Trent (2 page)

Noah didn’t know why he’d never been into
nests of his kind. But as soon as he was able, he’d left his home, the one his
father was the lord of, and set out to find his own way. Never once had it
occurred to him to gather his own bunch of vampires to live and be with him,
preferring to be in his own home with servants that he trusted. That had been
nearly five centuries ago, and in all that time he’d lived alone but for the
five people in his household. Each of them humans at one time, and as loyal to
him as he was them.

“I shall have someone come and bring her
something clean to wear. Perhaps we can borrow a few things from the cook in
the meantime.” Noah nodded as he lay her on the large bed, looking bigger for
the fact that she was so tiny.

“She is very tall, is she not?” Yes, Noah
thought, she was very tall, but still very small in that she was thin. Much too
thin. “I will have the cook make her something to eat. It will be strange, my
lord, having her here.”

“It will be.” Pulling the blanket up and over
her body, it occurred to Noah that he’d never said she was going to live there,
but now that it was said, he realized that had been his intention all along. To
help her as she had him. “Michael, what do you suppose we should do with her?
She is…she is very protective of anyone, even me.”

“I should think she’d make a wonderful day
walker for you, my lord. You know that the household would do anything for you,
but it would lessen our burden a little should we have her to do that job for
us.” Noah only looked at his friend with a cocked brow. “I am not saying that
we do not love doing it, but she needs to have a job and this would be a good
one for her. I have not met her, but I would be willing to bet that she will
need a purpose or she will not stay.”

It was funny that Michael would know that
about her. She would, too, need a job to keep her busy, or she’d think she was
taking advantage of him. Or him her. And he might need her again, just to
replenish himself. But he’d never spoil her. That was not his to take, and he
would never do that to her. Tempting as she was, he was a man of honor.

Chapter 1

Present
Day

Trent entered his office and turned to leave
again. Seeing his dad there was enough to send him running in the other
direction. Today especially. It was hot and humid, and all Trent wanted to do
was go home, curl up on his new couch, and enjoy his air-conditioning. His new
everything, including his house, was calling to him.

“Oh, don’t be like that. I brought you a
peace offering. And how many times must I tell you that I’m sorry before you
forgive me?” Trent pretended to think on that. “Damn it, boy, I didn’t know she
was gonna do that. I only wanted you to have a nice date.”

“You set me up with a hooker, Dad. How the
hell did you expect the night to end? With me getting married to her?” His dad
mumbled something about how his mom was still mad too, but Trent ignored it. “You
should be ashamed of yourself. What the hell were you thinking?”

“I wasn’t thinking she was a hooker, that’s
for sure. I just wanted to make you less tense.” If his dad thought that was
helping; he was sadly mistaken. “I got you something. I know you’re gonna
forgive me when you see it.”

Trent was still standing in the doorway and
lifted his nose to the air to see if he could— “Biscuits? You got me…where did
you get them?”

He was moving into the room when his dad pulled
the towel off the still steaming treat. It was his biggest downfall, biscuits. He
could eat them with every meal…hell, even eat them for his entire meal, but he
also knew that they were bad for him. Especially the way that he ate them.

Drowning in butter and marmalade, with just a
hint of honey over them, was the only way, as far as he was concerned, that
biscuits should ever pass over one’s lips. He sat down at his desk when he saw
the dozen round treats with a jar of marmalade and a squeeze bottle of pure
honey. He looked at his dad when he laughed. He wasn’t ready to forgive him
just yet, but it was getting close. Trent asked him again where he’d gotten
them.

“We have a visitor while Meggie is laid up
with her sore back. Her niece or something is filling in for her. I came into
the kitchen yesterday to these babies, and I thought of you. Had her make me up
a batch just for you.” Trent no more believed that than he did his dad was
sorry about two nights ago. “I really did think of you.”

“How many did you have her bake up so that
these were left over, Dad? And why is Mom letting you eat like this?” His dad
snorted but didn’t answer. Trent picked up the first biscuit and held it to his
nose. “Holy shit, Dad. These even smell sinful.”

“They are. And your mother, she can eat a
dozen of them, so you know. And this girl’s scones. Never had them before, but
I’m betting that there isn’t a shop around that can do them up better. Go ahead
and eat it. See if I’m not right.” Trent took a healthy bite of the one in his
hand. His taste buds exploded in his mouth, and he moaned. “Didn’t I tell you?
I swear to you, those could be considered lethal if you ate enough of them. Damned
if I can’t eat me one more.”

Trent pulled the plate back when his dad
reached for them. “Mine. Get your own. These are my peace offering, remember?”

