“Can you blame it on me?”
Penny scratched her head and tucked her hair behind her ear. “Well, that’s sort of my plan. I hate lying to everyone, but I can’t tell them the truth, not even my therapist.”
“That’s what’s so great about having a large circle of time travelers around. If you need to talk to someone—and don’t want to talk to me—call Kenzie.”
“I’m going to call her tonight to check on Rhona and Churchill.”
“David will set Philippe and Rhona up with cell phones and send their numbers out through WhatsApp. He’ll send yours to everyone, too.”
“He doesn’t have my number.”
“I added it to WhatsApp after we got your phone and suitcase back from the hotel. I figured you’d want updates and news. You can always remove yourself if it gets annoying.”
“Thanks. I don’t want to miss news about Rhona or plans for returning to New Orleans.”
“Well, heads-up… If you talk to Kenzie, she’ll ask you to go to Maryland next weekend.”
“I can’t, Rick. Really. My employees have had several anxious days, and I need to stay home for a while.”
“They work for you, not the other way around. If you want time off, you should take it.”
Penny tightened her seat belt and tucked the pillow at the small of her back. “I know, but we’re family. I’m responsible for them. If we don’t work, we don’t get paid.”
“Okay, I get it,” he said. “But don’t avoid me because you’re afraid I’ll pressure you. I won’t. If you decide to take this to the next level, we’ll go there, but if you don’t—”
She gazed into his eyes, her teeth tugging on her bottom lip. “You won’t wait forever. I know that, but—”
He pressed a finger over her mouth. “Shh. Let’s not put time limits on us right now. We have a couple of weeks before we return to New Orleans. I’ll give you space, but if you want to text or call, I’ll interrupt whatever I’m doing to text or call you back. I want to be in your life, Penny, and I want you in mine.”
She pushed away his finger and kissed him.
Hell, yeah!
His heart slammed against his ribs, daring him to sharpen the mouthwatering, hungry pressure of the kiss. He wanted to caress Penny intimately and keep going until she begged him with her sultry, greedy mouth.
She raked her teeth lightly over the skin on the inside of his bottom lip, triggering bolt after bolt of lust until the last bit of his shaky common sense dangled on a fragile cord.
He meant to have her. Maybe not right away, but that didn’t stop his fantasy of thrusting his fingers into those black panties—the ones he put on the bed for her while she was in the shower this morning—and feel her ride his hand, his fingers inside her, pumping her sweetly until he coaxed out a climax. Then he’d start all over and do the same greedy things with his tongue, then his dick.
He drew back, and her eyes said all he needed to know. She wanted him, but not yet. He cupped her face, and his thumb outlined her kiss-reddened lips. Then he ducked close to her ear, rasping his whiskers against her neck. “You’re killing me, babe.”
He wanted to tell the pilot to return to New Orleans or take them straight to a warm beach. This was one flight he never wanted to end.
“Mr. O’Grady,” Veronica said, coming up behind him. “You need to put your seat belt on. We’ll be on the ground in ten minutes.”
Tearing himself away from Penny was goddamn hard. He straightened and buckled in. Then he turned back to her. “I’ll drive you home, and over the next few weeks, I’ll probably spend hours at the gym and take hundreds of cold showers, but I’ll wait for you.”
She cocked her head. “Are you saying you aren’t going out—”
He touched her lips again. “I have no interest in being with any other woman. I’ll wait for you, Wilhelmina Penelope Malone. For as long as it takes.”
“If you kiss me like that again, it might not take as long as I expected to get all the stuff out of my head.”
He grinned. “I was afraid I might be doomed to a life of celibacy.”
She elbowed him in the ribs. “Do you want to go horseback riding Saturday morning and have brunch in my kitchen?”
He scrunched his face, thinking about the delicious smells in her catering kitchen, and the prospect of watching her ass move in the saddle. “I told you I’d do whatever you want, but you need more time than three days. I want you creaming in your panties the next time I see you. And I’m not sure you’re there yet.”
