The Bite Before Christmas - Argeneau Series - Book 15.5 Page 0,5

life mate, other symptoms would be showing up soon. The reawakening of her appetite for food was one of them, and she glanced curiously at the next box she lifted out and read the label.

“Bisquick.”

She shrugged and stuck it in the box, but some of her good cheer was fading as she considered the one problem she could see with this scenario.

Katricia was pretty sure that bad weather hadn’t been the reason for her diverted flight to ski country. She was absolutely certain that this had all been some grand plan to put her together with a possible life mate, which was all well and fine. But the snowstorm last night obviously hadn’t been part of the plan and could be a problem, she thought with a frown.

Both boxes were now full of food. Katricia set one on top of the other, picked both up, and moved out of the pantry.

While she suspected Marguerite had arranged this meeting, she had no idea if Teddy knew about immortals. Most would probably call them vampires, but it was a term her people didn’t care for. They were not cursed, soulless monsters, chomping on the neck of every passing mortal. While they lived long lives and didn’t age beyond twenty-five or thirty, their physiology and need for blood was scientific in basis . . . and they avoided feeding on mortals now that blood banks were around. But just because she suspected Marguerite had sent her up here to find Teddy, it didn’t mean he knew about their kind. Which meant she couldn’t risk telling him the truth . . . that the provisions she’d been expecting weren’t gas and food but gas and bagged blood. She didn’t think he’d take well to learning he was snowed in with a vampire who was lacking in blood supplies right now.

Two

It didn’t take Teddy long to get the fire going. He’d built it up to a roaring blaze in the hopes of warming the house faster, and had just straightened to head next door and help the girl with carting provisions over when he heard someone mounting the stairs to the deck. Hurrying to the door, he pulled it open and frowned as he stepped out into the vestibule to see his neighbor on the deck, trying to rearrange the boxes she carried to free a hand to knock.

“I was just coming to see if I could help. You shouldn’t have carried all that by yourself,” he admonished, quickly opening the door and reaching for one of the boxes.

“They aren’t heavy,” she assured him with a laugh, twisting and sliding past before he could take one. Moving behind him, she set the boxes on the floor inside the open kitchen door and then sat on the bench across the end of the vestibule and set to work on removing her boots.

Teddy let the screen door close, and then firmly closed the wooden door against the chill before turning toward her. A frown crested his lips as she removed one boot and started on the other. They were covered with snow and couldn’t be worn in the cottage, of course. It was why he’d removed his own on entering. But he still wore his coat, scarf, hat, and gloves. While the cottage was as cold as a walk-in refrigerator, the floor was like a slab of ice, and he could see her socks were your garden-variety everyday type, not meant for cold weather or icy cottages.

“Here.” He slid his feet out of his slippers and pushed them toward her. “They’ll be too big, but will keep you warm at least.”

She glanced up with surprise. “What about you?”

“I have two pairs of thermal socks on. I’ll be fine,” he muttered, stepping into the kitchen and bending to pick up the boxes. Teddy grunted as he lifted them, surprised at how heavy they were. If the damned kid thought these weren’t heavy, she must be a weight lifter or something, he thought with irritation as he hefted them onto the counter and then set them side by side to get a look at what they held.

“Thank you.”

He glanced around as the blonde stepped into the cottage. She was shuffling her feet to keep the overlarge slippers on, and it made a smile tug at his lips, but he forced it away. In his experience, young people embarrassed easily and he didn’t want her to be uncomfortable. Glancing back to the boxes as she closed the kitchen door to