Love's Embers (Canon City Series) (11 page)

Chapter Seventeen

The next morning, when Lark woke up with Charlie wrapped around her body, she’d wanted to stay in bed the whole day, but knew she needed to go into the warehouse. It was two weeks until Christmas and they needed to get as many orders out as possible.

She got out of bed without waking Charlie and showered. After she put on her makeup and dried her hair, she got dressed and heard her door creak open. Breaker poked his nose into the room.

“Hi boy, come here,” she whispered and squatted down. She rubbed his ears and back. Lark looked up and saw Gran at the door with a smile. She winked at Lark and closed the door. “Why don’t you go wake up your papa?” she said to the wolf.

Breaker’s ears popped up and he seemed to grin. He turned, jumped up on the bed and started to lick his daddy’s chin. Charlie began to make a funny grumbling noise. He turned on his side and sat up. Lark smiled and watched Charlie stare at his pup.

“I love you, too, Breaker, but you aren’t the warm and fuzzy I was dreaming of this morning. Get off the bed you brute.” Charlie looked at Lark and arched an eyebrow. “Good morning, my love.”

Lark’s heart almost burst out of her chest. She crawled up onto the bed and straddled his hips, then leaned over and brushed his lips. “Good morning to you.”

His mouth opened and she felt his hands move up her thighs. He swung her around and the next thing she knew she was on her back with him between her legs. He kissed her with the passion she wanted desperately.

“Lou,” he whispered. “We’re being watched.”

They both turned their heads and found Breaker with his fore paws on the edge of the bed. He woofed at them and wagged his tail.

“He wants some attention.” Charlie kissed her jaw.

“I’m not supposed to kiss him, too?” Lark whispered in Charlie’s ear.

“No one kisses these precious lips but me.” His hand moved to her ribs and started tickling her.

“Stop, stop. You’re starting a bad tradition,” she laughed.

“Come back to bed,” he said and kissed her again. He moved closer to her and stopped tickling her.

“I have to go to work, but I should be able to cut out at three or four o’clock.” She smiled at him.

“Hmmm...if I could get Gran to babysit a certain pup, we could continue where we left off yesterday and forget that awful dinner.”

“I like that idea very much, Ducky. I might even find a way to be here by one or two.”

Charlie propped his head on his hand and looked down at her. “My dear, I have work to do today, too. The furnace people are coming and so is the plumber. Now I’m going to have a hard on all day until you get home.” He kissed her nose and rolled off her. “Think on that.”

“Oh yum, I should be good and wet when I get home. Thinking about your hard on will make packing boxes not as dull as it usually is.” She put her hand under the covers and moved it down his chest. She traced it over the front of his pants and grinned when Charlie got a surprised look on his face. She curled her fingers over his penis and gave it a light squeeze.

“Larkspur Metcalfe, I am completely shocked by your behavior.” She squeezed again and grinned when he sucked in air. “Oh woman, if this is the way I’ll wake up every day, I’ll worship you until my dying breath.” His eyes crossed and his hips moved.

“As much as I would like to continue tormenting you, I can’t.” She kissed him again.

“How are you feeling this morning?”

“My chest is a little sore and my wrist.” She held it up and wiggled it. “It feels like it’s bruised, which it is. All in all, I’m all right. I took an ibuprofen.”

He kissed the inside of her wrist. “I hear kisses make it all better.”

She shook her head and smiled. “I’ll see you later.” She got up off the bed and walked back to her closet.

“Not if I see you first,” he said and swung his legs over the side of the bed and sat up.

“Ducky, that’s a really old saying.” She grabbed a sweater and started to the door. “Later alligator.” She laughed and he threw a pillow at her, which Breaker leapt on and claimed.

She went down the stairs and filled a travel mug with coffee. She put her boots on and grabbed her coat. “I’ll be home early, Gran,” she said as she opened the back door.

“Hey, don’t you want some breakfast?” Gran asked and walked into the kitchen.

“No, I’ve got to get moving. Charlie will be down in a few minutes. He’ll need a good breakfast.” She zipped her coat.

“So, you were good kids last night? Yes?”

“I’ll never divulge our secrets, Gran.” Lark laughed her way out the door.

“I’ll get answers from Charlie. He’s weak when it comes to bacon,” Gran said from the back door.

Lark laughed all the way to her SUV and said to herself, “Maybe we were good kids last night, but definitely going to be bad this afternoon.”

When she arrived at the warehouse, she actually felt light on her feet. She grinned, and thought she was a dork for the bounce in her step, but didn’t care. She and Charlie were back together and she couldn’t be more thankful.

She met Nancy in the hallway. “We’ve got a problem,” Nancy said and looked none too happy. She followed Lark into the office.