She took his hand, and for a split second, he thought she was going to put it between her thighs to show him she was already wet, but instead, she kissed his palm, and his heart gave a mighty thump.
“You’re right,” she sighed. “We shouldn’t. And I’m amazed at your restraint.”
His hard-on was so damn obvious—even decently covered by an untucked polo shirt—he wasn’t sure he could deplane without an awkward walk to the door. “If we were an hour from landing instead of seconds, I’d pull the curtain, and we’d do it on the divan.”
She gave him a sly smile. “That would make me a member of the Mile-High Club.”
Surprise rippled a path down his spine, but he managed to give her his most charming grin. “Wow, Ms. Malone. Is that something you’ve aspired to for a while?”
“I want a membership card with the date of my initiation.” She gave him a sexy, hotter-than-Hell’s-hinges smile.
Forget walking. I’ll have to crawl to the exit.
He was about to kiss her again, but the wheels hit the runway, and their self-imposed separation was about to start.
60
New Orleans—Penny
On Friday, the start of the Memorial Day weekend, Penny and Rick flew to New Orleans—separately—to hunt for a treasure that might or might not contain the infamous torc and might or might not even be buried near the remains of the ancient bald cypress tree.
Elliott scheduled an on-site meeting at the tree park, and Rick had to be there, but Penny had two catering events she couldn’t cancel. And although she had employees to work both parties, her clients would be upset if she wasn’t there to meet and greet them. And upsetting her senior citizens could have a ripple effect that might ruin her business.
Morgan Bradshaw was right. Penny had spoiled her clients, but unspoiling them wasn’t an option.
She had planned to use Rhona’s china that she purchased at the estate sale, but after thinking about it, she decided to give it back to the Fontenots when they moved into their home on Mallory Plantation.
Unbeknownst to Philippe and Rhona, Elliott had purchased the New Orleans house and all the remaining art, fixtures, and furnishings. He then hired a company to pack and store everything, and another company to move the mansion to a one-acre tract given to them by Braham and Charlotte.
Philippe and Rhona could never resume their lives in New Orleans, but at least they’d have their home and most of the paintings and furniture they’d collected during their thirty-year marriage.
Elliott’s generosity shocked the hell out of Penny and forced her to reconsider her opinion of him. And if she changed her mind about Elliott, did that mean she had to do the same for Meredith? Maybe. But not right now.
As for Rhona’s health, her medical team diagnosed her with chronic myeloid leukemia that had not progressed to the accelerated phase and advised her that she should respond well to standard treatment. Rhona sent out a WhatsApp blast with the news, and Penny Facetimed her immediately. They made a date for a girls’ day out as soon as they could arrange it.
What if Penny hadn’t bought the brooch and disappeared? No one would have gone back for Philippe and Rhona.
But the weirdest thing of all occurred early last week when Charlotte sent a message to all the adults in the family to get an HLA blood test ASAP. Rhona needed a bone marrow donor, and although none of the adults were biologically related, everyone had volunteered to help in any way, and this was their ch
ance.
Penny went to the lab immediately, and you could have picked her up off the floor when the results came back. She was a match. As soon as the doctors decided what donation method was required, she’d go to Virginia for the procedure.
During her flight to New Orleans, Penny made out a grocery list. Kenzie, David, Rick, Remy, and Elliott were spending the day in the hot, mosquito-infested swamp, so Penny decided to surprise them with a home-cooked meal.
As soon as she arrived in the city, she Ubered to the rental house to drop her bags, then Ubered to the market.
Now it was after seven, and the appetizers were ready to pop in the oven, the steaks were marinating, the ingredients for the salad were chopped and ready to toss, the vegetables were seasoned, and the table set for six.
All she needed now were dinner guests. Rick had texted that they’d be back at the house in about thirty minutes, which gave her enough time to take a quick shower and cook the appetizers before they arrived.
Since she didn’t know which room to take, she used Rick’s bathroom to clean up, but this time she didn’t need his toiletries. She did, though, peek in his Dopp kit to find the same unopened box of condoms. Of course, he could have used all twelve and bought a new box, but based on what he told her—that he’d wait for her—she didn’t think he’d been out with other women.
