When Sparks Fly by Autumn Dawn Read Free Book Online Page B

lately, trying new recipes for
sodas and ales. At least that’s what Gem hoped she was doing. For
all she knew, Brandy was carrying on an affair with the
brewmaster.
    Gem frowned and decided to take a walk
through the distillery later. A girl ought to know what was going
on in her inn.
    Her family’s private apartments were on the
south side of the inn, above the office. Each sister had her own
bedroom, and they shared the sitting room. Their father’s room
remained vacant. They dusted it from time to time, but that was it.
Gem supposed whichever of them married first would take it
over.
    It suddenly occurred to her that Xera might
not come back. It was very possible that she would find a man in
the GE and settle down somewhere else, maybe even off-planet. Her
sister Brandy showed no signs of doing so, but what if she left
also? Gem would be stuck alone in the old family suite, no husband
in sight. What a depressing thought!
    Shaking it off, she left her room and headed
for the private stairs that let out by her office. Opening the door
at the bottom, she froze. She’d locked her office door but now it
stood open. Someone was inside.
    She glanced over at the kitchen, which was
full of people coming and going. That, to her mind, narrowed the
suspects. A peek around the corner confirmed her suspicions:
Blue.
    He glanced her way as she pushed the door
wide, then continued fishing things out of his box and laying them
on her desk. Packing material was scattered around like confetti,
along with bits of electronic equipment. Zsak was there, too, and
he was preparing to drill a hole in her wall.
    “Hold it!” Gem thundered. “What do you think
you’re doing?”
    Zsak was standing on a ladder with his power
tool, poised to do untold damage. He lowered the drill at her
bellow. “Wow! You look tasty,” he said with appreciation. She
ignored him.
    Blue leaned his hip against her desk and
crossed his arms. “Setting up your security system. I assumed you’d
want it centralized in your office. We need a place to monitor
everything.”
    “I don’t think so! You’re not turning my
office into some kind of…of…” The idea of Blue and his overgrown
buddy constantly underfoot was unacceptable. “Find someplace
else.”
    “Okaaay. Which one of the guest rooms do you
want me to use?”
    She glowered at him. “None of them. They’re
all let out.”
    “You have forty rooms here!”
    “And they’re all in use,” she repeated. In
fact, she was making plans to build a new inn on the other side of
the property. They certainly had the demand. “We’re at full
capacity. Go use the potting shed or something,” she grumbled.
    “Unacceptable.”
    She huffed. “Look, if I’d realized your
little project was going to cause so many problems…”
    “We’re not doing this slipshod, girlie,” he
said sternly. “We need a room to work in, something with access
limited to a very few people. What else do you have?”
    “The only other spot is our private suite,
and I’m not interested in you tromping in and out of that at all
hours.”
    “You’d rather be shot?” he asked politely.
“You did approve this list and spend a bundle on this stuff, and
we’ve already installed the cameras and sensors. We can’t return
them.”
    Sometimes she hated him. This whole thing
was being blown far out of proportion, considering there hadn’t
been any new attempts today…But he was right: She’d paid for the
stuff and wasn’t one to waste assets. “Fine. You can use my
father’s room. But I want to know exactly what you’re going to do
before you do it. Everything.”
    “Well, first Zsak is going to run to the
bathroom. Then we’ll do a perimeter check…”
    “To the room,” she said crossly, knowing he
was deliberately misunderstanding. “I have to check on things in
the banquet hall, but then I’ll be up to supervise. Don’t make any
holes in the wall until I arrive.”
    “Yes, ma’am.” Zsak saluted her with