Текст книги "The Gideon Affair"
Автор книги: Suzanne Halliday
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Текущая страница: 17 (всего у книги 20 страниц)
After a couple of days soaking up all that Denver had to offer, they picked up their rented RV, went through an exhausting training and safety check, and then took the keys and hit the road. They were now official members of The Good Sam Club.
He loved the freedom of driving when they wanted. Stopping for no reason and exploring every giant teacup or fossilized dinosaur along the way. His folks’ place wasn’t all that far from Denver from a mileage standpoint. They probably could have done it in a leisurely two days, but he insisted on taking the long, long way because camping with Paige was a complete hassle-free delight.
When they pulled into an RV park their first night out, his amazing fiancée whipped up a fantastic meal then rolled out the red carpet and invited the other RVers over for drinks. No one recognized him. The hair, beard, and the fact that the name Gideon never saw the light of day promised some anonymity. It was great just being two regular people out traveling the vast American highways and byways.
Tonight, they were in a campground near a small town that was having a cowboy festival. They were most definitely going. The minute she heard the word cowboy, her eyes lit with interest, she grinned like an idiot, waggled her eyebrows, gave him a wink, and nodded, murmuring, “Uh-huh. Now that’s what I’m talking about.”
His fiancée had a hard-on for cowboys. Oh man, being together on a remote location set for a movie about goddamn cowboys set in the eighteen hundreds was going to be interesting.
Getting the Ass-Gardian motorhome set up for the night was a breeze, and then they were off. Paige was not the chill and fucking relax type. Tell her there was something to explore, and you had better be ready with walking shoes.
The quaint mountain town was such a picture-perfect slice of Western Americana that his brain exploded taking in every detail. Especially dressed up as it was in a homegrown tradition that the Chamber of Commerce and tourism board must love. As they made their way along the main street, it quickly became apparent that Butch Cassidy, the Sundance Kid, and Teddy Roosevelt were superstars in the town’s historical lore. Paige was in heaven.
Enjoying that she seemed to be having the time of her life, he was picking up a signal that intrigued. What his father had always said was right—figuring out a woman was a lifelong project because when God gave out surprises, the ladies got the bonus pack. Just when you thought you’d seen it all, she busted out something new. In Paige’s case, it was a near constant commentary about families.
“Did you see that? Oooh, a family would love that.”
“This’d be great for families.”
“I’d bring a family here. Wouldn’t you?”
“They should do more to accommodate families.”
She was a broken record on the subject. What the hell was that all about? Did she want to start a family? He was confused but waiting for her to toss out more clues was also hella fun.
They were leaving Nellie’s Ice Cream Emporium, after sharing a double-scoop cone, on their way to check out a store selling cowgirl gear—oh, lord—when it happened.
“Um, excuse me, sir.”
Edward looked around for the voice and found a young boy. He was maybe eight or nine, standing next to Paige at a display of tourist brochures that she was busy stashing in her bag.
“What’s up, little man?”
“My brother thinks I’m crazy for asking, but you’re Sergeant Duke, aren’t you?”
Sergeant Duke. Oh, my fucking god. The action hero character that made him a superstar. The look of certainty on the kid’s face, mixed with unmistakable hero worship, gave him no choice.
“Yep, that’s me. But don’t tell everybody, okay, my dude? My gal and I are on vacation, and you know how girls are.” He rolled his eyes to include the kid in the off-hand slice of guy talk.
The boy smiled. “My mom makes dumb lists. Stuff we have to do. Does your girlfriend do that? I hate lists.”
Edward chuckled and shoved his hands in his pants. “Nah. Mostly she makes suggestions.”
The kid laughed. “My dad says there’s no such thing.”
“What do you mean? No such thing as a suggestion?” He liked where this was going. Never too early to start a boy off on the right track where women were concerned.
“Yeah. Says moms order, not suggest.”
A smile spread across his face. He looked at Paige, who was grinning and already rustling around in that bag of hers. They both knew where this was going.
“Hey,” the kid yelped. “Can I have a selfie?”
“Sure but do you have a phone? Aren’t you a little young for that?”
“No … but my brother does. Hang on!”
Keeping the grimace off his face proved difficult. Shit. And fuck. And shit again. Seconds later, the eager young boy returned with his brother, a taciturn-looking nerd-type sporting a NASA t-shirt and carrying an iPhone 6x.
“See, Shayne. I told you. It’s Sergeant Duke, and he said I could have a selfie. You take it and do it right.”
Well, looked like there was nothing to do but be this kid’s superhero. Edward dropped to his knee so his bulk didn’t overwhelm the youngster and threw an arm around the kid’s shoulder. With his free hand, he made the Sergeant Duke signature move, a clenched fist, and held it up for the picture.
