Free Beatrice and Douglas by Kelly Lucille Page A

them.”
    “Your Dad?  I give you Dougie Jr. and the twins, and I
don’t even rate jewelry?  I feel so used.”
    Beatrice laughed, knocking him with her hip.  “I
thought you wanted lingerie?”  She pointed at a shop farther along the road. 
It was two shops side-by-side, separated by men’s and women’s apparel.  He
stopped and narrowed his eyes, while she skipped on.
    “Don’t tease me, Beatrice.”  He had to raise his voice
the further she got ahead of him.
    “What?” she called back with a laugh.
    “If you buy me men’s underwear, I will be very
displeased.”  Several people turned to stare at him, but he was too busy
concentrating on her laughing face while she kept going.
    “Ooh, a displeased Douglas Bruce, how will I cope?”
    “Shit.”  His grumble was for his own ears since she had
already skipped inside, the men’s side.  Evil, evil wench.
    ***
    They were almost back at the B&B when Beatrice’s phone
started ringing.  Beatrice was laughing, and pushing at a handsy Douglas
Bruce, even as she grabbed her phone and looked at the caller ID.  “It’s
Jack.  You be quiet,” she said pointing a tiny finger his way, before
pushing the answer button.  “Hey Jack.  What’s up?”
    “Beatrice, my lovely, I have a little teensy favor to ask of
you.”
    She raised a brow in doubt.  “Really?  How little,
because the last time you called and sounded so wheedling you wanted me to work
that Portland office complex.”
    “And look how well that turned out.  Beautiful
building, if I do say so myself.”
    “Yeah, and I hate doing offices, and you know it.  So
what is it this time?”  He started to sputter and she interrupted him,
“and don’t hem and haw, just pull off the bandage.”
    “It really is a small one this time.  I need to get a
hold of Douglas and he’s not answering his phone, and he’s not at the B&B,
so I was just hoping that if you saw him you could have him call me. 
Seems some big lawyer is trying to reach him and says it’s urgent.”
    Beatrice looked at Douglas Bruce and shrugged.  “He’s
right here.  Hold on.”
    She handed the phone to Douglas, and he raised an
eyebrow.  She shrugged again.  He put the phone to his ear.
    “Yo Jack, what’s up?”
    There was a long beat of silence.  “How about you tell
me how you happen to be with my niece this morning when I know for a fact that
there is no work being done this weekend.”
    “We went to breakfast.”  Beatrice rolled her eyes and
then mouthed “wimp” at him. 
    Another silence.  “You went to breakfast . . . with
Beatrice?  I mean, on purpose?”
    “Yeah, on purpose.”  Douglas laughed at that, and then
grabbed the hand Beatrice was flipping him off with and tugged her
closer.  He buried his nose in her neck and sniffed.  She slapped him
upside the head and pointed her finger at him warningly. 
    “Jack, is there a point to this call?”
    “Got a phone number for you to call.  ASAP.  No
idea what it’s about, but they say it’s imperative that they speak to
you.  Their words.  You been getting into any trouble, I mean besides
the usual?”
    “Not that I can remember,” he said, his mind on other things. 
Like how soft Beatrice’s hair was or how she smelled so damn good.  “I’ll
find my phone and check my messages.  Soon.”
    “You do that . . . So breakfast with Beatrice, huh?” 
His voice was a little too nonchalant to be believable.
    “Was there something else, Jack?”
    “Probably.  Going to have to think about this one for a
bit.  The lawyer there, too?”
    Douglas rolled his eyes at the lack of subtlety.  “He
was, briefly, until I gave him his walking papers.” 
    Beatrice gasped at that and reached for the phone.  He
held her off easily. 
    Jack just laughed, a full belly laugh, and mumbled something
that sounded suspiciously like “about damn time.”  Then, in a louder
voice, “Expect to see you two at the next barbecue, together and all