* * *
Georgia watched Carson leave the conference room and fought a mixture of awe and angst. He’d done what she’d least expected. She and Ruby didn’t have to fight for the inheritance. He’d made sure Ruby would have it, uncontested. Carson had become a hero for the day. But she could not allow him to suck her stepmother into a long, hopeless search for Jackson.
Schmidt was talking to Ruby about what to do next to get her inheritance. Georgia touched Ruby’s arm, interrupting them. “Wait here, Mother. I’ll be right back.” With Ruby’s perplexed look, Georgia hurried out of the room and went after Carson.
She armed herself against gushing gratitude and physical awareness—he was too handsome for her impression of him and his family. Inviting them to his family’s ranch was more in line with what she thought of them. It was more of a lure with the promise of pampered hospitality. He’d played Ruby, dealt her right into his hands. She wouldn’t know what hit her until it was too late. Why had he done it? So she’d cooperate and help him find Jackson? Everything this family did had to have a reward. Invite them to the big ranch. Wow them with generosity and extravagance.
Ruby had suffered a great deal after her son’s kidnapping. She’d talked about it enough for Georgia to know how deep her scars were. She’d loved Reginald and he’d turned his back on her. From the sounds of it, he’d turned his back on everyone. And raised his sons to be just like him.
“Mr. Adair!” She caught up to him at the elevator. In jeans and a long-sleeved Henley, he dressed casually for a man in his position at AdAir Corp. Short-cropped, light brown hair gave him a clean-cut, disciplined look, and those blue eyes dazzled, especially when he’d entered the conference room and seen her. He hadn’t just seen her, he’d touched her with his gaze, lingering on her breasts that were hidden behind the layers of her shirt and tailored jacket. Only she would know the tingle that had chased through her when he’d done that.
He held the door for her, surprise rendering him silent.
She stepped into the elevator. “You can’t involve Ruby in your new investigation of Jackson’s disappearance.”
He dropped his hand from the elevator door. “Involve her? Jackson is her son. She hasn’t seen him since he was an infant. And the investigation isn’t new. My father started it. Ruby is happy that we’re going to search for him. Why aren’t you?”
“She’s suffered such loss with the kidnapping. I’ve seen what it did to her. She’ll only be hurt more when you fail to find him.”
He cocked his head as the elevator doors slid closed. “You’re that certain I’ll fail?”
“No one else has succeeded in thirty-seven years. What makes you so special?”
He looked at her without reaction. Some men would be insulted, but not him. “My own mother is the prime suspect in my father’s murder.”
That gave Georgia pause. She looked up at the numbers as they rode the elevator to the parking garage level. He had justifiable motivation for trying to find the kidnapper. She couldn’t argue that.
“I will find Jackson. It’s only a question of when.”
“Do you think your father’s death is linked to Jackson’s kidnapping?” If Reginald had been investigating and discovered something, the kidnapper would have cause to kill.
“It’s possible. But not if my mother killed him.”
Ruby was an irrational woman. She could have any number of reasons for killing her husband.
She faced him, imploring with her eyes. “My stepmother is so vulnerable when it comes to losing Jackson. She lost a lot more than a son when he was taken.” Her entire life had been torn apart.
Carson’s eyes blinked in sympathy and understanding. He turned as she had, and now they faced each other in the elevator.
“It isn’t my intent to upset you or Ruby,” he said. “I want to help you both, not hurt you. Reginald was my father. Jackson is a half brother I never knew I had. So you see, helping you helps me and my family, too. My intentions are for the good of all of us.”
And hadn’t he proved that today? He defused her. He removed any argument she had.
When he noticed, his blue eyes took on that playful look again, just as she’d seen them do in the conference room. He’d enjoyed being her champion, taking that lawyer to another room and coming back with a prompt signature.
The elevator doors opened to the parking garage. Neither of them moved. She fell into the long moment, daring to toy with the temptation of believing he was different from his father.
The elevator doors began to slide closed. He reached out and stopped them.
She stepped out ahead of him, not ready to go back up to the conference room and get her stepmother.
“What did you say to that lawyer up there, anyway?”
“I reasoned with him,” Carson said.
“Reasoned?” He had to give her more than that.
“I helped him see that Patsy isn’t of sound mind right now.”
She had run before she could be arrested in connection to the attempted murder of Whit’s wife, and suspicion had turned to her over her husband’s death. Who wouldn’t agree that she was crazy? He must be some negotiator if he could maneuver a haughty lawyer like that.
“Well...I feel like I should thank you,” she said.
“My pleasure.” He gave her a slight bow of his head.
She warmed to him and the instinct to resist quickly followed. His chivalry didn’t change who he was—an Adair. A wealthy man. He represented everything she didn’t respect.
She had to stop herself from fantasizing about tracing her finger along that strong, square jaw with unruly stubble sprouting before noon. Maybe he’d foregone shaving this morning. He had a fun-loving side to him. That went against the rich-man, better-than-everyone-else persona she had assumed he had.
“Why did you do it?” she asked. “Why did you help Ruby?”
“It was the right thing to do,” he said.
“That’s it?” He’d only wanted to do what was right? “What about your mother?”
He grunted. “First of all, I was never close to my mother. And she severed all ties when she went after my brother’s wife. I have no loyalty to her, but regardless of the kind of person she turned out to be, I’d have made sure Ruby got what my dad wanted her to have.”
His integrity confused her. “But...Ruby isn’t part of your family.”
“That doesn’t matter. She was married to my dad and they had a child together.” He studied her awhile. “What’s all of this really about, Georgia? Why are you so against my family?”
“I’m not against you.” She searched for the right words. “I...I’ve just seen what being part of your family did to my stepmother. The kidnapping. Reginald leaving her. The blame. It destroyed her.” She regained her purpose in chasing after him. “I’ll be damned if I’ll let anyone make her suffer like that again.”
“Maybe I can understand your concern, but none of us—my brother, my sister or I—would harm Ruby. What happened in the past isn’t going to stop me from trying to find Jackson.”
“Fine. Look for him, just don’t involve Ruby.”
“I’ll protect her as much as I can.” He watched her awhile. “I know what it’s like to want to protect your family. I felt estranged from my parents, but I love my brother and sister. I would do anything for Whit and Landry.”
She smiled,