Immortal Ever After (14 page)

“Oh my, yes. I see,” Leigh murmured.

Anders glanced up at her murmur and noted her narrowed concentration on him. She’d read his damn mind.

“Yes, that might have made her want to hide out,” she said sympathetically. “It wasn’t that long ago when I had my first encounter with life mate passion. It was pretty terrifying. And she didn’t have any idea what was happening. I mean, as an immortal you had heard about it, had some idea of what to expect, and yet you were still overwhelmed by it. Imagine how she must feel. She got hit by a nuclear explosion of passion out of nowhere.”

Anders sighed and ran one hand wearily over his closely cropped hair. Leigh wasn’t saying a damned thing he hadn’t already thought of. Which was why he suspected Valerie was hiding out. The question was, how long would she hide? And how was he supposed to get her to know and trust him if she wouldn’t come out of her room?

“All right.” Leigh set aside the book she’d been reading, and uncurled her legs from under her to stand up. “I’ll go see what I can do.”

Anders was on his feet at once. “What are you going to do?”

“I don’t know. I’ll have to see what the situation is first,” she pointed out patiently.

“Right.” He nodded.

“Just sit down and try to stop looking like an expectant father. You’re giving me contractions here.”

Anders eyes widened. “You’re—?”

“Joking, Anders,” Leigh said with exasperation as she waddled out of the room.

He stared after her until she disappeared on the stairs, and then lifted his eyes to the ceiling, mentally following her journey to Valerie’s room. When he heard her knock on the door, he stood frozen for a moment, then suddenly hurried to the bookshelf beside the television and grabbed a random book. Taking it back to his chair, Anders dropped to sit and opened the book to the middle so that he could pretend to be reading if Leigh lured Valerie back down.

Eight

“A
swim?” Valerie said uncertainly.

“Yeah. I’m supposed to get exercise, but walking makes my ankles swell, and, frankly, carrying this baby around is like having a sack of potatoes strapped to your waist, but the water makes it all easier,” Leigh explained. “However, Anders doesn’t swim, and I don’t want to be in the pool by myself in case I go into labor or something, so I thought maybe you’d like to join me?”

“Oh.” Valerie hesitated. She really didn’t have any excuse to say no. She’d made her phone call as soon as she’d got up here, and managed to get through to her advisor. The conversation hadn’t lasted long, but afterward, Valerie had been self-conscious about facing Anders again. She maybe shouldn’t be, she’d spent time with him since their kiss. But having him come into a room where she was, was different from her having to enter a room where he was. So, she’d made poor Roxy sit in this room for the last hour, and that after making her sleep in here for hours. The poor dog was probably sorry she was back. At least at Mrs. Ribble’s she got to go out in the yard.

Now Valerie considered Leigh’s words and shifted from one foot to the other. A swim. Being in a bathing suit in front of Anders. But with Leigh . . . who was afraid to swim and rightfully so in her state. And who had also been kind enough to allow Valerie into her home to help keep her safe.

“I can loan you a swimsuit if you—”

“It’s okay. I actually picked up my swimsuit when we were at the house. I thought with the pool . . .” She shrugged.

“Great.” Leigh beamed. “Well, I’ll just go put mine on and meet you at the top of the stairs then. Okay?”

“Sure.” Valerie smiled, and saw her out, then turned and went to dig her bathing suit out of the drawer. She’d finally unpacked the bags after coming up after breakfast. Now she pulled her swimsuit out and quickly changed. Once done, she then just stood there and stared at herself with alarm. Her body hadn’t been anywhere near a razor in two weeks. She was a bloody gorilla!

Groaning, Valerie closed her eyes briefly, then moved to the makeup case Marguerite had packed for her. She hadn’t checked inside when she’d taken it out of her suitcase and plunked it on the bathroom counter. Now, Valerie quickly unzipped the bag, silently praying that—

“Yes,” she breathed when the first two items to spill out were her razor and a container of blades.

“Thank you, Marguerite,” Valerie breathed. She was standing with one foot in the sink when a knock sounded at the door. Shouting, “Come in,” she continued her work, scraping the razor swiftly over her skin.

“If you’re grabbing a towel, don’t bother. I have a couple of beach towels for us. They’re bigger and—Oh.” Leigh paused as she reached the bathroom door. “Gee, I hadn’t thought about. Well . . .”

