And her father was reading too much into that. “It’s obvious she’s still having trouble dealing with her fiancé’s death.”
“She blames herself. As if she could have done more.”
Braden nodded. That fell in line with all he’d gathered about her. “Once she lets her fiancé’s death go, she’ll be back on track.” He just hoped that happened before she exposed a story on his sister.
“She’s helping you because she’s driven to help anyone in trouble. And the fact that your sister went missing in the Virgin Islands is uncanny. It’s as though she’s trying to relive that time, to get it right this time.”
Braden hadn’t thought of it that way before. “I suppose you’re right.”
“Of course I am. She’s tooted her horn about becoming a news correspondent ever since her fiancé died. But has she done anything about it? No. Not until now.”
Not until she felt compelled to help him find his sister, who disappeared near where her fiancé had been abducted and killed. “Well, I sure hope we find my sister alive, then.”
Jackson fell silent for a moment. Then he said something he didn’t see coming.
“You’re good for her.”
“I just want to find my sister.”
“I don’t mean because of that. Arizona would have found an outlet to her grief sooner or later. You understand her, and she needs that.”
If he was entertaining the possibility of something more developing, Braden couldn’t tell. Encountering a rebound relationship with her was seeming less and less of a threat, but long term, he didn’t trust his track record. He seriously needed more time, to take a good look at his mistakes and make sure he never made them again. The third time had to be a charm, and if a third time never came to him, that was okay. He had Aiden. That was enough.
Up ahead, Braden saw the fence and was glad to have something other than Arizona to concentrate on. It was an impressive structure, and included barbed wire along the top. He guided his horse so that they followed the stone barrier. A little way down, he saw a camera.
“So this is where you were taking us,” Jackson said.
He’d noticed Braden had a specific route in mind when they’d set out and hadn’t said anything. “You’re very perceptive.” And kind.
“Your son is safer here than anywhere else you could take him.” Jackson chuckled deeply. “The press can be worse than criminals when it comes to finding ways to invade your privacy. They’ll do anything to get a snapshot of us here. We can’t always be in the public’s eye.”
“I understand.”
“But you needed to see for yourself.”
Braden met his look apologetically.
“I’d do the same.” He pointed to the fence. “That stone can withstand a fair amount of explosives. There are surveillance cameras every thirty feet or so, and a control center on the top floor of the house in one of the turrets, which has windows all around and is high enough to see most the property. I have guards working 24/7 when we’re on site, both at the gate and in the control center. You don’t see them in the house because that’s the way I want it.”
Braden smiled his appreciation.
“The caterers all have top secret security clearances. My wife jokes that I think I’m the president of the United States. My response to her is I’m just the president of my family, and I’ll go to any lengths to keep them safe and the press off their backs when we all need some time alone. This mansion is open to everyone in the family. There’s usually someone here at any given time of the year. My wife’s sister was here when Arizona called about your son. It worked out well.”
For such a rich, influential man, he was sure down to earth. Like his wife. He felt at home here, and he was no longer worried about his son. Tomorrow, he and Arizona could get moving again.
* * *
The buffet table was set up and full of food by the time Braden came back from his ride with her dad. Seeing the two smiling and talking as if they’d been friends for years gave Arizona a funny feeling. Her dad liked him. What had they talked about? Her, of course, but what had her father said, and what had Braden said?
Her dad liked him....
She couldn’t look away from them together. And she struggled with why her dad’s approval meant anything at all.
Crying erupted from the game room.
Arizona turned to see Aiden on the floor, facedown. She stood frozen, not knowing what to do. She glanced to her right. Her mother looked at her expectantly, as though waiting for her to do something. Why didn’t she come help her? Meanwhile, her sister chatted away, not noticing the disturbance or their mother’s distraction.
Arizona turned away from her mother to see Brandie sitting beside Lincoln, whose leg was propped on a coffee table. They took no notice of Aiden, either.
Jonas and Riana were outside at the buffet table and her dad and Braden had stopped to talk to them.
Aiden’s crying continued. Did everyone expect her to go to him? She couldn’t just leave him.
One of the other kids in the playroom knelt beside him.
Good, maybe that would be enough.
“I want my mommy!” Aiden wailed.
Oh, hell. Arizona went to him. She knelt beside him.
“He tripped,” the boy of ten said.
“Sit up, Aiden.” Arizona touched his shoulder, seeing his face contorted with a world’s worth of agony, sweet innocent green eyes lifting to hers, a mirror of Braden’s. Braden’s son. A living, breathing miniature version. Something inside her moved. “Show me where you hurt.”
Aiden sat on his rump, his tears subsiding some as he grew distracted pointing to his knee.
“Let’s have a look.” She lifted his pant leg to expose his knee. Luckily the pants were big. His knee was a little red but not bleeding. “Oh, look at that. I think you’re going to live.”
His teary eyes registered no comprehension.
