Part 4 (1/2)

A sudden snort of laughter slid from Lucian and he stopped staring at her to turn to Sam. ”I like her. She's feisty like my Leigh. Tell her she may go to bed.”

Sam's eyes widened and she glanced uncertainly from Lucian to Mortimer. When Mortimer nodded encouragingly, she cleared her throat and glanced to Jo. ”Umm... Jo?”

”Yeah, yeah, go to bed,” Jo muttered, and spun away to head up the hall. She slowed, however, once she was out of sight of the railing and paused to listen. Much as she was relieved to get away from the penetrating stare of the man below, she wanted to hear what he would say next.

”Is she really Nicholas's life mate?” Jo heard Sam ask quietly, and frowned at the worry in her voice.

”Yes,” Lucian said. ”Which works in our favor.”

”How?” Mortimer asked quietly.

”He won't be able to stay away from her.”

Jo's eyes widened at that proclamation. She felt a moment's excitement at the prospect of possibly seeing Nicholas again, but it was quickly washed away and replaced with alarm when Lucian added, ”Put two men on her when she leaves here tomorrow, Mortimer. He' ll show up eventually.”

”You want to use my sister as bait?” Sam asked in a voice that was suddenly steel with anger.

Jo was actually glad to hear it. Sam had seemed a bit alarmed and uncertain during the last few minutes, which was unusual for her. She was normally the ”most efficient and iron- willed lawyer chick.” The uncertain and anxious Sam had been rather worrying to Jo, and she would have given her sister a high five if she could have when Sam said, ”I won't have it.” ”You'd rather we wipe her memory and refuse to allow you to see her?” Lucian asked, annoying Jo all over again. Who the h.e.l.l did this guy think he was? No one was going to keep her from seeing her sister.

Jo heard Sam curse and then Lucian said, ”Let's move this conversation into the library. Jo's heard more than enough of it already.”

Her eyebrows flew up at those words, and she couldn' t resist easing up to the rail to peer down into the hall. Three pairs of eyes stared back.

”Go to bed,” Lucian said firmly. ”You are very tired.”

And suddenly Jo was tired, and bed seemed the most desirable place in the world. Turning dutifully away, she moved up the hall to the door to her guest bedroom and went inside. She was undressed and in bed before it occurred to her to wonder how she could have gone from wired and tense one moment to relaxed and exhausted the next. Jo fell asleep before she could worry about it too much.

Chapter Five.

The sun was s.h.i.+ning bright and cheerful when Jo woke up. It made her groan and cover her eyes with the hope of easing the ache in her head. d.a.m.n, she had the mother of all hangovers.

Too bad she hadn' t had the good time to earn it. She hadn't had that much to drink last night, which meant the headache was probably thanks to the head banging she'd taken... or possibly the result of getting her memory back, she supposed, recalling the agony that had shot through her skull as the memories had come rus.h.i.+ng into her mind.

Sighing, Jo removed her hand and forced her eyes open, grimacing and breathing deeply until the first stab of pain eased.

She'd say one thing for her sister, Jo thought as she s.h.i.+fted to a sitting position and then got out of bed. Sam certainly threw memorable parties. Not necessarily memorable in a good way though. Jo suspected this headache was going to stay with her for the rest of the day. Here was hoping her memories stayed with her as well.

Jo grimaced at the thought and then moved to the bathroom. She needed to shower, dress, and get out of this house. She didn' t trust that Lucian guy not to try to ”wipe” her memories. The idea of anyone messing with her head was rather alarming. She counted on her brain as everyone did, and the idea of pieces of it somehow being ”veiled,” as Nicholas had put it, was just scary to consider.

Jo turned on the water and took a quick shower, grimacing with pain the whole while. She'd hoped a shower would ease her headache, but instead the sound of the rus.h.i.+ng water seemed to make it worse. She was glad to finish and step out, but less glad when she had to dry herself with a bath towel rather than the much larger beach towel she liked to use at home.

The thought of home made her sigh. Jo wished she was in her little apartment right now.

She'd close the blinds, put a cold cloth on her head, and sleep until her head felt better. Eager to be able to do that, Jo left the bathroom as quickly as she'd entered. She dressed in record time, stuffed the overlarge T-s.h.i.+rt she'd slept in and the clothes she'd worn the night before into her backpack, and then slung it over her shoulder and immediately headed out of the room.

The hall was empty, and she hurried to the stairs. Jo jogged down them, pausing as the sound of voices reached her from the kitchen. She hesitated, eyes moving longingly to the door, but knew there was nothing for it. Alex had driven her here and she needed Alex to take her home.

Muttering under her breath, she set the backpack on the floor by the front door and then headed up the hall. The closer she got to the kitchen, the clearer the voices became.

”I still don't understand why we can't just explain everything to them,” Sam was saying.

”Others know about you. Cripes, Bricker says there's a whole town two hours south of here that knows about you guys.”

”Knows what about you guys?” Jo asked as she stepped into the room.

Dead silence was her response as Sam and Mortimer turned to peer at her from where they sat at the kitchen table. Sam looked alarmed, she noticed, but Mortimer just looked irritated.

”Here you are.”

Jo turned to find Bricker entering the kitchen behind her. His gaze sought out Mortimer as he said, ”Sorry, I only stepped away to go to the bathroom and she was gone when I got back to her room.”

”I have a guard now?” Jo asked with disbelief. She scowled at Bricker and asked, ”And how did you know I'd left my room? Did you go in there?”

”No. I just cracked the door when I couldn't hear you snoring anymore.”

”I don't snore,” Jo snapped.

Bricker grinned and shrugged. ”Okay, I cracked the door when I couldn' t hear your very loud snorting, snuffling breathing as you slept.”

”Ha ha,” Jo muttered.

”Do you want a coffee?” Sam asked, getting up to retrieve a cup for her from the cupboard.

”Yes, please, but I' ll get it,” Jo muttered, moving to meet her at the coffeepot. She murmured a ”Thanks” as she took the cup from Sam. ”Where's Alex? Not up yet?” ”Oh yes. She was up and out of here early,” Sam said, returning to the table.

”What?” Jo whirled to gape at her with horror. ”She was supposed to drive me home.”

”I know, but I told her I would,” Sam said soothingly.

Jo frowned and leaned against the counter, her eyes moving warily from Bricker to Mortimer as she lifted the cup to take a sip. She stiffened when Bricker suddenly moved toward her, but he merely opened the cupboard door beside her and retrieved a small bottle that rattled as he plucked it from the shelf.

”What's that?” Jo asked when he offered it to her.

”Pills Sam had me pick up for her the last time she had a headache,” Bricker said, opening his palm for her to read the label.

Jo accepted the pills slowly, her narrowed eyes searching his face. ”How did you know-?”

”You have that same squinty-eyed look Sam gets when she has a headache,” he said with amus.e.m.e.nt.

”G.o.d, you're a charmer this morning, aren't you?” Jo said dryly, making an effort to remove the ”squinty-eyed look” from her face. ”I don't remember you being this insulting when we first met.”

Bricker grinned. ”Yeah, but you're practically family now. At least you're Sam's family, and she's like family now.”

”Great,” Jo muttered, setting down her coffee to open the pills. When she struggled with the ch.o.r.e, Bricker plucked the bottle away and opened it for her, forcing her to mutter another ”Thanks” as he shook out a couple of pills and handed them over. She picked up her coffee and swigged down some with the pills as Bricker resealed the bottle and put it away. She then glanced to the table to see Sam and Mortimer still watching her. Sam was biting her lip as if there was something she wanted to say, but Mortimer was looking a bit wary.

”Do you want some breakfast?” Sam asked finally.