“Hello, Petronella. How nice to see you again.”
Pet forced her gaze back to Marguerite and almost sighed aloud with depression. Honestly, the woman was everything she wasn’t but had always longed to be—tall, curvaceous, and beautiful with long, wavy auburn hair and perfect pale skin. Marguerite was wearing a pretty summer dress and sandals that just emphasized her femininity and made Pet feel like a slob in her T-shirt and shorts.
Realizing they were all waiting for her response, Pet forced a smile and murmured, “Hello again.”
“We just came by to introduce you to our nephews and their friend. The boys stopped by on their way back from the East Coast and have decided to stay awhile. We didn’t want you to be concerned if you saw them coming and going,” she explained, and then smiled wryly and added, “But we got here to find the front door wide open. When we didn’t see anyone around, we thought we’d better make sure everything was all right. I fear we startled your sister’s poor housekeeper.”
“Oh,” Pet breathed, glancing back to Oksana. A frown curved her lips downward when she noted that the woman was just standing there, staring straight ahead at nothing. Although, she could be watching out the side window for her husband, Pet supposed. Oksana’s husband was supposed to pick her up at seven. Pet shifted her attention back to Marguerite, stilling slightly as she noted her eyes. Marguerite and Julius had both been wearing sunglasses when she’d met them that afternoon. They weren’t wearing them now, though, and she could see that Marguerite’s eyes were blue while Julius’s were black, but both had silver flecks in them. It was as if someone had blown glowing silver glitter into—
“You know these people?”
Pet turned in surprise to see Parker at her side. The boy was frowning down at the people in the entry with Oksana. Taking her nephew by the arm, she gave him a push, trying to send him back the way he’d come. “You were supposed to wait in your room.”
Ignoring her urging, Parker held his ground and said, “They don’t live on this street.”
“Your mother introduced me to them when I got here. They’re house-sitting for the Cabellies,” she explained, still trying to urge him back toward his room.
“Caprellis,” he corrected even as Marguerite did.
“Jinx,” the woman said lightly, her smile widening. “It’s a pleasure to meet you, Parker. Your mother and aunt were bragging about you this afternoon. Were your ears ringing?”
Parker shook his head, and then asked, “Who are you?”
“Marguerite Argeneau Notte,” she announced, and then began introducing the others. “And this is my nephew, Zanipolo Notte—” She gestured to the man on her right who was tall and slender with lean muscle and long black hair pulled back into a ponytail. Pointing to the man just past Zanipolo, she continued, “A family friend, Justin Bricker.”
Pet noted his short dark brown hair, handsome face, and laughing green eyes . . . again with silver flecks.
“And our nephew Santo Notte,” Marguerite added, smiling at the bald behemoth.
Pet slid her gaze over the taller man’s eyes. They were as black as Julius Notte’s, but there was much more silver in his eyes, and the lighter color seemed to be growing, she noted grimly.
“And of course my husband, Julius.” Marguerite turned and placed a hand on the arm of the man on her left. He was the only man not wearing black. The other three were decked out in black jeans, black T-shirts, and black Doc Martens. It was almost as if it were some sort of uniform. Julius, however, wore the same blue jeans and white T-shirt he’d had on when Pet had met him earlier.
Every one of the men were over six feet tall, but Justin Bricker and Zanipolo were closer to six feet, while Santo and Julius were at least six foot six or better. The two shorter men were also lacking a lot of the muscle Santo had. They were still muscular, but with a leanness to them rather than the solid bulk he had. Julius was somewhere in the middle.
“Where are the Caprellis?” Parker asked suddenly, sounding suspicious.
“Texas.” The answer was a rumble of sound from the behemoth Marguerite had introduced as Santo. Pet had always gravitated toward deeper voices, and his seemed to vibrate right through her.
“They wished to visit their daughter,” Marguerite added now, drawing Pet’s reluctant gaze away from the big man. “I gather she moved there last year and they’ve been missing her and their grandbabies, so they put their house up on the House Swap exchange. We saw it and applied for a trade.”
Parker immediately relaxed and began to grin. “I signed them up on the House Swap site,” he announced gleefully, and was suddenly racing eagerly down the stairs.
Cursing under her breath, Pet immediately gave chase. She caught up with Parker as he reached the group in the entry, and started to reach for him, only to realize she still held the vase. Flushing guiltily, she set it quickly on the hall table and then caught Parker by the shoulders and dragged him back until his back bumped against her front.
