Hot SEAL, Midnight Magic (SEALs In Paradise)

by Teresa J. Reasor

  An IV tube ran beneath the robe and was attached to a machine that controlled the flow of medication.

  The man in the expensive suit got to his feet.

  Marc Blanchard gestured with a hand without lifting it up off the arm of the chair and said, “Henry, this is my daughter, Mia. Mia, my lawyer, Henry Thorpe.”

  Thorpe was a handsome man, forty-five or so, with just enough gray at the temples to add attractive maturity to his looks. She had heard his name mentioned somewhere before. She extended her hand to him and they shook briefly.

  “It’s nice to meet you, Miss Blanchard.” She saw sympathy in his gaze. “I’ll leave you two to talk. I’ll be downstairs when you need me, Marc.”

  “Thank you.”

  Her father’s impeccable politeness was something she recognized. There was always that note of formality in his tone when they spoke on the phone.

  He nodded for her to take a seat, and she was relieved that he didn’t expect an embrace.

  “I’m sorry you’re so ill,” she said.

  “I am too.” He looked over his shoulder. “Gage, why don’t you pull up a seat?” Marc fell silent for a moment, his breathing labored. “I know I can trust that whatever we discuss will remain in this room.”

  “Of course,” Mia said. Gage nodded.

  “I left New Orleans to get away from your mother, Mia. But Mamie has always kept me informed about how you’re doing.” He coughed, then caught his breath. “I wanted to invite you to come to England when you graduated from high school, but by then you’d met Gage, and Mamie told me how you were planning to move to Baton Rouge and go to school. Isabella was killed just a month or so before… I wasn’t much use to myself, let alone to a daughter who barely knew me.’

  He looked up. “I know it’s my fault we don’t know each other. I could have fought Camille for partial custody. I could have maintained my residence here for part of the year and insisted you stay with me.” He reached for a handkerchief and clumsily wiped his forehead. “Camille was relentless.” He shook his head.

  “I know how she is. She and Mason are both…” Monsters was the word Mia wanted to use. “They have one purpose in life. To hold on to everything they consider theirs, no matter what the cost.”

  “But you don’t feel that way?”

  “No. I want success because it creates stability and security. But all I’ve ever really wanted is a family who loved me.”

  He remained silent for long moments. “I know I’ve failed you. You have every right to be angry.”

  “I’m not angry. I’m grateful you paid for my college, because it gave me a start in life that I’ve built on. I can make my own security now, and I can have a family of my own.” She fought the urge to look at Gage. “And I have Mamie. She’s been my one support, my one constant.”

  Her father’s throat moved as he swallowed. He reached for the glass at his side but, seeing how unsteady his hand was, Mia got up to hold it for him so he could drink from the straw. “Thank you.” He touched her arm with a hand as dry and fragile as old paper, and once again she fought back tears.

  “I know your grandmother has had a direct influence on the kind of person you’ve become. I’m grateful to her for that. And I know she’s run interference for you with your mother.”

  More times than she could count.

  “Will you go into business with me?”

  “What kind of business?”

  “I want to leave some of what I have to you, Mia. I want to offer you the security you never had as a child and something more.”

  “More?”

  “I want you to build something more than just a business. A recreation center, a library, a hospital wing, things that can be used by the community of your choice. Over the course of several years, you might be able to do all those things.” He attempted a smile. “Your grandmother told me you like to build things, create futures.”

  “How much money are you talking about?” Mia asked.

  “After the state takes its share and a few bequests, two hundred and fifty million dollars.”

  It was such a huge amount of money Mia was at a loss for how to react.

  “But that will continue to grow. There are businesses I own that will continue to build and thrive. I have a management team in charge of them who will contact you periodically to notify you of how they’re doing, and deposit money into the accounts.

  “There is also a board in place who will look over your business plans and expenditures and offer you advice. But you will have the final say about where the money goes.

  “You will continue to receive an influx of money to sustain whatever devices you create to serve the people you help. I’ve retained Henry to help you with any legal matters that may crop up while you do this.

  “And I’ve left you enough that you can live comfortably, travel, build a family.

  “My will is already written and is just waiting for my signature and the signature of witnesses. But I didn’t want to drop such a huge burden on you without your consent.”

  It was hard for her to breathe. “How can you be sure I’m the right person to do this?”

  “I know you’ve accomplished everything you have despite the roadblocks Camille put in your way. You’re strong, resilient, and smart. You can do this. And I know you’ll follow through with my wishes.”

  Her stomach cramped with nerves.

  “If you need some time to think about it, I understand, but I haven’t much to spare.” He was already flagging, his breathing more labored.

  If he died before he signed the will… Mason and Camille would circle like vultures. Though her mother wouldn’t be able to claim anything, she and Mason would arm themselves with lawyers and go after everything they could.

  But Mia couldn’t agree just to prevent them from getting money from the estate. It had to be because she could follow through.

  Two hundred and fifty million sounded like a lot, but not when the hospital care for a sick child with cancer could cost a hundred thousand and more. Programs for the elderly, the poor, abused and neglected children… There was so much that could be done if she could structure self-sustaining entities. “I can do this.”