“Neither had I,” Valerie admitted wryly, quickly drying the first leg before shifting positions to work on the other one. “It wasn’t until I saw the koala bear legs I had developed that I remembered.”

“Oh, they aren’t that bad,” Leigh said.

“Yes, they are, or were,” Valerie countered, thinking Leigh really was a bad liar.

Apparently she agreed, because she suddenly grimaced and admitted, “Yes, they are. Girl, you could almost braid that hair.”

“Thanks,” Valerie said on a laugh as she soaped her second leg.

“Well, you didn’t really have to shave. We’d have been a matching pair. I mean I haven’t been able to even reach my legs in over a month.”

Valerie chuckled at the suggestion as she shaved. “Yeah, but you have an excuse. I don’t.”

“Yeah,” Leigh nodded. “I suppose being kidnapped and locked in a cage for ten days and then being unconscious for three days are no excuse for hairy legs.”

Valerie blinked at her, and then felt a reluctant smile curve her lips before she agreed, “No excuse at all.”

Finished with her second leg, Valerie grabbed the towel and quickly dried it, wiping away the remaining soap. She then paused and peered at herself, feeling a bit self-conscious in her swimsuit and T-shirt. Which was really just silly. She’d worn less at the beach. But then Anders hadn’t been at the beach. The thought made her grimace. One kiss and she was suddenly shy of the man?

“Come on, beauty, you’ve vanquished the hairy beast. Now let’s go get wet,” Leigh said turning toward the door.

“Beast? Nice,” Valerie said with amusement, and hurried to follow her from the room, patting her leg to command Roxy to follow.

“Here, let me take those.” She relieved Leigh of the beach towels as they reached the stairs so the pregnant woman could hold the rail, and then followed her silently down.

Anders was sitting reading in the living room when Valerie followed Leigh into the room. She cast one nervous glance his way, then focused on the woman in front of her.

“Go ahead and go see how the temperature of the water is. I’m just going to grab some suntan lotion for us,” Leigh said, suddenly veering toward the kitchen.

Valerie hesitated briefly, but then continued resolutely to the French doors and outside, Roxy on her heels. It was only as she closed the door and inhaled that she realized she’d been holding her breath since entering the kitchen/living room.

“You can quit pretending. She’s outside.”

Anders glanced up innocently from the book. “What makes you think I was pretending?”

“Well, it’s that or you’ve taken a sudden interest in
The Joy of Pregnancy
,” she said dryly, retrieving the suntan lotion from a kitchen drawer.

Anders flipped the book over with dismay to stare at the cover. It was indeed
The Joy of Pregnancy
.

Closing the drawer, Leigh added, “And you were reading it upside down.”

Cursing under his breath, Anders tossed the book on the coffee table and stood up. “So, you’re going swimming?”

“That’s right. You can thank me later,” she added, heading for the French doors.

“What for?” he asked with a frown.

“Go change into a swimsuit and come out in about ten minutes. I’m going to be exhausted and get out and you’ll have to stay to watch Valerie.” She put a hand on the doorknob, but paused and looked back. “But remember what I said and go easy with her.”

Anders watched her leave, and then hurried upstairs to his room to change into his swim trunks, glad he’d thought to throw them in when he’d packed his bag. The house had come with the pool when Lucian bought it, and Anders knew he’d often used it at night, but after marrying Leigh he’d put an awning over it that blocked the UV rays and not the sun. It allowed her to swim in sunlight without having to ramp up the amount of blood she needed. It was an awesome experience and Anders had been seriously considering putting in a pool at his place with the same setup.

That wasn’t why he was eagerly yanking off his clothes and dragging on his swim trunks though. He’d have risked the sun to swim with Valerie. Although, swimming wasn’t what was on his mind. Holding her nearly nude and wet body in his arms in the sun-warmed water was what was making him as eager as a teenage boy.

Anders padded out of his room and back downstairs, but paused at the French doors. Leigh had said ten minutes. Did that mean he shouldn’t go out before ten minutes had passed? Shifting impatiently, he glanced at his wristwatch, only to realize he hadn’t checked it earlier. By his guess it had taken him thirty seconds to hurry upstairs, thirty seconds to hurry down, and maybe two minutes to change his clothes. Or three, he thought. So he maybe had another six minutes.

