“Is Ricky going to be all right on his own?” Rosalie asked, pulling Kolby into a hug in her bedroom.

  “Yeah. He’ll let me know if he needs help.”

  “Okay, I just don’t want him to get hurt.”

  “Me either. He’ll be fine. I’ll check on him in a couple of hours.”

  “Good.” Then she started to undress Kolby, and he smiled and helped her out of her clothes. First things first.

  A couple of hours later, Kolby woke. He checked his phone, but Ricky hadn’t texted him. Kolby sat up in bed and Rosalie looked at him. “Is there something wrong?” she asked.

  “No. Ricky didn’t text me about anything, but just to be sure, I’m going down to check on him.”

  “I’ll come with you.”

  “Sure.” Kolby left the bed and went to the door and opened it. Then he shifted and she did also, and the two of them went down the hall to the stairs. They ran down the stairs together and went to the basement door.

  Kolby shifted and opened the door, shifted again, then he ran down the stairs and Rosalie followed him. Ricky was sitting on the chair with his phone in his hand when he saw them running down the stairs as cougars to see him.

  Ricky smiled. “Nothing has happened yet. The two of you should be sleeping soundly. I’m all right. There’s not been a peep in the least.”

  Kolby shifted. “I’m afraid he’s been spooked.”

  “We’ll keep someone here at nights for a while. He might have decided there was just too much activity for him to return,” Ricky said.

  “Okay, we’re headed back to bed then.”

  “Good. I’m watching a great show on my cell.”

  Kolby shifted, then he and Rosalie returned to bed. They were so tired, though they still made love a second time. When the dawn came, Kolby was surprised he hadn’t awakened at some point to check on his brother again.

  He smelled bacon and eggs, and he realized Ricky was making them breakfast. Or maybe Eric was, though Kolby suspected he wouldn’t be up yet.

  He looked over at Rosalie. She was still sound asleep. He kissed her cheek. He knew he loved her already. He wanted this to be the way it was for them always—minus intruders and having to have deputy sheriffs staying the night to watch over them.

  He hurried to get dressed and Rosalie woke, looked at him with half shut eyes, ran her hands through her hair, and groaned. He came over and kissed her again. “Hey, sleepyhead. Someone’s fixing breakfast. You don’t have to see me off. You’re worn out.”

  She sighed, then took a deep breath. “Who’s making breakfast?”

  “Ricky or Eric, I figure.”

  She got out of bed and gave Kolby a hug. “Let’s go join them.” She hurried to get dressed and brush out her hair.

  “Does Eric cook?” Kolby asked.

  “Oh, yeah. I taught him when he was young. I believe in being self-sufficient and I wanted him to be able to prepare his own meals if I wasn’t around to cook them for him.”

  “That’s wise.”

  “But I also told him girls love it when a guy can cook, which he didn’t really believe. I suspect he’s still sleeping though,” Rosalie said.

  Kolby smiled. “He’s coming around on the idea for cooking for girls.”

  Rosalie laughed. “Good.”

  Once they were fully dressed, they headed downstairs to the kitchen and found Ricky cooking the breakfast. That’s what Kolby had suspected. “Morning. Thanks for making breakfast.”

  “You’re welcome. I figured you’d need to get into work early and since no one was up, I’d start breakfast. I thought Eric was supposed to begin working at the ranch part time.”

  “Once he’s finished some of the paintings he has orders for, and then I’ve got to start taking him in early with me to work for a few hours,” Kolby said.

  “That’s going to be a feat,” Rosalie said, “unless we can get him to bed earlier at night.”

  “Well, at least I was able to report back to Dan that we didn’t have any unwelcome visitors last night. He was glad in a way, but he also wanted to know for certain who has been breaking in,” Ricky said.

  They heard someone coming down the stairs and saw Eric carrying the kittens, looking tired. “I’m awake. I’ll go with you this morning to the ranch,” Eric said, setting the kittens on the floor, then rubbed his eyes. “Since I got up early enough to catch a ride. I have to be at the library painting all afternoon after lunch though.”

