Page 35 of Gage
Walking beside him into the kitchen, they found Douglas already seated, and Nica placing a platter of pancakes onto the middle of the table, joining the bacon Suzanna had smelled earlier. There were also scrambled eggs and hash browns, real maple syrup, and a bowl of berries. Her stomach was already growling and she hadn’t even realized she was hungry.
Ms. Patti took off the apron covering her business suit, and walked up, giving Suzanna a hug and Gage a quick kiss on the cheek.
“You’re not staying?” Gage grabbed her hand, bringing it to his lips. “You did all the work, you should enjoy the spoils.”
“Nope, I have to head to the office this morning. I’ve got a sick realtor and two meetings with new clients. Before you know it, Shiloh Springs is going to be as big as Austin.”
“Can I saw I hope not? This town is pretty perfect the way it is, and I don’t want to see too much change.”
“I agree,” Suzanna added. “Shiloh Springs seems to be a wonderful place, at least what I’ve seen of it so far. I can see why you’d choose to live here.”
“I’ve lived here since Douglas and I got married. His family lived here before that, so there have been Boudreaus around here for a long time.”
“Oh, I thought the Boudreaus were originally from New Orleans.”
Ms. Patti smiled. “No, Hank, Douglas, and Gator—Etienne is his given name—were all raised here. Before he shipped out to Vietnam, Gator moved to New Orleans. He always had an affinity with the water and loved the bayous. Hank moved out to West Texas, worked in the oilfields before getting his own property. Douglas stayed here and took over running the family’s ranch.”
Bas and Ranger ambled down the stairs and into the kitchen, stopping long enough on their way to give Ms. Patti a quick kisson the cheek, and mumble their good mornings. They quickly made their way to the table and found their seats, digging into the bounty provided.
“Want me to drive you to the office, darlin’?” Douglas stood and walked into the entryway, wrapping an arm around his wife’s waist.
“That’s okay, you stay here. I think Liam’s planning to drop by. He mentioned he wanted to go over a couple of things with you. Something about blueprints and an unexpected addition. I’ll be fine.”
“You drive careful, woman. Call me if you need anything.” Douglas leaned down and kissed his wife, the love and passion evident in his kiss. Suzanna felt her cheeks heat up when the kiss went on. This was no simple peck, it was a man showing his woman that she was loved and cherished and desired. And wasn’t it wonderful to see how much love the couple shared after all their years together.
When he finally released her, Ms. Patti looked flustered and mussed for the first time since Suzanna had met her. She always had every hair in place, and not a single wrinkle in her clothes. Yet when her husband embraced her, she didn’t seem to care about anything but him and his love.
She found herself envious, imaging having somebody adore her as much as Douglas obviously adored Ms. Patti. What they shared was rare. She could only imagine finding that with one man, a single soul would call to her, their spirits resonating together. To have somebody to share her life with, her body with, would be the most amazing thing in the whole world. Unrepentantly, her eyes sought out Gage, and found him watching the couple too, an almost yearning desire on his face.
“I’ve gotta go or I’m going to be late.” Smoothing down her clothing, and patting her blonde hair, she gave a tender smile to Douglas before picking up her briefcase and walking out thefront door. Douglas blew out a long breath, looked at Gage and then Suzanna, before turning and heading back into the kitchen.
“Wow,” she whispered, before smiling at Gage. “That was something else.”
“Indeed. Nobody else in the world like those two.” Gage lightly placed his hand in the small of her back, guiding her to the kitchen and pulled out her chair. He then slid onto the one beside her.
Before she took a single bite, her phone rang.
“Sorry.” Looking down at the caller ID, she noted it was from Elizabeth Blackthorn. “I need to take this.”
Leaving the table, she ventured out onto the front porch, sliding to accept the call.
“Hi, Elizabeth. I saw your message and was going to call you this morning.”
“Suzanna, I’m glad I caught you. Donald said you came by yesterday with two men. He said one of them was a bodyguard. I don’t understand, why do you need a bodyguard? Has something happened?”
“Several things have happened, really, but I have a bodyguard because somebody tried to kidnap me.”
“What?” Elizabeth’s screech had her pulling the phone away from her ear. “You were almost kidnapped. When did this happen?”
“A few days ago. I was in New Orleans—”
“New Orleans? What in the world were you doing in New Orleans?”
Strange question, she thought, considering they were talking about her being almost snatched right out of her hotel room. But then again Elizabeth didn’t know any of that.
“I went to New Orleans to meet someone. That’s not important. I was in my hotel room, getting ready to head out for some breakfast. When I opened the door, somebody barreledtheir way inside and threatened me. Demanded money. Of course, I didn’t have any cash on me. I was lucky. My…friend…happened to stop by, bringing me breakfast and was able to catch the man before he hurt me. Elizabeth, it was awful. He tried to shoot me.”
Suzanna heard the loud gasp on the line. “Shoot you? Oh, good grief, you might have been killed. I guess that explains the bodyguard. But there were two men with you, that’s what Donald told me. Who was the other man?”
