TALL DARK AND HUNGRY Page 0,110

set into the seat in front Tall, Dark & Hungry

of her. Just in case Kate's message had gone astray, she would call the hotel and leave a message for Vincent as well. But she wouldn't risk it until the flight was in the air.

"Cousin!"

Bastien stopped his pacing--a pacing he'd been doing for the last hour and a half--and glanced at the man rushing toward him. Vincent. Bastien had re¬turned to the hotel to find that Terri hadn't come back. He'd decided then that her cabbie had probably had a fit when she admitted she couldn't pay, and had refused to return her to the Hilton. He'd imagined her walking the streets of New York, and had made his driver drive him back and forth along the routes she could have taken, but found no sign of her. Then Bastien had resigned himself to pacing here, every moment making him more tense as he imagined all the ways she could be hurt or killed before she made it to the hotel. A beautiful woman, dressed in a long, possibly stained maid-of-honor gown, walking alone down the street? The imaginings he'd come up with were nightmares.

He was actually grateful for the distraction Vincent offered. "Are Kate and Lucern leaving?"

"Actually, they are. But that's not why I'm here. I just got a call from Terri."

Bastien relaxed and tensed all in the same moment. A call from her meant she was all right and able to make the call, but she was probably in trouble some¬where--especially if Vincent's grim expression was anything to go by.

"Where is she?" he asked, cutting to the heart of the matter.

"On a plane on her way back to England."

"What?" Vincent couldn't have shocked him more if he'd said she was calling from jail.

His cousin nodded. "I happened to be passing the desk on my way out here to see you when I heard my name mentioned. The clerk was taking a message for me, so I took the phone. It was Terri. She was calling from the plane."

"But, what is she--Why did she--?" Bastien struggled to understand.

"It seems she overheard Kate and Lissianna talking in the ladies' room," Vincent said grimly. "They were discussing your not having told her about your 'state.'"

Bastien's shoulders slumped. She knew what he was. Now she was running from him just as Josephine had done.

"No. Terri misunderstood. She thought they meant you were terminally ill. When I said that wasn't so, she said not to bother lying to her--she'd seen the medicine and blood. She said she knew you were ill. Terri thinks you're dying, like her mother did, like her husband did, and she said she can't watch you die, too. She loves you too much to be able to bear it."

"She loves me?"

Vincent nodded, then grinned. "Well? What are you waiting for? Get in your car and get to the air-port. Follow her," he said. "You have to go explain the truth. Tell her everything. She loves you, Bastien.

You need to tell her you aren't dying, and that she will never have to watch you die a long lingering death."

"Yes!" Bastien grinned as he realized that, in this instance, his state could be an advantage. Chuckling, he turned and gestured to his driver. Thinking he would need it when Terri arrived, he'd made the man stay here with the car. Now, the engine started and the car moved forward.

"Have a good trip, and give her a hug and a hello for me," Vincent said. He walked with Bastien to the curb, then added seriously, "I'm happy for you, cousin."

"Thanks, Vincent," Bastien said. He slid into the backseat of his car.

"No problem. Just don't mess up, huh? She's per¬fect for you. Much nicer than that holier-than-though Josephine."

Bastien paused in surprise. He'd been about to pull the door closed. "I thought you liked Josephine."

Vincent wrinkled his nose and shook his head. "None of us did. But you thought you loved her, so we would have put up with her. The good news is, none of us has to pretend to like Terri. She's a sweet¬heart." Then Vincent slammed the door closed and gave him a thumbs-up. The car pulled away.

Chapter Nineteen

"Ter!"

Terri glanced up and spotted Dave at once. It would be impossible not to spot her brother-in-law. Being tall, prematurely gray, and good-looking made him stand out in most crowds. Forcing a weary smile, she turned in his direction as she came through the arrivals gate. "Dave. Thank you for coming to get