Secret Agent Boyfriend by Addison Fox Page A

am, too.”
    While he’d admired her persistence earlier and her commitment to the animals in the Adair stables, he hadn’t fully understood why she’d put herself at risk for the horses.
    With the understanding of what the horse meant to her, he saw her actions in a new light. He couldn’t quite assuage his frustration that she’d put herself in danger, but it helped to understand it.
    “Who do you think left the snake?”
    The proverbial storm cloud that had hovered above them all morning finally opened up. He’d spent the ride turning it over in his mind, but he was no closer to an answer. Nor could he come up with a place to start looking for one.
    “The one you insisted on charming?” He hadn’t quite hit the point where he could be carefree about the morning’s events, but he could add a small bit of levity to what was going to be unpleasant territory.
    “I did no such thing. I let it calm down.”
    “You know, it’s funny but I remember our morning a bit differently.”
    “One thing I think we both remember the same way. The bag it was delivered in.”
    Derek would have found an excuse to get the bag away from Noah if he felt he could have learned anything off the material, but the canvas drawstring tote was a dead end. Bags like that were easily available and could have been purchased at any number of stores.
    Landry continued. “What I don’t understand is why whoever did this left the bag behind.”
    “To send a message.”
    “It’s an awfully cryptic one. If you’re sick enough to send a snake and someone at Adair Acres was the target, send it to the house. Or put it in the car. Something.”
    “And risk having a servant find it instead?”
    At her sharp intake of breath, he saw the recognition light in her eyes. “Someone could have been hurt.”
    “I think that was the general idea. But it’s not a targeted way to harm someone, which is why I think this was meant more as a message than an actual attempt at doing real damage.”
    “I have to talk to Whit and Carson, and we need to talk to the staff. Tell them to be on their guard.” A hard laugh escaped her lips. “Won’t my mother be pleased to come home to half her staff having resigned.”
    “No one will do that to you and your brothers.”
    “How can you be so sure?”
    He shrugged, the interactions he’d observed over the past few days more than obvious. “They love you. And they don’t stay because of your mother. They stay for you and your brothers.”
    Her mouth drooped in surprise before she firmly snapped it closed. Although he’d only had a few days, it hadn’t been hard to size up the dynamics at Adair Acres. Patsy Adair might rule the roost, but her chicks held the true power.
    Since he suspected that depth of knowledge would only make Landry feel more guilty about the danger to her staff, he pushed forward with more questions.
    “How accessible is the stable?”
    “It’s open. I mean, we don’t always lock it.” She pulled Pete up as they approached a long stretch of field and rose up in the saddle. “Want to walk for a bit?”
    He dismounted from Diego and attached the horse’s lead to allow him his grazing reward after their hard run. Landry stood a few feet away, her voice gentle as she thanked Pete for the good ride.
    A few strands had come loose from her ponytail and Derek watched, mesmerized, as they blew against the soft curve of her cheek. She was a vision. The long, firm body. The porcelain skin. And the innate care and awareness of others that was easy to overlook when she was pulling the princess-of-the-manor routine.
    But he had seen it.
    Had seen glimpses of the caring woman underneath.
    Her love of the horse was one small example. He’d also seen it in her concern for the staff. Her fierce defense of her mother.
    Landry Adair was a woman who, by all accounts, had made herself. Out of a loveless childhood and the rarefied air of wealth and privilege, she’d emerged, like Aphrodite on the half