Page 43 of Immortal by Morning (Argeneau #37)

“How long am I going to be restricted to the house and away from the windows?”

Crispin glanced over at that question from Abril. She’d spoken in a near whisper, probably in the hopes that Lucian wouldn’t

hear. He wasn’t surprised it failed and his uncle answered.

“Until our rogue is found. Or until we are certain the rogue has left the area and will not return here.”

Abril did not look pleased at this news. Crispin couldn’t blame her. He didn’t much care for that answer himself. It would

be hard to woo her while she was confined to the house, and not even the entire house, but rooms that did not have windows.

The thought made him frown and wonder how many rooms there were in the house like that. The only one he could think of was the laundry room. That thought made him glance toward the kitchen windows facing the front yard and driveway. His eyes widened when he saw that the blinds were closed.

“While you were in the office with Abril, I had the men close all the blinds there are in the house,” Lucian announced. “That

includes her bedroom. Although I suspect she will not wish to sleep in there after her earlier experience.”

“Crispin closed the blinds in my office earlier, and the couch in there is a pullout bed,” Abril announced. “I can just sleep

in there tonight. One of the men can have my room.”

His uncle grunted what might have been an acknowledgement, and then said, “Crispin will remain with you to ensure your safety.”

Crispin glanced quickly to Abril to see irritation flash across her face. Lucian had not suggested, he had announced it as

if she had no choice in the matter. He wasn’t at all surprised that she was annoyed by that. It seemed obvious to him that

the only person she generally took orders from was her boss. Otherwise, Abril was used to making her own decisions and depending

on her own counsel on issues. It had no doubt been that way since she was sixteen and had run away. Although, he was sure

that the Barb and her husband Abril had mentioned to him might have been wise counsel on occasion, the ultimate decisions

had always only ever been Abril’s in the end since leaving her family.

Much to his surprise, despite her obvious irritation, Abril didn’t protest Lucian’s order, but simply finished rinsing off

her plate, and carried it over to put it in the dishwasher.

“Crispin, go fetch your woman’s things from the guest room she was using, and take them to her office,” Lucian ordered.

“I can fetch my own things,” Abril protested.

“You would need to go through the living room to get to your room,” Crispin pointed out solemnly. “There are no blinds on

any of the windows in there.”

Abril clucked with irritation. “The Foleys must’ve been idiots. I swear most of the windows in this house don’t have any kind

of covering. What were they? Exhibitionists?”

Crispin smiled faintly and said, “To be fair, the house is so far back from the road and surrounded by trees that it is doubtful

window coverings are needed as a rule.”

“Yeah, well they sure would come in handy now,” she muttered with irritation, and then sighed and met his gaze. “Thank you

in advance for getting my things. My suitcase is in the closet. Just throw everything in and bring it around. No need to pack

it nice.” Turning away then, she started walking toward the end of the island, saying, “I’ll be in the office.”

Crispin was watching Abril’s derriere as she walked around the island to the hallway. She had just headed up it and disappeared

from his sight, when Lucian said, “You should also go to the room you chose for yourself and were napping in when the intruder

struck. Roberts stopped at your place and picked up your go bag for you. He put it in there.”

Crispin’s eyebrows rose slightly at this news, but he knew he shouldn’t be surprised. He and Roberts both kept go bags in case of something exactly like this happening. They also had keys to each other’s homes for the same reason.

“Thanks, Alex,” he murmured, nodding at Roberts.

“Happy to help,” Roberts assured him. “Speaking of which, want any help packing Abril’s things?”

Crispin almost said yes, and then realized that Abril’s things would include intimates like panties and bras and shook his

head. “No, thank you. I can manage.”

Abril dropped into her desk chair and turned on her computer, her mind on the fact that Crispin had been tasked with the chore

of packing up her clothes. In truth, she didn’t really mind when it came to her jeans, dress slacks, T-shirts, tops, and dresses,

etcetera. However, she was a little less blasé about his sorting through her underwear. Oddly enough, she didn’t mind the

idea of his seeing her pretty brassieres and panties. It was the granny panties and sports bras she was less thrilled about.

Sighing, she quickly typed in the password to unlock the screen, opened her web browser, and clicked on the Netflix icon.