Suitably impressed, Shayne snapped a couple of pictures until Paige moved in to their midst. She whispered, “All I found was the scratch pad from the last campground. It’ll have to do.”
“Okay, guys,” he drawled as the two kids freaked out over the selfies, “who wants an autograph?”
He scribbled a peace sign on the scratch pad, signed his name along with Duke’s initials, and handed each kid the souvenir. Another minute of thanks and the boys ran off. He looked at Paige, slid his sunglasses on, and shrugged. What could he do? Kids were always the exception.
Less than twelve hours later, the shit hit the fan.
Planning for two more days of sightseeing before heading to the Banning homestead, Paige was in heaven or at least in close proximity. She couldn’t have hoped for more than this time with Edward. In a way, going off alone as they had gave them a chance to experience what the future would be like. For a newly engaged couple, what could be more important?
There was life for them beyond Hollywood. She was sure of that. When it was time to put down roots and start a family, she didn’t imagine for a second that Southern California would be where they chose to live. It was exciting to think about what the future held.
The lodge where they were camping was a great big old thing with a restaurant and gift shop and a mini museum full of artifacts and memorabilia from the Wild West days. The place was crawling with families and her mind was ticking along on overdrive.
“Excuse me, Miss Turner?”
She was browsing the gift shop for souvenirs when the pleasant woman who checked them in approached her.
“A package came for you from Los Angeles. I have it at the front desk. Stop by on your way out, okay?”
A package? How was that possible? Carolyn knew where they were, but she hadn’t sent a text saying to expect anything. Everything had been going so well that she didn’t want to be Debbie Downer and immediately assume the worst just because something unexpected happened. But …
One hundred and forty-seven dollars and thirty-six cents of souvenir crap later, she made her way to the front desk of the lodge and tried not to react as if she was walking into an ambush.
The package turned out to be one of those padded envelopes, addressed to her with a return L.A. address that she knew at first glance was bogus. Ventura Boulevard was not part of Glendale. Nowhere close.
Balls. It looked like their off-the-radar adventure was dead in the water.
Hurrying back to Ass-Gard, she’d be alone ‘cause Edward was off riding ATVs with a bunch of snowbirds getting their rocky mountain fun times on. She stowed her purchases and then studied the plain brown mailer. The To/From addresses were on labels, so there was no handwriting to examine. Besides the obvious fiction of the return address, nothing was amiss.
Carefully slicing it open, she peered inside then upended the pouch on the table. A piece of paper and a flash drive fell out. Unease slithered along her spine.
She eyed the flash drive with suspicion. That couldn’t be good.
Snatching the paper, she unfolded it and started reading.
All of the blood rushed from her head to her feet. The notepaper drifted to the floor when her fingers got numb. There was a sound in her head and she had a hard time breathing.
Quick to recover—fury had a way of doing that—she grabbed the flash drive, stomped to her laptop, and sat down to watch.
By the end, she was speechless. Starting, freezing, stopping, and rewinding over and over, she memorized with a hypercritical eye every vile second, swiftly and decisively coming to a few conclusions of her own.
Rummaging about till she found her phone, she texted Edward and told him to get his butt back to the camper.
They needed to talk.
More than an hour had passed before she heard him coming through the door. Stomping the dirt off his boots outside, he climbed the stairs and scanned the camper in search of her.
“Are you all right?”
Always his first question; he checked to see how she was. He didn’t wait for an answer. The tension radiating from every wall and furnishing did that for her.
“Tell me what’s wrong.”
A huge sigh ripped from her chest. She must have been holding her breath. Tell him what was wrong. Lord. She had so much to say about so many things that all those thoughts were falling all over each other making her mind a seesawing, jumbled pile of crap.
Wringing her hands, she pointed at her open laptop. “It’s not you.”
His face registered confusion. When he glanced at the computer, a menacing hiss was his only response. And then he slammed the lid on her laptop grumbling, “What the fuck are you watching that for?”
Bah. Paige was messing up big time. She was wound so tight that making sense was a challenge. She grabbed for the paper and handed it over. That’d explain a lot.
He was ashen after reading it. She knew how he felt.
“Edward, it’s not you. I don’t understand.” She shook her head trying to grasp the ramifications of what she knew. “Why haven’t you, I mean … that tattoo. Yeah, it’s similar but … it’s not you.”
“What am I supposed to do, Paige? Go on Entertainment Tonight and give the world a detailed tour of my junk? Point out all the finer aspects of whiskey-inspired genital ink?”
