Born to Bite (21 page)

“What?” Armand asked with surprise.

“I mean there is, but he’s not after me,” Eshe said quietly. “That was just—”

“I sent Eshe here to investigate the deaths of your wives,” Lucian interrupted.

“What?” he asked sharply, his gaze shifting between the two of them. “Why?”

“Because Nicholas’s life depends on it,” Eshe answered at once.

“Eshe!” Lucian snarled, glaring at her across the bed.

“He has a right to know. It’s his son,” she snapped, glaring right back, and then added, “Besides, he won’t do anything foolish like try to break him out. He wants to find out what happened to his wives as much, if not more, than anyone.”

“What have the deaths of my wives got to do with Nicholas?” Armand asked, glancing from one to the other. “And what do you mean Nicholas’s life depends on it? And break him out of where? Has Nicholas been found?”

“Yes,” Eshe murmured. “And there’s some doubt that he killed that mortal fifty years ago.”

“I know he didn’t do it,” Armand said grimly, and it was true, he’d been positive then and still was that Nicholas had not killed the mortal he’d been accused of killing fifty years ago. Armand had even driven up to Toronto at the time and tried to figure out what really had happened, but everything had seemed to point toward Nicholas. Still, he hadn’t been able to believe it. But he also hadn’t been able to prove otherwise. The story of his life, he thought bitterly.

“I’m sure he didn’t,” Eshe said quietly, and he relaxed a little as he heard the sincerity in her voice. When he nodded, she continued, “It seems Annie was asking a lot of questions about the deaths of your wives before she died, and in fact called Nicholas the night before her death saying she had something to tell him, but died before she could do so. Nicholas was understandably distraught at first, but some weeks after Annie’s death, he recalled that phone call and tried to find out what she’d wanted to tell him. In his memory of the night of the murder of the mortal he was accused of killing, Nicholas started out heading to the hospital where Annie used to work, intending to speak to a friend and coworker of hers and ask her if she knew what Annie may have wanted to tell him. However, his memory skips from crossing the hospital parking lot to opening his eyes in his basement with a dead mortal in his lap. He’s been on the run ever since.”

Armand closed his eyes briefly, guilt slithering through him. His son had lost his life mate to whoever it was who had killed his own wives. He just knew it. It was all his fault somehow. The frustrating thing was Armand just didn’t know how. He didn’t know why anyone would kill any of the women who had died. That had been the problem from the beginning.

“Nicholas is locked up at the enforcer house,” Eshe murmured quietly. “He’s waiting to find out his future. If we find the culprit behind the deaths, he will be found innocent and go free. He’ll get his life back.”

“And if we don’t?” Armand asked sharply.

Eshe shook her head and actually smiled. “That won’t happen. We’ve obviously got someone scared, otherwise why lock us in the shed and set it on fire? We’ll catch them, Armand,” she vowed. “And Nicholas will go free.”

Armand almost asked how she knew they’d been locked in the shed when she’d been unconscious, but then realized Lucian had probably told her. His irritating big brother had just been finishing grilling him about what exactly had happened at the shed when Eshe had started screaming from the next room. Armand had tried to leap up to go to her at once, and Lucian had pushed him back down on the bed and ordered Anders to give him a shot. Then the lights had gone out.

Now he was awake and learning that Eshe wasn’t being chased by a psycho Leonius the Second, but was here to investigate the deaths of his wives and try to save his son. Obviously he needed to figure out what the hell had been going on all these years. He’d tried looking into the deaths before, but had come up with nothing, but now it was imperative he find out what the hell had happened and who would have it in for him. Otherwise his son would probably be executed and everyone Armand cared about would be at risk…including Eshe.

His gaze slid to her. His life mate. After Rosamund’s death he’d had suspicions, but that was all. He hadn’t been able to find any proof that any of his wives had been murdered. On the surface the deaths had all appeared to be accidents, and that was it. Still, he’d suspected, and that suspicion had been strong enough that in an effort to keep the rest of the women in his family safe, Armand had shut himself off from them, thinking that if he was wrong and the deaths had all been accidents, then the only person hurt by the action would be himself. However, if he was right and didn’t do his best to keep them safe, he never would have been able to forgive himself.

