things anyway?”

  “Of course. The good daughter, following her mother’s instructions.”

  While she would defend her mother’s innocence until the day she died, Landry had to admit that the last few months since Patsy fled had been freeing. She’d known her mother’s ways were oppressive, but it was only with her finally gone that Landry could admit just how bad things had become.

  The endless censure and criticism. The prying eyes and leading questions, wondering when Landry’s next date was or why she’d stopped seeing that Asher boy. Even Carson’s arrival home from the military—injury and all—hadn’t shifted her mother’s eagle-eyed focus off Landry’s life.

  “So what happened?”

  “My father scheduled an afternoon with the owner of Pete’s dam for us to take a look. I’d spent the car ride sullen and irritated and had played ‘Let My Love Open the Door’ on repeat the whole way.”

  “Pete Townshend?”

  “Yep.”

  “And then I got out of the car and walked into the stable and fell in love with my own Pete, and that was the end of my complaints.”

  Derek’s eyebrows shot up, a wry grin on his face. “Love opened the door?”

  Landry bent down and wrapped her arms around Pete’s neck. “I guess it did.”

  * * *

  Derek had never been jealous of anyone or anything in his life, but in that moment he had to admit he’d finally experienced the emotion.

  And how the hell was a grown man jealous of a thousand-pound horse?

  He’d listened to Landry’s story, and similar to their lunch the day before, had taken away yet another facet of her life. What appeared perfect and pristine on the surface hid a wealth of anger and frustration.

  Who treated their child that way?

  While he’d never considered his upbringing much more than average, the more time he spent with Reginald Adair’s family the more he realized just how good he’d had it. Two parents who’d loved each other. A sister and brother he still talked to and enjoyed spending time with. And a pool of memories that weren’t filled with experiences based on how he looked or what the neighbors might think.

  As that thought hit, another followed, and that sense of jealousy faded to nothingness. “I’m glad you had Pete.”

  “I am, too.”

  While he’d admired her persistence earlier and her commitment to the animals in the Adair stables, he hadn’t fully understood why she’d put herself at risk for the horses.

  With the understanding of what the horse meant to her, he saw her actions in a new light. He couldn’t quite assuage his frustration that she’d put herself in danger, but it helped to understand it.

  “Who do you think left the snake?”

  The proverbial storm cloud that had hovered above them all morning finally opened up. He’d spent the ride turning it over in his mind, but he was no closer to an answer. Nor could he come up with a place to start looking for one.

  “The one you insisted on charming?” He hadn’t quite hit the point where he could be carefree about the morning’s events, but he could add a small bit of levity to what was going to be unpleasant territory.

  “I did no such thing. I let it calm down.”

  “You know, it’s funny but I remember our morning a bit differently.”

  “One thing I think we both remember the same way. The bag it was delivered in.”

  Derek would have found an excuse to get the bag away from Noah if he felt he could have learned anything off the material, but the canvas drawstring tote was a dead end. Bags like that were easily available and could have been purchased at any number of stores.

  Landry continued. “What I don’t understand is why whoever did this left the bag behind.”

  “To send a message.”

  “It’s an awfully cryptic one. If you’re sick enough to send a snake and someone at Adair Acres was the target, send it to the house. Or put it in the car. Something.”

  “And risk having a servant find it instead?”

  At her sharp intake of breath, he saw the recognition light in her eyes. “Someone could have been hurt.”

  “I think that was the general idea. But it’s not a targeted way to harm someone, which is why I think this was meant more as a message than an actual attempt at doing real damage.”

  “I have to talk to Whit and Carson, and we need to talk to the staff. Tell them to be on their guard.” A hard laugh escaped her lips. “Won’t my mother be pleased to come home to half her staff having resigned.”

  “No one will do that to you and your brothers.”

  “How can you be so sure?”

  He shrugged, the interactions he’d observed over the past few days more than obvious. “They love you. And they don’t stay because of your mother. They stay for you and your brothers.”

  Her mouth drooped in surprise before she firmly snapped it closed. Although he’d only had a few days, it hadn’t been hard to size up the dynamics at Adair Acres. Patsy Adair might rule th
e roost, but her chicks held the true power.

