Deceived (10 page)

Sarah felt a twinge of guilt at having to tamp down his excitement. “Oh, honey . . . I don't know how long we'll be here. I don't want you to get too attached to this place, okay? We're just visiting for a few days.”

Eli's face fell and his shoulders sagged. “You never let me do
anything
.”

Sarah smoothed his hair away from his forehead. “I'm not saying you can't. But I just don't want you to get too comfortable here.”

Eli sighed. “
Fine
. But can I at least have a
little
fun while we're here?”

Sarah laughed and shook her head. “Nope. No way. Absolutely
no
fun allowed. You know that's
completely
off limits, pal. You will do nothing but peel rotten, smelly potatoes and practice ridiculously difficult long division problems all day, every day.”

Eli gave her
the look
—the one perfected by tweens everywhere to clearly indicate that they were
way
too sophisticated and mature to let on that they found their parental figure even remotely humorous, no matter how hard they wanted to laugh.

“Very funny, Mom,” he said, suppressing a grin.

She tossed him one of the bags. “Yeah, well, you should hear my whole routine. Trust me, you'll be R-O-T-F-L-MA-O. Or would that be Y-O?
My? Your?
Not sure . . .”

“No,” he said, shaking his head, giggling. “Don't do that.”

“What?” Sarah asked, feigning ignorance.

“Don't try to be cool,” he called over his shoulder as he headed out of the room. “Please.”

“What?” Sarah said, hurrying to the doorway to poke her head into the hallway. “What are you talking about? I'm the coolest mom around! Here, check me out, Eli—I can totally bust a move.”

Eli whirled around, his eyes wide in pretend horror, but he couldn't suppress his laughter. “No! Just . . . no. Don't do the Mom Dance!”

“What
Mom Dance?
” Sarah called as he disappeared into the bedroom at the end of the hall. She started doing the cabbage patch, calling out, “Come on back, Eli! Check me out, yo! You have
the
coolest mom ev-ah!”

She heard him grumble something and, laughing, turned back to her bedroom—and leaped back with a startled yelp.

Luke's lips twitched with amusement. He ducked his head, then looked up through those long, dark lashes, giving her a grin that would've been devastating if she hadn't been so damned embarrassed.

“Sorry to interrupt,” he drawled, his mouth hitching up at one corner. “Just realized I forgot to tell you to help yourself to the towels if you needed to shower or anything.”

Sarah pressed her lips together, then gave him a curt nod. “Uh-huh. Okay. Thanks.”

“So ... I'll just leave you to it.”

Sarah watched him retreat down the hall and thought for sure she saw his broad shoulders shake with laughter....

Luke didn't miss the shy glances Sarah sent his way throughout dinner, the way her cheeks flushed when their eyes met and she quickly looked away, pretending to be completely engaged in the animated chatter between Eli and Melanie. He also didn't miss the way his heart began to pound and his stomach clenched in those moments. He'd be an idiot to deny the sexual tension simmering between them—or how badly he wanted to give in to it.

Sarah was a remarkable woman. Beautiful, intelligent, strong . . . Aside from her initial reaction to the situation that had her bent over at the side of the road on the verge of yaking, she'd taken it all in stride; her determination to remain strong for her son was clear to Luke without her saying a word. She was the kind of woman a guy could fall in love with before he even knew what was happening. Hell, if he was the kind of guy to be into that kind of thing, he'd be halfway gone already. But he was the
last
guy Sarah Scoffield needed to get mixed up with.

And yet, as the thought crossed his mind, those soulful dark eyes found his across the table and heat spread through his chest, warming him in a way he'd never felt before.

“I have a call to make,” he announced abruptly, launching to his feet, bringing an equally abrupt halt to the conversation.

“Right now?” Melanie asked. “You haven't finished your spaghetti.”

“Duty calls,” he told her. “Gotta check in.”

Sarah pushed back from the table and started toward him. “I'll come with you.”

“No,” he said. His need to be apart from Sarah and the way his arms wanted to reach for her every time she was near made the word come out harsher than he'd intended.

Melanie glanced between them, frowning. She had assumed that Sarah was Luke's girlfriend, and he hadn't contradicted her, sticking to their cover story. But she still seemed to be watching every move he made around Sarah, no doubt curious about the woman who'd finally lasted for more than a quick fuck-and-run—and who had a kid, no less. Melanie had seen him at his worst when they were teenagers and, after meeting his father on one unfortunate occasion, completely understood Luke's aversion to relationships. Fortunately for him, that meant Mel also knew he pretty much sucked at this kind of thing.

So the look of silent rebuke she sent his way made him mumble more politely, “I don't want to interrupt your dinner.”

Sarah gave him a pointed look. “I have some things of my own to look into, remember?”