The same still held. If someone was killing the women he cared about, then Eshe as his life mate was definitely at risk, and the best thing he could do for her was send her somewhere safe while he sorted out this mess.

Nodding to himself, he shifted his gaze to Lucian and said grimly, “As my life mate, Eshe is most at risk. You need to get her away from here.”

“Being away from you didn’t save Althea,” Eshe pointed out, not appearing either upset or angry at his words. In fact, she was suspiciously calm as she added, “In fact, it’s you that is the largest concern.”

“Me?” he asked with surprise.

“Yes. I’m an enforcer. I’m trained for this,” she pointed out gently, as if talking to a child. “You, however, are a civilian. And while I was probably the target with the fire in the shed, you nearly died there with me. It’s probably best if you went to stay somewhere safe.” She turned to glance at Lucian. “Perhaps you should have Anders take him back to the enforcer house and lock him up with Nicholas. No one could get to him there and they could visit and get caught up on—”

“I’m not going anywhere,” Armand said with amazement, and then glared at Lucian as if the man had actually agreed as he added, “You aren’t locking me up. This is my life. They were my wives, and I’m staying right here to figure out what the hell’s going on.”

“I don’t know, Armand,” Eshe said quietly. “I’d never forgive myself if anything happened to you because of me.”

“Well, I’m not going,” he informed her firmly, crossing his arms stubbornly over his chest.

Eshe sighed, but after a moment gave a small nod. “Very well. Then why don’t you get dressed and come downstairs. We can talk down there and Bricker can make breakfast and coffee for all of us.”

“I can?” Bricker asked dryly.

“I’ll help,” Leigh offered.

“I agree we should move downstairs then,” Lucian said arrogantly.

Thinking he’d definitely feel at less of a disadvantage if he weren’t sitting there naked, Armand nodded grimly.

“Good,” Eshe murmured, and leaned forward to kiss him on the cheek. “Then I’ll see you when you get downstairs.

She stood then and Armand found himself smiling faintly as she led Leigh and Bricker out of the room. The woman was walking sex, every move seductive to him. He—

His thoughts came to an abrupt halt as it suddenly occurred to him that he’d started out trying to make Lucian send Eshe somewhere safe and somehow ended up dropping that to argue defensively that he himself shouldn’t be sent away. He wasn’t sure, but had the distinct impression he’d been played there somehow.

“Yes, you were,” Lucian said, and while his face was expressionless, there was no missing the amusement in his voice.

“She played you like a pro,” Anders agreed dryly, making it clear Lucian wasn’t the only one reading him. The man shook his head and said, “It was beautiful to watch. I almost thought you were going to thank her for letting you stay before she left the room.”

“So she somehow turned the tables and did it on purpose?” he asked with a touch of outrage.

“Of course,” Anders laughed.

“Hmm,” Lucian muttered. “It was disturbingly like watching Leigh and me disagree.”

“Let me guess,” Anders said with amusement. “You start out upset about something, confront her on it, and somehow by the end of the argument you’re the one apologizing.”

Lucian nodded with a grunt of disgust.

“Women are sneaky,” Anders said dryly.

“No, they aren’t,” Armand disagreed with a sigh as he tossed the blankets aside and got up. He had learned something in his three marriages, short as they were. Moving toward the walk-in closet to find clothes, he explained what he’d learned, “An angry male can be intimidating, especially when he’s stronger, as men generally are even when it comes to immortals. I think women have had to develop the intelligence to deal with our anger. So, while we stomp around roaring like wounded lions, they use their heads as a sort of defense.”

“Hmm,” Anders muttered, appearing at the door of the walk-in closet as Armand dragged on a pair of jeans. “So you’re suggesting they’ve evolved to be smarter than us?”

Armand smiled faintly at the arrogant disbelief in the enforcer’s voice and said, “Only in communication skills. They can dance circles around us on that front. Or at least most of them can,” he corrected himself dryly. He had met women who were failures in that area and men who had better communication skills than most. “But we’ve got the edge in other areas.”

When Anders merely grunted doubtfully at the claim, Armand simply smiled and shook his head as he retrieved a shirt and pulled it on. The man would learn.

“So?” Lucian asked as Armand stepped back into the room from the closet. “Are you going to try to insist Eshe leave?”

