Solid Gold Seduction (The Drakes of California) (15 page)

Chapter 34

W
arren and Charli stood in his driveway as the police cars drove away. He put a protective hand on her shoulder as they watched the cars until they were barely visible.

Charli turned into Warren’s chest. “This is crazy. Cedric is a lot of things but I didn’t count thief among them.”

“Any man who will assault a woman is capable of the lowest of crimes.”

She looked up at him. “What will you do now?”

“What the officers said, increase the number of men on security, install more lights, cameras and a more advanced security system.” He felt her shiver. “Don’t worry, baby. The police know at least one person responsible and after they lock him up, I’m sure this little problem will go away.”

She stepped away from him and looked around. “I don’t even have the money yet and already it’s causing me problems.”

“Is that what you think? That having money isn’t a good thing?”

“I didn’t say ‘not good.’ I said ‘problematic,’ and I won’t take that back.”

“There are more things to worry about, more responsibility, when you have wealth. But the benefits heavily outweigh the disadvantages.”

“If you say so.” Charli felt her phone vibrate. “Hold on.” She touched the screen. “Hello?” A frown immediately appeared on her face. “Why, what’s wrong?” She listened for a few moments. “How did that happen?” She was already running to her car as she concluded, “I’ll be right there.”

Warren rushed to catch up with her. “Charli! What’s going on?”

Her eyes were wild with worry. “It’s Griff. He’s taken a fall. It’s serious. I’ve got to go.”

Charli jumped in her truck and flew down the highway. In minutes, she was jumping out of it and running toward the house.

Bobby came from around the side of the house. “Charli! He’s back here!”

She jumped off the porch and ran around to the back of the house, on Bobby’s heels. As soon as they turned the corner she saw him: sprawled out on the ground, mouth tight, fists clenched, in obvious pain. She ran and dropped down beside him. Placing a shaky hand on his shoulder, she took a breath and said, “I know you didn’t want me on the Drake place, but isn’t this attempt of getting me to come back a bit dramatic?”

He shook his head and groaned. Not quite the reaction she was expecting. This might be worse than she thought. “Can you talk, Griff? Tell me where you’re hurting.”

“Leg,” he ground out between clenched teeth.

“Just lie there and don’t move, okay? The ambulance is on its way.”

“Drink.”

“Bobby, go pour a shot of Griff’s whiskey and bring it here.”

One of the workers commented, “Charli, I don’t think we should—”

“Shut up!” She turned to Bobby. “Do it. Now!”

Bobby raced to the back door and quickly returned with a full shot of the clear liquid. Charli eased Griff’s head up just enough to rest on her knees. Then she slowly placed the glass to the old man’s lips. He drank down the liquid and sighed. “Another.”

She gave the glass to Bobby, who raced back in the house, throwing a warning glance in the direction of the worker who’d earlier commented. The newbie averted his eyes. By the time Bobby arrived with the second shot of liquor, they could hear the blare of the ambulance sirens in the distance.

“Hear that, Griff? Help is almost here. Hang in there, Uncle. You’re going to be fine.”

Three hours later, a weary yet relieved Charli neared the city limits of Paradise Cove, having left Griff at the nearest hospital, almost thirty miles away. She hated the thought of him being injured but was thankful that he’d live. Remembering that she’d earlier seen a missed call from Warren, she called him.

“Drake, it’s me.”

“I’ve been worried about you, baby. How’s Griff?”

“His leg is busted up pretty good and he sustained a bruised wrist when he tried to break the fall, but otherwise he’s all right.”

“What happened?”

“He was up on the roof.”

“Oh, no.”

“Yep. Being hardheaded. The men tried to talk him out of helping, but Griff has a hard time seeing other people working and not joining in. It’s just his nature. Somehow his foot got tangled in a rung and he took a fall off the ladder.”

“How long is he going to be in the hospital?”

“The doctor said four to five days, but I doubt they’ll be able to keep him that long. I doubt that Griff has slept more than six hours or lain in a bed longer than eight at a time in twenty-five, thirty years. But they’ve got some cute nurses. That might provide some incentive.”

“There you go.” A pause and then, “How are
you
doing?”

“I was pretty shook up a while ago, but I’m better now. Seeing him lying there, it hit me just how much he means to me. Next to Grandpa, I’m closest to Griff. If anything happened to him I couldn’t handle it. After patching him up, they gave him a sleeping pill. Said that he’d be knocked out until morning.”

“I read somewhere that sleep is a healer. He’ll be back to his old self in no time.”

“Hopefully you’re right.”

“Of course I’m right. I’m always right.”

“Cool it, Drake.”

He laughed. “Listen, why don’t you come over, spend the night? We’ll take a nice, long bubble bath. And you can cook me dinner again. I could get used to that.”

“That sounds really tempting, but I think I should stay at the house tonight. There are chores to be done and one of the heifers is close to birthing. I’ll call you later, when I’m lying in bed. Naked. Wet. Thinking about you.”

“Girl, quit playing.”

“Ha! See you later.”

“Bye.”

