"I can't read you," Nicholas admitted with bemusement.
"Read me?" she asked with confusion.
Nicholas merely shook his head and tried again to penetrate her thoughts, but again he came up against a blank wall... which could mean only one thing: She was his life mate. It was a shocking revelation. Some immortals only ever met one life mate in a lifetime. Some found and lost one and then waited centuries, even millennia to meet another. Nicholas had found his first life mate fifty years ago and lost her a few short months later. Truthfully, he'd never thought he'd encounter another. He hadn't thought he'd live that long.
"Oh jeez, not you too."
Nicholas blinked his thoughts away and quirked one eyebrow in question. "Not me too what?"
"The penis-eye thing," she muttered.
"Penis-eye thing?" he asked with complete confusion. It was a term he had never heard before.
She shifted impatiently, but explained, "Sam is holding a party tonight to introduce my sister Alex and me to some of Mortimer's friends. They're all male, and every single time one of them has been introduced to us, they stop and stare at our foreheads like we've got penises growing out of them."
"Ah," Nicholas murmured, and had to hide the smile that wanted to creep across his face. The desire to smile died as he realized he was actually having it. Nicholas hadn't had anything to smile about in a very long time. Clearing his throat, he asked, "And what happens after they stare at your foreheads?"
She shrugged, managing to look even more irritated. "They wander off without a word and talk to each other. Right now there are probably twelve decent-looking guys in the house all talking to each other while Alex is either standing by herself or is talking to Sam and Mortimer." She pursed her lips briefly and then admitted, "I think they're g*y."
Nicholas raised his other eyebrow. "Sam and Mortimer?"
"What?" she asked with amazement and then clucked her tongue impatiently. "No. Sam is my sister, Samantha. She and Mortimer are a couple."
"I see," Nicholas murmured, and then offered, "My apologies for giving you the penis-eye look."
"Hmm," she murmured, and started to turn back toward Ernie.
"What's your name?" Nicholas asked, drawing her attention back to him.
She turned back, but merely arched an eyebrow and pointed out, "I asked you that very thing several minutes ago and you still haven't answered me."
"Nicholas Argeneau," he said quietly, and waited for a gasp of horror, or for disgust to enter her eyes. Instead, she held out her hand.
"Nice to meet you Nicholas Argeneau. I'm Jo Willan."
"Jo," he murmured, and thought it suited her. "Short for Josephine?"
She wrinkled her nose, but nodded. "I hate that name."
"I like it fine," he said, and then added, "But Jo suits you better."
She laughed at that. "You hardly know me. How could you know whether it suits me or not?"
"I know," he said solemnly.
She peered at him in silence for a moment, then shook her head and glanced away muttering, "Must have hit my head harder than I thought."
"Why do you say that?" Nicholas asked, eyes narrowing. "Are you having pain? Double vision?"
"No," Jo said quickly, and then grimaced and admitted, "Well, my vision is acting up. I could have sworn that guy had glowing gold eyes and fangs a minute ago, and just now your .eyes kind of looked like they were glowing silver."
Nicholas relaxed. There was nothing wrong with her vision, but while her lack of reaction told him she had no idea who he was, this comment made it obvious she knew nothing about the people in the house she was visiting. She was an uninitiated mortal, completely ignorant of the fact that immortals walked among them.
Recalling that she'd mentioned a party here to night, he asked, "Why are you at this party?"
Jo shrugged and smiled wryly as she admitted, "Because my sister Sam would have skinned me alive if I'd tried to duck out on it."
"Your sister Sam?" he asked. "You said she was Mortimer's friend?"