Secret Agent Boyfriend. Addison Fox

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      The question had hovered through his mind as they escorted the VP down several long corridors toward her waiting car, a phalanx of men surrounding her in unified timing.

      They’d had one goal, one mission.

      And they’d executed that mission with flawless grace, their only concern the woman in their protection.

      Images of that day still remained, emblazoned on his memories with detailed precision. He’d understood his job before then. He’d known what he’d signed up for and what it meant to lay down his life for another. But until that day, with Kate Adair wrapped in a tight cocoon of protection, he hadn’t understood what that vow truly meant.

      While Derek knew a kiss in a meadow on a bright spring morning couldn’t—and shouldn’t—qualify as equally dangerous, he’d be damned if the same thought didn’t keep spinning through his mind as he crossed the sweeping property of Adair Acres.

      Annihilation or safety.

      Although the vice president was no longer his responsibility, her niece was, and Derek recognized the trust Kate had placed in him. Which meant he had no business dragging said responsibility in for a mind-blowing kiss in broad daylight, all while his body screamed with the unfulfilled need to do so much more.

      He slipped in the back door of the house, Landry’s parting words echoing in his ears.

       Our fake relationship should be a breeze.

      Yeah. Right.

      The sound of voices rose up from the direction of the dining room, Landry’s huskier tones mixed with the deeper baritone of her brother. Although Derek sensed the conversation was private from the muted undertones, he was in the middle of whatever was happening here, whether Landry liked it or not. With a resigned sigh, he headed for the entry to the long room, prepared to join in the melee.

      “I don’t owe you an explanation, Carson.” Her direct words spilled into the hallway. “I said I’d go along with it and I am.”

      “By stomping around here like the spoiled princess of the manor?”

      “Oh come now, big brother. I’m simply living up to expectations. You know that as well as I do.”

      Derek let out a short, discreet cough to announce his presence, and both turned as he walked into the room. Carson and Landry stood close, their similarities as siblings more than evident in their fair coloring.

      But it was the matched battle stances that truly marked them as siblings, warriors down to their core.

      Whatever he might have been, Reginald Adair had a reputation for being ruthless in going after what he wanted. Stubborn to a fault, he didn’t take no for an answer, nor did he back down. It was a trait his children had apparently inherited in spades.

      “Am I interrupting something?”

      “Would it matter if I said yes?” The quick words snapped at him with the force of a striking cobra. Despite their earlier kiss and his subsequent fumbling, he couldn’t quite shake the smile at the fierce expression that only served to heighten the sensuality of those bee-stung lips.

      Derek shrugged. “Probably not.”

      Her bright blue eyes narrowed and Derek saw the light of battle as clearly as if she’d hollered “Charge!”

      “Well, then. Since you’re not leaving, perhaps you can explain to my brother why you felt the need to introduce yourself to Noah this morning, despite our explicit agreement that we’d manage this little deception together.”

      “I thought we already worked that out.”

      “Do I look like we worked it out?”

       You look like a woman who’s been loved.

      The thought gripped him so tightly he was amazed the words didn’t actually leak from his lips. Color still rode high on Landry’s cheeks, and the faint mark of his morning stubble edged her gorgeous lips in stubborn lines of pink like a brand.

      His brand.

      “Why don’t I get going and leave you two to figure this out?” Carson edged away from his sister, his gaze wary.

      “Some ally you are. You’re a traitor to the cause.”

      “Yep.” Carson smiled for the first time since Derek had entered the room, then added a wink for good measure. “See you later.”

      Landry’s moue of disgust did nothing to hide the sultry sweep of her lips, and she turned on a very fine heel to refill her coffee mug.

      “I didn’t talk to Noah on my own to go against your wishes. I thought I made that clear earlier.”

      “You did.”

      Something faint drifted across the gorgeous blue of her eyes. If he hadn’t been searching her face so hard, he’d likely have missed it. “You think I was wrong for taking the opportunity?”

      “No.”

      “Then why the attitude?”

      Her gaze drifted around the opulent room before she settled her focus back on him. “Noah’s my cousin. My family. And he has no idea what we all suspect.”

      Landry’s words stopped him and the momentary amusement he’d felt at her battle stance faded. He knew what it was to ruin someone’s life with the truth. Knew even better what it was to have that truth thrust upon you without warning.

      Despite that knowledge—or perhaps in spite of it—he pressed his point. “Noah can’t know. Not yet.”

      “Why not? If we ask him, he might be able to assuage our fears. Might be able to give us answers to our questions.”

      Derek understood her deep desire to keep the truth at bay. Like a hovering specter that turned warm memories cold and settled fear deep in the bone, their suspicions would change the course of Noah Scott’s life if they were proven true.

      “Or we’ll possibly create more questions. What if he tips his mother off before we have a chance to properly investigate and make our case?”

      The mention of Noah’s mother, Emmaline, did the trick. Landry’s open, almost pleading gaze faded, replaced with stoic resolve. “You think she’s guilty?”

      “I think we need to evaluate on our own before making suppositions or rushing to judgment.”

      Her long, slender fingers fisted at her sides. “And you haven’t?”

      “An investigation based on facts isn’t judgment. It’s what I do. What I know how to do. If you can’t accept that, then maybe my initial thought to work this alone was a better idea.”

      “Threats, Derek?”

      A retort rose up but he held it back, the urge to defend himself fading in memory of the clear hurt in her eyes when she leaped off her horse to confront him earlier.

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