Another Man's Treasure (18 page)

Jude carried Miranda into the study and sat down on the plush couch with her on his lap.

“Our future, Jude?”

“Yeah, Mandy. OUR future. I told you before, I don’t do goodbye. You walked back into my life and I sure as hell am not letting you leave, ever again.” Jude
kissed Miranda tenderly and told her about his meeting with Craig.

Miranda was groggy when Jude woke her at 6:00 am.  She stretched, opened her eyes and saw Jude sitting on the edge of the bed.

“Good morning, sleepy head.” 

Jude smiled at Miranda.  She looked beautiful after a night of love making.  Her hair disheveled and sleepy eyes, Miranda managed a small smile.

“What time is it?”

“It is 6:00 am, Mandy.  I am going into the office early this morning so that I am home when Ross arrives this afternoon.  Are you going to wait here for him or have me call you after he gets here?”

Miranda rubbed her eyes and yawned.  Six am?  Holy shit!  She had slept only 4 hours!  She shook her head to get her wits about her.

“Do you think I should go home and change my clothes or meet him dressed like this?”

“Never too tired to be a smart ass.  I will call you later, baby.”

Jude laughed a pu0">t her sarcasm and gave her a playful smack on the ass.  Miranda yelped and rolled away from him, throwing the covers over her head in a failed attempt to hide. 

Jude jumped on the bed and straddled Miranda’s hips.  He laughed as he struggled to uncover her.  Miranda laughed, relinquished the duvet and Jude bent down and kissed her.

“You’re a playful vixen with little sleep!  Ross should be here later this afternoon.  I will call you when I confirm with him.  I gotta run, baby. See you later.”

Jude climbed off the bed and got only half way across the room when Miranda whistled at him.  Jude turned around and Miranda flashed her breasts quickly, raised her eyebrows and smiled, taunting him. 
“You sure you have to leave so soon, Jude?  Can I entice you to stay just a few minutes longer?”

Jude tipped his head to the side slightly, then strode back to the bed and grabbed Miranda.  He drew her close to him, grabbed her ass firmly with one hand and held her hair with the other.  Jude kissed her hard and deep and when done, she was breathless.

“Now I have a reason to come home even earlier…I will finish what you started, you wicked woman!  Get some sleep, Mandy, because you will need all your energy tonight. That’s a promise.”

Jude gave Miranda one more quick kiss and covered her up.  Miranda giggled at the thought of what was to come.

“I look forward to that, darling. I will even fix a nice dinner for us tonight.  With Ross here, hopefully I will get a chance to eat before you ravage me again.”

“Don’t bet on it Miranda…you’ll lose.”

 
                                                        *******************

Ross Guthrie left Washington, DC a little later than he had anticipated.  He squeezed himself into the car that the company rented for him. It was a 4 hour drive to Willow and it was going to be hell in this freakishly small car.
Who in their right fuckin’ mind rents a cracker box like this for a guy my size?  Probably a newbie…fuck.

He tapped his ear piece to activate his hands-free phone.

“Call Jude Delaney.” 

Nice little technology thanks to his job. 
The phone dialed and Ross waited for Jude to answer.  Ross had some hard evidence that was going to hurt Miranda.  Jude was going to go ballistic. 
Jesus, I hope they don’t kill the messenger
.

“Delaney.”

“ si>

“Ok, man…I will meet you at the farm house.  Miranda’s cooking dinner and Francine will be there too.”

“Francine?  Who’s Francine?”

“Francine Hedley-Marsh
. She and Miranda have one fuck of a story for you…and I think you got the confirmation.”

“Sam Marsh’s widow?  Fuck, Jude
, I was afraid of that.  I have confirmation, all right, but it’s not what Miranda wants to hear.  This could destroy her.”

“Nothing is going to destroy Miranda.  You can make bank on that.  She is one strong woman.  Besides, I won’t allow that prick David to control her from the grave.  He did enough of that bullshit when he was alive.”