  “You’re sure.”

  “Yes, I’m sure.”

  Marc’s smile came swiftly and with a touch of relief.

  “Gage, would you go to the door and tell Tony to ask Mr. Thorpe to come up? Tell him to also bring my nurse Mrs. Tanner and Doctor Ferguson and the notary.”

  *

  Gage went to the door. Concern twisted his gut while anger hampered his breathing. He fought hard to control his expression. Mia could be a dead woman the moment she walked out of the house. Surely she knew that.

  Camille and Mason wouldn’t hesitate.

  Tony looked up from where he was sitting outside the door, Gage relayed what Blanchard needed him to do, and he was halfway down the stairs before Gage finished talking, returning quickly with the lawyer and the witnesses.

  Gage turned back to Mia and crossed the distance between them. “Someone has to be watching the house, Mia. The break-in proves it. And once he signs that paperwork, another bull’s-eye will be on your back. And the number is adding up.”

  “What does he mean, Mia?” Marc asked.

  “He means someone has been following us ever since Gage arrived here in New Orleans, and we thought it might be Mason keeping tabs on Gage because they have a history, but now we both think you might be the reason they’ve been spying on us.”

  And the reason Mason tried to plant drugs in Mama’s house. Gage got it wrong. It wasn’t a warning at all. Mason had been trying to get him out of the picture so he’d have easier access to Mia.

  Gage turned to Marc. “The moment Mia arrived here to meet with you, Camille and Mason will have been notified.”

  “Mason’s afraid I’ll end up with half the stock in B and B,” Mia said.

  “Fifty-one percent,” Marc corrected her. “I kept twenty-six percent. C
amille only has twenty-four. It gave me a controlling interest in the company until I released the other twenty-five to Mia. When I give her mine, she’ll be able to outvote them. She’ll own fifty-one percent of the company.”

  “Abney must have smelled blood in the water. Or overheard something.” Gage said thinking out loud.

  “Abney?”

  “Another bottom-feeder who tried to threaten Mia to gain access to her stock.” Gage grasped her arm. “It isn’t just the stock they want, Mia.”

  “I know. They aren’t getting any of it. It’s going to abused, neglected or sick children.” She and her father shared a look.

  Henry Thorpe came into the room followed by the three others Marc requested. Gage urged Mia out of the room, past Tony and Dwayne stationed just outside the door in the hallway.

  It seemed surreal that he was working with the very guys who followed him around for days. But whatever worked. “Tony, you mentioned that you saw police following us. Did you recognize any of the officers?”

  “Yeah. One of them is Clay Harrison. He’s a NOPD detective.”

  Gage swore under his breath and turned to Mia. “After your father has finished with this, we need to call an ambulance and have him picked up and transported to the hospital. His doctor can set up an isolation room there as a cover. While we put on a show following him there, Tony can slip him back out, put him in a car, and take him to your grandmother’s house. Even his lawyer might need protection until the will is filed after…”

  “We’ve got that covered. He has a judge who will receive a notarized copy of the will as soon as it’s signed. The lawyer will be keeping the notarized original at his office in his safe, and a copy will go into a safety deposit box at the bank.”

  “At night?” Gage asked.

  “Yeah. Mr. Blanchard will be keeping a copy, too.”

  “If it’s the same bank our family has always used… It’s already been compromised. Mason has a board member in his pocket and that man has a loan officer in his pocket. And the president there isn’t that trustworthy either. There may be others.”

  “You need to tell Mr. Thorpe,” Dwayne said.

  Gage turned to Mia. “What if something happens to you, Mia?”

  “My will leaves everything I own to my grandmother. I set it up after I got the business up and running.”

  “You’ll have to do a codicil tonight. If you do that and it’s notarized and filed with your lawyer, it will be your only protection. But you can’t leave it to your grandmother. You never know how far they’ll go…”

  “But I can leave it to a charity of my choice. I already have one in mind.”

  Of course she did. There was nothing slow about his lady. She might have clung to him earlier because she was upset, but she always got back on her feet and moved forward. She had a spine of steel. She had to, to have survived her family.

  “I’ll call Loraine later and notify her I’ll be sending a copy of the codicil to her via Tony and Dwayne first thing tomorrow morning. Mr. Thorpe can help me structure it. And I can always change it later if I need to.”

  Gage turned to Dwayne and Tony. “Guys, the next twenty-four hours will be crucial. Don’t let your guard down even a minute.”

  “We won’t,” Dwayne said. “We have some other guys we can call in if Ms. Blanchard needs extra protection. They’re family, so they can be trusted.”

  Gage wondered once again how much help Marc Blanchard had given the guys’ kid to earn such loyalty. “Mr. Blanchard will need a couple of those guys right away, because you and Tony will need to be seen hanging out at the hospital.”

  Gage turned to her. “Mia?”

  “Not yet. Once strange men start showing up at the store and my apartment, Camille and Mason will know something major has gone down. I’d rather they think I’ve just paid a sympathy call to my dying father.”