There was so much work to be done that the day passed quickly, ending with Charli making the boys a large pot of beef stew. She rounded it out with a golden pan of cornbread and, because she wasn’t the baker that Griff was, threw together a simple batch of oatmeal cookies.

The men were much obliged.

Aside from Charli telling them about the break-in, and encouraging them all to be more alert, the dinner conversation was quiet. Everyone worried about Griff.

When they finished, Bobby turned to her. “Do you want me to stay here, Charli? I can bunk on the couch.”

“Thanks, Bobby, but that won’t be necessary. I’ll be fine.”

“You sure?”

“Positive.”

The men left and after washing up the dishes, Charli settled on the couch. She watched television for about an hour and then began to yawn, her body finally aware of the long, full day that had followed her long, love-filled night. “Lucy?” She looked around for her big, fat feline. “Lucy, where are you?” It just now came to her that she hadn’t seen the cat all day, not even in the stables, where she usually hung out. “Oh, well,” she mumbled, getting off the couch and heading toward her bedroom. “It’s not the first time you’ve spent the night under the stars.”

She took a shower and pulled on a pair of her favorite pajamas. Then she padded into the kitchen, barefoot, for a couple cookies and a glass of milk.

Yeow!

Charli froze, her hand in midreach. Her heart beat at a rapid pace.

Meow.

“Oh, my goodness.” She placed a hand over her heart and took deep breaths. “That’s the cat.”

She walked over and opened the back door. “Lucy! Come on, girl.” She looked the length of the porch.
Where is she?

“Lucy!”
You frustrating feline!
Frustrated herself, Charli stomped into the house to put on shoes so that she could go out into the yard. She slipped on her leather sandals, grabbed a flashlight and turned to see Cedric standing in her doorway. He held her cat in one hand, a gun in the other.

He leaned against the doorjamb, stroking the cat’s fur with the gun. “Finally, we’re both after the same thing. A little pussy.”

Chapter 35

W
arren walked the twins to the door. Aside from discussing the break-in, their unexpected visit had given him an evening filled with jokes and laughter. And it hadn’t hurt that they’d bought him a pan of lasagna and a container of salad, compliments of his parents’ chef.

“All right, y’all. Take it easy.”

“You too, man.” Terrell and Warren shared a handshake and a shoulder bump.

Warren leaned down to hug Teresa. “Thanks for thinking about me and bringing me dinner.”

“Not that you couldn’t stand to lose a few pounds...”

“Excuse me?”

“But we didn’t want you to starve.”

“Okay, get out of here!” Warren gave her a playful shove and then followed them out onto the porch. “Tell the folks I’ll be over there tomorrow.”

“Will do!” Teresa said, and waved.

The two got into Terrell’s car and drove away. Warren watched them until their car left the driveway, then looked around and spotted Johnny, his head guard. He threw up a hand to him also before walking back inside.

Looking at his watch, he was surprised to see that it was almost ten o’clock. And he hadn’t heard from Charli. He walked to his master suite, deciding to take off his clothes and get comfortable before giving her a call.

* * *

“Cedric, if you just leave right now, we can forget all about this.” Charli worked to undo the rope that held her hands behind her back.

“Shut up! I’m in control now.” He paced the room, waving the gun. “I say what happens! After what you did to me, you’d better hope it’s not fatal.”

Charli swallowed her fear. She had to remain calm. Her life depended on it. “Cedric,” she said, her voice soft and low. “What is it that I did to you?”

“You had me locked up!”

“How could I have done that? I didn’t even know you were in jail!” Earlier, when he’d talked about the break-in at Warren’s place, she’d said she didn’t know about it, had told him that when she left his house Warren was asleep and that they hadn’t talked since because of Griff’s accident. It was a logical explanation. Unfortunately Cedric was an illogical man.

“If you didn’t do it, your man did. So whether it’s him directly or you by default, you’re still going to feel pain. And then he’ll get what’s coming to him, too!”

Her phone rang. She held her breath. Cedric walked over and snatched it off the table. “Well, well, well. Speak of the devil.”

“I–I–I’d better answer it, Cedric. Or he’ll think something’s wrong.”

Cedric hesitated, his eyes darting back and forth as he considered what she said.

The phone stopped ringing.

Charli’s heart dropped. Warren was her only chance unless she could get loose and get to one of her weapons.
Damn!

Cedric stomped over and knelt down beside her. Charli tensed, forcing herself to breathe evenly as he ran a jagged fingernail over her cheek. “Okay, sweetheart, listen carefully because I’m only going to say this once. I’m going to call your boy back and you’re going to let him know that everything over here is fine and that you don’t want him over here. I’m going to put it on speaker so that I can hear everything.” He put his finger under her chin and forced her to look up. “Try anything and things will get real ugly. Got it?”

“Okay, except...”

“Except what? C’mon, tramp, spit it out!”

“Warren hates it when I talk on speaker.”

“Well I’m
not
going to let you talk where I can’t hear it. So you’d
better
give him a good reason to have him on speaker tonight.” He grabbed her hair and gave her head a violent shake. “Do you understand me?” She nodded. “Okay, here we go.”

Cedric tapped Warren’s number and then tapped the speaker button before placing the phone near Charli’s face.