Later, after her shower, appetizers in the oven, she was sipping wine and responding to Facebook comments on her business page when a limo pulled into the drive. She grabbed a six-pack of chilled longnecks, opened the back door, and stood on the porch to hand out beers.
The stink of the swamp arrived before they did, everyone wearing dirty fatigues, sweat-soaked T-shirts, ball caps, and combat boots. Their tired faces lit up when they spotted the beer.
“Good to see you, Penny, and thanks.” Remy grabbed a longneck and guzzled it.
Rick took a bottle and smiled. “Damn, it’s good to see you. I’d kiss you, babe, if I wasn’t covered in mud and didn’t stink.”
She wiped the sweat off his cheek with a corner of her apron and kissed him on the clean spot. “Good to see you too. I put towels on the screened-in porch if you guys want to strip down and leave your swamp clothes there, and I put towels in the laundry room for Kenzie. And before you get any ideas, David… You have to go with the boys.”
“Uh… Nah. Kenz and I stick together,” David said.
“We’d stick together for sure right now. Go with the boys, McBain. I want a few minutes with Penny.”
“You’re just as gross as I am,” Rick said. “I want a few minutes with Penny, too.”
“To the porch.” Penny pointed in the direction they should go. “I’ll bring out more beers.”
The four guys ambled away, grumbling about not being allowed in the house, but no one mounted a coup d’état. Instead, they clinked bottles, and Remy told a joke she couldn’t hear, but it made the guys laugh, including Elliott.
It was hard to believe Elliott was in his seventies. He was about the same height as the other three, his biceps were as muscular, but overall he was leaner, his hair was grayer but just as thick as Rick’s, and he had almost the same spring in his step as the much younger Remy. The guy was obviously on a healthy diet and exercise program. She’d heard he even ran an 8:44 pace in Lexington’s Run the Bluegrass, America’s Prettiest Half-Marathon.
While Kenzie went into the laundry room to strip off her stinking clothes, Penny removed the appetizers from the oven and transferred them to serving platters. Then she pushed a cart to the screened-in porch loaded with more beers, chilled hand towels, and plates filled with pigs in spicy blankets, lobster hushpuppies with horseradish cream, and bacon-wrapped shrimp with chipotle barbecue sauce, and somehow got the hell out of there before the guys’ clothes came off.
Kenzie emerged from the laundry room, tucking in the corner of the bath towel to secure the body wrap. “Come upstairs with me. I want to hear the latest news.”
“Okay, but first tell me how it went today at the tree park.”
“Nuh-uh. No way am I starting this conversation with what happened today. Tell me about you. How’s therapy going? The grief process… Missing Rick… What’s new?” She sniffed. “God, that smells delicious. What’d you fix?”
“Just some appetizers. I should take more beers out there. Hold on a minute.” Penny grabbed a six-pack and walked toward the screened-in porch, but all she saw were white butts. She quickly turned around and backed up to the open door. “Here’s more beer.”
“Well, bring it out here, lass.”
They were so full of themselves. Penny put the six-pack on the floor. “Nope. Come get ’em.”
Laughing, she followed Kenzie upstairs to her bedroom. “You should have gone out there,” Kenzie said. “I’ve seen them all buck naked before when I showed up on the houseboat unexpectedly. They’d been fishing, swimming, and drinking beer.”
“What’d they do?”
“Nothing. They didn’t care. They were just sitting there with their junk hanging out. Not a big surprise since the Scots in the group are used to going commando under their kilts. I shook my head, told them not to do that in front of the kids, and walked out.”
“I don’t know how you kept a straight face.”
“It was harder than hell. But if I showed any weakness, acted embarrassed, or gawked, which is what I wanted to do, they’d never let me live it down. Don’t ever give an inch with those guys.”
