A Bite To Remenber - Argeneau Series - Book 5 Page 0,3

not to mention dishes, silverware, or appliances," she added dryly.

Closing the refrigerator door, she glanced at her assistant. "You'd better start making a list, Tiny. Just write everything on it."

"You're staying here?" Vincent asked with horror.

"If you hadn't closed down your productions, we would be renting somewhere and taking on positions on one of your plays as our cover while we nosed around. Since you have shut down all your plays and made yourself and your home the only available targets, we'll have to stay here and choose a different cover." She turned to peer at him. "I understand you don't have a personal assistant?"

"No," Vincent answered reluctantly.

"You do now," Jackie informed him. She gestured to Tiny as she added, "You also have a cook/housekeeper."

Vincent stared at her and then glanced to Tiny, who nodded solemnly.

Leaving him to absorb the changes that were about to overtake his life, Jackie headed for the kitchen door. "I'm going to make a few calls. I presume I can use the phone in your office?"

"Yes, of course." The words sounded almost automatic, he was looking bemused by all that was taking place.

"Do you want me to unload the luggage?" Tiny asked as she reached his side.

"Yes, please. And I'll need my briefcase from the car, as well. After I make the phone calls, I'm going to go through the second-floor rooms. If I'm not in the office, you'll find me upstairs."

"Okay, boss," Tiny murmured as he trailed her from the kitchen.

Vincent didn't follow this time and Jackie let her shoulders relax a little as she walked back up the hall.

"You were kind of tough on him," Tiny commented as they reached the door she'd spied the office through on the way in.

Jackie shrugged. "He needs a wakeup call. They get to a certain age and think they're invulnerable. This place is a burglar's dream. It's luck alone that he hasn't been robbed blind, or attacked… And now he has someone out to get him. We don't have time to handle him with kid gloves. We have to secure this place quickly so we can concentrate on tracking down his saboteur."

"And he was rude slamming the door in our face," Tiny added dryly, bringing a smile to her lips. The giant rarely let her get away with lying to herself.

"Yeah," Jackie admitted. "He was rude. And he doubted I can handle the job, and my pride was hurt, and I made sure he rethought that opinion."

"You think he's rethinking?" Tiny asked.

"I think he's wishing he'd never called Bastien and asked for aid finding someone to help deal with this matter," she said with a pleased grin.

"If he's miserable then our work here is done," Tiny said solemnly.

"I wish," Jackie drawled, but was chuckling softly as Tiny left to go out to the car and she headed into the office. The giant man's ability to jolly her out of any mood was priceless and she'd thanked God for it many times. Jackie suspected she was going to need it many, many times before this job was through.

Sighing, she dropped into the desk chair and stared at the phone. It was cordless, and now that she was here staring at the empty receiver, Jackie recalled that Vincent had been talking on the phone when he'd answered the door. He still had that phone.

Shaking her head, she stood again and started around the desk, pausing when Vincent Argeneau suddenly appeared, the cordless held up in his hand. After a hesitation, Jackie continued forward and reached for the phone, but he held onto it when she would have taken it.

"I apologize for my rudeness in slamming the door in your face. I'm afraid I'd just woken up and wasn't on the ball, and—from the information Bastien had given me—I wasn't expecting you for another half an hour."

"Our flight caught a good tailwind. We landed early," Jackie explained.

Vincent Argeneau nodded. "Well, I was startled to find you on the step, then even more startled that you were mortal. Bastien hadn't warned me that it would be otherwise and I just assumed that it would be one of our own dealing with the situation."

Jackie hesitated, then felt her shoulders relax and nodded slowly. "Apology accepted."

"Good. Then perhaps we can start again." He released the phone and held out his hand with a conciliatory smile. "Hello, my name is Vincent Argeneau. You must be the amazing Jackie Morrisey that my cousin Bastien has sent to save my bacon. It's a pleasure to