Wicked Appetite - By Janet Evanovich Page 0,39
“Sire,” he said, “dost thou need my protection? Are these crude and lowly persons bothersome?”
“Continue your search,” Wulf said, his voice soft, his face devoid of expression. Only the barest whisper of a sigh hinted at his foul mood.
“It would be awkward if he found it while we were both here,” Diesel said to Wulf. “We’d have to wrestle for it.”
“I always won when we were kids,” Wulf said. “I doubt much has changed.”
“Everything has changed,” Diesel said.
Wulf considered that and looked away, keeping his focus on Hatchet.
“Where’s Lenny More?” Diesel asked.
“He told me what I needed to know, and I released him.”
“Unharmed?”
“More or less.”
Diesel followed Wulf’s eyes to Hatchet. “Nice minion you’ve got there. What do they call that thing he’s wearing? Is that a tunic?”
“Is there a point to this?” Wulf asked.
“Just hangin’ out,” Diesel said.
Wulf glanced at my hand. “You’re hanging out with a woman wearing my brand.”
“Cows get branded,” Diesel said. “Women, no. And she’s with me.”
“For now, cousin.”
“Forever.”
“We’ll see,” Wulf said.
His eyes locked onto mine, and for a long moment, I was held captive with no clue to his thoughts. What I knew for certain was that I saw power and passion. I stepped back into Diesel, relieved when I felt him pressed into my back, his hand at my waist.
“I should be moving along,” I said, making an effort not to gasp for air, praying my voice wasn’t shaking. “The monkey is waiting.”
Omigod, I thought. Did I just say the monkey is waiting to the liege lord of evil? I’m such a dork!
“Methinks a dastardly event occurred here, sire,” Hatchet said, standing in a cloud of soot in the vicinity of Lenny’s dining room. “I fear infidels have sacked the keep.”
“I suppose that would be us,” Diesel said. “We sacked the keep.”
I waved at Hatchet. “Farewell, good knight. Fear not for the infidels.”
“Safe journey, fair lady,” he called back.
“Considerate of you to think of Carl,” Diesel said to me, grinning, his arm draped across my shoulders, moving me toward the Porsche.
“I panicked.”
“It’s okay. The party was over.”
“Do you know what I’d really like? A funnel cake. I went to a Renaissance fair once, and they had funnel cakes. An apple fritter would be good, too.”
“Later.”
“No. Now. I need it now! I feel weak. I need fried dough.”
“This would be funny if it wasn’t so awful,” Diesel said, opening the car door for me. “You can’t have fried dough. You’ll get fat.”
“I don’t care if I get fat.”
“I have to find a safe place other than my pocket to put the charm,” Diesel said. “Keeping you away from food is turning into a full-time job. And I have no idea where to go to find fried dough.”
“I could find some,” I told him. “Give me your keys. I’ll drive.”
“Not gonna happen.”
I tried to grab the keys out of his hand, but he held them high over my head.
“Give me the keys!”
“Nope.”
I jumped for the keys, but I couldn’t reach them.
“You need to control yourself,” he said.
I clawed at his shirt, trying to get his arm lower. “I could control myself if I had a doughnut.”
He shoved the keys into his jeans pocket. “No more doughnuts.”
“That’s mean. I need food. I can’t think. I’m wasting away.” I plunged my hand into his pocket and fumbled for the keys.
Diesel sucked air. “You keep fondling me like that, and I might have to marry you.”
“I’m not fondling you. I’m looking for the keys!”
“Could you look a little more gently? You’re scaring my boys.”
“Sorry.”
“No need to apologize. It’s the most fun I’ve had since I met you.”
I took a step back, and something crunched under my foot. I looked down and saw that it was a gold charm. I carefully picked it up, and it immediately buzzed in my hand and glowed.
“This is it,” I whispered to Diesel. “It’s another bug. It looks like a cockroach.”
We looked back at Wulf and Hatchet. They weren’t paying any attention to us. They didn’t know we’d found the charm. Hatchet was still sifting through the debris.
“Better to be lucky than to be good,” Diesel said. “Let’s roll.”
I buckled myself in and watched Diesel as he pulled the Porsche into traffic. “Is it enough to have two pieces of the inheritance?”
Diesel gave me Shirley’s ladybug. “You tell me. Put the two pieces together in your hand and see if they do anything special.”
I held the ladybug and the cockroach in my hand. They were warm, and they buzzed, but nothing else happened.
“What did