The Lady Is a Vamp (9 page)

Eyebrows rising, Jeanne Louise entered, her gaze sliding over another open door to her right, this one to an attached walk-in closet. She peaked inside briefly, then turned to survey the bathroom, taking in the marble counter with his and hers sinks, the toilet, the large tub, a shower big enough for two and then the door to what appeared to be a sauna. Walking to it, she opened the door and glanced curiously inside.

Yep, a sauna.

Jeanne Louise eased the door closed and moved to the sinks to turn on the cold water. She’d splash some water on her face and arms and then go see how Livy was doing. She hadn’t sensed any pain in the girl’s voice when Livy had called out, and suspected the headache was gone, but it had been a couple hours since lunch and if they could get her to eat again it would only be a good thing. She would control her and have her eat as often as possible to help her rebuild her strength for the turn.

Not that Jeanne Louise was entirely sure things were going to work out. Yes, Paul was her life mate, and yes, she was pretty sure that he’d been seconds from tearing her clothes off, throwing her on the bed, and taking her to the
petite mort
, but that didn’t guarantee anything. The situation was a complicated one. It might all still crumble like a house of cards.

Sighing, Jeanne Louise turned off the taps and reached for the towel on the rack beside her to dry her face and hands. She then set it back and quickly did up her blouse before heading out in search of Paul and Livy.

Five

“I
liked that horse,” Livy announced as her father stood and moved to the DVD player to eject the disc and put it away. “But I think I’d rather have a dragon like the black one, ’cause he was nice, wasn’t he, Jeanie?”

“Yes, he was, Livy,” Jeanne Louise agreed, smiling faintly. She had come out of the bathroom earlier to find Paul entering the bedroom with Livy in his arms. He’d settled the girl on the love seat, started the “dragon training” movie for her and then had asked Jeanne Louise if she’d mind sitting with Livy while he slipped away to fetch them some snacks.

She hadn’t minded at all. She’d settled on the love seat next to the girl, and found herself getting wrapped up in the movie herself. It wasn’t until Paul had returned with the drinks and popcorn that she’d pulled herself out of the movie at all, and then it was just enough to help Livy eat and drink and enjoy it.

They’d watched this second cartoon movie about Rapunzel afterward. That one had featured a rather intelligent and funny horse and they’d all laughed a great deal over the movie.

“I don’t know,” Paul said putting the DVD away. “I kind of liked the little salamander myself.”

“Ewww,” Livy said instinctively, then wrinkled her nose and said judiciously. “He was nice, but you can’t pet a salamander, Daddy.”

“Hmmm.” Paul straightened and then turned and raised an eyebrow at his daughter. “Another movie or are you ready for dinner?”

“I think I’m hungry,” Livy announced, sounding surprised, and then her eyes widened and her mouth formed an
O
.

“What?” Paul asked, smiling.

“Can we go to Chuck E. Cheese’s, Daddy?” she asked, slipping off the love seat where she’d been cuddled between Jeanne Louise and Paul for more than five hours. She nearly stepped on Boomer as she went, but the dog was quick about getting out of her way and yipped excitedly in response to her own obvious excitement. “I like Chuck E. Cheese’s. You’d like it too, Jeanne Louise. They have games and rides and—Oh it’s so fun!” She whirled back to her dad excitedly, Boomer dancing around her feet. “Please! We haven’t been there for a long time. Can we go?”

Paul stared at her, wide-eyed and obviously torn. Jeanne Louise could tell he wanted to say yes, but worry was making him hesitate. Whether it was worry for Livy or worry that Jeanne Louise might use it as an opportunity to leave, she didn’t know.

“How long has she been cooped up in the house?” she asked quietly.

His gaze slid to her, silent and solemn.

“And you’ve probably spent most of your time here with her,” Jeanne Louise commented. “I don’t think an outing to Chuck E. Cheese’s would be a bad thing. We could go, have pizza and then come back.”

Paul relaxed, getting the silent message she was trying to give him. She would return afterward with them. He nodded, murmuring, “Thank you,” and then glanced to Livy. “Chuck E. Cheese’s it is then.”

“Yay!” Livy did a little dance and then turned to grab Jeanne Louise’s hand to try to pull her off the love seat. “Come on. Let’s go before he changes his mind. You’re going to love Chuck E. Cheese’s. It’s so fun. And the pizza’s good too.”