“Hold that thought one second.” Lark walked to her desk. “Alicia, come in here a second.” She took off her coat and put her purse in a drawer.

Her secretary followed Nancy into the office and carried a notepad and pen.

Lark grinned at her. “Sweetie, I know you are incredibly efficient and still have the email addresses and snail mail addresses for the guests for the wedding.”

“Yeah, I have a folder in a file,” her secretary said.

“Great. This morning I need for you to send a general group email and snail mail out. The note should say the wedding at the end of the month is cancelled and there should be no
I’m sorry to announce
because I’m not sorry. Okay?” Lark said and leaned on her desk.

“Got it. Do you want to check the note before I send it?”

“Nope, I trust you.” Lark smiled and Alicia left the room. She looked at Nancy. “What problem do we have to deal with?”

“Wait a minute, what the hell is going on?” Nancy asked.

“The long and short of it is I had a big wake-up call this weekend. Thomas hit me and I realized I’ve never loved him and never will. I suppose when Alicia sends the email one of his friends will call him and he will call me wanting to know what my problem is.” She shook her head. “Believe me; I haven’t a problem in the world. Charlie Stone is home and I’m happy for the first time in years.”

“Charlie Stone? You mean the guy that lived next door to you and...The guy you were talking about at the rink the other night?” Nancy stopped.

“The very one and we’ll go over that later. What’s up?”

Nancy shook her head. “Oh right, we’ve got an accountant here who wants to go through the books. He won’t say who he represents. I called Ryan Barton, who’s doing some checking. He will call us back with whatever information he finds. In the meantime, Mr. Accountant is in the break room, drinking our coffee.”

Lark let this run through her head. “What on earth? We don’t usually see accountants until the first quarter.”

“I know. Call me paranoid, but with the rumor about our selling the company last week and now this, don’t you think we should be worried?”

“I’m not sure.” Lark started out of her office and Nancy followed.

She went down the stairs to the employee break room and saw a middle-aged, bald man sitting at a table with his electronic tablet. “Hi, I’m Lark Metcalfe. May I ask who you represent?” He grinned and Lark thought he resembled the Cheshire Cat.

“I’m sorry, Miss Metcalfe, but I’m not at liberty to say.”

“Could I see some ID please?” She held out her hand.

The man continued to grin and reached into his pants pocket.  He pulled out his driver’s license and handed it to her.

“Thank you, Mr. Dumphy.” She almost started to laugh at his name. She looked at the picture on the card and noted the birth date. She also glanced at his wallet, which he held open in his hand. She handed the license back and turned to leave the break room.

She and Nancy walked side by side out to the warehouse floor and started up the stairs.

“Nance, do you have a pen?”

Nancy watched Lark write some numbers on the palm of her hand as they continued up the stairs. “What are you doing?”

Lark held her palm up. “Mr. Jason Dumphy’s driver’s license number and birth date.” She continued up the stairs and went into her office. She sat at her desk and hit the speed dial button for the lawyer’s office.

“When did you become such a smart woman?” Nancy said and sat across from her.

“It’s in the Levi’s, ha, ha. That’s a Gran saying.” When the phone was answered she picked up the handset. “This is Lark Metcalfe for Ryan Barton, please.” While she waited for her lawyer to answer the phone, she looked at Nancy. “How are the orders going?”

“We have everything from last week out, but got almost another one hundred over the weekend.”

“I think we should post a cutoff date on the website. We can guarantee before Christmas delivery if ordered by...what do you think?...The twentieth?”

“The twentieth is a Friday, it would work. Then after that, we guarantee before New Year’s Eve delivery. I like it.”

“That would be good.” Lark held up her hand and the lawyer got on the line. She gave him the information and he asked her to hold on again. They waited in silence for a few minutes, and she listened to hold music. When he came back on, Lark put the call on speaker so Nancy could hear.

“It looks like Mr. Dumphy is from National Savings and Loan in Denver. He’s an accountant in acquisitions. I’ve got a call into Canon City Savings. I’m wondering if they’re trying to sell your loan. That could be a problem,” Ryan’s voice said on the speaker phone.

“Mike Strom is on vacation until after the first of the year. He’d be the one to talk to,” Nancy said.

“I’ve got another contact over there. I’ll let you know what I hear. Let Mr. Dumphy see the sales only accounts. If he presses for the purchasing numbers tell him to come back tomorrow. Give him some noise about the computers being overloaded right now arranging orders. We’ll find out what’s going on.”

“So in other words, stall him?” Lark said.

“You got it. I’ll be in touch.” The phone when dead.

Lark hit the cut off button and looked at Nancy.

“Want to Roshambo who goes to set Mr. Humpty-Dumphy at a computer?” Nancy asked.

Lark laughed. “No, I’m going down anyway. What would you say is the noisiest, most unfriendly computer location in the building?”

