“You’re family problems are no concern of mine,” Emmitt said stiffly. “That whole damn place could burn to the ground and I wouldn’t even blink.”
Clayton shrugged. “I never did anything to you, Emmitt. Not me. I’ve scoured every document in the archives. There’s not a slip of paper that I haven’t looked over to see if I could find a shred of proof that your great grandfather had bought into Fire Creek. If it ever existed, it’s gone now.”
“Actually,” Bennett interrupted. “It’s not. We have it.”
“What? Why the hell haven’t you done anything with it?” Clayton demanded.
“The man wants to destroy his family business, let him,” Emmitt answered. “We don’t want it. The very idea of that place leaves a bad taste in my mouth. It destroyed our great-grandfather. Our grandfather lived like a beggar because of it, and our father died consumed with finding proof of it. I hate that damn place… and I don’t have a lot of love for its occupants.”
“Emmitt,” Bennet said cautiously. “I trust him. If we give him this, it gets us all something we want.”
“What’s that?”
“Freedom,” Clayton replied. “It gets Samuel Darcy as far out of the picture as I can get him without digging him a grave. It gives Mia and Bennett a chance to make things right.”
Emmitt looked at Bennett. “All this for that damned girl?”
“The only girl,” Bennett answered. “But also, it’s the right thing to do. Trust me, Emmitt.”
Emmitt made a disgusted sound and slammed the door in their faces.
“That was an epic waste of time,” Clayton stated.
Bennett didn’t move, just stood there at the door. “Just wait for it.”
A minute later, the door opened again and Emmitt shoved a heavy file folder at Bennett. “Do what you want with it. I’m tired of that shit taking up space.”
The door slammed again, the lights went off, and they were left standing on the porch in the dark. “Is he always like that?”
“No,” Bennett replied smoothly. “He was actually in a pretty good mood tonight.”
Clayton shook his head in amazement. Storing that little nugget for another day, he glanced at the folder. “So what is all that?”
“Sworn affidavits, signed, witnessed, and notarized from the county clerk who was in office when, in 1962, your grandfather bribed him to make the original contract between him and our grandfather disappear. Your father was present.”
“That’s a thick folder for one document.”
Bennett grinned. “That’s only one thing your family did to ours. There’s the property taxes that were only raised on our farm, courtesy of Samuel. There were the bank loans that would randomly come due because our payments weren’t being applied to our loans… He held sway over this town because everyone here feared him. But they loved my father, and when he got sick, people came here of their own free will and gave him the evidence he’d been trying to gather his whole life.”
“Does Mia know about this?” Clayton asked.
“Not yet. I’ll tell her… but she’s had a rough day. He lied to her about your mom’s accident. He told her Patricia wrecked because she was out looking for Mia.”
“While Mia was with you,” Clayton finished. “Even if it were true, that’s still not Mia’s fault.”
“Well, that’s what she’s been living with for the last ten years… with him putting that in her head every chance he got.”
Clayton opened the back door of his car and pulled out an overnight bag. “I don’t know what’s in there. I called Evelyn and she went back to the house and packed for her while I escorted Samuel to his car.”
Bennett grinned in the darkness. “I would have liked to see that.”
“It was bloodless.”
“Disappointing.”
Yes, Clayton thought. It really was. He'd had to give up some of the information he'd accumulated it in order to make it happen. It was a strategic concession, but it would complicate things in the future. Still, if it allowed Mia a chance at real peace and possibly even happiness, it would be worth it. “I’ll check in with Mia tomorrow. I’m sure she needs the rest.”
“I will look after her,” Bennett reminded him.
“If I doubted that for a minute, I would have thrown you out of the hospital myself two weeks ago,” Clayton reminded him.
Bennett pointed to the folder. “Whatever you do with all that, make it count.”
“He’s broke… flat fucking broke. He’s living on credit that’s about to be maxed out and mooching off friends who haven’t quite figured it out yet,” Clayton explained. “This was the final piece to force his hand.”
“Into what?”
“Leaving. There’s a ratty condo in Boca Raton with his name on it. If he wants to live in the lap of luxury, he’s going to have to start dating twenty years older instead of just twenty years old.”
Bennett laughed out loud. “That, I would actually pay to see… but only the G rated version. God above.”
