Page 83 of Bargains with Benefits
“That would be me,” I said, finally collecting myself. “Hi, I’m Luna. Welcome to Cliff House Inn. We’re happy to have you. You’re just in time for the solstice celebration.”
“Very good.” His gaze followed Evelyn, still watching her. “You, then, who are you? You look familiar.”
At that moment, Ambrose walked up. “Evelyn, are you coming down to set up the bar? I started the fires.” He, too, stopped in his tracks. I was pleased to say his reaction was much more like my own. “Lord Arctos,” he said in a whisper.
The god nodded. “Miss?” he pressed Evelyn.
She handed him his key, obviously ignoring his question. What was going on? “How long will you be staying?” she asked, continuing with the check-in list.
Lord Arctos tilted his head in thought, the motion so bird-like I wanted to laugh. Instead, I was too focused on his interest in Evelyn. A light seemed to go off in his head, and a smile crept across his face. “Ahh, well, then, I think we met this afternoon. You would be Evelyn Knowles, if memory serves. And I’ll stay as long as it takes you to complete my research.”
Ambrose’s mouth hung open. He shook himself free of his stupefied expression to say, “Excuse me?”
He immediately realized his mistake when Lord Arctos’s penetrating green gaze snapped intriguingly to him. “Who are you? Do you have a problem with that?”
“No, my lord, of course not. I meant nothing— Evelyn…could I speak with you?” he asked through gritted teeth.
Whatever mutual respect they’d built for each other while we’d sorted out the blood magic used on the inn might be fracturing before my eyes.
“Welcome to Cliff House Inn,” Evelyn said, handing Lord Arctos the key. “You are all set. Please enjoy the night’s festivities.” She slipped back out from behind the desk as quickly as she’d fallen behind it. As she turned the corner, I couldn’t help but watch with my own stupefied expression.
She was doing research for him? We would be talking about that later.
“What she said,” I echoed, noting that Ambrose followed her closely, hissing in her ear the entire way to the door.
“Well, then. I’ll pretend she was excited to see me and work on my project.” Lord Arctos’s gaze roamed the room.
“I’m sure she is,” I said with a forced smile. “It’s a busy night. Will you be joining us on the beach?”
He glanced down the hallway toward the library. “No, I think I’ll watch from up here. Seems as good a view as any.” He sauntered into the library as the rest of the guests started to exit out the back door. Vincent waited for me there as the inn emptied and the guests traipsed through the woods toward the beach staircase.
“What was that?” he asked, his hand slipping around my shoulder and pulling me close. He pressed a kiss to my temple.
“I think we just had our first…godly guest,” I said.
He turned his head, and his brow arched. “Which one? Oh, wait, I know.” He snapped his fingers. “Don’t tell me. It’s LordArctos, right? Ambrose told me he was coming to town for a special research project. Ambrose was hoping to be assigned to it at the Vesten Library.”
I covered the laugh that slipped out from behind my hand. “I think Evelyn must have beat him to it.”
His eyes widened. “So, they’re rivals now? I thought they made a nice team working together to figure out the magic used on the inn.”
I chuckled. “I’m sure they’ll figure it out.”
His hand slipped from my shoulder, and our fingers intertwined again as we descended to the beach. We were almost to the bottom when I realized what Lord Arctos’s arrival meant.
I pulled Vincent to a stop at the bottom step, turning to face him. “We filled the inn,” I said. “Lord Arctos took the last room.”
I was so giddy with the accomplishment I hadn’t taken a moment to appreciate all those already gathered on the beach. Darius tapped my shoulder, and I turned my beaming smile on him—and Gram standing beside him. They must have seen us descending the stairs, as Darius was prepared for our arrival, handing Solstice Sips to me and Vincent.
“You do realize I was never going to sell it, right?” he asked.
“I may have put that together, yes,” I said, tucking my blond strands behind my ear. “A girl still likes achieving her goals.”
He chuckled. Before he could say more, Eloise cut him off. “Don’t let him fool you. The inn has been under your name for years. He couldn’t have sold it even if he wanted to.”
Darius’s eyes narrowed. “Mother.”
She shrugged. “She’ll realize it when she looks at all the family paperwork.”