“That’s easy. Nick’s office, next door to the compressor is the worst. He’s been asking to move to the other side of the building. It’s really hot in there, too. Nick’s gone until Thursday.” Nancy stood and smiled.

Lark laughed harder. “Lordy me, I do love us. We can be so evil sometimes.”

They high fived each other and then went their separate ways. Lark set up their packaging manager’s office. She got the computer warmed up and made sure the desk was locked. Then she steered Mr. Dumphy into the office and left to go help package orders.

Lark worked until the afternoon on the floor. She got a sandwich from the auto-cantina.

After she ate half the sandwich and drank her cold coffee, Lark called her Gran.

“Hi, I just wanted to let you know I’m going to be a little late. We’re really busy today. Could you do me a favor, Gran?”

“Of course, sweetheart,” Gran answered.

“Would you run over to Charlie’s and let him know I’m going to be late?”

“You two have certainly become close rather quickly. I’m glad for you both.”

Lark smiled. “I’m really happy about it, too. I have another question, Gran. On the church phone directory, is there a home number for Mike Strom?” She could hear her grandmother open a drawer.

“Let’s see. There is a cell phone number.”

“Great.” Lark wrote the number down and said goodbye. She dialed the number and after four rings got a message and a bing to leave a recording. “Hi Mike. This is Lark Metcalfe over at Mile High Bread. I know you’re on vacation, but Nancy or I really need to talk to you. We’ve had an accountant here all day going through the books. He’s from National Savings and Loan in Denver. I talked to Ryan Barton and his theory is that National might be trying to buy our loan from Canon City S and L. Could you give me a call any time? Thanks.”

She hung up and her cell phone instantly rang. She looked at the caller ID and saw it was Gran. “Hey Gran, what’s up?”

“Hey, this is Charlie. I borrowed Gran’s phone. I know with the holidays and all you’re crazy busy. Come over when you get home, no matter how late. I have heat now and the plumber says I should have water in the kitchen by the time he leaves today. I also have a surprise for you,” he said, out of breath.

Lark smiled and laughed. “Do you want me to pick up a pizza or something else? We’ll have to share with Gran.”

“That would be great. I’ll let her know not to cook dinner. I can’t wait to see you.”

“Same here. I shouldn’t be too long.” She hung up and glanced at her cell phone. The message light flashed and she hit the Receive button. It was from Thomas. She pushed the Erase button and didn’t listen to the message.

There was a knock on her door. She looked up to see her secretary waiting patiently in the doorway.

“Should I start looking for another job?” Alicia asked.

“No, not ever. I’ll give you advanced warning if things go south, but don’t worry yet.”
“Okay.” Alicia walked into the office and stood at Lark’s desk. “The email went out and I’m already receiving condolences. You’d think someone died. Do you want me to forward them to you?”

“Nope, just erase them.” Lark smiled.

Alicia put a letter on the desk in front of her. “This is the letter. I need your signature.”

“How many do you have to mail?” Lark grabbed a pen and signed her name.

“About thirty. I just have to stuff the envelopes and Ed will be here in about an hour to pick up the mail.”

“Great.” Lark looked up at her. “Alicia, please don’t worry. We’re in the black for the year. One way or another everything will be fine.”

“No, it isn’t that. I know we’re doing okay with sales. I can see the bruise on your chin. Are you all right?”

Lark looked down and pulled her sweater down. She could see the bruise on her chest spread up.  She smiled. “I am going to be fine, too. My ex-fiancé stepped over a line yesterday. I’m afraid I’m the kind of girl who only allows one strike and I’ve let him have more than his share of first strikes. He’s out of here.”

“Good,” Alicia said and smiled. “I’ll get this out.” She turned and left.

Lark sat back in her chair and heard her cell phone ring. She looked at it and saw it was Thomas calling again. She turned the phone off and set it on the desk.

At five o’clock, she stood up and stretched. She walked into the front office and saw Nancy’s light still on.

As she passed Alicia’s desk, she stopped. “Why don’t you cut out early tonight? We’ll just have more to do tomorrow.”

“Thank you,” Alicia said. “Have a good evening.”

“You, too.” Lark leaned into Nancy’s office. “I’ve left three messages for Mike Strom. Hopefully he’ll stop skiing for a few minutes and check his messages.”

“We’ve got the website updated. I made an executive decision and changed the date to the nineteenth which is Thursday. That will give us four mailing days and I feel we won’t be as late with deliveries.”

Lark leaned against the door jam. “Ack, late is late, but the nineteenth is fine. I’m heading home.” She started to turn, but stopped. “Have you heard anything from Ryan?”

“No and, knowing him, I’ll bet he’s on his way home, too.”

“Okay, see you tomorrow.”