Chuckling, Jeanne Louise stood and allowed the still chattering child to tug her from the room and toward the stairs, aware that Paul was following with Boomer on his heels. They headed right out to the car, pausing just long enough to let Boomer loose in the backyard before going.

“I
haven’t seen her like this for quite a while,” Paul said quietly, his eyes following his daughter as she played with several other children in the play section. He smiled wryly. “I guess it’s only been weeks, but it feels like forever.”

“It’s good for her,” Jeanne Louise said quietly, her concentration on the girl. A headache had begun to descend on Livy shortly after they’d arrived and she’d been working to mask it ever since.

“Yeah.” She sensed his glancing her way and tried to appear normal, but knew she’d failed when he asked with concern, “Are you all right?”

Jeanne Louise gave a nod, not looking his way.

“You’re pale and pinched. You’re masking her pain again, aren’t you?” he asked and she could hear the frown in his voice.

Sighing, she nodded reluctantly.

“How long?” Paul asked.

Jeanne Louise hesitated, but then admitted, “A headache started to develop shortly after we got here.”

Paul cursed. “You mean you’ve been masking her pain for the last hour and a half?”

Jeanne Louise wrinkled her nose. Was that all it had been? It felt like three hours. First they’d played video games and such, then they’d eaten, then Livy had rushed off to play with the other children. An hour and a half? God.

“You should have said something,” Paul said, sounding cross.

“She was having fun,” Jeanne Louise said helplessly. “I suspect she hasn’t done that for a while.”

“No, she hasn’t,” he agreed solemnly. “Still . . .”

She heard him sigh, and then sensed him standing and moving away. A moment later she saw him approach Livy and speak to her, then urge her back toward the table.

“I know you were having fun, sweetheart. But we can come back another day. We have to go home now. It’s getting late,” Paul was saying as he led his daughter back to Jeanne Louise. Once at the table, he quickly pulled out his wallet to pay the bill, then lifted Livy up with one arm under her bottom and glanced to Jeanne Louise. “She can sleep on the way home.”

She nodded with relief and made the child sleep. Livy sagged against her father, her head dropping to rest on his shoulder. Jeanne Louise stayed in her thoughts long enough to allow the girl’s endorphins to do their work, and then slipped out. The immediate absence of pain was like a vacuum after suffering it for so long, and Jeanne Louise swayed in her seat. Paul immediately stepped closer and grasped her upper arm to steady her with his free hand.

“Are you all right?” he asked with concern.

Jeanne Louise took a deep breath and nodded, wincing when it made the dull ache that remained in her head increase a bit. She now had a headache of her own, probably from her constant tension while fighting Livy’s pain, she supposed. The nanos would take care of it quickly enough, she told herself as she stood up. “I’m fine. Shall we?”

Paul walked her out, his hand on her arm the entire way. Jeanne Louise didn’t think it was because he feared her fleeing at this point, so supposed she must look as drained and pained as she felt. The fact that he was eyeing her with concern, as if expecting her to suddenly keel over at any moment, seemed to back that up.

Once at the car, Jeanne Louise opened the back door for him and slipped into Livy’s mind to keep her from waking up as he settled her in the backseat and did up her seat belt. She was glad to slip back out a moment later as he straightened and closed the door.

Jeanne Louise started to open her own door then, but Paul stopped her by placing his hands on her shoulders and beginning to massage the tense muscles there. It brought a groan from her and she let her eyes close and her head loll as the tension slowly eased from her muscles.

“Thank you,” she murmured after a moment, and then blinked her eyes open and peered at him with surprise when he released her neck to cup her face.

“No. Thank
you
,” he said firmly, meeting her gaze. “I know it causes you pain to help her. And I do appreciate it. She would too if she knew.” Paul closed his own eyes briefly, then let out a slow breath and opened them again to say, “Livy hasn’t been this happy in a while. Thank you for that.”

Jeanne Louise smiled weakly and raised her hands to cover and squeeze his, saying simply, “You’re welcome.”

He nodded, and then bent to press a kiss to her forehead before releasing her and opening the front passenger door for her. Jeanne Louise slid in and did up her seat belt as he walked around to the driver’s side.

