P
eyton and Finn arrived in Atlanta an hour before Erik’s flight landed, which gave them plenty of time to get to his gate and wait to intercept him.
Mimi had taken a photo on her cell phone of a photo of Erik and had sent it to Peyton, but the photo of a photo wasn’t great. The glare blurred the image. Still, Peyton was sure she’d recognize him because everyone said he looked like his father.
“Have you met Randolph Swift?” Finn asked.
“No.”
“Have you ever seen him? Maybe walking down a hall, in the elevator or the cafeteria?”
“No, but there’s a huge oil painting of him in the lobby of his building. I’m not worried. I’ll recognize Erik. Mimi said he resembles Randolph.”
“But you’ve never . . .” He stopped. “Okay, you know what you’re doing.”
“Yes, I do.”
An hour later she had to reevaluate. The first man she approached was a dead ringer for her mental image of Erik: blond hair, tall, skinny, and preppy. He even carried a backpack like a graduate student would.
“Hide your gun,” she whispered as they approached the man. “I don’t want you to spook him.”
“Where do you suggest I hide it?”
“Under your jacket.”
Finn stood back and watched as Peyton pulled the stranger aside, introduced herself, and asked if he was Erik Swift. The man gave Peyton the once-over, smiled, then looked her up and down again. Finn wanted to punch him. When he heard the answer, Finn walked forward, ready to get in his face.
“I’ll be whoever you want me to be,” the man replied. “Want to go somewhere and get friendly?”
Peyton looked over her shoulder at Finn. “Who says that?”
Mr. Flirty sobered when he saw Finn’s badge. “Hey, she came on to me.”
“I did not come on to you,” Peyton said indignantly, her face turning red.
Finn made the man show him his identification, then sent him on his way.
“I don’t think I’ve ever been so embarrassed,” she whispered.
“Sure you have,” Finn replied with a smile.
They turned back to watch the people emerging from the Jetway. A group of men were following an elderly couple who weren’t going to be rushed as they made their way up the ramp.
Finn waited until the men had gotten around the couple, then yelled, “Hey, Erik.”
“Yes?” A man separated from the other passengers and turned in Finn’s direction.
“There you go,” he said to Peyton.
“He doesn’t look like his father,” she said, sounding suspicious. “I’m nervous,” she whispered as she watched Erik come closer.
He was tall and thin just as Mimi described, yet Peyton saw no resemblance to the portrait of Randolph. She knew Erik was in his late twenties, but this man looked much younger, like someone who was about to start college. Dressed in a long-sleeve striped T-shirt and jeans, he had headphones wrapped around his neck, the thin cord tucked in his pocket. He carried his puff jacket and a backpack.
“Erik Swift?” Peyton asked.
“Yes,” he answered. He smiled politely yet appeared puzzled, as though she were someone he should recognize but couldn’t place.
Peyton extended her hand and, after introducing herself and Finn, she rushed to explain, “We’ve never met. I worked for your family’s magazine for a short while.”
Erik then turned his attention to Finn and frowned at the sight of the gun. “What’s this all about?” he asked.
“Could we go somewhere quiet to talk?” Peyton said. “There’s something I think you should hear.”
Reticent but curious, Erik followed them to the airline’s lounge, which was a few gates away. Finn’s badge was the only identification they needed to get them into the exclusive inner club. Peyton was pleased to find out that Erik wasn’t a member because it made him seem more normal and less like Drew and Eileen. Finn pointed to an alcove near the back wall that was far enough away from the other sitting areas to give them some privacy, and Peyton and Erik headed in that direction while Finn stopped at the bar to get them bottles of water.
Erik and Peyton took chairs facing each other, and Finn joined them, setting the bottles of water on the low table in the middle before taking his seat on an adjacent black leather sofa. Erik’s body language was telling. He was tense, as if he knew something bad was coming.
“As I said,” Peyton began, “I worked for your magazine.”
