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the clerk choked on that, Terri added, "Don't worry, though, a little more experience in your career and I'm sure you'll get the hang of sizing your customers properly."

Bastien grinned at the furious clerk over Terri's head, enjoying the woman's discomfort. Had he thought Terri needed protecting? Obviously not.

Terri turned to him and said, "I think I've had enough shopping for now. How about an ice cream?" She didn't wait for an answer, but marched off toward the escalator at a quick clip.

"You handled that beautifully," Bastien said as he caught up to her.

"I was a bitch," Terri responded. "And halfway through my ice cream I'm going to feel horrible for behaving so badly."

He stared at her blankly. This was her idea of being a bitch? And she'd feel bad after the way the clerk had treated her? If so, then it did seem Terri needed pro¬tecting. From herself, Bastien decided. She'd handled the woman with class and much more kindly than most would have. Others would have got huffy, or just plain freaked. Someone else might have com¬plained to management and had the girl fired. Terri had merely given her a gentle set-down. And she felt bad for it! Incredible.

Chapter Six

Terri was stepping out of the shower when the phone started ringing. Snatching a towel off the rack, she wrapped it around herself and ran for the bed¬room and the phone on the bedside table.

"Hello?" she said breathlessly, dropping to sit on the edge of the rumpled bed.

"Terri?"

"Kate!" She sat up straight, a smile curving her lips. She was pleased to hear from her cousin. She knew that Lucern had called and spoken to Bastien Friday night to assure him that they'd arrived in Cal¬ifornia safely, but Terri had been sound asleep at the time and had missed her chance to speak to Kate. Now it was Monday morning, and the first time ei¬ther Kate or Lucern had called again as far as Terri knew. "How's the conference going?"

"It's going fine," her cousin assured her, adding apologetically, "I'm sorry about this. Here you flew all the way over to spend time with me and help with the wedding, and I--"

"Don't worry about it," Terri interrupted. "It's work. I understand. Besides, Bastien has been taking me around the city and showing me a good time, so it's--"

"What?" Kate said. "I'm sorry, Terri, but did you just say that Bastien has been taking you around the city and is showing you a good time?"

"Yes." Perplexed by her reaction, Terri listened as a man's voice--Lucern's, she imagined--rumbled in the distance. Then Kate must have covered the phone, because all Terri could hear were bits of a muffled conversation.

"Sorry," she apologized at last, speaking clearly into the phone again. Then she asked in nonchalant tones, "So, how has Bastien been showing you a good time?"

"How?" Terri dropped back to lie on the bed. She stared at the awning overhead. "Well, Saturday he took me out for breakfast, then around to the flea markets. We wandered a couple of those for a bit, then--."

"Flea markets?" Kate interrupted with disbelief. "You mean outdoor, open-air flea markets?"

"Yes. I take it you know about his photosensitvity, then--caused by the medication he's taking?"

There was a pause from the other end of the line. "Yes. I knew about his photosensitivity."

That was it. No explanation of what the medica¬tion was, or what it was for. Terri had briefly hoped her cousin would enlighten her. Disappointed, she forced herself to continue. "Anyway, the sun started getting to him after the second flea market--well, re¬ally I think it was getting to him during the first, but he only admitted it and explained about his condition at the second. Once he did, we caught a taxi to Macy's and switched to indoor shopping. Which was fun," she added quickly. "We mostly just browsed in shops and talked and ate. It was nice and relaxing. Then we came back here, got changed, and went out for dinner. He claimed he was completely recovered by the time dinner was done, and offered to take me to a movie, but I'd noticed he still wasn't eating much and thought he might still be feeling a little rough, so I claimed I was a bit tuckered out from all that walk¬ing and probably suffering a bit of jet lag. So we stayed in."

Terri paused and cocked her head as Kate indulged in another muffled conversation with Lucern on the other end