Heir to Murder

He grinned and cupped her cheek in his hand. He couldn’t resist one last taste and he bent to kiss her again. When he stepped away, he willed his pulse to slow. The woman had his insides humming, begging for more. “I hope you tied your horse up, or we’ll both be walking.”

“As a matter of fact, I did tie her up.” She led the way to a copse of trees where her white Arabian mare stood patiently.

Noah cupped his hands and stooped low. “You first.”

“No, I can ride on the back. You take the saddle.”

“No. I feel pretty stupid getting tossed off my horse, when I’m the one who is supposed to be teaching riding lessons. I deserve to suffer a little for that.”

“Is that what happened?” Rachel chuckled. “In that case, you should ride on the back.” She stepped into his hand and he lifted her up into the saddle.

Then he put his foot in the stirrup and mounted the horse to sit behind her and the saddle, wrapping his arms around her middle. Her waist was narrow and he liked the way it felt, small but firm.

Thankfully, Rachel set the horse off in an easy gallop, minimizing the jarring gait of a trot.

Noah held on, enjoying the feel of her in his arms. She smelled of honeysuckle and the outdoors and she was soft in all the right places. She calmed him and made him feel natural and at home.

Fifteen minutes later, as they neared the barn, she slowed the horse to a walk. When they rode into the barnyard, Landry emerged, leading another horse. An older woman followed, her brow furrowed, light brown hair pulled back in a neat twist at the back of her head. There was something oddly familiar about her facial structure, but Noah couldn’t put his finger on it.

“Oh, thank goodness,” Landry called out. “I was just about to go looking for you two. When Diablo came back without his rider, I worried you’d been hurt.”

The woman behind her pressed a hand to her mouth and stared up at Noah.

Noah slipped off the horse and held up his hands to Rachel. Capturing her around the waist, he swung her out of the saddle and set her on her feet. When he turned to face Landry and the woman, he noted that the woman’s eyes had filled and she caught her lip between her teeth. “Is this...?” she said, and stopped, choking on a sob.

“Yes, ma’am.” Landry tied the horse she’d been leading to a post, hooked the woman’s arm and urged her forward. “This is my good friend Rachel Blackstone and my brother, Jackson Adair, better known as Noah Scott. Noah...” She paused, her gaze intense. “This is your mother, Ruby Adair Mason.”

Noah’s heart stopped and then bounded ahead in a pulse-pounding race to catch up. He’d known his real mother was still alive, but he hadn’t gotten past the initial shock of his new identity to think about actually meeting her.

As she stood in front of him, he could finally see himself in her. Emmaline, the woman who’d raised him, looked like an Adair with her dark hair and blue eyes. Although he had blue eyes, Noah had never looked like an Adair. His hair was light, where Emmaline, Reginald and his children had dark brown hair and his facial structure was totally different. More like the woman standing in front of him.

Ruby reached out to touch his chin and then hers. “You have the cleft in your chin like mine.” She smiled through watery eyes. “And blue eyes like your father.”

At a loss for what to say, he took her hand and held it in his. She was thin, almost frail and he was afraid to squeeze hard on her fingers for fear of breaking them. He knew he should say something, but what? “Nice to meet you.” It was lame, but he really was glad to meet the woman who had given birth to him. She had never lied to him and, like him, she was a victim in the whole situation.

“Well, you two will have a lot to talk about.” Landry backed away. “Rachel and I will take care of the horses and we have some baby shower planning to do for Elizabeth and Whit’s upcoming bundle of joy. I could have a lunch and tea prepared for you two up at the big house, if you like.”

Elizabeth and Whit Adair were expecting a baby. Landry, Georgia and Rachel had volunteered to give her a baby shower.

Noah shook his head. He didn’t feel comfortable at the main house and had chosen to live in the guesthouse. But even there seemed too intimate for a first meeting with his mother.

Ruby laid a hand on his arm. “If it’s okay with you, I know of a nice little sandwich shop just this side of San Diego. We could get a bite to eat there and I wouldn’t be far from my hotel.”

“I’ll drive,” he offered.

Ruby shook her head. “If it’s all the same to you, I prefer to take my own car. That way I can go straight from the restaurant to my hotel.”

“Fair enough. I could meet you there in forty-five minutes. I’ll need to shower after my ride and dress in something that doesn’t smell like horse.”

Ruby smiled. “You could come as you are. I wouldn’t mind.”

