Then Josh, breathtakingly handsome in a formal dark suit and silk tie, excused himself from whomever he’d been talking to and strode across the room to greet her.
He bent and brushed his lips against hers, then murmured in her ear, “Relax. This is all part of the game, remember?”
Fiona’s heart beat so hard she couldn’t have responded if she’d wanted to. He took her left hand and slid something onto her finger as he lifted it to his lips. The maneuver was done so subtly that no one in the parlor would have noticed, but Fiona almost gasped when she saw the sparkle of the huge emerald-cut diamond on her finger.
“Don’t stare at it,” he said with a smile. “I would have given this to you weeks ago.”
Why, all of a sudden, was he the expert and she the novice? Fiona wanted to know. Where was the cool-headed professional, the ambitious, determined agent who would stop at nothing to get her man?
But the way Josh looked tonight had caught her off guard. And then that kiss…
He’d merely brushed his lips against hers, but Fiona had felt the impact in her knees, in her stomach, in the heat that suddenly flooded her cheeks.
When he tucked her arm through his and whispered in her ear, “You look beautiful tonight,” Fiona had to remind herself that that, too, was part of the game.
He led her into the parlor and made the formal introductions, presenting her first to his father. Samuel Langworthy took her hand in his and gave her a long, frank appraisal. He was a distinguished-looking man with thick gray hair and the most beguiling green eyes Fiona had ever encountered. She’d seen him before, but only from a distance, and like his son, up close and personal was a whole new ball game.
While he lacked Josh’s youth and rock-star presence, the man was not without his own charisma. He reeked of power and old money, and looking into his eyes, Fiona was reminded of the Langworthys’ long and distinguished history in Colorado. She suspected that legacy had held a commanding sway over Samuel Langworthy, and that a man in his position would do whatever necessary to ensure that his family’s riches, both financial and cultural, continued to flourish.
His wife, Celia, was his opposite. Tiny and delicate, her faded beauty and southern accent conjured images of frosty mint juleps served on shady front porches in the heat of a Louisiana summer. Fiona knew that she was Samuel’s second wife, and was Josh and his sister Marilyn’s stepmother. She was Holly Langworthy’s mother, making Holly Josh’s half sister.
Celia took Fiona’s hand warmly in hers as she beamed at her with undisguised delight. “Welcome to our home, Fiona. We’re so happy you could join us tonight.”
“Thank you for having me,” Fiona murmured.
“So you two thought you could pull a fast one, did you?” Samuel was obviously not as taken with the idea of his son’s engagement as Celia was. “What the hell were you thinking? Did you hear Houghton’s sound bite on the six o’clock news? He’s saying you got caught with your pants down, and now you’re trying to cover your butt with the voters. And I don’t mind telling you this all seems a little suspicious to me, as well—”
“Samuel,” Celia admonished gently. “Can’t we forget about the campaign for just one evening? This is supposed to be a celebration.”
“There won’t be any celebration if Josh lets the election get away from him because he couldn’t keep his—”
“We’ll talk about this later,” Josh cut in coldly. “Come on,” he said to Fiona. “I want you to meet my sisters.” She could tell that he was angry. It was obvious he and his father rubbed each other the wrong way.
The question was, why? What had caused such a rift between them? Something to do with the election? The kidnapping?
Or did the animosity go back even further than that?
Fiona had no idea, but her mind grappled with the possibilities as Josh introduced her to his sisters. Marilyn, only three years younger than Josh, bore a striking resemblance to her and Josh’s mother, Evelyn, who lived in Boston and whom Fiona had seen once or twice during her surveillance of Josh. They had the same regal blondness, the same aristocratic nose and the same cold, calculating eyes. Fiona didn’t much care for the woman and sensed the feeling was mutual. She also sensed tension between Marilyn and her father.
