Blake had changed also into a pair of charcoal slacks, a matching jacket and black polo shirt. His weapon was tucked securely in his waist holster at the base of his lower back. At Cam’s insistence he also had a smaller weapon strap to his ankle.

  He felt like he was preparing for a showdown in his own living room. It was just like his sister to get involved with some shady character. She had always been easy to manipulate even when they’d been kids. He’d hoped that while she was away at school she’d learn to stand up for herself.

  Blake answered the door and Alex practically ran through the door dropping the luggage on the marble floor in the foyer.

  “Man you owe me big time, your mother hasn’t stopped talking since we picked her up and it was a forty five minute drive to get here.” Alex whispered through tightly clenched teeth.

  “Sorry about that she can be a little chatty when she’s excited. I promise to make it up to you.” Blake whispered back as his parents came through the door. “Mere, Père I’m so happy you could make it.”

  “Mon cher fils c’est bonde vous voir.” His mother said with a very thick French accent, kissing him on both cheeks. His father also embraced him briefly.

  “It is good to see you son.” Repeating in English what his wife had just said to him in French his accent was very mild not nearly as thick as his wife’s.

  Cam watched Blake with his parents she wanted to do so without them seeing her. As she observed them she could see how much love they had for one another. His mother a well dressed woman with a slightly tan complexion, dark blond hair and pale grey eyes. She was somewhat slender but not too slender she was about five six in height and had an easy smile she was a very attractive woman.

  His father was a very handsome man with light blond hair, bright blue eyes and a very tan skin tone. Even under his sports jacket she could tell he had broad shoulders and medium built frame, standing at about six one. Blake looked a lot like his father.

  Cam pushed away from the wall she’d been leaning against as she watched the family with much interest and made her way towards Blake.

  “Chéri is this lovely woman your wife?” His mother asked as she gazed at Cam who had just come into the foyer. With a wide smile Blake introduced her to his parents.

  “Mom, Dad this is my darling wife Camille, Camille these or my parents Patrice Fortier-Coleman and Byron Coleman.”

  “It’s a pleasure to meet you Cher.” Patrice said grasping both her shoulders to kiss her on the cheeks.

  Cam smiled at the woman. “Mrs. Coleman, le plaisir est le mien.”

  Byron mimicked the greeting Patrice had just given her. “Welcome to the Coleman family Cher.”

  “Merci.” Cam replied with a smile.

  “You’re welcome chér. Blake her French is flawless.” Patrice gushed happily.

  “It is isn’t it?” Blake said casting a questioning glance at Cam. Cam smiled cautiously at her husband. She explained to his parent why her French was so flawless hoping that he’d understand also.

  “My mother is French Creole from the state of Louisiana and my Father is French Canadian so growing up my brother and I was taught both English and French. I was born here in the states but my brother Thai was born in Canada.”

  “That is wonderful Cher I think every child should grow up bilingual it’s such an advantage this day and age. My Byron was born here in the states his father is American and his mother is French. Do you know any other languages cher?”

  “Actually I’m fluent in four languages English, French, Spanish and Mandarin.” Cam replied.

  “I must say you are an amazing woman. Fils, son, your wife is delightful.” Patrice said.

  “Yes son I must agree with your mother she is quite the catch.” Byron added.

  “So it would seem.” Blake said sarcastically. “Where is Lauren? And why didn’t Hamilton and Chandler make the trip with you?”

  “Your sister was right behind us Prescott was driving her and her guests she should be here shortly. Your brothers said they had a few things to tie up back in France they will be flying in tomorrow.” Byron said.

  “Come into the living room and have a seat.” Cam said leading the way. Patrice and Byron took a seat on the large sofa while Blake and Cam took a seat on the smaller sofa.

  “So what’s the story on this guy Lauren is seeing?” Blake asked.

  His parents exchanged looks. “I’d just like to apologize in advance for his unpleasant intrusion.” Byron said.