Abril stopped there though. She couldn’t watch a movie at her desk if Crispin was going to be in the room too. The couch was

in front of her desk. He wouldn’t be able to see it and it would be rude. Aside from that, honestly her desk chair really

wasn’t comfortable enough to be sitting in for an hour and a half to two hours.

Standing, she turned the desktop computer so that it faced the sofa, and then walked around and quickly removed the cushions from the couch. Those went onto the top shelf of the closet after she removed the blanket and pillows she kept stored there and set them on the corner of her desk.

Closing the door then, she quickly pulled out the sofa bed. It already had sheets on it from the last time she’d used it.

All she had to do was spread the blanket over it, put the pillows on, and voila! She had a bed. Well, she and Crispin had

a bed. Because with the bed pulled out, the only space left in the room was a four-foot square area between her desk and the

closet door. There really wasn’t room for Crispin to even spread out on the floor, let alone to bring in a single mattress

from one of the guest rooms and lay it out. The man was going to be sleeping with her.

“Oh, yeah, you can stop thinking about that right now,” she told herself firmly. The very thought had raised her temperature

and made her mouth go dry, which made her think she should fetch a drink and maybe snacks for the movie she intended to put

on.

Nodding to herself, she headed out of her office.

Lucian was alone in the kitchen, seated where he’d been when she’d left. His gaze was scanning the various images showing

on the monitor and then sliding to the windows where the blinds were now open to check the front and side yard.

Abril ignored him as she went into the pantry to consider the snacks she’d purchased and stored there. White cheddar popcorn,

barbecue corn chips, extra flavor sour cream and onion chips. Which would Crispin like?

She considered that briefly, and then shrugged and grabbed all three.

She had no idea what he liked, so it was better to be safe than sorry.

Abril carried them out of the pantry, pushed the door closed with one foot, hurried to her office and dumped everything on her desk before heading back out to the kitchen.

“You are not supposed to be in rooms with uncovered windows,” Lucian said, glowering at her as she walked over to the refrigerator

and opened it.

“Then you shouldn’t have opened the blinds,” Abril said with irritation. “I need a drink.”

“And apparently more food despite the fact that we just finished eating,” he said testily. She guessed he only said it to

point out that this was not her first foray into the kitchen and he hadn’t said anything the first time. To be fair, she suspected

that had been him showing great restraint. She assumed it was also why he’d been peering out the windows so hard, to be sure

there was no one outside staring in to see her.

Grabbing several different cans of pop, she let the refrigerator door close and had started toward where Lucian sat at the

island near the hall entrance when he suddenly growled, “Stop.”

Abril stopped, but asked, “Why am I stopping?”

“Someone is walking past the house.”

She hesitated, then set the pops on the island. She then moved to the window over the sink and tugged aside the blinds that

were still closed there, but just enough to see out. Abril immediately relaxed when she saw the lone woman walking the golden

retriever.

“That’s Kim,” she told Lucian, releasing the blinds. “She is a Realtor. Her house is that blue one across the street and a

little to the left.”

“And can you tell if she is a mortal, or immortal, and a threat or not?” Lucian asked dryly.

“No,” she admitted. “But I bet you can. Is she immortal, Lucian? Or can I grab a couple glasses and some ice for the pops so I can go back to the office now?”

“Crispin can get the ice,” Lucian said sounding irritable again. “Speaking of which, Crispin, stop talking to your brother,

collect Abril’s luggage, and get it to her office.”

He hadn’t raised his voice above a normal speaking tone and Abril was staring at him, thinking that Crispin would never hear

him from the bedroom, when he entered the kitchen at a rather shocking speed.

Abril gaped at him as he shot past her and disappeared down the hall, reeling under the realization that he had actually heard

Lucian. The knowledge made her now worry about what exactly Roberts had heard while she and Crispin had had their passionate

encounter in the laundry room. She had already known that he had heard or at least witnessed part of what had taken place

in the living room after they came in from the pool, but she had put that down to the cameras. There were no cameras in the

laundry room. But if his hearing was as good as Lucian’s, Roberts had probably heard every moan, sigh, and gasp as she and

Crispin had made out in the laundry room. If so, he’d known exactly what they were doing.

That was rather embarrassing, she decided.

“Abril is not in the office!”