Secret Agent Boyfriend. Addison Fox
mar the moment.
“Can I fix you a plate?”
“I’d love to, but I actually wanted to get down to the stables for an early ride. Might I swing a to-go mug of coffee from you?”
The woman blushed once more before quickly busying herself with his request. He used the moment to watch the comings and goings in the large, bustling kitchen. Two additional cooks managed at stations along the wall while a series of maids streamed in and out in the few moments he stood there.
An overall impression of efficiency and expertise pervaded the room, and he marveled at the fact that the home ran without the obvious oversight of the lady of the manor.
Interesting.
Patsy Adair had a reputation for ruling her domain with an iron fist, and the promise of that rule must have extended even to times when she was away.
Was that same personality capable of murder? And the cold-blooded killing of her husband, no less?
While he felt obligated to review every angle, something about it didn’t play for him. Why would a woman so determined to keep her place in society risk that place over something as pointless as murder?
Especially cold-blooded, calculated murder in her husband’s office.
The power Patsy Adair wielded came from the powerful man she’d married. Killing Reginald would have been tantamount to killing the golden goose.
Kathleen bustled back with his coffee and a wrapped muffin still hot underneath its napkin.
“You shouldn’t have.”
“I saw you eyeing them yesterday with Miss Landry. I try to tempt her with them every day, but that girl’s willpower is greater than my muffins. Please don’t break my heart and tell me you can refuse them, too?”
The rich scents of vanilla and blueberry wafted up from the warm muffin in his hand, and Derek shook his head. “No, ma’am. In fact, I was hoping to steal one from you, so getting it fresh out of the oven is an extra treat.”
“You enjoy.”
Derek took a moment to assess his chances with the sweet woman and decided to go for broke. “Sad things often make people lose their appetite. Landry will come around.”
Kathleen shook her head, the light vanishing from her gaze. “I hope so. There’s too much sadness here. I left after the holidays to help my sister and her family in Ireland. My niece got married and we made it a family reunion. They were happy times. Then I come back here to nothing but grief and pain.”
“I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to upset you.”
“I’m not upset.” The woman dashed at her eyes. “I’m angry. Someone attacks Mr. Adair and leaves him for dead. Then they come after the family. It’s not right.”
Derek laid a gentle hand on her arm. “The family will get answers and things will be right again.”
“I hope you’re right.” She blushed once more, then pasted on another smile before she sent him on the way. Derek couldn’t help noticing the smile wasn’t quite as bright as when she’d handed over the muffin.
He maintained an easy stride past one of the property’s orange groves on his way to the stables. It was only when Derek got closer and saw the man he was looking for exercising a horse in a large paddock that the tension he’d lived with for the past six months returned to his shoulders and stiffened his spine.
If what Carson Adair suspected was true, Noah Scott had been living a lie.
And Derek knew it was his job to uncover the truth.
Derek waited until Noah was at a stopping point before lifting his coffee mug in a morning salute. “Hello!”
He willed the tension from his body as man and horse swung his direction. The last thing he needed to do was alert Noah he wasn’t who he claimed to be. And if the horse got spooked by the subtle tension, Derek could kiss his cover goodbye.
Noah’s comfortable smile remained in place before he directed his mount toward the edge of the paddock. “What can I do for you?”
Derek introduced himself, before adding, “I’m a good friend of Landry’s.”
“Ah yes, the new boyfriend.” Noah’s smile was friendly and his tone that of an easygoing cowboy. “It was all the kitchen could talk about this morning when I stopped in for coffee.”
A strange sensation—like thousands of bees stinging his face—worked its way across Derek’s cheeks and then on down his neck before he ignored it, repressing any sense of embarrassment. “People like to gossip.”
“That they do. And I can tell you it’s the national pastime here at Adair Acres.”
“I’ll keep that in mind.”
Derek reviewed his approach in his mind, working through the script he’d planned through the long hours of the night. “Landry said I could come down and ride any of the horses. Said to confirm with you who’s feeling well and up for a new rider.”
Noah’s jovial grin grew even broader. “That’s her polite way of saying I needed to pick who I want you to ride and also make sure you don’t get a crack at Pete.”
“Who’s Pete?”
“Landry’s beloved thoroughbred. Paperwork says he’s come down through Seattle Slew’s line.”
Derek heard the words, even if it took his brain a few minutes to catch up.
Landry Adair had a horse from the same line as a Triple Crown winner? And she selfishly kept him to herself and gave him an ordinary name like Pete?
Maintaining the loose-limbed personality and devil-may-care attitude of an aimless playboy, he smiled and nodded. “I guess I’ll have to work on her, then.”
“Let me know how that goes. My cousin’s not easily swayed.”
Cousin. Or half sister.
Without even knowing it, Noah gave him an entrée to discuss the real reason he was here. “You’re cousins? Landry didn’t mention it.”
“Sure are. My mom and her dad are sister and brother.”
“So you grew up together?” Derek added a smile he hoped conveyed a dreamy, besotted quality. “I bet she was a cute kid.”
“If all knees and elbows are cute, with a side of bossy territorialism, then yeah,” Noah said. “There’s a little more than ten years between us so I missed her later years. The stories are legendary of her terrorizing the grooms until they finally put her up on her father’s favorite horse.”
“Another thoroughbred?”
“Yep. Shared the same sire with Pete.”
“Damn.” Derek shook his head and tried to imagine a young girl of no more than eight or nine up on a horse designed for speed and endurance, descended from a horse who had those traits in spades. “Where the hell were her parents?”
“Around.” Noah said nothing more, and Derek knew he needed to pull back. Whatever loyalties were there were embedded deep, forged over a lifetime. He needed to go slowly.
“She’s quite a woman. Clearly that started at a young age.”
“That it did. Look. Give me a minute to get Lucky Strike taken care of and I’ll get you settled.”
Noah dismounted and walked the regal Lucky Strike toward a groom waiting at the edge of the corral. Derek took the moment to observe the exchange, the groom’s respect more than evident in the set of his shoulders and the ready smile at whatever joke Noah told.