Charli’s thoughts whirled as she waited for him to answer the phone.
Remain calm. Breathe. You can do this.

He answered.

“Warren! I heard the phone but couldn’t get to it. Sorry about that. I was in the kitchen, uh, peeling tomatoes.”

A pause and then, “Tomatoes?”

“Yes. And I’ve got you on speaker because my hands are a mess. I’m, uh, squashing them to make sauce.” She glanced at Cedric, who wore a smug expression. “If you want, I can call you back. After I get these tomatoes into the Mason jars.”

The silence was longer this time. “Are you all right, Charli?”

“Warren, Warren, Warren. You’re so silly. Of course I’m all right. I’m fine.” She gave a light chuckle, a sound that in her normal state, she’d never make.

“Did you talk to Griff this evening?”

“Yep, I sure did.”

“Is he doing any better?”

“Much. He’s already complaining about the cast on his arm. But that bump on the back of his head, the one he got after the cow stepped on him, is starting to go down.”

“Wait, you didn’t tell me about the cow.”

Charli could barely breathe as she watched Cedric’s look go from smug to suspicious. He gave a sign for her to wrap it up, then held the gun at her face, point blank.

“Look, Warren, can I call you back? I have to put the tomatoes in the jar while they’re hot, otherwise they won’t set properly.”

“Okay, I’ll let you go. But call me back as soon as you’re done.”

“I’m really exhausted. After I get these tomatoes canned, I’m going directly to bed. See you tomorrow, okay?”

“Sure. Have a good night, sexy. I’m going to miss you.”

Cedric ended the call, a sneer on his face. “You did real good, Charli. Handled that like a pro.” He leaned down and kissed her on the mouth, then ran his hand over her breasts before kissing her again. “Don’t worry. I’m not going to screw you yet. I’ve been waiting years for this, so I’m going to take my time. After all, your boy won’t be expecting to hear from you until morning. We have all night long.”

It took all that Charli had not to spit in his face. After she threw up. But there would be time enough to get her revenge, she thought. Her hands were just itching to squeeze a certain set of nuts, just as soon as said hands were untied.

* * *

Warren sat on the edge of his bed, staring at his phone. To say the call was weird would be an understatement. Her voice had sounded okay but she’d called him Warren. Not once, but several times. The only times that happened were either in the throes of passion or at his dogged command.
Something’s wrong.
He stood, walked over to the sitting area, replaying the conversation in his head.
I was in the kitchen, uh, peeling tomatoes.
She cooked, so that could very well have been true. “And that would have explained why she was on speakerphone,” he mumbled, “and talking more loudly.” But what she’d said about Griff. His arm in a cast? Warren could have sworn that it was his leg that had been broken.

He left the master suite and headed down the stairs, still thinking back to the conversation they’d had earlier that day.
His leg is busted up pretty good and he sustained a bruised wrist.
His wrist she’d mentioned, but not his arm. Warren’s scowl deepened as he wandered into the living room, and then continued through to the dining room and on to the kitchen.

“She talked to Griff tonight,” he murmured, trying to figure out why he felt there was a puzzle to solve, and why the pieces weren’t going together.
But wait! Earlier she said he’d had a sleeping pill and would be knocked out till morning.

He sighed in frustration.
Maybe she was just confused.
They hadn’t gotten much sleep the night before and she’d been through a trying day.
Warren, Warren, Warren.
“Maybe she’s finally decided to call me by my first name.” He laughed. “It’s about time.”

Feeling a bit more relieved, he walked over to the fridge and after trying to decide what sounded best among his plethora of beverages, he reached for the vegetable juice. He retrieved a glass and watched the red liquid flow. Then it hit him. So hard that juice spilled over the counter and the carton ended up in the sink.

When they were in San Francisco. When he’d asked her about breakfast.
Anything but tomatoes. I’m allergic.

He raced up the stairs and snatched up his cell phone. “Johnny, I need you to come to the house now! I think there’s a problem. And bring your weapon.”

He ended the call, started to call Charli again, but on second thought quickly tapped another number. Placing the call on speaker, he rushed to his closet to throw on some clothes. Dread replaced the blood running through his veins. “Detective Morrison, this is Warren Drake. I’m calling for an update on Cedric Martin. Have they set his bail yet?”

“They set his bail and it’s been posted. He left this afternoon.”

“He’s free?”

“Yes, he is, Mr. Drake. The charges weren’t serious enough to set the bond higher or keep him in—”

Warren hung up the phone, hurried into his shoes and took the stairs two at a time. He opened the front door just as Johnny was about to knock.

“You have your gun on you?”

“Always, Warren. What’s going on?”

“Cedric’s out,” Warren said, rushing to his SUV. “I think he’s at Charli’s.”

“We should call the authorities,” Johnny said as he followed.

“We can call them on the way so they can meet us there. But we’re not waiting.”

They jumped into the car.

“Man, wait!”

“Wait for what?” Warren fired up the engine.

“If he does have her, we have to be smart. We can’t just roll up there and park in the drive. Who knows what he’ll do?”

“Okay, we’ll park down the street and try to surprise him. But we’re going to Charli’s place. Now.”