Honeymoon To Die For (9 page)

Ryder hadn’t wanted to see Hubrecht then and didn’t want to now. In fact, he had a strange urge to convince Bianca to climb back into that helicopter and fly away. Out of danger.

An absurd thought considering she was here specifically to gain access to Hubrecht’s inner circle and ultimately his files.

“Well then this visit is
looong
overdue,” Bianca chided, sliding her hand down Ryder’s arm to weave her fingers through his.

Heat surged in his groin at the feel of her hand stroking his body even through the jacket. Just went to prove that a man’s body had absolutely no conscience and his dick had no loyalty when it came to the enemy.

Terrence tilted his head in deference. “Shall we go?”

Bianca smoothed down her hair. “I guess I’m ready if I don’t look like I’ve been wrestlin’ bears.”

Terrence struck out, leading the way.

Ryder heard nerves that Bianca’s down-home voice couldn’t hide. He should tell her she looked fine, better than fine, but that was the sort of thing a man told a woman he wanted to comfort. There had to be limits to this pseudo-marriage.

She squeezed his hand a little and asked in a warm honey voice, “How you doing, Darlin’?”

 Her soft Southern accent whispered across his senses. Made the wounds on his soul long for something he’d lost hope of finding again. He pushed that out of his mind and focused on her accent. The more he heard her talk, the more it sounded natural, but as if it wasn’t pure.

Had she intentionally watered down her dialect? Why?

Uncovering female secrets had once been his favorite pastime, but when he returned from the military he hadn’t wanted to dwell on secrets, his or anyone else’s.

The time or two he’d gone home with a woman since then, he’d been straight up about wanting nothing more than one night. A few hours to drown his nightmares in mindless sex.

To be fair, that had fit the bill for those women who’d looked deep into his eyes and seen “fucked up” in his gaze.

That had been fine since there’d been no mystique to any of them and no interest past rousing sex.

Bianca raised his curiosity again. She ruled her universe within her comfort zone, which circled around research. But Ryder had caught moments of vulnerability peeking through when he’d least expected it, like the times—three of them now—he’d kissed her. Yep, he’d even noticed it with that quick kiss when he’d helped her out of the chopper.

Of all the women in the world, why did he have to be turned on by the one who lived to see him locked away?

 “I usually take the stairs since it’s only one flight down,” Terrence said when they entered a hall with the elevator on his right.

Bianca had been silent until she heard that. “Let’s definitely take the stairs.”

Ryder didn’t care one way or the other which road he took to hell. But something niggled at him. Why had
she
agreed so emphatically?

“All right. It’s this way.” Terrence changed direction, heading down the hallway of the business where he’d struggled to be accepted, to find a place in the face of Hubrecht’s constant disapproval.

Ryder, on the other hand, didn’t actually belong here. Never had and never wanted to. Bianca tugged on the hand that held hers. That’s when he realized he’d been squeezing her small fingers hard in his much stronger ones, and relaxed his grip.

Out of some inborn reflex, he lifted her hand and kissed her knuckles as apology.

He could feel Bianca’s eyes on him, no doubt questioning the reason for that move. Even if she were free to ask him, Ryder had no answer. Hubrecht was almost certainly watching them on a security camera feed, but that’s not why he’d done it.

Terrence held the door open as they descended the last two steps in the stairwell to enter the executive floor.

Terrence nodded to his left. “Same office. I have not been invited to this meeting, so if you’ll excuse me, I’ll see you at home.”

Ryder wasn’t looking forward to that any more than being here. “Depends on how this goes here and then if Lady Anne lets us past the front door at the house.”

“The staff has prepared a room for you. I know she can be distant at times, but I told her I have high hopes that you’ll come back to VDE and, well, give me a hand with Father.”

Lady Anne might not want her sister-in-law’s mistake back at the Van Dyke mansion, but she
would
tolerate Ryder if she thought Terrence could benefit. The idea of being under Hubrecht’s thumb again was bad enough, but Ryder had been used as a patsy for Kearn’s killing. Nothing happened that Hubrecht wasn’t aware of when it came to his business.

Ryder had spent months in prison trying to sort through all the possibilities. He still had a tough time coming to terms with the idea of Hubrecht’s actually ordering a competitor’s death as a business move, but who else in this group would have sanctioned the hit?