His dad sat down while Trent ate two more
before he opened the jar of marmalade and honey. He almost hated to taint the
taste of the perfection that the biscuits were, but knew that he had to try one
with his favorite things on them. He heard his brother Elijah talking to his
secretary in the hall and actually considered hiding his treat. But he knew
that if he did, in about ten minutes he’d be full and sick to his belly, and
the thought of not having these again made him leave them on his desk. But he
did slip two into his top drawer with the towel.

“There are ninety-seven thousand ways I can
kill that man right now, and one of them is simply shifting to my wolf and tearing
his throat out. What a…what are you eating?” Elijah looked at the plate in
front of him with only two biscuits left on it then at his dad. “You bribed
him? You actually went out and paid someone to bake him biscuits to get him to
talk to you again. And you think this will work? He’s really pissed off at
you.”

“Eat this and shut up.” Trent shoved the
plate at his brother and nearly snatched it back when he took both of the biscuits
left on the plate. He was never going to do that again, that was for sure.

When he sat down and ate the first one in a
single bite, Elijah looked at his dad. “Okay, this will work. Holy hell, Dad,
where did you get these?” Elijah enjoyed a good biscuit too, but not like Trent
did. He’d write a bad review for a breakfast place if their biscuits were not
up to his standards. And he had high ones too. As he ate the second one, Trent
pulled one of his stash from his drawer and ate it while their dad explained.

“Meggie hurt her back a few days ago, and her
relative was in town or something so she said she could help her out. And damn,
this girl can cook. Your mom said that if she could do it without hurting Meggie’s
feelings, we’d just keep this girl. Of course, we’d be as big as a house then,
but it’d be well worth it.” Trent thought so, too, but was too busy trying to
stuff the last of his stash in his mouth before Elijah took it. “I can bring
you in some more tomorrow if you like. The girl loves to help this old man
out.”

“You told her what you did?” His dad blushed
bright red. “You mean you didn’t tell your now favorite cook that you hired a
hooker to entertain me for the night and then were surprised when you had to
explain to Mom why I was so pissed off? And nearly had to bail me out of jail
when she started screaming that I’d tried to stiff her? Christ, Dad, she was
naked in my bed before I even got my jacket on to go out to dinner with her.
Not to mention, I think she stole my cuff links. And I’m not even going to try
and guess where she might have hidden them to get them out of my apartment. All
I can say to you is you’re lucky that I don’t live there anymore. I’m pretty
sure that she’s cased the place, and I would have been robbed blind by now.”

“I’m telling you, I didn’t know nothing about
her other job.” Trent snorted. “Well, I didn’t. I knew that she was working for
some guy and that she went on dates and stuff, but I didn’t know that’s what
she did. You have to believe me, and tell your mom that you do.”

“Mom is mad at you?” His dad nodded and
looked pretty sad about it. “Good. My God, Dad, do you have any idea what she
wanted me to...? What she suggest...? Never mind. I think you should be in
trouble with Mom a little bit longer. This might teach you to stop meddling in
the lives of your sons.”

“I doubt that.” Trent had to agree with his
brother. Their dad was forever trying to set them up with women. As if any of
them had any trouble in that department. Trent didn’t date much, but when he
wanted to go out, there were countless women that would go with him. And if he
wanted to get laid, as his father had arranged unknowingly for him, he didn’t
have to worry about what sort of things she was bringing with her. Such as
handcuffs and cock locks, whatever the fuck those were.

“You do know that I’m not getting any
younger.” Elijah told him if he tried that trick on him, he’d not get any older
either. “I won’t. You got my promise on that one. I’ll be careful. I learned my
lesson. I don’t get my sons dates with women of the street. Yeah, but you have
to admit, she sure was a pretty little thing.”

“There was very little about her that was
little.”

Trent looked at the door when someone cleared
their throat and saw his mom there. Feeling his face heat up, he told her he
was sorry and invited her into to have a seat.

“I’m guessing that you’ve forgiven your
father now?” Trent told him he wasn’t sure. “I should hope that you’d make him
dangle on that particular hook for a while yet. The nerve of him thinking you
needed that sort of help when it came to women. I’ve not been speaking to him
since I heard about this. TJ, I swear to you that if you do this again, I will
not just leave you, I will make you regret it for a very long time.”

“I already said that I wouldn’t. And I did
try to make it up to him.” They all turned to see the now empty plate on his
desk. “He surely did like those biscuits, just like I said he would. And if he
dated more, I’d not have to go to extreme measures to get him a mate.”

