Security Blanket (4 page)

Marin groaned and buried her face in her hands. “Oh, God.”

Lucky groaned right along with her. There were a lot of things wrong with their plan. For one thing, it wasn’t legal. But what Marin’s parents were trying to do wasn’t right, either. So maybe two wrongs did make a right.

That still didn’t mean this would be easy.

For two days, he’d have to pretend to be Noah’s father and Marin’s loving fiancé. The first was a piece of cake. It was that second one that was giving him the most trouble.

Lucky blamed it on the blazing attraction between them.

Before he’d held Marin in his arms, before that brief kiss, he’d only lusted after her in his heart. Now, he was lusting after her in all kinds of ways. And he couldn’t do anything about it.

Because Marin might become a critical witness when he busted his investigation wide open. She might be the key to finally getting justice. He couldn’t compromise that—it was the most important thing in his life.

He couldn’t get involved with Marin. He could only live a temporary lie.

“Okay,” Marin mumbled. She cleared her throat. “So, you have to do the interview, whenever that’ll be, but you don’t have to stay at the ranch in Willow Ridge. You can drop Noah and me off and then say you have an urgent business appointment or something, that you’ll return in time for the interview.”

Lucky just stared at her, wondering how she was going to handle what he had to say.

“You’re already having second thoughts?” Marin concluded.

“No. That interview has to happen. You have to keep custody of Noah.”

Now it was Marin’s turn to stay silent for several moments. “And you’d do this for me?” Marin asked. Her gaze met his again, and there was no cowering look in her eyes. Just some steel and attitude. “Why?”

She wasn’t requesting information. She was demanding it.

This would have been a good time to tell another half truth. Especially since—much to his disgust—he was getting good at them.

But another lie would stick in his throat.

“I’m looking for your brother, Dexter,” he confessed.

Her eyes immediately darkened, and he saw the pulse pound on her throat. “You followed me on the train?”

Lucky nodded. “I followed you.”

“Why?” she repeated, though this one had even more steel than the original one.

“Because I thought you might lead me to him.”

She tipped her eyes to the ceiling and groaned. “I was right about you. You’re one of those men. The ones who’ve followed me and tried to scare me.”

He reached out to her, but Marin batted his hands away. “Scaring you was never my intention. I just need to find your brother.”

“What do you want from Dexter?” she snapped.

Lucky was betting this answer wasn’t so obvious. “The truth?”

She sliced at him with a scalpel-sharp glare. “That would be nice for a change.”

He debated if Marin was strong enough to hear this. Probably not. But there was no turning back now. He toyed with how he should say it. But there was only one way to deliver news like this. Quick and dirty.

He’d tell her the truth even if it made Marin hate him.

Marin stared at Lucky, holding her breath.

Even though she’d only known him for a short period of time, she was already familiar with his body language.

Whatever he had to say wouldn’t be good.

“What do you want from my brother?” she repeated.

Lucky stood and looked down at her. He met her gaze head-on. “I want him dead.”

Everything inside her stilled. It wasn’t difficult to process that frightening remark since she’d been through this before. For the past year, she’d had to deal with other men who had wanted to find Dexter, too. And like Lucky they probably had wanted him dead, as well. But this cut even deeper to the bone because Lucky had saved her son. He’d saved her.

And she trusted him.

Correction, she
had
trusted him. Right now, she just felt betrayed.

Marin tried to keep her voice and body calm, which was hard to do with her emotions in shreds. She silently cursed the pain that pounded through her head and made it hard to think. “Then, you already have what you want. Dexter
is
dead.”

Lucky lifted his left shoulder. “I’m not so sure about that.”

The other men hadn’t been sure, either. But then neither had her own family. “If Dexter were alive, he would have contacted me by now. He wouldn’t have let me believe he was dead.”

At least she hoped that was true. But Marin couldn’t be certain, especially considering the dangerous circumstances surrounding his disappearance.

“Let’s just say that I know a different side of your brother,” Lucky insisted. “The man I know would do anything—and I mean anything—to save himself. And in this case, making everyone think he’s dead is about the only thing that could save him from the investors who poured millions of dollars into research that didn’t pay off for them because Dexter didn’t deliver what he promised he would.”

She couldn’t disagree with that. Marin had examined and reexamined every detail she could find about the night Dexter had disappeared.

Lucky had no doubt done the same.

“What do you know about the night my brother died?” she asked.

His eyes said “too much.” “Your brother was a chemical engineer working on a privately funded project. He was supposed to be testing antidotes for chemical agents, specifically a hybrid nerve agent that might be used in a combat situation against ground troops. The investors believed they could sell this antidote to the Department of Defense for a large sum of money. But something went wrong. The Justice Department got some info that Dexter was selling secrets, and they were about to launch a full-scale investigation.”

Yes, she knew all of that—after the fact. Before that night, however, Marin hadn’t known exactly what Dexter’s research project entailed. Even now, she doubted that she knew the entire truth. Maybe no one did. But something had indeed gone wrong with the project, and the Justice Department investigation hadn’t happened as planned because there had been an explosion in the research facility.

