SINGLE WHITE VAMPIRE Page 0,113

deliberately," he agreed. A smile tugged at the corners of his mouth.

Tears pooled in Marguerite's eyes, and Luc knew his mother wanted to banish the loss and sorrow from his past. "Trust me, son," she said. "Please. Don't give up your happiness so easily. Your father did that. He grew weary of life and gave up on it, and nothing I could say or do could bring back that spark. You were precariously close to following in his footsteps. I have been worrying about you for some time. But Kate's arrival shook you up and brought joy back to your life." She clasped his hand. "Lucern, it was as if you were reborn. You smiled and actually laughed again. Kate could give you so much you've misseda son or daughter, a companion, joy. Don't let your pride stand in the way."

Lucern stared at his mother, her words revolving in his head along with another woman's. The psychic at the conference had said something very similar.

"You had begun to weary of life," the woman had said. "It all seemed so hard, and the cruelties of man had begun to wear you down. But somethingno, not something, but someonesomeone has reinvigorated you. Made you feel it might be worth living again. That there is still joy to be had."

"Hold on to her. You will have to fight for her, but not in the way you are used to. Weapons and physical strength will do you no good in this battle. It is your own pride and fear you will have to fight. If you fail, your heart will shrivel in your chest, and you will die a lonely, bitter old man, regretting what you didn't do."

Lucern felt the skin on his neck prickle. His gaze slid to his mother, and he asked, "How do I fight for her, then?"

Chapter Nineteen

Kate stared at Allison, her mind reeling. The head editor had caught her in the hall just outside Chris's office and stopped to tell her that she had just gotten off the phone with Lucern. He wanted to discuss the possibility of doing a book-signing tour, but he wanted Kate to fly to Toronto to explain the particulars.

Kate couldn't believe it. She didn't believe it. Why was he sending for her? Perhaps the Argeneau blood bank had run out of blood, some bit of her mind whispered snidely, and she winced in pain. It didn't matter why he wanted her to go to Toronto. She couldn't do it. She wouldn't survive another encounter with him. At least her heart wouldn't. She wasn't at all sure it had survived the conference. It was still battered and bloody.

"I'm awfully busy, Allison. Couldn't Chris fly up there in my place? Maybe he could take over Lucern altogether, in fact," she added hopefully. "It would probably be for the best. I don't think I can handle Lucern."

"The hell you can't!"

Kate whirled around as Chuck moved up the hall to join them.

"If there's a possibility we can get the bastard to do that tour, you're going. The expense of your flight there and back is minuscule compared to how much that book chain was willing to put out for this tour. And the opportunity for publicity is incredible. It means articles in newspapers of every city the tour hits, maybe even television interviews. If you want to keep your job, you'll get your tail on the next available flight and convince Amirault to do this tour."

Kate didn't bother correcting Chuck about Lucern's real name. She was too busy considering quitting. Unfortunately, she couldn't afford to quit. She had bills to pay. Taking her silence for acquiescence, Chuck harrumphed and turned to stalk back up the hall to his office.

"It'll be fine," Allison assured her with a pat on the arm. Then she too went back to her office.

"So, Lucern is finally sending for you."

Kate turned to find Chris standing in his office doorway, smiling.

"Just to discuss the book-signing tour," Kate said in dismissal. She headed for her office.

Chris snorted with disbelief and followed. "Yeah, right. Like Lucern Argeneau will do a book tour. Forget about it. He wants you."

Kate sat down at her desk with a sigh. "Close the door please, Chris. I don't want everyone to know about this." She waited until he had closed the door, then said, "He doesn't want me."

"Are you kidding? The guy's crazy about you."

"Yeah," Kate muttered dryly. "I could tell that by the way he's been calling and sending me