The Rogue Hunter by Lynsay Sands Read Free Book Online Page B

rude of the man to take advantage and read him when he was vulnerable.
    "I'm Decker Pimms," Decker said, doing the honors and introducing them. "And this is Justin Bricker and Garrett Mortimer."
    Mortimer forced himself to stop scowling and nodded a grim greeting to the women.
    Helios were offered back and forth, and then Alex commented, "We heard your generator start up and thought we'd come ask you about it. We've been thinking of getting one for our cottage too, but…" She shrugged and then said, "They're very loud, aren't they?"
    "This generator came with the cottage. I don't think the newer models are as loud," Decker said quietly. "I'm sorry if it disturbed you."
    "Oh, not at all," Jo assured them. "It's no louder than the lawn mower, really. It just got our attention, and we thought we'd come say hello and share information."
    "What information?" Bricker asked curiously.
    "You know, about the power outage." Jo smiled, her eyes moving over the younger immortal with interest. "The official word is that the power should be back up again by eight o'clock tonight."
    "Mind you," Sam said wryly, "the official word when we first got up this morning was that it would be up by four p.m., so I wouldn't count on having power before tomorrow morning."
    "Is it always so unreliable up here?" Bricker asked with surprise.
    There was an exchange of glances and wry expressions among the three women, and then they all turned back and said as one, "Yes."
    "Hmm," Bricker muttered, and then asked, "You couldn't direct us to the local grocery store, could you? We thought we could pick up groceries here and didn't bring any."
    "Oh." Sam frowned and glanced at her sisters before saying, "I'm not sure it would still be open. Our grocery store back home is only open until four on Sundays and it's past that now."
    "They might stay open later because it's cottage country," Alex pointed out.
    "True, but I doubt they opened at all today if their power is out too," Sam countered.
    "Oh, they have to have generators in the grocery store," Jo protested. "Otherwise the food would go bad every time the power went down."
    "Yes," Sam agreed. "But they may only have generators hooked up to the refrigerators and freezers and not for the lights and cash registers. I'd think it would be terribly expensive to run the whole store on gas-powered generators."
    Jo clucked her tongue and muttered what sounded like "Gawd, you're such a lawyer."
    Sam rolled her eyes as if this was an oft-heard comment. She then forced a smile, grabbed her sisters by an arm each, and backed away saying, "Excuse us just one moment."
    Mortimer and the others exchanged glances as the women huddled together a few feet away and began to whisper frantically. It was a short powwow. Within seconds they were back to stand before the men.
    It was Jo who offered a wide smile and said, "We'd like to invite you to a power outage party."
    When the men stared back blankly, Sam explained, "We brought food with us. We always do and usually it's fine. The power rarely stays off for this long, but this time…" She shrugged. "It's probably better to eat it all than hope it lasts in the cooler until they manage to get the power back on. There's a lot of food. You're welcome to join us."
    "A lot?" Alex echoed with a snort, and then told them, "A week's worth. We have sausages, hot dogs, hamburgers, steaks, pork tenderloin… We have a lot of food."
    "I'm sure we won't eat a week's worth of food," Decker said with amusement.
    "But we'd be happy to join you in a power outage party," Bricker said quickly, obviously worried the man was about to do him out of a meal. "And you're welcome to store your meats and such in our refrigerator. After all, we didn't bring provisions up with us so there's plenty of room."
    "Oh. That's so sweet," Jo said, wide-eyed.
    "Yes, sweet," Mortimer said dryly, scowling at the younger man. He fully expected Decker to stomp on the offer, but he didn't.
    "Yes, it is sweet," Alex agreed,