Mink Too, All the Riches in the World Can't Buy Love Read online

  “Revenge is sweet, isn’t it, Suzie?”

  Carolyn and Delta started laughing as they pictured one of Sheriff Reeves’ beefy cops in a thong bathing suit.

  Susan nodded and then joined in the laughter.

  “How did the lessons go?” Maryellen asked, annoyed that Susan managed to top her again.

  “What lessons? Did you think I was going to let her teach me to swim, ME? She’d probably drown me. While she was changing into a suit, I left her a note and zoomed over here to meet all of you. She’s probably still smarting from the sunglasses in the pool’s bottom and the note I left.”

  Maryellen looked over Susan’s shoulder to the front entrance. “What does the sergeant look like? Is she tall with long legs and a nice build … a very nice build? She’s got warm brown skin with amazing dark eyes and short red-brown dreadlocks?”

  “That sounds like her. Why do you ask? Do you know her, ME?”

  “No, but I see somebody who looks remarkably like that description standing at the door speaking with George. He’s pointing to our table. You might want to head to the restrooms, Suzie. Although with those long legs of hers, she’ll probably make it here before you get halfway there.”

  Maryellen is right, Susan thought, standing abruptly and scurrying to the bathroom.

  Sergeant Liz Gilmore strode over to the table about the same time she spotted Susan Drummond rushing to the restrooms at the rear of the restaurant. “Good evening, Ladies,” she remarked as she removed her Stetson. “I’m Sergeant Gilmore. I’m wondering if I might impose on the three of you to help me with a matter concerning your friend, Miss Drummond.”

  Maryellen cleared her throat, then looked into eyes that reminded her soft, dark brown velvet. Delta simply looked at the tall woman and giggled.

  Carolyn smiled and offered her hand. “Hello, Sergeant Gilmore. Susan mentioned running into you today. I’m Carolyn Parson.”

  The sergeant smiled at Carolyn as she shook hands.

  Maryellen noticed the deep dimples.

  “You’re being diplomatic. I’m sure she told you about our little incident today. I have something that belongs to her. I’d like to see that she gets it. Would it be a problem if I followed her into the bathroom to deliver it myself?”

  “You’re not gonna arrest her in there, are you?” Delta asked nervously.

  Liz frowned as she stared at the cute, round-faced woman. “I see she’s told you everything, Miss…?”

  “I’m Delta Willis.” Delta extended a plump hand and looked up into gleaming dark eyes.

  “A pleasure, I’m sure,” Liz remarked as her hand engulfed Delta’s smaller one.

  Maryellen cleared her throat loudly.

  Liz reluctantly released Delta’s hand. A pretty brown-skinned woman grabbed her hand and winked.

  “I’m Maryellen Jackson. I believe in supporting our local police too,” Maryellen remarked, playing with the large, warm hand that she held, first rubbing and then tickling the broad palm.

  Carolyn Parson groaned at her friend’s antics. “You can release the sergeant’s hand, ME. Sergeant Gilmore, the restrooms are over there.”

  Liz followed Carolyn Parson’s finger with her eyes.

  “I’m sure whatever you have to give her will be greatly appreciated. It was nice to meet you.”

  Liz nodded. “It’s been a pleasure meeting you, Ladies. I hope your evening is pleasant. Good night.” She placed her Stetson under an arm, then bowed slightly.

  The women watched Liz Gilmore stride to the restrooms.

  “She’s not what I expected from one of Reeves’ cops. She sounded bright. Her accent is northern. I wonder where,” Carolyn remarked, noting the sergeant’s long strides.

  “Oh, forget her accent, Carolyn! I’m wondering what she’d look like in one of those thong things Susan likes to wear. She’d probably look delicious… no, make that quite delicious,” Maryellen added as her eyes lingered on the cop’s firm ass as she marched toward the bathrooms.

  “I’d agree with you there, ME,” Delta remarked, thinking about the sergeant’s large hands and tall frame.

  “If Susan’s not interested in that one, I’ll take her. Maybe she’d teach me how to swim or something,” Maryellen murmured as she imagined the sergeant in a thong.

  Delta sighed. “Oh please, ME. You swim like a fish.”

  “Yes, well, maybe she could teach me the breaststroke.”

