Awakened (Intimate Relations) (18 page)

“They’re not just words, Marc. I mean what I say or I wouldn’t say it. Now come to bed. It’s been a very long day. I’m exhausted and I know you must be, too.”

She took his hand and tugged. His cell phone rang. “Do you have to answer it?”

He smiled. “I have to at least look.” He glanced at the screen. “It’s Ted.”

“Then answer it. And tell him hi from me. I’m going to bed.” She kissed his cheek and left the room.

Marc answered the phone. “Hey Ted. You’re here?”

“Well, here as in San Francisco. I’m actually at Theo’s house. The extended-stay hotel I was planning to crash at was full, so Theo took pity on me and brought me to his place. He’s fed me and let me drink some of that wonderful wine. Life is good. Except for one thing.”

“Crap. What’s that?”

“Theo ratted you out. He said your dad knows you suspect him, that you mentioned Rockpile Road.”

“Yeah. I totally screwed up. I just lost it. I’m sorry, Ted. Hope it doesn’t mess with your investigation.”

“It’s not the investigation I’m worried about. From everything I’ve been reading, I think your dad’s a psychopath, and I’m worried about your safety, about Mandy’s, and even Nate and Cassie’s. It’s not like the location of the winery is a big secret, and with your website presence and directions to the property, you are all potential targets.”

“You really think he’d come after us?” Crap. This wasn’t even on his radar.

“It’s a risk. There have been a couple of questionable instances loosely tied to your father. Nothing ever proved, but people who hurt him in business over the years have a habit of disappearing. Are there any people in law enforcement in that area that you know or even someone Nate and Cassie might know? Someone you can make aware of what’s been going on? Feel free to make copies of my notes and pass them on.”

“I’m sure there’s someone. Nate and Cassie know just about everyone around here. Cassie’s been here all her life. I’ll talk to them in the morning, find out who we can bring up to date on the info I’ve got and my suspicions.”

“Sounds good. And feel free to pass on my name as your investigator. Since I’m an employee, or will be when I sign on the dotted line, I don’t need a private investigator’s license, but I don’t want to step on anyone’s toes, either.”

“I’m really glad you’re here, Ted. Thank you so much for coming.”

“I’m glad I’m here, too. You have no idea how ready I was for a change. It was time.”

Marc thought about Ted as he headed into the bedroom, about the bravery of a man willing to walk away from everything familiar and reach for something different. Then he glanced at Mandy. She was just coming out of the bathroom wearing a soft bathrobe. She looked absolutely beautiful, and totally approachable, but even so, in a way, he was doing the same thing. He’d stepped out of his comfort zone and taken a chance on love.

Though it wasn’t all that chancy with someone like Mandy. He reached out and took her hand. She turned and smiled at him, and he felt it like a punch to the chest, the pure, open joy in her smile. It shouldn’t be this hard to believe she actually loved him, but it was. He’d never dreamed it might actually be this way between them. Then she’d smile at him just like this, and he knew.

It was so damned good he could hardly contain his joy.

Then she paused beside the bed, turned, and looked at him. “What did Ted want?”

Four little words, and reality slapped him sharply across the face. “Crap. He called to warn me about my father, the fact I let him know I was on to him. Said it may have put all of us in his sights. I need to call Nate. Look out the window, would you? See if there are still lights on over there.”

She walked across the room, peered out through the wooden slats covering the window. “Yep. Looks like. In fact I see Nate taking the garbage out.” She glanced at him. “See? Told you it was a guy’s job.”

“I already conceded.” He walked over to the window and pulled the blinds up as he dialed Nate’s number. Saw him reach into his pocket and answer the phone.

“Hey man. What’s up?”

Marc chuckled. “Other than watching you do your manly chores?”

Nate turned and waved at him, and then walked across the yard separating the two houses. “How about I meet you on the porch?”

“I’ll be right there.”

Mandy kissed him. “You go. You really do need to tell Nate. Your father is absolute slime, ya know?”

“Believe me. I know.”

Marc opened the door as Nate walked up the steps. He was talking on the phone. “Yeah. Marc had something he wanted to chat about. I’ll be home in a few minutes. I love you, too.”

He ended the call and stuffed the phone in his pocket. “What’s going on?”

