there, honeybuns,” he said quiet enough only Paulie could hear. “You just spent all your energy getting me to walk away. Think logically. If this agent’s whole career, marriage, and financial stability hinges on the sale of one house then he’s got bigger problems than us.”
“But…homeless?”
“Homeless to a man like that is nothing like it was for you.” Zeus steered him out the door. “Homeless to that one is tossing up which mistress he’s going to doss down with when his wife kicks him out.”
“You can’t see that,” Paulie protested, unwilling to leave the porch. “He might be a perfectly good man who’s desperately in love with his wife. Then becoming homeless will devastate two lives.”
“He’s bullshitting us,” Zeus huffed. “Didn’t you hear how his voice rose the closer we got towards the door?”
“No, and I can usually scent when someone’s lying to me.”
“With all the air fresheners they’ve got in that place, I’m surprised you weren’t sneezing as soon as you walked in the door. This house probably has mold and they’re trying to cover it up.”
Paulie was torn. He could live without the house. As he suspected from the listing, it was far too big for them in his opinion. The only thing he really liked was the privacy from the trees. But to destroy someone’s life – a mortal with a limited time span… “Hang on a minute.”
He ducked out from under Zeus’s arm and ran back into the house. Carl was still sitting where they left him, on the spindly legged couch. His head snapped up as soon as he heard Paulie’s boots on the tiles. “Did you change your mind?”
Paulie strode around to the back of where Carl was sitting. “Did you mean it when you said you’d be homeless if this deal falls through.”
“Ruined.” Carl did wretched very well, even when he was twisting around trying to see what Paulie was doing. “Homeless. Divorced. My kid needs an operation soon…”
Paulie leaned in and took in a long sniff and then coughed. “Damn, lies stink.” He ran back out the door again, making sure to slam it behind him so they couldn’t be seen. “You were right, let’s go.” He wrapped his arm around Zeus’s waist. “How about you let me show you the house I think would be perfect for our little family?”
“You said we could have the castle.” Zeus returned the hug with a smirk.
“This will be better. Trust me.” Paulie closed his eyes, focusing on the listing he’d found when Zeus had been dealing with a communications crisis the day before. “Hold tight.”
“Always.”
Paulie sighed with happiness as their cells broke down and followed the wind.
Chapter Twenty-Six
“A ranch?” Zeus turned slowly as they materialized on the gravel driveway in front of what looked like a large Tuscan style villa. “Where are we?”
“Montana.” Paulie twisted his hands, biting the corner of his lip. “I’ve never been here before, and I know it gets cold in winter, but probably not any more than in Scotland.”
“A ranch, like with cattle and horses and things like that.” Strangely enough, Zeus could see the appeal. Standing in the driveway, everywhere he looked he was greeted with stunning views of a lush valley and a majestic mountain range beyond.
“It’s not huge, huge, for a ranch. Just over a thousand acres. But it’s got ponds for fishing, and the forest areas back onto the national forest, so there’s no danger of being built out or overlooked. But the local town is only a twenty-minute drive away.” Paulie turned away, looking up at the large house looming over them. “I was thinking about what we might do with ourselves, and someone told me, Hades, I think, that you used to ride. It has an equestrian center.”
Zeus was beyond surprised. He was sure Paulie would take them to some dingy cottage in the woods somewhere, and to a point, he had, at least as far as the woods were concerned. But the cottage was homely and impressive in size and design. “Is this place going cheap or on a special offer?” He still couldn’t work out why this particular house caught Paulie’s eye.
“Not really. It’s double the price of the one we just came from.” Paulie’s lower lip was getting a real work out from his teeth. “I didn’t want you to spend a lot of money, and I was looking at cheaper places, but I saw the photos for this and…”
“And what?” Taking Paulie’s hand, Zeus led them to where they