Husband by Inheritance by Cara Colter

Author:Cara Colter
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Harlequin
Published: 2013-10-14T16:00:00+00:00

Chapter Six

“So, when is the apartment going to be available? Can I have a look at it?”

Abby didn’t dare look at Shane. And she didn’t want to be too obvious in her study of her prospective tenant, either, sitting across from both of them at the kitchen table. She and Shane had been interviewing prospective tenants for a week now, during Belle’s naptime.

Lola was almost completely bald, except for a purple strip of hair down the center of her head. She had three rings through her bottom lip, and more than Abby could count through her ears. The one through the eyebrow looked particularly painful.

“Did I mention I have a pet?” Lola asked, when no one answered her.

“No, I think you left that part out when I talked to you on the phone,” Shane said, his voice cool, a certain dangerous note in it that Lola seemed to miss completely.

“Oh, well, it’s not a dog or a cat or anything that smells and leaves hair all over the place. It’s an iguana. Iggy.”

Abby choked back her laughter. Shane glared at her.

“We don’t allow dogs and cats,” he said firmly. “Or reptiles.”

“That sucks.”

“Yeah, well, life does sometimes.”

Lola picked up her bag, stood up, glared regally at both of them, and said, “I think you’re discriminating against me because of my age. You’re just using Iggy as an excuse. I bet legally he doesn’t even qualify as a pet. I might sue.”

“Actually,” Shane said standing up and forming the policeman stance, “it’s only because of the iguana. You do share an entryway and a kitchen. Abby has a baby. She’s fussy about what crawls around on the floor with it.”

“A baby?” Lola said with abject horror. “I can’t stand babies. Thanks for wasting my time.” And she marched out of the kitchen.

Abby was able to contain herself until she heard the front door slam, and then the first giggle slipped out.

“Don’t,” he warned her.

She bit her lip. But her shoulders shook. Then she gave up. She put her head down on the table and laughed. She laughed until it hurt, and then suddenly realized he was laughing, too.

“Oh, Shane, when she said the part about smoking marijuana for medicinal purposes I thought you were going to place her under arrest.”

“I don’t have any jurisdiction in Oregon,” he said glumly. “Besides, I still was harboring this hope that maybe you could live with that if she knew what a fuse was.”

“And she thought—”

“It was a kind of bong.”

“I’m not even sure I know what that is, exactly,” Abby said. “Do you?”

“Ten years in law enforcement. Yeah, I know what a bong is. Drug paraphernalia.” His stern look melted and he seemed to realize how hilarious their encounters had been. Shane began to laugh.

His laughter was pure, wonderful, like light coming into a dark place.

“And she,” he managed to sputter, “was definitely the best of the candidates we’ve interviewed this week. How many?”

“Sixteen,” she said. “And she was not the best one. I could have lived with that lady who coughed so much.

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