Ryder intended to find out.

And for that reason, he’d been honest when he told Bianca that a wrong move would put their lives at risk.

Would he be treated like a beloved son returning to the fold? Or a loose end—a threat—that escaped a murder conviction?

Ryder asked Terrence, “Who else knew I met Kearn that night besides you and Hubrecht?”

Bianca squeezed his hand. Ryder understood that she was warning him about moving too quickly, but some things couldn’t wait.

Terrence’s upbeat mood flattened. “I am so sorry—”

Ryder held up his hand. “Don’t. My meeting with Kearn wasn’t a secret and I was fine with you telling Hubrecht, but was he the only one?”

“No.”  Terrence stared off to his left toward Hubrecht’s office, then pulled his gaze back to Ryder. “In fact, I announced it at dinner that night before you called to tell me the meeting was set. I had such high hopes and never doubted Kearn would meet with you. To be honest, I thought Father would be pleased that I’d asked you to help.”

“So you, Hubrecht, Lady Anne and Janeen were at dinner?”  Ryder would never admit it but he’d been hurt that his older sister hadn’t tried to contact him in prison. Her silence had been more condemning than any words.

“Yes, the family, Sam Long and Kale Carter.”

Sam Long was the Vice President of VDE and Kale Carter, a former Delta Force soldier, headed up VDE Security.

But they both worked for Hubrecht.

“Okay, thanks,” Ryder said and added, “If I don’t change my mind, we’ll be at the house later.”

Guiding Bianca along the top floor of the Van Dyke building, Ryder’s boots sank into thick carpet. A few small changes had been made, but not many. There was still an air of understated elegance. Everything from the clean lines of contemporary teak furnishings to nineteenth-century paintings spoke of a Dutchman’s stalwart personality.

His father appreciated fine art, but nothing showy.

Just like the man himself, who never showed his emotions.

Acoustic music floated through the air at an artificially adjusted volume. The hidden speakers were arranged to saturate the environment but not interfere with conversation.

“What was all that about not going home?” Bianca whispered.

“If things don’t feel right after this meeting, we’ll stay in a hotel in Buckhead.”

She tried to pull her hand from his but he wouldn’t let go. When he glanced down at her, she mouthed the words,
That wasn’t the plan
.

He paused and stepped around to face her.

Bianca’s eyes widened with confusion.

Slowly, he slipped his arms around her and eased her up to his chest, lowering his head as if talking intimately with her when he whispered, “First rule of a mission is that you have to be prepared for anything unexpected and adjust. The minute we walked away from our support team, we were on our own. If at some point I say we’re not going to the Van Dyke house, it’s because my gut’s telling me it’s not safe. I need you to work with me for us to be successful, and I need this to work as much as you do. More, actually.”

He slid his lips in a light caress across her cheek and brought his head up just enough to see her face.

The rose color of her cheeks deepened. Her lips parted and moved, trying to say something, then she frowned, thinking. “Okay. Unless you give me a reason to doubt you, I’m going to take whatever you do and say at face value.”

Ryder released the air that had backed up in his chest while he waited to see if she’d allow him this one small trust. He kissed her forehead. “Thanks.”

“Stop doing that.”

He cut his eyes around, knowing remote cameras transmitted their actions to Hubrecht, but he stood too far from anything that could be a mic. Their hushed conversation was safe. “Stop doing what?”

“Kissing me whenever you want.”

Just to be contrary he asked, “Why?”

Her mouth opened then closed. “Because ... I don’t like it.”

“Liar,” he teased, expecting Special Agent Brady to show up with her usual bravado and attitude.

But she didn’t react. Instead, she blushed. That, and her hesitation confirmed what he’d seen in her eyes when he kissed her in the helicopter. She was definitely attracted to him, too.  

That was risky.

He could deal with her snark and hardass attitude, but knowing she felt the pull would make it damned hard to keep his hands off this woman.

Bianca’s mind must have caught up to the moment and kicked her out of her mental haze. She cut her chin up at Ryder, hazel eyes flaring with cockiness and tone smug. “Fine. You win. I’m a woman who likes to be kissed, but I’ve enjoyed other men who were ... better.”

