Finding Pride (Pride Series) (20 page)

It was a large stone two story manor, there were about twenty large windows on the front. She could see lights coming from about half of the lower windows. She’d been over here only twice before, but, still felt like the house looked bigger each time. The large circular driveway went right up to the front door. Todd and Lacey’s cars sat out front. Megan pulled up besides them and parked.

When she got out of the car, Bernard, Lacey’s yellow lab walked over and sniffed her feet; she’d seen him around several times before. He liked to hang out down by the beach, or over by the pond. Megan bent down and scratched him between the ears.

“
What a fierce guard dog you are Bernard.” She whispered to him. He looked up at her and licked her hand. She could have sworn he smiled back at her.

When she rang the doorbell. Bernard let out a loud bark, which had Megan jumping, and then he promptly sat at her feet.

Later, everyone was out to the large patio out back. While Iian and Todd argued over how to cook the steaks, Lacey chatted with her as they drank iced tea and Bernard lay at her feet. The steaks, being cooked to perfection were served with grilled vegetables, and grilled garlic bread.

After dinner, everyone sat around the fire in the living room laughing and telling tales. Megan had never felt so much a part of something in her entire life. While they were chatting about food ideas for the Bed and Breakfast, the phone rang, and Lacey sprung up to answered it.

“Todd, it’s that detective friend of yours from New York.” Lacey called from the kitchen. Todd glanced at Megan with a guilty look then went into take the call.

The room was silent as he talked in the other room. She couldn’t overhear anything, but she could feel the tension in the room.

Abruptly she stood. “I’d better be going. It’s been a long day.”

Lacey walked her to the door. “I’m sure Todd will be off the phone in a minute.”

“That’s okay. I’ll just…” Whatever she wanted to say died away as Todd came walking out of the kitchen. When he saw that she was standing with her hand on the doorknob, her coat in hand, he stalked over to her.

“Are you leaving?” he asked, helping her on with her coat.

“Yes.” Megan said pulling away from his touch.

He looked between Lacey and Megan, then took her arm and walked her outside.

“
What’s this all about?” he asked when they were a safe distance from the house.

“Why do you need a Private Investigator in New York?” Megan said in a harsh tone. All of a sudden she felt chilled, her light jacket seemed to let all the warmth from her body escape.

“He was just checking up on a few loose ends.” Todd said trying to reach for her again. Megan jerked away so fast she almost stumbled.

“Does it have anything to do with me?” She bit out.

“
Yes.” Was all he said.

“Goodnight,” she said and stalked to her car.

She would have made it, but Todd was too fast. He grabbed her by the shoulders, and spun her around.

“
What is this about? I hired someone to check up on your ex-husband, not you.”

“You’re hurting me.” Megan whispered and looked down at his hands that were flexing on her shoulders. “How could you?” she said quietly.

Todd released her arms and shoved his hands into his pockets. She was small; he hadn’t meant to be so rough with her. “I wanted to make sure he was put away.”

“I don’t need a protector, Todd. I can watch out for myself. I don’t need someone to check up on me. God!” she said throwing up her hand, “This is why I never told Matt anything. I’m not looking for a knight to come charging in and make everything bad disappear.” Megan began rubbing her hands together.

“I won’t apologize for wanting to make sure that you’re safe Megan.” Todd said in a low voice.

“I can take care of myself Todd.” It came out as a whisper.

“Yes, I can see that. You’ve done a smashing job so far.” The sarcasm rolled off him, hitting her full force.

Megan took a breath to recover the blow.

“I don’t like people going behind my back. I don’t need someone else running my life,” she said and got into her car. Todd let her go, he could tell he had overstepped his bounds, but he was just trying to protect her. Couldn’t she see that?

He was in a sour mood now and knew that it would be a long time before he could settle down, so he stalked to the barn to see Chester.

As Megan drove home her temper didn’t improve. She kept running what he’d said over and over in her mind. Why did people always treat her like she was some helpless child? When her co-workers had learned that she was having marital problems they’d all treated her like she was some ignorant child who couldn’t tie her own shoes. She kept her life private, that’s the way she liked it. If someone wanted to know something about her, all they had to do was ask. That way, she could give them the answer she wanted them to hear.

How could Todd want to control her like this? She wanted to start a new life, and that meant not being controlled by anyone. By the time she got home and slammed the front door, she’d talked herself into a terrible frenzy. She paced around the house, mumbling to herself.

An hour later, she still couldn’t quite settle down, so she sat down at her desk to work on some paperwork she’d been putting off. However, she kept replaying the events over and over, her mind kept replaying little things that Derek would do, like checking up on her every move. Calling her while she was driving and staying on the phone until he knew she was in her office, just to make sure she didn’t stop anywhere for a quick affair. Calling her office and demanding to speak to her, and accusing her of having an in-office affair if she was unavailable to talk.