She snorted. This had been the problem all along. He was wrapped up in that one thing, knew there was no way to go public, and assumed a defensive posture because what else could he do.
But that was the thing. They could do plenty. Whoever went to the trouble of checking the code to find a time date stamp only proved the point. If it was really Phae in that reflection, she had some fast-talking to do.
“Sweetie, I’ve got this, okay?”
He exploded. “Oh, for god’s sake, Paige, this is a fucking nightmare. If this gets out, everyone will believe I was sleeping with a teenager and I got her a job in my next movie. Phae’s career will implode, and I’ll probably be looking at charges. That’s how this shit goes these days, right?”
It wouldn’t help if he blew a fuse. She cautiously pushed him onto the sofa, murmuring, “Edward, Edward, Edward … listen to me.”
He looked so … wounded. She’d been a fool for not watching the sex tape before now. The obvious had always been there—it just took till now to see it.
His face contorted with the emotions tearing him up. She snapped her fingers two inches from his nose. “Edward! Are you listening?” His answer was a hoarse grunt. Good enough.
“The tape isn’t a fake,” she announced but stuttered to a halt mid-sentence when a look of anger flashed on his face, so she hurried on. “And that’s going to end up being a good thing.”
“Excuse me?”
She suspected that anyone else would have just had their head ripped off.
“Okay, first of all … we need to get this thing to someone who knows about this stuff. Date markers and whatever else. I just watched that damn thing half a dozen times, and it’s definitely Phae in the reflection.”
“Do you hear what you’re saying?”
She chuckled. He glared. He still didn’t see.
“Sweetie, if the time date thing is for real, and it is Phae, there won’t be any need for the Banning Private Reserve to suffer further indignity. Your junk is in the clear, lover boy, because … where were we nineteen months ago? Huh? Think about it. Count on your fingers if you must, but there you have it. Do the math.”
She hummed lightly and crossed her arms, waiting. In a minute, he leaped to his feet.
“You’re a genius!”
Paige giggled. “That bonus check just keeps getting bigger and bigger. We were in New Zealand for months. And where did Phae grow up? Cincinnati? Case closed.”
He wrapped her in a huge hug. “Thank you.”
She would have liked that embrace to linger, but there were still issues to address. “I think someone might be following us.”
“I know. After that kid and the selfie thing happened, it was only a matter of time. Last night, when I stopped at the general store, I got a lot of looks and whispers.”
“We should stop dicking around then and head to your parents’ place.”
“I thought you wanted to fly to Texas first and do a quick turnaround with your folks?”
“True, but they’ll understand. Dad was looking forward to Padre Island. He’d much rather go on vacation than almost anything else.”
Edward’s expression shuttered. Why?
“Anyway,” she hurried on, “I’ll touch base with Mickey and put him on the forensic angle. He’ll dig that we found a way to shut this rumor down with facts.”
He asked the question that addressed the four-hundred-pound rotting corpse in the room. “Do you think Joann had anything to do with this?”
She’d already picked that train of thought to death. “Probably. Throwing an underage girl scandal your way seems a great duck and cover. Push some of the pressure she and Markus must be feeling with Alan in jail and the FBI breathing fire over everything.”
Edward looked around at their Ass-Gard chariot and got kind of melancholy. “This has been fun. I’ll be sorry to give our temporary home up.”
“Me, too.”’
“Well, come on then, my little mystery solver. You’ve made Velma proud with your mad skills of deduction. Let’s organize our stuff and make ready to engage the warp drive.”
She groaned. “Oy, Mr. Banning. Mixing your character references is a tricky business. Scooby Do and Star Trek? Sheesh.”
It was good to laugh after the high emotion of the last two hours. Maybe by the time they got to Steven and Miriam’s, M would have found a way to shut this thing down for good and things could get back to normal.
“Ah-ha, ha-ha. Did you see that sign? Trespassers will be forced to sit for a portrait. Good one, Dad.” Edward chuckled.
Paige’s smile was amazing as they drove the last way to his parents’ sprawling home. The ranch-style arch at the head of the driveway featured a wrought iron B, and the minute it came into view, their excitement went supersonic.
His mom and dad were arm in arm on the porch wearing big happy smiles when they pulled up. A thunderbolt of love for these two amazing people shook him. Family was everything. He looked over at Paige and the thunderbolt struck again. She was wearing the same big happy smile. Meeting his gaze, she laid her hand on his forearm, looking at him with such love he nearly drowned in it. “Hurry,” she quipped playfully. “Get on up there to your mom before she explodes.”
Edward planted a hasty kiss on her sweet mouth, kicked open the driver’s door, and hit the ground running.