  “I take it you two don’t like this man very much.” Cam said.

  “That’s an understatement, he has no respect for Lauren the way he treats her. And what is so heartbreaking is that she allows it. I swear sometimes your sister doesn’t have the sense God gave a monkey.” Patrice said in frustration.

  Cam placed her hand over her mouth and pretended to cough in an attempt to hide her laughter. “Pardon me.” She said.

  “I’m sorry cher, I know a mother shouldn’t speak ill of her children but just wait until you meet her. The poor child is just hopeless her low self esteem is what makes her so vulnerable to vultures like this creep she’s seeing now and that assistant of his, the way she looks right through you is disturbing.”

  Moments later the doorbell rang again.

  “Speaking of the devil there they are now.” Byron said.

  “I’ll get it.” Alex yelled as he passed the living room heading for the door.

  “Did he just come from the kitchen?” Cam asked turning to Blake.

  “Probably.” Blake replied before standing, reaching down he helped her to her feet. “Should we greet our guests?” He asked holding out his arm elbow bent.

  Cam looped her arm through his before answering. “Yes let’s greet them. Are you two coming?” Cam asked turning to look at Patrice and Byron over her shoulder.

  “If you don’t mind we’ll just stay here and have a drink.” Byron said.

  Cam smiled. “Make yourselves at home, we’ll be back shortly.”

  Prescott was the first one to enter the house he dropped the suitcase he was carrying just inside the door of the foyer. He glanced at Blake, Cam and Alex his expression unreadable.

  “I’ll be in the study.” He said as he headed down the hall disappearing around the corner.

  The three of them exchanged puzzling looks. “I’ll just go see what’s going on with him.” Alex said heading in the same direction that Prescott had. Lauren stepped into the foyer and squealed grabbing Blake in a tight embrace.

  “Blake, I’m so happy to see you.” She said her accent almost as thick as her mother’s. “This must be your lovely wife, bonjour ma nouvelle soeur, my new sister, it is pleasure to meet you.” Lauren said as she embraced Cam.

  Cam returned her embrace carefully so that she wouldn’t brush against her gun. “C’est un plaisir pour vous rencontrer aussi, it’s a pleasure to meet you also.” Cam said to her sister in law. “I’m Camille but you can call me Cam, Blake and I am pleased you could make it.”

  “Merci, you speak French magnificently.” Lauren said to her turning to Blake she said. “Elle est belle, she’s beautiful.”

  Lauren looked at lot like her mother with her dark blond hair and grey eyes. She had a healthy even complexion, she was quite pretty. But she had an almost childlike demeanor about her. Another thing Cam noticed was that unlike her mother Lauren’s grey eyes were wide and lost like reminding her of a deer caught in the headlights kind of expression. The way her shoulders slumped was a tell-tale sign of her low self esteem.

  Well that would have to change every woman deserved to have the confidence to feel beautiful. No matter what anyone else thought of her she should always walk with her shoulders back and her head held high. Cam planned to help her work on that.

  When Lauren turned towards the door a man of average height and a somewhat tall woman were standing in the doorway. Rushing to his side she took his arm and pulled him forward, missing the look of irritation that crossed his face. But Blake and Cam certainly didn’t miss it.

  “Blake, Cam this is boyfriend Diederich Von Schroeder, Diederich this is my brother Blake and his wife Camille I mean Cam.” They both shook hands with the man.

  “I’m very pleased to meet the both of you.” The man said with a slight accent.

  “Von Schroeder, that’s German isn’t it?” Cam asked with a forced smile.

  “Yes it is, you’re very observant. What is that you do for a living?” He asked glancing at the woman behind him as he waited for Cam to answer his question.

  Cam stared at the man for a minute he was an okay looking man nothing to special his pasty complexion was very unappealing his long pointy nose didn’t help his narrow face and sunken eyes. He only stood at about five seven with a rail thin frame his over bleached hair was an unattractive yellow blond nothing like Blake’s natural blond hair. The boring brown suit he wore hang loosely on his boney body. Cam forced another smile to her lips.

