Missy's Gentle Giant (12 page)

“It sure is.”  Susan
smiled.  “Melissa, this is my husband John.  He’s a doctor too.

“Your husband?”

“Sure is.  Oh, Mrs. Diaz, glad
you’re here.  Melissa and I were wondering if we could have breakfast.”

“Yes, coming up.”  Mrs. Diaz
carefully looked Melissa over.  “My, my, the dress I bought for you sure looks
better than I thought it would.”

“You bought the clothes for me?”

“Yep, Ben sent me yesterday. 
Said you were about size three, but I think a one might even fit you.”

“Oh, they’re fine.”

“Well he didn’t think he’d have
time to pack a suitcase for you.”  Mrs. Diaz chuckled.  “I can see
now why he’s so worried.  How in the world do you put up with nine
brothers?”

Missy grinned and turned
crimson.  “They’re very protective.”

“Yes, Ben told me.”  Mrs. Diaz
turned and headed for the kitchen.  “Breakfast will be ready in a minute.”

After a light breakfast, Missy
followed Susan and John around the grounds and the house.  Missy didn’t
believe her eyes.  She’d never seen a house so huge and could only shake
her head and grin.  When they came in at one, Mrs. Diaz served them a
fantastic lunch.  During the afternoon, Susan and she played Monopoly
until Melissa couldn’t hold her eyes open.  She leaned back, stretched and
asked if she could go up to Ben’s room and lie down.

Trying to figure out what happened
only confused her.  Here she’d been kidnapped and was in a huge house
belonging to Ben.  Two doctors were right there in the house with
her?  Maybe they really were just visiting like they said.  A smile
crossed her face when she thought of Ben sleeping with her the night
before.  Yes, she’d awakened and seen him sleeping with her early this
morning.  Once she’d realized he was asleep, she relaxed and let his
wonderful body be molded against hers.  And his massive hands had held her
so possessively.  He smelled delicious and clean too.  Oh, it was
wonderful to be close to him.

Ben came in after four and was
surprised to find Susan and John alone in the living room.

“Missy wanted to rest.  I
think she’s feeling mental exhaustion over everything.”

“But she’s doing okay?”

“So far.”

“Did you get a chance to talk to
her?”

“No, while we were walking this
morning, I tried to bring it up, but she chose to ignore me.  You have to
understand Ben, it’s just sinking in she’s been kidnapped again.  And she
doesn’t want to remember what happened the last time.”

“I know.”  Ben rubbed his
forehead.  “But am I wrong to think it needs to be forced out into the
open?”

“No, she needs to face it. 
She’ll never be able to have a complete life until she does.”

“Or be a wife.”  Ben groaned,
poured a drink and rubbed the back of his neck.  “This louse hung around
the house and had already asked for her hand.”  Ben felt a surge of
jealousy and anger.  “Every time I remember how he stared at Missy—” 
Ben took a swallow of his drink.

“Are you saying it wasn’t necessary
to kidnap her?”

“Oh, if the man I want doesn’t take
the bait, it was totally necessary, but it was just about the worst thing I
could do.”  Ben put his glass down.  “I think I’ll go up and check
Missy.”

What the hell was wrong with him? 
Susan shook her head and smiled at John.  “That Ben, nobody can figure him
out.”

Ben tapped lightly on the bedroom
door, remembered Missy couldn’t hear and opened it.  He walked slowly over
to the bed and stood there for a few moments watching her sleep.  Deep
feelings of desire for her washed through him.  He reached up and rubbed
the back of his neck.  Had he gone too far?  Davis told him her
brothers were going crazy trying to find her because their mother was so
upset.  Ben turned and left the bedroom.  Moments later he was in his
study and on the phone.   Everything had to go right tomorrow. 
If something went wrong—he put his face in his hands.

“Dinner, Ben.”  Susan poked
her head in the library.

“Thanks.”  He stood slowly,
smiled and followed her to the dining room.  John and Missy were already
seated and waiting.  Ben smiled broadly.  “Well Melissa, how did your
day go?”

“Wonderful.  Susan showed me
around your beautiful house, and we talked a lot.  Have you heard from my
brothers?”

“Yep, everything’s going fine.”

Missy blinked.  “Fine?”

Ben laughed.  “I said
fine.  They’re mad as hell and ready to kill me, but everything’s going to
be all right.”