“Bride!” he bellowed as he bounded up the stairs into his mother’s waiting arms. Grabbing her, he held on tight and swung her in a hearty circle before dropping her with a thud onto the enormous wooden porch. “Mom, you look amazing.”
“You’re a shameless smooth-talker just like your father,” she chirped in that familiar singsong way she had. “But thank you for the compliment. Your mama raised you well.”
“I’ve missed you,” he murmured so only she would hear when he moved in for a second, longer mother-son embrace. When he pulled back, her hand was on the side of his face.
“I’m proud of you, son.”
He saw her eyes dart to Paige, who was impatiently hovering near the foot of the stairs. There was a lot of meaning in that look. He knew his folks were thrilled with the change in Paige and his relationship. His father had almost lost his shit altogether when Edward told him they were engaged and that she was wearing Gran’s ring. But the light shining in his mother’s eyes as she looked at her future daughter-in-law shook him deeply. Until that moment, he hadn’t realized how important his parents’ approval would be when he took a wife.
“Boy,” his dad barked in his usual jovial way. “You’ve done your old man a proper.”
Turning to the man who made him, he shook his hand before leaning seamlessly into a major hug. Dad heartily slapped him on the back with a deep chuckle. “I’ve had apple pie almost every night, and there are mountains of chocolate chip cookies. All signs of a happy woman and believe me, her mood has nothing to do with my old butt.”
They both turned to say something to his mom, but she was gone. Looking around, they found her down in the driveway doing the happy dance with Paige. She screeched like a two-year-old when his fiancée showed off her ring, earning an amused snicker from his dad.
“Your mom’s been shitting hearts and flowers ever since you two made it official. About time, too. We were getting tired of all the best friend nonsense. You have your head up your ass or something, boy?”
“Blow me, Dad,” he jeered in unison with another hearty backslap.
“Let’s break that up or we’ll be left standing here whistling Dixie while they start planning the wedding.”
“What?” His dad was joking, right?
When Steven Banning looked at his eldest son like he didn’t have the sense of a house pet, Edward could only stare at him blankly.
“Son, you do know that this marriage is happening sooner than later. Not to throw the cold water of reality on you or anything, but you aren’t getting any younger, your schedule is erratic and crazy, Gideon would benefit from a wife, and your mom, well … smell the coffee, okay?”
“But Paige’s family. Her parents …”
“Already handled. We were just waiting for you to finally arrive.”
He was stunned. Really? Would Paige go along with a surprise affair?
“Miriam, this is so lovely. Thank you.” The guest room Edward’s mother was excitedly showing off was rustic, charming, and perfect. “There’s an attached bath and a big closet. I put Edward two rooms down.” His mother made a sly little smile. “And Marsh uses the middle room.”
“Is he here? Marsh?”
“Day after tomorrow. We wanted to give you two a chance to settle in before the family arrives.”
Before what? Who? Marsh was it on Edward’s side of things. Paige frowned.
“Don’t you worry about explaining the sleeping arrangements to Edward. I’ll handle him, my dear.”
Forty lights went off in her head, and a cacophony of bells rattled her eyeballs as what was happening started to dawn on her. This beautiful room was for her. Edward? Not so much. The fiancé she’d been sleeping with for weeks was banished to a separate room—with his brother conveniently lodged between. Was Queen Victoria still on the throne?
“Now as soon as you’re settled, I want you to come out to my studio. There are some things I need to get your opinion on.”
“Miriam …”
Without warning, Edward’s mother pulled Paige into a warm embrace. “Oh, my dear. You’ve made me so happy. My son’s been in love with you for a long time. I was worried that you’d never see it.”
They drew apart, and the emotional older woman hastily grabbed several tissues from their box, blowing her nose with a honk and wiping a tear from the corner of an eye.
Paige was flabbergasted. His parents knew?
“Steven and I would like it very much if you two would allow us to offer the homestead for your wedding. Seeing you two married on this beautiful property would make it Banning land forever.”
“Oh, my god, Miriam. I can’t think of anything that Edward would like more.”
“Good! Then it’s settled. We have a wedding to plan so chop, chop, young lady. Get in gear and get yourself out to the studio.”
The door shut, and Miriam left Paige standing there speechless, with her mouth open.
What the hell just happened?
A surround sound human belch ricocheted throughout the wood frame house and made the group of four gathered around the dining table roar with laughter.
“Mom! My god. And people wonder where I get it from.”
“I have no idea what you mean,” his mother answered in a prim and proper church lady way. “This old house makes plenty of strange sounds.”
“Old house?” His dad chortled. “She’s brand new, and you know it.”
The master of subject changes, he found himself on the receiving end of one of her patented mom stares.
