Paul’s eyes widened, but he shook his head.
“Good, good.” Bricker patted his leg again, and then began to attach a shackle to it, adding, “I’m sure it will be fine then.”
“Good thing too. Jeanie would never forgive us if we killed off her life mate.”
That dry comment came from the door and drew Paul’s attention from the two men presently shackling his feet. He eyed the fellow leaning nonchalantly in the door.
“Thomas.” Nicholas snapped the shackle around Paul’s ankle, gave it a testing tug, then stood and crossed the room to hug the other man. Pulling back, he asked, “What are you doing here?”
“For some bizarre reason Uncle Lucian thought I should be here for the big turn. He had an Argeneau plane collect me and Inez this morning and fly us over,” Thomas explained grinning.
“Inez is here then?” Nicholas asked.
“Are you kidding?” Thomas grinned. “She wouldn’t let me fly off without her. Besides, Bastien thinks he might have a position for her here in Canada and wants to talk to her about it.”
“So she’s at the office?” Nicholas asked, turning to lead him to the side of the table and Paul chained to it.
“No. Bastien wants to see her tomorrow so she came with me today. She’s out front. A car was pulling in as we were entering the house so she stayed to see who it was and either send them away if they’re mortals, or greet them if they’re one of ours.” He peered down at Paul. “Is this him, then?”
“Hmmm.” Nicholas smiled at Paul and nodded. “He seems a nice enough chap.”
“Is he good enough for Jeanie?” Thomas asked.
“Is anyone good enough for Jeanie?” Nicholas asked with amusement.
“Hmmm,” Thomas muttered.
“He’s a geek like her though,” Nicholas commented thoughtfully. “Works in R and D at Argeneau like her too.”
“Well at least they can ride into work together,” Thomas said wryly. “Although working in the same place they aren’t likely to get much actual work done. I suspect they’ll be found in broom closets and getting it on in their car in the parking garage for the next year.”
Nicholas nodded. “Really, Bastien should just give them the year off.”
Paul scowled at the pair of them. “Hello. I’m awake. I can hear you,” he pointed out with irritation. “You may not think I’m good enough for your sister, but I’ll do my damnedest to make her happy. And we won’t be ‘getting it on’ in the car in the parking garage. I have a little more class than that,” he assured them grimly.
“Besides, the parking garage has security cameras everywhere,” Bricker pointed out, finishing shackling Paul’s second leg and straightening to join the other two. “It’s how we knew Jeanne Louise had been taken. Security saw him slip into the back of her car just before she got in.”
Paul scowled again, but since that’s why he’d been able to assure them that they wouldn’t be caught doing the nasty in the car in the Argeneau parking garage, he didn’t comment. Judging by the amusement on the faces of the men, though, he didn’t have to. They’d probably plucked the thought from his mind.
“Hmm. That’s a new one,” Nicholas commented suddenly, staring at Paul’s eyes.
“Yeah, they usually go to the organs first,” Thomas commented, stepping a little closer to the table and bending to peer at Paul’s eyes more closely.
“What usually go to the organs first?” Paul asked warily.
“The nanos. Your eyes are flashing silver already,” Nicholas explained, and then asked, “Do you have some kind of eye problem?”
“I have late onset keratoconus,” Paul admitted with a frown, alarm beginning to ripple down his spine. There was a strange heat building behind his eyes.
“What is keratoconus?” Bricker asked curiously, moving to the head of the table to get a better look himself.
“The cornea, the clear front of my eye, is thinning and bulging outward into a cone shape,” he muttered, beginning to blink his eyes as they began to sting. “I wear rigid gas-permeable contact lenses because of it.”
“Huh,” Thomas murmured. He glanced to Nicholas and then back with a sigh. “Well the good news is, you won’t need contacts anymore.”
“And the bad news?” Paul asked grimly, squeezing his eyes closed against the mounting pressure there.
“I think you’re going to be one of those ones where the turn comes on hard and fast. You—”