“I want my mommy,” he said, this time without wailing, but equally tragic.
Arizona had to smother a smile. “Well, she isn’t here right now. How about I get your dad?”
“He’ll just tell me to man up.”
She snorted a laugh. “Sounds like good advice.”
He pouted at her.
“You aren’t bleeding. If you were, I’d be a lot more concerned. Does it still hurt?”
He nodded.
“Really? As bad as it did when you fell?”
After a bit of consternation, he shook his head.
She messed up the hair on top of his head. “See? You’re already manning up.”
His little mouth turned up with instant animation that left her marveling over how quickly children found humor in things. His six-year-old laughter lightened her heart further. She had no idea she could have this effect on kids. He was relating to her.
Wow.
“Not so bad, huh?” Braden’s masculine voice sent shivers of warm awareness firing through her.
“Daddy!” Aiden sprang up and plowed into his dad, who lifted him for a hug.
Arizona stood. “Pretend you didn’t just see that.”
“Oh, but I did.” He winked. “Dinner’s ready.”
Good. She was famished. And she needed distance from the confusing way she’d felt with Aiden. A kid had never touched her so much.
Braden turned with his son. “They have mac ’n’ cheese with hot dogs.”
“Yum!” Aiden exclaimed.
“And French fries if you pick out the onion and peppers.”
“Ew.”
Braden chuckled. “Just kidding. There’s regular fries. And dessert.”
“Yay!”
Arizona followed them. Not so bad...
What was happening to her? Who was this w
oman who’d softened for a child? And not just natural adoration that anyone might feel. This packed a punch. Arrowed straight to her heart. Braden’s eyes...
Braden put Aiden down and made him hold a plate. The boy watched him, eyes looking way, way up at his tall, handsome dad, expecting him to fill the plate with food. Her hands trembled ever so slightly as she held her plate and loaded it with salad.
She dug her hand into a bowl of cheeseburger flavored chips to keep her hands occupied. When she dumped them onto her plate, she saw Aiden watching. Dreamy eyes went back to the bowl of chips and then he poked his dad’s arm. Braden was talking to her dad again, laughing at something he said. Damn it.
Aiden poked again, to no avail.
“You want some of these?” she asked.
“Yes. Yes. Yes.” He jumped up and down with each exuberant word.
She put a handful onto his plate and was rewarded with a big, toothy smile.
“Honey, when you get older, you’re going to knock all the girls off their high heels with that smile.”
He laughed hard—the way only a young child could when they had no idea what you meant. The only thing they understood was that you were trying to be funny.
It triggered a smile of her own. He was a cute kid. No getting around it. The kid was a total gem.
“I like you,” he beamed up at her.
Shock bolted through her, stunning her into stillness and stopping her breath for a second.
“Kids do like honesty.”
She whipped her head to her right, only then seeing that her mother stood there, making it worse by saying, “I always knew you’d come around.”
“Stop, Mother. I’m terrible with kids.” The movie Matilda came to mind as she moved down the table with everyone else. Maybe she should take up shot put and throw darts.
“That’s not what I saw.”
“Mom...” She sent her a warning look, nervously glancing at Braden, who watched with growing affection.
His gaze ran down her body, covering every inch of her in the halter-style blue-striped summer dress with a wide, red belt and red shoes.
“You underestimate yourself,” her mother insisted.
“Azona.” Aiden poked her.
She looked down in time to see his finger pointing to a chafer of French fries. The caterers were gods.
“You like crispy fries?” None of her siblings had liked them growing up. Just mushy fries. Ew.
“Yes, yes, yes.” More jumping.
Her sentiments, exactly. Using the utensil to deposit a giant portion onto his plate, she cautioned, “Don’t forget the ketchup.”
Then she put a giant portion onto her own plate. Fruit and vegetables tomorrow. She munched on a fry.
“I think I just figured out your problem with kids.”
Pausing in the act of licking her finger, she looked at him. “What is it?”
Sliding his arm around her, Braden drew her against him, each holding a plate to their side.
“You’re a kid yourself,” he told her fondly.
“I’m a...” What did he mean?
While she ruminated over that, he kissed her. Brief but potent. She slowly opened her eyes to see his full of satisfaction.
Claps were subtle around them.
“Daddy!” Aiden complained.
Never one to blush, Arizona was out of sorts to feel her hot cheeks. Now was not the time for him to challenge her with seduction. His earlier confidence that he could make her respond seemed off now. In front of her family? His playfulness suggested he’d intended that, but now his eyes told a different story. The kiss hadn’t been planned or intentional. He’d been compelled to do it.
“Doesn’t like kids but she likes Braden’s,” Brandie teased.
“She likes Braden,” Riana said.
“And he likes her.”