“I think I just gave an inch, but you painted quite a visual. So do tell. Inquiring minds want to know who’s the most endowed?” Penny burst out laughing. “You can’t leave me…uh…hanging.”
Without breaking stride, Kenzie said, “It was a tie between Remy and Braham. But I’ll tell you this… They’ve all manscaped…you know…down there. No rogue fuzz. They’ve all given their boys a nice, close trim.”
Penny ended up on the floor she was laughing so hard. “Tell me it’s not true.”
“Sorry, girlfriend. And I’m not telling you another thing.” Kenzie started the shower, put her arm in a waterproof sleeve, and climbed in. “When you stop laughing, come sit in here on the toilet, and tell me how counseling is going.”
“Shit. After that, I’ll have to schedule a year’s worth of appointments. No, I have a better idea. Why don’t you describe that scene to Soph and let her paint it?”
“I wouldn’t trust Sophia. She’d change a few proportions. But stop changing the subject and tell me about counseling.”
Penny snatched a Kleenex out of the box on the counter and wiped her eyes. “It’s going well, I think.” She closed the toilet lid and sat down.
“Bullshit,” Kenzie said. “You haven’t told your shrink about what happened on Barataria, have you?”
“I muddled through and told her I was in the wrong place at the wrong time and almost raped by a bunch of gangbangers. The attack was gross and disgusting, but I had control of the situation or believed I did, as long as it stayed one-on-one. The attack in Afghanistan was part of a mission, and it’s haunted me, but the team was there and had my back.”
Penny snatched another tissue and blew her nose. “But what Bowes did was different. He not only violated me, but he also destroyed the trust we’d built up. That makes it harder to deal with and harder to establish a trusting relationship even now.”
“Will you hand me that bottle of conditioner by the sink?”
Penny handed her the bottle. “Bowes screwed me up in more ways than one. I wish I could kick him in the nuts, report him, and ruin his promotion. Or maybe take Jean’s approach and shoot him.”
“Yeah, but killing him would be a little drastic. Ruining his promotion would be justice. Let’s get through this treasure hunt. Then we’ll put our heads together and figure out how to take down the bastard.”
“That’d be fantastic. So what’s your advice concerning Rick?”
“Stay away from sex until the two of you have established a trusting relationship.”
“That’s my thinking too, but it’s hard on Rick.”
“He’s a big boy, Penny. Trust me. I’ve seen his package.”
“Ye’ve seen mine too, lass.” David walked into the bathroom with a towel around his waist, and Penny blinked. Holy shit! What a body!
He pulled the end of the shower curtain aside and made a move to climb in, but paused to glance at Penny. “Do ye mind closing the door on yer way out?”
“How rude, McBain. Penny and I were having a serious conversation.”
“I could tell, but I have a few matters to discuss with ye that are more urgent.”
“Yeah, I can see the urgency.”
“I’m leaving,” Penny called out. “Go ahead and do your…thing.”
She passed Rick at the top of the stairs. He was carrying a beer with one hand and holding his wrapped towel together with the other. “You can come in the bathroom and talk to me while I shower.”
She laughed. “Maybe next time. I’ll see ya downstairs.” She was going to get Kenzie drunk so she’d spill the beans on the boys. Penny was dying to know, since Remy and Braham tied for first, who among those studs was second.
She went to the screened-in porch to clean up the mess. The beer was gone, as were the hand towels, and the platters were scraped clean. But what surprised her most were the four pairs of boots lined up in a row by the door, and somebody had started the washing machine. If she had to guess who was responsible for the cleanup, she’d say Rick, and he probably guilted Remy into helping.
She returned the empty trays to the kitchen and was tossing the salad when Eliott strolled in.
“Thanks for the appetizers and beer. They hit the spot. We had a big breakfast but no lunch. Sorry, there’s nothing left for ye girls.”
“I’ve been nibbling, but you might have to apologize to Kenzie. I’m sure she worked as hard as the rest of you.”
“Aye, she did.”
“Hey, while I have you alone, I want to thank you for everything you’ve done for me.”
The Topaz Brooch Page 66