Playing For Keeps (Emerald Lake Billionaires 2) (23 page)

Ryan started
to speak,
but John held
up
his hand.

“We’re going around in circles and getting nowhere.” He looked at Sophie. “If he copied all of your research, why doesn’t he have the correct formula?”

“I knew someone was looking at my files.” She glanced quickly at Ryan. “I didn’t do anything illegal to figure that out. I regularly check my file history. Someone was logging into my computer each morning. I changed the formula and added ingredients that don’t do anything. The research notes and trial results on my lab computer were wrong.”

“Where do you keep the correct information?” John asked.

Sophie pointed to her laptop. “I take it everywhere I go.”

Ryan ran his hands through his hair. “If you take it everywhere, then someone must have looked at your computer while you were here. There’s no way that Jamie or Danny would have stolen the information. Who else could it have been?”

“None of the contractors would have had access to my laptop. If I had to leave it somewhere, I always locked it in your office.”

John pulled his cell phone out of his pocket. “I’m calling my team in Chicago. They need to visit Dr. Bernard.”

Ryan
gestured
at Sophie’s laptop. “You need to check your laptop’s file history to see if anyone’s been accessing your account. If that doesn’t give us any clues, then we forget about it. We need to make sure your sister, mom, and Tank are safe.”

Sophie looked between Ryan and John. “You’re worried about something else. What’s happened?”

Ryan stuck his hands in his pockets. “Nothing. Look at your file history and tell us if you see anything suspicious.”

“I’m not going to find anything,” Sophie muttered. She pushed a few keys and looked at the results. “No one’s logged in since yesterday, and that was me.”

John ended his call. His mouth was set in a grim line. “The call Tanner intercepted came from a pay phone in Chicago. Sophie, I need you to make a list of anyone who was interested in what you were doing.”

“Is someone going to tell me what’s happened to my mom and sister?”

John glanced at Ryan. “You haven’t told her?”

“I didn’t want her to worry.”

“Hello,”
she said from beside them. “I’m standing right here. I don’t scare easily.”

John pulled one of the kitchen stools away from the counter. “Sit down, Sophie. We need to tell you something.”

***

Ryan sensed Sophie’s confusion from where he was standing. He’d made the decision not to tell her why Tank had gone into hiding with her sister and mom. The reasons made sense. But common sense didn’t count for much when she was looking at him as if he’d betrayed her.

He glanced at John, then back at Sophie. “I haven’t been completely honest with you.”

Sophie’s face fell into a carefully controlled mask.

“Tank took your sister and mom to the shopping mall to buy a few supplies. While they were there someone tried to kidnap Hayley.”

“What happened?”

Ryan sat beside Sophie. He hated what he had to say. He knew how close she was to her sister and mom, how much they meant to her.

“Ryan? What happened to Hayley?”

He tried to ignore the panic creeping into her voice, the tears filling her eyes.

“Is she dead?”

“No. A man tried to kidnap her, but she managed to get away. Tank has taken her and your mom somewhere safe.”

Sophie bit her bottom lip and wiped her eyes. “How is she feeling?”

“You’ll have to ask John. I haven’t spoken to Hayley.”

John passed Sophie a box of tissues. “She’s doing okay.”

“Can I call her?”

“Not until I work out how someone knew where they were staying. I’m in regular contact with Tank. If your mom and sister need anything, I’ll be the first person to know.”

Sophie closed her eyes and took a deep breath. “Do you think the person who’s logging into my laptop is connected to the person who tried to kidnap Hayley?”

“I don’t know,” John said slowly. “But we’re going to find out.”

She took another tissue out of the box and blew her nose. “Is there anything I can do to help?”

“Not at the moment,” John said. “I’ll let you know if that changes.”

Ryan glared at John. “Sophie’s not going to help you with anything. I don’t want her getting kidnapped, too.”

Sophie sighed. “It won’t happen. I’ve always got at least one guard with me and I hardly leave your property.” She leaned her elbows on the counter. “We need to tell everyone our engagement isn’t real. It might make you a target as well.”

“Or it could give you extra protection. Anyone who thinks they can kidnap either of us is crazy.”

Sophie shook her head. “It’s not worth the risk. We need to tell everyone it was a mistake.”

John looked at Sophie. “What are you talking about?”

Ryan cleared his throat. “I might have led a few people to believe that Sophie and I are getting married.”

“A few?” Sophie swiveled in her seat until she was facing him. “There were at least three hundred people in the auditorium. Within seconds of your announcement most of your fans around the world knew you were getting married. Next time I’d suggest you ask your bride-to-be if she wants to marry you before you tell everyone else.”

Ryan didn’t bother answering her. She was ninety-nine per cent right.

It was the other one per cent that was giving him an ulcer. He pulled his cell phone out of his pocket and called Dorothy. “Hi. It’s Ryan.”

He listened to his publicist tell him what he already knew. His engagement had created a wave of hysteria among his fans. Photos of Sophie in her pink dress had made the front page of more than one website and gossip column. No one was interested in seeing his naked body - they wanted to see his mysterious fiancée.

He interrupted her rapturous response with the truth. “We’re not getting married. I made it up.”

After everything that had happened, Dorothy’s silence was a little unsettling. He glanced at Sophie. “How do I tell everyone I lied?”

“You don’t.” Dorothy’s swift reply echoed through the kitchen. “We’re not going to tell anyone until after your concert. Until then, we’ll take photos of you and Sophie and send them to the media. When we do announce your break-up, we’ll say that you both realized getting married was a mistake. Your fans will understand.”