Missy’s eyes flashed with
understanding and her cheeks turned pink.  Dinner was great.  Just as
Missy excitedly ran upstairs to get the cards so the four of them could play,
Ben was called to the library phone.  He was deep in painful thought
staring into a glass of scotch when Wanda came in.  He looked up curious
about her silly grin.

“Did you get the pictures?”

“Yep.  Right here.” 
Wanda handed him a brown envelope.  Ben opened it, glanced at the pictures
of Fernandez and Tijerina, dropped them on the desk and looked at the one of Moreno
for a long time.  Wanda saw the muscles ripple in his cheeks and his chest
swell with hatred.  His eyes showed instant anger.  Ben was
definitely interested in this man.

“You got something personal with
him, Ben?”

Ben glanced up, tried to hide his
feelings and dropped the picture.  “I just want to get him, just like the
others.”

“Not because of Gonzalo’s sister?”

“No.”  Ben dropped his glass
on the table.  “How did your meetings go?’

“I’m not sure.  You were
right, they’re worried as hell.  You didn’t tell me how you’re planning to
know if it worked.”

“I’ll know tomorrow when everything
comes down.”

“Kind of risky isn’t it? 
Setting yourself up with all three of them?”

“I’ll have some help.”  Ben
walked over to the window.  “Look Wanda you might as well go on home for
now.  I’ll leave some instructions for something I want done tomorrow, and
you’ll need to wear something respectable this time.”

“Sure boss, no problem.”

“Even if it’s going back to the
Sanchez house?”  Ben laughed and walked her to the door.

“You wouldn’t.”

“Oh yes I would.  See you
tomorrow after everything’s over.”  He laughed again, much harder this
time.

Wanda grinned, stood on her toes
and kissed his cheek.  “Good luck tomorrow boss.”  The phone rang and
Ben, turned away.  As Wanda walked toward the front door, she smiled and
waved at Susan and John.

Missy was on the stairs and stopped
dead in her tracks when she saw the cheapest looking woman she’d ever seen kiss
Ben.  Oh my, and she’d wanted Ben to love her?  Gonzalo had tried to
tell her Ben liked that kind of woman.  How could Ben want a cheap girl
like her?  Missy’s body went awash with jealousy and anger.  Forcing
back tears, she pinned on a smile and went downstairs as soon as Ben closed
himself in the library.

“Hi.”  Missy smiled stiffly
and sat on the sofa.  Her knuckles grew white, she held the cards so
tightly.

“Did, you bring the cards” 
Susan noticed Missy’s forced smile.

“Yes, where’s Ben?”  Missy
continued to smile and force back tears.

“He had a call.”

“Oh.”  Missy’s smile faded.

“Something wrong?”  Susan
cocked an eyebrow.

“N—no.”  A tear rolled down
her cheek.  “I—I—didn’t know Ben had a girlfriend—the girl who was just—”

“Wanda?”  Susan smiled. 
“She’s just working with Ben.  Wanda’s not—”

“Who cares anyway!”  Missy
jumped up and ran upstairs.  “He can have all the girlfriends he
wants.  It’s a free country.”

Susan smiled at John, shook her
head, rose and headed for the library.

“Sanchez said he won’t do it? 
Davis, he must—”  Ben paced as he talked on the phone.  “Okay, okay
we’re on if you’re ready.  I’ll call Sanchez and set it up.  Yeah, he’s
going to want to hunt for his sister.”  Ben dropped the receiver after
talking to his contact, picked it up again and dialed a number.  He took a
deep breath, expelled it slowly and braced himself.  “Gonzalo.”  Ben
sucked in his breath.  “Kill me later man, right now you’re going to
listen.  You’re going to spend tomorrow hunting for Missy.”

Susan opened the library door.

“I know.  You’ve got five ready;
someone was there.  Do as I say though.  Put your hired help on
tomorrow morning’s runs.  They’ll be there.  The men you hired are
agents.  Give your brothers a day off to hunt for Missy and send the four
you hired out.”

Standing in the doorway of the
library, Susan couldn’t believe what she was hearing.

“Yeah, I know.  Send your
brothers out but you stay in the office.  One of the drivers will come
back complaining he had trouble with a truck, and he’ll come back for the
fifth.  Be too damned worried about Missy to go after the truck. 
I’ve already got a driver lined up for it.”  Ben walked across the room. 
“You’ll do it because I have Missy.”  He laughed loudly.  “This one’s
for my pen pal you bastard.  We’ll kill each other later.”

He saw Susan and waved for her to
come in. 