She was so preoccupied running cases through her head that by the time she looked up from the computer, it was four o’clock in the morning. Her eyes were dry and scratchy and her neck hurt. Leaving the computer running, she walked upstairs, fell in bed with her clothes on and was asleep the moment her head hit the pillow.

When she woke, it was to pounding. She blinked and sat up, then realized it was someone at the front door.

Stumbling out of bed, she headed down the stairs. When she reached the bottom of the stairs, she heard Todd calling her name over and over again. She opened the door just as he was going to pound again.

He barged in and looking around demanded. “Are you alright? Are you hurt? What’s happened?”

“What?” she said running a hand through her hair, trying to get her bearings. “What are you talking about?”

Todd took a deep breath and stepped back. He’d knocked on her door for about five minutes. After the first few minutes; he had walked around to the back door only to find that it had been bolted. He was just about to run home and get his set of keys, or break down the door when he’d heard her coming down the stairs.

Her hair was a mess, her eyes had purple lines under them, and it appeared that she’d slept in the clothes she had worn last night.

“What are you doing here Todd?” Megan asked leaning against the door.

“Your doctor’s appointment. You do want to get that cast removed today?”

“Oh, yes,” she said perking up a little. “Let me go freshen up.”

When she had disappeared up stairs, he walked into the office. Papers were piled all over the desk and the computer screen was still on. So she’d stayed up late working, he thought. At least he knew she had a hard time sleeping last night as well. He didn’t like that she looked exhausted, he knew he was the cause of it, but he still felt right in what he’d done.

He wanted Megan to be a part of his life, and he protected what was his. She would just have to get used to someone looking out for her, since he had no intentions of stopping.

He sat down behind the desk and started looking over the papers she had piled up. There were bills from the contractors, and bids for some other work on the garage and barn.

When Megan came back down five minutes later, she had on a clean pair of slacks, a blue blouse, and her hair hung in a long straight pony tail. She was looking forward to being able to do more with it once her cast was removed.

She walked into her office and stopped. There was Todd going through her paperwork. He had all the bills in a nice stack and the desk was clean of clutter. All the hurt and anger from the night before surfaced again.

A memory flashed in her mind of Derek sitting behind a desk, handing her twenty dollars for gas and lunch. He’d never allowed her access to any of her money.

“
What are you doing?” she asked, walking into the room while trying to control the shaking in her hands.

Todd looked up. When he started to open his mouth Megan stepped up and picked up the stack of papers.

“Don’t,” she said and then tossed them in the air, letting them float down all over the desk and floor.

Todd’s mouth dropped open and he blinked at her. “I can drive myself to the damn doctor,” she said and walked out. Todd sat behind the desk for another thirty seconds before his mind went into action. He caught her at the front door. Placing his hand on the door over her shoulder, he kept her from storming out.

“Megan, I’m sorry,” he said to her back. “I shouldn’t have interfered. I’m used to coming and going, and well… there’s no excuse for my rudeness.” He reached down and lightly took her hand, turning her around. “Please, let’s not fight.” He ran a finger down her cheek. “I just wanted to help.”

“
I’m used to everyone treating me like a child. I can do my own finances and clean up after myself. I can take care of myself. I don’t want to be controlled or treated that way again. Can you understand?” she said looking at their joined hands and pulling hers away.

“It won’t happen again. Trust me, I know you’re not a child.” He said smiling down at her.

“I – I just need some time… I thought I was ready for this. But, I don’t know what I want now.” She looked back up at him. “Can you give me some time to sort things out?”

He hesitated. “Are you sorry then?”

“No!” she said a little too urgent. “I think I just need some time…” She drifted her statement off.

“Time?” Todd looked back into her eyes and saw something other than fear. He knew he was rushing things with her. He wanted her in his life for good. He didn’t want to scare her off. If he truly wanted her in his life then he could be patient. “Sure, come on, let’s get this cast off, we’re running a little late and Dr. Steven’s is a stickler about tardiness.”

She nodded, and he helped her into her jacket and they set off.

It was a cool May morning and she could smell moisture in the air. She’d learned that it meant it would be a wet evening. Her arm hurt every night it rained as did all the other bones that had been broken. She thought about taking some Tylenol when she got home.

She really did enjoy the feel of a small town, she’d always lived in a large city and this was so completely different from anything she’d experienced before.

Every time she went to town, she ended up meeting new people, talking for hours at a time. Getting to know the history of the town, and the people was nice. She was beginning to feel like part of a family. As they drove down the two lane street that went straight in the center of town, she noticed people were out talking to each other. Almost everyone would stop and wave, when they saw a car drive by.

There was a small group of women outside the market and Megan could see that it consisted of several of the church ladies. She waved, and they all stopped talking and waved back. When they drove by, she could see their heads coming together in fast gossip.

Megan looked over at Todd and realized it would be all over town that they were going somewhere together. She was sure that when they had gotten out of the car at the other than a block away, that she could hear their names on the wind, and looked back over towards the bunch. The women heads had all quickly turned away, back to a huddle.