Heir to Murder. Elle James

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СКАЧАТЬ into his cheeks as he treaded water, sure to keep the lower part of his body well beneath the surface. “Sorry. I didn’t expect company.”

      She laughed, the sound joyful and as pure as the air. “I’m not sorry. I was enjoying the view.”

      “If you’d just turn your back, I’ll get dressed and we can be less awkward.”

      She raised her brows. “I don’t feel the least awkward.” When he remained where he was in the water without responding, she pouted. “Modesty is way overrated.” Then she turned her back. “I promise not to look.”

      Noah swam over to the shore and emerged on the bank next to the pile of his clothing. Still dripping, he tugged his jeans over his wet thighs. When he had them on, he collected his boots, shirt and belt and climbed onto the boulder where Rachel sat with her back to him. Her dark hair swung across the top of her shoulders and down her back as she flexed her shoulders and tipped her face toward the sun. “About done?” she called out.

      This wasn’t the first time they’d been to the pool together, but this was the first time she’d seen him without his clothes on and it had every blood cell in his body humming swiftly through his veins. He wanted to touch her but held back. She was far too beautiful and tempting. Rather than touch her with his hands, he leaned over her shoulder and whispered against her ear, “Close enough.”

      * * *

      Noah’s breath stirred tendrils of Rachel’s hair along the side of her neck. She spun around on her bottom, discovering that she was within easy reach of his broad and very naked chest. Droplets of water gleamed in the sunlight, daring her to capture them with her tongue.

      Rachel licked her lips and dragged her gaze from his chest to his eyes. “Do you swim naked in the pool very often?”

      “When it’s warm and I’m alone.”

      “Ever considered swimming here with a woman?”

      He shook his head. “No, but now that you mention it...” As he tipped his head toward the water, his lips tilted upward on the corners. “Care to?”

      When he looked at her like that, with that sexy gleam in his eyes and a teasing half smile, she was tempted to throw off her clothes and drag him back into the water.

      “Uh, not now.” As soon as she’d said the words, regret settled in. For the past few weeks, she’d had him teaching her how to ride horses, though she was an accomplished rider and had been riding since she was a small child. But he didn’t know that. And it had been at Landry’s request.

      Landry had been her best friend since they’d attended private school in San Diego. When Landry had asked Rachel to keep an eye on Noah, Rachel hadn’t seen it as much of a hardship. The man was so darned sexy she was surprised a dozen women weren’t standing in line for riding lessons with him.

      Noah shook out his T-shirt and raised it above his head.

      Rachel captured his arm with her fingers. “Don’t put that on because of me. You aren’t offending my sensibilities...and...and you need to let your skin dry more.” Mostly, she wanted to stare at his muscular body while she had an excuse.

      “In that case, I won’t.” He tossed the shirt to the side and stretched out on his back beside her, lacing his hands behind his head. “What brings you out this far?”

      “I had a date for riding lessons.”

      He shook his head. “You don’t need riding lessons.”

      “I don’t?”

      Again he shook his head. “Let me guess, you’ve been riding since you were a small child, right?” His gaze rolled her way, his brows rising in challenge.

      Rachel chewed on her bottom lip before finally nodding. “Yeah. I got my first pony when I was four.”

      Noah snorted. “Figures. I find it harder and harder to know when someone is telling me the truth or a lie.” His lips thinned and he stared up at the sky.

      “Hey. You’re far too cynical for one so young.”

      “I’m not young. I’m thirty-seven years old and the person I trusted most has been lying to me for all thirty-seven years. What’s one more person lying to me?”

      Her heart squeezing tight in her chest, Rachel didn’t refute his statement. The guilt weighed heavily. Instead, she lay on her back beside him and stared up at the leaves hanging over her, the sun sneaking through the gaps.

      “If you didn’t come for the riding lesson, did you come out to stare at the long-lost son of Reginald Adair?”

      “No, I came to see how you were doing.” That was true. But only half of the truth. She’d come to tell him that she’d been spying on him for the past several weeks as a favor to Landry. Surely he’d understand how careful the Adairs had to be. The family was rich. Noah could have been a scamming relative looking for a way to make off with some of the Adair fortune.

      Since the DNA test, conjecture had been settled. Noah Scott was in fact Jackson Adair and justified in any claim on Reginald Adair’s legacy.

      For the past month, Rachel had spent more time at Adair Acres than in San Diego where she was heavily involved in philanthropy, raising money for those in need. She’d put much of her work on hold in order to help Landry and her brothers spy on Noah.

      She had to admit, it was much more interesting staying at Adair Acres than at her home, which had become just a big empty space since the deaths of her parents when she was a little girl.

      Her chest knotted. Now that she didn’t need to spy on Noah, she didn’t have an excuse to stay. She’d miss having the Adair family around her, and her afternoons of riding lessons with Noah.

      Her purpose for coming to Adair Acres that day was to confess her part in Landry’s plan to find out as much as she could about the man they suspected might be the missing Jackson Adair. She steeled her nerves and opened her mouth.

      “Less than a week ago, I knew who I was,” Noah said. “I knew who I wanted to be and what to do with my life. I trusted the people I thought were family and the people I was working for. Now, I don’t know who to trust and who I am.”

      His words froze what Rachel was going to say on her tongue.

      “Apparently, some of them knew before the DNA test that I might be Jackson or they wouldn’t have asked me to take that darned test. Why didn’t they speak up then? Why all the secrecy?” Noah turned his head to the side to face her and held out his hand. “You’re not part of the Adair family. Tell me...” He paused before continuing. “Who can I trust besides you? Right at this moment, I think you are the only person I know who hasn’t lied to me.”

      Wave after wave of guilt washed over her as she took Noah’s hand and squeezed it. “Noah, I...” She swallowed hard to clear her throat of the knot forming there so that she could say the words she knew she should. Words that would reveal her for the liar she was and dash his hopes of having someone unbiased to confide in.

      Before she could say anything, he rolled over and planted his hands on the boulder on either side of her arms. “When I was growing up, I wished I had a big family, siblings to play with, to love and СКАЧАТЬ