Deceive Her With Desire (14 page)

He fiddled with the red fringe on the placemat. “We were working undercover in Miami. I was the lead on the operation. He convinced me to let him fly solo. I knew he wasn’t ready, but he was young. He looked and acted the part of a street dealer. The thugs already believed he was the real deal. I wanted to bring down some big cartel so badly, I let him go. I had the blessing of the whole team, but ultimately, I was the one who signed his death certificate.”

Deirdre laced her fingers through his, holding him tight. He stopped fidgeting, but didn’t acknowledge her touch.

“Thomas went underground. We couldn’t find him. No one saw him for three goddamned weeks. I sent men searching, but they came back empty. So I went myself. And I found him.
Strung out on heroin in some whorehouse.”
His other hand wrapped around the coffee mug with such force it pushed the blood from his knuckles. “By then I knew the big guys were sniffing around, culling out the
wanna-bes
from the legitimate dealers. They were looking really hard at Thomas. If I pulled him, months of work would have been blown, along with the cover of at least twenty DEA guys working the streets.

“He seemed lucid. He convinced me he wasn’t using. It was all a sham for the job. I wanted to believe him.” Ayden turned, but looked right through her. “I think deep down, I knew he was lying, but I left him anyway. I loved the idea of a big score more than I loved my brother.”

“Ayden, don’t say that. It’s not true.”

“How the hell would you know?”

“Because I know you.
I know what you’ve gone through in the last twelve hours to take care of me. He was your brother and he trusted you to do your job
and
keep him safe. You were—”

 
“You weren’t there! You don’t know me or what I’m capable of.” His words dripped with venom. Though she knew the anger wasn’t directed at her, it didn’t soften their blow. All she could do was hold on and help him survive the tempest of memories.

“He contacted me on and off over the next two weeks. He kept working the deals. I wanted to believe he was all right. But I knew. I knew he’d gotten sucked in. But damn it all!” The mug came down hard on the table, breaking apart,
coffee
spilling onto the floor. Ayden barely flinched at the mess as she mopped up the worst of it with napkins.

“He was getting so close. I left him alone with no backup. He finally found out where the drugs were coming in, and we had them.”

“I suspect Thomas wanted it as badly as you.”

“More even.
He was new to the DEA and wanted to prove himself. He kept saying the Scott brothers made a hell of a team and we would get all the credit for pulling down one of the biggest Miami drug rings.”

She started to speak, to tell him she knew it wasn’t about boosting his reputation, but Ayden waved her off.

“And I was so hungry for the bust that it blinded me. The sea plane came in right where Thomas said they’d land in the everglades. And we had them. We waited for it to taxi in and they started to unload, but it didn’t look right. No one came to meet the plane. No ground transport. No drug baron. But they kept dumping sacks out of the plane so we stormed the landing zone.
Arrested everyone on the plane.
Seized all the cargo.”

His head shook, denying the memory.
“Coffee.
I had mobilized the fucking Miami DEA for some contraband coffee and a couple of illegal aliens.” Ayden snorted in disgust at his own stupidity. “They’d set Thomas up as a test and he failed. I might as well have painted a fucking target on his ass. He was marked and now I had to find him before they did and get him the hell out before something happened.” He raked a shaky hand through his hair.

“So I went looking for him again. I had men searching everywhere. All the drug haunts and dealer corners. But he was nowhere. I looked for two days. It was the garbage company that found him in some alley behind a restaurant— drug overdose.” His fist clenched and unclenched as if he wanted to hit something. “He still had the needle in his arm.
The rubber tubing wrapped around his biceps.
A fucking heroin overdose.
I’ll never know if Thomas had known he’d been a pawn or if he was truly addicted. Either way I might as well have put the fucking needle in his arm
myself
.” Ayden slammed his fist on the table, bouncing the broken glass. “I knew he wasn’t ready and I left him out there to be eaten by the wolves.”

“You said it yourself, they were testing him. You had no way of knowing that.”

Ayden turned to her, his eyes working to focus. She’d touched a nerve.

“Something or someone made them suspect Thomas wasn’t who he said he was,” she continued.
“Someone on your team?
A crooked cop on the take?”

“We did everything by the book. There was no reason to believe someone had double crossed us.” He shook his head denying the fact. “He was addicted. Thomas made mistakes because of it and it cost him his life.”

 
“I don’t believe that and neither do you. They’d suspected him of being law enforcement and there was no way for you to know until it was too late.”

“It was my
job
to know. He was
my
responsibility.” Ayden’s jaw knotted as he clenched his teeth.

“Thomas knew the risks of going undercover. He was a trained professional. I suspected he liked the challenge. You weren’t the one who put him in that dangerous situation.”

“But Thomas was
my
brother! I promised my mother I’d always keep him safe.”

And there it was.
Family responsibility.
Something Deirdre understood all too well.

“Who keeps you safe, Ayden?”

She watched understanding push away Ayden’s anger, the deep lines softening to a weary sadness as unshed tears glistened in his eyes. Even Deirdre understood that undercover work was risky business and all the training and experience in the world wasn’t always enough to keep you alive.

“But Thomas had no one in the world except me. I should have protected him.”

“Sometimes we can’t protect people from themselves no matter how hard we try.” Standing, Deirdre wrapped him in her arms. She held him until the shudders of pain subsided, and her heart didn’t pinch from the emotions overwhelming her.

Somehow, in only three days, she’d fallen in love with Ayden Scott.

Deirdre stared out the passenger window of the pickup filled with mulch, her thoughts moving as fast as the trees flashing by. She simply didn’t have the energy to drive to Jameson’s. She’d taken yesterday off, giving both
Rach
and Jameson flimsy excuses. But there was no getting around the fact that she had to face her employer. Today there would be only she and Rachel pruning the trees, working the flowerbeds, acting like nothing had changed since they were last at the estate. As far as Rachel was concerned, nothing had. But Deirdre knew better.