  “Yeah, sure thing.” Kolby helped set the table while Ricky dished out the food and Eric got everyone glasses of orange juice.

  Rosalie set mugs of coffee on the table. Then they all sat down to eat.

  “You’ll need some proper clothes for the job. We’ll loan you some things,” Kolby said to Eric. But he was thinking that would make great birthday gifts too.

  Rosalie looked at him and he suspected she was either thinking the same thing or maybe she had gotten some for Eric already.

  “Are you going to be all right by yourself?” Kolby asked Rosalie.

  “Yeah, I’ll be fine,” Rosalie said. “No problem at all. If anything happens at all, I’ll be calling right away.”

  “I can stay for the day and sleep on one of your sofas,” Ricky said, as he and everyone else finished off their breakfast.

  “No really, I’ll be fine.”

  “All right,” Kolby said. They started getting ready to leave.

  Ricky and Eric told her goodbye and then they went out to the Jeep so Rosalie and Kolby could have a moment alone. “I got Eric some clothes for working on the ranch for his birthday,” Rosalie said.

  “I figured that’s what that look was all about. I’ll loan him some things if he needs anything.”

  “Okay, thanks.”

  “If you see anything at all that’s a problem, just give me a call right away.”

  “I will. I promise,” she said.

  Then he kissed her, and she kissed him back. Dinnertime wouldn’t come soon enough.

  12

  Rosalie cleaned up the dishes from breakfast and was kind of glad to have the day to herself. Eric was practically with her all the time, even if he was in his bedroom half the time, and now in his own art studio. She almost felt like an empty nester. She was so glad Eric wanted to work at the ranch. It was so good for him to be around other guys who could act as big brothers to him.

  She carried the kittens into the large cordoned off area in one of the meeting rooms Eric had created so that they didn’t lose them in the huge mansion while they were working or having people in and out of the place. She couldn’t believe what a nice job of it that Eric had done. Water dishes, food dishes, cardboard boxes and a paper sack, little cat beds, though they slept together, and drank and ate from the same dish, the climbing tower, blankets to curl up on, or slip underneath, litter boxes, and their toys were all laid out in their “room.”

  She ascended the stairs to the second floor and walked down the hall to a door that led to stairs in the attic. She paused, hoping it wouldn’t be full of spiderwebs and creepy crawly things. After opening the door, she saw that the attic actually had a light switch. Great! She turned on the light and headed up the stairs, creaking with her every footfall. When she reached the attic room, she found a steamer and a humpback trunk. So cool. An antique wrought iron crib sat in one corner of the expansive room, and light filtered in through the dirty dormer windows, showing off all the dust floating in the air.

  She hurried over to one of the trunks and lifted the lid. Inside, she found antique hat boxes and other vintage wear. Lace gowns, Victorian hats. She might even be able to use some of this for later parties. Then she found a velvet box of jewelry—a pearl necklace, pearl clip-on earrings, and emerald necklace and bracelet, but then she saw a gold locket and pulled it out of the box. When she opened it up, she saw a picture of a young man and woman, most likely Max and Charity.

  Rosalie slipped the necklace over her head and set the jewelry box aside. Then she discovered another box, this one filled with photos. In the steamer, she saw tons of antique clothes. Again, she thought they could be fun for dress up.

  She took both the box of photos and the jewelry downstairs, then closed the door to the attic stairs.

  Once she reached the first floor, she went to one of the dining room tables in the smaller of the two dining rooms and spread out the photos. On the back of each, dates and people’s names were recorded, which sure helped! Even her dad’s photo was there when he was a baby with his mom and dad. She was sad to see him and missed him. But she was also sad that Eric didn’t have any early photos of his parents. Though she didn’t have any of her mom either.

  She glanced at the wall clock and realized if she didn’t get to work, she wasn’t going to get anything done. She went into the kitchen, made Earl Grey tea and filled a thermos, then filled another with ice and water, took them into her office, and sat down to write. Today would be a productive writing day. She just knew it.

  Then she got to work on her writing. Later, she would wrap Eric’s birthday presents. Her doorbell rang and she looked at her phone. Good. A delivery.

