Of All the Luck! (3 page)

The doorbell rang and Victoria immediately tensed. "Stay quiet," she ordered in a harsh whisper, making sure she had her weapon.

"Don't open the door if you don't know who is on the other side, honey."

The endearment made her feel warm all over and Victoria smiled to herself. She loved Griffin, but she would never ever let him know that. Their marriage failed because he could not control his temper. He spanked instead of discussing their differences, and she would not permit him to spank her again, not even a sexy spanking. She had managed quite nicely on her own.

Victoria looked to see who was outside and smiled to herself. It was the young police officer who was a fan of her mysteries. She opened the door and gave the young man a big smile. "Good morning, Deputy."

"Ms. Jones, I thought I should stop by and make sure you were okay this morning. We still haven't found our fugitive, and I was worried about you out here all by yourself."

"I am just fine, Deputy, but it is kind of you to be concerned."

"Why do you have your drapes pulled at this time of day?" he asked in confusion.

"Because I worked all night and I am ready to go to bed for a few hours, Deputy. Why else would I spend a fortune on blackout draperies?" she asked with a laugh. "As a writer, I work some pretty weird hours."

"Oh, I see." He gave her a boyish grin and then said, "I'll let you get some sleep, then. If you need anything, be sure and let me know."

"I will, Deputy. Thank you for checking on me," she added with a smile.

The Deputy seemed as though he was hesitant to leave, but his radio crackled and the Sheriff's voice came over the line, sounding peeved. "Where the hell are you, Edwards? You were to meet me at the truck stop twenty minutes ago and so help me, if you're mooning over that lady writer I'm gonna kick your butt clear up to your shoulders!"

"I'm on my way, Sheriff!" Deputy Edwards said right away, but Victoria could see he was disgusted with his boss. He hurried from the porch and to his cruiser. He finally remembered to smile and give Victoria a small wave as he hurried on his way.

"Lock the door, Victoria," Griffin ordered from right behind her, and Victoria was shocked to see he had a gun in his hand. He looked positively dangerous, and she couldn't help laughing.

"Goodness, Griffin, he's a green, wet-behind-the-ears kid, fresh from the academy!" she scolded.

"I don't like him," Griffin said decisively. "Make sure you reset the alarm." He knew he was being bossy, but the thought of pretty Victoria being in danger upset him as nothing else could. He was still in love with her, and he always would be. But, that didn't mean he didn't feel like tearing a strip off her occasionally. Like right now. "You and I are going to have a talk, Mrs. Conway."

Victoria recognized that tone of voice, and it did not bode well for her backside! "Don't you take that tone with me, Mister. We aren't married."

"We weren't married the first time I hauled you over my knee, and you had a spanking coming then, too. For the same damn thing," he growled. "You disobey orders, Victoria."

"I don't have to take orders from you, Griffin!" She was shocked to realize she was backing away from the man and she abruptly stopped. This was her home and she didn't have to run from any man within these walls.

"You have to take orders from me, woman!" he said softly, the words a caress instead of an insult.

"No, Griffin!" Her response was a whispered plea. "You'll tear your stitches."

"Not if you're a good girl and accept your spanking the way you should. You know you disobeyed me, and you knew I wouldn't let it pass. Admit it, Victoria. You need a man to keep you in line; you need me." With that he took her arm and steered her toward the guest room and the bed he was using. He quickly removed the gun from the waistband of her jeans and then he took a seat on the bed and pulled her face down beside him. "You need this, honey," he said calmly, and the he brought the palm of his right hand down on the seat of her jeans.

"Ow! That hurts, Griffin!" she immediately complained.

"Good. I haven't lost my touch," he stated, nonplussed. Again his hand fell and again she cried out. He knew then that she hadn't been spanked since they parted. He wasn't spanking that hard and she was still wearing her jeans!

"Griffin, don't do this!"

"I have to do this, honey. You'd never forgive me if I didn't."

Victoria couldn't think, and it was always this way when Griffin was near. He made her feel things that no other man comprehended about her. He knew when to be strong, when to raise hell over her, and when to simply hold her. He also stirred her passion as no other. The heroes in her books were all Griffin; the heroines all her. They may look different in each work of fiction, but she knew the truth. The stories, the love part of the stories, was all her and Griffin. "Oww! Not so hard, Griffin!" she complained. His hand was like a board, and how could a man who'd lost so much blood the night before spank so damn hard? "Please, not so hard!" she pleaded.

"You disobeyed me, Victoria Sage Conway, and you know what happens when you do that. You get a good spanking!" He gave her another dozen hard spanks to her rounded cheeks and then said, "I ought to make you take down those jeans and hand me your hairbrush!"

"No!" she begged. "I'm already in pain," Victoria insisted.

"Are you going to do as you are told?"

"I promise I will try," she said, and he smiled. Victoria never really promised obedience and it was one of the things he loved most about her.

"Try very hard, honey, or I really will bare you and take your hairbrush and my belt to your fanny. Hear me?" he asked, giving her the hardest spank of all, and grimacing in pain as he moved his other shoulder.

"I hear you, Griffin," she answered, getting up and brushing the tears from her cheeks with the backs of her hands. "That was mean, Griffin!" she pouted, embarrassed that she'd simply laid over the bed and permitted the spanking to happen without doing one thing to stop him!

"I always did have to get your attention before you would listen to sweet reason," he said tenderly, pulling her close with his good arm. "I love you, Victoria. I have never stopped loving you for even one second."

"Just because we love each other it doesn't mean we can live together, Griffin. You take too many risks, and your temper is terrible."

"I can see why you would think that, honey. All I am asking is a chance to prove to you that I've changed."

