Stephanie suddenly grinned and admitted, "I'm not Yoda or something. I'm just repeating what Marguerite said to you."
"She did say that, but I wasn't thinking it," Drina said with a frown.
"Yeah, you are. It's nagging at the back of your mind and probably has been since she said it. That and the thought that it just figured you'd finally encounter your life mate, and instead of it being easy like you'd expect finding an immortal life mate should be, it's going to be even more delicate than it would be were he mortal." She grimaced. "I know the feeling."
"Do you?" Drina asked quietly.
"Oh, yeah. Nothing lives up to your expectations," she muttered, then grimaced and said, "Like, before . . . when I was human, I used to fantasize what it would be like to be, you know, different. Special. I even once or twice fantasized about what it would be like to be a vampire. I thought it would be so cool. Strong, smart . . . no one would pick on you, no one could make you do anything you didn't want and all that bull." She sighed and shook her head. "It isn't like that at all. Sure, I'm stronger, and the kids at school couldn't pick on me, but I'm not in school, am I? And there seem to be even more problems than when I was human."
"You're still human, Steffie," Drina said quietly, feeling for the kid. Marguerite had told her all about the girl as part of her effort to convince her to accept the assignment. She knew that last summer Stephanie had been a happy, healthy mortal with her whole life ahead of her . . . until she and her older sister, Dani, had been taken from a grocery-store parking lot in cottage country by a group of no-fangers. The girl had been terrorized and turned against her will, and now her whole life had changed. While Lucian and his men had rescued her, she was now Edentate, immortal but without fangs, and she could not return to her previous life. Like Dorothy caught up in a tornado and dropped in Oz, Stephanie had lost her family and friends and been dropped in the middle of an entirely different life not of her choosing. She'd had a rough shake and didn't deserve what had happened to her. And Drina wasn't at all surprised this wasn't what the girl had envisioned when she'd imagined the impossible fantasy of being a vampire.
Realizing that the girl was staring at her oddly, she asked uncertainly, "What?"
"My brothers and sisters always call me Steffie."
"Oh, sorry," Drina muttered. Her brother's name was Stephano and she always called him Steff. She supposed she'd just automatically turned it feminine.
"Your brother's name is Stephano?" the girl asked with interest. Stifling a yawn, she lay back in the bed. "You'll have to tell me about him, but tomorrow. I'm really tired now. Sometimes, this reading-thoughts business is exhausting. Good night."
"Good night," Drina murmured, as the girl rolled onto her side away from her and settled into her bed. She then hesitated a moment, considering whether she should take the time to change now or just turn off the light so the girl could get to sleep.
"Go ahead. The light doesn't bother me," Stephanie mumbled. "Besides, while I know you don't think you'll sleep, you'll stand a better chance of doing so if you're more comfortable."
Drina shook her head and stood to grab her suitcase and toss it on the bed. She wasn't used to having someone reading her mind. She was old enough most people couldn't. And she definitely didn't like it. She would have to guard her thoughts more carefully, she supposed, and then stopped thinking altogether and just concentrated on quickly changing into a pair of white joggers and an equally white tank top.
"Good night," Stephanie mumbled, as Drina closed her suitcase and set it back on the floor.
"Good night," she whispered back and crawled into bed, then turned out the light and lay down. Even as she did, Drina knew she was about to spend a very long night fretting over what to do about Harpernus Stoyan. She'd heard of reluctant mortal life mates, but this was really one for the record books. Only she could wind up with a reluctant vampire life mate.
Harper didn't think he'd been asleep long when he was suddenly awake again. Frowning, he peered toward the window, noting the sliver of bright sunlight trying to creep around the edges of the blackout blinds. He listened for what might have disturbed him, but silence curled around him like a blanket. He was actually dozing off again when a muffled peel of laughter brought his eyes open once more.