Finn watched Erik closely, waiting for his reaction.
“Your brother-in-law was my boss,” she continued.
“I could have guessed that,” he said, leaning forward.
“How could you have guessed—”
“You’re beautiful,” he blurted. “Drew would find a way to get you in his department and under his thumb.”
“Do you like your brother-in-law?” Finn asked the question.
“No, I do not. He’s an ass.”
“What about your sister? Do you get along with Eileen?”
Erik looked a little put off by the question at first. He paused for a moment and then said, “She and I went our separate ways years ago. She was pretty awful to our mother.” He shook his head. “I’ll never forgive her for that . . . even though my father has,” he added as an afterthought. Straightening in the chair, he sounded authoritative. “Tell me what this is all about.”
“Where do I start?” she asked Finn.
“How about your first day on the job.”
“Yes, okay,” she said, and began to describe her nightmare.
Erik blanched several times and muttered profanities; however, he didn’t seem to have trouble believing her.
By the time Peyton finished telling about her encounters with Drew, she was trembling. She stood up and reached for her bottle of water. Opening it, she took a sip and would have gone back to her chair if Finn hadn’t grabbed her hand and forced her to sit beside him. He seemed to know she needed to borrow some of his strength right now.
“Parsons followed her when she left Dalton,” Finn said and told Erik about the bullet holes.
Erik opened his mouth to argue and stopped when he realized their claim was plausible. “I wouldn’t put anything past Parsons. He’s a bully and a parasite.”
“Twice now someone’s taken shots at Peyton. Twice,” Finn repeated angrily. “And I’ve got four strong suspects.”
Four? Peyton thought. Where did he come up with that number? She turned to ask him, but he put his hand on hers and gently squeezed, and she knew that meant “Ask me later.”
“Why don’t you listen to the recording now,” Finn suggested.
“Since you have headphones, I won’t have to put it on speaker and listen to it again,” Peyton told him, silently adding,
Thank God.
Hearing Drew’s voice made her nerves screech.
She pulled up the recording on her cell phone and handed it to him. Erik plugged the cord in, adjusted his headphones over his ears, and pressed play.
The color slowly drained from Erik’s face. A few minutes later, his cheeks flushed, and Peyton surmised that he was hearing the terrible things Drew had said about his mother. By the time the recording ended, Erik looked as though he’d aged ten years. His brow wrinkled into deep furrows and his lips disappeared into a razor-thin line. He gave the phone back to Peyton and removed his headphones.
“Has my father heard this?” he asked.
“No.”
“Why not?”
“Your sister guards him like a rottweiler. No one can get near him. He’s been shut off from hearing anything negative.”
Erik rubbed his forehead. “The trip to Europe to visit all the places my mother loved . . . that was all a sham, wasn’t it? To get back in Dad’s good graces.”
Peyton didn’t say anything, and for the next ten minutes, Erik railed.
“What are you going to do about all this?” Finn asked.
His answer was immediate. “Kick him out. Eileen, too. My father’s wanted me to take a more active role in the company, and now that I’m almost finished with grad school, I can do that,” he said with resolve. “I’ll talk to him. We drive to the cemetery together whenever I come home. It helps him, I think.” His voice was tinged with sadness when he added, “He misses her, and so do I.”
He tapped his finger on Peyton’s phone and said, “Will you send that recording to me?” He gave her his number, and seconds later the recording was delivered.
“I’ll make Dad listen to this while we’re at the cemetery. That’s about the only time we’re alone. Eileen never wants to go with us.”
“Drew thinks he’s going to be named CEO by your father at the memorial for your mother.”
Erik shook his head. “No, that’s changed. Dad called me yesterday and told me he’s making the announcement on Friday. He said Drew talked him into moving it up. He didn’t want company business to take away from the tribute to my mother.”
“That’s less than a week away,” she said. “How are you going to kick him out once he’s put in charge? You better figure out a way to do it before then.”
