“No, that would be fine.”
“I’ll probably take Captain out to the garden for a while too.”
Hugh nodded. “Enjoy the sun while you can?”
“Exactly.”
“Good plan. I’ll see you this evening then.” With a nod, he left.
She almost stopped him to ask for a kiss, then thought better of it. She didn’t want him to have to say no.
Stanhill was an eager companion, gladly taking her to the store and even keeping her company in the kitchen while she worked. She wondered if he was hanging close to act as a buffer in case Hugh changed his mind about staying away. Or maybe Stanhill knew she needed the company to keep her mind off the two nights that lay ahead.
“It’ll be all right, miss.”
“What’s that?” She pulled herself out of her thoughts.
Stanhill was icing the last of the stars, outlining them in royal icing like she’d showed him. “You hadn’t said anything in a little bit. I thought maybe you were thinking about…what could happen.”
“I was. A little.” She shrugged and smiled, then shook it off and went to inspect his work. “Not bad for your first time. Nice straight lines, good evenness.” She patted his shoulder. “I might have to hire you. I’m going to have a shop of my own someday, you know.”
“Like the shop Didi promised you?”
She nodded. “That never would have worked out anyway.”
“Why’s that?”
She made a face. “Um, because she would have used that shop as leverage to bend me to her whims. Can you imagine? No, thank you.”
He laughed. “You’re a smart cookie. No pun intended.”
She grinned. “Does Hugh like tiramisu?”
“He does.” Stanhill waggled his brows. “I don’t hate it either.”
“Good. I’ll make that tomorrow.” Her tiramisu took time, and she’d have another day to spend away from Hugh tomorrow, so why not? She’d rather spend the day with Hugh, but since that wasn’t an option, tiramisu it was. “We’ll take another run to the store after I get up, then. Okay?”
He nodded. “Excellent plan.” An enormous smile came over his face. “You’ll be a rook tomorrow, just like me.”
“That’s right.” And only one more night away from the rest of her life.
Or the end of it.
The day seemed like it would never end, made worse by the fact that Hugh could hear Delaney and Stanhill one floor above him, laughing and having fun. He shouldn’t miss her like this when they were in the same house together, but that was part of the turning.
He’d felt like this with Juliette too.
Correction, he’d felt some of this with Juliette. The longing for Delaney was almost crippling. He’d spent the entire day in his lab and accomplished nothing. Well, he’d reread every book that dealt with turning a mortal into a vampire and found nothing new. After that, he’d broken a test tube, ruining his most current working formula and then left another beaker on the flame too long, turning a new batch of formula to syrup.
He would be useless until this was over.
Fortunately, he could feel the sun set. That was something the amulet had suppressed—that inherent sense of the sun’s rise and fall. It had still been there, but muted as if turned to the lowest setting.
Now it was like a switch had been flipped off. The subtle itch that rode his skin while the sun was up disappeared, replaced by the calm of evening. After Delaney fell sleep this evening, he would go out. Visit Sebastian and see how the plans he’d set into motion were coming.
Anything to put some room between him and his bride-to-be.
He cleaned up the mess he’d made and went upstairs.
Stanhill stood at the sink washing cookie sheets, and Delaney was by the table, folding a thick piece of waxed white cardboard into the shape of a box. Wire racks held dozens of iced and sugared stars, and the kitchen smelled of vanilla.
“How was your day?”
She looked up and smiled, and his entire being relaxed. “Hi there. It was great. Stanhill and I made sugar cookies. I’m boxing them up now so you can take them to the lady who’s helping us. How was your day?”
Horrible. Lonely. “Fine.”
“Good. Did you get a lot done?”
Not a thing. “Enough.”
“That’s good. Let me just box these up, and we can…do what we’re going to do.” With a wink, she went back to her work. She taped the sides of the box, then started carefully arranging the cookies into it, putting a sheet of wax paper between each layer.
“Stanhill, I need you here tonight.” He didn’t want Delaney alone in the house, not when she’d be incapacitated by the second bite.