The woman made a loud “Ugh!” noise and Sam heard her bare feet on the carpet, then was unceremoniously shoved out, suitcase and all. The door closed behind him.
“I’m getting dressed!” she said through it. “Stay out!”
“I’m out!” Sam said.
Mauro skidded to a stop, panting. Behind him came a curious Charlie. “Sorry, I’m so,sosorry, Mr. Grange. I just found out my wife has already put someone else in this room.”
“I noticed,” Sam said mildly.
The door opened, and the dark-haired beauty stood there wearing a silky red and pink kimono-style bathrobe that was probably one of the room’s perks. At least she was now family-friendly, to an extent. But having seen those curves firsthand, Sam (and his stallion) were having a very difficult time ignoring how the kimono draped across them, revealing even as it concealed.
The woman’s indignant manner changed as soon as she saw Mauro there. She had her mouth open and her attention on Sam, presumably to give him a piece of her mind, but as soon as she saw Mauro, she was all conciliatory smiles.
And Sam finally saw her face. He had been intensely distracted by other areas earlier. This wasn’t just any misplaced guest. This was his reason for being here, Maggie Reaves, jewel thief and kleptomaniac.
Wonderful.
“Hi, Mauro,” Maggie said. “I’m terribly sorry. What’s happening?”
“I’m sorry too,” Mauro said again. “Very sorry. I thought this room was free. I hadn’t realized my wife had rebooked it.”
“Hey!” Charlie said, from behind Mauro. “Aren’t you the jewel thief lady?”
Maggie grimaced. “Can we not—I mean?—”
“Charlie, that’s private,” Sam told his daughter. “Maggie, right? I don’t think we’ve been properly introduced.” He could feel himself flushing, against all his efforts, at the memory of exactly how they had been introduced. “I’m Sam Grange, Fawkes’s partner. This is my daughter Charlotte—Charlie.”
“Hello,” Maggie said. Her color was heightened, and it looked like she was experiencing a lot of emotions. Sam wondered if she was also having some kind of struggle with her inner animal. It looked like it. But she was almost demure as she held out a hand. Sam gripped it, feeling the lean, strong fingers with their incredible softness. “It’s a pleasure to finally meet you,” she added, with a strained note in her voice.
His stallion was ecstatic.
“It’s a pleasure to meet you too,” Sam said inanely, which immediately brought to mind very pleasant thoughts indeed, that he tried to banish. His blush was getting hotter.
“Oh, my gosh,” Charlie said loudly. She pushed through the adults. “Hi. I’m Charlie. I think you’re in our room, lady.”
“Charlie, don’t,” Sam told her. “We’re going to work this out.”
“Hester told me that if paying guests needed the room, I would have to leave,” Maggie said. A strange expression flickered across her face, annoyed and yet somehow resigned at the same time. “I just took a bath, so I’m going to need a few minutes to get dressed and get my things together.”
Sam’s stallion did not like thisat all. (Other than the part about Maggie in the bath. That part, it liked a lot.)
“I mean, technically we’re not paying guests either,” Sam said. “We’re here by request to, uh—”Keep an eye on you,which Maggie and Mauro and even Charlie knew, but somehow he couldn’t bring himself to say it out loud in quite those words. “—provide security for the weekend. Which means we’re more like employees than guests, and we can find accommodations elsewhere.”
“I’m working in the kitchen,” Maggie said. “I’m the one who should leave.”
The kitchen?!Sam’s stallion was deeply indignant about this, too.A lovely mare of breeding such as herself should not be engaged in menial preparation of grains!
Sam tried to ignore it, as usual.
“I’m not sure we actually have an ‘elsewhere’ at the moment,” Mauro said carefully. “Maggie, by all rights you ought to stay where you are. Hester gave you the room for the night. It’s possible we might be able to put the two of you in employee housing, and double someone else up for the night, or find space in one of the outbuildings?—”
“Outbuilding?” Charlie said, as if she’d just been told to sleep in a barn.
“Is employee housing communal?” Sam asked. “I don’t think that sounds appropriate for a teenage girl.”
Maggie cleared her throat. “Listen, I think whatever else we decide, it makes the most sense for your daughter to stay here. This is a perfectly good room. There’s no reason for her to have to be somewhere uncomfortable.”
Sam wished that Maggie’s concern for his daughter hadn’t just made him melt inside—but it did. His stallion was also delighted.She is deeply caring about our offspring. What a good lead mare for the herd she would be!