“His appointment is temporary,” he explained. “Dad wants me to get in a couple of years learning how all the departments are run before I take over. He doesn’t want a son-in-law to reign over the family business.”
“Drew will never give it up to you,” she said. “Why wasn’t Eileen offered the job?”
“She didn’t want it,” he answered. “She wanted Drew to run the company. She’d be a disaster anyway. The way she treats everyone . . . At times she’s insufferable,” he said, and then with a weary sigh, he added, “But she loves her husband.”
“It’s a twisted love,” she snapped. “You just heard the recording, for God’s sake. You know Drew is a sexual deviant.”
“I heard the rumors,” he said. “I just didn’t . . .”
“Find out if they were true? Are you really that dense?” Peyton asked. She didn’t want to sound so unsympathetic, but she was determined to make him understand the consequences of leaving Drew at the helm.
“Not dense,” Finn corrected. “You just didn’t want to know, did you, Erik?”
He didn’t make excuses. “No, I guess I didn’t. I knew he was a womanizer, and I knew Eileen didn’t care how many other women he had.” Without missing a beat, he asked Peyton, “Are you going to sue? You’ve got a hell of a case if you do.”
She’d been sitting on the edge of the sofa. She fell back against Finn and said, “That depends on you and your father. Get Drew out of the company and put the reason why he was fired in his file. I want his past to follow him. And one more thing, Erik . . . I’m putting you on notice. You’ve been told; you have the recording; and if you don’t do anything about Drew, eventually one of his victims will report him for assault, and I’ll make sure everyone knows you were aware of his perversion. You let him go unchecked, he’ll destroy your company. You better do the right thing.”
“You’ve given me a lot to think about,” he said as he stood and reached for his backpack.
Up until then, Finn had appeared to be very laid-back, but in a heartbeat that changed.
“Sit down. We aren’t finished here.”
His voice was like acid to Erik. He visibly flinched before quickly dropping into the chair.
Finn leaned forward with his arms braced on his knees and stared at Erik. He wanted to make him squirm, and he accomplished his goal.
“How often do Drew and his friends go hunting?” he asked.
The question surprised Erik. “I don’t know. They used to go a couple of times a year, I guess.”
Peyton wondered what Finn was up to. Drew said he didn’t go hunting; he went fishing. Wasn’t that what he had told them?
“Where do they keep their rifles?”
“Why do you want to know?”
“Where do they keep their rifles?” he repeated.
“They always borrowed my dad’s guns. When Dad was younger he liked to go hunting. He took me once. I hated the cold and never went again. He has a pretty big collection of rifles. Some of them are really valuable. That’s why he always insisted Drew bring them back the minute he returned.”
Erik looked stunned, suddenly realizing where Finn was leading. “Do you think Drew used . . .” The magnitude of the situation was finally sinking in. He turned to Peyton. “He was going to kill you,” he whispered. “He was willing to go that far for a what? A stupid job?”
“The money and the power,” Finn said. “I want those weapons. Are you going to help me get them?”
Erik nodded. “Tell me what to do.”
Y
ou scared the bejesus out of him,” Peyton told Finn. “Poor Erik was shaking when he left us.”
“Good. He needs to be scared. If he messes up, if he says anything to anyone before his father can act, what do you think will happen?”
Finn was pulling Peyton along to the gate for their flight back to Florida.
“He’ll try to stop him from making trouble.”
“That’s a pleasant way of saying he’ll kill him.”
“You can’t know—”
“Ah, come on. You made a recording, and he sent someone to kill you. Of course he’ll silence Erik. Probably make it look like an accident. Do you have any idea how much money is at stake here? Hell yes, he’ll kill him.”
“You sound so blasé about it.”
He flashed a smile. “How do you want me to sound?”
“I don’t know. Maybe concerned.” At the very least, she thought. His attitude was a little too cynical for her.