  “Actually I’m between jobs right now since marrying Blake I’ve had to relocate and I haven’t found a job that has caught my interest.” She said sweetly. “Who’s your friend?” Cam asked tipping her head in the woman’s direction.

  “My apologies this is Vala Teague my assistant, say hello Vala.”

  “Hello.” The woman said flatly.

  “Welsh, huh?” Cam said.

  The woman didn’t answer but she didn’t need to Cam knew the answer. Vala stared back at Cam unblinking as they both made their own silent assessment of each other. The woman was a little above average height maybe five nine which was still shorter than Cam’s height just a hair shy of six feet. Vala had a very slender figure much thinner than Cam who guess-timated her weight was about thirty pounds lighter than her own. Her complexion was just as pale as her employer with the same bleach blond hair. The dark blue pantsuit she wore was not very flattering on her. She was wearing way too much make-up which made her look kind of like a clown.

  “So what is it that you do Mr. Von Schroeder?” Blake asked the man just as Cam’s phone started to ring. Cam didn’t break eye contact with the woman until then.

  “Excuse me I need to take this.” Cam said as she stepped a few feet away. “Hello.”

  “I am just a simple businessman, nothing more.” Cam heard the man say as she moved away. She kept her intense gaze locked on the woman standing a few feet away as she took the call. It was Kat she and Kenji had been watching from the monitors in the study. Blake had cameras in almost every room in the house some could only be accessed with a pass code that only Blake knew as to preserve some privacy.

  “Cam I know you can’t say much but just listen okay?” Kat told her.

  “Okay that’s not a problem.” Cam replied.

  “We are all here and we can see both you and Blake and everything that’s going on.”

  “That’s wonderful news.” Cam said.

  “We did some digging and Vala Teague AKA Valimai Trevor has had dealings with Taro Yasuda so if she has ties to him then there is a good chance that she has ties to the person or persons we are looking for. Also she’s wearing a transmitter in her left ear we’re jamming the signal right now but she’ll probably figure that out soon enough.”

  “I’m sure that is definitely the case in this situation.” Cam said.

  “Thai, Alex and Prescott are going out there right now to try and see if they brought more back-up then the car that was following them from the airport. That’s what had pissed Prescott off he couldn’t shake them with Blake’s sister in the car. If they did bring more back-up our team will neutralize them before returning I’ll let you know when they return.” Kat said.

  “Yeah that’s fine I just wish there was a better way to take care of this problem if you think of anything call me back. In the meanwhile I’ll talk to Blake and get back to you. Thank you so much for calling I’ll talk to you soon.” Cam said.

  “Hey Kenji has an idea go to the kitchen and check on the casserole after you hang up.” Kat said before disconnecting.

  “Sure I’ll tell him you have a good day Thanks again bye.” Cam said pretending that she was still talking to someone.

  “Blake darling that was your office they were able to get some of our paperwork taken care of. But some of the documents need our attention which means your lawyer Mr. Andrews will be stopping by sometime soon.”

  “Well if it can’t be helped we’ll just have to deal with it. Hopefully it won’t take too long he knows my family is visiting.” Blake said.

  “Why don’t you show our guests into the living room I need to check on the casserole it should ready by now?” Cam took a step forward and kissed Blake on the cheek. “Keep everyone in the living room Kenji is meeting me in the kitchen.” She whispered close by his ear before turning to head towards the kitchen.

  “Right this way, mom and dad are already in the living room. Cam will be back in a bit would any one like a drink while we wait?” Blake asked as they entered the living room.

  “I’ll have bourbon if you have it.” Deiderich said.

  “We sure do, Lauren would like anything to drink?”

  “I’ll have a glass of wine.” Lauren said.

