The Case of the Voracious Vintner
Page 31
“Do I need to shower?”
“No. Anything. Hurry.”
Bo grabbed his own jeans and sweatshirt and stood dressed in front of Jeremy a second later. “Okay. What?”
Jeremy extended a hand and grasped Bo’s. “Come on.”
Jeremy slipped on his sneakers at the door without tying them, so Bo did the same. Following Jeremy, he walked onto the porch in the cool morning air, then down the stairs.
Jeremy glanced around like a wolf scenting for prey. “See anyone?”
Bo stared around anxiously but shook his head. Jeremy walked down the steps and up the path that led to the road. He paused and seemed to listen with his whole being. Seemingly satisfied, he grasped Bo’s hand again and started toward the dense trees behind the house. They stepped into the even cooler shade, and Bo wondered if they should have brought their coats, but Jeremy seemed so intent, he didn’t say anything.
After a good ten minutes walking, Bo saw a shovel just lying in the dirt. Jeremy leaned down, snagged it, and kept going. After another couple of minutes, he stopped under the shade of a huge tree. He looked at Bo with a mixture of mischief and love, then selected a spot and started to dig.
“What are you doing?”
Jeremy placed a finger against his own lips in a shh gesture and went back to his task. Bo stepped out of the trajectory of flying dirt.
The shovel seemed to strike something that made a different sound. Jeremy dug a bit more, but carefully. He leaned down and stared into the hole he’d dug, then up at Bo. “You know that one of the reasons my grandfather wanted to find me was to get back the money my mother willed me and my father stole from me.”
“Right. The FBI guys told me. Ten million is what I heard. I explained to them that no way you could have that money, since you wouldn’t have been so desperate in the face of Ottersen’s attacks on you.”
“Right. Although Nonno knows I’d hesitate to spend any large amount of money because it might send up a red flag that would have let him know where I was. Of course, he knew, but I wasn’t aware of that.”
Bo nodded, but he was torn between frowning and smiling.
Jeremy said, “Still, I told Nonno that I stole three million of my own money and started my winery with it. I figured my father must have stashed the rest offshore.”
“Yes, that makes sense.”
The smile lit Jeremy’s face like a fine Chablis. “I lied.”
As Jeremy reached for the large plastic bag in the hole, they both started to laugh. Bo guessed they’d never stop.
THREE DAYS later they sat in a favorite coffee shop that also served good tea in San Luis Obispo, with Llewellyn and Blaise opposite them. They’d opted for coffee versus Llewellyn’s adored tea shop in deference to Blaise and Jeremy, who favored the bean versus the leaf.
Blaise shook his head and licked foam from his movie-star upper lip. “When you guys set out to solve a mystery, you don’t mess around. Jesus, organized crime, sex clubs, asphyxiation, hanging.”
“All in a day’s work.” Jeremy grinned.
Bo smiled but said, “We’d never represent that it hasn’t been hell. But the fact that things have worked out well for us takes some of the horror away.”
“Y-your f-family is really m-moving out?” Llewellyn sipped his tea latte and managed to look like it wasn’t a pale substitute for his favorite brew that came from the shop a few blocks down the street.
Jeremy laughed. “Yes. Surrendering Tara to Scarlett and me.” He kissed Bo’s hand. “Not to say they’ll ever give us a minute’s peace, but hell, I could use some family that actually cares for once.”
Bo returned the kiss.
Jeremy said, “We start moving me in this weekend, which won’t be hard since I’ve lived like I might have to run for the whole time I’ve been here.”
“W-will you be s-safe from your f-family, Jeremy?”
A slight frown clouded his face. “We hope so. But we’ll also take steps to protect ourselves.” The frown faded. “It would be a shame to have to abandon our combined businesses now that they seem to have a chance for big success.”
Blaise said, “Maybe we can help with the early warning system. Having some snooping power in my family’s journalistic business, plus one of the best researchers in the world right here, I’ll bet we can even keep tabs on the underworld.”
A young guy with a long braid down his back and the eyes of a wounded doe stopped at their table. “Can I get you gentlemen anything else?”
Blaise flashed his teeth. “Thank you. I think we all plan to have another, but we’re happy to come to the counter to order.”
“Not at all. It’ll be my pleasure.” He glanced uneasily at a table in the corner occupied by a dark-haired woman and two men. The people were staring at him, but then who wouldn’t? The guy had an elven, otherworldly quality that set him apart instantly.
The barista piled their dishes on his tray and walked away, casting frowning glances at the trio observing him.
