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She hoped it wouldn’t take too long to terminate Heskel so that she didn’t have to impose on Dane and his brothers’ generosity for too long. She knew they had their own jobs to do.
When she came out of the bedroom, she smiled to see Dane brushing a very satisfied Princess’s long soft, silky fur, stretched out on his lap on the couch, her big fluffy tail waving a little. Princess perked up when she saw Jacqueline getting ready to leave, pulling a suitcase. But making sure she wasn’t going to be left behind again wasn’t enough of an incentive to leave Dane’s lap and the heavenly brushing she was getting.
“Traitor,” she said to her cat, amused and glad she seemed to like Dane.
“I’ll bring Princess, her comb and brush. Is there anything else she needs? My brothers hauled out everything else.”
“Nope. I’m ready to go.” Then she pulled her bag out the door with Dane following behind her with her cat.
Ryan quickly took her bag from her and put it in her car and then she got in to drive to Dane’s place while he held Princess on his lap in the passenger’s seat. She drove behind Matt’s car since he knew where to go, though Dane could have given her the directions.
“She really likes you,” she said to Dane.
“Yeah, I have a way with animals.”
“You don’t have any pets right now, do you?” She wasn’t sure how that would go over with Princess. She hadn’t been around dogs or other cats before.
“No. My ex-fiancée was allergic to everything. I’m not totally convinced that she was or if she just didn’t like animals.”
“Okay, so she wasn’t the right one for you.” She motioned to the way Princess was sitting on his lap, looking out the window. “She adores you and you seem to like her just as much. I can tell you’re an animal person.”
“I am and I agree she wasn’t the one for me.”
Then Jacqueline pulled into the driveway of his two-story, red-brick, Greek Revival home and parked next to Matt’s car. Nice. Really nice. She loved the four pillars that reached up two stories high, white trimmed windows with white blinds filling them. Just beautiful.
Dane’s brothers started hauling stuff out of his car to carry the items into the house. She got out of her car and started to roll her bag to his house while Dane carried Princess inside, but Trey returned to grab her bag. Ryan had opened the garage door.
“Matt said you need to park your car in the garage so that no one sees it here,” Trey said to her.
“You mean Heskel or someone who works for him,” she said.
“Exactly.”
“Okay.” She got back into her car and drove it inside the garage next to Dane’s. It was actually a three-car garage which meant they had plenty of room.
“We’re going to each take turns returning to our homes and grabbing a bag so we’ll have what we’ll need to stay here also,” Ryan said.
“Thanks to all of you for doing this for me,” she said, genuinely thankful to Dane and his brothers. They had even set everything up for Princess.
“No hunter should have to live under a vampire’s control,” Ryan said.
“I agree.” It’s just too bad all hunters didn’t see it that way. And the thing of it was, they would get a bounty if they took Heskel down, so even if they didn’t want to do it altruistically, why not just do it as another mission that they got paid for? Maybe they were afraid he would turn them too.
Trey closed the garage door, and they went inside the house. Matt was leaving first to get his bag packed. Princess was walking around the place, swishing her tail, like she owned Dane’s home.
A seamless flow between the dining room, kitchen, and living room existed, covered in wood flooring and Turkish blue and ivory area rugs. The kitchen counters were white marble, and the cabinets were all white, very cheerful. Prints of longhorn steer and fields of bluebonnets hung on the walls. She was impressed. She hadn’t known what to expect, but she hadn’t thought he would have that much style. Her brother didn’t and Van hadn’t, so she just figured all bachelor hunters were like that.
The dark oak dining set was large enough for eight people and she figured that was because Dane and his brothers would take up half the seating without even inviting anyone else over. The living room had three blue-velvet, sectional sofas and four, high, wingback chairs—all elegant, yet comfortable.
Through the floor to ceiling windows, she could see the indoor swimming pool with its aqua water and a rock waterfall at one end with fern plants growing between the rocks. The tile pool patio was a pretty gray slate. Just beautiful.
Then she sighed. “I’m so tired. Can someone just show me to the bedroom?” Jacqueline asked.
“Yeah, come this way. Your bag is in there. You’re truly all right with me staying in bed with you?” Dane asked.
“Yes. As long as you don’t snore.”
He chuckled. “I don’t. Does Princess?”