He suddenly stopped and put his hands on her shoulders. Looking deeply into her eyes, he became very serious. “You’re my priority. Agents Hutton and Lane will be back in Dalton before Erik gets home. He’ll be their priority. Don’t worry.”
“Back in Dalton? They’ve been there before?”
“Yes, they interviewed Parsons and several others.”
“When did they do that?”
“After I saw the bullet holes near your gas tank, I called them.”
The boarding announcement for their flight interrupted their talk. She was weary now; the anxiety and stress of meeting with Erik and worry about his reaction had exhausted her. She just wanted to close her eyes and try to decompress.
Fat chance of that happening. She kept telling herself that she had done what she could, and now it was up to Randolph and his son. If Erik did what he promised, she could finally move forward.
She wouldn’t be moving forward with Finn, though. He had made it perfectly clear he had never wanted nor intended to reconnect with her, and she was pretty sure his feelings hadn’t changed. It wasn’t until they were in the car and on their way across the bridge to Bishop’s Cove that she got up the nerve to broach the subject.
“When this is over, if I want to see you again, do I have to buy a gun and shoot my car?”
He glanced over at her and, frowning, said, “You know if you’re ever in trouble, I’ll come help you. All you have to do is call.”
Oh no, that was never going to happen, she vowed. She wasn’t ever going to call him again, no matter what the reason. If he didn’t want her in his life, she wouldn’t try to change his mind.
Neither of them said another word until they were parked in front of her condominium. Just as she reached for the door handle, he put his hand on her arm to stop her and said, “I really screwed up with you. I never should have touched you. This can’t go anywhere, and I know that . . . and you were a virgin, which I just didn’t figure. I should have left you alone . . . If I were to continue this, before you know it, you’d get your heart broken. I don’t want to hurt you.”
“How would I get my heart broken?”
“Let’s go inside.”
She was desperately trying to hold on to her temper. Had Finn not looked and sounded so tormented, she would have let him have it. She would have shouted, “
Now
you say something? After how many times you made love to me?
Now
you decide it shouldn’t have happened?”
“Answer my question,” she insisted.
“You might fall in love with me.”
It was at that moment that she realized just how clueless Finn MacBain was.
“Okay, now I understand.”
“I know that sounded arrogant. It’s just that—”
“I understand,” she repeated.
She got out of the car before he could come around and open the door for her. She didn’t run inside but waited and walked with him so that he wouldn’t know how upset she was.
“You and I want different things. I’m eight years older than you, and I don’t ever want to get married. That’s not going to change,” he stressed. “But you’re young, and you probably want it all. A husband and kids.”
Curious, she asked, “How do you know what I want?”
“You have a loving heart.”
Was that code for
naive
? she wondered. “And you don’t?”
“You’re not pessimistic like I am.”
She handed him the key and let him unlock the door. “You’re saying that I still believe in love and happily-ever-after, and you’ve figured out that it’s all nonsense. See? I get it.”
He didn’t argue with her. It was after midnight, and she was exhausted. “I’m going to take a shower and go to bed. Good night.”
A few minutes later she was standing under the shower letting the hot water ease some of the knots in her muscles. She wondered how long it was going to take for her to get rid of her anger and frustration and feel the hurt of his rejection. She wasn’t a child; she knew what she was doing when she went to bed with him, and she wasn’t sorry it had happened.
She wished he didn’t have regrets. It is what it is. That was what her father always said to her when he couldn’t come up with a logical explanation as to why something bad had happened.
Her mind wouldn’t calm. After she turned off the lights and got into bed, she replayed their conversation. He told her he never should have touched her. Just what every girl wants to hear. And marriage wasn’t for him. She laid that decision at Danielle’s feet. He had wanted to marry her until she cheated on him. He must have been devastated by her betrayal. It was all about trust, Peyton concluded. Finn had obviously decided that the only way to protect his heart was not to trust any woman. Did he still love Danielle? The possibility made her feel sick.