Three days had passed since she’d been arrested. Two days since Ayden had told her Jameson was a drug dealer. One day left before the weekend when she could drop the false bravado in front of her new employer and leave Jameson to Ayden and the DEA.

Until then, Deirdre would have to act like she knew nothing about Jameson’s background or Ayden’s undercover work.

Unfortunately, Jameson hadn’t fired Tilling Landscaping, quite the contrary, in fact. He’d phoned yesterday to say the Cutler PD had released the one-ton to him, and he hoped the regrettable incident wouldn’t have any effect on Deirdre finishing the job. He believed she was totally innocent of the charges. Of course he did. After Mark hadn’t gotten any confessions from the kids, she and Ayden had come to the conclusion that it was likely someone on Jameson’s payroll who’d set her up. They just couldn’t figure out
who
or why, which made going to the estate even more nerve-wracking.

She looked over at her friend driving in stoic silence. So much had happened between the time Deirdre left the Cutler police station and now, and Rachel knew very little about any of it. For the first time since they were kids, there were secrets between them. They both knew it. It was driving a wedge between them. Deirdre could only hope that when it all came out, Rachel would forgive her and understand that everything was done to keep her safe.

In any case, it would all have to wait until after the drug bust on Sunday.

Other than their phone conversation, Rachel knew very little of Ayden. But her friend knew her too well not to see the emotional connection she had with the man. So she’d spirited him away when Rachel had come to the ICU on Tuesday. Of course, Deirdre’s family hadn’t questioned the deception, it was the Tilling way. Regardless of the circumstances, family came first, even if their actions seemed a bit odd.

“So how’s your dad?” Rachel didn’t turn from the road.

“I talked to Mum this morning, and she said he’s doing better already.”

“When did they transfer him to Bangor Hospital?”

“Yesterday morning, right after he became
bradycardic
. He—”

“Dee, don’t do that,” Rachel interrupted. “I’m not up on all those medical terms.” Turning, she sent Deirdre a weak smile.

“Sorry. After the heart situation was stabilized, Daddy was having problems with his kidneys, and that just continued to get worse. Doc McCarty wasn’t too hopeful.” Deirdre swallowed the lump of sadness burning in her throat. “Anyway, Mum called us all to the hospital yesterday because Daddy’s heart had slowed way down, a condition known as
bradycardia
. Mum made the decision to transfer him to Bangor AMA.” Deirdre shook her head and looked at Rachel.

Rachel’s smile was genuine this time.

“
Against medical advice
.
Doc McCarty thought the ambulance ride would kill him. Mum thought it would save him. They had quite the heated discussion in the sunroom at the ICU. But Mum’s infamous Maine stubbornness came through. She wouldn’t take ‘no’ for an answer, and Daddy is now resting in the more experienced hands of the specialists at the Bangor Hospital.” Deirdre brushed at some crumbs on her pants.
“Seems to have worked.
It’s been barely twenty-four hours, and Mum said he’s gotten some color back in his cheeks, and he was beginning to flirt with the nursing staff.
All good signs.
I’ll go over tonight, but I won’t need to stay. She thinks if he keeps improving at this rate, he’ll be home by the weekend.”

“I’m glad for you, Dee. I know how much you love your dad.”

“Thanks,
Rach
.”

That subject played out, they slipped into an awkward silence.

Deirdre stared out the window and watched the trees flit past. If only she could move time that fast, and it could be Monday morning, and Ayden was safe, and Jameson and all his cronies in jail. But things didn’t work that way.

She hadn’t seen Ayden since he’d driven away in the middle of the night. He’d asked her to stay in bed, but she hadn’t listened. Her heart slowed as the taillights of the Jag were swallowed by the night, and it felt so much like watching Brianna’s Nissan leaving, Deirdre wasn’t sure she’d have the energy to go on.

But Deirdre kept reminding herself it wasn’t the same.

She would see Ayden again. It just wouldn’t be until after everything had gone down in three long days. They both thought it was for the best.

But damn, she missed him already.

When she and Rachel finally arrived at the estate, the day dragged as Deirdre worked to avoid Jameson and push Ayden from her worried thoughts. She’d convinced Rachel the trees along the drive could wait until the beginning of next week and they’d worked the better part of the day in the elaborate rose garden in the farthest corner of the property and away from the prying eyes of the estate owner.

When they called it a day, Deirdre mopped her face with the hem of her T-shirt, rolling her neck to ease the tension. She guzzled from the water bottle Rachel handed her, trying to cool the hot wash of nerves. She wasn’t sure she could do this again tomorrow. “All the hedges pruned and the flowerbeds on the east side mulched. Not a bad day for two hot chicks.” Deirdre handed the bottle back to Rachel and swiped at the water dribbling down her chin.

“Not bad at all. Might actually have this job finished by the end of next week even without Mark and his students,” Rachel said before finishing the water. “
You leaving
the one-ton here?”

“Not on your life. I’m planning on dumping the refuse at the high school and parking it at the homestead,
locked
.”

“Probably not a bad idea.”
Rachel climbed into the truck and hung out the open window. “If that’s the case, I hate to cut and run, but I’m going to be late if I don’t get a move on. It’s karaoke night at Duane’s and you know how I hate to miss that. I still need to shower and do a little prep work before I head out. Since it’s nearly five, I’ve got to haul ass or I’m not going to get a seat. I’m planning on breaking a law or two on my way home. You probably should go easy with the one-ton.
Wouldn’t want to upset the Cutler police.”