He patted his leg impatiently, eyes narrowing on the women. Both of them were already in the pool, only their heads visible as they talked and laughed. When Valerie turned and suddenly disappeared under the water, Anders checked his watch. Only two minutes had passed since he’d arrived at the door.

“Screw it,” he muttered and headed out.

Leigh was mounting the steps out of the pool by the time he reached it. Snatching up one of the towels that lay neatly folded on the lawn chair closest to the steps, Anders carried it over to her.

“Perfect timing,” Leigh announced as he took her arm to ensure she didn’t lose her footing as she stepped onto the pool surround. “She’s swimming laps, so can’t protest my leaving or announce she’s tired and escape with me.”

“Marguerite’s rubbing off on you,” Anders said dryly.

“Flattery, Anders? Really?” she said, grinning as she accepted the towel he now held out. Leigh didn’t bother drying herself, simply wrapped it around her torso and headed for the house. “Have fun. I’m lying down for a nap. All this fresh air has just exhausted me.”

Anders smiled at her exaggerated tone of voice, glad Valerie didn’t hear it. She would have known right away that the woman was just clearing the way for them to spend time alone. Speaking of which . . .

Turning, he eyed Valerie in the pool. She was on a return lap, swimming toward his end of the pool, her arms knifing through the water, legs kicking below the surface, and body beautiful in a royal blue two-piece swimsuit.

Anders had always liked women with some meat on them and Valerie had that. She’d never walk the runways in Paris, but she’d featured pretty constantly in the runways in his head since their kiss that morning. Constantly. Only she wasn’t on a runway, and she wasn’t wearing anything, let alone the latest fashions.

Damn. He was just as bad as the other immortal men he’d seen fall under the life mate spell, Anders acknowledged. He’d been pretty smug as he’d watched the others flounder at work, unable to concentrate and focus on anything but their life mate. It made him grateful no one was here to witness his own idiocy but Leigh and Lucian. Neither of them would tease or taunt him over this . . . much. But Bricker? Oh yeah. The young immortal would love to have something over him.

Valerie touched this end of the pool wall, took a breath, did a half somersault in the water and pushed off the pool to propel herself toward the opposite end. Anders watched her go, and then walked down the steps into the water, enjoying the cool liquid sliding up over his feet, calves, knees, thighs— Yeehaw! The pool was sun-warmed, but still cooler than his skin and the first splash of it against his groin was a shocking awakening. Damn. It was almost enough to dampen his hunger for Valerie.
Almos
t being the key word in that thought, Anders acknowledged with a wry, self-deprecating smile as he moved through the water to stand where she had turned at the end of her last lap. He then simply stood and waited as she did her flipping thing at the other end and started back.

Anders was actually disappointed when Valerie paused little more than halfway back and surfaced. Pushing the hair and water off her face, she glanced around, no doubt in search of Leigh as she laughed and said, “Geez, two weeks makes a difference. I can’t do half the laps I used t—”

Her voice died, her smile fading as she noted that Leigh was missing and Anders was now submerged in the water ahead of her. Swallowing noticeably, she asked, “Where—?”

“Leigh tires easily right now,” Anders answered, interrupting the question. He started to move toward her through the water, adding, “She asked me to spot you.”

“Oh.” Her expression growing wary, Valerie moved sideways toward the side of the pool. “Well, I should probably get out too then.”

“There’s no need,” Anders said, stopping where he was and giving her space. “Besides, if you get out, who’s going to spot me?”

Valerie paused, looking uncertain. “Leigh said you don’t swim.”

“Well she was wrong, and I’d like a couple laps myself if you’re willing to stick around and keep an eye on me. It’s never good to swim alone, and I need the exercise or I get flabby.” It was a bald-faced lie. Nothing he did would ever make him flabby, but his words had the effect he’d hope for. Her eyes widened and dropped over what was visible of his chest above the water line.

“You? Flabby? Yeah right,” Valerie said with a snort of derision. “How many hours a day do you work out to get that twelve pack? Ten, fifteen hours?”

Anders chuckled and shook his head. “I’m afraid I can’t take much credit. Just lucky enough to have an extraordinary metabolism.” That wasn’t entirely true. He did work out some to improve on the lean and mean body the nanos gave him.