Escaping Braden’s arm, Arizona moved away from the crowd and headed toward a long table meticulously decorated with fresh flowers and linen. How would she get through this night with all the confusion racing around in her head? She was teetering on the edge of something big, something life altering. It was happening too fast, hurtling her out of control. Even diving out of planes she was in control. This felt like falling without a parachute.
Chapter 14
Sometime after two, Braden decided to give sleep a try once more. Leaving the game controller on the ottoman, he flipped off the giant television that was mounted to the wall. He’d wandered through the mansion and found this entertainment room near the family room where they’d all gathered earlier. Ever since he’d foolishly kissed Arizona, he’d been kicking himself.
Did he really want to prove to her that he could make her respond to him? Make her forget Trevor? Fill her with thoughts of only him? Something inside him must. He wished he didn’t feel so uncertain about her, about allowing this to go further.
And then there was part of him that wanted to explore. Was it merely her rejection? Could he even call it that? He hadn’t been able to bring her to orgasm. What man wouldn’t be marred by that?
Making his way back upstairs, he saw lights on in the library. They hadn’t been on when he’d come down.
Stopping in the open doorway, he saw Arizona sitting at a computer. Dark wood bookshelves lined three walls. The wall ahead of him was full of windows. Sitting areas and three desks allowed for serious research or just plain curiosity. A person could get lost in here for hours. As Arizona had obviously done. Still in the summer dress she’d had on all day, she must not have gone to bed yet. The lights had been on when he’d passed the library earlier, but he hadn’t seen her.
She looked up and saw him, her hands going still on the keyboard.
Typing?
Anger swirled and tightened his chest. She was writing her story. Is this how she did it? Sneaking around in the middle of the night?
“Hey,” she said, clicking the computer mouse. “Couldn’t sleep, either, huh?”
“How’s the story coming?”
She froze in the act of standing. “I wasn’t writing about Tatum.”
Then why had she closed everything? “What were you doing?”
“Nothing. Chatting in a blog. I couldn’t sleep.” She moved away from the computer.
“Arizona...”
She passed him in the doorway. “I wasn’t writing about Tatum, Braden. Why are you so uptight about that?” She spun to face him in the hall. “I can see why you’d want to protect your sister’s privacy, but with you it’s almost overboard.
“You didn’t see how much it hurt Tatum to be driven out of a job she loved and have her name dragged through the mud.”
“And now she’s missing. What’s wrong with getting the word out?”
He couldn’t tell if she’d given up trying to get the story or if she was waiting for him to give in. “People still think of her as the one who enabled an illegal arms deal.” Didn’t she see? His sister would suffer even more if a story was released and it broadcasted her false accusations all over the country or the world.
“We might be able to find her faster. There will be more resources working with us.”
“Speculation. You can’t predict what would happen.”
“Okay.” She folded her arms. “I get it, Braden. I wasn’t writing an article. I was...” She looked away.
“You were what?”
Tapping her foot, she was full of consternation and didn’t answer. Finally, she dropped her arms and pivoted, storming toward...wherever. It could be anywhere in this gargantuan house.
He trailed her.
She made her way downstairs, through the rec room and out the back door. Not stopping there, she walked out into the yard until she came to a playground.
At the swings, she
sat and began swinging. Seeing him, her eyes pouted over his insistence to keep bothering her.
Taking the swing to her right, he rocked his feet to get him moving a bit, but didn’t try to keep up with her. Clearly she was being a kid again, swinging as hard and high as she could. This new side to her explained a lot about her issue with kids. She was the youngest of eight. She thought she couldn’t relate to them, when in fact, she related too much. He had to withhold a warm chuckle.
“What were you looking for?” he asked on one of her downward swings.
“Go away,” she answered on the next.
“Just tell me.”
Another swing, two. She eyed him with each pass. On the verge of spilling what was on her mind—in a big way.
“Sex?” He couldn’t resist.
“No!”
“Hamburger-flavored potato chips?”
That won a tiny smile from her. “No. But close.”
She leaned back as she swung down. He waited.
Her swings slowed. “It was a...mom site.”
He stopped rocking his feet.
She stopped kicking off the ground and her swings slowed some more. He allowed her a moment of reflection. She must need the time, which told him she was confused.
About Aiden. Of course. And her ability to relate to him.
“You are a natural,” he said. “You may not feel that way, but you are. And Aiden does like you.”
She stomped her feet onto the ground, digging in and billowing up a mini cloud of dust as she stopped herself from swinging and just sat beside him. He loved how she’d come out here to vent. On a swing. Kid at heart.
So was he...
Realizing he must be wearing a stupid grin, he decided to lighten the mood.
“Why were you named Arizona?”
She smiled again. She was on to him and his tactics. “Are you picking up where you left off at the buffet table?”
“No.” God, no. Was he?
She started to swing again, only this time it was mellow, smooth, low swings. “My mother said it was because I was an unexpected ray of sunshine, but the last four of us were unexpected. I think it was because she gave birth to me during an unusually hot summer.”
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