  Since he suspected that depth of knowledge would only make Landry feel more guilty about the danger to her staff, he pushed forward with more questions.

  “How accessible is the stable?”

  “It’s open. I mean, we don’t always lock it.” She pulled Pete up as they approached a long stretch of field and rose up in the saddle. “Want to walk for a bit?”

  He dismounted from Diego and attached the horse’s lead to allow him his grazing reward after their hard run. Landry stood a few feet away, her voice gentle as she thanked Pete for the good ride.

  A few strands had come loose from her ponytail and Derek watched, mesmerized, as they blew against the soft curve of her cheek. She was a vision. The long, firm body. The porcelain skin. And the innate care and awareness of others that was easy to overlook when she was pulling the princess-of-the-manor routine.

  But he had seen it.

  Had seen glimpses of the caring woman underneath.

  Her love of the horse was one small example. He’d also seen it in her concern for the staff. Her fierce defense of her mother.

  Landry Adair was a woman who, by all accounts, had made herself. Out of a loveless childhood and the rarefied air of wealth and privilege, she’d emerged, like Aphrodite on the half shell. Fully formed and fully lovely.

  His stomach tightened on a hard knot of need and he willed it back, refusing to allow it any more control over his thoughts.

  This was a case.

  A job.

  And he couldn’t afford to lose sight of that.

  Voice gruffer than he intended, he returned to the morning’s incident. “Who knows the stable’s open?”

  Landry’s eyes widened slightly, but if she sensed a shift in the conversation, she said nothing. “Everyone, I guess. But it’s not like the property’s open. You can’t just stroll through the front gates.”

  “The ranch is nearly 200 acres. All someone needs is determination and a bit of patience and I’d wager they don’t need to use the front gates. An old line of fence or a thick copse of trees and someone could get through.”

  “Which is why we keep track of the main perimeter of the house and stables, as well.”

  “The stables, too?”

  “Of course. We have hundreds of thousands of dollars of horseflesh in there, not to mention top-of-the-line equipment.”

  “Do you have video equipment? Eyes on the stables?”

  “Yes. It all feeds into the main security system in the house.”

  He cursed himself for not thinking of it immediately. His thoughts had been so full of Landry while they were still in the barn that he hadn’t even looked at the situation through the eyes of a trained operative.

  With a hard, swift slap, the same shame he’d known at his failure to protect Rena rose up to knock him down. He was already on leave for one failed attempt at protection. Would he fail Landry, too? And by default, her aunt Kate?

  The calming benefits of the hard ride vanished as reality came crashing back in.

  His last case was still a disaster.

  Adair Acres still held a wealth of secrets and sins.

  And Landry Adair was still in terrible danger.

  Chapter 8

  Landry fought the urge to ignore her work in favor of pacing the small room she used as an office. But she did give herself a moment to simply sit and stare at the wall. And brood.

  The room had been her play area as a child, but she’d traded dolls and stuffed animals for bookshelves and a writing desk years ago. The soft cream-colored walls, dotted with vivid prints to add splashes of color, were her sanctuary. But not today.

  Maybe because you’re hiding.

  Her conscience rose up to taunt her and she resolutely ignored it. She wasn’t hiding. She was doing work. Good work if the letter she was drafting to the governor would ever get written. A thank-you note for his support and the confirmation that her children’s charity had received his promised funding.

  So why was her mind filled with Derek? They’d worked as partners this morning. First in the stable and then after, helping Noah calm the horses and resettle them into their routine. Even their ride had been full of carefree moments as they flew over the grounds of the ranch.

  Easy.

  The moments had been easy, even with the danger of the morning hanging over them. Sure, they’d need to consider all the angles around the break-in to the stable and put together a suspect list of who might be interested in doing them harm. It was tension-filled work, especially since she couldn’t dismiss those she knew completely out of hand.

  But they’d agreed to partner on investigating what was happening at Adair Acres. And they had a comfortable camaraderie that was friendly enough. Pleasant, even. If the sexual tension reached up and grabbed both of them every so often, well, she could live with that.