“I don’t need help at all with women. I know
how to treat them.” His mom glared at him, but all Trent did was wink at her. “Tell
me about this woman who can bake for you like she did my biscuits. Is she
looking for work?”

“No. I don’t think so. Meggie told me that
she was here helping her out and that she’d taken time from her job to do so.
You should talk to her, Trent. Very nice and polite. And I’m fairly certain she
doesn’t make her living taking on the male clientele she finds on the street.” Trent
burst out laughing, but stopped quickly when his mother looked at him. “Be that
as it may, she is a very nice girl. Pretty too. But I do think she’s been in
the area more than we thought. She knows the town as well as we do. I’ve no
details, but Meggie said that she was her only true friend and that she loved
her like her own daughter. I do think that Meggie has three of her own, so that’s
not saying much. Meggie doesn’t care at all for her children on most days.”

“They’re close then.” His mom said that they
seemed to be. That when Meggie had called, she’d dropped everything to come
help her. “What’s her name? I can see what our realtor has on the list if she doesn’t
have a home here. We mostly only deal with business zoned property, but we
might be able to find something for her. What’s her name?”

“Joe Samuels. I’m not sure of too much more
about her. There is a vampire in her life, but I have no idea if he’s just
another friend or not. She’s certainly not sleeping with him.” To Trent that
meant the girl was a virgin. He wondered how much she resembled her male name, or
if she was still a virgin because she took after her aunt. Meggie was a
wonderful person, but she looked like she could beat a bear with a switch and
come out on top.

“I know. Come out for dinner tomorrow night.”
His mom nodded at Dad’s suggestion. “All of you. I’ll make some calls and we’ll
have a big family gathering. It’ll be good for us too, what with Tanner home for
good now and Sterling finally getting out of his funk.”

“Trent James Calhoun, what a thing to say.” His
dad looked like he was going to ask what he’d said, but one look at Mom had him
dropping his head. “In the event you don’t remember, Sterling has been down in
the
dumps
for a while because he was in an accident. And it’s not dumps,
you idiot, but pain. I cannot believe you at times.”

As they left them, his mom still fussing at
his dad as they walked out of the door, Trent decided to get to work. Elijah
sat in the chair across from him and seemed content not to speak. As the
computer finished up the reboot that had started as he was leaving last night,
he thought of his family.

There were six of them, the sons of his
parents. Trent was the oldest, of course. Then there was Sterling, Scott,
Randal, Elijah, and Tanner bringing up the rear. He loved them all dearly and
would do anything for them, as he was sure they would for him. As a wolf
family, purebloods that had been wolves for generations, they were all very
close. Trent looked at his brother when he cleared his throat.

“I need to tell you something about Max Ford.
The guy we’re trying to deal with on the loan.” Trent noticed that he had seven
emails from the man and told Elijah that. “Yeah, he’s a little upset with us.
You mostly. I hope you don’t mind, but I had to use you as a heavy yesterday. We
can’t do business with a man like him. Not only that, but—”

“You know that’s all right. What happened?”

Elijah got up to pace. Not a good sign. His
brother and he had been in business for the last ten years…since the year that Elijah
had turned twenty-one and come into his inheritance from their grandmother.

“He’s been robbing from the company. We knew that
he was having problems, and he told us it was the economy, but what we didn’t
know was that he’s stealing the money and sending it overseas so that no one
can get to it. I think he’s playing us to fund his trip over there to live in
the lap of luxury and stiff us with the bill. Also, I’ve only just found out he’s
not been paying into the retirement funds of any of the people that work for
him. His partner has no idea, I don’t think, but that’s not all of it. He’s
stealing from his own accounts as well, from what I can see, and funneling that
to his accounts. I mean, it’s bad enough that he’s skipped out on taxes on both
his person and businesses, but to hurt the very people that have worked for you
for years is pretty shitty.” Trent asked him where his heavy hand came in. “I
told him that we decided not to lend him any money at this time. I never gave
him a reason. You and I discussed that before, and I remembered you telling me
that we didn’t have to have a reason, that we’re just not going to do it. I’m
thinking it’ll be like forever before we lend him money, but we’ll cross that
bridge later. Oh, and I think he might come in today. I had everyone tell him
we had no appointments, but I don’t think that’s going to stop him from coming
and begging.”

Trent didn’t say anything. He’d missed that
when he’d been going over the paperwork for Ford’s firm. And that was a huge
deal. They would have lost a great deal of money on that deal had they gone
through with it. Not that they couldn’t take the hit. They had insurance for
that, but he’d missed it. Trent thought he’d been doing that a lot lately.