Page 27 of Immortal by Morning (Argeneau #37)

“I rest my case.”

Crispin turned from watching Abril’s retreating back at those dry words from Lucian and met his grim gaze, his own expression

unhappy. “Surely we can convince her of the seriousness of the situation and the necessity for her to stay close to one of

us at all times without revealing what we are to her?”

He could hear the desperation in his own voice, and knew the others could too from the sympathy he saw on everyone’s face

but Lucian’s. But desperate was how he was feeling. He had been counting on being able to make her like him, and seduce her

with life mate sex, which was said to be addictive, before explaining who and what he was. He was sure that was the only chance

he would have to claim her for his life mate.

Turning it around and telling her about immortals and that he was one before gaining her trust and hopefully binding her to him with sex, might make it impossible for him to woo her to his side. He was sure he needed both to soften the effect of the news Lucian was insisting he give her.

“Do you want her alive, but possibly not with you? Or do you want to have her dead?” Lucian asked simply.

“God, you are a cold bastard,” Crispin snarled.

The accusation made Lucian’s lips quirk upward in what could’ve been mistaken for a smile. “And your point is?”

When Crispin didn’t respond, he pointed out, “She is alone, unguarded, and out of your sight this minute, Crispin.” He paused

briefly to let that sink in and then asked, “Do you think she would have walked away to take that phone call if she knew the

peril she was in?”

Crispin didn’t answer. He simply turned on his heel and strode down the hall to Abril’s office.

Her office in reality was much different than the office they had been in during their shared dream last night. There was

a desk, bookcase, couch, and even a filing cabinet, but the room was much smaller and the furniture all crammed much closer

together. The walls were also a pale lavender rather than the pale gray from the dream.

He hesitated at the door, not wanting to intrude on her phone call, but when he heard her saying, “Yes, yes. Everything is

fine here—” and then a pause before she said with sudden worry in her voice, “The work on the addition?”

While her voice was anxious, her expression was panic-stricken. Crispin finally gave up his position in the doorway and strode into the room. He moved quickly around her desk and bent to whisper in her free ear, “Rain.”

Abril lifted her gaze to him as he straightened and echoed blankly, “Rain?”

“It’s raining there?” came a distressed squawk from the phone.

Understanding then filled Abril’s expression, and she offered him a smile of gratitude before saying into the phone, “I’m

sure construction will not be delayed long. Everything will be fine, Gina. You just enjoy your vacation and do not worry about

a thing. I’ve got this for you.”

Crispin couldn’t help but admire her for how she managed to not actually lie to her boss. She hadn’t told her that it was

raining. She hadn’t even been speaking to her when she said the word rain . She simply hadn’t corrected her. She also hadn’t said that it was rain that was delaying construction, she’d simply said

she was sure construction wouldn’t be delayed long.

Abril was nodding as she now listened to the long tirade her boss was spewing down the phone line. But her gaze was on him

the whole time and she was beaming at him with gratitude.

Smiling in return, Crispin settled on the couch to wait for the call to end.

It took much longer than he expected. Gina apparently needed to vent about her frustration with the addition she was having built.

She was speaking loud enough that he caught the better part of it.

She was angry with the delays that had set back the starting date for months.

She hadn’t appreciated the further delays as the interior renovations had proceeded.

The excavator breaking down had pissed her off, but now even Mother Nature appeared to be against her.

Gina was sure that at this rate, she would never get to enjoy her new home in its completed state.

Abril listened patiently, making appropriate comments or sounds as needed. She reassured her boss as much as she could, and

then managed to convince the woman to go back to enjoying her vacation and leave everything to her. The last thing Abril said

before ending the call was a promise that she would take care of it all, and see everything was done as quickly as possible.

When she finally ended the call, Crispin commented, “It seems to me being an executive assistant is the equivalent of a fireman.”

His words made her smile, and Abril nodded. “Pretty much. I spend the better part of my days putting out fires and trying

to avoid future fires.”

“Sounds stressful,” Crispin commented.

Abril shrugged. “Maybe a bit. But at least it’s never boring.”

This time it was her words that made him smile, and then he sobered and asked, “How is your head?”