The week ahead was going to be difficult, and she didn’t have time to feel sorry for herself. A single tear slipped down her cheek. It was all she would allow.
______
Over breakfast Sunday morning Finn told Peyton he would be leaving early Monday.
“Ronan and I have to be in Seattle for a meeting before we go back to D.C., but you’ll be all right. Christopher has hired two men from one of the best security firms in the country. I’ve checked them out, and they’re excellent at what they do. They’ll keep you safe.”
“There shouldn’t be any trouble until Drew finds out Erik has the recording.”
“Always expect trouble. Be ready for it.”
She nodded. She suddenly remembered something she wanted to ask him. “At the airport you told Erik you had four strong suspects. I count Drew, Parsons, and Eileen. Who’s the fourth?”
“Erik.”
“But he—”
“I’ve said this before. Don’t believe anything until it’s proven. Erik says he and his sister don’t have anything to do with each other. That might not be true. For all we know, he could have called her from the airport to warn her.”
Peyton thought about what Finn had told her as she poured him another cup of coffee. “Wouldn’t it be something if it wasn’t any of them, that someone else having nothing to do with Dalton wants me dead. Now that would be a real kick in the pants, wouldn’t it?”
He couldn’t believe he actually laughed. “Hell, Peyton, a kick in the pants?”
“I’m just saying—”
He cut her off. “Having done a background on Drew and after meeting him, I’m convinced he’s behind the attempts. We know he has a shady character working for him in Parsons. Still, there could be an unknown, and that worries me. He could have hired a shooter, someone outside his circle, someone we don’t know about.”
“If he hired a professional to kill me, he’s not getting his money’s worth. The shooter is a lousy shot.”
Finn moved fast, pinning her against the island. “Don’t make light of this. If anything ever happened to you . . .” Staring into her beautiful eyes, he was fighting a battle he knew he was going to lose. “Ah, hell,” he whispered a scant second before his mouth sealed hers.
Her arms curled around his neck, and her fingers slid up into his hair. Passion burned between them, and she was holding on to him like she never wanted him to stop.
He came to his senses and abruptly pulled back. He tried to catch his breath as he said, “I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have done that. I don’t know what’s the matter with me. When I’m around you, I can’t seem to control myself. It’s the damnedest thing.”
Indeed, Peyton thought. “Then it’s a good thing you’re leaving.” She put her head on his shoulder and closed her eyes. She wanted to remember his wonderful scent, so fresh and clean and male.
Realizing how foolish she was behaving, she moved away from him. All good things come to an end, don’t they?
“We should go over to the hotel now. Christopher is waiting for us,” Finn said.
“Why is he waiting for us?” she asked.
“To talk about the security guards and their schedule.”
“What if I don’t like them?” she asked.
“Then you don’t like them.”
“I can’t trade them in for new ones?”
“No, you can’t.” He grabbed her hand. “This is serious business.”
Christopher was in the lobby with Lucy, arguing about something she obviously thought was important. Christopher looked resigned; Lucy looked irritated.
“Not getting along?” Peyton asked. “What a surprise.”
“We’re getting along,” Lucy insisted. “He’s just not being reasonable.”
“When will security arrive?” Finn asked Christopher.
“Meeting is at ten, and they’ll be on time.”
“You personally know these guys?”
Christopher nodded. “I’ve worked with them in Special Ops.”
Lucy took a step closer to the bane of her existence. “Who
are
you?”
“I’m the man who tells you what you can and cannot order, sweetheart, and twelve-thousand-dollar sofas are off the table. You’re not getting them. I’ve assured your uncle that all expenditures on improvements would be reasonable.”
Peyton thought about Christopher’s statement and it suddenly clicked. Uncle Len had put him in charge so that she and Lucy and Ivy wouldn’t mess up. Len didn’t want them to fail, and Christopher was there to make sure they didn’t. It was odd, but she felt some of the burden lift away. Christopher obviously knew what he was doing.