“Have you had a chance to compare notes with Paige? We were thinking an awning down by the riverbank. You two will have to head into town right away and take care of the paperwork, but your dad already roped in the Justice of the Peace. They’re fishing buddies.”
Edward shifted uncomfortably in his chair. No, he hadn’t had two minutes alone with Paige since they arrived. And to make things worse, right before they sat down to dinner, his parents had rather blithely informed him that until the wedding, Paige and he would not be sharing a bedroom.
What. The. Fuck.
Paige, uncharacteristically, was giving him nothing. Zilch. Zero. No signals whatsoever. Mostly, she just seemed distracted. Quiet. Maybe overwhelmed?
Oh, well, shit. This was ridiculous. Rising from his place at the table, he threw his napkin on the chair and said, “You’ll have to excuse us for a moment.” He pulled Paige from her chair, took her hand, and marched them out to the porch.
There was way too much going on, and he wasn’t amused by the sleeping arrangements.
He found a big double seater rocking chaise and sank down, hauling her onto his lap. If they were going to talk, he wanted to be close. But first …
“Kiss me.”
There, he thought sometime later. That’s better. Now I could think straight. She didn’t wait for him to catch up; she just started talking.
“Your parents want us to get married here. On Banning land. Marsh is arriving the day after tomorrow. The hoop jumping for a marriage license in the state amounts to bupkis, so there’s nothing standing in our way. They’ve even been talking to my parents, and they’re all in. Don’t know their travel plans but I’m sure Miriam has it covered.”
She finished and sat there for a moment. “So, there you have it.”
When they got engaged, neither of them had much to say about the wedding or a date. They both lacked that traditional, by-the-book groove, and beyond slipping a ring on her finger and saying a bunch of pretty words, he had nothing.
It bothered him that she was being so matter-of-fact. What was that about? Had his parents overstepped? He knew she wasn’t having second thoughts. The road trip had served to cement their relationship even stronger. Was she having a bride moment?
Running his hands over her back, he smoothed her shirt and searched for the right thing to say. Out of the blue, it dawned on him what might be causing her quiet mood. Paige was all about everyone else. Not as a people pleaser so much but as someone who had mad instincts and who tread softly till she understood what other positions were in play. She was waiting to hear what he wanted, and what he wanted was whatever she wanted. Ugh. A circle jerk.
Okay, Banning, think. He shut his eyes and willed all the noise in his head to stop. This was about feeling.
In his mind’s eye, he saw Paige in a white dress with flowers in her hair and the wind making her skirt sway. It was sunny. He was smiling.
His eyes snapped open. It all made sense.
“I will marry you tomorrow, in the camper, at a service station while we stop for gas.”
She chuckled.
“I will marry you in Kensington Gardens with an orchestra playing and the wait staff in formal attire.”
“Humph.”
No? Okay. “I will marry you in the middle of Sunset Boulevard as the TMZ tour bus drives by.”
That got a husky laugh.
“Whenever you say ‘now,’ I’m there.”
She took his face and kissed him.
“Now.”
Oh. Really? His speech could go on much longer but hey, whatever. He had his answer.
“Are we rushing?” she asked.
“No. I think six years of flirting sticks a fork in that notion.”
What he said was funny, right? Then why the hell was she pouting?
“Out with it,” he chided.
She huffed and wiggled and grumped and huffed some more. Whoa. What has her panties in a bunch?
“I don’t want to sleep away from you, but your parents …”
He wasn’t at all happy about the room assignments, either. “It’s just for a few days.” What the hell else could he say? Once they broke the seal on their relationship embargo, they’d been inseparable; they slept in the same bed, and it hadn’t mattered at whose house they happened to be.
“Tell you what.” Edward’s mind was working overtime. “Give me a chance to think about it and I’ll come up with a solution.”
“Promise?” There wasn’t a hint of teasing or jest in her question.
“Pinky swear. And just so you know, being in separate bedrooms doesn’t mean there won’t be any hanky-panky going on.”
She laughed and slid her hand under his t-shirt to stroke his stomach. “Oh, you mean like on the plane?”
“Yeah, the plane. And the shower room at that campground with the big fire pit. Or that time when we were leaving my lawyer’s office.”
She smacked his chest. “Shh. Oh my god, if someone hears you.”
“What?” His innocent reply made her shake her head and laugh. “Don’t want anyone knowing that you seduced me in the elevator then efficiently sucked me dry in a supply closet?” Tsk, tsk, tsk.
“I think I left some things in the camper. Wanna walk over there and help me get my stuff?”
She said this while boldly squeezing his manhood. She didn’t need to ask him twice.
