Free Blazing Love: A Hot, Romantic Suspense Series, Book 2 (The Carlisle Sisters) by Kay Brody Page B

causing him to spill the soup onto the floor.
    “You idiot!  Look what you’ve done!”  Claude yelled.
    “I’m so sorry,” Jehan said, squatting down to pick up the bowl.
    “What’s going on here?”  Hélène asked, arriving in the doorway.
    “Père prepared some soup for Uncle Marceau and I accidentally caused him to spill it,” Jehan explained.  He turned and looked at his father.  “I’m sorry.”
    Claude glared at Jehan.
    “You are hardly sorry, Jehan,” Claude spat.  “I think that act was deliberate.”
    “Indeed, no.  It was truly an accident,” Jehan said contritely.
    Claude threw the tray onto the long wooden table.
    “Clean it up,” Claude demanded.
    He walked briskly out of the kitchen.
    Hélène looked at the small pot that Claude had used to prepare the soup.  She studied it thoughtfully.
    “Why would Claude prepare a meal for Marceau?  He cannot stand him,” she said.
    “He said he wanted to do something nice for his brother,” Jehan stated.
    “That makes no sense,” Hélène muttered.  “He’s never done anything nice for his brother.
    “Maybe he is having a change of heart,”  Jehan shrugged.
    Hélène looked at him incredulously.
    “I will clean up the mess, Aunt,” Jehan continued.
    He picked up the tray and moved to the sink.  Hélène grasped the pot.
    “I will wash and you dry,” she said.  She wanted to scrub that pot until it shone clean and sparkling.  She didn’t know if the soup had been tainted but she wasn’t taking any chances.
    “As you like,” Jehan said amicably.
    As Hélène washed the dishes she wondered if Jehan bumping into Claude had truly been an accident.  Did he suspect his father as she and Marceau did?  That would be an interesting twist; and Jehan, a much needed ally.
     

 
    Chapter 6
     
    B eth and her companions were exhausted.  They had been traveling for hours and between the heavy traffic they’d encountered on the way out of town and the steep, winding, mountainous roads that awaited them once they’d escaped the congestion, it seemed like they’d barely moved at all.  So, when they realized that it was nearly midnight and they still had six more hours of driving to do before reaching Victory’s End, they unanimously decided to stop and spend the night at a roadside motel.
    Their driver, Davet, found a well-kept inn in a small village along their route.  Half asleep by that time, everyone stumbled off of the bus like zombies and piled into the main office.  Blaze and Grey secured the rooms while Tracy and Beth went into the restrooms.
    “Will this trip ever end?”  Tracy asked wearily as she fixed her hair in the mirror of the ladies’ room.
    “We’re almost there.  Some food and a good nights’ rest will do wonders for us,” Beth sighed.
    “I can’t stop thinking about Victory’s End and what we’ll find there.  All of this is extremely unnerving,” Tracy said.
    “I know.  It was the only thing I could think about while on the bus,” Beth said.
    “Grey seems to be calm about it,” Tracy said.
    “He’s keeping a cool exterior but he’s nervous just the same,” Beth said.  “I just pray that this mess turns out well in the end.”
    Tracy moved to hug Beth.
    “So do I, sis.  So do I,” Tracy said.
    They returned to the lobby.  Grey and Blaze were off to one side talking privately, Davet already having departed for the room Grey generously procured for him.  Grey wouldn’t even entertain Davet’s insistence upon spending the night in his bus.
    “We have our rooms.  Unfortunately the restaurant has already closed but the clerk says the rooms have snacks and minibars so we should be able to find something to hold us over for the night,” Grey explained to the girls.  Then, putting his arm around Beth and pulling her close he whispered in her ear, “I know what’s on my menu,”
    “I’m exhausted anyway,” said Tracy.  “I may not even make it to the room.  Goodnight,