Page 21 of Brushed By Moonlight
He cracked open one eye. “How?”
“You don’t tell someone,come on over to my château, ormy château is your château…”
He laughed, and I held up the scones.
He licked his lips, then shot me a suspicious look. “One for you, one for me?”
I shook my head. “Both for you. For an easy half hour of work, max.”
A grossly overoptimistic estimate, but he didn’t need to know that.
I crooked a finger and led him upstairs.Wayupstairs, into the attic.
“So, you inherited this whole place, huh?” he asked as we climbed the stairs.
“My grandmother left it to me, my sister, and my cousin.”
“Not your mother or father?”
“My mom and aunt both refused it. They said they didn’t want to die with a mountain of debt and responsibilities.” I sighed. “I’m starting to see why.”
He chuckled. “I guess there’s a good and a bad side to everything.”
We wound around the next set of stairs.
“So, you have a sister, huh?” Bene asked. “I guess she’s the nice one?”
I glared, communicating,No scones for you, buster.
“I mean, is she as nice as you?” He hurried to correct himself.
I decided not to grace that with an answer.
We reached the attic hallway, where I pointed out the tools and materials I’d prepared earlier, handed him the scones, and explained the task at hand.
“You want awhat?” he asked, wiping crumbs from his mouth.
“A partition,” I repeated, reaching across the narrow hallway. “Right here.”
He rubbed his chin. “Why?”
“I have a problem with…er…”
He raised an eyebrow, not getting it.
“Bats,” I finally said.
His eyes widened. “Oh. Big bats?”
I nodded. “Very big.”
“I see.” He studied the space. “Do these bats need a door to pass back and forth?”
I shook my head. “Definitely not.”
“Not very practical,” he pointed out. “For anyone other than the bats, I mean.”
“Not my priority.”