He could feel Mel's gaze heavy upon them at that moment, gauging his reaction, so he forced a grin. “Don't worry. I won't be long. Then I'll turn the office over to you.”

She huffed. “Luke—”

Before he even realized what he was doing, he dropped a quick, perfunctory kiss to the corner of her mouth, cutting her off. “Be back in a few minutes.”

Sarah blinked up at him in startled silence, too surprised by the kiss to respond—exactly as he'd intended. But as soon as he was in his office, he dropped down into his chair and closed his eyes for a moment, reliving the all-too-brief warmth of her lips. Then he raked his hands through his hair with a groan.

“Get your shit together, Rogan,” he grumbled, booting up the laptop Finn had provided and making the call to headquarters. But he was still imagining what it would be like to fully claim Sarah's soft lips, feel her naked in his arms, when his commander's face suddenly appeared on his screen, jarring him from his thoughts.

“It's still two hours until our call,” Will said by way of greeting.

“Yes, sir, I'm aware of that,” Luke said.

“Then what's the problem?” his commander prompted. “Have you been made?”

Luke shook his head. “No, nothing like that.”

Will waited for a long moment, but when Luke didn't continue, he said, “Luke, I have the high commander breathing down my neck demanding to know how the flying fuck someone found out about Hal's plan for succession, and a man I admire and consider a friend lying in a hospital bed on life support with no way of telling us what the hell is going on. So if you've got something to share, I suggest you get on with it.”

Luke felt like an ass. His commander was right—there were far greater problems to deal with than Luke's misgivings about his current assignment. So he stowed that shit and instead decided on a different tack. “Sarah wants to make contact with her family. Can we trust Maddie Blake?”

His commander gave a terse nod. “Your partner, Jack, seems to think so. He trusts her. That's enough for me. But monitor the call. Make sure nothing is said to give away your location.”

“Sarah's not going to compromise the safety of her son,” Luke assured him.

Will crossed his arms over his chest. “I'm sure she wouldn't—intentionally.”

“And the info Hal shared with the boy?” Luke asked. “How do you want me to get at that?”

Luke hoped to God Will wasn't going to suggest anything like their normal methods of interrogation. He wasn't one to disobey orders—at least, not these days—but he and his commander would have words if he even went there.

“Get Sarah talking,” Will suggested. “We need to know what information the boy has and how it can be contained.”

Luke gave his commander a wry look. “I'm not exactly known for my conversation skills.”

Will's mouth twitched in amusement. “I'm aware of that, Luke, believe me. Just get her to trust you, be a friend. God knows she probably could use one right now. Maybe she'll say something that will give us what we need to know. She might not even be aware it's important.”

“Why not just send her sister here to talk to her?” Luke suggested, feeling uncomfortable at the thought of manipulating Sarah into confiding in him. Hell, he'd done worse to people over the years, so why the hell did it matter now?

“Madeleine Blake refuses to leave her father's side for the moment. Doesn't trust us to keep him safe while he's in the hospital.” Will grunted. “Considering the colossal cluster-fuck of an op that you and Jack ran, can't say that I blame her.”

Luke clenched his jaw. Jack had already copped to running a rogue op without Luke's knowledge; Will had told him as much. But it still didn't mean that Luke was clear of responsibility. They were partners, brothers. What affected one affected all.

“Sarah should at least get the chance to talk to her sister,” Luke insisted. “Maybe something Ms. Blake could tell her about the situation would trigger a memory for Sarah, give us a lead.”

Will paused, then nodded. “All right. I'll get in touch with Jack and have him set up a call on this line. It's the only one we know for sure is secure at the moment. And I'm going to send you some files to look over, give you some additional context. It might give you some insight into Sarah Scoffield and her family that you can use in your conversations.”

Luke shook his head. “I don't want to pry into her personal life, Commander. Keep your files.”

Will sighed. “I'm going against protocol even offering these files up. They're confidential. But Sarah has the right to know the truth, don't you think? And if you're going to help her, you need to know it as well.”

Luke mulled over what his commander was saying. He had to admit, the man had a point. And hadn't he been pissed all along that the truth had been withheld from Sarah? This might be the kind of information she deserved to know. “All right. Send it.”

Will gave him a terse nod. “Now, fill me in on the Russia op.”

For the next hour, Luke went on to brief his commander on the op he was
supposed
to be running but instead was handing off. When he'd finished sharing all the intel he'd been accumulating in preparation for the mission, he disconnected the teleconference and leaned back in his office chair, pulling a hand down his face. Then he got to work dealing with the other details of his current assignment, which had him lost in his thoughts again in no time.

A tentative knock on the door brought his head around. “Come in.”

The door opened slowly and Sarah peeked her head in. “Sorry to bother you. Melanie headed home.”

