An ear-to-ear grin split his face. “You said you were all right with short trips. Your finger landed on this location, not mine,” Jordan reminded her and eased closer. “Think of it as a twist on nature walks. We’re still close to home and we’re still touring our hometown. At least the suburbs, anyway.”

  “When I agreed to a nature walk, I thought I’d be doing the walking,” she grumbled.

  Jordan leaned in and pecked her cheek. “Where’s your sense of adventure? Besides, it’ll give us a chance to enjoy the Forest Preserves in a new way.”

  Lani was ready to protest further when a petite woman with curly blond hair spoke in a voice that was way too perky for the seriousness of the moment. “Good afternoon, everyone. Welcome to Fitzjoy Farm Riding Academy. I’m Becky, and no, not the one Beyoncé was talking about in her infamous song.”

  That little quip brought laughter from everyone except Lani.

  “What’s she talking about?”

  Several senior citizens looked in Lani’s direction and shook their heads.

  “Ooops, I guess not everyone’s a Beyoncé fan,” Becky countered.

  “Who?” Lani teased to the gasps of all the others around her, even Jordan who said, “People, she’s not with me.”

  Lani lowered her head and laughed.

  Becky shrugged and tried to keep a straight face as she said, “I’ll be your tour guide for the next hour.” She turned and focused on Lani. “If this is your first time with us, we hope your visit is memorable and that we’ll see you again.”

  “It’s going to be memorable, all right,” Lani complained under her breath.

  “Behave,” Jordan teased, chuckling.

  “I’m going to take a few moments to tell you about the natural trail tour,” Becky explained, laying the reins on her thigh. “And then we’ll get started.”

  The massive beast Lani was sitting on—named Quickdraw—gave a quick shake of his head and lifted it in Becky’s direction. Lani thought that was intriguing. The subtle gesture calmed her nervousness and she focused on the guide’s instructions. After a few moments, the small group was on their way through the farm’s acres of trailed forest preserve. The rolling movement of the horse beneath her wasn’t as bad as she’d imagined. Actually, it was kinda soothing.

  She glanced at Jordan, who straddled Smokey, a powerful chocolate horse. Jordan’s spine was straight, his posture was that of someone used to horses as he rode alongside her. The way he handled Smokey’s reigns was a definite hint that he had some experience.

  “You’re making this look so easy,” she said.

  Jordan idled a little closer. Quickdraw adjusted his pace and seamlessly eased to the side of the trail. “I know a little something. But the real secret to riding a horse is trust.”

  Trust. Something she hadn’t managed to do at this point. Every little quiver Quickdraw made had her pulling on his reins to stop. She took a deep breath and forced herself to relax and trust the horse.

  A few minutes later, Jordan’s hand gently stroked her left thigh. “That’s the ticket, baby. Now you’re getting it.”

  A burst of pride webbed through her, and a smile crossed her face. “I think I am,” she replied, then they followed the others along the winding trail. After a few more minutes of riding, she said, “No more incidents have occurred since I’ve been gone.”

  Jordan took his focus off the trail and put it solely on her as he asked, “How do you feel about that?”

  Lani sighed and rolled with the rhythm of the horse. “Like those children were harmed because of me. I’m almost afraid to go back.”

  “If you ask me,” Jordan added after a few moments. “That’s part of their plan. To throw you off your game, to intentionally make you uncomfortable and doubt yourself. The methods are drastic, but they are—”

  “Working,” she finished. “Has your brother come up with anything yet?”

  Their horses moved into single file as the trail narrowed then opened up again as they crossed a wooden bridge which took them over a small stream. Once on the other side, Smokey came alongside Quickdraw again.

  “To answer your question, Zach’s in touch with the investigating officer on this case and he’s good at what he does. It’s only a matter of time.”

  Lani nodded, uncertain if Jordan was telling her everything. Men had a way of trying to shield their women from anything they thought was too much for them to handle. Her mind shifted and she became lost in thought. The beautiful scenery allowed for reflection and the assailant’s note came to mind. “Jordan, what if this is happening to me, not because of something I’ve personally done to someone … but rather, something you’ve personally done to someone?”

  His head snapped to her. “I don’t follow.”

  “The note,” she explained. “The woman accused me of taking something away from her. Maybe it’s not a something, but a someone. You? Could one of your clients be doing this to me because you’re leaving them? And, while we’re on the subject, how many clients do you have?”

  Jordan’s eyes widened with shock. “Had,” he reinforced. “How many clients I had. Only six, not including you. But I can’t imagine any of them going off the deep end and doing something like that—especially to a child.”

  Lani refocused on the trail. “Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned. Including me. And why only six?”

  He looked her straight in the eyes, then a faint smile escaped from him. “I wasn’t trying to put on more mileage than the average used car,” he shot back, shaking his head.

  “Maybe that didn’t come out right,” she said with a hearty laugh.

  “You think?” He chuckled, then slowed the pace so they had a bit of privacy. “I’ve bent over backward to find my former clients the best replacements the agency has. So please explain how my actions could be seen as scornful to a woman?” His eyes became distant and flickered with concern. “To answer your other question. No more than six because I needed my cue stick to still be able to knock the ball in the corner pocket after I retired and wanted to start a family of my own. Besides, I read somewhere the number six represented harmony and balance.”