“Go take care of Mia,” Clayton said. “I’ll let you know how this shakes out.”
Bennett nodded and climbed into his truck to drive away. Conscious of being alone and unarmed on Emmitt Hayes’ property, Clayton got behind the wheel of his own vehicle and left quickly. He had a lot of work to do.
CHAPTER NINETEEN
Mia awoke stiff, sore, and hungry. It was afternoon and judging from the nearly pristine condition of the bed around her, she hadn’t moved since she laid down. Stretching, feeling every kink and every knotted muscle, she let out a groan.
“Oh, good! You’re up.”
Looking up, she saw Bennett’s mother in the doorway. “Hi.” This wasn’t awkward. Not at all. She was naked in his bed on top of being the only daughter of their family’s sworn enemy. Not to mention that most of his family probably had a pretty shitty opinion of her, too. There wasn’t exactly an etiquette lesson on that kind of situation. Sorry, I broke your son’s heart a decade ago because my dad’s a narcissistic asshole. Oh, and about that ugly scene on the lawn yesterday… Yeah. Awkward.
Marianne smiled at her. “Come on down to the kitchen and I’ll make you some breakfast. You have to be starving.”
Mia’s stomach chose that particular moment to growl. Loudly. “I am pretty hungry,” she admitted. “I don’t think I ate yesterday. And I’m a little fuzzy on the day before.”
Marianne clucked her tongue. “We’ll fix that. Give me about five minutes to get everything going.”
The bedroom door closed and Mia let the sheet fall to her waist and buried her head in her hands. Her life had gone pretty much straight to hell. Okay, her life had changed lanes in hell. That was a better description.
Getting out of the bed, she found the clothes he’d left for her and quickly tugged them on. A glance in the mirror over his dresser revealed that her hair was a hopeless case. There were bruises on her arms, left by her father’s grip. She had good size knot on the back of her head, too. When they decided to take the gloves off, it had been literal.
Using her fingers, Mia tamed the mess of her hair the best she could and left the bedroom. Postponing the awkward conversation would not make it any better. Opening the bedroom door, she peered out and found the house deserted except for the sounds of pots and pans rattling in the kitchen. Even Slick was nowhere to be seen, though she had a vague recollection of him coming in and nuzzling her during the night. Hell, that could have been Bennett, for all she knew.
Entering the kitchen, Marianne was at the stove, scrambling eggs and frying bacon. It smelled like heaven.
Mia sat down at the counter. “Thank you for this.”
“Don’t thank me,” she said. “It’s the least I could do.”
“It’s a little more than that,” Mia replied.
“You might rethink that after we talk,” Marianne said.
Fuck. “I take it this is one of the Come to Jesus moments Bennett always talked about?”
“Hardly. Not having a penis, you can’t be nearly as hardheaded and stupid as a man. We can be a little more civil than that.”
Mia chuckled in spite of herself. “Okay then, let’s just have at it.”
“Don’t you want to eat first? It might ruin your appetite.”
“Nothing could ruin my appetite right now,” Mia said. “I might start chewing on a table leg in a minute.”
“We can’t have that,” Marianne replied and placed a plate full of crisp bacon and fluffy scrambled eggs in front of her.
Mia immediately took a bite. It was as good as she’d hoped. She was still waiting for the other shoe to drop.
“I have never questioned, not one time, whether or not my son loved you. I never thought it was just the forbidden, tragic thing for him… I know Bennett straight to his soul and you, for better or worse, Mia Darcy, have marked him there.” The other woman paused, and then cocked her head to the side in a considering way that was shockingly similar to her son. “But I have questioned whether or not you truly loved him.”
Mia took a deep breath. “I think this is something that I need to talk to Bennett about first.”
“Let me finish,” Marianne said. “I questioned that until yesterday. I saw what it cost you. I heard what you’ve been carrying around all these years… and I heard something else, Mia. All that time, you carried it alone to save him from it. That’s how I know you really love him.”
Mia didn’t have a response to that, so she just sat there silently and waited.
“My question now, is whether or not you have the ability to let go of all that and make it work with him… because if you can’t, you need to spare him the pain of losing you again.”
“I don’t know if he even wants that,” Mia admitted.
“What do you want?” Marianne demanded.
