Page 104 of Fall Into Temptation
“You all are behaving in a manner so stupid it should be illegal,” he argued, heading toward the western edge of town.
“Oh, my God. You’re not taking us to…” Gia trailed off, her words filled with dread.
“Oh, hell. He’s taking us to Dad,” Eva whispered.
Emma slumped against the seat. “I’d rather go to jail.”
“Donovan, I’m starting to get legitimately pissed at you,” Eva warned him.
“Back at ya, baby,” he said cheerfully.
He pulled into the parking lot of Villa Harvest, Franklin’s charming Italian bistro and parked right outside the front door. “Now don’t go anywhere, ladies,” Donovan said with a wink and a grin at Eva in the rearview mirror.
“I hate your boyfriend,” Emma muttered when he slammed the door and sauntered into the restaurant.
“Is it wrong that I’m the tiniest bit turned on?” Eva wondered out loud.
“Yes!” Emma said.
“Not at all,” Gia disagreed. “A hot law enforcement officer handcuffed you and manhandled you into the backseat of a car.”
“Fine. You can be mad and turned on,” Emma decided. “Just be more mad.”
Five minutes passed before Donovan reappeared. He had a large to-go lemonade in one hand and a breadstick in the other. Franklin bustled out behind him.
“They’re all yours, Franklin,” Donovan said, juggling the breadstick over to his other hand so he could open the back door.
“Girls, I expected this out of you when you were in high school. Not now that you’re all adults,” Franklin said, looking more amused than upset.
One by one, Donovan removed their restraints. Eva rubbed her sore wrists. Between her wrists and her knuckles, she was going to be typing with a limp.
And then she remembered she no longer had a laptop because her own mother had stolen it.
She was mentally overwrought, she decided. It was the only explanation for why she burst into tears. She hated heroines that cried at the drop of a hat. She wrote women with steel spines and big balls. Not the quivering, whimpering victim type.
Strong hands cupped her face.
“Everything is going to be just fine, Eva. I promise you,” Donovan said, staring down at her. His blue eyes were serious. “Now be a good girl and tell your dad why you made so many boneheaded decisions.”
He kissed her lightly on the nose and turned her toward Franklin.
His radio squawked. “Sheriff, you anywhere near the liquor store? We got an unsub riding a tricycle through the aisles.”
Donovan swore. “If you need any help with these three hellions, you call me,” he told Franklin and climbed back into his car.
Eva watched him leave.
“So, who wants to explain to me why my daughters got arrested today?”
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It appeared that Phoebe was taking the news harder than Franklin. “Back up a minute,” she demanded, pointing a pink-polished nail in Eva’s face. “Your mother has been taking money from you for years, following you around the country, and when you said no, she broke into your home and stole from you…and you told no one?”
Franklin had given them all a ride to his house so they could yell it out Merill style without witnesses.
Mr. Snuffles waddled out from under the dining room table, gave everyone a good glare, and sneezed his way upstairs away from the noise.
“That pretty much sums it up,” Eva admitted with a nod. There was no use hiding or lying now.