There was also evidence of some kind of attack that night, and a security guard who was actually an undercover Justice Department agent had been killed. The body had been found in the rubble of the facility.

Unlike Dexter’s.

No one had been able to locate his body or those of the two women who’d been in the facility that night. But Marin believed Dexter had indeed been killed in the attack, which might have been orchestrated by someone who wanted to get their hands on her brother’s research project.

Since the project was missing, as well, Marin was convinced that the culprit had succeeded.

“Your brother is a criminal,” Lucky informed her.

Even though she was in pain and exhausted, Lucky’s words gave her a boost of anger and adrenaline that she needed. But then, defending her brother had always been a strong knee-jerk reaction.

“There were never any charges brought against Dexter,” Marin reminded him.

“Because the authorities think he’s dead.”

“No. Because there’s no evidence to indicate he’s done anything wrong.”

“There’s evidence,” Lucky insisted. “I just haven’t found it. Yet. But before his disappearance, Dexter was working on more than a chemical antidote. A chemical weapon. He was playing both sides of the fence, and three days ago a key component of that weapon surfaced for sale on the black market.”

Now, that she didn’t know. But perhaps her parents did. According to the phone conversations she’d had with her grandmother, the federal authorities had kept her parents informed about the investigation, and they’d visited the ranch often.

“That’s still not proof Dexter’s alive,” Marin insisted, certain that her voice no longer sounded so convinced of Dexter’s innocence.

Lucky lifted his hands, palms up. “Who else would be trying to sell that component?”

“The person who stole it.”

He didn’t toss his hands in the air again, but he looked as if he wanted to do just that. “Other than some blood found at the scene, there’s no proof that Dexter is dead.
None.
He would have hung on to that weapon and waited until the right time to sell it. Three days ago was apparently the right time for him because it appeared.”

Marin took a moment to rein in her emotions. Despite his sometimes selfish behavior, she loved her brother and didn’t want to believe he was capable of doing something like this. She’d grieved for him, and she missed him. Would Dexter have put the family and her through all that pain just to cover himself?

Maybe.

And if so, then maybe Lucky was telling the truth. “Assuming you’re right, then what does this case have to do with you?”

“Dexter pissed off the wrong people, Marin,” Lucky explained. “And I’m one of those people.”

That didn’t sound like something a PI would say about one of his cases. It sounded personal. “What do you mean?”

His jaw muscles stirred. He eased back down into the chair and scrubbed his hands over his face. “My sister was fresh out of her doctoral program at the University of Texas, and her first and only real job was working for Dexter.”

Marin sucked in her breath. This was starting to move in a direction that she didn’t want to go. “Not Brenna Martel?” Brenna had been a colleague, one of the women who went missing and was presumed dead. But Brenna hadn’t just been Dexter’s business associate. She’d been his lover.

“No. Not Brenna. His lab assistant, Kinley Ford.” He waited a moment. “My dad died right after Kinley was born, my mom remarried shortly thereafter, and Kinley took our stepdad’s surname.”

That’s why Marin hadn’t immediately made the connection between Lucky and the woman. She hadn’t met Kinley Ford, but since her brother’s disappearance, she had seen a photo of the young chemical engineer who’d assisted Dexter on his last project.

Kinley Ford had her brother’s eyes.

And those storm-gray eyes were drilling into her, waiting for her to answer.

“The police believe your sister was killed that night,” Marin whispered. “And unlike Dexter, there’s evidence to point to that.”

He nodded. And swallowed hard. “The cops think Brenna was killed, too. They found blood from all three of them. Just a trace from Dexter. More than a pint from Brenna. Triple that from my sister. There’s no way she could have lived with that much blood loss.”

“But the police didn’t find the bodies of either woman,” she pointed out.

Lucky shrugged. “Dexter probably hid them somewhere before he gave up and set the explosives to blow up the research lab. There was evidence that someone had tried to clean up the crime scene.”

Yes, she’d read that, as well, and along with the fact that there’d been no lethal quantities of her brother’s blood found, she could understand why some people believed he was still alive.

And guilty.

Though Lucky hadn’t convinced her that Dexter was alive, he had convinced her of something—the pain he was feeling over the loss of his sister. She understood that loss because she’d grieved for Dexter. “I’m sorry Kinley was killed.”

“Yeah. So am I.” She heard the pain. It was raw and still so close to the surface that she could practically feel it. “Your brother murdered her.”

Marin didn’t want to believe that, either. But she couldn’t totally dismiss it. However, if Dexter was responsible, then it must have been an accident.

“You followed me because you thought I’d lead you to Dexter,” she concluded.

He nodded. “I’ve been monitoring you for months. When I learned you were going to the ranch to see your grandmother, I figured Dexter would do the same.”

A chill went through her. “You’ve been
monitoring
me? What the heck does that mean?”

