Ah, he murmured in understanding.
Avery cleared his throat. “I think we’re missing something.”
I looked at Avery then at Lucien before I pushed against his shoulders and placed the blame squarely and publically on him.
“You’re being rude.”
His brows went up but he dropped me to my feet and curled me into his side with an arm around my shoulders.
“You’re staying for dinner?” Lucien asked Avery and I marveled that even a courteous invitation from Lucien sounded like a command.
“Leave now and miss Edwina’s cooking? I’d rather…” Avery started, I tensed and Lucien’s and Avery’s heads snapped toward the front door.
“Company,” Avery muttered.
Reflexively, my hand lifted, fingers fisting in Lucien’s shirt at his stomach as I looked up at him.
This was wussy behavior, I knew, but we hadn’t had a lot of luck with the front door. Usually, someone at my front door meant a call to the handyman.
Lucien’s head was cocked and I knew he was listening.
Then he mumbled, “Fucking hell.”
“What?” I asked.
His eyes caught mine. Then he said, “Buchanans.”
He said this right before there was an imperative and constant knocking at the door, confirming Lucien’s words.
Only Aunt Kate could knock on a door like that. It was her signature. Even when she was coming over for a cup of coffee and a gab, she eschewed doorbells and knocked on the door like she was Queen of the World and how dare the lowly commoner inside not anticipate her arrival, sweep open the door and throw rose petals at her feet.
“Aunt Kate,” I whispered.
“Kate,” Lucien agreed.
“Oh dear, oh dear,” Edwina fretted as she fluttered toward the hall. “How many are there? I don’t know if we have enough food.”
Avery followed Edwina but Lucien curled me into his front.
I looked up at him when he asked, “If it seems your family will interrupt our plans for this evening, if I’m forced to eject them bodily, how would you react?”
He was teasing again. It was frustrated teasing but he still did it really, really well. I was seeing the benefits of having a kind of like boyfriend who was centuries old. He had a lot of good stuff down pat.
“I’ve decided I’m mad at them. They’ve been ignoring me,” I admitted. “But not sure about bodily ejection. Could you, you know, Mighty Vampire Lucien Command them to leave?” I said the words “mighty vampire Lucien” in a fake pompous voice which was why I think Lucien yanked me in his arms and gave me a tight hug as he threw his head back and shouted with laughter.
This was what my family saw when they filed into the room looking uppity and in dire need of a martini.
I decided to glare.
I mean, in my hour of need, they’d ignored me and here they were when my hour of need was beyond me (not exactly, but in a way) and the good parts (one particular one I had in mind) were happening that very night.
“I need a drink,” Aunt Kate announced grandly.
“Leah, honey, are you okay?” Mom asked worriedly.
“Is that roast chicken I smell?” Aunt Millicent enquired, sniffing.
“Ohmigod, I love your blouse!” Aunt Nadia screeched excitedly.