Page 17 (1/2)
Eshe raised an eyebrow in question when Arathered in front of his still-s house and headed over to rejoin the in the SUV for most of the afternoon, unable to leave with the fire trucks blocking their vehicle
"They say it was arson," Ar surprise," Brickero"
"Go where?" Anders asked wryly "Not that rundown motel by the diner? None of us hasEshe toward his pickup "Follow me in the SUV"
"Do you have keys to the pickup?" Eshe asked with concern as he opened the passenger door for her It wasn&039;t locked, but then she&039;d noticed Armand didn&039;t seem to bother much about locks out here She watched as he paused and felt in his back pocket, and sot to take theht before you yanked htly
"Ha ha," Esheup into the pickup She heard Armand chuckle as he pushed the door closed, and then he hurried around to his side As he got in, she asked, "Where are we going?"
Arnes and John, their place is bigger, but they&039;ll be sleeping and wouldn&039;t hear the doorbell, so we&039;ll go stay with Cedrick until I figure so hi one of ers"
Eshe nodded She&039;d liked Cedrick, and he looked like a guy who could handle himself Besides, at least they&039;d know he couldn&039;t be controlled and made to attack one of them
They were silent on the drive over, both of the over this latest attack At least Eshe was It see desperate and desperate otten theot to the far, Armandout in the sun while he went and rousted Cedrick from his bed The door must have been unlocked, because while he knocked, he also then siood teneverything to Cedrick, which only seeed into the situation blind It was a hot day, though, and stifling in the pickup Eshe was relieved when Armand appeared at the front door and waved at them to come in
"This place reminds me of Armand&039;s," Bricker commented as they met at the front of the vehicles to start toward the house
"It is Armand&039;s," Anders pointed out "Cedrick just runs it for him"
"You knohat I mean," Bricker said with irritation "It&039;s an old Victorian like his and got the trees around it and everything It&039;s got heart"
Eshe knehat he nes had a lovely hoabled houses Arreet the Cedrick at his side Everyone s, and then Cedrick led them upstairs to the bedrooms This house was laid out much the same as Armand&039;s, but as he&039;d said, smaller There were only three bedroouest rooms, which meant Eshe and Arether in the other After showing therietically as he took in what clothes they&039;dtheir faces as well as whatever skin was on display
"Youfrolanced to Eshe and said, "My housekeeper is live-in She has an apart you can wear, Eshe It&039;ll do until you can buy so else But we only have the one bathroom here in the house itself and you&039;ll have to take turns" He paused and glanced around the group again and then announced, "Ladies first, of course You boys can fight over who goes next Follow s are"
When Bricker and Anders groaned at being left sooty for a while longer, Eshe found her first s up to a house on fire and flashed it at the two of them as she followed Cedrick past theirl
"The towels and washcloths are in the cupboard under the sink," Cedrick said pausing to the side of the door to the bathroom so that she could slip past him "There&039;s soap and shampoo on the tub, you&039;re welco the rooo see ifshe can let you wear I&039;ll set it on the floor outside the door here for you to find," he finished, and then pulled the door closed before she could thank hi when she caught sight of herself in theon end as if she&039;d been electrified; there were dark streaks on her face, throat, and legs from the fire; and the white shirt she as done up crookedly, one button off,it look not only ridiculous but even more risque than it would have been if done up properly Basically, she was asoftly, she turned from the mirror and moved to the tub to open the shower curtain and reach the taps Within seconds she had a nice steady strea Armand&039;s shirt when so, she moved to open it and found Armand on the other side, a bundle of clothes in hand with a pair of sandals on top
"I brought these up for you," he explained, holding them out "The housekeeper&039;s about your size, believe it or not, so they should fit"
Eshe smiled wryly at his words as she took the bundle of clothes She was tall for a woman, and lean It was rare to find so to cross to the counter and set them down She heard the door close as she did, and assumed Armand had left, so took a ht her A pair of ratty old jeans, faded and with holes in theo "Save a tractor, ride a farmer" on it
"Cute," she said dryly
"What&039;s that?" Armand said, and Eshe nearly ju, she found he&039;d entered before closing the door and was now stripped down to just his soot stains
She let her gaze slide lazily over all that revealed skin and then arched an eyebrow and asked, "Trying to juether," he pointed out with a grin, and when she merely stared at him, added, "I could scrub your back for you"
Eshe set down the T-shirt, whipped off his borrowed shirt, and stepped over the lip of the tub and under the spray When he i led with you in the botto at the door"
"Party pooper," he teased, picking up the soap
Armand behaved himself and was done and out before her Eshe took a littleto find him already dried and dressed He kissed her as she stepped out of the shower, and then o see if there&039;s any coffee on"
Eshe nodded and quickly dried and dressed herself, surprised to find that the clothes fit all right The jeans were a little tight, but a pretty good fit considering they were borrowed She&039;d expected Anders and Bricker to be waiting i in the hall when she opened the bathroo, she headed downstairs and found Anders and Bricker there "Where are Armand and Cedrick?" she asked as she moved to the coffeepot to pour herself a cup
"Cedrick left right after getting soo check on one of the other far
Bricker then added, "And Armand went over to John&039;s He called just as Armand came downstairs and asked if he&039;d co"
"And he went?" she asked with a frown
Bricker shrugged "John and Agnes were in Europe when Althea died It should be safe enough I offered to go with hi and it would be better if he was alone"
"Right," Eshethe way Bricker was suddenly digging in his pocket, she watched curiously as he pulled out a set of keys and set them on the counter beside Anders
"The keys to the SUV," he explained, and thenfor ets to shower first, huh?" Eshe asked lightly, bringing hiafter, so Anders said I could go first I&039; up clothes and whatever personal stuff everyone wants You can co size and what you want on that sheet of paper on the table and we&039;ll pick up e can"
Eshe glanced toward the sheet of paper as he continued out of the roo the items already listed beside Anders&039;s and Armand&039;s names It ritten in the sauess She sat doith her coffee, picked up the pen, and scrawled her clothing sizes and a couple of ite to eat
"The housekeeper, Jean is her name by the way, said there were so there," Anders told her as she stood up "She said there was butter on the table, I&039;lanced back to the table, s faintly when she saw the cow butter dish
"So what&039;s our nextto be?" Anders asked as she found a plate in the cupboard and lifted the cover off the plate on the counter to retrieve a scone
"I&039; to call Mary Harcourt in Montreal," Eshe said quietly, and turned frolad he didn&039;t protest, but hadn&039;t expected his had gone far enough that the possibility of upsetting Mary on her anniversary didn&039;t seem that important Besides, she&039;d approach the subject as carefully as she could Eshe wouldn&039;t intentionally upset the woman