Page 79 of Reluctant Rogue

She just grinned, and together they walked up the sidewalk to the porch. Liam knocked on the front door, and immediately there were the sounds of something falling over, and the crash of glass. Naomi winced instinctively, sharing a confused glance with Liam.

A moment later the door opened, and Nathan appeared, clutching the door with one hand and wavering a little unsteadily. Behind him, she could see a small overturned table, and shards of a glass, with a spreading stain on the wood floor. Nathan stared at them, a bit owlishly.

“You’re not the delivery guys.”

She and Liam exchanged glances.

“Er, no, we’re not,” Liam admitted. “May we come in?”

“Sssshure.” He was definitely slurring his words, and Naomi had to bite her lip to hold back a laugh. Clearly, the poor man had been self-medicating. It was also clear was that he either hadn’t read Liam’s text that they were coming over, or he’d managed to forget it in a very short time. It took a minute, but Nathan finally remembered to step back, and they followed him inside.

“Why don’t I clean up the wine… or whatever,” she offered. “You pick up the table, Liam.”

“Yeah, I’m on it.”

She hunted down some paper towels and a trash bag for the glass shards, and returned to the living room. Together they made sure all the glass was picked up, Liam having rejected Nathan’s attempt to shoo them off and do it himself.

“We don’t want you getting bloodied on the glass, pal,” Liam told him. “You’re none too steady.”

“What delivery are you expecting?” Naomi asked as she returned from ditching the trash bag and stained paper towels — it had been whiskey, not wine, that had been spilled — and took a seat on the sofa.

Nathan waved an expansive hand toward the back of the house. “Chicken wire, I guess. Galvanized steel. And nails. And a hammer.”

“Oh! You’re building a hutch for her?”

Nathan drew himself up, an offended expression on his face. “Certainly not. She’s a wild animal. I can’t keep her in a hutch. I was going to cover the back yard, you know, the top of the fence.”

She blinked at him. “The whole yard?”

“Well, yeah.”

“But the fence is like…” she thought back to her view of the house when they’d parked, and frowned. “Wait, you don’t have a fence. You have a stone wall.”

“Uh, yeah, I do.” Nathan made a face, and looked around, possibly for another bottle of liquid courage, Naomi suspected. “Guess I didn’t think that one through, huh?”

“Besides, the wall is only four feet high,” Naomi pondered. “I don’t think she can jump over it. I mean, maybe if she was grown, but she’s just a baby.”

“I’m not trying to keep her in!” Nathan looked offended all over again, and flung his arms out in agitation. “I’m trying to keep predators out! Do you know how many animals are out there that eat rabbits? I do, because I looked online. It’s not just hawks and owls, or coyotes. I figured about those. But bobcats and raccoons, and ferrets, and… and… and I don’t want her to get eaten!”

Naomi did a double-take. “Ferrets? Really?”

Liam apparently found another objection. “Plus, if you were able to somehow lay the wire over the walls and cover the entire yard, you wouldn’t be able to go outside yourself, since the walls are only four feet high.”

Nathan nodded again, his head bobbing. “Because I’m not a hobbit. Right.”

Holding back her amusement, Naomi rose to her feet. “I think I’ll make a pot of coffee.”

“Good idea,” Liam seconded. “While you do that, I’ll call the construction guys and see what they can come up with as far as a safe enclosure for the… er… “

“Jill.” Nathan said firmly. “I’m calling her Jill.”

“Right. Jill.”

“What construction guys?” Nathan eyed a half-full bottle of whiskey sitting on a side table, and Liam got up and moved the bottle to the kitchen.

“I think you’ve had enough of this, buddy. You’re three sheets to the wind.”

“Am not.” Nathan hiccuped. “Just had a few fingers.”