Lucien(18)
“A year’s respite from you.”
“My pleasure.”
“No,” Eleanor said quickly. “You’re not getting off that easily.” She lowered her voice to add, “I want you to help me.”
He’d most likely end up regretting this later, but he was in too good of a mood to care what scheme Eleanor had worked up that Luc would have to bend over backwards to fix. “With what?”
Eleanor snuck a peek at their grandfather then moved closer and gave Luc a serious look. “I’m tired of depending on him for an allowance. I want a job. A career. It’s time I make my own living.”
Of all the things he’d expected her to ask for help with—this was most definitely not on his list. “Are you serious?”
“Dead serious.”
He was shocked utterly stupid. This was absolutely the last thing he’d ever expected Eleanor to ask him for. “Let me get this straight. You want to work for a living. At a job. In an office. Making minimum wage.”
“Not minimum wage,” she huffed in annoyance. “I want you to give me a job at that company you’re buying in Texas.”
“I’m not looking to buy the company in Texas. Ben is.”
“You, Ben, what’s the difference? Just give me a job and help me get the hell out of here,” she hissed at him.
Luc almost laughed, but something in Eleanor’s eyes stopped him. She was serious. Really serious. Damn. He couldn’t shoot her down when for the first time in her life she was finally making a move to get out from underneath their grandfather’s thumb. “I won’t promise anything.”
“I know. All I ask is that you think about it.” Eleanor reached over and gave his arm a squeeze. “We can talk about it when I visit in a month.”
Luc groaned to himself. “Call before you show up, Eleanor.”
“Oh, of course,” she replied with a wave of her hand. “I wouldn’t want to interrupt your honeymoon at a most inopportune moment.”
Luc didn’t trust his twin as far as he could throw her. “No call, no help.”
“Aw, runt. You’re no fun.”
Thankfully the end of the meal came without any further requests for assistance from the women in his family and Luc was free to usher Elise out to his car. On the way to the door, he was surprised when Elise walked up to his grandfather and, of her own free will, hugged him. In the shocked silence that descended on the entrance way, he heard Elise whisper to the old man, “We’ll get along just fine, you and me. As long as you bow down to my dictate.”
His grandfather’s laughter echoed in the marble entranceway. “Get her out of here, son, before I start to like her.”
On a light laugh, Elise slipped from his grandfather and made the rounds, hugging his sisters and mother, then glided over to him and latched onto his arm. A minute later, they were out the door, heading for his car.
“How did I do?” she asked him as they strolled down the front walk.
Luc wrapped an arm around her shoulders and, pulling her close, pressed a kiss to the top of her head. “Darlin’, you did better than I ever could have expected.”
She giggled and snuggled closer. “Now, I know where you get your Lucifer look from. Your grandfather has it down pat.” She looked up at him. “You look a lot like him.”
“Is that good or bad?” He was grinning like an idiot but he didn’t give a damn.
“Oh, I think it’s good. Your grandfather is a very handsome man. It ought to make you feel better, knowing you’ll age well.” She laughed. “Can you imagine how well my mother and your grandfather are going to get along?”
Luc opened the car door for her. “Like oil and water.”
“Naw. Moonbeam’s a Fire sign. She may act like Libra, but deep down she’s a Leo. She’s gonna have fun with your grandfather and he’s gonna love every minute of it.”
Luc pulled her close for a kiss. “And what are you?”
Elise braced her hands on his shoulders and her fingers flexed against him, her nails digging into his body like sharp, little talons. “Fire. I’m an Aries.”
He cupped her cheek in his hand. “Then I guess it’s a good thing I’m not a Water sign,” he whispered then kissed her.
Elise responded as fiercely as she had in his office. It thrilled and terrified him. Thrilled him because she opened to him, meeting him with a passion he’d only dreamed of. Terrified him, because he sensed a fire in her he wasn’t sure he would survive. This was the second time he’d kissed her and he seriously doubted his control. If she kept him at arm’s length for more than a few more days, he would go stark raving mad.