  “How about you Vala, was it? Would you like a drink?” Blake asked the woman standing quietly in the corner.

  “No thank you, I’m fine.” She said not crack even the slightest smile.

  “Alright then one bourbon and one glass of wine coming up.” Blake said going over to the built-in bar located in the opposite corner of the living room.

  Cam had just taken the casserole out of the oven when Kenji slipped into the kitchen the back way. Cam rushed over to make sure no one was coming down the hall towards the kitchen. She went back over to where Kenji was standing.

  “Okay hurry up we don’t have much time before someone comes in here. At which time we may have to either make-up something or take somebody out.” Cam said to Kenji.

  “Here put this in your ear so that you can hear us. We’ll be keeping an eye on you the whole time if anything goes wrong we’ll know it.”

  Cam placed the earpiece into her ear and fixed her hair so that it lay over her ear.

  “Is there something else you needed Ken?” Cam asked.

  “Kat wanted me to remind you to send her a plate of that casserole.” Kenji said as he gazed at the large tray of chicken casserole she’d made. She noticed him staring at the casserole and smiled.

  “Tell you what I’ll put half of the casserole in a smaller serving dish so that you can take the one into the study with you that should be enough to feed all of you until later tonight.”

  Kenji smiled. “Thanks Cam you’re the best.”

  “You sure are.” She heard Kat saying in her ear.

  When Kat was done she took the casserole into the dining room which was off the living room on the other side of the house away from the study. After putting the casserole on the table she went to the living room.

  “Blake, darling can you come help me set the table?”

  “I certainly can, would you all excuse me for a minute.” Blake said as he left the room to join Cam in the dining room. “What did Ken want?” He asked when he entered.

  “He wanted to give me this earpiece so they wouldn’t have to call us on our cell phones again that might cause too much suspicion if it keeps ringing every few minutes. We need to talk quietly in case someone comes in here.”

  “I have an idea come here for a second.” He said watching her as she slowly walked over to stand in front of him. He reached out and pulled her into his arms, walking her backwards until her back was against the wall near the far corner of the room. He lowered his head so that his mouth was close to the ear that didn’t have the transmitter in it.

  “Now if anyone comes in they’ll just think we’re making out.” He whispered. “I should be upset with you for pretending that you couldn’t understand what I was saying when I was speaking to you in French.”

  “I know and I’m sorry about that but I have something to tell you.” Cam whispered nervously.

  “Am I going to like what you have to say?” He asked softly.

  “I sure hope so.” Cam said.

  “Alright well what is it?”

  She leaned in close to his ear so that he heard her loud and clear. “Je vous aime trop chéri.” She whispered letting her warm breath fan across the side of his face.

  “So you heard that huh?”

  “Yes I did and it took every ounce of self control I had not to tell you last night how much I love you but I needed time to think. The more I thought about it the more I realized the truth was I want this, a life with you, a family with you, to be married to you.” She said as her eyes filled with unshed tears.

  “Well that’s good because when we got married a few days ago that was a real minister, you really are Mrs. Blake Coleman so last night when I said, vous toujours serez le mien, I meant it. You will always be mine.”

  “Mon chéri.” She whispered before pulling his head down for a passion filled kiss.

  “That’s what I’m talking about you go girl.” She heard Kat’s voice saying through the transmitter in her ear. “Hey kids playtime is over you have company five seconds out.”

  Because Blake was standing so close to Cam he heard her warning just as Cam had. He stayed where he was acting as if they were unaware that they had an audience.

  “Ahem! Excuse me I just wanted to make sure everything was alright in here.” Vala said as she entered the dining room.

  “Yes everything is fine we just got a little side tracked.” Cam replied watching the woman closely. When she made no attempt to leave the room, Blake straightened slightly away from Cam.

  “I’ll let everyone know that lunch is ready.” Blake said. “Will you be alright?” He asked reluctant to leave her in a room with this dangerous woman.