  “Yes, her chest was very impressive. I mean, she was marvelous to look at with those dark eyes and long legs in that uniform. I never liked women in uniforms until today,” Delta remarked dreamily.

  “The sergeant is an attractive woman,” Carolyn added. “I’d like to be a fly on the wall to find out what’s going on the ladies’ room.”

  CHAPTER THREE…Lessons learned are not forgotten

  “I hope she didn’t see me,” Susan muttered as she stood in front of the mirror, finger combing her twists in place. Some days, her hair just did what it wanted no matter what she did to it. It looked like tonight was going to be another one of those times. She patted it down, but one of the springy little corkscrews still stood up, even when she wet it with pipe water. Annoyed, she was staring at her image in the mirror with the one errant strand sticking up when the door unexpectedly swung open. The nemesis of her of life strode into the bathroom looking like a storm cloud ready to burst.

  Liz nodded to Susan Drummond. “Good evening, Miss Drummond. I just met your charming friends outside. They told me where you were. I can see why you were in such a hurry to have dinner with them. They are lovely, particularly Miss Jackson.”

  Susan grew irritated. Who did the sergeant think she was anyway, hitting on her friends? “They’re a little out of your league. Don’t you think, Sergeant? You are a public servant. They’re rich enough to buy and sell you at least a million times over.” Hard hazel eyes snapped at the cop.

  It’s going to be like that, is it? Liz thought. Dark eyes narrowed, then stared back into Susan’s eyes. “I wouldn’t know about that, Miss Drummond. I try to treat everyone the same, rich or poor, Black or white, unlike other people that I could mention.”

  “Oh! Who might that be, Sergeant?” Susan pretended she didn’t know what the sergeant was implying.

  “Take you, for example.” Liz Gilmore continued to stare at Susan Drummond and then folded her arms over her chest. “You are one rich … Well, you get the idea. You don’t mind throwing your weight around or your daddy’s name either.”

  “What’s that mean?” Susan asked to see how far the woman would go with her inappropriate remarks.

  “The next time you wanna play games, Miss Drummond, find someone else who wants to play with you. I regard breaking the law as a serious matter. If you do it again while I’m on duty, I’ll impound that pretty little black car. You won’t see it again until you’re eighty. Here, I believe this belongs to you.” Liz pulled a bathing suit out of her hat and threw it at Susan.

  Susan caught it. Hmm, it’s dry, she thought. She decided to have a little fun at the sergeant’s expense.

  Liz turned to walk out the door until Susan’s voice stopped her.

  “Wait, Sergeant Gilmore. Don’t go yet. I have a question for you.”

  Liz turned around to face her and looked into sparkling eyes. “Yes?”

  “I noticed the sunglasses in your pocket. Are they the ones I tossed in the pool today?”

  Liz patted her pocket with the glasses sticking up and nodded. “Yeah, so what?”

  “The suit isn’t wet. It doesn’t look like you wore it, so I was wondering if you jumped in the pool naked to retrieve your sunglasses.”

  Liz’s jaws tightened, then relaxed. The vein in her forehead was ready to burst as she glared at Susan. A reddish flush formed at the top of her ears and moved down to her cheeks. “I guess you’ll never know the answer to that one, will you, Miss Drummond?”

  “I don’t know about that, Sergeant,” Susan said, taking a deep breath. “What
I do know is that I expect you to be at my pool tomorrow afternoon. Let’s say two o’clock, dressed in whatever swimming instructors wear. You’d better be ready to give me my first lesson.”

  Liz marched back and stood chin to nose with Susan Drummond. “Excuse me. What did you just say?”

  Once Susan recognized the depth of the anger in Liz’s eyes for what it was, she looked around the room nervously. She suddenly realized they were alone. Still, she couldn’t resist taunting the tall cop one more time. “Get as angry as you want, Sergeant, but if you touch me, you’re fired. I’ll sue you as well. You’ll be working in a minimum wage job for the rest of your life just to pay off legal fees. Oh yes, if you don’t show up for tomorrow’s lesson, you’re fired. It looks to me like you’re fired no matter what you do, Lizzie, so be smart and teach this rich bitch how to swim.”