Fiona was, however, instantly taken with Holly, Josh’s younger sister. She couldn’t have been more than twenty-two or twenty-three, much too young to have suffered such a terrible tragedy in her life. She was a lovely young woman, but the stark sadness in her eyes tore at Fiona’s heart and made her want more than ever to find little Schyler and bring him safely home.
As she and Josh made the rounds, Fiona tried to commit names and faces to memory, tried to find out, without being too obvious, where those closest to Josh had been on the night of the kidnapping.
By the time dinner was announced, she’d met almost everyone present and was pleased to learn that she’d been seated next to Samuel and Robert Smith, both of whom she’d wanted to question a little more closely. Holly was directly across from Fiona, on Samuel’s left, and Josh had been placed all the way at the other end, next to Celia and Nell.
“Josh tells us you’re from Chicago,” Samuel commented as the first course was being served.
Fiona smiled. “Yes, that’s right.”
“I know some Clarks who live in the Lincoln Park area.” He tested his soup. “Vincent and Mary Clark. They’re both attorneys. You wouldn’t happen to be related to them, would you?”
“No, I’m afraid not. My family lives on the South Side.” She named the blue-collar neighborhood where she grew up.
“The first Mayor Daly’s old stomping ground,” Samuel said, surprising Fiona.
“Sounds as if you’re familiar with the city,” she said.
“It’s a great town. A lot of history and tradition. I appreciate a place that has a sense of itself. What made you decide to come to Denver?” His dark eyes burned into Fiona’s, and she knew she was treading on very dangerous territory. Samuel Langworthy was nobody’s fool.
“I was offered a job here.”
“Josh says you work for a private investigation firm.”
She nodded. “Investigations, Confidential and Undercover.”
“I’ve heard of the outfit. It’s run by a woman named Colleen Wellesley, if I’m not mistaken. She used to be Denver P.D., but I seem to recall there was some sort of scandal when she resigned.”
His memory and knowledge of detail intrigued Fiona. “I wouldn’t know. That was before my time.”
Samuel blotted his mouth on his napkin. “So you and Josh met when he hired your firm to advise him on the security for his campaign.” His gaze lifted to Fiona’s. “Did I get the story right?”
Fiona met his gaze without flinching. “Yes, that’s right.”
“He says you’re an expert in security matters.”
“Well, I was with the FBI for eight years,” she said carefully.
“Yes, that’s what he said.” Something flickered in his gaze that Fiona couldn’t quite define. “Maybe I should have consulted with your firm about security for this house. Maybe then my grandson would still be with us.”
Holly, who had been sitting quietly all through dinner, put a hand on her father’s arm. “Dad, don’t. Not tonight.”
His expression softened as he turned to his daughter. “I’m sorry, honey. I spoke without thinking.” He leaned toward her and said something no one else could hear. Holly nodded, and for several minutes, the two of them spoke in low tones. Fiona couldn’t have heard them even if she’d tried, which she didn’t. It was a private moment between father and daughter, and somehow she couldn’t bring herself to eavesdrop.
Beside her Robert Smith gave a low chuckle. “That was some third degree. I don’t know why he didn’t just shine a hot light in your face and sweat it out of you.”
Fiona grimaced. “It did feel a bit like an inquisition. Now I know how it feels to be on the other side of an interrogation.”
�
�I remember the first time I ever came here.” He smiled, showing dimples at the corners of his mouth. Women would love that smile, Fiona thought. He was a handsome man, although he was nowhere near as good-looking as Josh. Fiona had a feeling he knew it, too.
“What happened?” she asked politely.
“The old man scared the crap out of me. Cross-examined me as if I was some kind of petty thief he’d caught in the act.”
Fiona glanced around to make sure no one could overhear them. “You and Josh met in college, I understand.”
“We were roommates. I was there on an art scholarship. I had no idea people like the Langworthys even existed outside of movies. I was pretty overwhelmed the first time Josh invited me here for a weekend.”
“What was he like in college?” she asked curiously.