Bullshit. She’d kissed him back too tentatively to be all that experienced and he hadn’t even warmed up yet. The male in him rose up, prepared to prove her wrong and make her recant those words.

Arrogance shimmered in Bianca’s eyes. “Ready to meet
Daddy
?”

That hit the mark and doused Ryder’s lust quicker than a dunk in ice water.

He stepped back, but before continuing to Hubrecht’s office Ryder decided to give Bianca something to take the edge off of her cockiness.

Lowering his head, he whispered, “The only thing more dangerous than what we’re here to do is challenging me when it comes to satisfying a woman. Challenge accepted.”

CHAPTER 7

What were you thinking?

Bianca hadn’t been thinking. She’d just hated to lose, so she let her mouth get her into trouble, but to be honest she hadn’t meant to challenge Ryder’s masculinity or prowess with a woman.

And now she had to face Hubrecht Van Dyke with her emotions playing ping-pong with her brain.

They’d just passed a young man dressed in a crisp, dark-blue security uniform, but other than that, the top floor of Van Dyke Tower was pretty much empty and silent as a tomb.

Bad analogy if Ryder was right about how touchy this was, and she was about to find out how honest he’d been about the difficulty of earning Hubrecht’s trust.

She stayed in step with Ryder, putting all her attention on not stumbling in the middle of the Van Dyke corporate offices after that thinly veiled threat.

She didn’t believe Ryder would hurt her physically and maybe that was foolish, but her daddy had always said to trust her instincts about people.

Hers were telling her that Ryder wouldn’t harm her, but those same instincts warned her she’d made a mistake by pushing his buttons.

What exactly had he meant by ‘challenge accepted’?

Ryder slowed as he turned them toward a double-door entrance to a beautiful office decorated in white and black with dark green accents.

A small, gray-haired woman who looked like a grandmother in spite of her trim beige business suit stepped from behind a tidy teak desk and smiled with genuine pleasure at Ryder. “Mr. Van Dyke, how nice to see you again.”

Ryder released Bianca and stepped forward to take this woman’s hand. “Good to see you, too, Adelaide.”

Bianca couldn’t see Ryder’s face, but his warm voice said he thought fondly of this woman.

“How’s your grandson? Jacob?” Ryder asked.

“Still doing good, thanks to you.”

Ryder shook his head. “Give him the credit. He deserves it. Is he in college?”

“For now. But he wants to join the Army, just like you did. He’d love to talk to you.”

“I’m not the person to talk to him. Not now.”

Adelaide’s sweet face turned fierce. She put her hand on Ryder’s arm and her fingers visibly tightened. “You listen to me. I knew you were never guilty. None of us believed that. And now everyone knows the truth.”  At that, she stuck her head past Ryder and back came the charming grandmother who asked him, “Don’t you want to introduce me to someone?”

Ryder let go of her hand and turned around, reaching for Bianca’s arm. “Sorry. Adelaide, meet my wife, Bianca. Bianca, this is the person who really runs VDE.”

Adelaide gave him a push on the arm, laughing.

Bianca hadn’t finished digesting Adelaide’s heartfelt proclamation, or that Ryder had done something to help this woman’s grandson that sounded significant. But it was time to flash her smile and go through new-wife motions again.

Bianca reached for the woman’s hand and was surprised by the strength she felt. “Nice to meet you, Ma’am.”

“Oh, a Southern girl,” Adelaide noted with approval then told Ryder. “Your father is waiting in his office. Now that you’re here, I’m going home.”

Time to face the monster. Bianca’s stomach cranked up an acid party.

Ryder muttered, “Sorry if we kept you late, Adelaide.”

Like it was our fault we got hijacked by your father?

“Oh, posh,” Adelaide said, walking over to lift her designer handbag. “I could have left earlier, but I didn’t want to leave until I saw you again and knew you were safely here.”  She slowed on her way out and lifted up to peck a kiss on Ryder’s cheek then she told Bianca, “Looking forward to getting to know you better.”   She patted Bianca on the upper arm as she passed. “You got a good boy.”

With Adelaide gone, Ryder put his hand at Bianca’s back and gave her a light push to get moving toward the next set of doors. “Shall we?”

Bianca nodded, too busy processing Adelaide’s endorsement of Ryder and preparing herself for this meeting to answer.