  “Has anybody ever told you that you’ve got a nasty little mouth, Miss Drummond?” Stormy dark eyes challenged hazel ones.

  “They wouldn’t dare, Sergeant Gilmore. If you’re smart, you won’t mention it again either!” Susan spat out, daring the big cop to do something about her attitude.

  “I’m not too bright sometimes, Miss Drummond. Just ask my dad. He’ll tell you just how dumb I can be.” A large hand suddenly reached out for Susan.

  Susan flinched. She expected a punch in the mouth. Instead, she felt a hand running through her corkscrew twists and patting a wild strand back in place.

  “Hmm, your hair is softer than I thought it would be.” Liz spoke aloud more to herself than to Susan. Her hand dropped to her side and she bowed slightly. “Good evening, Miss Drummond.” In two strides, she was nearly at the door.

  “Sergeant Gilmore, aren’t you forgetting something?”

  Liz stopped marching and turned around. She frowned at Susan.

  Susan threw the thong suit at her. “See you tomorrow at two, Sergeant. Keep the suit. You’ll need it!” She watched the tall, proud woman march stiffly out of the bathroom as though she had a stick up her ass. Susan grinned wickedly as she realized that she finally had the arrogant cop right where she wanted her, twisting and turning in the wind. Tomorrow afternoon should be entertaining if the sergeant showed up. She had a feeling the stubborn woman would show up to keep her promise to the sheriff. If the sergeant could find a way to embarrass her, she’d bet a dinner at the club she’d do exactly that.

  Liz nodded sharply to the three women as she quickly marched past their table. She strode to the unmarked patrol car, hidden by the artfully shaped bushes and trees at the side of the club’s entrance.

  The three women at the table buzzed with curiosity as they watched the tall officer stride out the door without another word to them. They could barely contain their excitement when Susan finally returned to the table and sat down.

  “We want to know what happened in the bathroom. You were in there long enough to do the wild thing a million times!” Delta exclaimed. She glanced at Susan and tried to read her poker face.

  Susan held up a hand. “Okay, okay, I’ll tell you, Delta. The arrogant bitch is giving me swimming lessons starting tomorrow afternoon at two. If she chooses not to show up, I’ll have her fired!”

  “Damn it, Susan! Isn’t that taking revenge just a little too far? She must be a good cop or Reeves woulda fired her today. If she’s a sergeant, she’s like the second or third in command at the stationhouse,” Carolyn remarked, studying her friend’s annoyed face and wondering what happened in the bathroom.

  “Are you sure about this, Susan?” Maryellen stared at Susan.

  Susan looked at Maryellen and Carolyn, then Delta. She nodded vigorously. “I’m sure! All this drama has made me a little tired, Ladies. I’m gonna call it a night.” She kissed each woman on the cheek and then left the club.

  Unknown to Susan, an unmarked patrol car followed her halfway home. The car stayed far enough behind Susan so she wouldn’t know it was following her. Sergeant Gilmore seriously considered running the sleek little sports car off the road. She could plant enough evidence to make it look like a drunken driving accident. She could have the bitch arrested and thrown into jail on trumped up charges. She’d bet more than a few of her fellow officers would help fabricate evidence against the Drummond woman, then lie about it in court. She came to her senses halfway to the Drummond mansion. She realized giving the bitch swimming lessons wouldn’t be that difficult. The hazel-eyed woman with the wild corkscrew hair and the bad attitude wasn’t worth losing her job over or spending another minute of worry.

  Owen Drummond rose promptly at six thirty every morning without an alarm clock or anything else to awaken him but the feel of the warm sun on his eyelids. He’d been rising that same way for the last fifty years. He stretched his arms over his head, bent down to touch his toes, and then bent a muscular leg at the knee. He grabbed an ankle to do a one-legged stretch to limber up. He repeated the process for ten minutes on each leg, then walked down the stairs and out the door to start his morning run. “Morning, Becky,” he called to the pretty housekeeper, then winked. “See you in thirty-three minutes.”

  He had his morning jog down to a fine science. Jogging kept him healthy, alert, and still attractive to the opposite sex at sixty-three. He was proud of how good he looked for his age. He was determined to stay that way too. Most of the women who knew him didn’t think he could still get it up without help, let alone do something with his dick that left them breathless and begging for more until they slept with him. He grinned as he eyed his housekeeper. Becky looked good in that little white apron and short pastel uniform she liked to wear when she dusted and mopped.