“When you hang up, tell your mother
I said I’m going to marry Missy.” Susan sat in a chair with her eyes wide
open.  “Tell your father too, if you think he can stand it.”  Ben
grinned and paced.  “I’m an Italian remember and don’t know your damn
customs.”  Ben smiled.  “Dammit Gonzalo, I’ve had it with your
customs!”  Ben angrily slammed his hand on the desk.  “Do you have
any other problems with my wanting your sister—something personal about me?”
Ben shook his head.  “Wanda?  She’s an agent; it was all an act.” Ben
groaned.  “Yes, an act, part of the job.  She was told to act as she
did.”  Ben groaned again and listened.  “I’m taking care of it. 
Damn, Gonzalo, when I was under her car and saw her little toes I wanted to
kiss them.”  Ben grinned sheepishly at Susan.  “She hit me like a ton
of bricks.  Yes, this past three weeks I’ve been working on the
case.  And it was all an act—even the girl—”  Ben changed ears.

“No, you and I still have a score
to settle.  But since I couldn’t buy into the family business, the fight
was a good excuse to go another direction.  I had to kidnap her to
eliminate their threat.  Didn’t want to do it this way, but I wanted to be
sure she’s safe and out of the way.”  Ben sat down.

“Didn’t they get the note I
left?  Yeah, well I’ll send someone around in the morning to talk to her
and explain.  You going to do as I told you about the trucks in the
morning?  All right.  No, don’t tell your brothers, just your mom and
dad.  I need the cover.  Matter of fact, it makes things better if
you don’t.  And I need for Eduardo to know you’re really worried about
Missy.  Beating the hell out of him didn’t do any good; he just floated
right back to your house to pick up more information.  Make damn sure he
hears you’re all out to find Missy and get me, okay?

“No, Eduardo’s just a
mouthpiece.  We can fix it so he’ll get sent up too, but he really doesn’t
know how involved he is.”  Ben frowned.  “You thought what happened
to her would make a difference right?  Tell your mother and father I plan
to marry her, and tell them she’ll want it too.”  Ben dropped the receiver
and smirked at Susan.

Susan grinned and shook her head. “Her
ten little toes?”

“Yeah dammit!”  Ben tried to
look furious, but a grin took over.  “I didn’t even know who the hell she
was then.”

“Well, I think you have another wee
little problem.”  Susan smiled and Ben glanced up.  “Missy saw Wanda
lovingly kiss you goodbye and ran crying upstairs.”

He started, for the door. 
“Damn!”

“I told her you just worked with
her, but she didn’t seem to believe me.”

Ben stopped in the doorway. 
“Would you if you saw some woman dressed like Wanda kissing John?”

“Truth?  I sure as hell
wouldn’t.”

Ben groaned.  “Thanks a lot
for the encouragement!”

Susan laughed as she watched Ben
take the stairs two at a time.  It was wonderful to see him this
way.  She turned toward the living room and John.  “Honey, you’ll
never believe what I just heard that crazy guy tell her brother.”

When Gonzalo dropped the phone, he
felt like he’d been run over by a steam roller.  His wild, carousing,
Russian roulette playing friend had informed him he was going to marry his
sister?  Told him to tell her parents?  Mexicans never did such a thing! 
And he said he’d wait for Missy to feel right about it?  Charger would
wait?  No way!  When Gonzalo went to the kitchen and saw his worried
parents, he groaned loudly.  “I—I’ve got something to tell you but I don’t
want you to get excited—”

Twenty minutes later Mrs. Sanchez
was crying her eyes out while Mr. Sanchez stomped around the living room
screaming like a banshee about how he was going to kill Ben.

Gonzalo’s mother was acting; his
father wasn’t.  Before long, six sleepy brothers were all yelling at each
other ready to kill while Gonzalo held his face in his hands totally
exhausted.  Ricardo sat beside him with a frown.  He couldn’t figure out
why his father was turning blue in the face with anger.  Eduardo stood in
the doorway with a smile on his face.  Now he had a way to win
Missy.  All he had to do was stick around until Ben was nearly dead. 
Then he’d step in fresh and ready to kill.  If he did Ben in, he’d wind up
a hero.  All he needed was a little time.

Chapter Seven

Ben entered the darkened bedroom
slowly.  Missy was lying on her stomach crosswise on the bed, and he
couldn’t see her face.  As he dropped carefully on the bed, he reached for
her hand and started talking.  “Susan said you misunderstood about
Wanda.  She works with me.”

Missy jerked her hand away. 
“I don’t care about any cheap hussy hanging all over you.”