“Jude…this is big.  Honest, man, this isn’t going to be easy.”

“Bring it on, Ross.  Miranda and I will deal with it together.”

“Ok, see you around 6 pm.”

“Over and out, Scout.”

“Holy fuck, Jude!  No one has called me Scout since college!”

“Beats the hell out of Nancy Drew.”

“You’re a prick, Jude.  Later.  Disconnect call.”

Ross shook his head.  Jude hadn’t called him Nancy Drew or Scout since college days. 
Those were the days. 

Francine Hedley-Marsh…she was going to be there too.  Damn
. Ross had seen her pictures.  He wondered if she was half as beautiful as her photos.  The thought of her made his gut clench and his cock twitch.  Cali girls had nothing on Francine, even if he only had seen her pictures.  Tonight, Ross was going to get confirmation of his own and the very thought made him smile.

                                                        ******************

“Frannie?  It’s Miranda. Anything on your agenda tonight?”

“Not a thing, M, what’s up?”

“Can you meet me at Jude’s place about 7pm?  I want you to meet his friend, Ross Guthrie.”

“M, are you trying to set me up with this guy or what?”

“Frannie, Ross is a private investigator. He’s trying to help Jude and I figure out all this shit with David.  I think you have a piece of the puzzle.”
“span>

“I’ll be there, M.  You know I got your back no matter what.  I’ll bring the timeline we wrote and some additional paperwork I put my hands on.  I made several copies.  Gotta run, M…see you tonight.”

“Thanks, Frannie! Bye.”

Miranda hung up the phone and thought about the timeline.  It was far too coincidental that Sam and David died of the same exact disease within months of each other.
It had to be significant.

Miranda got cleaned up and changed her clothes.  She decided to give Jude a call to tell him about Frannie.

“Mr. Delaney’s office, this is Janice.”

“Hi Janice…May I speak to Mr. Delaney?”

“Your name please?”

“It’s Miranda Jones.”

“Please hold a moment, Ms. Jones.”

Janice was soft spoken and very professional.  She buzzed the intercom and announced Miranda’s call
. Jude picked up quickly.

“Thanks Janice.  Miranda, what’s up, baby?”

“I just wanted to let you know that I called Frannie and she is meeting us at 7 pm.  I think she can help Ross figure all this out.”

“That’s fine, Mandy.  You ok?”

I’m scared, Jude…scared to death of what I am going to find out.”

“I can handle this, Miranda, if you don’t want to be there.”

“No. I need to know the truth.  It’s my past, my ghosts.  I don’t want them to have power over me anymore.”

“I will pick you up in about an hour or so.  I am almost done here for the day.  I love you, Miranda. We will get through this.”

“I love you too, Jude.  I need to get some things together and put on something presentable.”

Miranda laughed when Jude chuckled, that evil little chuckle.  She knew what it meant. 
Fun and games ahead
.

“Nothing too presentable I hope, baby.”

“I will pack a bag for later. Let’s leave it at that, shall we?  Better yet, maybe Ross has some handcuffs we can borrow.”

“Dear God, what have I gotten myself
into? My girlfriend wants handcuffs!  Oh, I will leave that alone for now but later, I’m finishing what you started.”

“You’re on sweetheart…you are so on!”

Miranda hung up the phone and ran upstairs to change and pack some necessities for tomorrow.  That always included stilettos.
Oh, we are si>Oa hung up o on, Jude.

Miranda
gathered
her
clothes
and
necessities
for
the
next
day
and
threw
them
in her
overnight
bag.
In
the
kitchen,
there
were
steaks
marinating
in
the
refrigerator
that she
wanted
to
prepare
for
dinner
tonight.
She
grabbed
the
asparagus,
potatoes
and spices
that
were
Oa panspan>
needed
to
complete
the
meal.
A
fresh
baguette
was
on
the
shelf,
so Miranda
tossed
that
in
too.
 
Shut
up
Jeffrey…