Armand paused to peer at him with consideration. “Would you send her away?”

Lucian shrugged. “It’s your home. I would make her leave if you wished it…and set her up in the motel beside the diner.”

“Right, so she’d still be here under threat, but without anyone to watch her back,” he said dryly and then sighed. “She can stay. We’ll work this out together. But I’m not letting her out of my sight.”

“We’ll see,” Lucian murmured and headed for the door.

Armand scowled at his back and followed.

“That was a nice bit of fast talking upstairs,” Bricker congratulated as he followed Eshe and Leigh down the stairs. “You turned the tables on Armand beautifully.”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Eshe said innocently, and caught Leigh’s grin out of the corner of her eye as they stepped off the last step to start up the hall. In an effort to change the subject, she added, “Sorry about volunteering you for cooking duty. I’ll help too, of course.”

Bricker snorted at the offer. “You can’t even open a strudel box. You aren’t going to be much help.”

“Which is why I volunteered you,” she pointed out, unoffended. “I’m sure I’ll catch on to this cooking business quick enough now that I’m eating again. I just haven’t bothered with food for a long time.”

“I still don’t get that,” Leigh said as they walked into the kitchen. “I can’t imagine not wanting to eat. I mean life just isn’t worth living without chocolate and cheesecake.”

“Cheesecake?” Eshe asked dubiously. It didn’t sound very appealing. Cheese was lovely, but dropping blue cheese or even old cheddar in a bowl with flour and whatnot and then cooking and icing it just sounded bizarre to her.

“You haven’t had cheesecake yet?” Leigh asked with amazement.

Eshe shook her head, and Leigh gave her a pitying look that seemed to suggest she was missing something.

“If we stay, I’ll pick some up today. You have to try it. It’s manna,” the woman assured her.

“It’s a girl thing,” Bricker said wryly when Eshe glanced his way in question. “I’ve never met a woman who didn’t like cheesecake.”

“And you don’t like it?” Leigh asked him with disbelief.

“It’s all right,” Bricker said with a shrug.

“Lucian likes it. He can’t get enough,” Leigh announced. “But most men seem to be more into greasy foods like bacon or burgers than the sweet yummies.”

“Bacon is good,” Eshe said, sighing at the thought of food. It felt like days since she’d eaten real food, and her stomach felt empty.

“It has been days,” Bricker pointed out, reading her thoughts. “You haven’t had anything to eat since Sunday and it’s Tuesday now.”

Eshe frowned at this announcement. It had been Tuesday night when she’d arrived to start this job. It had been a week, and the only thing she’d done was question Harcourt. At this rate, Nicholas was going to fry.

“Don’t be so hard on yourself,” Bricker said quietly as he opened the refrigerator and began removing eggs, bacon, and butter. “You questioned Armand too, and we have tried to question Susanna’s brother and sister. They just haven’t been around for questioning.”

Eshe grunted and scowled at him for reading her mind, but he didn’t notice. His back was to her as he retrieved a frying pan from a cupboard beside the stove.

“Shall I make coffee?” Leigh asked, glancing around the kitchen. “And then I could start on toast.”

“That would be good. Thanks,” Bricker said.

“What do you want me to do?” Eshe asked as Leigh moved to grab up the empty coffee carafe and carried it to the sink to fill it.

Bricker frowned and glanced around and then said, “You can set the table.”

Eshe raised an eyebrow. “Where do you want me to set it?”

“Ha ha,” he said dryly, and then his expression turned uncertain. “You are kidding, right? You know about setting the table; putting plates and silverware on for everyone and butter and salt and pepper and maybe some jams?”

“Of course I do,” she said dryly, moving to the cupboard to begin searching for the items he’d mentioned. Although the truth was, while she’d heard the term
setting the table
, she hadn’t been sure what that involved. Now she did and found the plates to begin counting out five of them. Anders, she knew, didn’t eat, so she didn’t bother with a setting for him.

The coffee was just finishing when the other three men arrived. Anders immediately settled at the table, but Lucian and Armand headed for the coffeepot to get themselves coffees.

“The cream and sugar are on the table,” Eshe told them as she searched the fridge for a selection of Mrs. Ramsey’s preserves.