  She hurried off to the front door and found the packages she’d been waiting for. Blue balloons, water balloons, streamers, party favors for all the kids—invisible ink, waterproof pens, notepads, packages of chocolate candy, and party-favor canvas bags.

  She put all the items in the living room on the coffee table. Eric could help her put the bags together for the other teens. She’d do it, but she knew he’d like to be involved, since he’d picked out the party favors for the others.

  “Oh, no.” She’d forgotten all about ordering a cake for her brother’s birthday. She called Mrs. Fitz and asked if she could place an order for a cake for her brother for his sixteen-year-old birthday party.

  “Absolutely. I’ll let you talk to Ava about the particulars. Oh, and because you’re back at the mansion, I’ll bring the pastries for breakfast, but I’ll add one for Hal—his favorite, since I hear he’ll be on security duty over there—and Kolby.”

  “You really don’t have to.”

  “I want to.”

  “Okay, thanks.” Then Ava got on the line, and Rosalie said, “I need to order a chocolate birthday cake for my brother who will be sixteen tomorrow. I should have ordered it earlier”—she felt bad that she hadn’t remembered to do it before this—“but things have been rather hectic around here. If you can’t make one in time, I’ll understand.”

  “It’s no trouble at all. May I make a suggestion?” Ava asked.

  “Oh, absolutely.”

  Ava was the pastry chef after all. “We could make the cake into a 1950s Chevrolet Impala with a big license plate and car keys.”

  “Ohmigod, that would be too cute.”

  “Do you think that would be okay for him? Or do you think he’d like a pickup truck better?” Ava asked.

  “How about a Jeep? Eric loves Kolby’s Jeep,” Rosalie said.

  “A Jeep it is. What time do you need it by?”

  “The party’s at six, so can I pick it up before then?”

  “Sure, or one of the moms who is dropping off some of the teens for the birthday party can bring it to you. That’ll save you a trip.”

  “Oh, thanks so much. If it wasn’t that I’ve had so much going on—” Rosalie really was embarrassed that she’d waited so long and had nearly forgotten it.

  “I know. Especially with the intruder bothering you.”

  “Yeah, that’s been nerve wracking.”

  “I don’t think you’ll have much trouble with him. He seems nice enough. If it’s him.”

  “What?” Rosalie was stunned by Ava’s comment. Had Ava known all along who it was and was keeping it secret for some reason–until now because she’d slipped up?

  Dead silence. “Oh, God, I’m so sorry. I guess I had a premonition about it. It happens sometimes and they just pop into my head. Uhm, yeah, I sense the man wants to speak with Eric.”

  “Who is he?” Chill bumps raced up Rosalie’s spine.

  “I don’t know. Only that he wants to talk to Eric.”

  “Is he human? A shifter?”

  “I don’t know. Sorry. I just see him at your front door asking you if he can speak with Eric.”

  “Can you see his face?” Rosalie had to know who he was.

  “No. He’s tall and dark haired, broad-shouldered, wearing a shirt, jeans, hiking boots, and a lightweight, black jacket. Nothing that gives me any indication of who he is or where he’s from.”

  Rosalie thought it was less scary knowing the man just wanted to speak to Eric, though why, she couldn’t fathom. “Why has he been coming to the mansion and breaking into the basement then, if he just wanted to speak with my brother?”

  “That I don’t know. All I know is the man knocks on your front door and you answer it. I don’t know if Kolby is there with you, or you allow this guy to speak to Eric, or even if Eric is at the mansion at the time. I can’t tell the season, like if it’s fall or winter, summer, spring. All I see is him at your door and you open it to him.”

  “Do I think it’s a delivery man?”

  “I don’t know. I would just be cautious of opening the door to anyone.”

  “Okay, thanks.” Rosalie needed to look out the windows and not just assume whoever had arrived was helping to install or deliver something. She’d had so many deliveries or men over there to help her out, she was getting lax.

  “I’ll let Nina know about what I’ve seen. Sometimes my sister will have a different premonition that is more detailed about the same event than I have, or vice versa. She’ll call you. Since she’s a deputy sheriff, she’ll tell Dan and the rest of them who work with her about it,” Ava said.