  Heat bloomed across Lani’s face. That “corner pocket” could be her one day. The mention of children made her nervous. Not just because of her mysterious family history and the reason her grandparents felt the need to put that special needs trust in place. Still… “None of them were thinking of leaving you. They were happy with the way things were. Maybe one of them isn’t showing you how she really feels but is showing me that I should leave you alone.”

  She was wondering if she should request that Daron put some eyes and ears on the situation. Then again, it might not be the best move. Daron Kincaid was already too deep into her life.

  Now Jordan was the one lost in thought. “I’ll take a closer look at things on my end just to be on the safe side. And what about you?” His gaze went back to her as the trail took them West, deeper into the forest. Approaching the cool shade of several oakwood trees that stood close together, he asked, “Are you sure you don’t have any other family? Brothers or sisters?”

  Lani turned her face up and let the sun bless her with a kiss as they approached the umbrella of foliage ahead. “Not that I know of.” If her parents’ had more children after their family fell apart, their children were probably too young to care about her, even if they knew she existed. “Grandparents I’ve never met, but they’ve been deceased for a long time. No aunts and uncles or cousins.”

  Jordan was silent for so long she thought that maybe he hadn’t heard her. “I’ll have Zach do a little more digging on that front.”

  She grimaced as another scenario turned over in her mind. “If he manages to dig up my parents’ whereabouts, be sure to tell him to keep my whereabouts a secret from them.”

  Her mother had moved to Los Angeles, and her father returned to Maui several months after they had divorced following that fateful day in the lawyer’s office.

  Jordan parted his lips to speak.

  She shook her head and said, “They lost interest in me years ago. I definitely don’t want to see them. I changed my last name for a reason.”

  “What?” he asked, grimacing. “What’s your real last name?”

  “Keahi.” She changed her name to Jamison to honor the teacher who had been like a mother to her, and who had encouraged her to stay off her parents’ radar. “I’m not originally from Chicago. I was born on Maui in an area called Lahaina.” She studied his face, waiting for a reaction.

  Jordan’s expression remained neutral. “Have you visited since moving?”

  “Despite my parents not appearing to be the sentimental type, they went back to Maui yearly.” Lani thought about how her parents rarely paid attention to her. The Polynesian housekeeper, who Lani spent most of her time with, had been more loving and caring than her own parents on their vacations to West Maui. Lani remembered being afraid when they arrived that second summer and the housekeeper had a baby of her own that things would change, but the way the woman treated her remained the same. Unfortunately, so had her parents treatment of her year after year.

  Lani never thought her parents would put more energy into finding her than a basic search. Had that changed? Were they trying to punish her for what she did? For what she cost them?

  CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR

  Jordan’s thoughts were tangled around the discussion with Lani on the nature trail as he drove to his Aunt Shelah’s house. Lani might be onto something. Could the hospital attacker be someone who wanted to remain part of his world? Now he feared the reason Ms. Hardy was no longer reaching out to him was because she was attempting to get Lani to end things with him. Zach had given Jordan a list of people who Ms. Hardy had been seen with and at least one of them was a client of At Your Service.

  Or was one of his clients possibly involved? When he’d met with Veronica and Tanisha, they were disappointed like Carmelita and Valen, but other than that the transition to his replacement went well. He had no reason to believe the appointment with his final client would be any different. However, he had to accept as a man that he may be looking at the situation too logically.

  Jordan was keenly attuned to their needs, their bodies, and when the occasion called for it, their moods and mindset. A woman’s mind is the sexiest part of her being. But as good a companion as he was, Jordan was not a woman and could not understand the inner workings of a female’s mind. What would help him was having a better handle on how they reasoned. No better person to gauge that than his Aunt Shelah who was a human resources director.

  Jordan left his car by the sidewalk and worked his way through a garden filled with an array of plants and made it to a stained-glass door with an oval design.

  When she answered the door, she pulled him into a hug.

  “Aunt Shelah, thanks for seeing me,” he said to his mother’s younger sister.

  “Boy,”—she gave him a playful scowl—“Quit it with the ‘aunt’ crap. I’m just plain old auntie around this camp.”

  “Well, I know how you feel about people popping up uninvited,” he countered, following her into a home office that was richly decorated in shades of olive and cream.

  “Keith’s not home,” she said, sliding into an executive chair behind a smoke-glass desk. “Is this about your love life?”

  “How did you—”

  “Bethany’s been tap-dancing around, trying to find out if you’ve been chatting it up with me.”

  He pulled up a chair at the desk. “Yes, it is about my love life, but a little different this time. And I need this to stay between us because your sister and my mother both would go off the deep end. I know you’ve never believed whatever I’ve said about how I make my living.”

  “Not for a second,” Shelah confirmed, trying to suppress a smile. “Every person who works always has ‘Tales-From-The-Job’ stories. You never did. Even Keith comes home with some doozies sometimes. So do I, but not you.”