They were both silent on the ride back to the house. Jeanne Louise had no idea what Paul was thinking, but her own mind was taken up with thoughts of him. She’d earned his gratitude. It was a start, but she wasn’t sure if it was a good start or not. She didn’t want his gratitude. They couldn’t be equal partners if he felt he owed her something. Jeanne Louise wanted him to want her, to want to be with her, to enjoy her company. Not to think of her as someone he owed a debt to. Unfortunately, the situation wasn’t lending itself to that.

She was frowning over that when they turned onto his street. Jeanne Louise glanced along the row of houses and then sucked in a breath as she spotted two dark SUVs parked in front of Paul’s house.

“Pull in here,” she barked at once and Paul glanced at her with surprise.

“What?”

“Do it,” Jeanne Louise hissed and wished for the first time that she could just slip into his thoughts and take control of him to make him do it. Fortunately, something of her urgency made him obey and he pulled into the driveway she’d indicated.

“What is it?” Paul asked, his gaze sliding to his neighbor’s house as he braked the car in their driveway.

Jeanne Louise peered out the window past him to the SUVs. They looked empty. She bit her lip and then leaned in front of Paul to let her gaze inspect his yard and house. She watched silently for a moment and then straightened abruptly when she saw movement inside through the front window.

“Go back the way we came,” she said firmly, settling back in her seat, her brain racing.

Paul hesitated, but then shifted into reverse and backed out of the driveway to head back up the road the way they’d come. When he reached the corner, he simply asked, “Which way?”

Jeanne Louise pulled herself from trying to figure out how they’d found her so quickly to consider the question. Finally, she sighed, “I don’t know. Just take a right for now.”

He turned right, and started up this new street, but glanced at her in question. “The SUVs?” Paul asked and when she hesitated over answering, he said, “I didn’t notice them at first, but there were two of them. Black with black windows. I’ve seen them at Argeneau Enterprises.”

“They’re what the Enforcers drive, the equivalent of our police force,” she explained quietly. “They must have figured out you have me and came looking for us.”

Paul hesitated, but then said, “I was very careful.”

Jeanne Louise considered that claim briefly and then queried, “You were in my car when I got in?”

He nodded.

“When did you get in?” she asked.

“About two minutes before you got in. I rode to Argeneau’s in the trunk of Lester’s car. A coworker,” Paul explained. “He didn’t know. I waited in the trunk all night, then slid out and got in your car just before you got to it.”

“They would have seen that on the parking garage cameras,” Jeanne Louise pointed out.

“Yeah, but all that would do is lead them to Lester, and he had no idea I was in his trunk. He couldn’t point them my way.”

“Maybe they recognized you,” she suggested.

“I was wearing all black and a balaclava. There was nothing to recognize,” he assured her, and she recalled the dark shape rising in the rearview mirror. A mere silhouette of a person.

Jeanne Louise was silent for a minute and then asked, “What did you do with my car?”

“I’d parked my car at the back of a grocery store parking lot near Lester’s apartment building. I drove your car back there, moved you to my car and left your car there, then brought you home.”

“Did you check to see if there were security cameras in the parking lot?”

He hesitated. “I didn’t see any. But even if there was one that I didn’t see, I doubt they’ve found your car yet. It’s a big busy grocery store and it hasn’t even been twenty-four hours yet.”

Jeanne Louise blew her breath out on a sigh. “If security saw you get in my car and me drive away with you, someone would have been sent to check on me. When I didn’t show up at my place they would have started looking for me. There’s a tracker in my car. Uncle Lucian made all of us put trackers in our cars.”

“So they would have found your car pretty quick,” Paul said with a grimace, and then shook his head. “Still, I did look to be sure there weren’t any cameras in the parking lot. And I was wearing gloves when I drove your car, so no fingerprints. How could they have traced it back to me?”

She shook her head, and then asked, “Was I in the front seat or back of your vehicle? I mean, was I visible?”

“Front seat,” he answered. “I strapped you into the front passenger seat. After spending the night in the trunk of a car I didn’t want to put you there, and in the front seat it just looked like you were asleep. I figured a woman sleeping in the front seat would be less noteworthy than a woman passed out in the backseat.”