“W-what an amazing f-face.”
Bo nodded. “I think he escaped from the Shire.”
“Or Rivendell.” Jeremy turned back to Bo. “He seems very uneasy with those people in the corner.”
Llewellyn eyed the barista intently. “I w-wonder what his story is?”
Blaise laughed and shook his head at the same time. “Uh-oh. I think we better finish planning our wedding before some other mysterious obsession interferes.”
Jeremy pulled a small notebook from his pocket. Llewellyn nodded approvingly. Jeremy poised his pen. “Okay, you now get both of us. It’s the Bo and Jeremy show from here on out. So let’s select a date.”
Bo inhaled deeply. “Yes, we need to choose all the most wonderful details for the ceremony and the party.” He could feel heat behind his eyes and blinked so he could get the words out. “And then we can use them for our wedding.”
Jeremy snapped his head around so fast it was like a Disney cartoon. “What?”
“Was there something about forever you didn’t understand?” He flashed the historic Marchand dimples, reached in his pocket, and extracted a black velvet box.
Jeremy pressed a hand against his mouth. “I thought you were just appeasing Mama.”
“Since I got to share in Llewellyn and Blaise’s engagement, I wanted them to be here for what I hope is ours.” He opened the box on an old-fashioned diamond engagement ring with a huge center stone and smaller stones around it. “This ring has been in my family for generations. Of course, its design was intended for a woman. I propose we reset it any way you’d like for your hand. Together, we can bring the ring and the Marchand family into the twenty-first century and beyond.” He took a gold chain from his pocket. “Until then, I ask you to wear it around your neck as a symbol of my promise to love, respect, and cherish you all the days of my life.” He looked into Jeremy’s eyes, leaking tears down his cheeks. “Will you, Jeremy? Please say yes.”
“Oh yes, a thousand times yes!” He threw his arms around Bo’s neck and kissed him wildly.
When Bo leaned back, he blushed at the rapt attention of every person in the shop, including the elven barista who stood with their drinks on a tray. He grinned, and that was a pleasurable experience. “I’d say these drinks are on the house.”
Bo swept Jeremy up in his arms, swung him in a small circle, then set him down and affixed the chain around his neck. “Forever, my beloved vintner.”
Jeremy looked back over his shoulder in a cheeky glance that made sweat-producing promises for what Bo could expect later. Jeremy pursed his lips in a small air kiss. “Your voracious vintner.”
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“Rome and Jules had every component that I enjoy in a story: romance, suspense, wonderful writing, and a paranormal twist.”
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TARA LAIN writes the Beautiful Boys of Romance in LGBT romance novels that star her unique, charismatic heroes. Her best-selling novels have garnered awards for Best Series, Best Contemporary Romance, Best Erotic Romance, Best Ménage, Best LGBT Romance, and Best Gay Characters, and more. Readers often call her books “sweet,” even with all that hawt sex, because Tara believes in love and her books deliver on happily-ever-after. In her other job, Tara owns an advertising and public relations firm. Her love of creating book titles comes from years of manifesting ad headlines for everything from analytical instruments to semiconductors. She does workshops on both author promotion and writing craft. She lives with her soulmate husband and her soulmate dog (who’s a little jealous of all those cat pictures Tara posts on FB) in Ashland, Oregon. Passionate about diversity, justice, and new experiences, Tara says that on her tombstone, it will say “Yes!”
Email: tara@taralain.com
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#15 – Rome and Jules
DREAMSPUN DESIRES
#5 – Taylor Maid
LONG PASS CHRONICLES
Outing the Quarterback
Canning the Center
Tackling the Tight End
LOVE IN LAGUNA
Knight of Ocean Avenue
Knave of Broken Hearts
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Lord of a Thousand Steps
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LOVE YOU SO
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Love You So Madly
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MIDDLEMARK MYSTERIES
The Case of the Sexy Shakespe
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TALES OF THE HARKER PACK
The Pack or the Panther
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The Pack or the Panther &Wolf in Gucci Loafers Anthology
Published by DREAMSPINNER PRESS
www.dreamspinnerpress.com
Published by
DREAMSPINNER PRESS
5032 Capital Circle SW, Suite 2, PMB# 279, Tallahassee, FL 32305-7886 USA
www.dreamspinnerpress.com
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the product of author imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.
The Case of the Voracious Vintner
© 2019 Tara Lain.
Cover Art
© 2019 Kanaxa.
Cover content is for illustrative purposes only and any person depicted on the cover is a model.
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