Paul immediately scooped up Livy and hurried toward the car. Jeanne Louise didn’t follow at once, but instead turned in a slow circle, looking for the driver of the vehicle. When a full turn and scan didn’t reveal anyone to her, she hurried after Paul and Livy. He was buckling the little girl into the back when she arrived at the car. Jeanne Louise opened the front passenger door, but didn’t immediately get in. She took the opportunity to scan their surroundings again, checking eyes and faces of anyone she saw. Again, though, she didn’t spot an immortal anywhere. Not that she knew every hunter working for her uncle, but the eyes tended to be a giveaway, as did their pale skin at this time of year. And most immortals would be wearing long sleeves and slacks rather than shorts to protect them from the sun as much as possible. But everyone she saw was in shorts and T-shirts or some other short-sleeved or completely sleeveless top.
Paul slammed the back door, and she glanced his way as he rushed around to the driver’s side. Jeanne Louise gave up scanning people and folded herself into the front seat as he got in. But she continued to scan anyone and everyone she saw as he started the engine and began to back out of the parking spot. She didn’t relax until they were on the road and had put some distance between their vehicle and the market.
“I don’t think we were followed,” Paul said quietly as she shifted to face forward in her seat.
“No,” Jeanne Louise agreed on a sigh. “I guess we got lucky. Although I don’t know how they missed recognizing your car and license,” she added with bewilderment. “We really should have dumped the car. And I should have thought of that.”
“Oh . . . er . . . no need for that,” he said, looking suddenly uncomfortable.
She peered at him curiously. “Oh?”
Paul nodded, cleared his throat and then admitted, “I bought a black magic marker while we were in town yesterday, and when I was unloading the car, I used it to change the two sixes on my license to eights.”
Jeanne Louise’s eyes widened. “Really?”
He nodded wryly, and shrugged. “It seemed a good idea. I didn’t think they’d search out this far from London, but there was a slight possibility, so I just thought . . .” Paul shrugged helplessly.
Jeanne Louise relaxed a little more at this disclosure, but she was looking at him with admiration and murmured, “Aren’t you clever.”
“I’m not just another pretty face, you know,” he said with a grin.
“No, you certainly aren’t,” she agreed solemnly.
Paul glanced at her sharply, and then reached over with one hand to squeeze hers. It made Jeanne Louise realize that his hands were as empty as hers.
“Where did your ice cream go?”
“I dropped it in the parking lot,” he admitted and then added, “Like you did.” He shrugged and added, “It seemed sensible to have my hands free.”
“Yes,” she said and squeezed his fingers with her own as she glanced in the backseat. Livy was the only one still with a cone, which explained the silence. The girl was still madly licking at her cone . . . and without being controlled and made to think it was good, Jeanne realized, eyes widening. She’d given up making the girl think it tasted good as she’d concentrated on looking for any immortals in the area. But the girl certainly seemed to be enjoying it anyway.
“Damn shame though,” Paul said suddenly, regret in his voice. “That was good ice cream.”
Jeanne Louise chuckled at the words as she settled back in her seat. But he was right. It had been darned good ice cream, she acknowledged and then suggested, “Maybe we should stop at a store and pick up some H?agen-Dazs or Ben and Jerry’s.”
“Definitely,” he agreed. “We can celebrate our lucky escape with it.”
“It was lucky,” Jeanne Louise said solemnly. “I didn’t expect them to check this far from London.”
“Neither did I,” Paul admitted, his smile fading. “Maybe we should stick close to the cottage for the next day or two. It’s rented under the name Williams and the license has been changed, so as long as we aren’t seen we should be good.”
“Yes,” Jeanne Louise agreed. It just seemed the sensible thing to do. They’d got lucky this time, but it didn’t mean they would again.
In the end, they decided to bypass the stop for ice cream. If Enforcers were searching the area, it just seemed a better idea to get back to the cottage and not risk running into one of them.
While Cecily Jackson and Sharon Corby were still on their shopping excursion with Kirsten, their husbands and sons were back from their fishing and descended on them as they got out of the car. Paul was forced to feign enthusiasm as they were shown the morning’s catch and regaled with tales of how this one was a fighter, and that one was an even harder fighter, and the other was the biggest fish ever.
Jeanne Louise stood beside him with what he suspected was silent amusement as he tried not to grimace at the smelly fish that were dangled before him. Livy on the other hand was free to say “gross” and “p-ewww” and then rush off to let Boomer out. Paul envied her that. He would have liked to echo her comments and flee the stench, but knew it would be considered terribly unmanly of him. Instead, he spent several minutes offering congratulations to the men before their wives’ return distracted them. The triumphant fishermen then rushed off to regale the womenfolk with their stories of success, assuring Paul and Jeanne Louise that they’d hit the beach right after lunch as they went.
Relieved to be free of the chore of admiring the scaly vertebrates, Paul whistled for Boomer and ushered Jeanne Louise and Livy into the cottage. He groaned when Jeanne Louise said she’d make lunch. Having dead fish shoved under his nose had rather stolen his appetite. But Livy responded eagerly enough. The child seemed to be hungry all the time now and he wasn’t sure if that was Jeanne Louise or the girl’s natural appetite returning now that she was no longer in constant pain.
By the time lunch was ready, however, Paul found himself hungry and enjoyed the bacon, lettuce, and tomato wraps she served up. They then gathered what they would need together and headed down to the beach.
Paul had been worried about Jeanne Louise’s need to stay out of the sun, but both Cecily and Sharon were seated in the shade when they went out to join everyone on the beach. Jeanne Louise settled happily with them while Paul and Livy headed straight for the water with Boomer charging ahead and straight into the waves.
Russell waited at the water’s edge with Kirsten. They introduced the two girls who played shy for all of five minutes before wading into the water together, splashing each other and giggling as little girls do. Paul watched with a smile, his heart actually aching a little to see his daughter so happy. It was a vast difference from the pale, thin, sickly girl who had been sleeping in Livy’s pretty pink room the last couple of weeks. It was like night and day, and he knew he owed it all to Jeanne Louise.
The woman hadn’t turned his child yet, but she’d taken away her pain and that had given Livy the chance to be a normal little girl again.