Free 4 Big Easy Hunter by Maddie Cochere Page A

“Mick mentioned it.”
    “He did?” I asked with surprise. “I never said anything to him.”
    “You didn’t have to. Mick said you looked at every kitchen through the eyes of how it would be to cook here with Darby , and every house through the eyes of how long it would take Darby to get over here .”
    “Oh my gosh,” I laughed. “I did do that. Poor Mick.”
    “But, Susan, he loves you enough to have bought the apartment building and make all of those amazing changes. He’s really a great guy.”
    “I know,” I whispered happily. “But if you and Nate ever move, I’ll kill you,” I said with a finger pointed in his face.
    He chuckled, threw his hands up in self-defense, and said, “Don’t worry, we’re not going anywhere.”
    And with that, a naked and sputtering Nate, came running out the door, plummeted down the stairs, and face planted into the ground.
    Three hours later, I was letting myself into my suite at the Royal Sonesta hotel in downtown New Orleans.
     

Chapter Seven
     
    “There’s so much to choose from. What do you guys want to do?” I asked Darby and Nate.
    We were perusing four large poster boards on easels. Each was headlined by a day of the week – Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday. Events were listed, and we were to write our names under the activities we wanted to participate in. Everything already appeared crowded as we were late arriving at LeBlond Plantation in the northeastern part of the city, and we seemed to be the last of the guests adding our names to the boards.
    Poor Nate had to be taken to the hospital last night. The race down the porch steps and the subsequent fall in the yard had bestowed a broken nose upon him. Darby grabbed some clothing for him, but he refused to go back into the house. Aunt Sony did her best to tell Nate her mother didn’t mean to frighten him, but he was too freaked out to stay. We promised Aunt Sony we would stop out to visit and have lemonade one more time before saying good-bye and heading for home.
    In the emergency room, Nate told us he had awakened and realized Darby wasn’t in the room. He peeked out the bedroom door, and as no one was around, he crept au naturel over to the bathroom to use the facilities. Just as he was finishing, he was enveloped in a shroud of roses, and the water in the bathtub came on. That’s when he took off running through the house, out the front door, and tripped when he reached the bottom of the porch steps. If he hadn’t looked so pitiful, I know I would have died from laughter right there in the emergency waiting room. Darby moved over beside him and put an arm around his shoulders in an effort to console him.
    We eventually checked in to two lovely suites at 5:45 in the morning. At 9:00 Darby was banging on my door. I had left a do not disturb notice on the hotel telephone and had turned off my cell phone.
    “What?” I asked crankily as I opened the door in my pajamas.
    “Good morning, Sunshine,” Darby said cheerfully.
    “What is wrong with you?” I asked pointedly as I stumbled back into the room and flopped face first back onto the bed. How could he possibly be so happy after so little sleep?
    “Susan, honey, get up. With traffic, we’re looking at a half hour drive out to the plantation, and it’s going to be hard enough to get there by 10:00.” He walked into the bathroom and turned on the shower. He came back out to stare at me on the bed. “Susan, get ready. I’m going to go find some coffee for you. We can all catch up on our sleep tonight. Come on – off the bed!”
    I dragged myself into a standing position and gave him a little wave as I dragged myself into the bathroom and shut the door. I stripped down, stepped into the shower, and promptly let out a loud yelp. He had only turned on the cold water, and I hadn’t stuck a hand in first to check the temperature. If I could have seen into the other room, I would have bet money he was still standing there and laughing at