Frowning, he sat up and listened more intently, but the house was silent, without even the sounds of creaking stairs or floorboards reaching his ears. No one was moving around inside the house, he decided, but then another laugh reached his ears, and he turned toward the window, where he was sure the sound had come from. Harper peered at the blinds for a moment and then slid out of bed and padded across the floor to the window, which looked out over the garage and driveway at the back of the house.
Sunlight streamed in the moment he tugged one of the slats down, and Harper blinked against it, squinting until his eyes adjusted. He then scanned what he could see of the driveway and backyard. It was a moment before he found the source of the sounds he'd heard, and then Drina came into view on the sidewalk beside the garage. She was slip-sliding her way toward the driveway, her running shoes giving her no traction on the icy concrete. Her clumsy efforts elicited another peel of amusement from somewhere out of sight.
Stephanie, Harper decided, sure it was the girl even though he couldn't yet see her. Turning his gaze back to Drina, he frowned as he took in her winter wear. She wore jeans, which were fine, but the running shoes were completely unsuitable, and her coat was far too lightweight for this weather. She also had no gloves or hat on, which suggested to him that she hadn't been prepared for a Canadian winter when she'd set out on her journey from Spain.
She'd probably thought she would just attend the weddings in New York, spending most of her time in the hotel, the church, or cars and wouldn't need heavier gear, he thought, and then winced as a snowball suddenly shot from somewhere off to the side and slammed into the back of Drina's head. The hit took her completely by surprise and made her jerk. In the next moment, her feet went out from beneath her and she was on her behind on the icy concrete. She was also cursing a blue streak in Spanish that he could hear even over Stephanie's uproarious laughter.
Concern rushing through him, Harper let the blind slat slip back into place and hurried out of the room, pausing just long enough to pull on a pair of jeans as he went. Once downstairs, he almost rushed outside bare-chested and in just the jeans, but the chill that hit him when he opened the kitchen door, and the sight of the snow-laced screen door, made him rethink that and hurry to the closet in the pantry. Still, he was quick about pulling on boots and a coat, and didn't bother doing up either before rushing back through the kitchen and out onto the deck.
The walkway was empty, and there was no sign of either female as he crossed the deck. For one moment, Harper could almost have believed he'd imagined the whole thing he'd seen from his window, but then he spotted where the snow had been disturbed by Drina's fall, as well as the footprints leading around to the driveway. He followed them quickly around the garage, and stopped abruptly. Stephanie was in the front passenger seat of the SUV, bent over and peering at something under the driver's side, but it was Drina's derriere waving around in the open driver's door as she fiddled with something under the dashboard that brought him to a halt.
The woman's butt was snow-covered and bobbing about like an apple on a river's surface as she worked at whatever she was doing. It was an interesting sight, he decided, and then gave his head a shake and continued forward, becoming aware of their conversation as he approached.
"Are you sure you know what you're doing?" Stephanie was asking, half-amused and half-worried. "I could always just creep in and find the keys."
"I have done this before," Drina assured her from under the dashboard, her voice sounding annoyed. "I can do this. It is just that your cars seem to be wired differently than ours in Europe."
Stephanie snorted at the claim. "I hardly think they wire them differently. How long ago did you last do this?"
"Twenty years or so," Drina admitted in a mutter, and then cursed in Spanish, and added determinedly, "I can do this. We will go shopping."
"Is there something I can help you ladies with?" Harper asked, pausing behind Drina's bobbing derriere and just resisting the urge to brush the snow from it. Really, her butt must be cold, encased in snow like that.
Stephanie glanced to him wide-eyed, but Drina stiffened, her bobbing stopping altogether. She stayed frozen for a moment, jerked her head upward, cursed as it slammed into the steering wheel, and muttered under her breath as she backed out of the vehicle. Of course, he was right behind her and didn't move out of the way quickly enough. Her rear end rammed into his groin, and she trod on his feet.
Gasping an apology, Drina immediately stumbled forward again to get off him, lost her footing, and started to go down. In his effort to save her from the fall, Harper managed to get his own feet tangled up with hers and found himself crashing to the icy pavement with her.