  They were working in close proximity to each other.

  And then he’d gone and checked out. She’d seen it happen, too. One moment there was a deep smile reflecting from those midnight-dark eyes of his, and then the next he was shuttered and terse. All business with an edge of annoyance.

  Landry searched her memory for something she might have said or done, but knew she wasn’t at fault. Whatever was going on was his problem.

  So why the hell was she upset about it?

  Minimizing the window on her computer, she shifted into her email. A few notes from friends. Some names she recognized from another charity whose board she served on. And a note from David Asher asking if she wanted to accompany him on a date.

  She tackled David’s note first. The decline was easy—she didn’t want to go, and the wedding was the same date they’d planned Elizabeth’s upcoming baby shower, so she had an easy excuse. Besides, it was obvious she was a last-minute choice if he was asking her for the following weekend.

  “Jerk,” she muttered out loud as she hit Send on her politely worded email that dripped social niceties like a sieve.

  “Was that directed at me?”

  The moment of self-righteous indignation was short-lived as she glanced up to see Derek in the doorway.

  “If I said yes would you know why?”

  “I’ve got a pretty good idea.”

  His admission of guilt was such a surprise she could only sit there, stunned.

  “I suspect it has something to do with my grumpy-ass attitude while the horses were grazing.”

  “What happened?” The question slipped out, and she cursed herself for giving him any leeway at all.

  “It’s nothing you did, but it’s not something I talk about.” He moved into the room, his hands shoved in the pockets of his jeans. “Ever.”

  So much for leeway.

  She was used to being shut out. Her parents had no problem leaving their children to fend for themselves emotionally, and her relationship with her brothers had always held elements of the same. The fact that Carson was four years older and Whit seven had contributed, Landry knew.

  In fact, it had been only recently that they’d begun to push back some of the walls that had always kept distance among the three of them. But despite their recent movement in a positive direction, the Adairs weren’t inherently close, and they weren’t particularly adept at sharing their thoughts with one another.

  None of it changed the fact that they were a unit.

  “Since we were talking about something having to do with me, my family and my home, I find it hard to believe I don’t have a right to know what set you off.”

  “That’s not why I was upset.”

  “Then why are you here? You clearly don’t feel the need to apologize, and I, for one, have had enough danger and sleuthing for the day. It’s time I got productive and got some work done.”

&nb
sp; Dismissal rang in the air like a school bell, magnifying her guilt at her terse tone.

  “When you do have a moment, please come down to the security room. I’d like to show you the tapes of the stables.”

  “Fine.”

  “Damn it, Landry—” He broke off and dragged a hand from his pocket to run it over his short-cropped hair. “I just wanted to say it wasn’t you this morning. That’s why I came in here.”

  “I know that.” The words spilled forth and she knew them for what they were. A deliberate attempt to pick a fight. “What I don’t know is this great, huge, magnificent secret you’re determined to keep but which you use as an excuse to act like a sullen bastard the moment you get uncomfortable.”

  “That’s not true.”

  “Oh, no?” She shoved off her office chair, the movement hard enough to push the rolling piece against the wall. “You arrive here at the ranch and you do nothing but ask me questions. Personal questions that are absolutely none of your business and have nothing to do with investigating my family.”

  “I’m here to help—”

  She shut him down, pressing her point. “Then you toss back some excuse about an issue in your past that you don’t ‘discuss.’”

  She made exaggerated air quotes around the word discuss, absurdly pleased when the motion acted like an accelerant to the anger already sparking in those midnight eyes.

  “Pain and hurt don’t give you a right to act like a jerk with a get-out-of-jail-free card. So the hell with you!”

  The air stilled around them, her words hovering like a storm cloud. Oddly, all she could think of was their moment earlier in the barn, as they waited for the snake to make its move.

  Strike or retreat.

  Stay or leave.

  Fight or flight.

  Derek reached out, his hands fisting over her shoulders as he dragged her close. His mouth came down on hers and his large frame simply consumed her.

  And as she lifted her head, accepting the powerful crush of his lips against hers, Landry knew the sweet victory that Derek Winchester stayed to fight.

  * * *