When she paused and tilted her head slightly, her eyes losing focus somewhat, he suspected she was checking on that situation

herself.

“It doesn’t hurt anymore,” she said finally with surprise. Her gaze cleared and shifted to him. “I guess that shot Dr. Dani

gave me is working.”

“Good.” Crispin got to his feet. “Dani said that avoiding bright light would help stave off headaches.” His gaze slid to the

open blinds on the large window in her office, and the sunshine pouring through it. He moved to close the blinds even as he

asked, “Do you have any sunglasses around here?”

“Sunglasses?” Abril echoed with confusion.

“In case you had not noticed, this house is almost nothing but windows,” he pointed out dryly.

“It is not,” Abril protested.

“Every room has large plate glass windows, sliding doors, skylights, and any other type of window and door that would allow

sunlight to flood the house. And most of them without any kind of window covering. It might be best to wear sunglasses to

block the worst of it. That might help to keep the headaches at bay.” Propping his hands on his hips then he raised his eyebrows.

“So? Sunglasses?”

She blew out an exasperated breath, but opened one of her desk drawers and pulled out a pair of large-framed dark sunglasses.

Putting them on, she asked in arid tones, “Happy?”

“Very,” he assured her.

“Great,” she said dryly. “But I’m going to feel ridiculous walking around inside with shades on.”

“Well, you could go without and risk the headache,” he pointed out. “Although I think those sunglasses look good on you. They

make you look kind of mysterious and sexy.”

Even through the dark lenses, Crispin could see the way her eyes widened at that statement. It made him want to pull her into

his arms and kiss her. But very aware that Lucian and the others were just up the hall waiting for them, he resisted the temptation,

and instead said, “You never answered my question earlier. Are you hungry?”

Abril considered the query seriously and then decided, “I think my appetite is returning. I could eat.”

Positive that was a good sign, Crispin smiled as he ushered her out of the office and back up the hall to the kitchen.

He wasn’t surprised to enter and find that the men had all taken up positions around the island, removing chairs from the counter-height table at the far end and dragging them over to do so.

They were now deep in a discussion about the security measures that needed to be taken to prevent another attack, as well as how they might be able to find out what this was all about.

Crispin left them to it, grabbed another chair from the table, and carried it past where the others were sitting at the end

of the island closest to the sliding doors, and down to the opposite end closest to the refrigerator. It was so that she could

keep him company while he made her something to eat.

“All right,” he said once he had her seated. He walked over to open the refrigerator. “What do you feel like eating?”

“I’m not sure what’s available,” she admitted, and before he could become concerned that her faulty memory was due to her

head injury, she followed that up by saying, “Oh, right! There’s the chili from last night. But other than that, there isn’t

much. Maybe some eggs and salad stuff. I was going to go shopping today.”

“We beat you to it,” Crispin announced. “Or Dani did. She made a quick stop to get groceries while I brought you home after

the hospital,” he explained.

“Oh?” Abril asked, sounding interested. “What did she get?”

“Let me see,” Crispin murmured, his gaze sliding over the crammed shelves.

“It looks like we have various deli meats, lettuce, tomatoes, onions, several types of cheese,” he told her and then quickly listed off other items they might use, “Provolone, cheddar, mozzarella, Swiss. Any kind of cheese you’d want on a sandwich really.

I know she got buns, too,” he added, his eyes sliding to the cupboard where bread was stored before returning to the contents of the refrigerator. “There are sausages, steaks, bacon—”

“A sandwich would be fine,” Abril interrupted, afraid she would expire from hunger before they got to the end of the list

of things Dani had bought.

“All right,” Crispin said, and then turned a raised eyebrow her way. “Hot or cold? I can make a three-cheese grilled cheese

sandwich. I could cook up bacon for it too.”

“Yeah right!” the man named Bricker said with amusement and told Abril, “Don’t risk it. You’d end up eating little charcoal

squares. He hasn’t eaten since—”

“He cooks for our younger brothers and sisters all the time,” Crispin’s brother Cassius interrupted sharply, and told her,

“Crispin used to be a chef.”

“Really?” Abril asked with interest, her gaze moving from one brother to the other. Much to her amazement, Crispin looked

uncomfortable and actually blushed.