  “Okay, thanks.” God, what could this be about?

  “In the meantime, I’m off to make a Jeep cake. Oh, what color would you like it to be?”

  “Light blue. That’s Eric’s favorite color.”

  “You got it.”

  “Thanks.” Then Rosalie went into her office and got online to pay for the cake. After that, she called Kolby, “Hey, I just spoke to Ava. I’d forgotten to order Eric’s birthday cake. Ava had a vision regarding who the intruder is. She’s going to speak to her sister to see if she had a vision too. Nina will let me know if she has any about the intruder. Also, Nina will pass the information on to the other deputy sheriffs and Dan.”

  Kolby listened while Rosalie told him the rest of what had been said, then he said, “Okay, so who do you know from your past who looks like that who would want to talk to Eric?”

  “Nobody. Eric didn’t attend school in Loveland. He homeschooled, so he wouldn’t have anyone looking for him who’d been a friend or teacher. Eric didn’t really have friends there. He isolated himself from everyone but me, mostly because of us being shifters.”

  “You don’t have any family left?”

  “Uh, his father, but he left Eric’s mother before Eric was born and moved back to Alaska where he was from. He’s never had any contact with Eric.”

  “But Eric’s nearly sixteen.”

  “I know that!” Rosalie couldn’t help being angered by it. If Eric’s father was showing up now because he learned Eric’s mother and stepfather had died nearly six years ago, or because he knew but he hadn’t wanted to raise a ten-year-old on his own—well, he just better not plan to take Eric away from here. Though she didn’t know if the intruder was him at all, so she shouldn’t be borrowing trouble.

  “If it is his father—” Kolby said.

  She ground her teeth.

  “Then Eric needs to speak with him, if he wants to, but we need to be there in case he tries to take him with him back to Alaska? Right?”

  “Yeah.” God, what if Eric wanted to go with his dad and get to know him and do all the fun stuff a teen could do up there. Hunt? Fish? Hike? See all the sights in the wilderness? Polar bears? Eric could have a ball up there.

  She let out her breath on a heavy sigh. She had to think of Eric and what he really wanted to do. What if he went with his dad just to see the place and visit with him for a bit, but when he planned to return home, his dad wouldn’t let him go? He was still his dad. She was just his grown stepsister.

  Though she had looked into adopting him right from the outset. The problem had been that she had needed to locate his father to obtain his consent to forfeit his son so she could adopt Eric. Without that, she couldn’t do it. So they had just lived as siblings, and she had raised him.

  On the other hand, if Eric wanted to get to know his father and maybe even meet more snow leopards like himself if there were any up there still, then she had to let him leave. It would kill her though. She wasn’t ready to let him go.

  “Okay, well, we’ll work things out one way or another, Rosalie, darling. Don’t stress over it. Ava didn’t have any idea when the guy would actually knock on your door, so it could be a month from now.”

  “Or tomorrow, when we celebrate Eric’s birthday.”

  “I’ll be there with you all day.”

  “Are you sure Ted can afford to miss you?”

  “Yeah. I already talked to Hal and Ted about this situation if it seemed the guy isn’t going to give up on sneaking into your mansion. With this new news, I’m staying until he comes. One thing that Ava might not have said because she doesn’t want to assure someone when her visions will actually come to pass, but they usually occur fairly soon after she’s had them. It wouldn’t be spring, summer, winter even. More likely it’ll be sometime in the next few weeks.”

  Rosalie was betting on tomorrow—Eric’s birthday.

  “I can come home now if you need me too.”

  “No, that’s okay. I’m going to get back to work on my story.”

  “All right. If anyone comes to the door, let me know at once. Don’t answer it unless it’s someone you know.”

  She smiled. “I won’t.”

  “I’ll try to be home early for dinner.”

  Boy, if that didn’t sound like he lived here already. And she loved the notion. Then she got back to work on her story, glad Kolby and the others were in her and Eric’s lives now. When it was finally time for lunch, she wondered if Eric was coming home for lunch or staying at the ranch and having it with the guys.