  “Okay.” But he wasn’t going to let her out of his sight for as long as he remained in New Orleans.

  CHAPTER 20

  ‡

  Mia woke when Gage rolled out of the bed and went into the bathroom. They were both exhausted after the night they spent with their pretend trip to the hospital. Added to the visit had been a two-hour crash course in writing a codicil her mother and brother would be unable to break.

  Henry Thorpe was a master and guided her while she wrote it in the nurse’s lounge and typed it up on his laptop. Using one of the doctors’ office printers, she printed it out, signed it, and had it witnessed by two of the nurses and notarized by Thorpe. Then she scanned and emailed the document to her lawyer and would have the hard copy delivered to her later today.

  She stretched, rubbed her eyes, and took a long drink from the bottle of water on the nightstand. Gage came out of the bathroom and slipped back into bed. She offered him the bottle, and he drank some before setting the bottle on the nightstand next to him. Mia rolled on her side to face him.

  He had stayed with her, comforted her, and offered her solace when she felt shaky and emotional. Would he have done that if he didn’t care?

  A guy just out to get laid didn’t do any of those things. They made themselves scarce when things got difficult. Gage made himself part of the solution.

  Her father was safe at her grandmother’s, her grandmother had protection, and Gage was here to protect her. What more could she ask?

  “It’s only six. Go back to sleep, babe.” He brushed her forehead with a kiss.

  She smoothed his hair back. “I texted Jessica late last night that I wouldn’t be in today.”

  She caught the quick flash of his smile.

  “Maybe we can take things slow and easy today.” He caressed her shoulder and followed it with a kiss in the same spot.

  “At least for part of the day.” She tugged his T-shirt up and he helped her remove it. With parted lips she pressed a kiss in the center of his chest and felt the steady beat of his heart. Then she traced the thin line that bisected his abs with her tongue, and his abdominal muscles contracted.

  The young man she was so in love with had grown into true manhood in so many ways. The sweetness they shared was still there but blended with more powerful things. He had cared for her in so many ways, and she was moved to do the same for him.

  When she freed him from his briefs, he was already hot and hard, and she tasted him with her tongue, then took him into her mouth. He groaned aloud while she nibbled and tempted and teased, and the sound set off a sweet ache inside her.

  “Mia.” The hoarse urgency in his voice triggered a feeling of power and tenderness in her. She rose up over him and took him in, matching him stroke for stroke. His hard heat caressed her inside while his hands moved to guide her rhythm. The pleasure built until she found herself holding her breath, waiting for it to trip over into more until she felt the hard pulse of his release deep inside her and her body plunged to meet it, the power of it making her fingers and toes tingle.

  “Jesus!”

  Gage’s exclamation triggered a laugh, and she collapsed atop him, resting her head on his shoulder. He stroked her back.

  She felt boneless and sleepy again.

  “Think you might be up for some traveling later, after everything here is settled?”

  Gage’s question brought her wide awake, and her heart raced. “What do you have in mind?”

  “I still have three years of my enlistment left. I have to honor it, and I also want to honor it. My team depends on me.”

  “I know. I understand.” The many people employed to work at Promises depended on her, too.

  “When we’re gearing up for deployment, I can’t be more than two hours away from base.”

  So he was tied to the base most of the time.

  “Think you could fly out to me when we can match our schedules?”

  “I think Jessica could cover for me now and then.”

  “It will be difficult, a pain in the ass, and expensive.”

  “Are you listing those things to make the idea more a
ttractive?”

  “No, I’m trying to apologize ahead of time for the inconvenience. I really want you in California with me, Mia. But I realize you have obligations here. And I know you love what you do as much as I do. But your father said something about having a management team who handled his businesses…

  “You could build a branch of Promises on the West Coast and later create your own franchise. Hell, you could have a Promises in every state.”

  She moved to lie beside him and pulled up the sheet to cover them both.

  “You have a lot of confidence in me.”

  “I think you can do whatever you set your mind to. Look at what you’ve accomplished in the past two years. I think you could take your skills on the road and be just as successful.”

  “And how do you feel about the money my Dad’s leaving behind and what he’s asked me to do with it?”

  “The number two hundred and fifty million is just an abstract concept to me. You know my background. We didn’t have much, but we took care of what we did have. Money was just something to keep a roof over your head and food on the table.

  “I’m a simple guy. I don’t need much to make me happy. I have a car to get me from point A to point B, a surfboard, and some fishing gear to entertain myself with during the weekends. I go out every once in a while and drink beer and watch a game with the guys, and I’ve dated. But the people in my life are more important than what money can buy.”

  She noticed how he slid past that dating comment. Did he think she believed he’d been celibate since leaving New Orleans?

  “You’re going to use that money to help people, I imagine you’ll get as much fulfillment out of that as running Promises.”

  “Kind of like those rescue missions you mentioned?” She rested her hand over his heart.

  He absently grasped it and raised it to it to his lips. “Yeah.”