He didn’t get a chance to answer.

There was a tap at the door a split second before it opened. Marin didn’t want the interruption. She wanted to finish this conversation with Lucky. But then, she saw that it wasn’t her parents returning for round two. It was Nurse Garcia, and she had Noah in her arms.

The anger and frustration didn’t exactly evaporate, but Marin did push aside those particular emotions along with her questions so that she could stand and go to her son. Just seeing him flooded her heart with love.

“Stay put. I’ll bring this little guy to you,” Nurse Garcia insisted. “I told the doctor you were awake and anxious for this visit. He was going to be tied up with another patient for an hour or so, but he agreed to let you see your son before the examination.”

Noah smiled when he spotted Marin, and he began to pump his arms and legs. He babbled some excited indistinguishable sounds. Marin reached for him, and he went right into her arms. Nurse Garcia excused herself and left.

Marin didn’t even try to blink her tears away. It was a miracle that she was holding her son, and an even greater miracle that he hadn’t been hurt.

Noah tolerated the embrace for several seconds before he got bored. He leaned back and reached for the bandage on her head. Marin shifted him in her arms, and her son’s attention landed on Lucky.

Noah immediately reached for him.

Her son had given her a warm reception, but it was mild compared to the one he gave Lucky. Noah squealed with delight and laughed when Lucky stood to give him a kiss on the cheek.

“I told you that your mom was okay, buddy,” Lucky said to Noah.

When Noah’s reach got more insistent and he began to fuss, Marin handed her son over to a man who was feeling more and more like her enemy.

“Sorry about that,” Lucky mumbled, gathering Noah in his arms. “I’ve hardly let him out of my sight since the explosion. I guess he’s gotten used to me.”

“I guess.” And she didn’t bother to sound pleased about it.

“I wasn’t sure what to feed him so I called a doctor friend and got some suggestions for formula and food. He said to go with rice cereal. I hope that was okay.”

“Fine,” she managed to say. “I guess you didn’t have any trouble getting him to sleep?”

“Not really. But he’s got a good set of lungs on him when he wants a bottle. Don’t you, buddy?” Lucky grinned at Noah, the expression making him a little more endearing than she wanted at the moment.

Marin watched as Noah playfully batted at Lucky. Her son was at ease in this man’s arms. More than at ease. The two looked like father and son. And they weren’t. Lucky was simply a temporary stand-in.

Now, it was time to deal with reality.

The replacement father act had to be over soon, because she and Lucky obviously weren’t on the same path. He not only hated her brother, he wanted revenge for his sister’s death, and he’d been willing to use her to get to Dexter.

“Earlier you said you’d monitored me,” she reminded him. “How?”

His grin evaporated, and even though he kept his attention on Noah, his expression became somber. “I rented the condo connected to yours.”

The chill inside her got significantly colder. “You watched me? You listened in on my conversations?”

He nodded. “The walls between the condos are thin. It’s not hard to overhear, if you’re listening. And I was. I wanted to know if you were in contact with Dexter.”

She silently cursed. “So you know I didn’t. Still, you invaded my privacy.”

“I did,” Lucky readily admitted. “Because I had to do it. Whether you want to believe it or not, your brother’s a dangerous man.”

Marin groaned softly, looked at her son and blinked back more tears. “First, you save my son. You save me. And then you tell me that you’ve not only been spying on me, you want to kill my brother if by some miracle he’s still alive.”

“I don’t want to kill him. I want him arrested so he can stand trial, be convicted and then get the death penalty.”

“Oh, is that all?” The sarcasm dripped from her voice.

With Noah still gripped lovingly in his arms, Lucky stood back up. There was emotion in his eyes. But even though she owed this man a lot, she had just as much reason to despise him.

Marin hoped like the devil that she was keeping her temper in check because of her headache and Noah. Not because she was feeling anything like attraction for Lucky Bacelli.

But just looking at him gave her a little tug deep within her belly. She didn’t want that tug to mean anything. She wanted it to go away. It was a primal reminder that no matter what he wanted from her brother, she was still hotly attracted to him.

“I’m not the only person after Dexter,” Lucky continued. “Have you met Grady Duran?”

Oh, yes. And unlike what she was feeling for Lucky, there was no ambivalence when it came to Duran. She loathed Duran as much as she was afraid of him. Judging from their brief, heated encounters he thought she was a liar.

“Duran and my brother were in business together on the chemical antidote project. He believes Dexter is alive,” she supplied. “For the past year he’s been harassing me because he thinks I know more than I’m saying. The man’s a bully, and he’s dangerous.”

“Did Duran hurt you?” Lucky immediately asked.

Marin’s gaze rifled to his. Lucky’s tone set off all sorts of alarms. That sounded like the tone of a man who was concerned.

About
her.

Marin rethought that when she studied the ease he seemed to have when interacting with Noah. Maybe the alarm wasn’t for her but for her son. That led her to another question.