"I-Yes," she breathed, her eyes automatically moving to the store her friend had disappeared into.
"Well, don't miss the shuttle. I'd have to head my boat up there to fetch you back for our date."
Carolyn gave a nervous laugh and closed her eyes, trying to figure out how to handle this. It wasn't exactly something she often dealt with. Okay, so she'd never handled anything like this before. What was she supposed to say? Gee, Jack, that's really sweet, but Christian screwed me silly last night and I'd feel kind of uncomfortable going out with you now.
"Uh-oh, the tourists are back. I have to get off, but-"
"The tourists?" she interrupted. "You're on a cruise now?"
"Soufriere again," he answered. "It's not nearly as much fun without you by the way."
Carolyn winced. "If you're on the boat, how did you get my number from Genie?"
Jack chuckled. "A little thing called a cell phone."
"Of course," Carolyn murmured, feeling stupid, but then she probably was stupid at the moment. Low blood sugar, she recalled. She had all the other symptoms again:
the disorientation, clumsiness, and, apparently, decreased intelligence.
"I really have to go, beautiful. I just wanted to make sure you knew what time to expect me. I'll pick you up at your villa at six," he announced, and then rang off with a cheery, "Have fun shopping," before she could say anything.
Carolyn pulled the phone from her ear and stared at it blankly. She then checked her recent calls, but his showed up as an unknown caller. She couldn't call him back to cancel, she realized, dismay creeping over her.
"What do you mean she was gone when you woke up?"
Marguerite trailed Christian into the kitchen as he went to the fridge.
"Just what I said," he snapped, retrieving a bag of blood. "I woke up and she was gone. "
"Well, did you go after her?" Marguerite asked with concern as he slapped the bag to his fangs.
"He's been down to the villa at least a dozen times that I know of and I've only been up the last two hours," Gia answered quietly, drawing Marguerite's attention. "But she's been out all day. Her things are still there though."
"Then she hasn't run," Marguerite said with relief and turned back to Christian.
"What did she say when you talked to her?"
He grimaced around the bag in his mouth and it was his father who answered. Eyes narrowed on his face, Julius growled, "He didn't talk to her."
"What?" she gasped and turned piercing eyes on Christian herself. He just stood there and let her ruffle her way through his thoughts and memories, too weary to care until she cried, "You idiot!"
Startled, Christian stared at her over the bag.
"I'm sorry. I love you and you're not an idiot," she said at once, and then paced a couple of steps away before whirling back to add, "But you are an idiot."
Christian just blinked at her. He wasn't an idiot, but he was? Nice. Thanks, Mom, he thought.
"I'm sorry," she repeated, moving back to pat his shoulder.
"I meant that not talking to her was idiotic. Christian, this is too important to mess up like this. You could lose her. You need to-"
"I know," he interrupted, tearing the now empty bag from his fangs. "I should have talked to her. And I meant to. It just..." He grimaced. "It got away from me. I wasn't expecting it to be so..."
"I tried to warn you," Julius said solemnly. "When lifemates get together it's like an atom bomb going off in both body and brain. You become a blithering idiot."
"Yeah," Christian turned to the fridge for another bag.
"I'll talk to her tonight. I'm heading back down to her villa after I finish feeding. She has to return sometime."