“Not as bad as you might think,” Robert said with a grin. “That is what you want to know, isn’t it? If he sowed his wild oats back then? I guess the first couple of years we were pretty much hell on wheels, but after that, Josh settled down.”
“Settled down?”
“You sound surprised. But he’s never been able to live up to his reputation, you know. No one could. I think Josh would have been perfectly happy to have been married all these years with a couple of kids to spoil. He’s really a family man at heart.”
Fiona’s gaze went to the end of the table, where Josh sat talking to Nell. He looked up at that moment, and their eyes met briefly before Fiona glanced away. But the eye contact had set her pulse to racing.
“Why is it he’s never married then?” she asked Robert.
“That’s a dangerous question coming from his fiancée. How am I supposed to answer that?”
“As honestly as you like,” Fiona said with a shrug. “I’m not the jealous type.”
Robert’s gaze dropped to the huge diamond on her finger. “No reason you should be, I’d say. You’re the first woman since…” He trailed off and picked up his wineglass.
“I’m the first woman since…?”
He took a sip of his wine. “I’m talking too much.”
“I like hearing about Josh’s past,” she said. “He won’t talk about himself.”
“All the more reason why I shouldn’t, either,” Robert said dryly. “I sound like an old gossip.”
“Was there someone in college Josh was serious about?”
He stared into his wineglass for a moment. “Her name was Theresa Santos. Teri.”
“What was she like?”
“Brilliant. Beautiful.” He frowned into his glass, as if suddenly remembering something unpleasant. “She and Josh were in pre-law together, and they fell in love.”
“What happened?”
Robert’s gaze went to the man at the head of the table. “Samuel Langworthy happened.”
“How do you mean?”
“Josh decided to enter the University of Colorado law school rather than Harvard, although, of course, that’s where he eventually ended up. He didn’t want to leave Teri. When Samuel figured out what was going on, he got rid of her.”
Fiona stared at him in shock. “What are you saying?”
“Oh, don’t look like that. I don’t mean he pulled a Tony Soprano or anything. He bought her off. Made her an offer she couldn’t refuse.”
“So how did Josh find out about it?”
“He went over to her house one day, and she’d just packed up and left. Gone without a trace. Her roommate told him that someone in a limo had come to see Teri the day before, and that after he’d left, she was really upset and said she had to go away. The roommate never saw who was in the limo, but Josh figured it was his father.”
“Did Josh confront him?”
“Sure, and the old man denied it. But who else would it have been?”
Fiona thought about that for a moment. “Did Josh ever try to find this girl?”
“It was a hopeless cause. Her grandmother raised her, and she died during Teri’s second year of college. She didn’t have any other family, so Josh pretty much hit a dead end when he went looking for her.”
“He never saw her again?”
“Not that I know of. The roommate, Allison I think her name was, would come by every so often when she’d heard from Teri to let Josh know she was okay. But I never thought the roommate’s motives were all that altruistic. She had a thing for Josh, but then, most girls did. And do.” Was that an edge of resentment she heard in his tone? Fiona wondered. What was it Colleen had said in her office? Even best friends can hold secret grudges and resentments, sometimes for years. Especially against a golden boy like Langworthy.
Was it possible Robert had been in love with Teri?
“What made Josh decide to go to Harvard?”
Robert shrugged. “I think he wanted to get away from the memories here in Colorado. And maybe he just figured it was pointless to fight his old man.”
He leaned toward Fiona. “Look, I’d appreciate if you wouldn’t say anything to Josh about this conversation. I probably shouldn’t have told you about Teri.”
Fiona frowned slightly. “Why did you tell me?”
“Because you said you wanted to know about Josh. And because…” His gaze lifted to meet Fiona’s. Something dark and disturbing flashed in his eyes. Something that made Fiona shiver. “I thought you should know the lengths Samuel Langworthy will go to get what he wants. Watch yourself, Fiona. Believe me, you don’t want to get on the old man’s bad side.”
* * *
“WHAT ARE YOU DOING?”