“I sure as hell hope you don’t regret taking this job from me. This may be a totally false alarm, but I just got off the phone with Ted Robinson.”

“I remember him. The FBI agent. He made a trip up here shortly before he left for Virginia. Is there a problem?”

“I told you about the issue with my father, but what I didn’t tell you is that we had a run-in today when he broke into my office. Theo had him cornered just before Mandy and I arrived. I don’t know what happened, but my father got in my face, started poking me in the chest and I went ballistic. I told him I knew about his trip out Rockpile Road, that I remembered him burying something the night my mother disappeared. He lost it, shoved Mandy out of his way, and left. When Ted found out what happened, he was, to put it bluntly, extremely pissed. Says I painted a bullseye on my ass and one on Mandy, you, and Cassie, too. I am sorry, Nate. I was so stupid, but the guy is psychotic. Ted thinks he may have killed before, not just my mother, but others who’ve gotten in his way. Right now, I’m the one in his way, but I want you two to be extra careful. Lock up at night, make sure the gates are locked, and stay as close to Cassie as you can. If you wouldn’t mind the intrusion, I’ll hire security for the property until this is settled.”

Nate planted a steady hand on his shoulder. “Thank you. For now I’d prefer not to have to deal with security—I think that would be more unsettling to Cassie than not having someone here, but I’ll check. And I’ll make sure Cassie’s aware of the danger.” He paused, shook his head. “Lately she’s been going into the cellar early to get work done before the tasting room opens. I’ll be sure to go with her. If you can, get a picture of him for me so we know who to watch out for.”

“I’ll see if I can find one. Picture an older, totally dissipated version of me—jowly, bags under his eyes, about seventy pounds heavier. Hair going gray.” He laughed. “Not a promising future look for me, that’s for sure.”

“One other thing,” Nate said. “Cassie’s already got a call in to the county sheriff’s office. She knows a lot of the guys, and wanted to let them know about the investigation at this point. I’ll make sure she updates them.”

“Give them Ted’s phone number, the one I gave to you earlier. He’s going to be handling the investigation for me. And if they want to talk to me, just tell them to let me know when and where.”

“You’ll get through this, Marc. Thanks for the warning.”

“I’m just sorry I have to warn you at all. G’night, Nate.”

He watched Nate walk away. Then he turned and went back into the little house. Walked through the kitchen and down the short hallway, straight to Mandy. Everything always looked better when she was in his arms.

She must have known what he was thinking. She was already in bed, naked, arms held wide. There was a large pile of condoms on the bedside table.

CHAPTER 9

There was a breakfast place on the old highway into town that Mandy had spotted on their way in the day they’d stopped to pick up Mexican food, and that’s where Marc took her. It was after nine and the place was fairly quiet on a Thursday morning. Marc found a table near the window in front and led Mandy to it.

He checked his phone and found a text from Jake. “This is good,” he said. Mandy raised her head from the menu and smiled at him.

“Music is settled,” he said. “That band you found on YouTube, the one up in Mendocino County that does a great combo of jazz and bluegrass? I sent the link to Jake and Kaz yesterday and just got a text from Jake with a thumbs up.”

She crossed the others off with a flourish. “Excellent. Cheaper than flying a group in from New Orleans, too.”

“Very true.”

“We might actually get everything done today.”

“That would be good. I still want to go out Rockpile Road at some point.”

“I know. I’m sorry I didn’t want to go this morning.” She reached across the table and took his hand. “Last night with you was wonderful.” Her cheeks turned pink. “This morning was even more fun. I wanted to pretend that we were just a normal couple without so much bad stuff hanging over our heads.”

“I know. And I think it was an excellent idea.” Mandy was the one who’d convinced him they needed to get some of the stuff done for Kaz and Jake, which had been the original reason for the trip. She’d also suggested that it would do him good to get a little distance from all the crap going on, and he’d had to agree with that, too, but it wasn’t easy. He wasn’t used to having someone looking out for him, someone putting his happiness ahead of everything.

As much as he loved it, it wasn’t all that hard to accept, and definitely worth it.