“You okay?” Luke asked. “How's Eli?”

Sarah offered him a tired smile. “I'm still trying to process everything. But I'll be okay. Eli's passed out on the couch at the moment. I think he's handling things much better than I am.”

Luke got to his feet. “Poor kid. The only sleep he's had lately has been in the car.”

He followed Sarah to the living room and had to smother a smile. She wasn't kidding that the kid was passed out. He was face down on the sofa, his arm hanging off the side of the couch, his mouth open wide.

Sarah bent to rouse her son, but Luke put a hand on her shoulder. “I got him.”

He scooped up the kid and hefted him onto his shoulder. Eli was heavier than he looked—especially when he was conked out, his head lolling against Luke's shoulder. As Luke headed for the stairs, Eli whimpered in his sleep, and his arms, which had been draped over Luke's shoulders, now tightened around his neck, clinging to him.

Eli might seem unaffected by the attempted kidnapping, but clearly it was just a brave front.

“I can take him,” Sarah whispered at Luke's elbow.

“It's all right,” he assured her, making his way up the stairs. When they reached the second floor, he headed down the long hallway to the last bedroom and gently laid Eli down on the twin bed.

The boy opened his eyes briefly and offered Luke a sleepy smile before his face went slack again. Luke felt a tug in the center of his chest and took a step back. It was one thing to work his way into Sarah's confidence, but he wasn't about to let himself get attached to the kid.

“I can take it from here,” Sarah told him, resting her hand lightly on Luke's arm.

Luke flinched at her touch before he could check it. But she didn't seem to notice as she stepped past him and removed her son's shoes, so he left the room, waiting outside the door until she finished tucking in her son.

A few minutes later, Sarah came out and eased the door closed behind her before offering Luke a smile. “Thank you for taking us in.”

He gave her a terse nod. “Seemed like the best option.”

“I hope it's not too much of an imposition,” she said. “This is a beautiful home, but I can tell you don't have many visitors.”

He pushed off the wall. “I've never had
any
visitors here, not overnight anyway. Not even sure why I built so many bedrooms. I'm only home every couple of months.”

“You built the cabin yourself?” Sarah asked, her eyes going wide.

“Most of it,” he said with a shrug. “I suck at electrical wiring. And I had to call in contractors to help with the security I put in.”

“Security?” Sarah repeated. “All the way out here? I thought you said we'd be safe.”

“You will be,” he assured her. “I have to take a call soon, but c'mon. I'll take you around and brief you on the security I have in place.”

She followed him down the stairs and through the kitchen to the basement door. “Do you have the phone Finn gave you?” She nodded and produced it from her pocket. “I'll download the app that allows you to control the alarm system. That way, you can set it, disarm it, or send an emergency beacon wherever you are.”

The basement stairs opened up into his game room, which contained a pool table and a full-service bar. He jerked his head toward the door on one side of the basement. “That's the gym.” He led her to the other door, which he'd secured with a keypad and retinal scanner. “Here's the weapons storage.” He bent and let the device scan his eye, then punched in the ten-digit access code. “Now you.”

Sarah sent a confused look his way, but then he gestured toward the scanner. She bent slightly and kept her eye wide as the scanner swept over it. When it finished, Luke punched in the code again. “There, now you have access.” Then he punched the actual access code for the room into a text message on her phone and hit SEND. “There's the code. Keep this phone with you at all times.”

She nodded and tucked it into her pocket. Motion-activated lights came on the moment he stepped across the threshold. He turned back to the doorway, ushering her inside.

“Good God,” she breathed, slowly surveying the wide range of weapons mounted on the wall and locked in various storage cases. “What kind of invasion are you expecting?”

“I'm not,” he told her. “These are for missions.”

Sarah wrapped her arms around her torso, suppressing a shudder. “I'm going to try not to think about the kinds of missions you go on.”

The wariness that came into her eyes made his stomach sink. “They're not all dangerous. But you never know when one's going to go south. I have to be prepared for pretty much anything.”

“I'm not a fan of guns,” she told him, shrinking into herself and edging toward the doorway.

“You need to know how to defend yourself, Sarah,” he reminded her. “What happens after you leave here? What happens when I'm no longer with you? If someone comes for Eli again, you need to be able to handle a weapon.”

The thought of someone harming her son made her straighten with indignation. “I said I didn't like guns,” she snapped. “I didn't say I don't know how to use one. My father insisted on Maddie and me being trained in marksmanship with several different weapons.” She scoffed and added, “Now I guess I know why.”

Luke sighed and went to her, taking hold of her arms. “Sarah, I'm really sorry for whatever lies you've been told, whatever rift there is between you and your father. But I'm here to help you and Eli. That's all. I need you to trust me.”