Page 12 of The Duke's Surprise Heir

“You will stay here for as long as it takes though,” he announced. “I will hire additional security to protect you and our son from whatever dangers are lurking in the shadows.”

Macie muttered under her breath, pushing her fingers through her hair as she followed him. “I need a shower,” she muttered, noticing how greasy her hair felt since it hadn’t been washed in days. “I need a shower and more food and about twenty hours of sleep.”

Maybe if she could get more sleep, and a bit more food as well as a long, hot shower, she would feel better. Maybe if she could reignite her internal optimism, she’d have the strength to follow through on this investigation.

“I can arrange that,” he replied, the corners of his mouth curling up.

Macie stared at him, then slowly, shook her head. “Alone!”

He threw back his head, laughing with delight. “All alone, my love,” he replied, still bouncing a sleeping Kyle in his arms.

Henry stared at the message on the second phone, nearly salivating with desire. The woman on the screen was young, in her mid-twenties and wearing a tiny bathing suit and a tan. Nothing else. The bathing suit could barely be called clothing, the four, tiny triangles barely covering up the essential parts.

“Sir, I’m sorry to interrupt,” Vivien, his administrative assistant said as she stepped into Henry’s office. “But I got a weird message.” She pulled out a paper and laid it on Henry’s desk. “Does that make any sense to you?”

Henry skimmed over the words, then blinked and re-read the printed email. Slower this time. And more thoroughly. When he realized what it was, his eyes widened with horror.

Looking up at Vivien, he demanded, “Where did you get this?”

Vivien was startled by Henry’s harsh tone and took a step back. “I…it was mailed to me about a half hour ago.”

Henry looked down again, not sure what to do. The warehouse manager here in Philly had emailed Vivien about the extra crates, asking for guidance on what to do with them since these particular crates weren’t on any of the shipping manifest!

Damn it, Henry silently cursed. Martin, his arms contact, knew to email Henry directly! The extra shipments went through a different warehouse and were transferred during a nighttime shifting of boxes that Henry personally supervised!

Why the hell was Martin emailing Vivien?

Henry checked the subject line, his stomach tightening in alarm. Martin had mixed up the orders, mistaking the arms shipments for a crate of air conditioning parts!

Henry stared at the paper, trying to think about what he should say. Obviously, Vivien knew that the reference “AK47” was a weapon. How could he play this?

Inspiration hit him and he couldn’t believe how perfectly the pieces fell into place.

“I need to notify the police,” Henry announced, almost laughing at how perfect this was. He folded the email paper and stuffed it into his coat pocket. “Did you tell anyone else about this?”

Vivien’s mouth opened and closed. It took her a moment, but she slowly shook her head. “No. Of course not. I brought it to you immediately.”

“Good,” Henry replied. “If you see any other messages like this, let me know.” He stood up, rubbing his chin as if he were thinking the problem through.

“Actually, the police might not be a good idea.” He pretended to stare out the window, watching Vivien’s expression through her reflection in the glass. “I have a contact in the FBI. He’ll know what to do about this.”

He turned around, bracing his hands wide. “Vivien, for your personal safety, don’t tell anyone about this message, okay?”

She stared at him for a long moment, hugging the files to her chest. “Of course not!” she assured him. “Just tell me what I can do to help!”

He offered her a dramatic sigh. “I don’t know yet. If someone is using Linx Airlines to ship illegal weapons, then obviously, we need to stop them.” He pushed away from his desk, straightening his tie. “I know how to run a company, Vivien. But I have no idea how to stop people from using my company for illegal purposes.” He grabbed his primary cell phone, shoving it into a pocket. “Keep everything quiet and don’t say anything to anyone. If the press get wind of this, then all of our jobs will be gone. We’re a new company,” he told her seriously. “We haven’t had time to build the reputation with our customers that would help us survive this kind of a scandal.”

“Yes!” Vivien said, quickly agreeing and nodding her head. “Whatever you say. Just tell me how I can help.”

Henry nodded sharply. “I will let you know when I have a plan. Until then, please don’t discuss this with anyone.” He lowered his voice. “We don’t know who in the organization is helping the criminals.”

With that, he left his office, pulling out his car keys as he went. He’d head right down to the warehouse and…and what? What could he do to Gilly Cultain, the warehouse manager that was supposed to manage all of these shipments? The idiot knew better than to let the special crates come through the front entrance! What the hell was he doing? This is a major issue. Henry would have to speak with his contacts and ask them how to handle the problem.

With that in mind, he slipped into his vehicle, his thoughts returning to the petite blond wearing the tiny triangles. He couldn’t wait to unknot all of those dainty strings and peel back each of those triangles so that he could discover the perfectly pert breasts underneath.

Chapter 5

Macie stepped out of the shower and sighed with happiness as she grabbed a soft, fluffy towel. It was enormous, completely different from the rough, cheap terrycloth that she had stacked in the closet at her house.

---