“All right, then,” she said.
Lucy turned to her. “What do you mean, ‘All right, then’?”
Peyton held up her hand. “We’ll talk about this later. You can vent then.”
Lucy nodded. “I’ll bring the wine.” She picked up a folder on the counter and, straightening her shoulders, marched past Christopher. “I’ll be in the office if you need me.”
Christopher didn’t look the least bit annoyed by her attitude. In fact, the slight curl of his lips as he watched Lucy walk away indicated the opposite.
“You like giving her trouble, don’t you?” Peyton asked.
“Yes, I do,” he admitted.
Finn was right. He’d told Peyton that Christopher had the hots for Lucy. Peyton preferred to think he was interested in her sister because he enjoyed sparring with her. Her interpretation didn’t sound as animalistic. There wasn’t any doubt that sparks flew whenever the two were together, and everyone knew that sparks could ignite a flame. Maybe their arguments were simply a way for them to hide their true feelings. A relationship between two people who would be working together for a full year might not be a good idea. Then again, they were both adults. If Lucy wanted to be with Christopher, and Christopher wanted to be with her, it wasn’t any of Peyton’s business. Except, she didn’t want her sister to get hurt. She only hoped that Lucy knew how to protect her heart.
Finn drew her attention. “Security’s here.”
The front doors opened, and two extremely fit men walked inside. They were quite attractive in a rugged, outdoorsy way. Both had dark hair and deep tans. They were about Finn’s age, Peyton judged, and built like him, all muscle, but as far as sex appeal, Finn won, hands down.
It was apparent from their greetings that they were good friends of Christopher’s. Laughing, they exchanged several colorful insults before crossing the lobby to meet Finn and her.
The taller of the two stepped forward to shake her hand. “You can call me Drake.”
The second man couldn’t seem to take his eyes off her. “Braxton,” he said.
They turned to Finn next. After they were introduced, Drake said, “Hey, I know you.”
“Yeah, I do, too,” Braxton agreed.
Peyton wanted to gloat. Finally, she could say, See? I told you people recognize you from the Olympics.
“You brought in Hayes and got him to confess,” Drake said.
“My partner, Agent Ronan Conrad, did most of the work,” Finn said. Uncomfortable with the praise, he added before they could say anything more, “Let’s go into the conference room, and I’ll run through Peyton’s situation.”
Peyton showed the men through the offices into the conference room, and the guards listened closely as Finn explained what would be expected of them. She didn’t think it would take all that long to fill them in, but she was wrong. An hour passed, and they were still going strong with questions.
“Agents Hutton and Lane are in Dalton. They’re running the investigation now, and they’ll keep you informed,” Finn told them.
“They’ve got eyes on all the players?” Drake asked.
Finn nodded. “This could be over soon. Last night Erik Swift let the agents take all the guns from his father’s house. They’re in the lab now.”
Drake and Braxton were thorough. They insisted on going over every detail again before they were satisfied they could handle the case. When Finn offered to walk around the resort with them to give them the lay of the land, Peyton went to her desk. Since she was already in the office, she figured she might as well work on the designs for the new pool. If they were going to open the resort to the public soon, they had to get things done quickly.
Finn and the two guards were just heading out the door when she heard Drake ask, “When do you want us to start?”
“I’ve got her until tomorrow morning. Then she’s all yours,” Finn replied.
What a lovely way to say good-bye, she thought.
______
Peyton wasn’t much of a drinker, but by five that afternoon she thought she might like to guzzle a bottle of wine. Maybe two bottles. No time to rest, even on a Sunday. Christopher was an expert at cracking the whip. He had appeared shortly after noon with a stack of proposals from produce suppliers and asked her to look through them for the resort restaurants. She had just compared her last arugula price lists and had sorted everything into file folders when she noticed the time. Finn hadn’t returned yet.