Hard to imagine, given her tattoos and piercings, but hey. One shouldn’t judge a book by its cover.
Then her grin stretched, and she added, “I’ll even take a vow.” She hooted. “You get it?”
She and I laughed ourselves silly, and for a moment, it was just like old times, when we were kids and life seemed so simple.
“Excellent,” Mina murmured, though she looked doubtful.
Claudette, to her credit, managed to stick to those guidelines for a full week. Her only flaw was a few batches of burned toast.
Mina caught me on my way to another efficiently served breakfast days later, whispering, “Wow. Claudette really seems to be turning over a new leaf.”
Bene wasn’t making it easy for her, though.
“Bonjour, everyone.” Bene entered cheerfully, as he did each morning. The main difference was that he was no longer the last to appear, as he’d been B.C. —Before Claudette.
“Bonjour, Benedict.” Claudette’s voice dropped suggestively, and she stopped to drink the man in.
We let that slide, because even a nun would stop to ogle his cover boy good looks. His unruly blond hair and fluid stride hinted at his lion side, and his sunny disposition was infectious — er, in a good way.
“Best eggs ever,” he announced, then winked. “Eggs Benedict. Get it?”
Everyone groaned, including Claudette, though I caught her winking back.
Mina met my eyes, sending worried thoughts into my mind.
As for me, I calculated the probability of those two hooking up at ninety-five percent — and rising fast.
“Oh! Let me help with the dishes.” Bene jumped up eagerly.
Roux grabbed him before he made it two steps, though. “Too bad you have other work to do.”
And off he hauled poor Bene to work at eight thirty on the dot.
The man was definitely a stickler for the rules, and not just because they were counting down the last few weeks of their contract with Gordon. I didn’t know the details, but apparently, the guys had gotten themselves into hot water and had been forced to work for Gordon to clear their records of past indiscretions, as Mina put it.
They all seemed plenty reformed to me, though. Especially now that they were keeping busy with renovation work until Gordon assigned them a new mission. He hadn’t since I’d arrived, but everyone expected him to squeeze in another assignment or two before their contracts ended in a few weeks.
“Thanks, Claudette,” Mina said, then turned to assign the rest of us jobs.
“Henrik, can you please continue helping Bene and Roux with the upstairs bathrooms?”
His expression suggested such things were beneath him, but he didn’t actually complain.
I found him creepy as hell, as did Mina. Still, there was merit to the old adage,keep your friends close and your enemies closer.
“Marius and I will continue plastering the corner room.” Heart emojis practically fluttered between them as they locked eyes, as was the case ever since they’d gotten married a week ago.
Yes, married. I was still getting over my surprise at my sensible sister’s spontaneity. We’d staged a fake wedding to snap promotional photos of the château, but my sister and her hot dragon shifter had gone all out and decided to tie the knot for real.
Only because we’ve gone to all the trouble,Mina had explained a little defensively.
She’d tried to play it cool, but inside, she’d been squealing with glee. I could hear it. I could hear a lot of things, actually. More and more, ever since I’d moved in to the château.
Ten long seconds later, I nudged Mina, and she blinked. “Oh. Sorry. Are you good to continue in the ballroom?”
“Yes, but it’s bigger than two theater stages combined, and I usually have an intern or two helping me. Can’t we spare someone?”
She pursed her lips. “We’ll see how it goes, but finishing the guest rooms is the priority.”