  He stopped on the porch to decide which path to run today. If he got back early, he and Becky could have a little fun before he went to the office. He sighed as he rubbed his chin. If Yvette found out that he was screwing his housekeeper, she’d cut his balls off. That was what she said she’d do if she found him sleeping around. He smiled when he thought about the sexy little secretary he’d hired two months ago. She knew how to please him in bed, on the large desk in his office, in the big leather chair in the conference room, on the conference room table, in the men’s room, and anywhere else they decided would be fun.

  He was thinking about trying the wide-open spaces next. He’d need to arrange for the work crews to disappear for an hour or two while he and Yvette had a little fun in the construction trailer located a half-mile from the site of the new shopping mall. He shrugged as he jogged down the front porch steps and passed the house. Hmm, that might be too disruptive to the work schedule he’d laid out for the engineers and project coordinator. Nighttime nookie might make better sense.

  The path Owen chose to jog most mornings led him to the edge of his house and the twenty acres around it. If he made a left turn, he was five minutes away from a forty-acre wooded tract of land. The woods contained a jungle-like atmosphere. It teemed with undergrowth and wildlife, so it wasn’t unusual for him to spot vivid, colorful tropical birds, opossums, deer, raccoons, foxes, groundhogs, lizards of all sizes and shapes, and a large variety of poisonous and nonpoisonous snakes. A small creek cut across the woods and emptied into a large lake a few miles away. The lake contained a variety of fresh fish.

  Taking this route ensured a peaceful jog in the morning. He’d see very few of his neighbors here because the area wasn’t developed. He’d considered developing the land, but he hadn’t come up with the right plan yet. He also knew he’d have a fight on his hands from his wealthy neighbors. It was one thing to build a shopping mall in the Parkston area, where the people were mostly working class or poor and rarely voted. It was another to destroy what his neighbors considered their private wetlands.

  When he wanted a different route, he turned right and jogged through the neighborhood. He waved to his neighbors as he passed their large estates. Usually, he didn’t see more than two or three of them out so early. The way the properties spread out, he could run a quarter of a mile before he saw anyone. Today, he decided he didn
’t want company and turned left into the woods rather than run around the perimeter of four or five of his neighbor’s yards. It didn’t matter to him which route he used; he ran because he enjoyed the feel of the warm sun on his back, the absorbent bounce in the earth under his feet, and the clean country air in his lungs.

  When he finished his run, Owen felt strong enough to tackle the world’s problems, then take two women to bed. He grinned at his tanned reflection as he wrapped the towel around his lean waist, then shaved, whistling as he did. He took a shower, dressed, and made his way downstairs to the sunny kitchen.

  “You’re up bright and early this morning, Suzie Q. How come you’re up?” Owen remarked. He looked up from his morning paper to glance at his daughter when she sat down at the breakfast table across from him.

  Susan leaned over and kissed his forehead. “No special occasion, Daddy. I just decided to get up early for once and see how the other half lives.”

  Owen Drummond frowned as he looked at the stock quotes. “Damn it! Those shares Johnny recommended keep dropping in price. I should sell the darned things. He told me to hold out another week or two and they’d bounce back.”

  “Listen to him and stop worrying, Daddy. He’s done right by you so far, hasn’t he?”

  Large green eyes softened as Owen studied Susan. “Yeah, he’s been more than all right, Honey. Thanks for reminding me. Say, how did the swimming lesson go yesterday?” He folded the newspaper in half and then in half again as he glanced at his daughter, then put his paper aside and stirred his coffee. “Well, say something, Suzie Q.”

  Susan sighed.

  Owen knew something was wrong. “Are you gonna tell me or am I gonna call Sheriff Reeves to find out?” He was calling his daughter’s bluff to see what she’d say. He’d already heard what happened last night at the club from one of the staff members he kept on his payroll. Spying at the club helped him to make better business deals. This time, he worried how far his daughter would carry this payback thing with the cop. The sergeant sounded levelheaded. She did what anybody who took a job seriously would do.