Her smile was genuine and Noah liked it. “I’d rather shower.”

“Then I’ll see you in forty-five minutes.” Ruby gave him the name of the sandwich shop and turned to leave, hesitated and faced him again. “I’m really happy to finally see you.” Tears flooding her eyes, she hurried away.

Noah’s heart felt like a huge knot in his chest as he walked toward the guesthouse. Too many revelations were hitting him all at once and he didn’t know quite how to process them all. Part of him wanted to put off the lunch with Ruby, but his curiosity about her won out. He wanted to learn more about the woman who should have raised him and loved him.

He couldn’t help thinking how his life might have been had he never been stolen away and raised by his aunt. Knowing what happened and where his mother’s life had taken her after she and Reginald Adair had divorced would help him understand who Ruby Mason was.

After shedding his clothing in the bathroom, he stepped under the cool spray of the shower and washed the creek water out of his hair with a squirt of shampoo. Once he had scrubbed his entire body, he shut off the water and dried himself, dressed in his best jeans and a pullover polo shirt the color of his eyes.

He felt as though he was going to an interview with an important person and he didn’t want to disappoint her. This was his mother. The woman he hadn’t seen since he was too small to remember.

Noah keyed the location into his cell phone and brought up the map. Driving through the gates of Adair Acres, he followed the directions to just outside of San Diego. He parked his truck in front of a bistro with little tables and checkered tablecloths. The sun was shining, but the trees overhanging the front patio provided enough shade to make it comfortable outside.

Ruby sat at a table on the terrace, behind a short wrought iron fence. When she spotted him dropping down out of his truck, she rose, twisting her hands together, her teeth gnawing on her lower lip.

Noah’s own pulse picked up as he closed the distance, passing through the garden gate into the bistro’s patio area.

Ruby smiled tremulously. “I wasn’t sure you’d come. I wouldn’t have blamed you if you’d changed your mind.”

“I told you I’d be here. I keep my promises.” He held her chair as she took her seat, then settled in the one across the tiny table from her. “I hope you weren’t waiting long.”

She grimaced. “I came straight here and ordered a cup of tea. It helps to calm me.”

“I’d ask you why you were so nervous, but I find that I’m possibly as unnerved by what’s happened as you are.”

She sighed shakily. “It’s just that I’ve searched for so long. I’d hoped...but I didn’t think I’d ever find you. And now...” She glanced across the table at him, her eyes filling again with tears. “I promised myself I wouldn’t cry again, but I can’t help it. I’ve dreamed of this day most of my life, and almost thought it would never happen. And here we are.” She leaned forward, a smile curling her lips through the tears. “I can’t believe how big you’ve grown.”

“I should hope I’d grown big. I’m thirty-seven.”

“Thirty-seven.” She swallowed hard. “Thirty-seven years I didn’t get to spend with you, watching you grow into a man.” Ruby sucked in a deep breath and let it go, her shoulders straightening, her lips firm. “That’s thirty-seven years I need to catch up on. I have so many questions I’d like to ask, but I don’t know where to begin.”

“I have a few of my own. Maybe we can just cover the basics in this meeting. I’m still adjusting to all of this.”

“Of course, of course.” She touched her hand to her face, her cheeks flushed. “Where to begin?” She pulled her wallet out of her purse and extracted a small photograph from it and held it out to him. “This is a picture of you taken a couple weeks before—well, before it happened.” She handed him a photograph of a baby boy with blue eyes and a tuft of bright blond hair.

Noah stared down at the photo. “It looks a lot like the ones my mother, er, aunt had in an album. I can’t understand how she could steal a child and live with herself.”

“From what I was told, Emmaline didn’t steal you. Your grandparents did the stealing and gave you to her.”

“I know. But she knew I didn’t belong to her. She should have returned me as soon as my grandparents handed me over.”

Ruby took the photo from him and stared at it, her gaze far away. “She’d just lost her own baby. I know how awful that feels. I can understand her wanting to keep you. You were probably like a gift that she couldn’t bear to give back. Not after her baby died. Postpartum depression can be bad, but giving birth only to lose your baby afterward had to have intensified her grief.”

Noah shook his head. “You of all people shouldn’t be so forgiving. There’s no excuse for taking and keeping another family’s child.”

“I’d have done anything to have my baby back,” Ruby said, her voice breaking on the last word. “There’s nothing worse than losing your child. God, I left you outside to go answer the stupid telephone.”