His fans might understand, but he wasn’t so sure that Sophie would. “Isn’t that misleading? Why can’t we tell everyone the truth?”

“Because the truth will cause more problems. Sophie is a nice person, but no one really believes that a musician and a scientist could have anything in common. You’re completely different people.”

Ryan slapped his finger on his phone and held his breath. “Ah, Dorothy. You were on speaker-phone.”

Sophie leaned toward him. Her long, straight, hair brushed his hand as he tried to keep his phone away from her.

She grabbed his hand and pried the phone out of his fingers. “Hi Dorothy. It’s the totally unsuitable scientist speaking. For your information, Ryan and I have a lot in common. But that doesn’t mean I’m going to marry him. We need to end our engagement today. The concert is too far away.”

“Nonsense,” Dorothy said. “If you end your engagement now, it will support his ex-wife’s stories. Do you really want that to happen?”

Sophie looked at him.

“Don’t worry about my ex-wife. Dorothy’s exaggerating.”

John leaned forward. “We’re wasting time. We need to find the people who are looking for Sophie and her family. When we find them, we’ll find the people who want to copy the formula.”

Sophie put Ryan’s cell phone on the counter. “John’s right. I’ll stay engaged to Ryan for two weeks. After that, it’s over. I’ll leave you to talk with Ryan, Dorothy. I’ve got work to do.”

Before Ryan could make sure Sophie was okay, she left the kitchen with her laptop under her arm. He picked up his phone. “I’ll talk to you later, Dorothy.” He ended the call and looked at John. “What do we do now?”

John touched his hand to his earpiece and listened to whoever was talking to him. “We don’t do anything at the moment. Someone’s left a delivery with one of my guards. Tanner’s bringing it up to the house.”

By the time Tanner stepped into the kitchen, Ryan had gone over his schedule with John and looked at the security they had in place.

“These are for Ryan.” Tanner held a bouquet of roses toward him. “We made sure it didn’t contain anything other than flowers.”

Ryan took the yellow roses and frowned. “Who are they from?”

Tanner passed him a small envelope.

He pulled a card out of the envelope and read the message. Sophie’s words put a goofy smile on his face.

Dorothy had no idea what she’d been talking about. A musician and a scientist could definitely have a lot in common.

CHAPTER TEN

Tess stared at the computer screen and shook her head. “I can’t believe they published these photos. The quality is so bad you can hardly tell it’s Ryan.”

Sophie didn’t bother looking up from the project plan she was working on. She’d seen the photos earlier in the morning, long before Tess had arrived at Ryan’s home. “There are more on other sites. Cindy has added her own unique spin on why they divorced.”

“What is she hoping to achieve from all of this?”

Sophie put her pen down. “Fame? Fortune? Who knows. All I know is that we’re on track with the concert. Did you hear back from Pastor Steven about the food?”

Tess nodded. “He’s got everything booked and ready. It was a good idea to ask him to provide all of the food for the concert. The church should make a lot more money.”

“I hope so. Did you check with Molly to see if she was able to take the promotional photos?”

“She’s got it on her calendar. When does the stage and lighting company arrive?”

Sophie ticked another items off her project plan. “In two days’ time.”

“So all we need to do now is hope for fine weather?”

“Almost. John’s not impressed that we’re still going ahead with the concert. He’s employed a lot of security guards. I’m worried we’ll have half of the retired US Military sitting in the audience.”

“I’m surprised he’s letting you go to the concert.”

Sophie started to say something, then stopped.

Tess’ mouth dropped open. “Did he tell you to stay away?”

“Not quite. He wanted me to stay in the house. When I reminded him that the guests would be there by invitation only, he still wasn’t going to budge. I had to promise to have two guards with me at all times.”

“Two? Isn’t that a bit much?”

“Not for John. Ryan told me the same thing.”

Tess sat back in the office chair. “Are you still engaged?”

“For now.” Sophie had been surprised at the amount of interest in their engagement. People had been emailing Ryan’s fan page on his website, contacting Dorothy, or trying to see him. They either wanted to congratulate him or tell him he was making the biggest mistake of his life.

She’d kept telling Ryan their engagement was a mistake. And every single day since his announcement, he’d ignored her.

She had one more week of officially being engaged to a country music superstar. After that, she’d go back to being Sophie Elliott, single scientist with a sister and mom in hiding.

She ran her finger down the list of jobs she still had to do.

Tess walked across to the window. “This might be a weird question, but are you going to mow the grass beside the lake?”

“It’s not weird at all. The grass and wildflowers look pretty, but I don’t want anyone falling over a dip in the ground. A man will be here tomorrow to cut the grass and take it away.”

“Sophie?”

Sophie looked up from the desk.

“Why are there five goats in your backyard?”

“Goats?” Sophie rushed across to the window. “Ryan doesn’t own any goats.” She looked at the five black and white goats and frowned. One of the security guards from John’s team had also noticed the hairy four-legged creatures. He was trying to get close to see if they had tags, but the goats wanted nothing to do with him.

Tess laughed at the guards attempts to round them up. “I think he could do with a hand. How are your goat-herding skills?”

“About as good as my ability to stay out of trouble. Let’s go and show Mr. Bodyguard that two city slickers can outwit five goats.”

Sophie locked the office door and followed Tess outside. It was a beautiful summer’s day, the birds were singing, and five goats were chomping on Ryan’s wildflowers.

If you discounted the fact that two hundred and eighty people would be descending on Ryan’s property in six days, it would have been a perfect day.

Sophie looked at the goats. They didn’t seem very impressed that three adults were trying to move them away from the wildflowers. And neither did the security guard.