Hardly seeming to notice the protective maneuver, her nephew exclaimed, “I didn’t think it would work this quick, though. So you guys are from Texas?”
“Italy,” Santo said, and Pet couldn’t keep from looking at him again. He really was beautiful, with high, carved cheekbones, and full sensual lips.
She avoided looking at his eyes and glanced down at her nephew as he asked, “Italy?” She noted the suspicion returning to his face, and unconsciously tightened her hands on his shoulders, drawing him more firmly back against her.
“There was a couple in Texas who wanted to see Italy,” Marguerite explained with a shrug. “And we wanted to come to New York, so we did a three-way swap. The Caprellis went to Texas, the couple from Texas went to our home in Italy, and we came here.”
“Oh,” Parker breathed, his eyes wide. “I didn’t know you could do three-way swaps, but that’s cool.”
“Yes,” she agreed. “But I understand and appreciate your concern for the Caprellis. They were waiting to give us the house keys when we arrived, and they seem like a very nice couple.”
“Yeah, they are,” he agreed.
“Are all your neighbors as nice?” Marguerite asked.
Parker nodded. “Yeah. But the Caprellis and Mr. Purdy are the best.”
“Mr. Purdy?” Marguerite queried with interest. “Where does he live?”
“He’s our neighbor on the other side,” Parker explained, but his voice was quiet now, almost fretful, Pet noted with concern. She peered at him for a moment and then glanced to Marguerite, whose expression was oddly concentrated as she looked at Parker. So were the men’s, Pet realized, and had to fight a sudden urge to drag her nephew upstairs and away from these people.
“Ach,” Oksana said suddenly. “There is husband. Time to go.”
Pet blinked at that announcement from the housekeeper and turned to see her gathering her purse from the hall table.
“We should probably go too now that we’ve introduced the boys,” Marguerite announced as Santo opened the door for the housekeeper to leave. “As I said, we just wanted you to know who the boys were if you saw them coming and going.”
Pet shifted her gaze from the old Ford truck that had pulled into the driveway, and to the others as they now followed Oksana out of the house.
“Make sure you lock up,” Marguerite suggested as she led the men across the porch. “This is a nice neighborhood, but leaving the door wide open is a bit risky.”
“Yes. Good night,” Pet said as she watched them leave, but doubted if they’d even heard her. There hadn’t been much power behind the words. She watched Oksana hop up into the truck, but as it pulled away, her eyes shifted to Marguerite and the men. Her wary gaze followed them until they disappeared around the hedges that lined the driveway between her sister’s house and the Caprellis’.
“Come on,” Parker said, heading back upstairs as she closed and locked the door. “I left the game running and we’re both probably dead by now. We’ll have to start from the last save.”
“Are you sure you want to play with me? I mean, if I’m so lame . . .” Pet drawled dryly, still smarting from the earlier comment.
“Well, it’s not like there’s anyone else here to play with,” he said, pausing on the steps to grin back at her.
“You hugged me when I got here and said I was your favorite aunt,” she reminded him with exasperation. “Now I’m lame? Which is it?”
“Both,” he said with a grin and then pointed out, “You’re my only aunt. That makes you my favorite, lame or not.”
Pet’s gaze narrowed. “When did you become such a little smart-as—aleck?” she ended, catching herself before she finished the cuss.
But not quick enough. She could tell by Parker’s knowing look before he shrugged and said, “I don’t know.”
Scowling at him, she started up the stairs.
“But Dad blames you for it,” he added.
Pet stopped, her head snapping up with shock. “What?”
Parker nodded. “He thinks I spend too much time under your ‘undue influence’ and it has led to a bad attitude. His words,” he added.
Pet ground her teeth with irritation. Her sister was married to an arrogant asshat. Pet had never liked him and had no idea why Quinn had married the man.
On the other hand, if she hadn’t, there would be no Parker, and Pet did love the little smart-ass dearly, so . . . Giving him a push to get him moving up the stairs again, she growled, “I’m so gonna shoot you in the butt. On purpose this time.”
“You can try,” Parker taunted, rushing eagerly up the rest of the stairs.
Pet followed more slowly, her smile fading and gaze sliding back to the front door as her troubled thoughts returned to her sister’s temporary new neighbors . . . and their glowing eyes.
Two