The food came, huge plates of hash brown potatoes and eggs, sausage for Mandy, bacon for him, a big bowl of fresh fruit to share. He dug into his meal while Mandy looked over a few more things. “Eat,” he said.

She raised her head, blinking. “Sorry. Got sidetracked.” Laughing, she set the notebook aside. “At least we’ve settled on the caterer. The Thai place. There are enough vegetarian dishes that we can keep the vegans happy while still not allowing the carnivores to starve.”

“Excellent. Starving carnivores are dangerous in a mixed group. They tend to feed on the vegans.” He took a big bite of bacon.

Mandy nodded. “That would not go over well. Must remember to keep carnivores well fed. One other thing. Cassie said we could hire Lupe and Josie Medino to tend the bar. They’ll be serving your wine and a craft beer from a local brewery. Lupe’s free that weekend to work.”

“They’re still living in that little house on the back end of the property, aren’t they?” He’d met Lupe when he first bought the Tangled Vines vineyards—the young man had taken on the demanding job as Cassie’s vineyard manager when he was barely out of high school, after her father’s health had declined. He was a good kid, now studying viticulture at UC Davis, and Nate was managing the vineyards.

“Cassie said they’re in the place part time and have an apartment in Davis as well. Josie stays here a lot on her own and helps Cassie in the tasting room. Cassie’s hoping Lupe will want to come back to work here. He’s really sharp and they work well together.”

“Well, if we make it attractive enough, we could probably convince him. He’s got family here in the valley and so does Josie. They’re all really close.” He thought about that, about the fact that Lupe and Josie had worked so hard to send Lupe to school, and how they helped their family members as well. There was a lot to be said for family. The more he saw of loving, functional families, the more he wanted one of his own.

He finished off the rest of his breakfast, his mind going from the trip out Rockpile Road to the list Mandy was working on. List now, Rockpile later.

As long as he remembered priorities, he was okay. Mandy was his number one priority. “Okay,” he said. “That leaves security. That’s especially important the way things are now. Damn, I wish he were behind bars right now. I hate that he’s impacting our friends’ lives, too.”

“I hate that you don’t even have to mention his name, and we both know who you’re talking about.”

Raising an eyebrow, Marc smiled at Mandy and deadpanned, “Sort of like Lord Voldemort?”

“Exactly. We shall henceforth refer to that man as ‘he who shall not be named.’” Mandy covered her eyes with her hand. “That’s just horrible, Marc.” Then she snorted, laid her head on her arms, and laughed.

She was still laughing—and so was Marc—when the waitress came to collect their plates and leave the bill. When she gave him a quizzical look, Marc just shook his head. “You really don’t want to know.”

*   *   *

Mandy had originally felt guilty about dragging Marc into town when she knew he was anxious to follow the lead on Rockpile Road, but they’d both needed to step back a bit. The fact his father was growing more desperate was scary and important, but Marc’s life was important, too. She wanted him to experience normal things once in a while.

She didn’t think he’d had much normal in his life.

“Okay,” she said, buckling her seat belt after leaving the Thai restaurant a little while later. “The paperwork and payment are all taken care of for the catering, and that leaves security. I talked to Cassie last night and mentioned that we needed someone. She texted me a few minutes ago, while you were dealing with the caterer, and said Nate’s already arranged for the security guys they use for events—they’re legally armed, bonded, and insured, and we can make them aware of any potential for risk.”

“Excellent. I didn’t even think about asking Nate. Shows you how little I actually do with the winery. Nate and Cassie definitely run the show up here. So, what kind of flowers does Kaz plan to carry?”

She gave him the raised eyebrow. “That’s not a guy question. You do realize that, don’t you?”

He turned on Dry Creek Road and headed out of town. “Actually, I was thinking of a couple of the pictures that Jake took out here when they did that first shoot for Intimate. Kaz had a bouquet of wildflowers in her arms, but she looked naked behind the blooms, with the slightest hint of the jewelry. The flowers were so pretty, and in the picture, her eyes are sparkling. I think she’d be perfect with wildflowers.”

“Marc.” Mandy raised an eyebrow and studied him. “No matter what flowers she carries, she will not be naked behind the blooms.”

He turned to her with a stricken look. “Really?”

“Really.”

He sighed most dramatically. She punched him in the shoulder.