Mia answered honestly. “Just him.”
The older woman smiled. “Your brother brought Bennett some of your things last night… I don’t know what they’re cooking up together but I can’t imagine it’s anything but trouble. Finish your breakfast, get yourself cleaned up, and when he walks into this house, you show him you’re not broken. You don’t need him to be your hero… You just need him.”
Marianne walked out and Mia just sat and stared after her. One day, she was going to grow up to be that woman, she thought. Gracious and composed, unflinchingly honest. For the time being however, she was going to have to fake it.
Finishing her meal, she grabbed the bag and went back to the small bathroom to get herself in some semblance of order. Shampooing and conditioning her hair was the first order of business. With that done, she combed it out and left it loose to dry. There wasn’t a flat iron in her bag, but Evelyn, lord bless her, was clueless about those things. Thankfully, her makeup bag had been tossed in.
By the time she heard the front door opening, she was dressed in her own clothes, made up and feeling at least somewhat like herself. Heading down the hallway, she found Bennett in the kitchen.
“I wondered if you’d still be here,” he said.
“I’m sort of homeless now,” she replied jokingly.
Bennett reached into his back pocket and produced a thick envelope stuffed with papers. “Not really.”
Mia opened the envelope and scanned the contents. The house, her parents’ house, had been deeded to her. “How did he do this? What did you and Clayton do?” she demanded.
“It was mostly Clayton. He already had enough ammunition on your dad to pretty much get what he wanted out of him… I just handed him the smoking gun.”
“And that was?”
“Proof that at one time, Fire Creek had belonged to both of our great-grandfathers… and that at the time of my great-grandfather’s death, your grandfather and father together, bribed the local officials to destroy the contracts and records… which they did, except for one.”
“You own part of my family’s distillery,” she whispered in amazement.
“No,” he said emphatically. “None of us want that. I don’t. Emmitt sure as hell doesn’t. The distillery is a one hundred percent Darcy enterprise and that’s how it’s going to stay.”
“So why all the research? Why track down the evidence?”
“That was mostly Emmitt,” Bennett said. “It was for Dad. He needed the proof. And before he died, people brought it to him. It gave him peace … us too, I guess.”
Mia sighed. “Well, you all have a partnership in a distillery you don’t want… and now I have a house I don’t want.”
Bennett sat down at the counter, settling into the same chair she’d vacated earlier. “What do you want, Mia?”
“You,” she said, “are the second person to ask me that today. The answer is always the same. Just you.”
He reached for her, taking her hands and tugging her close until she had no choice but to sprawl across his lap. “What about the house… your mother? There’s lots of things to figure out.”
“There are,” she agreed. “And for the first time in our lives, we’ll have the time.”
“I still have your ring… the one I bought all those years ago. And some day, maybe soon, when we’re both ready, I will put that damn thing on your finger.”
She kissed him, savoring the moment, the freedom to do so without any fear of reprisal. “And one day soon, when we’re both ready, I’ll let you… I just want to enjoy this. I want to walk down Main Street with you. I want to go to movies and dance and do all the things we never got to do because people might see.”
He looped his arms more tightly around her and held on. “This is it, Mia. This time, it’s really ours.”
“In that case, do you really want to be sitting here in this kitchen when you have a perfectly good bed down the hall?”
“I never stopped loving you,” he admitted. “I prayed that I would, like I have never prayed for anything else.”
“So did I,” she admitted. “And right now, I’ve never been happier that a prayer wasn’t answered. I love you, Bennett… Finally, I can shout it from the rooftops if I want.”
He rose, picked her up in his arms and strode down the hall toward his room. “You can do that later. I’ve got a different kind of screaming I want to hear from you right now.”
She laughed at that. “You can have anything you want, as long as I can have you.”
THIS IS NOT THE END
Bennett and Mia will definitely get their happily ever after, but there’s a few loose ends to tie up first. CLAYTON will be coming to you in March of 2016 and you’ll get to catch up with the entire Hayes and Darcy clans and a few others, besides.
Don’t miss, CIARAN, in the Loving Dangerously, Bodyguard Boxed Set featuring a Bourbon & Blood Novella about another Darcy with secrets of his own. .
Bennett (Bourbon & Blood #1) Page 14