  Jordan scrubbed his short nails through his hair, weighing how much to share. Then he decided that if he wanted real advice, she needed to hear the truth. “All right, here’s the skinny.” He let out a long, slow breath. “I was a male escort.”

  Aunt Shelah’s jaw went slack, but she quickly recovered from her shock. He spent the next hour regaling Shelah about the origins of his career, careful in sharing only a sliver of information on his clients that did not break confidentiality by calling them Lady Saturn, Lady Neptune, after the planets their personalities reflected, except Lady Ari who had always preferred that name. Later he shared how it tied into a relationship with Lani, and the recent incidents occurring around her at the hospital.

  “Dear Lord,” Shelah gasped, placing a hand over her heart. “Those poor sweet babies. I’ll put them in my prayers.” She was silent a few spells, those dark-brown eyes flashed in a way that signaled deep thought. Then she tapped her chin with one finger. “Lani has cause to be very concerned. This person, whoever it is, appears to be in a lot of pain—blinding pain. She—”

  “Or he.” Jordan wasn’t as ready to rule out a man being behind everything.

  She raised an eyebrow.

  “Is lashing out but is also extremely smart.”

  “I’m trying not to believe it’s one of my former clients. I’ve been with some of them for years,” Jordan reasoned. “None of these women are anything alike or have anything in common except me.”

  “On the surface,” Shelah countered. Her gaze shifted back and forth as though she were reading notes inside her head. She finally looked up at him. “You said Lani wasn’t totally honest with the information she put in her file. Until recently, you believed she was a nurse instead of a doctor. And her name isn’t accurate either.”

  Jordan thought about that for a moment, peering at his aunt when a few ideas clicked into place.

  “What if one of your other clients did—” Shelah gasped. “Oh, damn,” she whispered.

  “Wha … wha … what?” Jordan launched from his chair, poised to spring into action.

  Her eyes carefully sought out his. “You said Lady Ari. Not a Planet. As in Arianna …?”

  “Yes, Arianna.”

  Shelah gave an exact physical description of the woman who was his first client. The one the agency put him with to prepare him for assignments.

  “Sounds like her.”

  Shelah rubbed both hands down her face. “I don’t know how all of this ties together, but there’s something you need to know.” She pointed to his empty chair. “And you need to hear it sitting down.”

  He sank into the seat so hard, the chair squeaked.

  Shelah exhaled a slow breath. “Your parents’ marriage was almost destroyed by this secret. I’m one of the few who know, besides the people involved, and your mom of course.” She closed her eyes, and it seemed the entire room stilled at that moment. “Your father had an affair—”

  Jordan nearly ripped the arms off the chair. “Are you kidding me?” he barked, angered that the man demanded perfection from his mother but wasn’t a saint himself.

  Shelah folded her hands on the desk, calmly waiting for Jordan to compose himself.

  He stood and gripped the edge of the desk. “Go on,” he demanded in the stretching silence.

  “Your father had an affair when he was married to his third wife—not your mother,” she confirmed. “And the woman was his wife’s relative.”

  “Damn.” He collapsed on the overstuffed leather chair. “So, what does this family scandal have to do with what’s happening in my life right now?”

  Shelah came from behind the desk and leaned a hip on the edge of it. “You said you have—correction, you had, a client by the name of Arianna.”

  Jordan’s eyebrows crawled up his forehead, then he said, “She liked for me to call her Lady Ari.”

  As Shelah squeezed his hand tight, she stared into his eyes. “Arianna was the name of your father’s mistress.”

  Jordan sprang from his chair as if catapulted from a slingshot. “I have to go.”

  “Wait.” Shelah cut him off before he made it to the threshold. “I’m not saying this woman is one and the same, though I have to admit that it’s not a common name.”

  “Your description of her seems spot on.”

  She tightened her grip on his arm. “And I’m also not saying she’s behind what’s going on with Lani. What I am saying, is that a cool head will get you to the truth faster than a hot one.”

  Jordan took a calming breath then through gritted teeth, said, “How the conversation with Lady … Arianna goes down will be on her.”

  CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE

  “Wow this wasn’t what I expected,” Jordan said.

  Lani smiled; glad he was enjoying his first visit to The Castle for a Juneteenth charity event. The carnival theme was in full effect. Food booths with funnel cake, cotton candy, popcorn, and the usual carnival fare was spread through the room between the games.

  She missed Dr. Barton’s Memorial Day Bash but promised him that she’d make the Fourth of July event.

  “This has been fun,” Lani said loud enough to be heard over the laughter and chatter that filled the air.

  They had played hit the bell, whack-a-mole, and basketball, but Lani had yet to bump into Daron Kincaid. If she didn’t see him within the next hour, she would ask someone from security for his whereabouts.

  “I’m looking forward to skee ball.” Jordan guided her down the aisle to the right, past a stall with caramel and candy apples. “I haven’t played it in years.”

  “I’ve never played any of those.” Lani scanned the other activities in the room. A few children were tossing rings on soda bottles while others knocked cans down with balls. A young girl raced between them with a unicorn painted on her face.

  “Ayanna, slow down,” a tall, slender Jamaican woman with gorgeous chestnut hair said in a stern voice. The girl slowed but only a beat.