Page 11 of The Duke's Surprise Heir

She leaned back in her chair and nodded. “You’re right. I was a corporate employee. I was counting on the corporate security to cover my tracks.”

“That was your first mistake.”

“I figured that out pretty quickly,” she replied with a grim snort.

“That means that someone in the company is involved.”

She shrugged, nodding. “Exactly. This is an inside job.”

“You’ve already done half the work,” Edward said, still pacing and patting. “You discovered what was happening, that illegal arms deals were taking place and being shipped via Linx airplanes. You know what is being shipped. And, you’ve seen some of the items.”

“True, but the problem I kept running into is that I couldn’t anticipate which planes were shipping the illegal crates until the planes landed at their destination.”

“How did you figure that out?” he asked, moving closer. He realized that she was still tired. The dark circles under her eyes weren’t as vivid, but they were still there. Even as he thought that, she smothered a yawn.

“I knew after the fact when something was shipped the same way that I figured out that something bad was going on. The fuel usage was off. I calculate the fuel needed down to within a very small window, plus a few extra gallons for safety. But my system calculates every possible variable, including the jet stream, the weight of the fuel, and the weight of the cargo. The only aspect of the calculations that I don’t enforce is the weight of the personnel, but I use an average. Plus, the weight of the pilot and co-pilot shouldn’t significantly impact fuel usage.”

“Okay, so you know when something has been shipped that shouldn’t have been on the plane.” More walking. More patting. Then he stopped, his eyes sharpening. “If you know which of the planes over…let’s say, the past six months…have used too much fuel, and going on the assumption that the fuel consumption is an indication that there were illegal arms on the flight, then did you track those flights? There has to be a pattern.”

Macie’s eyes widened and she shook her head. “No!” she gasped, standing up. She walked over to him, accidentally breathing in the masculine scent of him and fighting not to let herself get distracted. Shaking her head, she took a step back, still working through the details. With her fingers touching her chin, she considered his words, nodding as the logic made sense. “I was in my last trimester of pregnancy when I first noticed that something was off. I only made two trips to the warehouse to find out what was in the mysterious crates. But by then, I was too near to my due date. My focus was on getting through Kyle’s birth.”

Edward leaned back against the wall of the kitchen, enjoying the view of Macie as she assumed the pacing path. She was just as beautiful as she’d been a year ago, but now that he could really look at her, he noticed that there was a new maturity to her features. Perhaps it was just tension because of what she’d gone through.

“I’m guessing that even though you’re in a safe place now, you’re not going to dismiss the problem, right?” he challenged. He knew her. They might have spent only one long weekend together, and most of those two and a half days had been spent in sensual pleasure. But they’d also talked. Those conversations might have been while they were naked, but Edward also knew that their lack of clothing meant that their conversations were more honest. She’d been vulnerable with him.

“I seem to remember someone saying,” he looked up at the ceiling, patting Kyle as he pretended to remember, “that the best part of life was figuring out how to solve puzzles.”

When he looked at Macie again, she’d stopped pacing and was staring at him.

“You remember that?” she asked, her voice a bit hoarse.

He turned, facing her fully now. “I remember every moment of our time together, Macie.” He moved closer, feeling her breath hitch. “I remember how you screamed my name as you climaxed in my arms.” He moved even closer, their breath mingling warmly. “I remember how you clung to me, begging for more.” He shifted on his feet, rubbing his lips gently against her cheek, then moving lower, teasing the place on her neck that he knew was extra sensitive. “I remember everything.”

Edward pulled back, noticing the heat in her eyes with approval, then started bouncing and walking again. “And yes, I remember you talking about how a puzzle, a mystery, or a problem, made you feel more alive.” He shrugged slightly. “Of course, then you turned to climb onto me, straddling my hips and grinning as your hair tickled my chest.” His eyes narrowed as he watched the blush sweep over her pale cheeks. “Did I mishear your comments?”

“No,” she whispered in response. Her pink tongue darted out and he had to stop himself from pulling her against him with his free arm. He wanted to taste that tongue. To feel her tongue against his chest, just like she’d done so many times during that weekend. That tongue…the things she did with it…! Dear heaven! The memories were so vivid…maybe because he’d remembered them through his dreams several times a week.

Those dreams were probably why he hadn’t been with another woman since that weekend with Macie. She’d been…everything to him. She’d fulfilled every one of his fantasies. Her intelligence and her passion had fascinated him. Her sweet, initially tentative touches had inflamed his desires to unexpected heights.

Now she was standing here, in his home, and the result of their passion was in his arms. Edward had already fallen in love with his son. He wanted to go one step further and fall in love with his son’s mother.

Now he just needed to persuade Macie to do the same.

“No!” she whispered.

Edward grinned down at her, seeing the truth in her eyes. “Liar,” he hissed right back.

Macie tried to dispel the tension. She didn’t want to feel this way about Edward. He’d been a fantasy. She’d done things with him, demanded things with him, that she’d never wanted any other man to do. Never even considered doing. But every touch of his hands against her body had inflamed her imagination. She’d wanted to experiment with Edward, to fly in his arms. And Edward didn’t seem to need instruction on how to touch her. He just…knew. He’d discovered that spot on the back of her thigh that made her laugh. He’d figured out that she liked being on the top, even before she’d realized it. He was the man who had given her permission to explore the sensual side of herself, a part of her personality that she’d never allowed herself to explore because the men she’d dated in the past had scoffed at allowing a woman to be free with her sexuality.

The previous men had wanted the “Madonna”. She’d been the woman who would have their babies. But Edward…he’d released her from that prison. He’d wanted the Madonna and the sensual woman. He’d encouraged her to be everything to him. And she’d allowed him into her heart.

Now he was tormenting her with that knowledge.

“I don’t need to figure this out, Edward. It’s your company. And you have the resources to hire someone who can do it without me.”

He stared at her and she forced her feet to remain still. Not allowing any part of her to move, for fear that Edward would see the lie, would challenge her, forced her to stare right back at him.

“If you don’t want to follow through on what you’ve found,” he replied, backing up. Immediately, she wanted Edward closer. She wanted to smell him, to revel in the spicy, masculine scent of him. She wanted to feel his hands on her body, to cry out with that need that no other man had ever made her feel. “Then I have no choice but to find someone else.”

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