"No promises, Griffin. I am content in my new life." She got up and left the room for the privacy of her bedroom. She was fairly certain that Griffin would call Xavier for help the moment her back was turned and she was just as certain that it would be a miracle if she didn't shoot the pompous bastard if he set one foot inside her home. She blamed Xavier for ruining her marriage. He insisted that the Agency would collapse if Griffin didn't take on just one more assignment, and this after Griffin promised he was done.

Griffin prided himself on knowing when to give someone space, and right now Victoria needed time to lick her wounds and come to terms with the fact he was back in her life. He made his way into the kitchen and found her landline; it took him less than a minute to search her drawers and find what he was looking for, and then he took apart the telephone and inserted a device that would block interception of his call. Once he dialed, the receiver was picked up on the first ring.

"X here."

"I've found Victoria, and I need your help." Griffin explained what had happened, and warned Xavier to send someone to clean up the mess here, while he escaped with Victoria."

Xavier asked only pertinent questions, and assured Griffin he would have a condo ready for him. He gave Griffin the address, and then asked, "Is Victoria ready to come back to work?"

"Not on your life, friend." He hung up the telephone, and while she was resting, Griffin packed her car with the things they would need, like her computer, several guns, and enough food and water so they wouldn't have to stop anywhere close by… He had already checked the fuel in the car, and they were good. Victoria never did let the gas gauge drop to less than a quarter tank. Old habits die hard. Once he was sure they were ready, he went to wake her. "Come on, honey. We need to get away from here. They could find this place any moment. It's not safe to be here."

"I can't leave my home!" she argued.

"You can and you will. Your cousin is coming here to housesit while you are on vacation."

"I don't have a cousin!" she pointed out.

"You do now," he said with a smile. "Come on, honey. Don't argue. This is the time you show me that the spanking I gave you doesn't need to be repeated so soon." She looked ready to pitch a fit, and he easily used his good arm to pull her up and out of bed, and then he gave her backside a firm swat. "We are leaving, Victoria."

"I need my laptop, and weapons…"

"All taken care of, Victoria. I'm not a novice at this."

"What about clothes?"

"In the car. You have some new lingerie that I like," he informed her, wiggling his eyebrows suggestively. "Seriously, honey, let's go. I have a really bad feeling."

Victoria knew all about those 'bad feelings' of Griffin's. It always meant danger. She stopped arguing and hurried to the car with him. "Where am I driving?" she asked.

"Take the roundabout way to the Interstate. Stop to get a soda at the gas station and tell them you are taking a few days off now that the new book is finished. I'll stay down and you can make it look like you've piled stuff on the floor of the back seat."

"Okay." She had her gun close in case she needed it. She moved a sleeping bag, a pillow, and an empty cooler on top of Griffin. "You are going to be uncomfortable!" she remonstrated.

"I can tolerate this for an hour or so. Let's get going, Victoria." His voice was muffled from all the junk heaped on him.

It was a short drive to the gas station she used, and Victoria topped off her tank for good measure. Then she walked inside and bought a small bag of pretzels and a soft drink. She chatted with the clerk and told him she was taking a small trip to celebrate finishing another book. She said she was meeting family and camping. Once she'd planted the misinformation, she walked back to her car, and then drove to the Interstate and went precisely the way she should go if she was going where she said. A few exits down the road, she pulled into a rest stop and rescued Griffin. He looked pale, but insisted he was fine.

"Did anyone follow you?" he asked.

"I wouldn't have stopped if I was being followed," she chided him.

"Okay. You did just fine. Let's get out of here."

"I have to pee first!" she announced, running lightly toward the buildings.

Griffin shook his head. The darn woman always had to go pee at the worst possible times. He recalled the time they were hiding from three hit men and she kept squirming. He gave her a look that told her to be still, and she mouthed, I have to pee… NOW! How they ever got out of that mess alive was beyond him. The fool woman finally jumped out, made a target of herself, took out one of the shooters, and left him to shoot it out with the other two while she dashed for a bathroom! He'd scorched her rear the second he got her alone after the debriefing, but she insisted she couldn't hold it one second longer.

He kept his dark eyes peeled for trouble, but Victoria was back in due time, wearing a bright smile. The dratted woman knew exacting what he was thinking about and darned if she still didn't find it amusing! "It wasn't funny, woman!"

"Not at the time, no. But, you have to admit it makes for a good story…"

"I should have used my belt!"

"You did."

"Not long enough or hard enough!" he grumbled. She eased the car out onto the interstate and just that quickly a dark colored SUV was on their tail. Victoria barely avoided the SUV, and if not for intensive training, they would have been killed! "We were followed," he said in disgust.

"No, just a stupid driver," Victoria said calmly. She slowed down and the SUV came up alongside them and the driver gave her the finger. Victoria felt her temper flare and she was tempted to show the other driver her gun, but she wisely resisted. The last thing she needed was for some hysterical idiot to call and tell the cops she had a gun. She didn't want to be stopped. She hit the gas to get away from the man, and easily left him behind.

"Take the next exit, Victoria."

She did, and then immediately took another highway that led back the way they came. She made another turn, found another highway and took it to another interstate that went in the opposite direction. "No one is following us, Griffin," Victoria told him with some satisfaction.

"I have a bad feeling and I can't shake it, honey. We're missing something."

"Maybe you just don't feel well? After all, you lost a lot of blood."

"Stop at the next rest stop." Something was terribly wrong, and that SUV was no accident.

"Okay, I need to pee again," she said with a grin, trying to lighten the mood.

"I don't want you two inches away from me, woman. Obey me, or else."

"Griffin what is wrong with you? I'm not a child."

"You're my wife, my love, and I'm not going to lose you just after finding you. I couldn't live through that a second time, honey. Please to God, obey me. Something is wrong. I feel it as surely as I am sitting beside you right now." His dark eyes were pleading with her.