The Reluctant Vampire Page 0,22

traipsing out of the room to dump them in the dining room before returning for the rest.

"I put the ke le on to make cocoa," she announced as she gathered the rest of the bags and turned away again. "Hurry up and get your boots and stuff off. We can have cocoa and cookies while we sort through all this and decide what you should wear tonight, Drina. I think it should be the black dress and FM shoes with those fishnet stockings."

"What fishnet stockings?" Drina asked with surprise, but Stephanie had already rushed out of the entry again.

"The ones she threw in the cart while you were in the changing room," Harper answered for her, his voice dry.

"Oh," Drina murmured, and wondered if she'd have the nerve to wear the outfit she'd bought today. She'd only really allowed Stephanie to convince her to buy the dress and shoes to make sure Harper was thinking about what she would look like in them. But really, they weren't quite her style. The dress was a li le too low cut at the neckline, and a li le too high at the thigh, and the shoes looked like they'd be killer to wear. Fortunately, she did have a dress and shoes of her own with her. Although she had to admit it was a bit conserva ve since she'd brought it for the wedding. It wasn't really Night Club material either

. . . at least not if the Night Club was anything like Noche.

Sighing, she hung up her coat, and quickly shucked the new, ridiculously high-heeled, thigh-high boots that she'd also allowed Stephanie to talk her into. She then padded into the kitchen, leaving Harper s ll working on the laces of his second boot.

Stephanie was pulling down mugs from the cupboard, presumably for the cocoa, but Tiny was also there. The big mortal was bent over and peering into the oven at something that was emi ng really delicious smells.

"You're up early," Drina murmured, blinking as she took in his present garb. The man wore flowered oven mi s and a matching apron. He should have looked ridiculous, but since he was wearing only jeans and his bare chest was barely covered by the apron on top . . . well it was oddly sexy, she decided with a slight shake of the head.

"I'm mortal," Tiny reminded her with amusement. "Daytime is my time."

"Yes, but I thought you and Mirabeau - "

"Tiny and I conked out around four in the morning and were up by noon," Mirabeau announced, entering the kitchen from the living room. Her expression was grim as she asked, "Where were you guys?"

"We went shopping and out for lunch," Stephanie announced happily, busily dumping a pale brown powder into the five mugs she'd collected.

When Mirabeau raised a cold eyebrow in her direc on, Drina said, "Just to Wal-Mart, and I called Lucian first to be sure it was all right." She then added, "I apologize for not leaving a note, but I thought you were day sleepers and expected we'd be back long before anyone woke up."

"See, I told you there was nothing to worry about, Beau," Tiny chided gently as he retrieved a tray of li le circles from the oven. "Now stop looking at Drina as if she murdered your kitty and come have a cookie."

Mirabeau blinked at Tiny's words and then relaxed. She even managed a smile for Drina. "Sorry. I was just worried when we got up, and you were all gone. The only reason I didn't have Lucian on the phone and Teddy Brunswick out looking for you was because Tiny checked the garage and saw that Harper's car was gone."

"I should have left a note, and will in future," Drina assured her.

"And your cell number too," Mirabeau said at once, moving over to slide an arm around Tiny and press a kiss to his bare arm. Her voice was somewhat distracted when she added, "We should have exchanged numbers the minute you guys arrived last night. Then I could have called you at least."

"I'll write mine down now," Drina decided, and moved to the refrigerator, where a magne zed notepad took up a corner on the front. She immediately scribbled down her number on the pad, and then turned to hand the pen to Mirabeau, saying, "I don't know Anders's number, but we can have him put his here as well when he gets up, and then anyone who wants it on