Fiona let her hand slip from the door she’d been about to open and turned with what she hoped was a puzzled smile. “I beg your pardon?”
Holly Langworthy came toward her down the hallway. “That’s my father’s study. No one is allowed inside unless he’s in there.”
Fiona put a hand to her chest. “I’m sorry. I was looking for the powder room. The maid said second door on the left.”
“Third door,” Holly said, nodding down the hallway.
“I must have misunderstood her. I really am sorry.”
Holly smiled. “No harm done. I didn’t mean to snap at you. It’s just been a terribly long day.”
“I understand.” She did look at the end of her rope, Fiona thought. The girl was thin almost to the point of gauntness, and her eyes were darkly shadowed underneath. She probably hadn’t been able to eat or sleep since her baby had disappeared.
“May I talk to you for a moment?” Holly asked softly.
“Of course.”
She took Fiona’s arm and drew her down beside her on a thickly tufted bench. “I wanted to thank you and Josh for postponing your engagement announcement. It was a very thoughtful thing to do.”
“You don’t need to thank me,” Fiona said. “It was the right thing to do. No one in your family is in the mood to celebrate right now.”
Tears pooled in Holly’s eyes. “Sometimes I still can’t believe he’s gone. I wake up in the middle of the night and go into his nursery before I remember that he’s not there. And then I see his empty crib—” She broke off and turned away.
Fiona put her hand over Holly’s. “Josh may have mentioned that I used to work for the FBI. I was involved in a lot of kidnapping cases back then. It’s hard to explain, but there was always a feeling you got going into one of those cases. How it was going to turn out. Sometimes the feeling was based on the evidence and eyewitnesses or on the suspects, but other times it was nothing more than an intuition. An instinct. I’ve had a very strong feeling from the beginning that your baby is alive and that he’ll be found very soon.”
The tears in Holly’s eyes spilled over and ran down her cheeks. She squeezed Fiona’s hand. “Thank you,” she whispered. “Thank you for that.”
Fiona fervently hoped she hadn’t given Holly false hope, but she’d spoken the truth. She had felt all along that Schyler was alive and well, and that it was only a matter of time before they broke the case.
“What’s going on here?”
Fiona and Holly both glanced around to see Marilyn Langworthy striding toward them down the corridor. “Holly, are you all right?”
Holly quickly drew a hand across her wet face. “Yes, I’m fine. Fiona and I were just getting to know each other a little better. But now, if you’ll both excuse me, I think I’ll go up to bed. As I said, it’s been a long day.”
Fiona rose, too. “Of course. I’m glad we had this chance to chat.”
“So am I.” Impulsively, Holly gave Fiona a hug. “Thanks again for what you said. Maybe I’ll even be able to sleep tonight.”
“I hope so.”
As she hurried off, Fiona turned to Marilyn, who gave her a cool, dismissive smile. “Seems you’ve wasted no time in ingratiating yourself with my sister. But don’t make the mistake of thinking I’ll be as gullible.”
“I beg your pardon?”
Marilyn lifted her chin. “Unlike Josh and Holly, I’m not so easily taken in. I know exactly who you are and why you’re here. And if you think I’m going to stand by while you make a fool of my brother, you have seriously underestimated me. And what I’m capable of,” she added with a sly smile as she turned and walked away.
CHAPTER EIGHT
THE NEXT TWO WEEKS passed in a blur for Fiona. For the first few days on the campaign trail with Josh, she created something of a sensation every time she appeared with him in public. But she soon became such a permanent fixture on the podium beside him that even the media grew bored with the story and moved on.
Meanwhile, Josh’s popularity continued to soar. The week after he went public with the engagement, he received a bump in the polls and was now leading Governor Houghton by ten points. A feeling of euphoria settled over the Langworthy camp even though Josh cautioned his staffers not to get overly optimistic or complacent. A lot could still happen in the weeks leading up to the election. Todd Houghton was not the kind of man to roll over and play dead, and he could still have an “October surprise” up his sleeve.
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