CHAPTER SEVEN“Do you like wine?” he asked later that evening once he was back from the shop and the babies were settled in for the night, or at least part of it, for now.
“Yes.”
“Any particular kind?”
“Anything red,” she replied.
“Would you like a glass of merlot then?”
“I’d love one, but I can’t. I’m still breastfeeding,” she told him.
“Right. I didn’t think,” he replied, looking a little embarrassed. “Did you get a chance to look around the house a bit?”
“No, not really. The girls were a bit fussy and it took me some time to get them back down. After that, well. It’s been a long day and I was tired. I took a nap and then got my things unpacked.”
“I’m sure you will need more diapers and stuff for the babies. Feel free to add it to the grocery list for the cook to pick up on her run or you can order it in. It’s a bit remote out here, but delivery trucks still seem to find it just fine. You can use my card to order anything you need.”
“How far out are we? Is there anything nearby, I mean, could I go into town if I needed to, maybe ride with you or some of the help?”
“Oh, of course. Can you drive a stick?”
“Yes.”
“Good. Come on and let me show you around a bit while the babies are asleep. You want something to drink? I mean, I know you can’t have alcohol, but a bottle of water or some juice? I’m going to grab myself something.”
“Water would be good,” she replied.
“All right. Follow me.”
Leslie followed him to the kitchen where he tossed her a bottle of water from over the fridge door and retrieved one for himself. He motioned for her to follow him across to the other side and into a dining room that adjoined one corner, opening a door that seemed to lead to the outside, until he flicked a switch and light flooded in through the opening.
“Come look,” he told her.
Leslie walked over and stood beside him at the door. It was a large garage containing four vehicles. A somewhat rough looking Jeep Wrangler, a Ford F150 and two she didn’t recognize, other than their emblems. One was a dark gray Mercedes and the other was a red muscle car with a Plymouth emblem.
“You are welcome to drive any of these, except the Barracuda. That’s my baby.”
“Barracuda?” she said.
“The old one,” he said, realizing she probably knew nothing about cars.
“Oh. Are you sure?”
“Yes. If you tell me which you prefer, I can put the carrier seats in it for you so it’s ready to go if you take the girls. You can just leave them in it. The seats, not the girls – obviously. I usually only drive the Barracuda or the Jeep, and I don’t think you can get the girls in the Jeep anyway, now that I think about it. Either of the other two are safe and have plenty of room. There is a remote in each vehicle to operate the garage, as well as a master switch on the wall inside beside the keys. Not hard to tell which is which, two have fobs with their emblems and the Jeep has the emblem on the key itself.”
“Well, I’ll let you know when and if I’m going. I don’t need anything now, just wondered how it all worked.”
“Now you know. Come on and I’ll take you on a quick tour of the house. It’s going to look odd if someone does come by and you can’t tell them where anything is in the house that you’ve supposedly lived in for months now. After that, we’ll sit down and go over getting our basic story straight. I think that’s the most important thing.”
“Do you really believe this will work?”
“I don’t know, but I sure hope so. The last thing I want is for my brother to have his way with my pack’s motorcycle club. He’s bad news and will only ruin the lives of everyone in his path.”
“Why do you think that?”
“Because I know my brother. I know what he’s capable of and what length he’s willing to go to in order to make it happen. There is nothing that will come from his being an alpha but ruin. The only way to stop him is to take charge myself. If it weren’t for that, I’d be perfectly content to live out here in my own little safe haven without a care in the world.”
“Well, I guess we’d better get to work then,” she replied.
They spent the better part of the evening going over each other’s histories. Obviously, his was just his actual background, but with hers, they tried to walk a line between what was true and thus, easily remembered while still concealing her origins and identity. She still believed that Blane wouldn’t come after her, but it was best to be certain. His ego was fragile and a word from the wrong person might send him on a fool’s mission for no other reason than to salvage what he perceived as his glowing reputation.